Evaluasi Ketahanan Terhadap Penyakit Kudis Dan Produksi Beberapa Kultivar Ubijalar

Evaluation of scab disease resistance and production on sweet potato cultivars. This study was aimed to determine the resistance of local sweet potato cultivars to scab disease in West Papua and the cultivar production. Research was carried out for 6.5 months starting in April 2014. Evaluation of resistance of local sweet potato cultivars and production was designed using a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. The treatment consists of six local cultivars, namely Mouwebsi, Kuyage-2, Bonsasarai, Inanwatan-4, Wonembai, and Abomourow. There was no inoculation treatment on the field because Papua was endemic region to the scab disease. Data analysis was performed using analysis of variance (ANOVA), followed by DMRT test at level of 95%. Cultivars tested had different responses to the long tendrils of parameters and number of branches. The intensity of the disease in Bonsasarai cultivars was 31.7% (moderately resistant), while in Mouwebsi was 13.75%, Wonembai 8.33%, Kuyage-2 0.42%, Abomourow and Inanwatan-4, 0% categorized as resistant cultivars. The tuber weight of Abomourow (4.55 ton/ha) was higher than that of Mouwebsi (3.80 ton/ha), Wonembai (3.62 ton/ha), Bonsasarai (2.28 ton/ha), and Inanwatan-4 (1.12 ton/ha)

Engineering properties, phase evolution and microstructure of the iron-rich aluminosilicates-cement based composites: Cleaner production of energy efficient and sustainable materials

This paper investigates the direct transformation of laterites (natural iron-rich aluminosilicates) to cementitious composites with principal mineral phases being Gismondine and Stratlingite. The effects of particles size distribution and cement content (2 to 8 wt%) on the mechanical properties and microstructure of laterite-cement composites are assessed. Four grades of granulometry with various percentages of fine and coarse particles were considered. The Environment Scanning Electron Microscopy (ESEM), Mercury Intrusion Porosimetry (MIP), Fourier Transformed Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR) and X-ray Powder Diffractometry (XRD) were performed after 1, 90 and 365 days, to assess the phase's evolution, mechanical performance and the microstructure of the laterite-cement composites. It is found that fines particles, essentially pozzolanic and amorphous, are responsible for the bonding strength while coarse particles improve the compressive strength. Dense and compact microstructure, water absorption under 18% and flexural strength above 6 MPa (compressive strength > 30 MPa) could be achieved as from 4 wt% of cement making the laterite-cement composite appropriate as building and construction materials. The choice of a highly corroded class of laterite and the selection of the particle size distribution allows the production of optimum composite that is presented as energy-efficient and sustainable. Thus, corroded or indurated laterites are considered as “green metakaolins” which do not require any energy for their transformation unlike clayey materials

Effects of deletion of the Streptococcus pneumoniae lipoprotein diacylglyceryl transferase gene lgt on ABC transporter function and on growth in vivo

Lipoproteins are an important class of surface associated proteins that have diverse roles and frequently are involved in the virulence of bacterial pathogens. As prolipoproteins are attached to the cell membrane by a single enzyme, prolipoprotein diacylglyceryl transferase (Lgt), deletion of the corresponding gene potentially allows the characterisation of the overall importance of lipoproteins for specific bacterial functions. We have used a Δlgt mutant strain of Streptococcus pneumoniae to investigate the effects of loss of lipoprotein attachment on cation acquisition, growth in media containing specific carbon sources, and virulence in different infection models. Immunoblots of triton X-114 extracts, flow cytometry and immuno-fluorescence microscopy confirmed the Δlgt mutant had markedly reduced lipoprotein expression on the cell surface. The Δlgt mutant had reduced growth in cation depleted medium, increased sensitivity to oxidative stress, reduced zinc uptake, and reduced intracellular levels of several cations. Doubling time of the Δlgt mutant was also increased slightly when grown in medium with glucose, raffinose and maltotriose as sole carbon sources. These multiple defects in cation and sugar ABC transporter function for the Δlgt mutant were associated with only slightly delayed growth in complete medium. However the Δlgt mutant had significantly reduced growth in blood or bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and a marked impairment in virulence in mouse models of nasopharyngeal colonisation, sepsis and pneumonia. These data suggest that for S. pneumoniae loss of surface localisation of lipoproteins has widespread effects on ABC transporter functions that collectively prevent the Δlgt mutant from establishing invasive infection

Systems Integration of Biodefense Omics Data for Analysis of Pathogen-Host Interactions and Identification of Potential Targets

