The transporter AraT enables high-affinity, glucose-insensitive l-arabinose transport in .

Background: l-Arabinose occurs at economically relevant levels in lignocellulosic hydrolysates. Its low-affinity uptake via the Gal2 galactose transporter is inhibited by d-glucose. Especially at low concentrations of l-arabinose, uptake is an important rate-controlling step in the complete conversion of these feedstocks by engineered pentose-metabolizing strains.

De novo production of the flavonoid naringenin in engineered Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Background: Flavonoids comprise a large family of secondary plant metabolic intermediates that exhibit a wide variety of antioxidant and human health-related properties. Plant production of flavonoids is limited by the low productivity and the complexity of the recovered flavonoids. Thus to overcome these limitations, metabolic engineering of specific pathway in microbial systems have been envisaged to produce high quantity of a single molecules.

Active community profiling via capillary electrophoresis single-strand conformation polymorphism analysis of amplified 16S rRNA and 16S rRNA genes.

Here, we report the validation and advancement of a high-throughput method for fingerprinting the active members of a microbial community. This method, termed active community profiling (ACP), provides information about both the composition and the activity of mixed microbial cultures via comparative measurements of amplified 16S rRNA (RNA) and 16S rRNA genes (DNA). Capillary electrophoresis is used to resolve single-strand conformation polymorphisms of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR) products, producing electropherograms representative of the community structure.

Metabolome, transcriptome and metabolic flux analysis of arabinose fermentation by engineered Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

One of the challenges in strain improvement by evolutionary engineering is to subsequently determine the molecular basis of the improved properties that were enriched from the natural genetic variation during the selective conditions. This study focuses on Saccharomyces cerevisiae IMS0002 which, after metabolic and evolutionary engineering, ferments the pentose sugar arabinose. Glucose- and arabinose-limited anaerobic chemostat cultures of IMS0002 and its non-evolved ancestor were subjected to transcriptome analysis, intracellular metabolite measurements and metabolic flux analysis.

Tracking antibiotic resistance genes in the South Platte River basin using molecular signatures of urban, agricultural, and pristine sources.

A novel approach utilizing antibiotic-resistance-gene (ARG) molecular signatures was applied to track the sources of ARGs at sites along the Cache la Poudre (Poudre) and South Platte Rivers in Colorado. Two lines of evidence were employed: (1) detection frequencies of 2 sulfonamide and 11 tetracycline ARGs and (2) tet(W) phylotype and phylogenetic analysis. A GIS database indicating the locations of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and animal feeding operations (AFOs) in the watershed was also constructed to assess congruence of the surrounding landscape with the putative sources identified by ARG molecular signatures.

[Burnout and occupational stress in nurses].

Background: In the last few years there has been a growing interest in the psychosocial work environment of health care workers, since they are both at high risk of burnout, role conflict and job dissatifaction. Burnout, as a type of prolonged response to chronic job-related stress, has a special significance in health care settings, where staff experience both psychological--emotional and physical stress.

Objectives: The present study investigated the interrelationship between burnout, occupational stress and personality characteristics in a sample of 120 nurses employed in the Infectious Diseases Department and the Department of Medical Oncology of two major hospitals in Messina, Italy.