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When plants are exposed to stressful environmental conditions, the production of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) increases and can cause significant damage to the cells. Antioxidant defenses, which can detoxify ROS, are present in plants. A major hydrogen peroxide detoxifying system in plant cells is the ascorbate-glutathione cycle, in which, ascorbate peroxidase (APX) enzymes play a key role catalyzing the conversion of H2O2 into H2O, using ascorbate as a specific electron donor. Different APX isoforms are present in distinct subcellular compartments, such as chloroplasts, mitochondria, peroxisome, and cytosol. The expression ofAPX genes is regulated in response to biotic and abiotic stresses as well as during plant development. The APX responses are directly involved in the protection of plant cells against adverse environmental conditions. Furthermore, mutant plants APX genes showed alterations in growth, physiology and antioxidant metabolism revealing those enzymes involvement in the normal plant development.

This work evaluated the effect of aqueous extracts from Ilex paraguariensis (maté) and Coffea arabica (coffee) combined with Sabouraud dextrose agar on the growth of Fonsecaea pedrosoi ATCC 46428. F. pedrosoi was grown on Petri dishes containing Sabouraud dextrose agar amended with aqueous extract derived from 0.5; 1; 2; 3; 4 and 5g of maté or coffee powder boiled in 100ml of water for 30 min. The diameters of fungal colonies were determined after 7 days. The incorporation of maté or coffee extracts into the growth media did not cause significant differences in the radial growth of F. pedrosoi ATCC 46428 when compared to the control. Nevertheless, nutritional requirement studies are important to the systematization of the biochemical profile, which may contribute to elucidating the functional biochemistry of F. pedrosoi.

As espécies reativas de oxigênio (ERO) são produzidas constantemente pelo metabolismo aeróbico. Em situações de estresse biótico ou abiótico, a produção é aumentada e a toxicidade das ERO pode conduzir a diversos danos celulares. As ERO atuam também como moléculas sinalizadoras regulando a expressão de genes de defesa a estresses, senescência, morte programada da célula, crescimento e desenvolvimento da planta, entre outros processos metabólicos. Uma vez que as ERO são tóxicas e também participam de eventos de sinalização, as células vegetais requerem mecanismos que regulem finamente a concentração intracelular destas moléculas. A ascorbato peroxidase (APx) é uma enzima fundamental do metabolismo antioxidante, catalisando a decomposição do H2O2. Em arroz, a APx é codificada por oito genes, cujas isoformas são caracterizadas por sua localização subcelular: citosólica, peroxissomal, mitocondrial ou cloroplástica. O objetivo deste trabalho foi caracterizar funcionalmente as APx citosólicas (OsAPx1 e OsAPx2) e peroxissomais (OsAPx3 e OsAPx4). A estratégia utilizada foi o silenciamento pós-transcricional por RNA de interferência (RNAi) dos genes individualmente e de ambos os genes codificantes de isoformas do mesmo compartimento subcelular. A redução da expressão de cada gene, assim como de ambos os genes de um compartimento, resultou na produção de diferentes sinais. As plantas RNAi mostraram diferentes fenótipos e padrões de expressão transcricional dos genes da família OsAPx. Analisando as plantas silenciadas para os genes OsAPx1 e OsAPx2 sob estresse com radiação UV e altas doses de alumínio, foi observada compensação por outras enzimas antioxidantes e aclimatação, possivelmente sinalizados pelos níveis mais elevados de H2O2. Estes resultados indicam que cada isoforma de OsAPx pode apresentar funções específicas na célula. Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) are continually produced by aerobic metabolism. Under biotic and abiotic stresses, the production is enhanced and the ROS toxicity can lead to cell damage. ROS act also as signalling molecules and are able to regulate the expression of resistance genes, senescence, programmed cell death, plant growth and development, among other metabolic processes. By the fact that ROS are cytotoxic and make part of signalling events, plant cells need mechanisms to tightly regulate the intracellular concentration of these molecules. Ascorbate peroxidase (APx) is a fundamental enzyme of the antioxidant metabolism, it catalyses the H2O2 decomposition. In rice, APx are encoded by a small multigene family, and the different isoforms are classified according to their subcellular localization: cytosolic, peroxisomal, mithocondrial or chloroplastic. The present work aimed to characterize the function of cytosolic (OsAPx1 and OsAPx2) and peroxisomal (OsAPx3 and OsAPx4) APx isoforms. The strategy was the post-transcription silencing by interference RNA (RNAi) of single genes and both genes of the same subcellular localization. The reduced expression of each gene or both genes from the same compartment resulted in the development of different signals. RNAi plants showed changes in the phenotype and in the transcriptional expression of the OsAPx gene family. The analyses of OsAPx1 and OsAPx2 silenced plants under stresses with UV radiation and aluminum revealed that the lack of APx was compensated by other antioxidant enzymes and the acclimation could be signaled by the increased level of H2O2. These results indicate that each isoform of APx should have specific functions in the cell.