Oxidative metabolic profiles of Brucella strains isolated from marine mammals: contribution to their species classification

Since the 1990s, Brucella strains not matching the characteristics of any of the six conventional species have been isolated worldwide from marine mammals. In this study, 31 Brucella strains isolated from various marine mammals were examined for their oxidative metabolic pattern on 12 amino-acid and carbohydrate substrates. Three main oxidative profiles different from those of the Brucella terrestrial mammal strains were identified for the marine mammal strains: one gathering strains isolated from pinnipeds and two gathering strains from cetaceans. Thus, both oxidative metabolism results and previous molecular studies are in agreement with the proposal of two new Brucella species, Brucella pinnipediae and Brucella cetaceae, to classify the Brucella strains isolated from marine mammals, and are also in accordance with a classification of species of the Brucella genus based on host preference.     

Replication of live-attenuated vaccine strains of bluetongue virus in orally infected South African Culicoides species

Field-collected South African Culicoides (Diptera, Ceratopogonidae) were fed on sheep blood containing 16 live-attenuated vaccine strains of bluetongue virus (BTV) comprising serotypes -1, -2, -3, -4, -5, -6, -7, -8, -9, -10, -11, -12, -13, -14, -16 and -19. After 10 days extrinsic incubation at 23.5 degrees C, 11 and seven of the 16 BTV serotypes used were recovered from Culicoides (Avaritia) imicola Kieffer and Culicoides (A.) bolitinos Meiswinkel, respectively. One serotype was also recovered from Culicoides (Remmia) enderleini Cornet & Brunhes. Bluetongue virus recovery rates and the mean titres for most serotypes were significantly higher in C. bolitinos than in C. imicola. Significant differences were found in virus recovery rates from Culicoides species fed on blood containing similar or identical virus titres of different BTV serotypes. In addition, we demonstrated that a single passage of live-attenuated BTV-1, -2, -4, -9 and -16 through the insect vector, followed by passaging in insect cells, did not alter its infectivity for C. imicola and that the oral susceptibility of C. imicola to the attenuated vaccine strains of BTV-1, -4, -9 and -16 remained similar for at least three consecutive seasons.     

The Genome Sequence of the Highly Acetic Acid-Tolerant Zygosaccharomyces bailii-Derived Interspecies Hybrid Strain ISA1307, Isolated From a Sparkling Wine Plant

In this work, it is described the sequencing and annotation of the genome of the yeast strain ISA1307, isolated from a sparkling wine continuous production plant. This strain, formerly considered of the Zygosaccharomyces bailii species, has been used to study Z. bailii physiology, in particular, its extreme tolerance to acetic acid stress at low pH. The analysis of the genome sequence described in this work indicates that strain ISA1307 is an interspecies hybrid between Z. bailii and a closely related species. The genome sequence of ISA1307 is distributed through 154 scaffolds and has a size of around 21.2 Mb, corresponding to 96% of the genome size estimated by flow cytometry. Annotation of ISA1307 genome includes 4385 duplicated genes (∼90% of the total number of predicted genes) and 1155 predicted single-copy genes. The functional categories including a higher number of genes are ‘Metabolism and generation of energy’, ‘Protein folding, modification and targeting’ and ‘Biogenesis of cellular components’. The knowledge of the genome sequence of the ISA1307 strain is expected to contribute to accelerate systems-level understanding of stress resistance mechanisms in Z. bailii and to inspire and guide novel biotechnological applications of this yeast species/strain in fermentation processes, given its high resilience to acidic stress. The availability of the ISA1307 genome sequence also paves the way to a better understanding of the genetic mechanisms underlying the generation and selection of more robust hybrid yeast strains in the stressful environment of wine fermentations.     

