Search

Both academic and industrial laboratories currently use constraint - based reconstruction methods to predict optimal genetic modifications aiming at improving the yield of chemical production. Streptomyces ambofaciens, a prolific producer of bioactive compounds has been studied with different modeling tools . The interest is linked to its ability to produce a wide range of secondary metabolites such as spiramycin, kinamycin, antimycin and stambomycins, and novel polyketides with antibacterial and antiproliferative activities. In this study, the metabolic pattern of Streptomyces ambofaciens has been globally explored: a set of candidate overexpression gene targets supposed to lead to spiramycin overproduction have been evidenced through metabolic modeling. Model predictions were experimentally validated by genetic manipulation of the ethylmalonyl-CoA metabolic node, providing evidence that spiramycin productivity may be increased by enhancing the carbon flow through this pathway. The goal was achieved by over - expressing the ccr paralog srm4 in an ad hoc engineered plasmid. The first metabolic reconstruction of S. ambofaciens and the successful experimental validation of model predictions have been described and the validity and the importance of in silico modeling tools for the overproduction of molecules with a biotechnological interest demonstrated. As a result, the proposed metabolic reconstruction represents a solid platform for the future exploitation of S. ambofaciens biotechnological potential.

Due to the diffusion of severe pathogens, everyday life is exposed to the risks of contracting severe diseases. For this reason, efficient antimicrobial surfaces are of paramount importance. In this work we present the first evidences of a new technique to obtain an antibacterial ultra high molecular weight polyethylene based on a non- stoichiometric, visible light responsive, titanium oxide coating. The coating was obtained through a process in which titanium ions, resulting from laser ablation of a corresponding target, were accelerated and implanted on the samples. The samples were tested against a Staphylo- coccus aureus strain, in order to assay their antimicrobial efficacy. Results show that this treatment strongly dis- courages bacterial colonization of the treated surfaces.

In questo lavoro si presentano i risultati ottenuti impiantando ioni di Cu e Ag su polietilene Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene. L'impiantazione è stata eseguita utilizzando la tecnica LIS (Laser Ion Source), con laser ad eccimeri KrF e utilizzando una doppia accelerazione ottendo 60 kV di accelerazione. La fluenza laser è stata di 2.2 J/cm2 corrispondente ad un flusso ionico di 1012 ions/cm2 . Test di antibattericità sono stati condotti utilizzando il ceppo Staphylococcus aureus. Esami preliminari dimostrano una diminuzione della proliferazione di batteri sui campioni trattati.

Studies on Vibrio bacteria sampled from a coastal cave having an high radon content are presented. Most of the strains exhibited a low rate of survival after the UV exposure. All strains after UV and visible irradiation showed an high capability of photoreactivation. This capability was unexpected. We hypothesize that the photoreactivation might have been evolved to repair DNA lesions induced also by different radiations and that the luminescent bacteria might use their own light emission to carry out the photoreactivation. We assessed that the photoreactivation increased for some strains of about 42000 times.

Bio-luminescent bacteria exposed to radiation of UHTM frequencies is not known and they offer new prospective to study modern biological sensors and DNA. We performed experiments undergoing an electric field of 53 and 140 V/m. Bioluminescence decreased of 77% and 68% undergone lower and higher electric field, respectively. We estimated a corresponding enhancement of the bioluminescent activity of bacteria growing at RF environment of 23 and 85 times undergone lower and higher electric field. This behavior of intense activity of bacteria on RF exposure can be ascribed to the anti-mutagenic effect of the RF.

Bacteria undergoing environmental effects is extremely interesting for structural, mechanistic, and evolutionary implications. Luminescent bacteria that have evolved in a specific ambient have developed particular responses and their behavior can give us new suggestions on the task and production of luciferina proteins. To analyze the UV interaction under controlled laboratory conditions, we used photoluminescent bacterial strains belonging to a new species evolutionarily close to Vibrio harveyi sampled from a coastal cave with a high radon content that generates ionizing radiation. The survival of the bacterial strains was analyzed, in the light and in the dark, following a variety of genotoxic treatments including UV radiation exposure. The strains were irradiated by a germicide lamp. The results demonstrated that most of the strains exhibited a low rate of survival after the UV exposure. After irradiation by visible light following the UV exposure, all strains showed a high capability of photoreactivation when grown. This capability was quite unexpected because these bacteria were sampled from a dark ambient without UV radiation. This leads us to hypothesize that the photoreactivation in these bacteria might have been evolved to repair DNA lesions also induced by different radiation sources other than UV (e.g., x-ray) and that the luminescent bacteria might use their own light emission to carry out the photoreactivation. The high capability of photoreactivation of these bacteria was also justified by the results of deconvolution. The deconvolution was applied to the emission spectra and it was able to show evidence of different light peaks. The presence of the visible peak could control the photolysis enzyme.

