The binding of nuclear factors to the as-1 element in the CaMV 35S promoter is affected by cytosine methylation in vitro

Transcriptional gene silencing (TCS) is often associated with an increased level of cytosine methylation in the affected promoters. The effect of methylation of the cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) 35S promoter sequence on its binding to factors present in the nuclei was analyzed by electrophoretic mobility shift assays using extracts of petunia flowers. Specific DNA-protein interactions were detected in the region of the CaMV 35S promoter that contains the as-1 element and the region between -345 and -208. The binding of protein factor(s) to the as-1 element was influenced by cytosine methylation, whereas the binding to the region between -345 and -208 was unaffected. The results suggest that cytosine methylation of the as-1 element potentially affects the activity of the CaMV 35S promoter. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart.

Epigenetic inactivation of chalcone synthase-A transgene transcription in petunia leads to a reversion of the post-transcriptional gene silencing phenotype

Petunia plants that exhibit a white-flowering phenotype as a consequence of chalcone synthase transgene-induced silencing occasionally give rise to revertant branches that produce flowers with wild-type pigmentation. Transcription run-on assays confirmed that the production of white flowers is caused by post-transcriptional gene silencing (PTGS), and indicated that transgene transcription is repressed in the revertant plants, providing evidence that induction of PTGS depends on the transcription rate. Transcriptional repression of the transgene was associated with cytosine methylation at CpG, CpNpG and CpNpN sites, and the expression was restored by treatment with either 5-azacytidine or trichostatin A. These results demonstrate that epigenetic changes occurred in the PTGS line, and these changes interfere with the initiation of transgene transcription, leading to a reversion of the PTGS phenotype.

A novel species of mastrevirus (family Geminiviridae) isolated from Digitaria didactyla grass from Australia.

Mastreviruses (family Geminiviridae) that infect monocotyledonous plants occur throughout the temperate and tropical regions of Asia, Africa, Europe and Australia. Despite the identification of a very diverse array of mastrevirus species whose members infect African monocots, few such species have been discovered in other parts of the world. For example, the sequence of only a single monocot-infecting mastrevirus, Chloris striate mosaic virus (CSMV), has been reported so far from Australia, even though earlier biological and serological studies suggested that other distinct mastreviruses were present. Here, we have obtained the complete nucleotide sequence of a virus from the grass Digitaria didactyla originating from Australia. Analysis of the sequence shows the virus to be a typical mastrevirus, with four open reading frames, two in each orientation, separated by two non-coding intergenic regions. Although it showed the highest levels of sequence identity to CSMV (68.7%), their sequences are sufficiently diverse for the virus to be considered a member of a new species in the genus Mastrevirus, based on the present species demarcation criteria. We propose that the name first used during the 1980s be used for this species, Digitaria didactyla striate mosaic virus (DDSMV).

Processing of SeMV polyproteins revisited

Processing of Sesbania mosaic virus (SeMV) polyprotein 2a and 2ab was reanalyzed in the view of the new genome organization of sobemoviruses. Polyprotein 2a when expressed in E coli, from the new cDNA clone, got cleaved at the earlier identified sites E325-T326, E402-T403 and E498-S499 to release protease, VPg, P10 and P8, respectively. Additionally, a novel cleavage was identified within the protease domain at position E132-S133, which was found to be essential for efficient polyprotein processing. Products, corresponding to cleavages identified in E. coli, were also detected in infected Sesbania leaves. Interestingly, though the sites are exactly the same in polyprotein 2ab, it got cleaved between Protease-VPg but not between VPg-RdRp. This indicates to a differential cleavage preference, governed probably by the conformation of 2ab. Also, the studies revealed that, in SeMV, processing is regulated by mode of cleavage and context of the cleavage site.

Natively unfolded nucleic acid binding P8 domain of SeMV polyprotein 2a affects the novel ATPase activity of the preceding P10 domain

Open reading frame (ORF) 2a of Sesbania mosaic virus (SeMV) codes for polyprotein 2a (Membrane anchor-protease-VPg-P10-P8). The C-terminal domain of SeMV polyprotein 2a was cloned, expressed and purified in order to functionally characterize it. The protein of size 8 kDa (P8) domain, like viral protein genome linked (VPg), was found to be natively unfolded and could bind to nucleic acids.Interestingly, P10-P8 but not P8 showed a novel Mg2+ dependent ATPase activity that was inhibited in the presence of poly A. In the absence of P8, the ATPase activity of the protein of size 10 kDa (P10) domain was reduced suggesting that the natively unfolded P8 domain influenced the P10 ATPase.

