A protein kinase screen of Neurospora crassa mutant strains reveals that the SNF1 protein kinase promotes glycogen synthase phosphorylation

Glycogen functions as a carbohydrate reserve in a variety of organisms and its metabolism is highly regulated. The activities of glycogen synthase and glycogen phosphorylase, the rate-limiting enzymes of the synthesis and degradation processes, respectively, are regulated by allosteric modulation and reversible phosphorylation. To identify the protein kinases affecting glycogen metabolism in Neurospora crassa, we performed a screen of 84 serine/threonine kinase knockout strains. We identified multiple kinases that have already been described as controlling glycogen metabolism in different organisms, such as NcSNF1, NcPHO85, NcGSK3, NcPKA, PSK2 homologue and NcATG1. In addition, many hypothetical kinases have been implicated in the control of glycogen metabolism. Two kinases, NcIME-2 and NcNIMA, already functionally characterized but with no functions related to glycogen metabolism regulation, were also identified. Among the kinases identified, it is important to mention the role of NcSNF1. We showed in the present study that this kinase was implicated in glycogen synthase phosphorylation, as demonstrated by the higher levels of glycogen accumulated during growth, along with a higher glycogen synthase (GSN) ±glucose 6-phosphate activity ratio and a lesser set of phosphorylated GSN isoforms in strain Ncsnf1KO, when compared with the wild-type strain. The results led us to conclude that, in N. crassa, this kinase promotes phosphorylation of glycogen synthase either directly or indirectly, which is the opposite of what is described for Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The kinases also play a role in gene expression regulation, in that gdn, the gene encoding the debranching enzyme, was down-regulated by the proteins identified in the screen. Some kinases affected growth and development, suggesting a connection linking glycogen metabolism with cell growth and development.

New ligands of the cellular retinoic acid-binding protein 2 (CRABP2) suggest a role for this protein in chromatin remodeling

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Degradação de efluentes da indústria têxtil pelo processo eletrolítico e avaliação ecotoxicológica em diferentes níveis tróficos

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Imobilização da enzima álcool desidrogenase em suportes alginato-quitosana e glioxil-agarose

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Avaliação da mutagenicidade e da estrogenicidade dos extratos etanólicos padronizados, frações e substâncias isoladas de Arrabidaea brachypoda (DC.) Bureau

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Aditivos alternativos aos antibióticos promotores de crescimento no desempenho de frangos de corte sob desafio sanitário

Pós-graduação em Zootecnia - FCAV

Imunomodulação por Actigen® em tilápia-do-nilo (Oreochromis niloticus): Respostas fisiológicas e desempenho produtivo após desafio com LPS

Pós-graduação em Ciência e Tecnologia Animal - FEIS

Reologia de fluidos envolvidos no processo de obtenção de bioetanol

Pós-graduação em Engenharia e Ciência de Alimentos - IBILCE

Seleção, avaliação e utilização de uma levedura personalizada para a produção de etanol

Pós-graduação em Microbiologia - IBILCE

Products for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease: a patent review (2013-2014)

Introduction: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) consists of Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis and an unspecific IBD. The unclear etiology of IBD is a limiting factor that complicates the development of new pharmacological treatments and explains the high frequency of refractory patients to current drugs, including both conventional and biological therapies. In view of this, recent progress on the development of novel patented products to treat IBD was reviewed.Areas covered: Evaluation of the patent literature during the period 2013 - 2014 focused on chemical compounds, functional foods and biological therapy useful for the treatment of IBD.Expert opinion: Majority of the patents are not conclusive because they were based on data from unspecific methods not related to intestinal inflammation and, when related to IBD models, few biochemical and molecular evaluations that could be corroborating their use in human IBD were presented. On the other hand, methods and strategies using new formulations of conventional drugs, guanylyl cyclase C peptide agonists, compounds that influence anti-adhesion molecules, mAbs anti-type I interferons and anti-integrin, oligonucleotide antisense Smad7, growth factor neuregulin 4 and functional foods, particularly fermented wheat germ with Saccharomyces cerevisiae, are promising products for use in the very near future.

