Apolipoprotein L2 contains a BH3-like domain but it does not behave as a BH3-only protein

Apolipoproteins of the L family are lipid-binding proteins whose function is largely unknown. Apolipoprotein L1 and apolipoprotein L6 have been recently described as novel pro-death BH3-only proteins that are also capable of regulating autophagy. In an in-silico screening to discover novel putative BH3-only proteins, we identified yet another member of the apolipoprotein L family, apolipoprotein L2 (ApoL2), as a BH3 motif-containing protein. ApoL2 has been suggested to behave as a BH3-only protein and mediate cell death induced by interferon-gamma or viral infection. As previously described, we observed that ApoL2 protein was induced by interferon-gamma. However, knocking down its expression in HeLa cells did not regulate cell death induced by interferon-gamma. Overexpression of ApoL2 did not induce cell death on its own. ApoL2 did not sensitize or protect cells from overexpression of the BH3-only proteins Bmf or Noxa. Furthermore, siRNA against ApoL2 did not alter sensitivity to a variety of death stimuli. We could, however, detect a weak interaction between ApoL2 and Bcl-2 by immunoprecipitation of the former, suggesting a role of ApoL2 in a Bcl-2-regulated process like autophagy. However, in contrast to what has been described about its homologs ApoL1 and ApoL6, ApoL2 did not regulate autophagy. Thus, the role, if any, of ApoL2 in cell death remains to be clarified

Evaluation of the transport properties of copper ions through a heterogeneous ion-exchange membrane in etidronic acid solutions by chronopotentiometry

[EN] The transport properties of copper chelates across an anion-exchange membrane were investigated by means of chronopotentiometry. Several solutions containing etidronic acid, copper sulfate and potassium chloride were evaluated. Tests were accomplished in a three-compartment reactor using a heterogeneous membrane containing quaternary ammonium functional groups. Results showed a strong relation between the amount of chelated anions and the limiting current density, the electrical resistance and the concentration polarization. An increase in the anionic equivalent charge of the solutions modified the three regions of the current-voltage curves. The acid medium was found to be less favorable because of the possibility of the formation of non-charged species in overlimiting regions. The presence of chloride anions increased the limiting current density, especially when the chloride concentration exceeded the etidronic acid concentration.Authors would like to thank the Institute for Technological Research (IPT), the Institute for Technological Research Foundation (FIPT), to the São Paulo Research Foundation (Fapesp - processes 2012/51871-9, 2014/21943-3 and 2014/13351-9) and the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development.Scarazzato, T.; Panossian, Z.; García Gabaldón, M.; Ortega Navarro, EM.; Tenório, J.; Pérez-Herranz, V.; Espinosa, D. (2017). Evaluation of the transport properties of copper ions through a heterogeneous ion-exchange membrane in etidronic acid solutions by chronopotentiometry. Journal of Membrane Science. 535:268-278. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.memsci.2017.04.048S26827853

Pectin methyl esterases and rhamnogalacturonan hydrolases: weapons for successful Monilinia laxa infection in stone fruit?

The secretion of cell wall‐degrading enzymes is one of the mechanisms used by necrotrophic fungi to colonize host tissues. However, information about virulence factors of Monilinia spp., the causal agents of brown rot in stone fruit, is scarce. Plant cell walls have three main components that are broken down by fungal enzymes: cellulose, hemicellulose and pectin. In order to identify Monilinia laxa candidate proteins involved in pectin hydrolysis, two in vitro approaches were conducted: (i) phenotypic and ecophysiological characterization of growth of the pathogen at different pHs, in glucose‐ and pectin‐containing solid media for 7 days' incubation; and (ii) expression analysis of genes encoding M. laxa pectin methyl esterases (MlPMEs) and rhamnogalacturonan hydrolases (MlRG‐HYDs) after incubation for 0.5, 2, 6, 24 and 48 h in glucose‐ and pectin‐containing liquid media. Phenotypic tests showed the role of carbon source on M. laxa growth rate and aggressiveness, and indicated that pectinases were greatly affected by pH. Gene expression analyses uncovered differences among members of each family of pectinases and between the two families, defining sets of genes expressed at earlier (0.5–6 h) and later (48 h) phases. Notably, the up‐ or down‐regulation of these target genes was carbon source‐dependent. Finally, an in vivo study confirmed the synergistic and complementary role that these genes play in the M. laxa–stone fruit pathosystem. Based on these results, it is hypothesized that MlPME2, MlRG‐HYD1 and MlRG‐HYD2 may be potential virulence factors of M. laxa in the process from infection to colonization.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Influence of the co-ions on the transport of sulfate through anion exchange membranes

