Plant antimicrobial peptides

Plant antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are a component of barrier defense system of plants. They have been isolated from roots, seeds, flowers, stems, and leaves of a wide variety of species and have activities towards phytopathogens, as well as against bacteria pathogenic to humans. Thus, plant AMPs are considered as promising antibiotic compounds with important biotechnological applications. Plant AMPs are grouped into several families and share general features such as positive charge, the presence of disulfide bonds (which stabilize the structure), and the mechanism of action targeting outer membrane structures.     

Morphology heterogeneity within a Campylobacter jejuni helical population: the use of calcofluor white to generate rod‐shaped C. jejuni 81‐176 clones and the genetic determinants responsible for differences in morphology within 11168 strains

Campylobacter jejuni helical shape is important for colonization and host interactions with straight mutants having altered biological properties. Passage on calcofluor white (CFW) resulted in C. jejuni 81‐176 isolates with morphology changes: either a straight morphology from frameshift mutations and single nucleotide polymorphisms in peptidoglycan hydrolase genes pgp1 or pgp2 or a reduction in curvature due a frameshift mutation in cjj81176_1105, a putative peptidoglycan endopeptidase. Shape defects were restored by complementation. Whole genome sequencing of CFW‐passaged strains showed no specific changes correlating to CFW exposure. The cjj81176_1279 (recR; recombinational DNA repair) and cjj81176_1449 (unknown function) genes were highly variable in all 81‐176 strains sequenced. A frameshift mutation in pgp1 of our laboratory isolate of the straight genome sequenced variant of 11168 (11168‐GS) was also identified. The PG muropeptide profile of 11168‐GS was identical to that of Δpgp1 in the original minimally passaged 11168 strain (11168‐O). Introduction of wild type pgp1 into 11168‐GS did not restore helical morphology. The recR gene was also highly variable in 11168 strains. Microbial cell‐to‐cell heterogeneity is proposed as a mechanism of ensuring bacterial survival in sub‐optimal conditions. In certain environments, changes in C. jejuni morphology due to genetic heterogeneity may promote C. jejuni survival.     

Über die Einwirkung niederer Temperaturen auf den Fortgang der inneren Metamorphose bei der Puppe von Vanessa urticae.

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Geschlechtsdifferentiator oder Modifikatoren im X-Chromosom vonDrosophila melanogaster

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

A new measure of xenobiotic toxicity to the first-line human defence system from the time-resolved phagocyte luminescence

A new measure of toxicity based on stochastic modelling of single photon-counting processes, representing time-resolved phagocyte luminescence of xenobiotic-perturbed human neutrophils, has been constructed. The stochastic measure of toxicity has been verified by the QSAR method, and then compared and contrasted with the traditional toxicity measure used in bio- and chemiluminescent research. Phenol and benzene homologues were chosen as perturbers due to their importance from the viewpoint of ecotoxicology and occupational medicine.     

Effect of trimethyllead chloride on slowly activating (SV) channels in red beet (Beta vulgaris L.) taproots

The patch-clamp technique was used to examine the effect of trimethyllead chloride (Met₃PbCl) on SV channel activity in red beet (Beta vulgaris L.) taproot vacuoles. It was found that in the control bath the macroscopic currents showed the typical slow activation and a strong outward rectification of the steady-state currents. An addition of Met₃PbCl to the bath solution blocked, in a concentration-dependent manner, SV currents in red beet vacuoles. The time constant τ increased several times in the presence of 100 μM trimethyllead chloride at all voltages tested. When single channel properties were analyzed, only little channel activity could be recorded in the presence of 100 μM Met₃PbCl. Trimethyllead chloride decreased significantly (by about one order of magnitude) the open probability of single channels. The recordings of single channel activity obtained in the presence and absence of Met₃PbCl showed that organolead only slightly (by ca. 10%) decreased the unitary conductance of single channels. It was also found that Met₃PbCl diminished significantly the number of SV channel openings, whereas it did not change the opening times of the channels. Taken together, these results suggest that Met₃PbCl binding site is located outside the channel selectivity filter.