Half-sites oxidation of bovine liver uridine diphosphate glucose dehydrogenase.

6,6-Dithiodinicotinate shows half-of-the-sites reactivity towards the six catalytic-site thiol groups of bovine liver UDP-glucose dehydrogenase. The reagent introduces three intrasubunit disulphide linkages between catalytic-site thiol groups and non-catalytic-site thiol groups and abrogates 60% of the catalytic activity of the hexameric enzyme; excess 2-mercaptoethanol rapidly restores full catalytic activity. These results show the half-of-the-sites behaviour of the enzyme with the reagent and the presence of a non-catalytic-site thiol group capable of forming a disulphide linkage with a catalytic-site thiol group on the same subunit without irreversible denaturation.     

Mitochondrial abnormalities in some human muscular diseases and in experimental ischemic myopathy

Morphologic abnormalities have been observed in two cases of human polymyositis and in three cases of ocular myopathies. Similar findings can be observed in experimental ischemic myopathy. "Ragged red" fibres, with anomalous distribution of oxidative enzymes, mitochondrial alterations, with presence of intracristal paracrystalline inclusions and degenerative myofibrillar changes are the similar features. The similarity between some of these alterations, expecially mitochondrial changes, is remarkable, but it is difficult to correlate them to the primary etiology of described human myopathies.     

Tachycardia induced by a hot bath

When immersed in plain water at 40 degrees C, normal young adults experience an important increase in the heart rate. beta adrenergic receptor blockade by propranolol (40 and 80 mg) reduces this tachycardia by 25%. The increase in the heart rate depends on orthosympathetic stimulation, on parasympathetic inhibition and on a Q10 effect related to the blood temperature acting on the sino-auricular node.     

Using Species Distribution Models to Predict Potential Landscape Restoration Effects on Puma Conservation

A mosaic of intact native and human-modified vegetation use can provide important habitat for top predators such as the puma (Puma concolor), avoiding negative effects on other species and ecological processes due to cascade trophic interactions. This study investigates the effects of restoration scenarios on the puma’s habitat suitability in the most developed Brazilian region (São Paulo State). Species Distribution Models incorporating restoration scenarios were developed using the species’ occurrence information to (1) map habitat suitability of pumas in São Paulo State, Southeast, Brazil; (2) test the relative contribution of environmental variables ecologically relevant to the species habitat suitability and (3) project the predicted habitat suitability to future native vegetation restoration scenarios. The Maximum Entropy algorithm was used (Test AUC of 0.84 ± 0.0228) based on seven environmental non-correlated variables and non-autocorrelated presence-only records (n = 342). The percentage of native vegetation (positive influence), elevation (positive influence) and density of roads (negative influence) were considered the most important environmental variables to the model. Model projections to restoration scenarios reflected the high positive relationship between pumas and native vegetation. These projections identified new high suitability areas for pumas (probability of presence >0.5) in highly deforested regions. High suitability areas were increased from 5.3% to 8.5% of the total State extension when the landscapes were restored for ≥ the minimum native vegetation cover rule (20%) established by the Brazilian Forest Code in private lands. This study highlights the importance of a landscape planning approach to improve the conservation outlook for pumas and other species, including not only the establishment and management of protected areas, but also the habitat restoration on private lands. Importantly, the results may inform environmental policies and land use planning in São Paulo State, Brazil.     

Queuosine Biosynthesis Is Required for Sinorhizobium meliloti-Induced Cytoskeletal Modifications on HeLa Cells and Symbiosis with Medicago truncatula

Rhizobia are symbiotic soil bacteria able to intracellularly colonize legume nodule cells and form nitrogen-fixing symbiosomes therein. How the plant cell cytoskeleton reorganizes in response to rhizobium colonization has remained poorly understood especially because of the lack of an in vitro infection assay. Here, we report on the use of the heterologous HeLa cell model to experimentally tackle this question. We observed that the model rhizobium Sinorhizobium meliloti, and other rhizobia as well, were able to trigger a major reorganization of actin cytoskeleton of cultured HeLa cells in vitro. Cell deformation was associated with an inhibition of the three major small RhoGTPases Cdc42, RhoA and Rac1. Bacterial entry, cytoskeleton rearrangements and modulation of RhoGTPase activity required an intact S. meliloti biosynthetic pathway for queuosine, a hypermodifed nucleoside regulating protein translation through tRNA, and possibly mRNA, modification. We showed that an intact bacterial queuosine biosynthetic pathway was also required for effective nitrogen-fixing symbiosis of S. meliloti with its host plant Medicago truncatula, thus indicating that one or several key symbiotic functions of S. meliloti are under queuosine control. We discuss whether the symbiotic defect of que mutants may originate, at least in part, from an altered capacity to modify plant cell actin cytoskeleton.     

Interactions between tumor cells and vascular endothelium.-II) Light and electron microscopic studies

Electron microscope technique was used to investigate the passage across the endothelial monolayer by murine tumor lines. After the initial adhesion, cancer cells induce a retraction of endothelium and migrate under vascular intima. Subsequently they spread on basement membrane showing a flattened shape, meanwhile endothelial cells reconstitute the monolayer. The four tumor lines show a similar behaviour being able to induce endothelial retraction and exposure of extracellular matrix and cross through the monolayer. The technique appears useful to study in details this multi-step process.