The role of microRNAs in NBS-LRR gene expression and its implications for plant immunity and crop development.

Plants evolved, over millions of years, complex defense systems against pathogens. Once infected, the interaction between pathogen effector molecules and host receptors triggers plant immune responses, which include apoptosis, systemic immune response, among others. An important protein family responsible for pathogen effector recognition is the nucleotide binding site-leucine repeat rich (NBS-LRR) proteins.

Two efficient CRISPR/Cas9 systems for gene editing in soybean.

Genome editing using CRISPR/Cas9 has been highlighted as a powerful tool for crop improvement. Nevertheless, its efficiency can be improved, especially for crops with a complex genome, such as soybean. In this work, using the CRISPR/Cas9 technology we evaluated two CRISPR systems, a one-component vs.

Generation of Trichoderma harzianum with pyr4 auxotrophic marker by using the CRISPR/Cas9 system.

Trichoderma harzianum is a filamentous fungus used as a biological control agent for agricultural pests. Genes of this microorganism have been studied, and their applications are patented for use in biofungicides and plant breeding strategies. Gene editing technologies would be of great importance for genetic characterization of this species, but have not yet been reported.

Antifungal nanofibers made by controlled release of sea animal derived peptide.

Candida albicans is a common human-pathogenic fungal species with the ability to cause several diseases including surface infections. Despite the clear difficulties of Candida control, antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have emerged as an alternative strategy for fungal control. In this report, different concentrations of antifungal Cm-p1 (Cencritchis muricatus peptide 1) were electrospun into nanofibers for drug delivery.

On the nature of the antagonism atropine-acetylcholine on the guinea pig heart.

The antagonism atropine-acetylcholine was studied in the perfused isolated heart (chronotropism) and atria (inotropism) of the guinea pig by means of the double reciprocal plot method. It was not possible to study the antagonism of atropine towards the negative chronotropic effect of acetylcholine in the spontaneously beating right atria, because this response was always preceded by the negative inotropism and required higher concentration of the agonist even in the presence of neostigmine. Quite similar results were obtained with the use of carbachol and choline.