Identification and Characterization of Novel Filament-Forming Proteins In
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Azolla-Anabaena Symbiosis-From Traditional Agriculture to Biotechnology
Indian Journal of Biotechnology Vol 2, January 2003, pp 26-37 Azolla-Anabaena Symbiosis-From Traditional Agriculture to Biotechnology Anjuli Pabby, Radha Prasanna and P K Singh* National Centre for Conservation and Utilization of Blue-Green Algae, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi 110 012, India The Azolla - Anabaena symbiosis has attracted attention as a biofertilizer worldwide, especially in South East Asia. But its utilization and genetic improvement has been limited mainly due to problems associated with the isolation and characterization of cyanobionts and the relative sensitivity of the fern to extremes of temperature and light intensity. This paper reviews the historical background of Azolla, its metabolic capabilities and present day utilization in agriculture. An outline of biotechnological interventions, carried out in India and abroad, is also discussed for a better understanding of the symbiotic interactions, which can go a long way in further exploitation of this association in agriculture and environmental management. Keywords: Azolla, Anabaena, biofertilizer, fingerprinting, symbiont Introduction food and medicine, besides its role in environmental Azolla is a small aquatic fern of demonstrated management and as controlling agent for weeds and agronomic significance in both developed and mosquitoes. It also improves water quality by removal developing countries (Singh, 1979a; Lumpkin & of excess quantities of nitrate and phosphorus and is Plucknett, 1980; Watanabe, 1982; Giller, 2002). The also used as fodder, feed for fish, ducks and rabbits association between Azolla and Anabaena azollae is a (Wagner, 1997). Besides its extensive use as a N- symbiotic one, wherein the eukaryotic partner Azolla supplement in rice-based ecosystems, it has also been houses the prokaryotic endosymbiont in its leaf used in other crops such as taro, wheat, tomato and cavities and provides carbon sources and in turn banana (Van Hove, 1989; Marwaha et al. -
The Cytoskeleton in Cell-Autonomous Immunity: Structural Determinants of Host Defence
Mostowy & Shenoy, Nat Rev Immunol, doi:10.1038/nri3877 The cytoskeleton in cell-autonomous immunity: structural determinants of host defence Serge Mostowy and Avinash R. Shenoy Medical Research Council Centre of Molecular Bacteriology and Infection (CMBI), Imperial College London, Armstrong Road, London SW7 2AZ, UK. e‑mails: [email protected] ; [email protected] doi:10.1038/nri3877 Published online 21 August 2015 Abstract Host cells use antimicrobial proteins, pathogen-restrictive compartmentalization and cell death in their defence against intracellular pathogens. Recent work has revealed that four components of the cytoskeleton — actin, microtubules, intermediate filaments and septins, which are well known for their roles in cell division, shape and movement — have important functions in innate immunity and cellular self-defence. Investigations using cellular and animal models have shown that these cytoskeletal proteins are crucial for sensing bacteria and for mobilizing effector mechanisms to eliminate them. In this Review, we highlight the emerging roles of the cytoskeleton as a structural determinant of cell-autonomous host defence. 1 Mostowy & Shenoy, Nat Rev Immunol, doi:10.1038/nri3877 Cell-autonomous immunity, which is defined as the ability of a host cell to eliminate an invasive infectious agent, is a first line of defence against microbial pathogens 1 . It relies on antimicrobial proteins, specialized degradative compartments and programmed host cell death 1–3 . Cell- autonomous immunity is mediated by tiered innate immune signalling networks that sense microbial pathogens and stimulate downstream pathogen elimination programmes. Recent studies on host– microorganism interactions show that components of the host cell cytoskeleton are integral to the detection of bacterial pathogens as well as to the mobilization of antibacterial responses (FIG. -
How Protein Materials Balance Strength, Robustness and Adaptability