Hairy root induction and plant regeneration of medicinal plant Dracocephalum kotschyi

An efficient hairy root induction system for an important endangered medicinal plant, Dracocephalum kotschyi, was developed through Agrobacterium rhizogenes-mediated transformation by modifying the co-cultivation medium using five bacterial strains, A4, ATCC15834, LBA9402, MSU440, and A13 (MAFF-02-10266). A drastic increase in transformation frequency was observed when a Murashige and Skoog medium lacking NH₄NO₃ KH₂PO_4, KNO₃ and CaCl₂ was used, resulting in hairy root induction frequencies of 52.3 %, 69.6 %, 48.6 %, 89.0 %, and 80.0 % by A4, A13, LBA9402, MSU440, and ATCC15834 strains, respectively. For shoot induction, hairy roots and unorganized tumors induced by strain ATCC15834 were placed on an MS media supplemented with 0.1, 0.25, 0.5, and 1 mg/l BA plus 0.1 mg/l NAA. The high frequency of shoot regeneration and number of shoot were obtained in the medium containing 0.25 mg/l BA and 0.1 mg/l NAA. Root induction occurred from the base of regenerated shoots on the MS medium supplemented with 0.5 mg/l IBA after 10 days.     

番茄青枯雷尔氏菌强致病力菌株变异的研究

为研究番茄青枯雷尔氏菌强致病力菌株的变异,探索了继代培养、在NB培养基上不同时间培养、不同pH处理7d和15d、不同温度处理1h后对强致病力菌株变异的影响。结果表明:随着继代培养的培养代数增加,平均弱化指数成增大趋势,在第10代出现了无致病力菌株;在NB培养基上培养15d时,强致病力菌株已完全转化为不确定菌株和无致病力菌株,在培养30d时,强致病力菌株几乎完全转化为无致病菌株;pH7.0时,处理7d和15d后,强致病力菌株比例均为最大,分别为93.33%和92.22%,pH5.8时,强致病力菌株比例最低,分别为46.67%和31.11%;用不同温度处理强致病力菌株发现,温度50℃时,菌株死亡,温度40℃时,活菌数显著低于其他(4~30℃)处理,强致病力菌株比例为4~40℃所有处理中最低。     

Photosynthetic characteristics of two Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii strains differing in their toxicity

We studied the growth and photosynthetic characteristics of a toxic (CS506) and a nontoxic strain (CS509) of the bloom‐forming cyanobacterium Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii grown under identical experimental conditions. When exposed to light‐saturating growth conditions (100 μmol photons · m^?2 · s^?1), values for maximal photosynthetic capacity (P_max) and maximum quantum yield (F_v/F_m) indicated that both strains had an equal ability to process captured photons and deliver them to PSII reaction centers. However, CS506 grew faster than CS509. This was consistent with its higher light requirement for saturation of photosynthesis (I_k). Greater shade tolerance of CS509 was indicated by its higher ability to harvest light (α), lower photosynthetic light compensation point (I_c), and higher chlorophyll a to biovolume ratio. Strain‐specific differences were found in relation to non‐photochemical quenching, effective absorption cross‐sectional area of PSIIα‐centers (σPSIIα), and the antenna connectivity parameter of PSIIα (J_conPSIIα). These findings highlighted differences in the transfer of excitation from phycobilisome/PSII to PSI, on the dependence on different pigments for light harvesting and on the functioning of the PSII reaction centers between the two strains. The results of this study showed that both performance and composition of the photosynthetic apparatus are different between these strains, though with only two strains examined we cannot attribute the performance of strain 506 to its ability to produce cylindrospermopsins. The emphasis on a strain‐specific light adaptation/acclimation is crucial to our understanding of how different light conditions (both quantity and quality) can trigger the occurrence of different C. raciborskii strains and control their competition and/or dominance in natural ecosystems.     

Direct noninvasive measurement and numerical modeling of depth-dependent strains in layered agarose constructs

Biomechanical factors play an important role in the growth, regulation, and maintenance of engineered biomaterials and tissues. While physical factors (e.g. applied mechanical strain) can accelerate regeneration, and knowledge of tissue properties often guide the design of custom materials with tailored functionality, the distribution of mechanical quantities (e.g. strain) throughout native and repair tissues is largely unknown. Here, we directly quantify distributions of strain using noninvasive magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) throughout layered agarose constructs, a model system for articular cartilage regeneration. Bulk mechanical testing, giving both instantaneous and equilibrium moduli, was incapable of differentiating between the layered constructs with defined amounts of 2% and 4% agarose. In contrast, MRI revealed complex distributions of strain, with strain transfer to softer (2%) agarose regions, resulting in amplified magnitudes. Comparative studies using finite element simulations and mixture (biphasic) theory confirmed strain distributions in the layered agarose. The results indicate that strain transfer to soft regions is possible in vivo as the biomaterial and tissue changes during regeneration and maturity. It is also possible to modulate locally the strain field that is applied to construct-embedded cells (e.g. chondrocytes) using stratified agarose constructs.     

