Combination of degradation pathways for naphthalene utilization in Rhodococcus sp. strain TFB

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.Rhodococcus sp. strain TFB is a metabolic versatile bacterium able to grow on naphthalene as the only carbon and energy source. Applying proteomic, genetic and biochemical approaches, we propose in this paper that, at least, three coordinated but independently regulated set of genes are combined to degrade naphthalene in TFB. First, proteins involved in tetralin degradation are also induced by naphthalene and may carry out its conversion to salicylaldehyde. This is the only part of the naphthalene degradation pathway showing glucose catabolite repression. Second, a salicylaldehyde dehydrogenase activity that converts salicylaldehyde to salicylate is detected in naphthalene-grown cells but not in tetralin- or salicylate-grown cells. Finally, we describe the chromosomally located nag genes, encoding the gentisate pathway for salicylate conversion into fumarate and pyruvate, which are only induced by salicylate and not by naphthalene. This work shows how biodegradation pathways in Rhodococcus sp. strain TFB could be assembled using elements from different pathways mainly because of the laxity of the regulatory systems and the broad specificity of the catabolic enzymes.Work in the authors laboratory was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitivity, grants BIO2011-24003 and CSD2007-00005, and by the Andalusian Government, grants P05-CVI-131 and P07-CVI-2518.Peer Reviewe

The CBRB regulon: Promoter dissection reveals novel insights into the CbrAB expression network in Pseudomonas putida

CbrAB is a high ranked global regulatory system exclusive of the Pseudomonads that responds to carbon limiting conditions. It has become necessary to define the particular regulon of CbrB and discriminate it from the downstream cascades through other regulatory components. We have performed in vivo binding analysis of CbrB in P. putida and determined that it directly controls the expression of at least 61 genes; 20% involved in regulatory functions, including the previously identified CrcZ and CrcY small regulatory RNAs. The remaining are porines or transporters (20%), metabolic enzymes (16%), activities related to protein translation (5%) and orfs of uncharacterised function (38%). Amongst the later, we have selected the operon PP2810-13 to make an exhaustive analysis of the CbrB binding sequences, together with those of crcZ and crcY. We describe the implication of three independent non-palindromic subsites with a variable spacing in three different targets; CrcZ, CrcY and operon PP2810-13 in the CbrAB activation. CbrB is a quite peculiar σN—depen-dent activator since it is barely dependent on phosphorylation for transcriptional activation. With the depiction of the precise contacts of CbrB with the DNA, the analysis of the multi-merisation status and its dependence on other factors such as RpoN o IHF, we propose a model of transcriptional activation.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad BIO2014-57545-

ECM-Regulator timp Is Required for Stem Cell Niche Organization and Cyst Production in the Drosophila Ovary.

The extracellular matrix (ECM) is a pivotal component adult tissues and of many tissue-specific stem cell niches. It provides structural support and regulates niche signaling during tissue maintenance and regeneration. In many tissues, ECM remodeling depends on the regulation of MMP (matrix metalloproteinase) activity by inhibitory TIMP (tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases) proteins. Here, we report that the only Drosophila timp gene is required for maintaining the normal organization and function of the germline stem cell niche in adult females. timp mutant ovaries show reduced levels of both Drosophila Collagen IV α chains. In addition, tissue stiffness and the cellular organization of the ovarian niche are affected in timp mutants. Finally, loss of timp impairs the ability of the germline stem cell niche to generate new cysts. Our results demonstrating a crucial role for timp in tissue organization and gamete production thus provide a link between the regulation of ECM metabolism and tissue homeostasis.We thank J.C.-G. Hombría and A. Page-McCaw for fly stocks and the Developmental Studies Hybridoma Bank from the University of Iowa (USA) for antibodies. The Proteomics Facility at the CNB (CSIC; Madrid, Spain) provided technical support with the iTRAQ analysis. The TEM analysis was performed at the CIC, University of Granada. The help of J. Garrido with S5 Fig is acknowledged. This work was funded by the Spanish MINECO (Grants BFU2009-08013, BFU2012-35446 to AGR, BFU2010-16669 to MDMB and Consolider CSD-2007-00008 to MDMB and AGR), by the Junta de Andalucía (Proyecto de Excelencia P09-CVI-5058 to MDMB and AGR) and by the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER). JRP was supported by a JAE-Doc contract from the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and KF by a Career Development Award from the UK Medical Research Council. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from the Public Library of Science via http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.100576

31 visiones actuales de la transparencia

Treinta y una aportaciones de autores nacionales y extranjeros sobre la transparencia de las instituciones públicas y de los sujetos obligados por la Ley 19/2013 de 9 de diciembre y el derecho de acceso a la información pública

Oxidative discolouration in whole-head and cut lettuce: biochemical and environmental influences on a complex phenotype and potential breeding strategies to improve shelf-life

Lettuce discolouration is a key post-harvest trait. The major enzyme controlling oxidative discolouration has long been considered to be polyphenol oxidase (PPO) however, levels of PPO and subsequent development of discolouration symptoms have not always correlated. The predominance of a latent state of the enzyme in plant tissues combined with substrate activation and contemporaneous suicide inactivation mechanisms are considered as potential explanations for this phenomenon. Leaf tissue physical properties have been associated with subsequent discolouration and these may be influenced by variation in nutrient availability, especially excess nitrogen and head maturity at harvest. Mild calcium and irrigation stress has also been associated with a reduction in subsequent discolouration, although excess irrigation has been linked to increased discolouration potentially through leaf physical properties. These environmental factors, including high temperature and UV light intensities, often have impacts on levels of phenolic compounds linking the environmental responses to the biochemistry of the PPO pathway. Breeding strategies targeting the PALand PPOpathway biochemistry and environmental response genes are discussed as a more cost-effective method of mitigating oxidative discolouration then either modified atmosphere packaging or post-harvest treatments, although current understanding of the biochemistry means that such programs are likely to be limited in nature and it is likely that they will need to be deployed alongside other methods for the foreseeable future

