New Teaching Strategies to Improve Student Performance in Fundamentals of Biotechnology

<p>Fundamentals in Biotechnology is part of the Chemical Engineering curriculum at the National University at Salta, in northwest Argentina. This course, given for four months in the fourth year of a five-year program of study, includes concepts of general microbiology, biochemistry, and industrial microbiology and is the first contact by the students with biological issues. Probably due to the long content of the course and to the lack of previous knowledge of biological and microbiological concepts, students have a lot of difficulty passing this course. In order to reach a better understanding of the concepts, to encourage students to learn biotechnology, and to develop critical thinking skills with the ultimate aim of improving performance, two new strategies were adopted, which consisted of including “Complementary Activities” and an “Integration Seminar.”</p

Complete Genome Sequence and Methylome Analysis of Micrococcus luteus SA211, a Halophilic, Lithium-Tolerant Actinobacterium from Argentina

Micrococcus luteus has been found in a wide range of habitats. We report the complete genome sequence and methylome analysis of strain SA211 isolated from a hypersaline, lithium-rich, high-altitude salt flat in Argentina with single-molecule real-time sequencing.Fil: Martínez, Fabiana Lilian. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Salta. Instituto de Investigaciones para la Industria Química. Universidad Nacional de Salta. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Investigaciones para la Industria Química; Argentina. University of Maryland; Estados UnidosFil: Anton, B. P.. New England Biolabs; Estados UnidosFil: DasSarma, P.. University of Maryland; Estados UnidosFil: Rajal, Verónica Beatriz. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Salta. Instituto de Investigaciones para la Industria Química. Universidad Nacional de Salta. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Investigaciones para la Industria Química; ArgentinaFil: Irazusta, Verónica Patricia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Salta. Instituto de Investigaciones para la Industria Química. Universidad Nacional de Salta. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Investigaciones para la Industria Química; ArgentinaFil: Roberts, Roy. New England Biolabs; Estados UnidosFil: DasSarma, S.. University of Maryland; Estados Unido

Comparación de la eficiencia de extracción de ácidos nucleicos utilizando distintos kits comerciales y empleando la qPCR: Efecto de las sustancias inhibidoras Comparison of nucleic acid extraction efficiency using different commercial kits and qPCR: Effect of inhibitors

La detección de secuencias específicas de ácidos nucleicos (AN) empleando PCR revolucionó las ciencias biológicas y médicas. La PCR en tiempo real (qPCR) incorporó la posibilidad de obtener resultados cuantitativos. Una etapa decisiva previa a la qPCR es la extracción de AN, en la que se pueden producir tanto la remoción como la extracción conjunta de sustancias inhibidoras de la reacción enzimática, lo que afectará la eficiencia de amplificación. En el presente trabajo se realizó una comparación entre los kits de extracción comerciales Qiagen, Invitrogen y Macherey-Nagel, utilizados para extraer ADN de Trypanosoma cruzi de sangre murina artificialmente infectada y ARN de PP7, bacteriófago de Pseudomonas aeruginosa, sembrado en matrices acuosas, en presencia o ausencia de inhibidores. La eficiencia de recuperación de AN en muestras sin inhibidores fue similar para los tres kits de extracción. El kit de Invitrogen fue el único que no se vio afectado por la presencia de inhibidores en las muestras.The detection of specific nucleic acid (NA) sequences by PCR has revolutionized the biological and medical sciences. Real-time PCR (qPCR) opened up the possibility of obtaining quantitative results. NA extraction is a decisive step prior to qPCR since it may produce either the removal or co-extraction of inhibitory substances of the enzymatic reaction, which in turn affects the amplification efficiency. In the present work we compared the commercial NA extraction kits from Qiagen, Invitrogen and Macherey-Nagel, which were used to extract DNA from mice blood artificially infected with Trypanosoma cruzi and PP7 RNA, Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteriophage, in spiked aqueous matrices. NA recovery efficiency in samples without inhibitors was similar for the three extraction kits. However, the Invitrogen kit was the only one that remained unaffected in the presence of inhibitors in the samples

Spatial and hydrologic variation of Bacteroidales, adenovirus and enterovirus in a semi-arid, wastewater effluent-impacted watershed