Primer-independent initiation of RNA synthesis by SeMV recombinant RNA-dependent RNA polymerase

Sesbania mosaic virus (SeMV),a single-strand positive-sense RNA plant virus, belongs to the genus Sobemoviruses. Mechanism of replication in Sobemoviruses is poorly understood. In the present study, SeMV RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) was overexpressed and purified as a thioredoxin-tagged protein. The recombinant SeMV RdRp could synthesize RNA from genomic or subgenomic RNA templates, even in the absence ofthe protein primer, VPg. Analysis of the product indicated that it was double-stranded and that the mode of initiation was de novo. Mutational analysis of the 3' UTR of subgenomic RNA revealed that a stem-loop structure at the 3' end was important. Further, analysis of this stem-loop showed that the SeMV RdRp was capable of recognizing stem-loop structures of various lengths and forms. These results demonstrate that the SeMV RdRp is capable of primer-independent RNAsynthesis in vitro. (C) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Evaluación del riesgo fitosanitario en la importación de semillas de cucurbitáceas para siembra procedente de Estados Unidos de Norteamérica

De marzo 1999 a Mayo 2000 se realizó el presente estudio, en Managua, el cual se basó en la recopilación de información sobre las plagas asociadas a las semillas de cucurbitáceas. El objetivo del estudio fue proporcionar elementos técnicos a Cuarentena Vegetal para la toma de decisiones y aplicación de medidas fitosanitarias en la importación de semillas de cucurbitáceas para siembra procedente de Estados Unidos. La información fue obtenida de Bases de Datos Internacionales de Plagas, Centros de Documentación, Organismos internacionales, consultas a especialistas en foto protección, listado de plagas presentes en los cultivos de Nicaragua y búsqueda en Internet. Para el ordenamiento de la información se realizaron fichas técnicas para cada plaga. De un listado inicial de 1O plagas, solamente 8 plagas fueron sujetas a evaluación y análisis para el manejo del riesgo, después de pasar por las tres etapas de Evaluación de un Análisis de Riesgo de Plagas según la Norma Centroamericana del OIRSA. A las plagas consideradas como cuarentenarias para Nicaragua y que pueden causar grandes daños al país si se llegan a introducir, se les evaluó el riesgo de introducción, establecimiento y dispersión, además se determinaron las medidas de manejo del riesgo de plagas. De las plagas analizadas el hongo Fusarium oxysporum f. sp niveum, el virus Cucumber Green Mottle Mosaic Virus, el virus Melón Necrotic Spot Carmovirus, la bacteria Acidovorax avenae subsp.citrulli y el virus Cucumber Mosaic Cucumovirus, son las especies que presentan mayor riesgo fitosanitario.

Caracterización morfol+ogica de dieciocho accesiones del banco de germoplasma del genero Xanthosoma en condiciones del CENIAB-INTA, Managua, 2008

Con el propósito de evaluar la variabilidad genética del género Xanthosoma, se caracterizaron morfológicamente 18 accesiones del banco de germoplasma colectado en Nicaragua. El ensayo se estableció en el Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Agrobiotecnológicas(CENIAB-INTA) en arreglo de diseño bloques completos al azar, tres bloques y siete plantas por accesión por bloque. Se evaluó la duración del ciclo de vida, la relación de parentesco de las accesiones mediante el análisis de conglomerado (AC) (14 descriptores cualitativos y 17 cuantitativos), la incidencia y severidad del Dasheen mosaic virus(DsMV, siglas en inglés) y se elaboró un catálogo fotográfico de las accesiones. El AC conglomeró las accesiones en un solo grupo con dos subgrupos, en uno de ellos las accesiones X. violaceum y una accesión X. sagittifolium y en el otro subgrupo accesiones silvestres, una X. violaceum y una X. sagittifolium, cada una sub agrupadas con accesiones silvestres. Las accesiones silvestres fueron precoces o tardías, las cultivadas de ciclo intermedio. 100% de las accesiones estaban infectadas con DsMV según prueba ELISA (180 dds). Los síntomas no fueron visibles en las accesiones silvestres. El catálogo fotográfico evidencia la variabilidad del género Xanthosoma en Nicaragua. Con la información colectada se puede iniciar trabajos de mejora genética y producir cultivares resistentes al DsMV y mal seco; además de acortar el ciclo de vida para tener accesiones con mayor adaptabilidad a las cambiantes condiciones agroecológicas.

