Publications by authors named "Esther Rodriguez Belmonte"

Human high-mobility group-B (HMGB) proteins regulate gene expression in prostate cancer (PCa), a leading cause of oncological death in men. Their role in aggressive PCa cancers, which do not respond to hormonal treatment, was analyzed. The effects of and silencing upon the expression of genes previously related to PCa were studied in the PCa cell line PC-3 (selected as a small cell neuroendocrine carcinoma, SCNC, PCa model not responding to hormonal treatment).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is a serious and often asymptomatic cancer, making early diagnosis challenging and leading to high mortality rates.
  • Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), which are long RNA molecules that do not code for proteins, are found to be deregulated in EOC and are being studied as potential biomarkers for diagnosis and prognosis.
  • This research combines data from 46 studies to identify lncRNAs associated with EOC, revealing both previously known and new lncRNAs that could be significant in understanding the disease and improving clinical outcomes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

With their circumneutral pH and their moderate temperature (66 and 68°C, respectively), As Burgas and Muiño da Veiga are two important human-use hot springs, previously studied with traditional culture methods, but never explored with a metagenomic approach. In the present study, we have performed metagenomic sequence-based analyses to compare the taxonomic composition and functional potential of these hot springs. Proteobacteria, Deinococcus-Thermus, Firmicutes, Nitrospirae, and Aquificae are the dominant phyla in both geothermal springs, but there is a significant difference in the abundance of these phyla between As Burgas and Muiño da Veiga.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

In the present study we investigate the microbial community inhabiting As Burgas geothermal spring, located in Ourense (Galicia, Spain). The approximately 23 Gbp of Illumina sequences generated for each replicate revealed a complex microbial community dominated by Bacteria in which Proteobacteria and Aquificae were the two prevalent phyla. An association between the two most prevalent genera, Thermus and Hydrogenobacter, was suggested by the relationship of their metabolism.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

High mobility group box B (HMGB) proteins are overexpressed in different types of cancers such as epithelial ovarian cancers (EOC). We have determined the first interactome of HMGB1 and HMGB2 in epithelial ovarian cancer (the EOC-HMGB interactome). Libraries from the SKOV-3 cell line and a primary transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) ovarian tumor were tested by the Yeast Two Hybrid (Y2H) approach.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Ovarian cancer is one of the most lethal gynecological malignancies worldwide because it tends to be detected late, when the disease has already spread, and prognosis is poor. In this review we aim to highlight the importance of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in diagnosis, prognosis and treatment choice, to make progress towards increasingly personalized medicine in this malignancy. We review the effects of lncRNAs associated with ovarian cancer in the context of cancer hallmarks.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

High mobility group box B (HMGB) proteins are pivotal in the development of cancer. Although the proteomics of prostate cancer (PCa) cells has been reported, the involvement of HMGB proteins and their interactome in PCa is an unexplored field of considerable interest. We describe herein the results of the first HMGB1/HMGB2 interactome approach to PCa.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Cellulases are a heterogeneous group of enzymes that synergistically catalyze the hydrolysis of cellulose, the major component of plant biomass. Such reaction has biotechnological applications in a broad spectrum of industries, where they can provide a more sustainable model of production. As a prerequisite for their implementation, these enzymes need to be able to operate in the conditions the industrial process requires.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

High Mobility Group B (HMGB) proteins are involved in cancer progression and in cellular responses to platinum compounds used in the chemotherapy of prostate and ovary cancer. Here we use affinity purification coupled to mass spectrometry (MS) and yeast two-hybrid (Y2H) screening to carry out an exhaustive study of HMGB1 and HMGB2 protein interactions in the context of prostate and ovary epithelia. We present a proteomic study of HMGB1 partners based on immunoprecipitation of HMGB1 from a non-cancerous prostate epithelial cell line.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Microbial populations living in environments with temperatures above 50°C (thermophiles) have been widely studied, increasing our knowledge in the composition and function of these ecological communities. Since these populations express a broad number of heat-resistant enzymes (thermozymes), they also represent an important source for novel biocatalysts that can be potentially used in industrial processes. The integrated study of the whole-community DNA from an environment, known as metagenomics, coupled with the development of next generation sequencing (NGS) technologies, has allowed the generation of large amounts of data from thermophiles.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Cancer cells try to avoid the overproduction of reactive oxygen species by metabolic rearrangements. These cells also develop specific strategies to increase ROS resistance and to express the enzymatic activities necessary for ROS detoxification. Oxidative stress produces DNA damage and also induces responses, which could help the cell to restore the initial equilibrium.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

