A conspicuous feature of plants responding to pathogen invasion is the synthesis of nitric oxide (NO), a redox signal. NO regulates protein function by S-nitrosylation, the addition of an NO moiety to a cysteine thiol to form an S-nitrosothiol. A key theme of NO function is reprogramming plant immune-related gene expression. However, it is still not clear how the NO signal is translated into transcriptional changes. Here we explored the potential role of a sub-group of SNO Regulated Genes (SRGs) uncovered by global expression profiling. Firstly, transgenic plants containing the SRG1 or SRG3 promoter fused to glucuronidase gene GUS together with qRT-PCR assays confirmed that transcripts of SRGs could be induced by NO and pathogen challenge, suggesting that SRGs may be involved in NO signalling related to plant immunity. More importantly, transient and stable overexpression of SRG genes induced hypersensitive response (HR)-like cell death development, which is often associated with pathogen effector-triggered immunity. Furthermore, transgenic plants constitutively expressing SRG genes exhibited enhanced ROS accumulation, PR1 transcript accumulation, and increased resistance to Pseudomonas syringae (Pst) DC3000 compared with Col-0 wild type plants. In contrast, lines with T-DNA insertions into SRG genes exhibited susceptibility to Pst DC3000. These data suggested SRGs act as the positive regulators in plant immunity. In order to further explore how NO regulates these SRGs in plant immunity, we focused on SRG1 and found SRG1 could be S-nitrosylated in vitro and in vivo. Moreover, electrophoretic mobility shift assays showed SRG1 could bind to an AGT motif and the transcriptional activity was blunted in the presence of NO, suggesting that the DNA binding activity of SRG1 is redox-modulated. Further, a transient repression activity assay showed that SRG1 has repression activity and this activity was impaired in the gsnor1-3 mutant, which has a high S-nitrosothiols level. These data suggested NO could block SRG1 transcriptional activity in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore when the SRG1 overexpression line was crossed with gsnor1-3 the SRG1-mediated resistance related phenotypes were suppressed. These data demonstrated NO negatively regulates SRG1 transcriptional activity during plant immunity. SRG1 may therefore be an important regulator of NO signalling and subsequent regulate transcription during plant immunity. Additionally, NO may negatively feedback to inhibit transcriptional activity of SRG1 to control its repression activity, to enable the activation of plant immunity.

Siglecs and CEA are two families of cell surface proteins belonging to the immunoglobulin superfamily. They are thought to be involved in cell-cell interactions and have various other biological functions. We used the GENECONV program that applies statistical tests to detect gene conversion events in each family of five primate species. For the Siglec family, we found that gene conversions are frequent between CD33rSiglec genes, but are absent between their conserved Siglec genes. For the CEA family, half of gene conversion events detected are located in coding regions. A significant positive correlation was found between the length of the conversions and the similarity of the converted regions only in the Siglec gene family. Moreover, we found an increase in GC-content and similarity in converted regions compared to non-converted regions of the two families. Furthermore, in the two families, gene conversions occur more frequently in the extracellular domains of proteins, and rarely in their transmembrane and cytoplasmic regions. Finally, these two families appear to be evolving neutrally or under negative selection.

O aumento do uso de pesticidas para erradicação de pragas e ervas daninhas resultou no aumento da produção agrícola mundial, contudo, levou à preocupação sobre os impactos ambientais, sociais e econômicos decorrentes dessa prática. A microbiota nativa do solo é muito importante para manter a qualidade desse ambiente, mas com o uso intensivo de agroquímicos foram observadas alterações na biomassa microbiana e na formação de grandes quantidades de resíduos tóxicos. O presente estudo teve como objetivo avaliar o potencial genético das frações cultiváveis e não cultiváveis do solo para degradação de três diferentes herbicidas e verificar se a pressão seletiva exercida pela presença de um determinado herbicida tem potencial para alterar a composição da microbiota local, além de identificar os principais gêneros bacterianos cultiváveis da microbiota do solo portadores dos genes de degradação destes herbicidas. Para isso, foram utilizadas seis amostras de solo de diferentes regiões brasileiras, as quais foram obtidas do estado de São Paulo e de áreas de preservação ambiental dos estados do Amazonas e de Goiás. Os principais gêneros bacterianos identificados na microbiota do solo foram: Acinetobacter, Bacillus, Enterobacter, Escherichia, Leclercia, Lysinibacillus, Klebsiella e Staphylococcus e não foram observadas variações nas frações cultiváveis e não cultiváveis do solo quanto ao potencial genético para a degradação dos diferentes herbicidas utilizados.Alguns desses isolados bacterianos apresentaram os genes para a degradação de dois herbicidas (2,4-D e diuron; atrazina e diuron) e ainda isolados que apresentam potencial genético para degradação dos três herbicidas. Além disso, pela análise em HPLC acoplado a espectrometria de massas, algumas bactérias portadoras dos genes de degradação do diuron (puhA e puhB) apresentaram formação dos metabólitos DCPMU, DCPU e DCA, os quais já foram descritos na literatura e também apresentaram metabólitos que ainda não estão descritos na literatura. Por meio das análises de eletroforese em gradiente desnaturante (DGGE) foi possível observar que a pressão seletiva exercida pela presença desses herbicidas altera a composição da microbiota local e a atrazina foi o herbicida que mais afetou a comunidade bacteriana do solo. Portanto, o estudo da diversidade microbiana associada à pressão seletiva causada pelo uso de herbicidas é de grande importância, visto que os herbicidas alteram significativamente a heterogeneidade da comunidade bacteriana do solo. / The use of pesticides to eradicate pests and weeds resulted in increased agricultural production worldwide, however, led to concern about the environmental, social and economic impacts of this practice. Native soil microbiota is very important to maintain the quality of the environment, but with the intensive use of agrochemicals, changes in microbial biomass and formation of large quantities of toxic waste have been observed. This study aimed to evaluate the genetic potential of cultivable and non-cultivable soil fractions to degradate three different herbicides, to verify if the selective pressure exerted by the presence of a particular herbicide has the potential to change the composition of the local microbiota and to identify the main cultivable soil bacterial genera carrying these herbicides degradation genes. For this, six soil samples from different Brazilian regions were used, which were obtained from the state of São Paulo and from environmental preservation areas in the states of Amazonas and Goiás. The main bacterial genera identified in the soil microbiota were: Acinetobacter, Bacillus, Enterobacter, Escherichia, Leclercia, Lysinibacillus, Klebsiella and Staphylococcus, and variations in cultivable and non-cultivable soil fractions genetic potential to degrade various herbicides were observed. Some of these strains harbored genes for degradation of two herbicides (2,4-D and diuron; atrazine and diuron) and other isolates showed genetic potential to degrade one of the three herbicides. Furthermore, analysis with HPLC-MS showed that some bacteria carrying the diuron degradation genes (puhA and puhB) presented formation of metabolites already described in the literature, such DCPMU, DCPU and DCA, and metabolites that have not been described in the literature. By electrophoresis analysis on denaturing gradient (DGGE), was observed that the selective pressure exerted by the presence of these herbicides alters the composition of the local microbiota, being atrazine the herbicide that most affected the bacterial community in the soil. Therefore, the study of the influence of the selective pressure caused by the use of herbicides in the microbial diversity is very important, since herbicides significantly alter the heterogeneity of the soil bacterial community.