How Protein Materials Balance Strength, Robustness And Adaptability The MIT Faculty has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters. Citation Buehler, Markus J., and Yu Ching Yung. “How protein materials balance strength, robustness, and adaptability.” HFSP Journal 4.1 (2010): 26-40. As Published http://dx.doi.org/10.2976/1.3267779 Publisher American Institute of Physics Version Author's final manuscript Citable link http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/67894 Terms of Use Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported Detailed Terms http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ How protein materials balance strength, robustness and adaptability Markus J. Buehler1,2,3*, Yu Ching Yung1 1Laboratory for Atomistic and Molecular Mechanics, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 77 Massachusetts Ave. Room 1-235A&B, Cambridge, MA, USA 2Center for Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA, USA 3Center for Computational Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA, USA * E-mail: [email protected], Lab URL: http://web.mit.edu/mbuehler/www/ Abstract: Proteins form the basis of a wide range of biological materials such as hair, skin, bone, spider silk or cells, which play an important role in providing key functions to biological systems. The focus of this article is to discuss how protein materials are capable of balancing multiple, seemingly incompatible properties such as strength, robustness and adaptability. Here we review bottom-up materiomics studies focused on the mechanical behavior of protein materials at multiple scales, from nano to macro. -
Periodic and Coordinated Gene Expression Between a Diazotroph and Its Diatom Host
The ISME Journal (2019) 13:118–131 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41396-018-0262-2 ARTICLE Periodic and coordinated gene expression between a diazotroph and its diatom host 1 1,2 1 3 4 Matthew J. Harke ● Kyle R. Frischkorn ● Sheean T. Haley ● Frank O. Aylward ● Jonathan P. Zehr ● Sonya T. Dyhrman1,2 Received: 11 April 2018 / Revised: 28 June 2018 / Accepted: 28 July 2018 / Published online: 16 August 2018 © International Society for Microbial Ecology 2018 Abstract In the surface ocean, light fuels photosynthetic carbon fixation of phytoplankton, playing a critical role in ecosystem processes including carbon export to the deep sea. In oligotrophic oceans, diatom–diazotroph associations (DDAs) play a keystone role in ecosystem function because diazotrophs can provide otherwise scarce biologically available nitrogen to the diatom host, fueling growth and subsequent carbon sequestration. Despite their importance, relatively little is known about the nature of these associations in situ. Here we used metatranscriptomic sequencing of surface samples from the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre (NPSG) to reconstruct patterns of gene expression for the diazotrophic symbiont Richelia and we – 1234567890();,: 1234567890();,: examined how these patterns were integrated with those of the diatom host over day night transitions. Richelia exhibited significant diel signals for genes related to photosynthesis, N2 fixation, and resource acquisition, among other processes. N2 fixation genes were significantly co-expressed with host nitrogen uptake and metabolism, as well as potential genes involved in carbon transport, which may underpin the exchange of nitrogen and carbon within this association. Patterns of expression suggested cell division was integrated between the host and symbiont across the diel cycle. -
Mutations in Desmin's Carboxy-Terminal “Tail” Domain Severely Modify Filament and Network Mechanics
doi:10.1016/j.jmb.2010.02.024 J. Mol. Biol. (2010) 397, 1188–1198 Available online at www.sciencedirect.com Mutations in Desmin's Carboxy-Terminal “Tail” Domain Severely Modify Filament and Network Mechanics Harald Bär1,2†, Michael Schopferer3†, Sarika Sharma1,2, Bernhard Hochstein3, Norbert Mücke4, Harald Herrmann2 and Norbert Willenbacher3⁎ 1Department of Cardiology, Inherited mutations in the gene coding for the intermediate filament protein University of Heidelberg, desmin have been demonstrated to cause severe skeletal and cardiac 69120 Heidelberg, Germany myopathies. Unexpectedly, some of the mutated desmins, in particular those carrying single amino acid alterations in the non-α-helical carboxy- 2Group Functional Architecture terminal domain (“tail”), have been demonstrated to form apparently of the Cell, German Cancer normal filaments both in vitro and in transfected cells. Thus, it is not clear if Research Center, filament properties are affected by these mutations at all. For this reason, we 69120 Heidelberg, Germany performed oscillatory shear experiments with six different desmin “tail” 3Institute