Bacillus thuringiensis DB27 Produces Two Novel Protoxins, Cry21Fa1 and Cry21Ha1, Which Act Synergistically against Nematodes

Bacillus thuringiensis has been widely used as a biopesticide, primarily for the control of insect pests, but some B. thuringiensis strains specifically target nematodes. However, nematicidal virulence factors of B. thuringiensis are poorly investigated. Here, we describe virulence factors of nematicidal B. thuringiensis DB27 using Caenorhabditis elegans as a model. We show that B. thuringiensis DB27 kills a number of free-living and animal-parasitic nematodes via intestinal damage. Its virulence factors are plasmid-encoded Cry protoxins, since plasmid-cured derivatives do not produce Cry proteins and are not toxic to nematodes. Whole-genome sequencing of B. thuringiensis DB27 revealed multiple potential nematicidal factors, including several Cry-like proteins encoded by different plasmids. Two of these proteins appear to be novel and show high similarity to Cry21Ba1. Named Cry21Fa1 and Cry21Ha1, they were expressed in Escherichia coli and fed to C. elegans, resulting in intoxication, intestinal damage, and death of nematodes. Interestingly, the effects of the two protoxins on C. elegans are synergistic (synergism factor, 1.8 to 2.5). Using purified proteins, we determined the 50% lethal concentrations (LC50s) for Cry21Fa1 and Cry21Ha1 to be 13.6 μg/ml and 23.9 μg/ml, respectively, which are comparable to the LC50 of nematicidal Cry5B. Finally, we found that signaling pathways which protect C. elegans against Cry5B toxin are also required for protection against Cry21Fa1. Thus, B. thuringiensis DB27 produces novel nematicidal protoxins Cry21Fa1 and Cry21Ha1 with synergistic action, which highlights the importance of naturally isolated strains as a source of novel toxins

Identification of Distinct Bacillus thuringiensis 4A4 Nematicidal Factors Using the Model Nematodes Pristionchus pacificus and Caenorhabditis elegans

Bacillus thuringiensis has been extensively used for the biological control of insect pests. Nematicidal B. thuringiensis strains have also been identified; however, virulence factors of such strains are poorly investigated. Here, we describe virulence factors of the nematicidal B. thuringiensis 4A4 strain, using the model nematodes Pristionchus pacificus and Caenorhabditis elegans. We show that B. thuringiensis 4A4 kills both nematodes via intestinal damage. Whole genome sequencing of B. thuringiensis 4A4 identified Cry21Ha, Cry1Ba, Vip1/Vip2 and β-exotoxin as potential nematicidal factors. Only Cry21Ha showed toxicity to C. elegans, while neither Cry nor Vip toxins were active against P. pacificus, when expressed in E. coli. Purified crystals also failed to intoxicate P. pacificus, while autoclaved spore-crystal mixture of B. thuringiensis 4A4 retained toxicity, suggesting that primary β-exotoxin is responsible for P. pacificus killing. In support of this, we found that a β-exotoxin-deficient variant of B. thuringiensis 4A4, generated by plasmid curing lost virulence to the nematodes. Thus, using two model nematodes we revealed virulence factors of the nematicidal strain B. thuringiensis 4A4 and showed the multifactorial nature of its virulence

Draft Genome Sequence of Highly Nematicidal Bacillus thuringiensis DB27

Here, we report the genome sequence of nematicidal Bacillus thuringiensis DB27, which provides first insights into the genetic determinants of its pathogenicity to nematodes. The genome consists of a 5.7-Mb chromosome and seven plasmids, three of which contain genes encoding nematicidal proteins

The Drosophila Baramicin polypeptide gene protects against fungal infection.

The fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster combats microbial infection by producing a battery of effector peptides that are secreted into the haemolymph. Technical difficulties prevented the investigation of these short effector genes until the recent advent of the CRISPR/CAS era. As a consequence, many putative immune effectors remain to be formally described, and exactly how each of these effectors contribute to survival is not well characterized. Here we describe a novel Drosophila antifungal peptide gene that we name Baramicin A. We show that BaraA encodes a precursor protein cleaved into multiple peptides via furin cleavage sites. BaraA is strongly immune-induced in the fat body downstream of the Toll pathway, but also exhibits expression in other tissues. Importantly, we show that flies lacking BaraA are viable but susceptible to the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana. Consistent with BaraA being directly antimicrobial, overexpression of BaraA promotes resistance to fungi and the IM10-like peptides produced by BaraA synergistically inhibit growth of fungi in vitro when combined with a membrane-disrupting antifungal. Surprisingly, BaraA mutant males but not females display an erect wing phenotype upon infection. Here, we characterize a new antifungal immune effector downstream of Toll signalling, and show it is a key contributor to the Drosophila antimicrobial response