Challenge B: Human sciences in transition scenarios

Coordinators: Josep Martí Pérez (IMF, CSIC), Idoia Murga Castro (IH, CSIC).This challenge is formulated in terms of “humanities in transition,” that is, their approach and articulation in the face of the changes they must undergo to achieve the social weight that, due to their intrinsic relevance, should correspond to them. Faced with these situations that would demand a reinforcement in research and dissemination in diverse aspects of the humanities, from multiple perspectives, paradoxically an adverse panorama is drawn for the development and dissemination of humanistic knowledge, which concerns different factors. Some are related to the consideration of the area of knowledge itself, its organization within the scientific system, the questioning of its own limits, and the interaction with another knowledge. Considering current transition scenarios does not mean having to abandon old objectives, but it adds to the work conducted new objects of study closely related to current reality, such as: the informational revolution; the relations with the ecosystem and the environmental crisis; globalization; the intensification of human mobility and migration flows; the growing economic and social inequality; the frictions derived from the articulation of collective identities; the decolonization of discourses; demographic dynamics; integration of technological advances; and viability and support for alternative models of society.Peer reviewe

Clonal chromosomal mosaicism and loss of chromosome Y in elderly men increase vulnerability for SARS-CoV-2

The pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19) had an estimated overall case fatality ratio of 1.38% (pre-vaccination), being 53% higher in males and increasing exponentially with age. Among 9578 individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 in the SCOURGE study, we found 133 cases (1.42%) with detectable clonal mosaicism for chromosome alterations (mCA) and 226 males (5.08%) with acquired loss of chromosome Y (LOY). Individuals with clonal mosaic events (mCA and/or LOY) showed a 54% increase in the risk of COVID-19 lethality. LOY is associated with transcriptomic biomarkers of immune dysfunction, pro-coagulation activity and cardiovascular risk. Interferon-induced genes involved in the initial immune response to SARS-CoV-2 are also down-regulated in LOY. Thus, mCA and LOY underlie at least part of the sex-biased severity and mortality of COVID-19 in aging patients. Given its potential therapeutic and prognostic relevance, evaluation of clonal mosaicism should be implemented as biomarker of COVID-19 severity in elderly people. Among 9578 individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 in the SCOURGE study, individuals with clonal mosaic events (clonal mosaicism for chromosome alterations and/or loss of chromosome Y) showed an increased risk of COVID-19 lethality

Miradas desde la historia social y la historia intelectual: América Latina en sus culturas: de los procesos independistas a la globalización

Fil: Benito Moya, Silvano G. A. Universidad Católica de Córdoba. Facultad de Filosofía y Humanidades; Argentina.Fil: Universidad Católica de Córdoba. Facultad de Filosofía y Humanidades; Argentina

Involvement of a putative cyclic AMP receptor protein (CRP)-like binding sequence and a CRP-like protein in glucose-mediated catabolite repression of thn genes in Rhodococcus sp. strain TFB

Glucose catabolite repression of tetralin catabolic genes in Rhodococcus sp. strain TFB was shown to be exerted by a protein homologous to transcriptional regulators of the cyclic AMP receptor (CRP)-FNR family. The protein was detected bound to putative CRP-like boxes localized at the promoters of the thnA1 and thnS genes.Work in our laboratory was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, grants BIO2008-01805 and CSD2007-00005, and by the Andalusian government, grants P05-CVI-131 and P07-CVI-2518.Peer reviewe

Searching for a cell-based therapeutic tool for haemophilia A within the embryonic/foetal liver and the aorta-gonads-mesonephros region

The development of new strategies based on cell therapy approaches to correct haemophilia A (HA) requires further insights into new cell populations capable of producing coagulation factor VIII (FVIII) and presenting stable engraftment potential. The major producers of FVIII in the adult are liver sinusoidal endothelial cells (LSECs) and in a lesser degree bone marrowderived cells, both of which have been shown to ameliorate the bleeding phenotype in adult HA mice after transplantation. We have previously shown that cells from the foetal liver (FL) and the aorta-gonads-mesonephros (AGM) haematopoietic locations possess higher LSEC engraftment potential in newborn mice compared with adult-derived LSECs, constituting likely therapeutic targets for the treatment of HA in neonates. However, less is known about the production of FVIII in embryonic locations. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction and Western blot analysis were performed to assess the relative level of FVIII production in different embryonic tissues and at various developmental stages, identifying the FL and AGM region from day 12 (E12) as prominent sources of FVIII. Furthermore, FL-derived VEcadþCD45- Lyve1þ/ endothelial/endothelial progenitor cells, presenting vascular engraftment potential, produced high levels of F8 ribonucleic acid compared with CD45þ blood progenitors or Dlk1þ hepatoblasts. In addition, we show that the E11 AGM explant cultures expanded cells with LSEC repopulation activity, instrumental to further understand signals for in vitro generation of LSECs. Taking into account the capacity for FVIII expression, culture expansion and newborn engraftment potential, these results support the use of cells with foetal characteristics for correction of FVIII deficiency in young individuals