Prosystemin overexpression induces transcriptional modifications of defense-related and receptor-like kinase genes and reduces the susceptibility to Cucumber mosaic virus and its satellite RNAs in transgenic tomato plants

Open Access JournalSystemin is a plant signal peptide hormone involved in the responses to wounding and insect damage in the Solanaceae family. It works in the same signaling pathway of jasmonic acid (JA) and enhances the expression of proteinase inhibitors. With the aim of studying a role for systemin in plant antiviral responses, a tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) transgenic line overexpressing the prosystemin cDNA, i.e. the systemin precursor, was inoculated with Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) strain Fny supporting either a necrogenic or a non-necrogenic satellite RNA (satRNA) variant. Transgenic plants showed reduced susceptibility to both CMV/satRNA combinations. While symptoms of the non-necrogenic inoculum were completely suppressed, a delayed onset of lethal disease occurred in about half of plants challenged with the necrogenic inoculum. RT-qPCR analysis showed a correlation between the systemin-mediated reduced susceptibility and the JA biosynthetic and signaling pathways (e.g. transcriptional alteration of lipoxygenase D and proteinase inhibitor II). Moreover, transgenically overexpressed systemin modulated the expression of a selected set of receptor-like protein kinase (RLK) genes, including some playing a known role in plant innate immunity. A significant correlation was found between the expression profiles of some RLKs and the systemin-mediated reduced susceptibility to CMV/satRNA. These results show that systemin can increase plant defenses against CMV/satRNA through transcriptional reprogramming of diverse signaling pathways

Arturo Massolo (1909-1966): una biografia intellettuale.

La tesi intende approfondire la filosofia di Arturo Massolo, filosofo italiano del XX secolo, secondo una prospettiva biografica. La struttura si articola in quattro sezioni tra loro interconnesse. Nella prima, dopo una breve trattazione delle passioni giovanili dell’autore per la poesia e per la pittura, si passa ad analizzare la formazione accademica con particolare riferimento all’attualismo gentiliano nella sua prima formulazione palermitana ed alla logica della compossibilità di Vito-Fazio Allmayer. Nella seconda parte si è posta l’attenzione in primo luogo sulle vicende biografiche dell’autore, dunque sull’insegnamento nei licei di Perugia, Catanzaro e Livorno, e successivamente sulla peculiare articolazione della sua riflessione tra la fenomenologia husserliana e l’esistenzialismo heideggeriano. La terza parte rappresenta il corpus centrale del lavoro, poiché in essa sono stati esaminati i nuclei filosofici principali del pensiero dell’autore; dalla ricostruzione della genesi storica dell’idealismo tedesco fino alla configurazione del rapporto Hegel-Marx, dalla scissione della coscienza comune fino alla centralità del dialogo nella «città storia». Nella quarta ed ultima parte è stato dato spazio alla polemica massoliana dei presupposti ideologici delle filosofie di Nietzsche ed Heidegger, i quali hanno permesso di evidenziare la riflessione sul senso della storia e la lotta al nichilismo. Il lavoro si conclude con l’analisi della differenza tra i due concetti di alienazione (Entäusserung» - Entfremdung) nella Fenomenologia dello spirito, che ha permesso di illuminare gli elementi più propri della lettura massoliana della filosofia di Hegel. Questa lettura connota, inoltre, la peculiare forma di storicismo a cui perviene Massolo

Pathogenicity of Beauveria bassiana (Bals.-Criv.) Vuill. and Metarhizium anisopliae (Metschn.) Sorokin against Galleria mellonella L. and Tenebrio molitor L. in laboratory assays

The pathogenicity of 23 isolates of Beauveria bassiana (Ascomycota, Hypocreales: Cordycipitaceae) and four of Metarhizium anisopliae (Ascomycota, Hypocreales: Clavicipitaceae) was tested against Galleria mellonella (Lepidoptera: Galleriidae) and Tenebrio molitor (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) larvae in laboratory assays, using 2•106 conidia mL-1 fungal suspensions. The commercial myco-insecticide Naturalis (Intrachem Bio Italia, Italy), containing the ATCC 74040 B. bassiana strain, was included in the assays for comparison. Mycosed larvae were counted 1, 2, 3, 7, 10, 14 and 17 days after inoculation and the cumulative mortality data were used to calculate mean survival time (MST) and lethal times (LT50 and LT95). No difference between B. bassiana and M. anisopliae were detected in the pathogenicity against the two insect species. However, a wide variability occurred among fungal isolates within species. The two B. bassiana isolates AL1 and ALB55 killed G. mellonella larvae within the shortest time (MST of 2.2 and 2.3 days, respectively), as well as the ALB55 did against T. molitor larvae (MST of 2.8 days). Naturalis was superior to these two B. bassiana isolates, causing a MST of 1.1 day or shorter on the insect larvae. Overall, G. mellonella resulted more sensitive than T. molitor, as showed also by the non-inoculated controls, for which MSTs were 7.7 and 8.4 days, respectively. Due to the rapid and effective insecticide action, the ALB55 B. bassiana isolate can be considered as a new promising candidate for the microbial pest control

Linking apoptosis to cancer metabolism: Another missing piece of JuNK.