Low homology between 2019-nCoV Orf8 protein and its SARS-CoV counterparts questions their identical function

SARS-CoV accessory protein Orf8b is involved in suppressing interferon-mediated immune response of the infected cell and this might lead to supposition that the corresponding protein 2019-nCoV Orf8 shares the same role. But the tertiary structures of these proteins are still unknown, and the primary structures demonstrate very low homology and different calculating parameters. This time they both are affected by stabilizing selection and in natural viral populations do not tend to be deleted. The question whether in this case very different proteins could share the same function rises from the present dat

Nonlinear Mode Decomposition: a new noise-robust, adaptive decomposition method

We introduce a new adaptive decomposition tool, which we refer to as Nonlinear Mode Decomposition (NMD). It decomposes a given signal into a set of physically meaningful oscillations for any waveform, simultaneously removing the noise. NMD is based on the powerful combination of time-frequency analysis techniques - which together with the adaptive choice of their parameters make it extremely noise-robust - and surrogate data tests, used to identify interdependent oscillations and to distinguish deterministic from random activity. We illustrate the application of NMD to both simulated and real signals, and demonstrate its qualitative and quantitative superiority over the other existing approaches, such as (ensemble) empirical mode decomposition, Karhunen-Loeve expansion and independent component analysis. We point out that NMD is likely to be applicable and useful in many different areas of research, such as geophysics, finance, and the life sciences. The necessary MATLAB codes for running NMD are freely available at http://www.physics.lancs.ac.uk/research/nbmphysics/diats/nmd/.Comment: 38 pages, 13 figure

ВЛИЯНИЕ ИНФОРМАЦИОННЫХ ТЕХНОЛОГИЙ НА ФОРМИРОВАНИЕ НРАВСТВЕННЫХ ОСНОВ ГЛОБАЛИЗАЦИОННОГО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ

Wide application of new information technologies in modern educational space is characterized by specifying the whole complex of previously unknown problems (e. g. the problem of information inequality; the problem of information security, etc). However, the expansion and fundamentalization of the information as a category allows considering some educational problems in new way. The authors focus on the problem of stable development as it is impossible without perception and admitting of specific role of information in evolution that takes place in biology and human society. The authors point out that socio-philosophical study of the peculiarities and role of information in the educational system requires consideration of the following aspects. First, it is the role of a teacher that gradually shifts from a lecturer to a supervisor. This role is very significant even more than lecturer’s role. Second, the stages of scientific progress forward a teacher to further training and application of new professional knowledge, new technologies, computer skills and information culture etc. The system of state education is considered to be the most important element of national security and all that happens in this field is of great importance. One of the key questions is the question about government. This is its task to make conditions and train the specialists who are in demand and to raise the general cultural and intellectual level of society. The role of the government is to give the right to a citizen for higher education by means of competition.Расширение диапазона использования новых информационных технологий в условиях формирования современного образовательного пространства характеризуется детерминацией целого комплекса неизвестных ранее проблем (например, проблема информационного неравенства; проблема информационной безопасности и т. д.). Вместе с тем расширение и фундаментализация категориального статуса информации позволяет по-новому рассматривать ряд образовательных проблем. Особое место среди них занимает проблема устойчивого развития, что невозможно без основательного осмысления роли информации в эволюционных процессах, которые происходят как в биологических системах, так и в человеческом обществе. Социально-философское исследование особенностей роли информации в образовательной системе предполагает учет следующих принципиальных моментов. Во-первых, роль преподавателя, смещаясь в сторону координатора, не теряет своей значимости, более того, по наблюдениям, она является еще более востребованной. Это связано с необходимостью оперативного отсечения опасной информации, что может сделать грамотный преподаватель, выступающий в роли экскурсовода в море информации. Во-вторых, темпы научно-технического прогресса вынуждают преподавателя постоянно обновлять свои профессиональные знания и использовать новые технологии, повышать свою компьютерную грамотность и информационную культуру и т. д. В то же время система государственного образования – один из важнейших элементов национальной безопасности, и неудивительно, что происходящее в этой сфере волнует всех. Одним из центральных является вопрос о роли государства. Именно оно обязано создать все условия и обеспечить, с одной стороны, подготовку необходимых стране специалистов, а с другой – поднять общекультурный и интеллектуальный уровень общества, предоставив в соответствии с Конституцией реальное право каждому гражданину на получение высшего образования на конкурсной основе