The NIAID (National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases) Biodefense Proteomics program aims to identify targets for potential vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics for agents of concern in bioterrorism, including bacterial, parasitic, and viral pathogens. The program includes seven Proteomics Research Centers, generating diverse types of pathogen-host data, including mass spectrometry, microarray transcriptional profiles, protein interactions, protein structures and biological reagents. The Biodefense Resource Center (www.proteomicsresource.org) has developed a bioinformatics framework, employing a protein-centric approach to integrate and support mining and analysis of the large and heterogeneous data. Underlying this approach is a data warehouse with comprehensive protein + gene identifier and name mappings and annotations extracted from over 100 molecular databases. Value-added annotations are provided for key proteins from experimental findings using controlled vocabulary. The availability of pathogen and host omics data in an integrated framework allows global analysis of the data and comparisons across different experiments and organisms, as illustrated in several case studies presented here. (1) The identification of a hypothetical protein with differential gene and protein expressions in two host systems (mouse macrophage and human HeLa cells) infected by different bacterial (Bacillus anthracis and Salmonella typhimurium) and viral (orthopox) pathogens suggesting that this protein can be prioritized for additional analysis and functional characterization. (2) The analysis of a vaccinia-human protein interaction network supplemented with protein accumulation levels led to the identification of human Keratin, type II cytoskeletal 4 protein as a potential therapeutic target. (3) Comparison of complete genomes from pathogenic variants coupled with experimental information on complete proteomes allowed the identification and prioritization of ten potential diagnostic targets from Bacillus anthracis. The integrative analysis across data sets from multiple centers can reveal potential functional significance and hidden relationships between pathogen and host proteins, thereby providing a systems approach to basic understanding of pathogenicity and target identification

Two Group A Streptococcal Peptide Pheromones Act through Opposing Rgg Regulators to Control Biofilm Development

Streptococcus pyogenes (Group A Streptococcus, GAS) is an important human commensal that occasionally causes localized infections and less frequently causes severe invasive disease with high mortality rates. How GAS regulates expression of factors used to colonize the host and avoid immune responses remains poorly understood. Intercellular communication is an important means by which bacteria coordinate gene expression to defend against host assaults and competing bacteria, yet no conserved cell-to-cell signaling system has been elucidated in GAS. Encoded within the GAS genome are four rgg-like genes, two of which (rgg2 and rgg3) have no previously described function. We tested the hypothesis that rgg2 or rgg3 rely on extracellular peptides to control target-gene regulation. We found that Rgg2 and Rgg3 together tightly regulate two linked genes encoding new peptide pheromones. Rgg2 activates transcription of and is required for full induction of the pheromone genes, while Rgg3 plays an antagonistic role and represses pheromone expression. The active pheromone signals, termed SHP2 and SHP3, are short and hydrophobic (DI[I/L]IIVGG), and, though highly similar in sequence, their ability to disrupt Rgg3-DNA complexes were observed to be different, indicating that specificity and differential activation of promoters are characteristics of the Rgg2/3 regulatory circuit. SHP-pheromone signaling requires an intact oligopeptide permease (opp) and a metalloprotease (eep), supporting the model that pro-peptides are secreted, processed to the mature form, and subsequently imported to the cytoplasm to interact directly with the Rgg receptors. At least one consequence of pheromone stimulation of the Rgg2/3 pathway is increased biogenesis of biofilms, which counteracts negative regulation of biofilms by RopB (Rgg1). These data provide the first demonstration that Rgg-dependent quorum sensing functions in GAS and substantiate the role that Rggs play as peptide receptors across the Firmicute phylum

A Low Thermal Conductivity of Lightweight Laterite-cement Composites with Cotton Wastes Fibres

The development of eco- friendly environmental and sustainable building materials having low thermal conductivity and optimal physic-chemical abilities ensuring passive thermal comfort is imperative in the global quest for the minimization of greenhouse-gases (GHG) emission and energy needs in homes. To attend this objective, the present work underlines the feasibility of using waste cotton fibres for the design of the lightweight laterite-cement composites with low thermal conductivity for structural applications. The final products were obtained by replacing laterite cement composite with cotton wastes fibres (0.3-0.6 wt%) and then uniaxial pressing around 14 MPa. The thermo-engineering and structural properties were performed using several techniques: X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope (ESEM), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), mechanical properties as well as thermal conductivity. This process accounts for the optimum (0.78 W.m−1. K−1) structural material made with 6 wt% cement, 0.6 wt% cotton fibres and better packing density of laterites particles (50/50). Regardless of the particle size distribution of aggregates (laterite), the increase of cotton fibres content resulted in lowering mechanical performances. This is due to the creation of pores and the weakness adhesion between the cellulosic fibres and laterites particles within the matrix. In addition, the presence of cellulose within a matrix enhanced the crystallinity of cementitious phases (CASFH and CASH) of the end-products. The formulated samples with the reduction around 29% of embodied energy compared to the conventional materials, appears as a promising eco-friendly composite with good thermal comfort, small-embodied energy and low environmental impact through sustainable process

Vascular endothelial growth factor B controls endothelial fatty acid uptake

Signal transduction in aging related disease