Regulation of glycogen metabolism by the CRE-1, RCO-1 and RCM-1 proteins in Neurospora crassa. The role of CRE-1 as the central transcriptional regulator

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Electrolysis applied for simulated textile effluents degradation containing acid red 151 and acid blue 40

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Energy values of traditional ingredients and sugarcane yeast for laying hens

An experiment was conducted to determine the chemical composition and apparent metabolizable energy (AME) and apparent metabolizable energy corrected for nitrogen balance (AMEn) values of corn, soybean meal (SBM), soybean oil (SO) and sugarcane yeast (SY) (Saccharomyces cerevisiae). A metabolism trial was performed with 120 Dekalb White laying hens at 65 weeks of age, using the method of total excreta collection. Birds were housed in metabolism cages and distributed according to a completely randomized design into five treatments with, six replicates of four birds each. The experimental period consisted of four days of adaptation and four days of excreta collection. The experimental diets included: a reference diet based on corn and SBM and four test diets containing 40% corn, 30% SBM, 10% SO or 30 % SY. The chemical compositions of the tested ingredients, expressed on "as-is" basis were: 86.9, 87.29, 87.32 and 99.5% dry matter; and 3.51, 2.08, 99.31 and 0.03 ether extract for corn, SBM, SO and SY, respectively. Corn, SBM, and SO presented 7.33, 43.61 and 24.64% crude protein, and 0.58, 5.07 and 6.77% ash, respectively; and crude fiber contents of corn and SBM were, respectively, 2.24% and 3.56%. The following AME and AMEn (kcal/kg dry matter) values were obtained: 3,801 and 3,760 kcal/kg for corn, 2,640 and 2,557 kcal/kg for SBM, 8,952 and 8,866 kcal/kg for SO, and 1,023 and 925 kcal/kg for sugarcane yeast, respectively.

Effects of β-(1→3,1→6)-d-glucan and density of diets on the blood profiles of immunologically challenged weaned piglets

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of two levels of the β-(1→3,1→6)-d-glucan (0 and 500ppm) from yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and two levels of energy (3300 and 3450kcalMEkg(-1)) on the hematological, immunological and, biochemical profiles of thirty-six 21-days-old weaned piglets, challenged with 150μgkg(-1) of BW lipopolysaccharide (LPS) from Escherichia coli serotype 055:B5. The experimental design was a randomized complete block design in a 2×2 factorial arrangement with nine replicates per treatment and, one animal per experimental unit. The data were analyzed in accordance with the multivariate analysis procedure of SAS and, the treatment means of parametric and non-parametric data were compared by Bonferroni's test (P<0.05) and, by Dunn's test (P<0.05), respectively. The data of the blood profiles of alanine aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase and, creatinine showed that LPS did not cause kidney or liver damage in the animals. The addition of beta-glucan in the diets did not prove the robustness of its effect and biological relevance when provided with low nutrient-density. However, its addition combined with the high-nutrient-density diets showed less marked hypoglobulinemia in piglets, which may have contributed to the decreasing of the synthesis of inflammatory mediators.

Biorremoção de corante direto de efluente industrial simulado utilizando levedura liofilizada

One of the most primal ways of human work already known is the tessellation and ginning for the production of fabric and clothing - what used to be, back in those days, statement of power and status. The arrival of the Industrial Revolution - in the middle of the XVIII century at Britain - increased the textile industry production, and what used to be manufactured and hard to obtain, starts then to be produced in mechanical ways and large-scale. Despite all the boost given to the economy of an expanding capitalist market, it should be pointed out the consequences of this major industrialization, especially the environmental ones, more and more concerning nowadays. The emissions of waste - that sometimes could be toxic - in effluents can possibly contaminate the aquatic ecosystems, causing a huge damage to its fauna and flora, affecting therefore all the biodiversity, reaching inclusively the humans. To avoid these problems, a few strategies have been taking place in the attempt to eliminate - or at least reduce - the amount of dye found in the effluents, and as the textile industry constantly leaves waste, efficient methods - that present good results in a short period of time - with a low cost are needed. The present study will test the bioremoval capacity of yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) in contact with dyes in a fix concentration, diluted in water with three different pH values. The tests will be done duplicate, and after the concentration analyses - made by spectrophotometry - it will be analyzed which pH shows major efficiency in the dye removal and what is the influence of the biomass in this process