A method for purification ofAspergillus niger strain infected by the parasitic fungusPenicillium purpurogenum

Folia Microbiologica - The above-described method for purification of conidia of a strain ofAspergillus niger from the conidia of the parasitic fungusPenicillium purpurogenum consists in employing...     

Molecular Cytogenetic Characterization of the Dioecious Cannabis sativa with an XY Chromosome Sex Determination System

Hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) was karyotyped using by DAPI/C-banding staining to provide chromosome measurements, and by fluorescence in situ hybridization with probes for 45 rDNA (pTa71), 5S rDNA (pCT4.2), a subtelomeric repeat (CS-1) and the Arabidopsis telomere probes. The karyotype has 18 autosomes plus a sex chromosome pair (XX in female and XY in male plants). The autosomes are difficult to distinguish morphologically, but three pairs could be distinguished using the probes. The Y chromosome is larger than the autosomes, and carries a fully heterochromatic DAPI positive arm and CS-1 repeats only on the less intensely DAPI-stained, euchromatic arm. The X is the largest chromosome of all, and carries CS-1 subtelomeric repeats on both arms. The meiotic configuration of the sex bivalent locates a pseudoautosomal region of the Y chromosome at the end of the euchromatic CS-1-carrying arm. Our molecular cytogenetic study of the C. sativa sex chromosomes is a starting point for helping to make C. sativa a promising model to study sex chromosome evolution.     

Selection of the conodont Idiognathodus simulator (Ellison) as the event marker for the base of the global Gzhelian Stage (Upper Pennsylvanian, Carboniferous)

Studies carried out for more than 10 years by the Task Group to establish GSSPs at the base of the Moscovian–Kasimovian and Kasimovian–Gzhelian boundaries have resulted in the proposal that the level at which the conodont species Idiognathodus simulator (Ellison, 1941) first appears be selected to mark the base of the Gzhelian Stage. This expands this eastern European chronostratigraphic unit to a global scale.I. simulator (sensu Barrick et al., 2008) has been identified so far in Midcontinent and eastern North America, the Moscow and Donets basins and southern Urals of eastern Europe, and in south-central China. Correlation of this level based on this species and other conodont species can be reinforced in some areas by ammonoid and fusulinid data.     

Interaction with Tsg101 Is Necessary for the Efficient Transport and Release of Nucleocapsids in Marburg Virus-Infected Cells

Endosomal sorting complex required for transport (ESCRT) machinery supports the efficient budding of Marburg virus (MARV) and many other enveloped viruses. Interaction between components of the ESCRT machinery and viral proteins is predominantly mediated by short tetrapeptide motifs, known as late domains. MARV contains late domain motifs in the matrix protein VP40 and in the genome-encapsidating nucleoprotein (NP). The PSAP late domain motif of NP recruits the ESCRT-I protein tumor susceptibility gene 101 (Tsg101). Here, we generated a recombinant MARV encoding NP with a mutated PSAP late domain (rMARV_PSAPmut). rMARV_PSAPmut was attenuated by up to one log compared with recombinant wild-type MARV (rMARV_wt), formed smaller plaques and exhibited delayed virus release. Nucleocapsids in rMARV_PSAPmut-infected cells were more densely packed inside viral inclusions and more abundant in the cytoplasm than in rMARV_wt-infected cells. A similar phenotype was detected when MARV-infected cells were depleted of Tsg101. Live-cell imaging analyses revealed that Tsg101 accumulated in inclusions of rMARV_wt-infected cells and was co-transported together with nucleocapsids. In contrast, rMARV_PSAPmut nucleocapsids did not display co-localization with Tsg101, had significantly shorter transport trajectories, and migration close to the plasma membrane was severely impaired, resulting in reduced recruitment into filopodia, the major budding sites of MARV. We further show that the Tsg101 interacting protein IQGAP1, an actin cytoskeleton regulator, was recruited into inclusions and to individual nucleocapsids together with Tsg101. Moreover, IQGAP1 was detected in a contrail-like structure at the rear end of migrating nucleocapsids. Down regulation of IQGAP1 impaired release of MARV. These results indicate that the PSAP motif in NP, which enables binding to Tsg101, is important for the efficient actin-dependent transport of nucleocapsids to the sites of budding. Thus, the interaction between NP and Tsg101 supports several steps of MARV assembly before virus fission.     

Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia presenting with central nervous system involvement

A 68-year-old man presented with hemiparesis, lymphocytosis, and cerebral lesions on MRI. Flow cytometry of blood, bone marrow and cerebrospinal fluid showed B-CLL lymphocytes with bright CD20 expression, slg, and absence of CD23 antigen. Fluorescencein situ hybridisation showed trisomy 12 in 50% of analysed peripheral mononuclear cells. The patient died 6 months after the diagnosis. Rapidly progressive and fatal course of the disease was consistent with known bad prognostic significance of CD20 bright expression and trisomy 12.     

Growth of Chaetomium cellulolyticum in solid-state fermentation of sugar cane bagasse treated with water and alkali at several liquid/solid ratios

Sugar cane bagasse was water- or alkali-treated at three liquid/solid (L/S) ratios and its digestibility was measured as microbial protein production of Chaetomium cellulolyticum grown on solid-state fermentation columns. The treatments significantly enhanced fungus growth compared to non-treated bagasse, which was used as a control, although the composition of bagasse did not change greatly. Alkali-treated bagasse reached an average protein content of about 7.6% and the lower the L/S ratio, the higher the protein content. L/S ratio did not have an effect in water-treated bagasse. Protein content of water-treated bagasse was also high, approximately 80% of that one of alkali-treated bagasse. Both treatments look promising to enhance sugar cane bagasse potential as an animal feed.Currently at Universidad Francisco de Miranda. Coro, Venezuela.Currently at Ciclo Básico, Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad del Zulia. Maracaibo, Venezuela.