Strain specificity and cholinergic modulation of visuospatial attention in three inbred mouse strains

The tremendous increase in the use of mouse inbred strains and mutant mice to study the molecular basis of psychiatric disorders urges for a better understanding of attentional performance in mice. To this aim, we investigated possible strain differences in performance and cholinergic modulation of visuospatial attention in three widely used mouse inbred strains (129S2/SvHsd, C57BL/6JOlaHsd and DBA/2OlaHsd) in the five-choice serial reaction time task. Results indicated that after extended training, performance of 129S2/SvHsd mice was superior to that of C57BL/6JOlaHsd and DBA/2OlaHsd mice in terms of attention, omission errors, inhibitory control and latencies to correct choice. Increasing the attentional load resulted in comparable decrements in attention in all strains and inhibitory control impairments that were most pronounced in DBA/2OlaHsd mice. Further pharmacological evaluation indicated that all strains showed attentional impairments after treatment with the muscarinic and nicotinic antagonists scopolamine and mecamylamine, respectively. 129S2/SvHsd mice were less sensitive, whereas DBA/2OlaHsd mice appeared more sensitive to the detrimental effects of mecamylamine. In addition, subchronic, but not acute, nicotine treatment slightly improved attentional performance in all strains to the same extent. In conclusion, our data indicate strain specificity with particularly good performance of 129S2/SvHsd mice and strong cholinergic involvement in visuospatial attention in mice.     

Random mutagenesis in the large extrinsic loop E and transmembrane α-helix VI of the CP 47 protein of Photosystem II

The intrinsic chlorophyll-protein CP 47 is a component of Photosystem II which functions in both light-harvesting and oxygen evolution. Using the Escherichia coli mutator strain XL-1 Red, we introduced mutations at 14 sites in the large extrinsic loop E of CP 47 and its adjacent transmembrane -helix VI. Four mutant cell lines were recovered in which the histidyl residues 455H, 466H and 469H were altered. The cell lines H455T, H455Y, H469Y, and the double mutant F432L,H466R exhibited phenotypes that supported the identification of the histidyl residues 455H, 466H and 469H as chlorophyll ligands. Four additional mutant cell lines were recovered which contained mutations at positions 448R in the large extrinsic loop of CP 47. These mutants, R448K, R448Q, R448S, and R448W, exhibited variable phenotypes ranging from moderate alteration of photoautotrophic growth and oxygen evolution rates to a complete inhibition of these parameters. Those mutants exhibiting photoautotrophic growth and oxygen evolution capability under standard conditions were unable to grow photoautotrophically or evolve oxygen when grown at low chloride concentrations. Finally, a mutant cell line exhibiting a substitution at position 342G was recovered. The mutant G342D exhibited moderate alterations of photoautotrophic growth and oxygen evolution. In addition to these alterations, mutants were recovered in which deletions and insertions (leading to frame shifts) and stop codons were introduced. These mutants uniformly lacked the ability to either grow photoautotrophically or evolve oxygen.     

Characterisation,screening and selection of Bacillus subtilis isolates for its biocontrol efficiency against major rice diseases

A Soil bacterium, Bacillus subtilis, isolated from the rhizosphere of rice, showed high biocontrol activity against blast, sheath blight and bacterial blight. In the present study, four B. subtilis strains isolated from paddy soil were studied under laboratory, greenhouse and field conditions. Among the four strains assayed, UASP17 gave maximum inhibition of paddy pathogens and was validated under field trials. B. subtilis (UASP17) under different doses and methods of applications was evaluated for two seasons at Agriculture Research Station (UAS, Raichur). UASP17 was effective in reducing the severity of blast (9.00% and 15.57%), bacterial leaf blight (BLB) (5.00% and 6.11%) and sheath blight (11.93% and 4.17%) diseases for two seasons. The application of bioagent also increased the paddy grain yield (61.00 and 64.30?Q/ha) in the two seasons, respectively. Taken together, these results indicate that B. subtilis UASP17 as seedling dip for 30?min (10?mL/L of water) prior to transplanting and 2.50?L/ha foliar application was effective in managing the diseases of paddy.