Anti-stress activity of Propionibacterium freudenreichii: identification of a reactivative protein

Propionibacterium freudenreichii subsp. shermanii is known to prevent mutations caused by various agents such as N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine, 9-aminoacridine, 4-nitro-quinoline-1-oxide and by UV radiation in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. It was also shown to prevent or repair damage caused by H(2)O(2) or UV radiation in Salmonella typhimurium and Escherichia coli, a characteristic previously designated as reactivative effect. In order to characterise this effect at the molecular level, we have purified the active component from a P. freudenreichii cell-free extract using a combination of ammonium sulfate precipitation, anion-exchange and size-exclusion chromatography. The isolated 35 kDa protein was then identified using both N-terminal and internal peptide sequencing as a cysteine synthase. The latter was localised in the P. freudenreichii proteomic map. It is constitutively expressed but also clearly induced during adaptation to detergent and heat, but not acid, stresses. The biological meaning of cysteine synthase in the context of adaptation to oxidative and non-oxidative stresses is discussed.     

Acidophilic microbial communities catalyzing sludge bioleaching monitored by fluorescent in situ hybridization

Biological autotrophic sulfur oxidation processes have been proposed to remove heavy metals from wastewater treatment sludge by bioleaching. We made a characterization of the microbial population in batch and continuous sludge bioleaching reactors using fluorescent in situ hybridization of fluorescently-labeled oligonucleotidic probes targeting rRNA in a ‚top to bottom approach’. Batch incubations of sludge with 0.2% (w/v) elemental sulfur resulted in a pH value of 5. Alpha-Proteobacteria hybridizing with probe ALF1b were dominant in this incubation. Members of the Acidophilium-group (hybridizing with probe Acdp821) of Nitrospira/Leptospirillum phylum (Ntspa712 probe) and from the archaeal domain (ARCH915) were also detected. When sludge was incubated with 1% elemental sulfur in batch or continuous reactor experiments, final pH values were always below 2. Active microbial communities consisted almost exclusively of gamma-Proteobacteria (hybridizing with probe GAM42a). However, further hybridization experiments with probe Thio820 targeting Acidithiobacillus ferroxidans and Acidithiobacillus thioxidans gave negative results. A new probe, named THIO181, encompassing all known members of the genus was designed. Hybridization perfomed with THIO181 and GAM42a showed a perfect co-localization of the hybridization signals. Further hybridization experiments with probe THIO181 and THC642, specific for the species Acidithiobacillus caldus, confirmed that this bacteria was largely responsible for the sulfur oxidation reaction in our acidophilic sludge bioleaching reactors.     

Regulation of dopamine system responsivity and its adaptive and pathological response to stress

Although, historically, the norepinephrine system has attracted the majority of attention in the study of the stress response, the dopamine system has also been consistently implicated. It has long been established that stress plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of psychiatric disorders. However, the neurobiological mechanisms that mediate the stress response and its effect in psychiatric diseases are not well understood. The dopamine system can play distinct roles in stress and psychiatric disorders. It is hypothesized that, even though the dopamine (DA) system forms the basis for a number of psychiatric disorders, the pathology is likely to originate in the afferent structures that are inducing dysregulation of the DA system. This review explores the current knowledge of afferent modulation of the stress/DA circuitry, and presents recent data focusing on the effect of stress on the DA system and its relevance to psychiatric disorders.     

Action Spectra for Light-induced Elongation in Fern Protonemata

The action spectrum for promotion of elongation of protonemata of Onoclea sensibilis has peaks at 400–420, 580–600 and 640–660 nm. The largest growth increments at saturating light doses are produced by yellow and far-red light. Elongation induced by yellow and far-red irradiation persists in old as well as young filaments, while red-light promotion is found only in young filaments. The growth promotion caused by yellow light is partially reversed by red light down to the level of growth produced by red irradiation alone. Elongation of rhizoids is under reversible red, far-red control, while yellow light is inactive. A model is proposed and discussed in which the light-sensitive elongation of filaments is accounted for by the presence of three distinct photoreceptors: phytochrome; a pigment absorbing yellow light. P₅₈₀; and a pigment absorbing blue light, P₄₂₀.     

