Proteasomes (prosomes) inhibit the translation of Tobacco mosaic virus RNA by preventing the formation of initiation complexes

Proteasomes (prosomes) are large multiprotein complexes. They are involved in protein degradation of ubiquitin-conjugated proteins and in the generation of MHC class I peptides. We gave further evidence that they interfere within vitro protein synthesis. Proteasomes inhibit the translation of Tobacco mosaic virus RNA. Analysis of cell-free systems by sucrose gradient centrifugation revealted that they prevent the formation of 80S initiation complexes but not the early phase of initiation.     

Agroecology: the key role of arbuscular mycorrhizas in ecosystem services

The beneficial effects of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi on plant performance and soil health are essential for the sustainable management of agricultural ecosystems. Nevertheless, since the ‘first green revolution’, less attention has been given to beneficial soil microorganisms in general and to AM fungi in particular. Human society benefits from a multitude of resources and processes from natural and managed ecosystems, to which AM make a crucial contribution. These resources and processes, which are called ecosystem services, include products like food and processes like nutrient transfer. Many people have been under the illusion that these ecosystem services are free, invulnerable and infinitely available; taken for granted as public benefits, they lack a formal market and are traditionally absent from society’s balance sheet. In 1997, a team of researchers from the USA, Argentina and the Netherlands put an average price tag of US $33 trillion a year on these fundamental ecosystem services. The present review highlights the key role that the AM symbiosis can play as an ecosystem service provider to guarantee plant productivity and quality in emerging systems of sustainable agriculture. The appropriate management of ecosystem services rendered by AM will impact on natural resource conservation and utilisation with an obvious net gain for human society.     

Replacement of murine leukemia virus readthrough mechanism by human immunodeficiency virus frameshift allows synthesis of viral proteins and virus replication

Retroviruses use unusual recoding strategies to synthesize the Gag-Pol polyprotein precursor of viral enzymes. In human immunodeficiency virus, ribosomes translating full-length viral RNA can shift back by 1 nucleotide at a specific site defined by the presence of both a slippery sequence and a downstream stimulatory element made of an extensive secondary structure. This so-called frameshift mechanism could become a target for the development of novel antiviral strategies. A different recoding strategy is used by other retroviruses, such as murine leukemia viruses, to synthesize the Gag-Pol precursor; in this case, a stop codon is suppressed in a readthrough process, again due to the presence of a specific structure adopted by the mRNA. Development of antiframeshift agents will greatly benefit from the availability of a simple animal and virus model. For this purpose, the murine leukemia virus readthrough region was rendered inactive by mutagenesis and the frameshift region of human immunodeficiency virus was inserted to generate a chimeric provirus. This substitution of readthrough by frameshift allows the synthesis of viral proteins, and the chimeric provirus sequence was found to generate infectious viruses. This system could be a most interesting alternative to study ribosomal frameshift in the context of a virus amenable to the use of a simple animal model.     

C31-C34 methylated squalenes from a Bolivian strain of Botryococcus braunii

Three new triterpenes, synthesized by a Bolivian strain of the green microalga Botryococcus braunii, were isolated and their chemical structures determined by 1D and 2D NMR, and mass spectrometry. These compounds are tri-, di-, and mono-methylsqualenes, co-occurring with the previously identified tetramethylsqualene and some C(30)-C(32) botryococcenes. In this strain, methylated squalenes constitute up to 24% of the total hydrocarbons and 4.5% of the dry biomass. The results of a pulse-chase experiment with L-[Me-(13)C] methionine provide evidence for the origin of these compounds via methylation of squalene at positions 3, 7, 18 and 22.