Bacteroidales and viruses were contemporaneously measured during dry and wet weather conditions at a watershed-scale in a semi-arid watershed impacted by a mixture of agricultural runoff, municipal wastewater effluent and municipal runoff. The results highlight the presence of municipal wastewater effluent as a confounding factor for microbial source tracking (MST) studies, and thus data were segregated into groups based on whether they were impacted by wastewater effluent. In semi-arid environments such as the Calleguas Creek watershed, located in southern California, the relative contribution of municipal wastewater effluent is dependent on hydrology as storm events lead to conditions where agricultural and municipal stormwater dominate receiving waters (rather than municipal wastewater, which is the case during dry weather). As such, the approach to data segregation was dependent on hydrology/storm conditions. Storm events led to significant increases in ruminant- and dog-associated Bacteroidales concentrations, indicating that overland transport connects strong non-human fecal sources with surface waters. Because the dataset had a large number of non-detect samples, data handling included the Kaplan–Meir estimator and data were presented graphically in a manner that reflects the potential effect of detection limits. In surface water samples with virus detections, Escherichia coli concentrations were often below (in compliance with) the recreational water quality criteria. In fact, sites downstream of direct inputs of municipal wastewater effluent exhibited the lowest concentrations of E. coli, but the highest concentrations of human-associated Bacteroidales and highest detection rates of human viruses. The toolkit, comprised of the four Bacteroidales assays and human virus assays used, can be successfully applied to inform watershed managers seeking to comply with recreational water quality criteria. However, care should be taken when analyzing data to account for the effect of non-detect samples, sources with differing microbial viability, and diverging hydrologic conditions.Fil: Bambic, Dustin G.. University of California at Davis; Estados UnidosFil: Kildare Hann, Beverly J.. University of California at Davis; Estados UnidosFil: Rajal, Verónica Beatriz. University of California at Davis; Estados Unidos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Sturm, Belinda S. M.. University of California at Davis; Estados UnidosFil: Minton, Chris B.. Larry Walker Associates; Estados UnidosFil: Schriewer, Alexander. University of California at Davis; Estados UnidosFil: Wuertz, Stefan. University of California at Davis; Estados Unidos. Nanyang Technological University; Singapu

Analysis of the circulation of hepatitis A virus in Argentina since vaccine introduction

Fil: Fernández, María D Blanco. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Cátedra de Virología; Argentina.Fil: Torres, Carolina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Cátedra de Virología; Argentina.Fil: Riviello-López, Gabriela. Laboratorio químico Prefectura Naval Argentina; Argentina.Fil: Poma, Hugo R. Universidad Nacional de Salta. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Investigaciones para la Industria Química; Salta, Argentina.Fil: Rajal, Verónica B. Universidad Nacional de Salta. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Investigaciones para la Industria Química; Salta, Argentina.Fil: Nates, Silvia V. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Instituto de Virología; Argentina.Fil: Cisterna, Daniel. ANLIS Dr.C.G.Malbrán. Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Infecciosas. Servicio de Neurovirosis; Argentina.Fil: Campos, R. H. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Cátedra de Virología; Argentina.Fil: Mbayed, Viviana A. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Cátedra de Virología; Argentina.Hepatitis A virus (HAV) has shown intermediate endemicity in Argentina, but its incidence has decreased since vaccine introduction in 2005. Environmental surveillance was conducted in five rivers from Argentina from 2005 to 2012, complementing clinical information. HAV detection decreased since 2005, although its circulation continues, maintaining viral diversity but not undergoing antigenic drift. Most sequences belonged to subgenotype IA, closely related to Argentinean clinical sequences, but one belonged to proposed subgenotype IC, previously undetected in the country. Environmental surveillance might contribute to monitoring the single-dose vaccination schedule, representing not only strains causing disease but also the circulating population and the viral introductions

Environmental surveillance of norovirus in Argentina revealed distinct viral diversity patterns, seasonality and spatio-temporal diffusion processes