of Mechanical Process mutants in order to characterize the mesh size of filament networks and Engineering and Mechanics, their strain stiffening properties. Moreover, we have carried out high- University of Karlsruhe, frequency oscillatory squeeze flow measurements to determine the bending Gotthard-Franz-Straße 3, 76131 stiffness of the respective filaments, characterized by the persistence length Karlsruhe, Germany lp. Interestingly, mesh size was not altered for the mutant filament 4 networks, except for the mutant DesR454W, which apparently did not Division of Biophysics of form proper filament networks. Also, the values for bending stiffness were Macromolecules, German “ ” – μ in the same range for both the tail mutants (lp =1.0 2.0 m) and the wild- Cancer Research Center, μ type desmin (lp =1.1±0.5 m). -
Nostocaceae (Subsection IV
African Journal of Agricultural Research Vol. 7(27), pp. 3887-3897, 17 July, 2012 Available online at http://www.academicjournals.org/AJAR DOI: 10.5897/AJAR11.837 ISSN 1991-637X ©2012 Academic Journals Full Length Research Paper Phylogenetic and morphological evaluation of two species of Nostoc (Nostocales, Cyanobacteria) in certain physiological conditions Bahareh Nowruzi1*, Ramezan-Ali Khavari-Nejad1,2, Karina Sivonen3, Bahram Kazemi4,5, Farzaneh Najafi1 and Taher Nejadsattari2 1Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Tarbiat Moallem University, Tehran, Iran. 2Department of Biology, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran. 3Department of Applied Chemistry and Microbiology, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 56, Viikki Biocenter, Viikinkaari 9, FIN-00014 Helsinki, Finland. 4Department of Biotechnology, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. 5Cellular and Molecular Biology Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Accepted 25 January, 2012 Studies of cyanobacterial species are important to the global scientific community, mainly, the order, Nostocales fixes atmospheric nitrogen, thus, contributing to the fertility of agricultural soils worldwide, while others behave as nuisance microorganisms in aquatic ecosystems due to their involvement in toxic bloom events. However, in spite of their ecological importance and environmental concerns, their identification and taxonomy are still problematic and doubtful, often being based on current morphological and -
Understanding the Interaction Between Anabaena Sp. and a Heterocyst-Specific Epibiont
Understanding the interaction between Anabaena sp. and a heterocyst-specific epibiont Iglika V. Pavlova MBL Microbial Diversity course 2005 Abstract Anabaena sp. and an associated heterocyst-specific epibiontic bacterium were isolated from School Street Marsh in Woods Hole, MA in 1997 during the Microbial Diversity course. A two-member culture of the cyanobacterium and the epibiont have been maintained at WHOI by John Waterbury. Anabaena species with similar heterocyst-specific epibionts have also been isolated from other locations (7, 8, 9). Successful culture of the epibiont separately from the School Street Marsh cyanobacterium was achieved on two occasions (1, 10), but the isolates were not preserved. The epibiont was identified to be an α-proteobacterium within the Rhizobiaceae group (10). The close and specific association between the cyanobacterium and the epibiont strongly suggests there might be a physiological benefit or benefits to the cyanobacterium, the epibiont, or to both partners. This study was designed to understand the potential benefits of the interaction for the epibiontic bacterium. Several approaches were used to isolate the epibiont in pure culture, unsuccessfully. This report describes the rationale for undertaking the project and the approaches used to isolate the epibiont, in the hopes that this will be useful information for the future isolation of an axenic epibiont culture. Rationale Cyanobacterial associations with heterotrophic bacteria from environmental isolates have been described before and have been implicated in increasing the growth of the cyanobacterium (5, 6, 7). Benefit to the cyanobacterium may be derived from a range of associations, including the presence of heterotrophic bacteria in the culture medium, attraction of such bacteria to cyanobacterial secretions (either along the whole filament, or secretions stemming from the heterocyst in filamentous bacteria), or the attachment of the bacterium to the cyanobacterium outer surface (5, 6, 7, 9). -
Planktothrix Agardhii É a Mais Comum