RNAi沉默烟草GA 20-氧化酶基因研究

赤霉素是一种高效能的广谱植物生长调节剂，为五大植物激素之一，具有重要的生物学功能。目前利用赤霉素突变体研究生物合成途径和信号转导已经成为热点。 GA 20-氧化酶是GA生物合成中的一类关键酶，它位于GA合成途径的中心位置。本研究根据烟草（Nicotiana tabacum）GA 20-氧化酶基因序列，设计2对分别含有特定酶切位点的特异引物，以烟草基因组DNA为模板，扩增目的基因(约250 bp)片段。将正、反向目的片段分别插入中间载体的内含子两侧，再经BamH I和Sac I双酶切回收约700 bp的目的片段，插入到双元载体质粒p2355中，成功构建了含GA 20-氧化酶基因片段反向重复序列的植物表达载体p23700。分别将p2355质粒和p23700质粒导入根癌农杆菌（Agrobacterium tumefaciens）EHA105中并转化烟草叶片细胞，经卡那霉素选择培养，PCR及GUS组织染色鉴定，获得转基因烟草植株。以EHA105-p2355转化的烟草，获得41株转基因植株，均没有矮化表型；而以EHA105-p23700转化的烟草，获得转基因植株14株，其中具有矮化表型的烟草10株，表明反向重复序列转录产物能形成发夹RNA(hpRNA)，产生小分子干扰RNA（small interferring RNA，简称siRNA），干扰目的基因的表达。 赤霉素含量测定表明矮化植株中赤霉素合成途径的最终产物GA3总含量明显低于野生型烟草植株。荧光定量PCR结果表明，矮化转基因烟草的GA 20-氧化酶基因表达量受到明显抑制，表达量明显低于野生型对照。同时对上游内根-贝壳杉合成酶（Ent-kaurene synthase，KS）基因，下游的GA-3β羟化酶基因进行了RT-PCR分析，结果显示上游基因的表达没有规律性变化，而下游基因表达量亦降低。上述结果表明，GA 20-氧化酶基因的表达被有效地干扰了，表达受到抑制，从而影响植株体内GA3的合成，影响植株的生长发育，导致植株矮化。并推测，GA 20-氧化酶基因受到抑制，可能影响下游基因的表达。并且通过干旱胁迫测试，发现矮化植株相对于野生型植株及不含干扰片段的转基因植株，对干旱的耐受力有了很大的提高，具有更强的耐受力。 研究结果为进一步进行相关研究奠定基础。 Gibberellin(GA) is an efficient plant growth regulator. As one of five major plant hormones, it plays an important biological function. Using GA mutant for investigating biosynthetic pathways and signal transduction has become high lights. GA 20-oxidase is a crucial enzyme involved in gibberellin biosynthesis. According to tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) GA 20-oxidase enzyme gene sequence and based on binary vector p2355, we constructed a plant expression vector p23700, which habors an inverted repeat DNA fragment of GA 20-oxidase gene drivered by Cauliflower mosaic virus promtor (CaMV 35Sp). Binary plasmid p2355 had no inverted repeat DNA fragment of GA 20-oxidase gene. The vector p2355 and p23700 were introduced into Agrobacterium tumefaciens EHA105 and tobacco leaf transformation was conducted. After selected by kanamycin and characterized by PCR and GUS hischemical reaction, transsgenic plants were obtained. Fourtheen transgenic plants, which were transformed by EHA105-p23700, were obtained. Among them, 10 were dwarf mutants. However, 41 transgenic plants with the same normal phenotype as wild type,which were transformed by EHA105-p2355, were obtained. Analysis of Gibberellin contents showed that it was lower in dwarf mutants than in normal phenotype plants. Moreover, comparing to normal phenotype plants including wild type and transgenic plants with no interference fragment, the drought tolerance of dwarf plants have greatly increased. And their proline content increased obviously after drought test. Fluorescence quantitative real time PCR (RT-PCR) showed that GA 20-oxidase gene expression was significantly inhibited in dwarf transgenic tobacco. Meanwhile, the expression of the upstream gene ent-kaurene synthase (KS) gene and downstream gene GA-3β hydroxylase gene was also detected by RT-PCR. The results presented that KS gene expression had no regular change while GA-3β hydroxylase gene expression reduced. It implied that inhibiting GA 20-oxidase gene probably reduce the expression of downstream genes. The results showed that the transcriptional products of the foreign inverted repeat fragment can form hairpin RNA (hpRNA) to induce RNAi. It presented that GA 20-oxidase gene expression was effectively interfered, resulting in reducing GA3 synthesis and inhibiting plant growth and development, then dwarf plants were produced. However, the dwarf plants had higher tolerance of drought.

Layer-by-layer assembly of viral capsid for cell adhesion

Cowpea mosaic virus (CPMV)-based thin films are biologically active for cell culture. Using layer-by-layer assembly of CPMV and poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride), quantitatively scalable biomolecular surfaces were constructed, which were well characterized using quartz crystal microbalance, UV-vis and atomic force microscopy. The surface coverage of CPMV nanoparticles depended on the adsorption time and pH of the virus solution, with a greater amount of CPMV adsorption occurring near its isoelectric point. It was found that the adhesion and proliferation of NIH-3T3 fibroblasts can be controlled by the coverage of viral particles using this multilayer technique.