Cancer cells become dependent on aerobic glycolysis to sustain rapid proliferation and escape apoptosis. How this metabolic change, also known as the Warburg effect, is linked to apoptosis remains largely unknown. Our new data place c-Jun N-terminal kinase in the center of a hub regulating apoptosis and cancer metabolism.Foundation for Liver Research; Kay Kendall Leukemia Fun

High expression of glycolytic genes in Cirrhosis correlates with the risk of developing liver cancer

© 2018 Lee, Carella, Papa and Bubici. A marked increase in the rate of glycolysis is a key event in the pathogenesis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the main type of primary liver cancer. Liver cirrhosis is considered to be a key player in HCC pathogenesis as it precedes HCC in up to 90% of patients. Intriguingly, the biochemical events that underlie the progression of cirrhosis to HCC are not well understood. In this study, we examined the expression profile of metabolic gene transcripts in liver samples from patients with HCC and patients with cirrhosis. We found that gene expression of glycolytic enzymes is up-regulated in precancerous cirrhotic livers and significantly associated with an elevated risk for developing HCC. Surprisingly, expression levels of genes involved in mitochondrial oxidative metabolism are markedly increased in HCC compared to normal livers but remain unchanged in cirrhosis. Our findings suggest that key glycolytic enzymes such as hexokinase 2 (HK2), aldolase A (ALDOA), and pyruvate kinase M2 (PKM2) may represent potential markers and molecular targets for early detection and chemoprevention of HCC

Feeding the Hedgehog: A new meaning for JNK signalling in liver regeneration

variousBrunel University Londo

Editorial: The Warburg effect regulation under siege: The intertwined pathways in health and disease

Bloodwis

Addressing the interplay between apoptosis and glucose metabolism in liver cirrhosis and hcc

Introduction: Pro-inflammatory signalling in the liver promotes the appearance of a metabolic phenotype that involves the transition from mitochondrial respiration to aerobic glycolysis. It was demonstrated that this metabolic shift occurs during the transition from healthy and early stage of liver injury (NAFLD/NASH, ALD to late stage of disease (i.e. cirrhosis), and further escalates during HCC development.1,2This metabolic signature enables dividing cells to satisfy anabolic and energetic needs for biomass production and to suppress apoptotic signalling, which is consistent with increased compensatory hepatic cell proliferation typical of cirrhotic and HCC livers. However other studies in contrast have suggested that hepatocytes are unable to sustain glycolysis during late stage of chronic liver disease.3 Method: We used unbiased gene expression analyses of microarray datasets to investigate the expression of glycolytic genes in cirrhotic and HCC livers and correlated their expression with patient outcome. Furthermore, by using a combination of in vitro and in vivo analyses we have characterised the abilities of a novel anti-apoptotic gene to regulate aerobic glycolysis in liver cirrhosis and HCC. Results: mRNA profiling showed significantly higher expression of glycolytic transcripts in cirrhotic and HCC livers compared to normal quiescent livers (P < 0.05). Up regulation of Glut1, Hk1, Hk2, G6PI, and PFKLwas seen in HCC livers compared to their adjacent non-tumour tissues (P < 0.001). Notably, expression of enzymes regulating mitochondrial activity (Pdha, Pdk) was unchanged between non-tumour tissues and late stage of HCC. Moreover, up regulation of a novel anti-apoptotic gene positively correlated with increased expression of glycolytic transcripts in a group of cirrhotic patients prospectively classified as poor prognosis based on HCC development, and promotes the aerobic glycolysis of hepatoma cells. Conclusion: In summary, our findings delineate a putative link between aerobic glycolysis and suppression of apoptosis that is an important part of the progression of cirrhosis to HCC. The identification of the mechanism regulating this link may lead to design new therapeutic strategies for human liver disease

STARD1: a new rising StAR in cholesterol-mediated hepatocarcinogenesis

CommentaryFunding: SP and CB acknowledge the research funding from Rosetrees Trust (M894) and Guts UK (DGO2019_02)