Regulation of the p-hydroxybenzoic acid hydroxylase gene (pobA) in plant-growth-promoting Pseudomonas putida WCS358

The regulation of the p-hydroxybenzoate hydroxylase gene (pobA) of Pseudomonas putida WC5358 involved in the catabolism of p-hydroxybenzoic acid (PHB) to the central intermediate protocatechuate was studied. Protocatechuic acid (PCA) is then degraded via the beta -ketoadipate pathway to form tricarboxylic acid intermediates. In several Gram-negative bacteria pobA has been found genetically linked to a regulator called pobR which activates pobA expression in response to PHB, In this study the identification and characterization of the pobC-pobA locus of P, putida WCS358 is presented. The p-hydroxybenzoate hydroxylase (PobA) is highly identical to other identified PobA proteins, whereas the regulatory protein PobC did not display very high identity to other PobR proteins studied and belonged to the AraC family of regulatory proteins, hence it has been designated PobC, Using the pobA promoter transcriptionally fused to a promoterless lad gene it was observed that induction via PobC occurred very efficiently when PHB was present and to a lesser but still significant level also in the presence of PCA, This PobC-PCA response was genetically demonstrated by making use of pobC::Tn5 and pcaH::Tn5 mutants of strain WC5358 constructed in this study. In pobC mutants both the p-hydroxybenzoic and PCA response were not observed, whereas in the pcaH mutant, which lacks a functional protocatechuate 3,4-dioxygenase, the protocatechuic-acid-dependent pobA activation was still observed. Finally, the activation of pobA by PHB varied according to the concentration and it was observed that in the pcaR::Tn5 regulatory mutant of strain WCS358 the pobA promoter activity was reduced. PcaR is a regulator involved in the regulation of several loci of the beta -ketoadipate pathway, one of which is pcaK, It was postulated that the reduction of pobA activation in pcaR::Tn5 mutants was because there was no expression of the pcaK gene encoding the PHB transport protein resulting in lower levels of PHB present inside the cell

Development of reverse genetics systems for infectious bursal disease virus by yeast-based homologous recombination.

Projeto/Plano de Ação: 05.11.10.200-04

One-step synthesis of a highly homogeneous SBA-NHC hybrid material: En route to single-site NHC-metal heterogeneous catalysts with high loadings

The one-step synthesis of a mesoporous silica of SBA type, functionalized with a 1-(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)-3-propyl-imidazolium (iPr2Ar-NHC-propyl) cation located in the pore channels, is described. This material was obtained by the direct hydrolysis and co-condensation of tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) and 1-(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)-3-[3-(triethoxysilyl)propyl]-imidazolium iodide in the presence of Pluronic P123 as a non-ionic structure-directing agent and aqueous HCl (37%) as an acid catalyst. Small-angle X-ray diffraction measurements, scanning and transmission electron microscopies, as well as dinitrogen sorption analyses revealed that the synthesized material is highly mesoporous with a 2D hexagonal arrangement of the porous network. 13C and 29Si CP-MAS NMR spectroscopy confirmed that the material contains intact iPr2Ar-NHC-propyl cations, which are covalently anchored via silicon atoms fused into the silica matrix. Moreover, comparison of the latter data with those of an analogous post-synthetic grafted SBA–NHC material allowed us to establish that, as expected, (i) it is most probably more homogeneous and (ii) it shows a more robust anchoring of the organic units. Finally, elemental mapping by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy in the scanning electron microscope demonstrated a very homogeneous distribution of the imidazolium units within the one-pot material, moreover with a high content. This study thus demonstrates that a relatively bulky and hydrophilic imidazolium unit can be directly co-condensed with TEOS in the presence of a structure-directing agent to provide in a single step a highly ordered and homogeneous mesoporous hybrid SBA–NHC material, possessing a significant number of cationic NHC sites

CDKL5 expression is modulated during neuronal development and its subcellular distribution is tightly regulated by the C-terminal tail

Mutations in the human X-linked cyclin-dependent kinase-like 5 (CDKL5) gene have been identified in patients with Rett syndrome (RTT), West syndrome, and X-linked infantile spasms, sharing the common feature of mental retardation and early seizures. CDKL5 is a rather uncharacterized kinase, but its involvement in RTT seems to be explained by the fact that it works upstream of MeCP2, the main cause of Rett syndrome. To understand the role of this kinase for nervous system functions and to address if molecular mechanisms are involved in regulating its distribution and activity, we studied the ontogeny of CDKL5 expression in developing mouse brains by immunostaining and Western blotting. The expression profile of CDKL5 was compared with that of MeCP2. The two proteins share a general expression profile in the adult mouse brain, but CDKL5 levels appear to be highly modulated at the regional level. Its expression is strongly induced in early postnatal stages, and in the adult brain CDKL5 is present in mature neurons, but not in astroglia. Interestingly, the presence of CDKL5 in the cell nucleus varies at the regional level of the adult brain and is developmentally regulated. CDKL5 shuttles between the cytoplasm and the nucleus and the C-terminal tail is involved in localizing the protein to the cytoplasm in a mechanism depending on active nuclear export. Accordingly, Rett derivatives containing disease-causing truncations of the C terminus are constitutively nuclear, suggesting that they might act as gain of function mutations in this cellular compartment

label free discrimination of cells undergoing apoptosis by hyperspectral confocual reflectance imaging

Among the optical techniques used for exploring the properties of cells and tissues, those based on hyperspectral label-free analysis are particularly interesting due to their non-invasive character and their ability to fast collect a huge number of information on the different sample constituents and their spatial distribution. Here we present results obtained with a novel hyperspectral reflectance confocal microscope of label-free discrimination of cells undergoing apoptosis. Our data, analyzed by means of a powerful statistical method, enable to obtain information on the biological status at a single cell level through the local measurement of reflectivity. Furthermore, an optical model of the local dielectric response gives an additional insight of the parameters linking the optical responsivity to the biological status

Draft Genome Sequence of Beneficial Rice Rhizosphere Isolate Pseudomonas aeruginosa PUPa3.

