Adherence of bacteria via their surface lectins to host epithelial cells is considered an important initial event in bacterial pathogenesis. Mannose-specific (type 1) fimbriae are among the most commonly found lectins in enterobacteria. We studied the effect of aromatic alpha-glycosides of mannose on the agglutination of mannan-containing yeasts by different strains of Escherichia coli and on the adherence of the bacteria to guinea pig ileal epithelial cells. In both systems these compounds were considerably more effective inhibitors than methyl alpha-mannoside, with 4-methylumbelliferyl alpha-mannoside and p-nitro-o-chlorophenyl alpha-mannoside being the strongest inhibitors. Both compounds were approximately 400-times stronger inhibitors of yeast agglutination by E. coli O128 than was methyl alpha-mannoside and 1,000- and 470-fold stronger, respectively, than was methyl alpha-mannoside in inhibiting the adherence of the bacteria to ileal epithelial cells. 4-Methylumbelliferyl alpha-mannoside was 540 to 1,000 times more effective in inhibiting yeast agglutination by four additional strains of mannose-specific E. coli. It was also more efficient than methyl alpha-mannoside in removing adherent E. coli O128 from ileal epithelial cells. Our results provide further evidence that type 1 fimbriae of E. coli possess a hydrophobic region next to the mannose-binding site. The results suggest that 4-methylumbelliferyl alpha-mannoside and p-nitro-o-chlorophenyl alpha-mannoside are good candidates for the design of therapeutic agents that may prevent adherence in vivo and infection by E. coli strains that express type 1 fimbriae.
SummaryExposure to high temperatures causes reduced yields in tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum), mainly by affecting male gametophyte development. The effect of heat stress on pollen characteristics is associated with changes in carbohydrate metabolism in the developing anthers. The expression and activities of sucrose-cleaving enzymes and the amounts of starch and soluble sugars were measured in tomato (inbred line 'NC 8288') anthers at four stages of development, under 'normal' controlled (day/night temperatures of 26°/18°C) and high-temperature (day/night temperatures of 32°/26°C) conditions. Heat stress was found to cause a reduction in cell wall-bound acid invertase activity in the anthers of flower buds 5 d before anthesis (DBA), which correlated with reduced starch accumulation at 3 DBA, and an induction of the activities of sucrose synthase and soluble acid invertase in maturing anthers. The heat stress-induced increases in soluble acid invertase and sucrose synthase activities close to anthesis were found to correlate with a three-fold increase in the hexose:sucrose ratio in mature anthers. The heat-stress conditions applied altered the gene expression profiles of the enzymes tested, decreasing the steady-state level of the mRNA coding for cell wall-bound acid invertase at 5 DBA, increasing expression of the soluble acid invertase gene at 5 DBA, and decreasing expression of the sucrose synthase gene at 5 and 3 DBA. These data indicate that sucrose-cleaving enzymes in tomato anthers respond, at both the mRNA and enzyme activity levels, to high-temperature conditions, that the response is dependent upon the stage of flower development, and that it may involve post-transcriptional control.
Ethylene accumulation by ‘Beauregard’ cuttings subjected to 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) treatment in sealed containers. From Villordon, A., Clark, C., LaBonte, D., & Firon, N. (2012). 1-Methylcyclopropene has a variable effect on adventitious root emergence from cuttings of two sweetpotato cultivars. HortScience, 47(12), 1764-1767.
Sweetpotato is an important food crop globally, serving as a rich source of carbohydrates, vitamins, fiber, and micronutrients. Sweetpotato yield depends on the modification of adventitious roots into storage roots. The underlying mechanism of this developmental switch is not fully understood. Interestingly, storage-root formation is manifested by formation of starch-accumulating parenchyma cells and bulking of the distal part of the root, while the proximal part does not show bulking. This system, where two parts of the same adventitious root display different developmental fates, was used by us in order to better characterize the anatomical, physiological, and molecular mechanisms involved in sweetpotato storage-root formation. We show that, as early as 1 and 2 weeks after planting, the proximal part of the root exhibited enhanced xylem development together with increased/massive lignin deposition, while, at the same time, the distal root part exhibited significantly elevated starch accumulation. In accordance with these developmental differences, the proximal root part exhibited up-regulated transcript levels of sweetpotato orthologs of Arabidopsis vascular-development regulators and key genes of lignin biosynthesis, while the distal part showed up-regulation of genes encoding enzymes of starch biosynthesis. All these recorded differences between proximal and distal root parts were further enhanced at 5 weeks after planting, when storage roots were formed at the distal part. Our results point to down-regulation of fiber formation and lignification, together with up-regulation of starch biosynthesis, as the main events underlying storage-root formation, marking/highlighting several genes as potential regulators, providing a valuable database of genes for further research.
The main goal of the proposed research was to continue the mutual investigations into the molecular basis of CMS and male fertility restoration [MRF], with the ultimate goal of understanding these phenomena in higher plants. The experiments focused on: (1) dissecting apart the complex CMS - specific mitochondrial S-Pcf locus, in order to distinguish its essential parts which cause sterility from other parts and study its molecular evolution. (2) Studying the expression of the various regions of the S-Pcf locus in fertile and sterile lines and comparing the structure and ultrastructure of sterile and fertile tissues. (3) Determine whether alteration in respiration is genetically associated with CMS. Our mutual investigations further substantiated the association between the S-Pcf locus and CMS by the findings that the fertile phenotype of a population of unstable petunia somatic hybrids which contain the S-Pcf locus, is due to the presence of multiple muclear fertility restoration genes in this group of progenies. The information obtained by our studies indicate that homologous recombination played a major role in the molecular evolution of the S-Pcf locus and the CMS trait and in the generation of mitochondrial mutations in general. Our data suggest that the CMS cytoplasm evolved by introduction of a urs-s containing sublimon into the main mitochondrial genome via homologous recombination. We have also found that the first mutation detected so far in S-Pcf is a consequence of a homologous recombination mechanism involving part of the cox2 coding sequence. In all the cases studied by us, at the molecular level, we found that fusion of two different cells caused mitochondrial DNA recombination followed by sorting out of a specific mtDNA population or sequences. This sequence of events suggested as a mechanism for the generation of novel mitochondrial genomes and the creation of new traits. The present research also provides data concerning the expression of the recombined and complex CMS-specific S-Pcf locus as compared with the expression of additional mitochondrial proteins as well as comparative histological and ultrastructural studies of CMS and fertile Petunia. Evidence is provided for differential localization of mitochondrially encoded proteins in situ at the tissue level. The similar localization patterns of Pcf and atpA may indicate that Pcf product could interfere with the functioning of the mitochondrial ATPase in a tissue undergoing meiosis and microsporogenesis. Studies of respiration in CMS and fertile Petunia lines indicate that they differe in the partitioning of electron transport through the cytochrome oxidase and alternative oxidase pathways. The data indicate that the electron flux through the two oxidase pathways differs between mitochondria from fertile and sterile Petunia lines at certain redox states of the ubiquinone pool. In summary, extensive data concerning the CMS-specific S-Pcf locus of Petunia at the DNA and protein levels as well as information concerning different biochemical activity in CMS as compared to male fertile lines have been accumulated during the three years of this project. In addition, the involvement of the homologous recombination mechanism in the evolution of mt encoded traits is emphasized.