[EN] The increasing demand for clean industrial processes has intensified the use of electrodialysis (ED) in the treatment of metal containing effluents from plating processes. Nickel rinsewater is a multicomponent solution that can be treated by ED in order to recover chemicals and reuse water. The investigation of the different phenomena involved in the transport of anions through anion-exchange membranes in this wastewater has been performed in different synthetic solutions by chronopotentiometry. Parameters like the limiting current density (i(lim)), the plateau length (Delta U-m), the resistance of the ohmic region (R-ohm) and the resistance of the overlimiting region (R-3) were also determined. Even though an anion exchange membrane (AEM), the limiting current density was affected by the proton leakage phenomena, indicated that the proton H+ has a greater effect than the other co-ions (Ni2+, Mg2+ and Na+). Ohmic resistances were reduced and plateau lengths were increased in the presence of protons. For salts solutions (without acid) the highest diffusion coefficients and lowest co-ion hydrated radii gave the highest plateau lengths and i(lim), but the lowest R-ohm.This study was financially supported by Erasmus Brazilian Windows Plus (EBW+), CAPES, CNPq, BNDES, FINEP, SCIT and FAPERGS.Benvenuti, T.; García Gabaldón, M.; Ortega Navarro, EM.; Rodrigues, M.; Bernardes, A.; Pérez-Herranz, V.; Zoppas-Ferreira, J. (2017). Influence of the co-ions on the transport of sulfate through anion exchange membranes. Journal of Membrane Science. 542:320-328. doi:10.1016/j.memsci.2017.08.021S32032854

Comparative transcriptomics of early dipteran development.

Published onlineJournal ArticleResearch Support, Non-U.S. Gov'tThis is the final version of the article. Available from BioMed Central via the DOI in this record.BACKGROUND: Modern sequencing technologies have massively increased the amount of data available for comparative genomics. Whole-transcriptome shotgun sequencing (RNA-seq) provides a powerful basis for comparative studies. In particular, this approach holds great promise for emerging model species in fields such as evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo). RESULTS: We have sequenced early embryonic transcriptomes of two non-drosophilid dipteran species: the moth midge Clogmia albipunctata, and the scuttle fly Megaselia abdita. Our analysis includes a third, published, transcriptome for the hoverfly Episyrphus balteatus. These emerging models for comparative developmental studies close an important phylogenetic gap between Drosophila melanogaster and other insect model systems. In this paper, we provide a comparative analysis of early embryonic transcriptomes across species, and use our data for a phylogenomic re-evaluation of dipteran phylogenetic relationships. CONCLUSIONS: We show how comparative transcriptomics can be used to create useful resources for evo-devo, and to investigate phylogenetic relationships. Our results demonstrate that de novo assembly of short (Illumina) reads yields high-quality, high-coverage transcriptomic data sets. We use these data to investigate deep dipteran phylogenetic relationships. Our results, based on a concatenation of 160 orthologous genes, provide support for the traditional view of Clogmia being the sister group of Brachycera (Megaselia, Episyrphus, Drosophila), rather than that of Culicomorpha (which includes mosquitoes and blackflies).Toni Hermoso Pulido from the CRG Bioinformatics Core provided help and support with the diptex database. We thank Debayan Datta, Maik Zehnsdorf, and Anna Menoyo (CRG Genomics Unit) for technical help. We gratefully acknowledge Urs Schmidt-Ott, for providing fly cultures, for sharing Episyrphus balteatus transcriptome data, for crucial advice on sequencing strategy, fly husbandry, and other experimental protocols, as well as for useful comments on the manuscript. Victor Jiménez-Guri drew the embryo pictures in Figure 1. This research was funded by the MEC/EMBL agreement for the EMBL/CRG Research Unit in Systems Biology, by AGAUR SGR grant 406, and by Grants BFU2009-10184 and BFU2009-09168 from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MICINN). EJG is supported by ERASysBio+ Grant P#161 (MODHEART). LC was supported by grant PTA2011-6729-I from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MICINN). JHC is supported by a Juan de la Cierva postdoctoral fellowship from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (JCI2010-07614). HK was supported by GABI-FUTURE grant BeetSeq (0315069A) by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research

The human phylome

The human phylome, which includes evolutionary relationships of all human proteins and their homologs among thirty-nine fully sequenced eukaryotes, is reconstructed