Liver-specific γ-glutamyl carboxylase-deficient mice display bleeding diathesis and short life span

Liver-Specific γ-Glutamyl Carboxylase-Deficient Mice Display Bleeding Diathesis and Short Life Span. Azuma K, Tsukui T, Ikeda K, Shiba S, Nakagawa K, et al. PLOS ONE. 2014. 9(2) doi:10.1371/journal.pone.008864

DIVERSITY OF BACILLUS GENOTYPES IN SOIL SAMPLES FROM EL-OMAYED BIOSPHERE RESERVE IN EGYPT

Sequencing of the 16S rDNA hypervariant region was applied to determine the presence and composition of Bacillus species in 40 soil samples randomly collected from different habitats in El-Omayed biosphere reserve, Egypt. Although purified cultures showed 18 different phenotypes that were morphologically distinct on a sporulation medium plate, only 4 different nucleotide sequences designated Seq A, B, C and D were revealed. Computational analysis of DNA sequence data suggested that 17 of these isolates are closely related members of the Bacillus cereus/thuringiensis group (Seq B, C and D) and one isolate is belonging to the Bacillus subtilis group (Seq A). Further phenotypic investigations confirmed the diversity of the 17 novel Bacillus cereus/thuringiensis isolates and indicated that the new Bacillus subtilis group isolate is a Bacillus amyloliquefaciens strain. A simple phenotypic discrimination key that can be applied for distinguishing between such closely related Bacillus cereus/thuringiensis members is presented

Yeast Methylotrophy and Autophagy in a Methanol-Oscillating Environment on Growing Arabidopsis thaliana Leaves

The yeast Candida boidinii capable of growth on methanol proliferates and survives on the leaves of Arabidopsis thaliana. The local methanol concentration at the phyllosphere of growing A. thaliana exhibited daily periodicity, and yeast cells responded by altering both the expression of methanol-inducible genes and peroxisome proliferation. Even under these dynamically changing environmental conditions, yeast cells proliferated 3 to 4 times in 11 days. Among the C1-metabolic enzymes, enzymes in the methanol assimilation pathway, but not formaldehyde dissimilation or anti-oxidizing enzymes, were necessary for yeast proliferation at the phyllosphere. Furthermore, both peroxisome assembly and pexophagy, a selective autophagy pathway that degrades peroxisomes, were necessary for phyllospheric proliferation. Thus, the present study sheds light on the life cycle and physiology of yeast in the natural environment at both the molecular and cellular levels