Bacteria synthesise an extremely rich repertoire of odorous compounds. Unfortunately this feature is not much known and bacteria are more often associated with the bad smell of rotting material. The focus of this review is on the capability of bacteria to synthesize odorous volatiles, either when they are free-living in soil and aquatic environments or when they establish symbiotic association with plants and animals, with specific reference to humans. In particular, the biological and ecological significance of bacterial volatiles and their biotechnological perspectives are covered in this present work.

Vetiver is the only grass cultivated worldwide for the root essential oil, which is a mixture of sesquiterpene alcohols and hydrocarbons, used extensively in perfumery and cosmetics. Light and transmission electron microscopy demonstrated the presence of bacteria in the cortical parenchymatous essential oil-producing cells and in the lysigen lacunae in close association with the essential oil. This finding and the evidence that axenic Vetiver produces in vitro only trace amounts of oil with a strikingly different composition compared with the oils from in vivo Vetiver plants stimulated the hypothesis of an involvement of these bacteria in the oil metabolism. We used culture-based and culture-independent approaches to analyse the microbial community of the Vetiver root. Results demonstrate a broad phylogenetic spectrum of bacteria, including α-, β- and γ-Proteobacteria, high-G+C-content Gram-positive bacteria, and microbes belonging to the Fibrobacteres/Acidobacteria group. We isolated root-associated bacteria and showed that most of them are able to grow by using oil sesquiterpenes as a carbon source and to metabolize them releasing into the medium a large number of compounds typically found in commercial Vetiver oils. Several bacteria were also able to induce gene expression of a Vetiver sesquiterpene synthase. These results support the intriguing hypothesis that bacteria may have a role in essential oil biosynthesis opening the possibility to use them to manoeuvre the Vetiver oil molecular structure. © 2008 The Authors.

recA1, recA13 and recA56 are considered null alleles of the Escherichia coli recA gene because they were shown to have essentially no activity in vivo. In this study, we used strains harboring the recA null alleles and their recA-proficient congenic counterpart to assess the lethal and the mutagenic effects elicited by near-UV(308 nm) coherent radiation generated by a XeCl excimer laser. We compared these effects with those produced by a conventional far-UV(254 nm) germicidal lamp. Compared to the germicidal lamp, the excimer laser was able to better discriminate the different recA-defective strains on the basis of their UV-radiation sensitivity, which was progressively higher in the strains with the alleles in the order recA1, recA56 and recA13. This finding was consistent with previous data on residual biochemical activities of the respective mutated RecA proteins in vitro. The discrepancy between the results obtained with the lamp and laser irradiation suggested that the biological response to the two radiations involves distinct mechanisms. This hypothesis was supported by the evidence that exposure to near-UV(308 nm) radiation induced mutagenesis in recA-defective strains at an extent considerably greater than in recA-proficient strains. In contrast, far-UV(254 nm)-radiation-induced mutagenesis was reported to be largely dependent on a functional recA allele.

Utilizing a suitable irradiating transmission line chamber, the effects of 900 MHz radio frequency fields on DNA mutability and repair in Escherichia coli strains were investigated. The transmission line was very versatile and able to easily apply different field values. In this experiment the maximum electric and magnetic fields were 66 V/m and 260 nT, respectively, in the absence of cell plates. Slight decrease in spontaneous mutability to erythromycin resistance was demonstrated in mismatch-repair proficient bacteria exposed to the radio frequency electromagnetic field sRF-EMFd during their growth on solid medium. The anti-mutagenic effect of the RF-EMF was much more impressive at the level of a hypermutagenic cytosine repeat, whose stability is strongly dependent on the activity of the mismatch repair system. In contrast, in mismatch repair-defective background RF-EMF neither affected the general DNA mutability nor the stability of the cytosine repeat, suggesting that the anti-mutagenic effect of the 900 MHz RF-EMF might be due to an improved efficiency of the mismatch repair system.

Meningococcal gdhA, encoding the NADP-specific L-glutamate dehydrogenase (NADP-GDH), is essential for systemic infection in an infant rat model. In this paper, a limited transcriptional analysis detected differences in gdhA expression among clinical isolates. In strains expressing high levels of gdhA mRNA, two promoters, gdhA P1 and gdhA P2, initiated transcription of gdhA. In contrast, in strains expressing low mRNA levels, gdhA P2 was not active because of weak expression of gdhR, an associated regulatory gene. Gene knock-out and complementation of a gdhR-defective mutant confirmed that GdhR is a positive regulator for gdhA P2. Trans-activation of gdhA P2 was maximal in complex medium during late logarithmic growth phase and in chemical defined medium (MCDA) when glucose (MCDA-glucose) instead of lactate (MCDA-lactate) was used as a carbon source in the presence of glutamate. gdhR knock-out mutants lost both growth phase and carbon source regulation, and exhibited a growth defect more severe in MCDA-glucose than in MCDA-lactate. DNA-protein interaction studies demonstrated that 2-oxoglutarate, a product of the catabolic reaction of the NADP-GDH and an intermediate of the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle, inhibits binding of GdhR to gdhA P2.