Fil: Fernández Blanco, María D. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Cátedra de Virología; Argentina.Fil: Torres, Carolina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Cátedra de Virología; Argentina.Fil: Poma, Hugo R. Universidad Nacional de Salta. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Investigaciones para la Industria Química; Argentina.Fil: Riviello-López, Gabriela. Prefectura Naval Argentina. Laboratorio Químico; Argentina.Fil: Martínez, Laura C. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Instituto de Virología “Dr. J.M. Vanella”; Argentina.Fil: Cisterna, Daniel M. ANLIS Dr.C.G.Malbrán. Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Infecciosas; Argentina.Fil: Rajal, Verónica B. Universidad Nacional de Salta. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Investigaciones para la Industria Química; Argentina.Fil: Nates, Silvia V. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Instituto de Virología “Dr. J.M. Vanella”; Argentina.Fil: Mbayed, Viviana A. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Cátedra de Virología; Argentina.Norovirus (NoV) contamination was evaluated in five rivers of Argentina between 2005 and 2011. NoV was present in all sampled rivers, with distinct NoV patterns in waters impacted by different-sized communities. In rivers affected by medium-sized populations (Salta and Córdoba cities) only one or two genotypes were present, GII.4 being the main one, with winter seasonality. In contrast, in the much more heavily populated area of Buenos Aires city the prevalent GII.4 was accompanied by several additional genotypes (GII.4, GII.b, GII.2, GII.7, GII.17, GII.e and GII.g) and one ungenotyped GII NoV, with no clear seasonality. GII.4 2006b was the main variant detected (60.9%). Phylogeographic and phylodynamic analyses performed in region D of the VP1 gene showed a most recent common ancestor in 2002 and a substitution rate of 3.7×10(-3) substitutions per site per year (HPD95%=2.3×10(-3)-5.2×10(-3)) for this variant still involving a significant population size with a slight decrease since 2008. The spatio-temporal diffusion analysis proposed Europe as an intermediate path between the American Continent and the rest of the World for NoV dissemination. Given the importance of NoV as a cause of epidemic gastroenteritis and the likelihood of its environmental transmission, the results of this work should increase public and institutional awareness of the health risk involved in sewage discharges into the environment. Environmental surveillance of enteric viruses could be a very useful tool not only to prevent waterborne outbreaks, but also to describe the epidemiology of the viruses. The detailed analysis of the viral genomes disposed into the environment contributed to the characterization of the dissemination, diversity and seasonality of NoV in its natural host population. In future studies, environmental surveillance and molecular analysis should be complemented with a quantitative viral risk assessment for estimating the disease burden from viruses in the environment

Making waves: Wastewater surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 for population-based health management

Worldwide, clinical data remain the gold standard for disease surveillance and tracking. However, such data are limited due to factors such as reporting bias and inability to track asymptomatic disease carriers. Disease agents are excreted in the urine and feces of infected individuals regardless of disease symptom severity. Wastewater surveillance – that is, monitoring disease via human effluent – represents a valuable complement to clinical approaches. Because wastewater is relatively inexpensive and easy to collect and can be monitored at different levels of population aggregation as needed, wastewater surveillance can offer a real-time, cost-effective view of a community's health that is independent of biases associated with case-reporting. For SARS-CoV-2 and other disease-causing agents we envision an aggregate wastewater-monitoring system at the level of a wastewater treatment plant and exploratory or confirmatory monitoring of the sewerage system at the neighborhood scale to identify or confirm clusters of infection or assess impact of control measures where transmission has been established. Implementation will require constructing a framework with collaborating government agencies, public or private utilities, and civil society organizations for appropriate use of data collected from wastewater, identification of an appropriate scale of sample collection and aggregation to balance privacy concerns and risk of stigmatization with public health preservation, and consideration of the social implications of wastewater surveillance.Fil: Thompson, Janelle R. Nanyang Technological University.; SingapurFil: Nancharaiah, Yarlagadda V. Bhabha Atomic Research Centre; IndiaFil: Gu, Xiaoqiong. National University of Singapore; SingapurFil: Lee, Wei Lin. National University of Singapore; SingapurFil: Rajal, Verónica Beatriz. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Salta. Instituto de Investigaciones para la Industria Química. Universidad Nacional de Salta. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Investigaciones para la Industria Química; ArgentinaFil: Haines, Monamie B. Campus For Research Excellence And Technological Enterp; SingapurFil: Girones, Rosina. Universidad de Barcelona. Facultad de Biología; EspañaFil: Ng, Lee Ching. Environmental Health Institute; SingapurFil: Alm, Eric J. National University of Singapore; Singapur. Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Estados UnidosFil: Wuertz, Stefan. Nanyang Technological University. Singapore Centre For Environmental Life Sciences Engineering.; Singapu