Crystal structure and stability of gyrase–fluoroquinolone cleaved complexes from Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) infects one-third of the world’s population and in 2013 accounted for 1.5 million deaths. Fluoroquinolone antibacterials, which target DNA gyrase, are critical agents used to halt the progression from multidrug-resistant tuberculosis to extensively resistant disease; however, fluoroquinolone resistance is emerging and new ways to bypass resistance are required. To better explain known differences in fluoroquinolone action, the crystal structures of the WT Mtb DNA gyrase cleavage core and a fluoroquinolone-sensitized mutant were determined in complex with DNA and five fluoroquinolones. The structures, ranging from 2.4- to 2.6-Å resolution, show that the intrinsically low susceptibility of Mtb to fluoroquinolones correlates with a reduction in contacts to the water shell of an associated magnesium ion, which bridges fluoroquinolone–gyrase interactions. Surprisingly, the structural data revealed few differences in fluoroquinolone–enzyme contacts from drugs that have very different activities against Mtb. By contrast, a stability assay using purified components showed a clear relationship between ternary complex reversibility and inhibitory activities reported with cultured cells. Collectively, our data indicate that the stability of fluoroquinolone/DNA interactions is a major determinant of fluoroquinolone activity and that moieties that have been appended to the C7 position of different quinolone scaffolds do not take advantage of specific contacts that might be made with the enzyme. These concepts point to new approaches for developing quinolone-class compounds that have increased potency against Mtb and the ability to overcome resistance

The Location and Status of Egret Colonies in Coastal New South Wales

Thirteen active egret colonies were located along 800 km of the NSW coastline from Sydney north to the New South Wales-Queensland border. These colonies contained up to four egret species: Great Ardea alba, Intermediate A. intermedia, Little Egretta garzetta, and Cattle Egrets A. ibis. Each colony site is described and its location given. All colonies were located in or near wetlands, and the factors that may be important in determining which wetland is selected for occupation are discussed. The long term future of breeding colonies is examined and a recommendation made about the reservation of potential colony sites

Fine-mapping of prostate cancer susceptibility loci in a large meta-analysis identifies candidate causal variants

Prostate cancer is a polygenic disease with a large heritable component. A number of common, low-penetrance prostate cancer risk loci have been identified through GWAS. Here we apply the Bayesian multivariate variable selection algorithm JAM to fine-map 84 prostate cancer susceptibility loci, using summary data from a large European ancestry meta-analysis. We observe evidence for multiple independent signals at 12 regions and 99 risk signals overall. Only 15 original GWAS tag SNPs remain among the catalogue of candidate variants identified; the remainder are replaced by more likely candidates. Biological annotation of our credible set of variants indicates significant enrichment within promoter and enhancer elements, and transcription factor-binding sites, including AR, ERG and FOXA1. In 40 regions at least one variant is colocalised with an eQTL in prostate cancer tissue. The refined set of candidate variants substantially increase the proportion of familial relative risk explained by these known susceptibility regions, which highlights the importance of fine-mapping studies and has implications for clinical risk profiling. © 2018 The Author(s).Prostate cancer is a polygenic disease with a large heritable component. A number of common, low-penetrance prostate cancer risk loci have been identified through GWAS. Here we apply the Bayesian multivariate variable selection algorithm JAM to fine-map 84 prostate cancer susceptibility loci, using summary data from a large European ancestry meta-analysis. We observe evidence for multiple independent signals at 12 regions and 99 risk signals overall. Only 15 original GWAS tag SNPs remain among the catalogue of candidate variants identified; the remainder are replaced by more likely candidates. Biological annotation of our credible set of variants indicates significant enrichment within promoter and enhancer elements, and transcription factor-binding sites, including AR, ERG and FOXA1. In 40 regions at least one variant is colocalised with an eQTL in prostate cancer tissue. The refined set of candidate variants substantially increase the proportion of familial relative risk explained by these known susceptibility regions, which highlights the importance of fine-mapping studies and has implications for clinical risk profiling. © 2018 The Author(s).Peer reviewe

Fluoroquinolone interactions with Mycobacterium tuberculosis gyrase: Enhancing drug activity against wild-type and resistant gyrase

Mycobacterium tuberculosis is a significant source of global morbidity and mortality. Moxifloxacin and other fluoroquinolones are important therapeutic agents for the treatment of tuberculosis, particularly multidrug-resistant infections. To guide the development of new quinolone-based agents, it is critical to understand the basis of drug action against M. tuberculosis gyrase and how mutations in the enzyme cause resistance. Therefore, we characterized interactions of fluoroquinolones and related drugs with WT gyrase and enzymes carrying mutations at GyrAA90 and GyrAD94. M. tuberculosis gyrase lacks a conserved serine that anchors a water–metal ion bridge that is critical for quinolone interactions with other bacterial type II topoisomerases. Despite the fact that the serine is replaced by an alanine (i.e., GyrAA90) in M. tuberculosis gyrase, the bridge still forms and plays a functional role in mediating quinolone–gyrase interactions. Clinically relevant mutations at GyrAA90 and GyrAD94 cause quinolone resistance by disrupting the bridge–enzyme interaction, thereby decreasing drug affinity. Fluoroquinolone activity against WT and resistant enzymes is enhanced by the introduction of specific groups at the C7 and C8 positions. By dissecting fluoroquinolone–enzyme interactions, we determined that an 8-methyl-moxifloxacin derivative induces high levels of stable cleavage complexes with WT gyrase and two common resistant enzymes, GyrAA90V and GyrAD94G. 8-Methyl-moxifloxacin was more potent than moxifloxacin against WT M. tuberculosis gyrase and displayed higher activity against the mutant enzymes than moxifloxacin did against WT gyrase. This chemical biology approach to defining drug–enzyme interactions has the potential to identify novel drugs with improved activity against tuberculosis

Estudo quantitativo do nervo frênico de rato albino em função do envelhecimento

<abstract language="eng">The phrenic nerve of albino rats was studied for age changes in number of fibres, myelin sheath thickness and axon calibre. Nerves were excised from three young and three aged rats. There is no significant morphological differences between nerves from young and aged rats and no difference with age was found in the number of fibres, myelin sheath thickness and axon calibre