Biofilm-Engineered Nanostructures

The use of biofilms as nanostructure-engineering materials is discussed and exemplified using ZnO nanorods. Three examples are presented for illustration, the immobilization of ZnO-nanorod arrays on the inner wall of a polystyrene centrifuge tube using S. thermophilus, the morphological organization of ZnO "filters" using S. thermophilus. And the design and implementation of a ZnO-decorated Ag framework using E. coli.

Studies of non-covalent protein complexes by MALDI methods

Several specific non-covalent protein complexes were successfully observed by matrix assisted desorption ionization mass spectrometry(MALDI MS). The methods described in this paper include the matrixes use of sinapinic acid(SA) and 6-aza-2-thiothymine (ATT) in neutral pH solution, as well as the improvement of two-layer sample preparation method to achieve a high sensitivity detection of stable non-covalent complexes, Myoglobin-heme complex was found simultaneously with the sinapinic acid matrix in the various pH solution(pH=2 or pH=5), The RNase S complex showed a striking intensity at the first shot, which was decreased with more laser shots. Most importantly, the observation of specific non-covalent complex in the brome mosaic virus(BMV) coat proteins would open up a new possibility to investigate the assembly and disassembly of viral capsids.

The integrative expression of GUS gene driven by FCP promoter in the seaweed Laminaria japonica (Phaeophyta)

In this study, the background activity of beta-glucuronidase (GUS) was analyzed histochemically and fluorometrically in the negative control of Laminaria japonica (Phaeophyta) thalli, showing low level of activity. GUS gene transformation without selectable gene in L. japonica was performed using four different promoters, i.e., Cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter (CaMV35S) from cauliflower mosaic virus, ubiquitin promoter (UBI) from maize, adenine-methyl transfer enzyme gene promoter (AMT) from virus in green alga Chlorella, and fucoxanthin chlorophyll a/c-binding protein gene promoter (FCP) from diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum. The GUS transient activity was determined fluorometrically after bombarding sliced parthenogenetic sporophytes explants, and it was found that the activity resulting from CaMV35S and FCP promoters (in 114.3 and 80.6 pmol MU min(-1) (mg protein)(-1), respectively) was higher than for the other two promoters. The female gametophytes were bombarded and regenerated parthenogenetic sporophytes. FCP was the only promoter that resulted in detectable GUS chimeric expression activity during histochemical staining and polymerase chain reaction. Results of Southern blot showed that GUS gene was integrated with the L. japonica genome.

Manual de identificação de doenças de soja.

Doenças causadas por fungos: Antracnose (Colletotrichum truncatum), Cancro da haste (Diaporthe phaseolorum var. meridionalis e D. phaseolorum var. caulivora), Crestamento foliar de cercóspora e mancha púrpura (Cercospora kikuchii), Ferrugem (Phakopsora pachyrhizi e P. meibomiae), Mancha alvo e podridão radicular de corinéspora (Corynespora cassiicola), Mancha foliar de ascoquita (Ascochyta sojae), Mancha foliar de mirotécio (Myrothecium roridum), Mancha olho-de-rã (Cercospora sojina), Mancha parda (Septoria glycines), Mela ou requeima (Rhizoctonia solani AG1), Míldio (Peronospora manshurica), Tombamento e morte em reboleira de rizoctonia (Rhizoctonia solani), Tombamento e murcha de esclerócio (Sclerotium rolfsii), Oídio (Erysiphe diffusa), Podridão branca da haste (Sclerotinia sclerotiorum), Podridão de carvão da raiz (Macrophomina phaseolina), Podridão parda da haste (Cadophora gregata), Podridão radicular de roselínia (Rosellinia necatrix), Seca da haste e da vagem (Phomopsis spp.), Podridão radicular de fitóftora (Phytophthora sojae), Podridão vermelha da raiz (Fusarium spp.). Doenças causadas por bactérias: Crestamento bacteriano (Pseudomonas savastanoi pv. glycinea), Fogo Selvagem (Pseudomonas syringae pv. tabaci), Pústula bacteriana (Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. glycines). Doenças causadas por vírus: Mosaico cálico (Alfalfa Mosaic Virus - AMV), Mosqueado do feijão (Bean Pod Mottle Virus - BPMV), Mosaico comum da soja (Soybean Mosaic Virus - SMV), Necrose da haste (Cowpea Mild Mottle Virus - CPMMV), Queima do broto (Tobacco Streak Virus - TSV). Doenças causadas por nematóides: Nematóide de cisto (Heterodera glycines), Nematóides de galhas (Meloidogyne incognita e M. javanica), Nematóide das lesões (Pratylenchus spp.), Nematóide reniforme (Rotylenchulus reniformis). Estádios de desenvolvimento da soja.

Viroses de cucurbitáceas.

O objetivo desta Circular Técnica é descrever as principais viroses que afetam espécies de cucrbitáceas no Brasil, quanto aos sintomas, etiologia, epidemiologia e medidas de controle.