Analysis of LhcSR3, a Protein Essential for Feedback De-Excitation in the Green Alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

To prevent photodamage by excess light, plants use different proteins to sense pH changes and to dissipate excited energy states. In green microalgae, however, the LhcSR3 gene product is able to perform both pH sensing and energy quenching functions

In Silico and Biochemical Analysis of Physcomitrella patens Photosynthetic Antenna: Identification of Subunits which Evolved upon Land Adaptation

Background. In eukaryotes the photosynthetic antenna system is composed of subunits encoded by the light harvesting complex (Lhc) multigene family. These proteins play a key role in photosynthesis and are involved in both light harvesting and photoprotection. The moss Physcomitrella patens is a member of a lineage that diverged from seed plants early after land colonization and therefore by studying this organism, we may gain insight into adaptations to the aerial environment. Principal Findings. In this study, we characterized the antenna protein multigene family in Physcomitrella patens, by sequence analysis as well as biochemical and functional investigations. Sequence identification and analysis showed that some antenna polypeptides, such as Lhcb3 and Lhcb6, are present only in land organisms, suggesting they play a role in adaptation to the sub-aerial environment. Our functional analysis which showed that photo-protective mechanisms in Physcomitrella patens are very similar to those in seed plants fits with this hypothesis. In particular, Physcomitrella patens also activates Non Photochemical Quenching upon illumination, consistent with the detection of an ortholog of the PsbS protein. As a further adaptation to terrestrial conditions, the content of Photosystem I low energy absorbing chlorophylls also increased, as demonstrated by differences in Lhca3 and Lhca4 polypeptide sequences, in vitro reconstitution experiments and low temperature fluorescence spectra. Conclusions. This study highlights the role of Lhc family members in environmental adaptation and allowed proteins associated with mechanisms of stress resistance to be identified within this large family

Cardiopoietic cell therapy for advanced ischemic heart failure: results at 39 weeks of the prospective, randomized, double blind, sham-controlled CHART-1 clinical trial

Cardiopoietic cells, produced through cardiogenic conditioning of patients' mesenchymal stem cells, have shown preliminary efficacy. The Congestive Heart Failure Cardiopoietic Regenerative Therapy (CHART-1) trial aimed to validate cardiopoiesis-based biotherapy in a larger heart failure cohort

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PERIPHERAL BLOOD LYMPHOCYTE SUBSETS IN PATIENTS WITH SALMONELLOSIS

ABSTRACT USA). It was found out that B lymphocytes (CD19+) and total killer cells (CD56+) were significantly higher in patients with severe infection compared to those with moderate salmonellosis (p=0.03 and 0.01 respectively). On the contrary, T helper lymphocytes (CD3+CD4+) showed a tendency to decrease in patients with severe salmonellosis (p=0.04). In the acute disease stage T helper lymphocytes and total killer cell

XI ANNIVERSARY SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCE SPECIAL EDITION/ON-LINE 120 YEARS OF ACADEMIC EDUCATION IN BIOLOGY 45 YEARS FACULTY OF BIOLOGY ACTIVE BIOMONITORING OF ECOTOXICOLOGICAL EFFECTS FROM TROPOSPHERIC OZONE IMPACT ON REPRESENTATIVE TREE SPECIES

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