The complete genome sequence of Chromobacterium violaceum reveals remarkable and exploitable bacterial adaptability

Chromobacterium violaceum is one of millions of species of free-living microorganisms that populate the soil and water in the extant areas of tropical biodiversity around the world. Its complete genome sequence reveals (i) extensive alternative pathways for energy generation, (ii) ≈500 ORFs for transport-related proteins, (iii) complex and extensive systems for stress adaptation and motility, and (iv) wide-spread utilization of quorum sensing for control of inducible systems, all of which underpin the versatility and adaptability of the organism. The genome also contains extensive but incomplete arrays of ORFs coding for proteins associated with mammalian pathogenicity, possibly involved in the occasional but often fatal cases of human C. violaceum infection. There is, in addition, a series of previously unknown but important enzymes and secondary metabolites including paraquat-inducible proteins, drug and heavy-metal-resistance proteins, multiple chitinases, and proteins for the detoxification of xenobiotics that may have biotechnological applications

Caracterização isoenzimática de clones de bananeira nanicão submetidos à salinidade Isoenzyme characterization of the clones of banana nanicão subjected to salinity

O presente trabalho teve o objetivo de identificar possíveis variações isoenzimáticas em plantas de bananeira, provenientes de gemas da cultivar nanicão, submetidas à pressão de seleção in vitro, com 80 e 100 mol m-3 de NaCl. Após aclimatadas, as plantas foram transferidas para solo com diferentes níveis de salinidade do extrato de saturação do solo (CEe de 0,2, 7,0 e 14,0 dS m-1) e cultivadas, durante 30 dias, em casa-de-vegetação. Em solo com CEe de 14,0 dS m-1 as plantas não resistiram à salinidade. Dos sistemas isoenzimáticos analisados, apenas o sistema peroxidase apresentou atividade em todas as amostras de tecido foliar analisadas. As plantas regeneradas a partir de gemas submetidas ao estresse salino in vitro, apresentaram bandas anódicas e catódicas nos tratamentos com 0,2 e 7,0 dS m-1, enquanto as plantas provenientes de gemas não tratadas em meio salino, apresentaram apenas bandas catódicas. Alterações em número e intensidade de bandas isoenzimáticas podem ser decorrentes de variações somaclonais induzidas pelo estresse salino imposto durante o cultivo in vitro.This study is aimed to identify isoenzimatic variations in banana plants derived from buds of cultivar nanicão subjected to in vitro selection with 80 and 100 mol m-3 of NaCl. After acclimatization, plants were cultivated for 30 days in a greenhouse, under different levels of soil salinity of saturation extracts (ECe = 0.2, 7.0 and 14.0 dS m-1). Plants cultivated in soil with 14.0 dS m-1 did not resist the stress. Among the isoenzimatic systems evaluated, only peroxidase system showed activity in all the leaf samples. Plants regenerated from buds subjected to in vitro saline stress presented anodic and cathodic bands for treatments with 0.2 and 7.0 dS m-1, while plants formed from buds grown on salt free medium showed only cathodic bands. Alterations of band number and intensity could be due to somaclonal variation induced by salt stress during in vitro culture

Swine and Poultry Pathogens: the Complete Genome Sequences of Two Strains of Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae and a Strain of Mycoplasma synoviae

This work reports the results of analyses of three complete mycoplasma genomes, a pathogenic (7448) and a nonpathogenic (J) strain of the swine pathogen Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae and a strain of the avian pathogen Mycoplasma synoviae; the genome sizes of the three strains were 920,079 bp, 897,405 bp, and 799,476 bp, respectively. These genomes were compared with other sequenced mycoplasma genomes reported in the literature to examine several aspects of mycoplasma evolution. Strain-specific regions, including integrative and conjugal elements, and genome rearrangements and alterations in adhesin sequences were observed in the M. hyopneumoniae strains, and all of these were potentially related to pathogenicity. Genomic comparisons revealed that reduction in genome size implied loss of redundant metabolic pathways, with maintenance of alternative routes in different species. Horizontal gene transfer was consistently observed between M. synoviae and Mycoplasma gallisepticum. Our analyses indicated a likely transfer event of hemagglutinin-coding DNA sequences from M. gallisepticum to M. synoviae