Accessing Planktothrix species diversity and associated toxins using quantitative real-time PCR in natural waters Catarina Isabel Prata Pereira Leitão Churro Doutoramento em Biologia Departamento Biologia 2015 Orientador Vitor Manuel de Oliveira e Vasconcelos, Professor Catedrático Faculdade de Ciências iv FCUP Accessing Planktothrix species diversity and associated toxins using quantitative real-time PCR in natural waters The research presented in this thesis was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, I.P.) national funds through the project PPCDT/AMB/67075/2006 and through the individual Ph.D. research grant SFRH/BD65706/2009 to Catarina Churro co-funded by the European Social Fund (Fundo Social Europeu, FSE), through Programa Operacional Potencial Humano – Quadro de Referência Estratégico Nacional (POPH – QREN) and Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT). The research was performed in the host institutions: National Institute of Health Dr. Ricardo Jorge (INSA, I.P.), Lisboa; Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research (CIIMAR), Porto and Centre for Microbial Resources (CREM - FCT/UNL), Caparica that provided the laboratories, materials, regents, equipment’s and logistics to perform the experiments. v FCUP Accessing Planktothrix species diversity and associated toxins using quantitative real-time PCR in natural waters vi FCUP Accessing Planktothrix species diversity and associated toxins using quantitative real-time PCR in natural waters ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor Professor Vitor Vasconcelos for accepting to embark in this research and supervising this project and without whom this work would not be possible. I am also greatly thankful to my co-supervisor Elisabete Valério for the encouragement in pursuing a graduate program and for accompanying me all the way through it. -
Anabaena Variabilis ATCC 29413
Standards in Genomic Sciences (2014) 9:562-573 DOI:10.4056/sig s.3899418 Complete genome sequence of Anabaena variabilis ATCC 29413 Teresa Thiel1*, Brenda S. Pratte1 and Jinshun Zhong1, Lynne Goodwin 5, Alex Copeland2,4, Susan Lucas 3, Cliff Han 5, Sam Pitluck2,4, Miriam L. Land 6, Nikos C Kyrpides 2,4, Tanja Woyke 2,4 1Department of Biology, University of Missouri-St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 2DOE Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, CA 3Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA 4Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 5Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 6Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN *Correspondence: Teresa Thiel ([email protected]) Anabaena variabilis ATCC 29413 is a filamentous, heterocyst-forming cyanobacterium that has served as a model organism, with an extensive literature extending over 40 years. The strain has three distinct nitrogenases that function under different environmental conditions and is capable of photoautotrophic growth in the light and true heterotrophic growth in the dark using fructose as both carbon and energy source. While this strain was first isolated in 1964 in Mississippi and named Ana- baena flos-aquae MSU A-37, it clusters phylogenetically with cyanobacteria of the genus Nostoc . The strain is a moderate thermophile, growing well at approximately 40° C. Here we provide some additional characteristics of the strain, and an analysis of the complete genome sequence. Introduction Classification and features Anabaena variabilis ATCC 29413 (=IUCC 1444 = The general characteristics of A. variabilis are PCC 7937) is a semi-thermophilic, filamentous, summarized in Table 1 and its phylogeny is shown heterocyst-forming cyanobacterium. -
Soft Matter PAPER
View Article Online / Journal Homepage / Table of Contents for this issue Soft Matter Dynamic Article LinksC< Cite this: Soft Matter, 2012, 8, 7446 www.rsc.org/softmatter PAPER Growth of curved and helical bacterial cells Hongyuan Jiang and Sean X. Sun* Received 26th February 2012, Accepted 17th May 2012 DOI: 10.1039/c2sm25452b A combination of cell wall growth and cytoskeletal protein action gives rise to the observed bacterial cell shape. Aside from the common rod-like and spherical shapes, bacterial cells can also adopt curved or helical geometries. To understand how curvature in bacteria is developed or maintained, we examine how Caulobacter crescentus obtains its crescent-like shape. Caulobacter cells with or without the cytoskeletal bundle crescentin, an intermediate filament-like