Caracterização dos padrões protéicos do endosperma do milho e sua relação com a estrutura física do grão.

The endosperm protein patterns of an exotic maize mutant genotype (BOL II), with opaque and soft endosperm, and a single hybrid (paternal) line of maize cv. BR201, with hard and vitreous endosperm, were evaluated using PAGE and laser densitometry. The protein patterns of the F1, F2 and F3 generations from these crosses and other exotic genotypes were studied. Results showed that endosperm density is a monogenic trait. Analyses for the F3 generation revealed a possible association between the polypeptide pattern obtained for the endosperm and its opaque/vitreous phenotype, which may serve as a molecular marker for this trait

The Cure: Making a game of gene selection for breast cancer survival prediction

Motivation: Molecular signatures for predicting breast cancer prognosis could greatly improve care through personalization of treatment. Computational analyses of genome-wide expression datasets have identified such signatures, but these signatures leave much to be desired in terms of accuracy, reproducibility and biological interpretability. Methods that take advantage of structured prior knowledge (e.g. protein interaction networks) show promise in helping to define better signatures but most knowledge remains unstructured. Crowdsourcing via scientific discovery games is an emerging methodology that has the potential to tap into human intelligence at scales and in modes previously unheard of. Here, we developed and evaluated a game called The Cure on the task of gene selection for breast cancer survival prediction. Our central hypothesis was that knowledge linking expression patterns of specific genes to breast cancer outcomes could be captured from game players. We envisioned capturing knowledge both from the players prior experience and from their ability to interpret text related to candidate genes presented to them in the context of the game. Results: Between its launch in Sept. 2012 and Sept. 2013, The Cure attracted more than 1,000 registered players who collectively played nearly 10,000 games. Gene sets assembled through aggregation of the collected data clearly demonstrated the accumulation of relevant expert knowledge. In terms of predictive accuracy, these gene sets provided comparable performance to gene sets generated using other methods including those used in commercial tests. The Cure is available at http://genegames.org/cure

Insecticidal activity of culture supernatants from Bacillus thuringiensis Berliner strains against Spodoptera frugiperda Smith (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) larvae.

Recentemente, proteinas inseticidas vegetativas (Vips), identificadas no sobrenadante da cultura de certas cepas de Bacillus thuringiensis (B.t.), foram capazes de controlar alguns insetos-praga economicamente importantes. Como avaliacao do potencial de aplicabilidade destas proteinas contra a lagarta-do-cartucho (Spodoptera frugiperda Smith), o inseto-praga mais importante da cultura do milho, as caracteristicas e o efeito de mortalidade do sobrenadante da cultura de cinco cepas de B.t. foram investigadas. Notaveis diferencas entre as cepas foram detectadas, nao somente em termos de eficiencia na mortalidade dos insetos, mas tambem nas diferencas de mortalidade entre os sobrenadantes aquecido e nao-aquecido tratamentos estes que foram usados para distinguir a fracao proteica inseticida termo-sensivel de outra fracao termo-estavel, de natureza nao-proteica (b-exotoxinas). Os padroes qualitativo , quantitativo e temporal de secrecao da proteina total no meio (sobrenadante) foram avaliados por espectrofotometria e eletroforese em gel de poliacrilamida. As cepas apresentaram distintas taxas de crescimento e tempos de secrecao de proteinas em relacao a densidade de celulas na cultura. Alem disso, o padrao de bandas eletroforeticas tambem variou de maneira cepa-especifica, em ambas condicoes desnaturantes e nao-desnaturantes. Polipeptideos que apresentaram peso molecular semelhantes aos esperados para proteinas Vip3A identificadas anteriormente foram encontradas em cepas com alta taxa de mortalidade do sobrenadante. Os dados sugerem a possibilidade e a utilidade de pesquisar fracoes inseticidas de natureza proteica (do tipo Vip) em sobrenadantes de B.t., como forma para desenvolver alternativas especificas e eficientes de controle biologico que possam ser empregadas em programas de manejo integrado de S. frugiperda em milho tropical

Efeito de isolados de Baculovirus em lagartas de Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) e sua caracterização utilizando PCR.

xEdição dos resumos do Congresso Nacional de Genética, Gramado, 1999