Metaproteomics and metabolomics analyses of chronically petroleum-polluted sites reveal the importance of general anaerobic processes uncoupled with degradation

Crude oil is one of the most important natural assets for humankind, yet it is a major environmental pollutant, notably in marine environments. One of the largest crude oil polluted areas in the word is the semi-enclosed Mediterranean Sea, in which the metabolic potential of indigenous microbial populations towards the large-scale chronic pollution is yet to be defined, particularly in anaerobic and micro-aerophilic sites. Here, we provide an insight into the microbial metabolism in sediments from three chronically polluted marine sites along the coastline of Italy: the Priolo oil terminal/refinery site (near Siracuse, Sicily), harbour of Messina (Sicily) and shipwreck of MT Haven (near Genoa). Using shotgun metaproteomics and community metabolomics approaches, the presence of 651 microbial proteins and 4776 metabolite mass features have been detected in these three environments, revealing a high metabolic heterogeneity between the investigated sites. The proteomes displayed the prevalence of anaerobic metabolisms that were not directly related with petroleum biodegradation, indicating that in the absence of oxygen, biodegradation is significantly suppressed. This suppression was also suggested by examining the metabolome patterns. The proteome analysis further highlighted the metabolic coupling between methylotrophs and sulphate reducers in oxygen-depleted petroleum-polluted sediments

Epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors for the treatment of non-small-cell lung cancer: results and open issues

The medical treatment of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has progressively changed since the introduction of “targeted therapy”. The development of one of these molecular drug categories, e. g., the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine-kinase (TK) selective inhibitors, such as the orally active gefitinib and erlotinib, offers an interesting new opportunity. The clinical response rates obtained with their employment in unselected patient populations only account for approximately 10%. Because of this, over the last two years numerous studies have been performed in order to identify the patient subsets that could better benefit from these agents. Not only patient characteristics and clinical-pathological features, such as never-smoking status, female gender, East Asian origin, adenocarcinoma histology, bronchioloalveolar subtype, but also molecular findings, such as somatic mutations in the EGFR gene, emerge as potentially useful prognostic and predictive factors in advanced NSCLC. Further, specifically designed clinical trials are still needed to completely clarify these and other open issues that are reviewed in this paper, in order to clarify all the interesting findings available in the clinical practice

Geophysical and atmospheric evolution of habitable planets

The evolution of Earth-like habitable planets is a complex process that depends on the geodynamical and geophysical environments. In particular, it is necessary that plate tectonics remain active over billions of years. These geophysically active environments are strongly coupled to a planet's host star parameters, such as mass, luminosity and activity, orbit location of the habitable zone, and the planet's initial water inventory. Depending on the host star's radiation and particle flux evolution, the composition in the thermosphere, and the availability of an active magnetic dynamo, the atmospheres of Earth-like planets within their habitable zones are differently affected due to thermal and nonthermal escape processes. For some planets, strong atmospheric escape could even effect the stability of the atmosphere

Diverse sulfate-reducing bacteria of the <em>Desulfosarcina/Desulfococcus</em> clade are the key alkane degraders at marine seeps.

Biogeochemical and microbiological data indicate that the anaerobic oxidation of non-methane hydrocarbons by sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) has an important role in carbon and sulfur cycling at marine seeps. Yet, little is known about the bacterial hydrocarbon degraders active in situ. Here, we provide the link between previous biogeochemical measurements and the cultivation of degraders by direct identification of SRB responsible for butane and dodecane degradation in complex on-site microbiota. Two contrasting seep sediments from Mediterranean Amon mud volcano and Guaymas Basin (Gulf of California) were incubated with (13)C-labeled butane or dodecane under sulfate-reducing conditions and analyzed via complementary stable isotope probing (SIP) techniques. Using DNA- and rRNA-SIP, we identified four specialized clades of alkane oxidizers within Desulfobacteraceae to be distinctively active in oxidation of short- and long-chain alkanes. All clades belong to the Desulfosarcina/Desulfococcus (DSS) clade, substantiating the crucial role of these bacteria in anaerobic hydrocarbon degradation at marine seeps. The identification of key enzymes of anaerobic alkane degradation, subsequent &beta;-oxidation and the reverse Wood-Ljungdahl pathway for complete substrate oxidation by protein-SIP further corroborated the importance of the DSS clade and indicated that biochemical pathways, analog to those discovered in the laboratory, are of great relevance for natural settings. The high diversity within identified subclades together with their capability to initiate alkane degradation and growth within days to weeks after substrate amendment suggest an overlooked potential of marine benthic microbiota to react to natural changes in seepage, as well as to massive hydrocarbon input, for example, as encountered during anthropogenic oil spills

Exploring a dynamical path for C2H− and NCO− formation in dark molecular clouds

This paper deals with the possible formation of two molecular anions often considered likely components in the physical environments of the interstellar medium (ISM): C2H− and NCO−. They are both discussed here by computationally following the radiative association (RA) mechanism starting from C2−, H, N− and O as partners. The corresponding RA total cross sections produced by the calculations are in turn employed to generate the overall association rates over the relevant range of temperatures. The latter are found to be in line with other molecular ions formed by RA but not large enough to uniquivocally suggest this path as the main route to the anions formation in the ISM. Other possible paths of formation are also analysed and discussed. The presence of resonant structures during the association dynamics for both systems is found by the calculations and their consequences are discussed in some detail in the present study

Multi-Targeted Therapies in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Current treatment modalities provide limitedimprovement in the natural course of lung cancer, and prognosisremains poor. Lung cancer is a malignancy with great molecularheterogeneity. The complexity of the signaling process leading tocancer cell proliferation and to the neoplastic phenotype supportsthe necessity of interfering at different stages to avoid cancer cellresistance to therapy. For this reason, new strategies for thesimultaneous inhibition of multiple molecular targets are beingpursued