Published onlinePseudomonas aeruginosa PUPa3 is a rhizosphere-colonizing and plant growth-promoting strain isolated from the rhizosphere of rice. This strain has, however, been shown to be pathogenic in two nonmammalian infection models. Here we report the draft genome sequence of P. aeruginosa PUPa3.G.U. and M.K. were funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Republic of Serbia (grant no. 173019). G.U. is also the beneficiary of FEMS Research Fellowship 2014-1. The laboratory of V.V. was financed by ICGEB core funding

AzeR, a transcriptional regulator that responds to azelaic acid in Pseudomonas nitroreducens

This is the final version. Available on open access from the Microbiology Society via the DOI in this recordAzelaic acid is a dicarboxylic acid that has recently been shown to play a role in plant-bacteria signalling and also occurs naturally in several cereals. Several bacteria have been reported to be able to utilize azelaic acid as a unique source of carbon and energy, including Pseudomonas nitroreducens. In this study, we utilize P. nitroreducens as a model organism to study bacterial degradation of and response to azelaic acid. We report genetic evidence of azelaic acid degradation and the identification of a transcriptional regulator that responds to azelaic acid in P. nitroreducens DSM 9128. Three mutants possessing transposons in genes of an acyl-CoA ligase, an acyl-CoA dehydrogenase and an isocitrate lyase display a deficient ability in growing in azelaic acid. Studies on transcriptional regulation of these genes resulted in the identification of an IclR family repressor that we designated as AzeR, which specifically responds to azelaic acid. A bioinformatics survey reveals that AzeR is confined to a few proteobacterial genera that are likely to be able to degrade and utilize azelaic acid as the sole source of carbon and energy

Zoneamento climático da mancha foliar causada por Cylindrocladium candelabrum em plantios jovens de Eucalyptus benthamii nos estados do sul do Brasil.

Eucalyptus benthamii é uma das espécies florestais plantadas na região Sul do Brasil devido à sua resistência à geada. Uma das doenças importantes de campo é a mancha foliar causada por Cylindrocladium candelabrum. Plantios florestais jovens de E. benthamii localizados em Rio Negrinho ? SC, sofreram alta desfolha no período que compreendeu os meses do verão. Este período quente e úmido favoreceu a incidência e severidade da mancha sobre árvores recém transplantas ao campo e árvores com os ramos muito próximos ao solo. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar qual a melhor época de plantio de E. benthamii para diminuição da infecção de C. candelabrum sobre as árvores jovens. Foram utilizados dados de precipitação do TRMM de 2001 a 2010 e foi utilizado o modelo RegCM4 para obtenção das grades de temperatura e umidade. Os dados foram cruzados no programa SPRING 5.2, e geraram mapas de risco de mancha de C. candelabrum no verão, primavera, outono e inverno. Os resultados mostram que em grande parte dos municípios do Paraná, a incidência da mancha pode diminuir, se o plantio de mudas de E. benthamii for realizada no início do outono. Acho que deve retirar, ver comentário da conclusão. A geotecnologia mostrou que a mancha de c. candelabrum pode ser controlada de acordo com fatores ambientais relacionados a sua severidade e incidência.Geonordeste. Disponível online

High-resolution tracking in a GEM-Emulsion detector

SHiP (Search for Hidden Particles) is a beam dump experiment proposed at the CERN SPS aiming at the observation of long lived particles very weakly coupled with ordinary matter mostly produced in the decay of charmed hadrons. The beam dump facility of SHiP is also a copious factory of neutrinos of all three kinds and therefore a dedicated neutrino detector is foreseen in the SHiP apparatus. The neutrino detector exploits the Emulsion Cloud Chamber technique with a modular structure, alternating walls of target units and planes of electronic detectors providing the time stamp to the event. GEM detectors are one of the possible choices for this task. This paper reports the results of the first exposure to a muon beam at CERN of a new hybrid chamber, obtained by coupling a GEM chamber and an emulsion detector. Thanks to the micrometric accuracy of the emulsion detector, the position resolution of the GEM chamber as a function of the particle inclination was evaluated in two configurations, with and without the magnetic fiel

Aplicação do método AID estendido na identificação de linhagens de frangos resistentes a coccidiosis (Eimeria tenella).

O objetivo foi analisar dados de pesagens (y) de bovinos. De cada animal foram feitas nove pesagens do nascimento aos dois anos de idade. A variável y foi transformada por yl = (yl-1)/l (l 1 0), a qual foi eficiente na redução dos coeficientes de assimetria e da heterogeneidade de variância dos dados