A leishmaniose é causada por protozoários do gênero Leishmania e no Brasil, as principais espécies causadoras da leishmaniose cutânea são Leishmania (V.) braziliensis e Leishmania (L.) amazonenses. O tratamento da leishmaniose apresenta diversas dificuldades, portanto é fundamental a descoberta de novos fármacos ativos, podendo ser detectada em células cultivadas in vitro e também em animais íntegros, através da técnica de bioimageamento. Neste trabalho, propusemo-nos a produzir linhagens de L. (V.) braziliensis e L. (L) amazonenses expressoras de luciferase e caracterizar o comportamento das linhagens mutantes em testes de sensibilidade a fármacos e de infecção in vitro e in vivo. Foi confirmada a emissão de luz pelas linhagens mutantes das duas espécies de Leishmania, em promastigotas e amastigotas. O comportamento das linhagens mutantes obtidas em relação a curvas de crescimento, sensibilidade aos fármacos tamoxifeno e anfoterina B em promastigotas, perfil de infectividade e sobrevivência em macrófagos e sensibilidade de amastigotas à anfotericina B foi comparado ao comportamento das linhagens parentais, não sendo observadas diferenças significativas. Camundongos BALB/c infectados com a linhagem expressora de luciferase de L. (L.) amazonenses desenvolveram lesões comparáveis aos animais infectados com a cepa selvagem, sendo possível quantificar a carga parasitária nesses animais por bioimageamento. Os resultados obtidos neste trabalho indicam que os parasitas mutantes expressores de luciferase obtidos podem ser utilizados em testes de sensibilidade a fármacos tanto in vitro como in vivo, representando um avanço metodológico nessa área de pesquisa. / Leishmaniasis is caused by protozoan parasites in Brazil, the main causative species of cutaneous leishmaniasis are Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis and Leishmania (Leishmania) amazonenses. The treatment of leishmaniasis presents several difficulties, and the discovery of new active drugs for the treatment of leishmaniasis is therefore fundamental. The enzyme luciferase is a reporter widely used in screening tests for new drugs. This enzyme catalyzes the oxidation of luciferase in the presence of ATP emitting light that can be detected in cultured cells in vitro as well as in intact animals, using the technique of bioimaging. In this work, we sought to produce strains of L. (V.) braziliensis and L. (L) amazonenses expressing luciferase and characterize the behavior of these mutant strains in drug susceptibility tests and in in vitro and in vivo infections. Production of light was detected in mutants of both species, in all life cycle stages. Mutant strains were compared to their corresponding parental lines as to their growth pattern, infectivity and survival profile in macrophages and sensitivity to amphotericin B and tamoxifen. No significant differences were observed for these parameters. BALB/c mice infected with the luciferase expressing line of L. (L.) amazonenses developed lesions comparable to those in animals infected with the wild-type strain. The parasite load in these animals was quantified through bioimaging. The results obtained of this study indicate that the mutant parasites expressing luciferase can be used for drug susceptibility testing in vitro and in vivo, representing a methodological advance in this area of research.

No description available.

published_or_final_version / Biochemistry / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Biochemistry / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / abstract / Biochemistry / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Surgery / Master / Master of Research in Medicine

No description available.