Acute stress is detrimental to heart regeneration in zebrafish

Psychological stress is one of the factors associated with human cardiovascular disease. Here, we demonstrate that acute perceived stress impairs the natural capacity of heart regeneration in zebrafish. Beside physical and chemical disturbances, intermittent crowding triggered an increase in cortisol secretion and blocked the replacement of fibrotic tissue with new myocardium. Pharmacological simulation of stress by pulse treatment with dexamethasone/adrenaline reproduced the regeneration failure, while inhibition of the stress response with anxiolytic drugs partially rescued the regenerative process. Impaired heart regeneration in stressed animals was associated with a reduced cardiomyocyte proliferation and with the downregulation of several genes, including igfbp1b, a modulator of IGF signalling. Notably, daily stress induced a decrease in Igf1r phosphorylation. As cardiomyocyte proliferation was decreased in response to IGF-1 receptor inhibition, we propose that the stress-induced cardiac regenerative failure is partially caused by the attenuation of IGF signalling. These findings indicate that the natural regenerative ability of the zebrafish heart is vulnerable to the systemic paracrine stress response.     

Power to detect risk alleles using genome-wide tag SNP panels

Advances in high-throughput genotyping and the International HapMap Project have enabled association studies at the whole-genome level. We have constructed whole-genome genotyping panels of over 550,000 (HumanHap550) and 650,000 (HumanHap650Y) SNP loci by choosing tag SNPs from all populations genotyped by the International HapMap Project. These panels also contain additional SNP content in regions that have historically been overrepresented in diseases, such as nonsynonymous sites, the MHC region, copy number variant regions and mitochondrial DNA. We estimate that the tag SNP loci in these panels cover the majority of all common variation in the genome as measured by coverage of both all common HapMap SNPs and an independent set of SNPs derived from complete resequencing of genes obtained from SeattleSNPs. We also estimate that, given a sample size of 1,000 cases and 1,000 controls, these panels have the power to detect single disease loci of moderate risk (λ ~ 1.8–2.0). Relative risks as low as λ ~ 1.1–1.3 can be detected using 10,000 cases and 10,000 controls depending on the sample population and disease model. If multiple loci are involved, the power increases significantly to detect at least one locus such that relative risks 20%–35% lower can be detected with 80% power if between two and four independent loci are involved. Although our SNP selection was based on HapMap data, which is a subset of all common SNPs, these panels effectively capture the majority of all common variation and provide high power to detect risk alleles that are not represented in the HapMap data.     

CCL18 Exhibits a Regulatory Role through Inhibition of Receptor and Glycosaminoglycan Binding

CCL18 has been reported to be present constitutively at high levels in the circulation, and is further elevated during inflammatory diseases. Since it is a rather poor chemoattractant, we wondered if it may have a regulatory role. CCL18 has been reported to inhibit cellular recruitment mediated by CCR3, and we have shown that whilst it is a competitive functional antagonist as assessed by Schild plot analysis, it only binds to a subset of CCR3 receptor populations. We have extended this inhibitory activity to other receptors and have shown that CCL18 is able to inhibit CCR1, CCR2, CCR4 and CCR5 mediated chemotaxis, but has no effect on CCR7 and CCR9, nor the CXC receptors that we have tested. Whilst CCL18 is able to bind to CCR3, it does not bind to the other receptors that it inhibits. We therefore tested the hypothesis that it may displace glycosaminoglycan (GAG) chemokines bound either in cis- on the leukocyte, or in trans-presentation on the endothelial surface, thereby inhibiting the recruitment of leukocytes into the site of inflammation. We show that CCL18 selectivity displaces heparin bound chemokines, and that chemokines from all four chemokine sub-classes displace cell bound CCL18. We propose that CCL18 has regulatory properties inhibiting chemokine function when GAG-mediated presentation plays a role in receptor activation.