Mineralogical and geochemical study of mud volcanoes in north Moroccan atlantic margin

The gulf of Cadiz is one of the most interesting areas to study mud volcanoes and structures related to cold fluid seeps since their discovery in 1999. In this study, we present results from gravity cores collected from Ginsburg and Meknes mud volcanoes and from circular structure located in the gulf of Cadiz (North Atlantic Moroccan margin) during the cruise TTR14 in 2004 on board of the R/V Logachev. The clay mineralogical analysis by XRD shows a difference in clay mineral amounts mainly in smectite between the different studied structures. Ginsburg MV shows high percentage of smectite with an average of 44% whereas Meknes MV displays illite rich clay association, smectite average percentage is about 16%. In circular structure, amount of smectite is about 13%. This variation in clay mineralogy association between the mud volcanoes suggests different nature and depth of parent layers and fluids feeding the mud volcanoes in gulf of Cadiz.Key word: Mud volcano, clay mineralogy, geochemistry, mud breccias, North Moroccan Atlantic margin

A New Role for Translation Initiation Factor 2 in Maintaining Genome Integrity

Escherichia coli translation initiation factor 2 (IF2) performs the unexpected function of promoting transition from recombination to replication during bacteriophage Mu transposition in vitro, leading to initiation by replication restart proteins. This function has suggested a role of IF2 in engaging cellular restart mechanisms and regulating the maintenance of genome integrity. To examine the potential effect of IF2 on restart mechanisms, we characterized its influence on cellular recovery following DNA damage by methyl methanesulfonate (MMS) and UV damage. Mutations that prevent expression of full-length IF2-1 or truncated IF2-2 and IF2-3 isoforms affected cellular growth or recovery following DNA damage differently, influencing different restart mechanisms. A deletion mutant (del1) expressing only IF2-2/3 was severely sensitive to growth in the presence of DNA-damaging agent MMS. Proficient as wild type in repairing DNA lesions and promoting replication restart upon removal of MMS, this mutant was nevertheless unable to sustain cell growth in the presence of MMS; however, growth in MMS could be partly restored by disruption of sulA, which encodes a cell division inhibitor induced during replication fork arrest. Moreover, such characteristics of del1 MMS sensitivity were shared by restart mutant priA300, which encodes a helicase-deficient restart protein. Epistasis analysis indicated that del1 in combination with priA300 had no further effects on cellular recovery from MMS and UV treatment; however, the del2/3 mutation, which allows expression of only IF2-1, synergistically increased UV sensitivity in combination with priA300. The results indicate that full-length IF2, in a function distinct from truncated forms, influences the engagement or activity of restart functions dependent on PriA helicase, allowing cellular growth when a DNA–damaging agent is present

Virulence in bacteriophage Mu: a case of trans-dominant proteolysis by the Escherichia coli Clp serine protease.

The importance of proteases in gene regulation is well documented in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic systems. Here we describe the first example of genetic regulation controlled by the Escherichia coli Clp ATP-dependent serine protease. Virulent mutants of bacteriophage Mu, which carry a particular mutation in their repressor gene (vir mutation), successfully infect Mu lysogens and induce the resident Mu prophage. We show that the mutated repressors have an abnormally short half-life due to an increased susceptibility to Clp-dependent degradation. This susceptibility is communicated to the wild type repressor present in the same cell, which provides the Muvir phages with their trans-dominant phenotype. To our knowledge this is the first case where the instability of a mutant protein is shown to trigger the degradation of its wild type parent

Effect of KNO3 to remove silver interferences in the determination of mercury(II): Application in milk and breast milk samples

Mercury determination was performed at rotating silver electrode (RSE) using square wave voltammetry (SWV) in electrolytic mixture of HCl (0.1 mol L−1) and KNO3 (0.2 mol L−1). The reproducibility, sensitivity and accuracy are good, provided the proper instrumental parameters and supporting electrolyte are used. The relationship between the peak current of mercury(II) and its concentration is linear with regression equation: I(μA) = 0.784 [Hg(II)] + 49.5 (r2 = 0.9878) in the dynamic range from 1.0 × 10−7 to 8.0 × 10−4 mol L−1. The detection limit (DL,3σ) and quantification limit (QL,10σ) were 4.61 × 10−8 mol L−1 and 15.3 × 10−8 mol L−1, respectively. The relative standard deviation (RSD) for seven replicate analysis of a solution containing 5.0 × 10−5 mol L−1 was 2.19%. Possible effects of Cu, Co, Fe, MnO4, Zn, were investigated but did not cause any significant interferences. Immobilization of mercury(II) on the surface of rotating silver electrode obeyed to the Langmuir adsorption isotherm. The calculated ΔG°ads value showed that the interaction between mercury and silver electrodes is mainly controlled by a chemisorption process. This methodology was potentially applied for mercury determination in milk and breast milk samples

Silver particles-modified carbon paste electrodes for differential pulse voltammetric determination of paraquat in ambient water samples

This paper describes the construction of silver particles-impregnated carbon paste electrode (Ag-CPE). The new electrode revealed an interesting determination of paraquat (II). The latter was accumulated on the modified electrode surface by adsorption onto silver particles and was reduced in 0.1 mol L−1 of Na2SO4 electrolyte at −0.70 V and −1.0 V for peaks 1 and 2, respectively. Experimental conditions were optimized by varying the heating temperature of the silver/carbon composite, the Ag/CP ratio, pH of measuring solution and accumulation time. Under the optimized working conditions, calibration graphs were linear for the concentration ranging from 1.0 × 10−7 to 1.0 × 10−3 mol L−1 with detection limits (DL, 3σ) 3.3 and 6.4 × 10−9 mol L−1, respectively, for peaks 1 and 2. The precision of this methodology was evaluated for eight successive measurements of the same samples containing 1.0 × 10−4 mol L−1 of paraquat. The relative standard deviations (D.S.R.) were 1.9% and 2.4% for the peaks 1 and 2, respectively. The Ag/CP composite was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and BET adsorption analysis