History of ergot alkaloids from ergotism to ergometrine

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Molecular aspects of growth and fruiting of the edible mushroom Agaricus bisporus

Contains fulltext : 18664.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)The research described in this thesis was part of a project aimed at the isolation of marker genes and the development of a genetic map of the white button mushroom Agaricus bisporus. The thesis concentrates on molecular aspects of growth and fruiting of A. bisporus. In order to study the genetic processes that are involved in fruiting of A. bisporus, we focused on the cloning and characterisation of genes that are specifically expressed during fruit body development and maturation. Two fruit body specific genes identified by differential screening techniques appeared to encode small hydrophobic cell wall proteins belonging to the fungal family of surface-active hydrophobins. One of those proteins, HYPA, is part of a protective layer surrounding the mushroom caps. It showed, like other fungal hydrophobins, a self-assembling behaviour which was shown by in vitro studies using Atomic Force Microscopy. Additionally, to study genetic aspects of compost utilisation by A. bisporus, we aimed at the cloning of genes involved in the release of sugars from the plant polysaccharides present in compost. Cloning and characterisation of one of such genes, the xlnA gene encoding an endo-1,4-`-xylanase, gave us a better insight in the regulation of enzymes that can degrade lignocellulosic compounds of compost. Expression studies with xlnA and cel3, encoding a cellobiohydrolase, showed that both genes are strongly induced on compost and the regulation of their transcription seems to be an elegant example of adaptation of a fungus to its natural niche. Furthermore, experiments were focused on the isolation and characterisation of housekeeping genes. Cloning of the housekeeping genes pgkA, pkiA and aldA enabled us to compare the structure of A. bisporus genes with homologous genes of related organisms and to monitor their expression in different parts of mature mushrooms. The cloning of large number of genes combined with chromosome separation techniques forms a solid base for the development of a gene-based linkage map and will make A. bisporus more amenable for breeding purposes191 p

ROSIE Findings 4: summary of methadone treatment outcomes.

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The conserved PA14 domain of cell wall-associated fungal adhesins governs their glycan-binding specificity

Yeast cell wall-associated, lectin-like adhesins form large families that mediate flocculation and host cell recognition. The glycan specificity of individual adhesins is largely unknown. Zupancic et al. (this issue of Molecular Microbiology) used glycan microarrays to compare the glycan-binding characteristics of individual adhesins (Epa proteins) of the pathogenic yeast Candida glabrata produced in the non-adherent yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. By sequence swapping between the conserved PA14 domains of two related Epa proteins, they identified a pentapeptide that determines binding specificity and cell adherence and is located on a surface loop of the known crystal structure of the anthrax toxin PA14 domain

Ergometrine and methylergometrine tablets are not stable under simulated tropical conditions

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ProFASTA: a pipeline web server for fungal protein scanning with integration of cell surface prediction software

Surface proteins, such as those located in the cell wall of fungi, play an important role in the interaction with the surrounding environment. For instance, they mediate primary host-pathogen interactions and are crucial to the establishment of biofilms and fungal infections. Surface localization of proteins is determined by specific sequence features and can be predicted by combining different freely available web servers. However, user-friendly tools that allow rapid analysis of large datasets (whole proteomes or larger) in subsequent analyses were not yet available. Here, we present the web tool ProFASTA, which integrates multiple tools for rapid scanning of protein sequence properties in large datasets and returns sequences in FASTA format. ProFASTA also allows for pipeline filtering of proteins with cell surface characteristics by analysis of the output created with SignalP, TMHMM and big-PI. In addition, it provides keyword, iso-electric point, composition and pattern scanning. Furthermore, ProFASTA contains all fungal protein sequences present in the NCBI Protein database. As the full fungal NCBI Taxonomy is included, sequence subsets can be selected by supplying a taxon name. The usefulness of ProFASTA is demonstrated here with a few examples; in the recent past, ProFASTA has already been applied successfully to the annotation of covalently-bound fungal wall proteins as part of community-wide genome annotation programs. ProFASTA is available at: http://www.bioinformatics.nl/tools/profasta/

Features and functions of covalently linked proteins in fungal cell walls.

The cell walls of many ascomycetous yeasts consist of an internal network of stress-bearing polysaccharides, which serve as a scaffold for a dense external layer of glycoproteins. GPI-modified proteins are the most abundant cell wall proteins and often display a common organization. Their C-terminus can link them covalently to the polysaccharide network, they possess an internal serine- and threonine-rich spacer domain, and the N-terminal region contains a functional domain. Other proteins bind to the polysaccharide network through a mild-alkali-sensitive linkage. Many cell wall proteins are carbohydrate/glycan-modifying enzymes; adhesion proteins are prominent; proteins involved in iron uptake are present, and also specialized proteins that probably help the fungus to survive in its natural environment. The protein composition of the cell wall depends on environmental conditions and developmental stage. We present evidence that the cell wall of mycelial species of the Ascomycotina is similarly organized and contains glycoproteins with comparable functions