protein, exhibit two distinct growth modes, curvature maintenance that preserves the radius of curvature and curvature relaxation that straightens the cell (Fig. 1). Using a proposed mechanochemical model, we show that bending and twisting of the crescentin bundle can influence the stress distribution in the cell wall, and lead to the growth of curved cells. In contrast, after crescentin bundle is disrupted, originally curved cells will slowly relax towards a straight rod over time. The model is able to quantitatively capture experimentally observed curvature dynamics. Furthermore, we show that the shape anisotropy of the cross-section of a curved cell is never greater than 4%, even in the presence of crescentin. 1. Introduction forces applied by external constraints generate curved cells. Strikingly, the growth modes of the cell with or without cres- Bacterial cell walls are built through a complex biochemical centin are different17,18 as shown in Fig. -
A Metabolic Assembly Line in Bacteria
NEWS AND VIEWS A metabolic assembly line in bacteria Matthew T. Cabeen and Christine Jacobs-Wagner The bacterial cytoplasm is rich in filament-forming proteins, from homologues of eukaryotic cytoskeletal elements to other scaffolding and segregation proteins. We now learn that even the metabolic enzyme CTP synthase forms cytoplasmic filaments that affect bacterial cell shape. Bacteria keep surprising us. It was not so long in mediating cell curvature in Caulobacter cres- and analysing their function later. Using high- ago that they were thought to be mere bags of centus9; subsequent characterization revealed resolution electron cryotomography (ECT), an chemicals, possessing only the cell wall as a sort its intermediate filament-like properties9. But unbiased method which uses no labels, Jensen of exoskeleton to hold everything together. As what about proteins with functions that would and colleagues uncovered several filament-like it turns out, bacterial cells have a sophisticated never suggest any polymerizing property? structures in the cytoplasm of C. crescentus internal organization. They possess counter- Recent work has approached the discovery of that could not be identified by disrupting or parts of tubulin, actin and intermediate fila- subcellular structures from the opposite direc- eliminating known cytoskeletal structures10. ment proteins, suggesting that a cytoskeleton tion by searching for filamentous structures first Meanwhile, in another unbiased approach, first evolved in bacteria. Moreover, in recent years the known bacterial filament-forming proteins have expanded beyond the traditional cytoskeleton to include DNA segregators, structural scaffolds and proteins, the function of which are still unknown. On page 739 of this TubZ issue, Ingerson-Mahar et al. -
Umezakia Natans M.Watan. Does Not Belong to Stigonemataceae but To
Fottea 11(1): 163–169, 2011 163 Umezakia natans M.WATAN . does not belong to Stigonemataceae but to Nostocaceae Yuko NIIYAMA 1, Akihiro TUJI 1 & Shigeo TSUJIMURA 2 1Department of Botany, National Museum of Nature and Science, 4–1–1 Amakubo, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305–0005, Japan; e–mail: [email protected] 2Lake Biwa Environmental Research Institute, 5–34 Yanagasaki, Otsu, Shiga 520–0022, Japan Abstract: Umezakia natans M.WA T A N . was described by Dr. M. Watanabe in 1987 as a new species in the family of Stigonemataceae, following the rules of the Botanical Code. According to the original description, this planktonic filamentous species grows well in a growth media with pH being 7 to 9, and with a smaller proportion of sea water. Both heterocytes and akinetes were observed, as well as true branches developing perpendicular to the original trichomes in cultures older than one month. Watanabe concluded that Umezakia was a monotypic and only planktonic genus belonging to the family of Stigonemataceae. Unfortunately, the type culture has been lost. In 2008, we successfully isolated a new strain of Umezakia natans from a sample collected from Lake Suga. This lake is situated very close to the type locality, Lake Mikata in Fukui Prefecture, Japan. We examined the morphology of this U. natans strain, and conducted a DNA analysis using 16S rDNA regions. Morphological characters of the newly isolated strain were in a good agreement with the original description of U. natans. Furthermore, results of the DNA analysis showed that U. natans appeared in a cluster containing Aphanizomenon ovalisporum and Anabaena bergii.