It has been previously reported that Gcr1 differentially controls growth and sugar utilization in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Kluyveromyces lactis, although the regulatory mechanisms causing activation of glycolytic genes are conserved (Neil et al., 2004). We have found that KlGCR1 deletion diminishes glucose consumption and ethanol production, but increases resistance to oxidative stress caused by H2O2, cadmium and arsenate, glucose 6P dehydrogenase activity, and the NADPH/NADP(+) and GSH/GSSG ratios in K.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

In this paper, we report the metabolic engineering of the respiratory yeast Kluyveromyces lactis by construction and characterization of a null mutant (Δklndi1) in the single gene encoding a mitochondrial alternative internal dehydrogenase. Isolated mitochondria of the Δklndi1 mutant show unaffected rate of oxidation of exogenous NADH, but no oxidation of matrix NADH; this confirms that KlNdi1p is the only internal NADH dehydrogenase in K. lactis mitochondria.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Sky1 is the only member of the SR (Serine-Arginine) protein kinase family in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. When yeast cells are treated with the anti-cancer drug cisplatin, Sky1 kinase activity is necessary to produce the cytotoxic effect. In this study, proteome changes in response to this drug and/or SKY1 deletion have been evaluated in order to understand the role of Sky1 in the response of yeast cells to cisplatin.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

We have characterized the KlROX1 gene from Kluyveromyces lactis and verified that it does not regulate the hypoxic response in this yeast, oppositely to the Saccharomyces cerevisiae homologue ScROX1. The KlROX1 promoter is not regulated by KlHap1p or KlRox1p in response to changes aerobiosis/hypoxia. Besides, KlRox1p expression only partially represses ScANB1 in S.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been previously used as a model eukaryotic system to identify genes related to drug resistance. Deletion of the IXR1 gene increases resistance to cisplatin, and deletion of the SKY1 gene increases resistance to cisplatin and spermine. Three S.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, adaptation to hypoxia/anaerobiosis requires the transcriptional induction or derepression of multiple genes organized in regulons controlled by specific transcriptional regulators. Ixr1p is a transcriptional regulatory factor that causes aerobic repression of several hypoxic genes (COX5B, TIR1, and HEM13) and also the activation of HEM13 during hypoxic growth. Analysis of the transcriptome of the wild-type strain BY4741 and its isogenic derivative Δixr1, grown in aerobic and hypoxic conditions, reveals differential regulation of genes related not only to the hypoxic and oxidative stress responses but also to the re-adaptation of catabolic and anabolic fluxes in response to oxygen limitation.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Two proteins that differ at the N terminus (l-KlCpo and s-KlCpo) are derived from KlHEM13, a single-copy-number gene in the haploid genome of Kluyveromyces lactis. Two transcriptional start site (tss) pools are detectable using primer extension, and their selection is heme dependent. One of these tss pools is located 5' of the first translation initiation codon (TIC) in the open reading frame of KlHEM13, while the other is located between the first and second TICs.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

In this work we have cloned and characterized the Kluyveromyces lactis HAP1 gene and we have found that, contrary to data previously described for the homologous gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, i.) the function of this gene does not affect growth in media with carbon sources used by fermentative or respiratory pathways ii) in aerobiosis, KlHap1p is not a transcriptional activator of the expression of genes related to respiration, cholesterol biosynthesis or oxidative stress defence analyzed in this study. The comparison of homology between specific regions of ScHap1p and KlHap1p reveals that the dimerization domain is poorly conserved and we have verified that this domain, cloned in the two plasmids of the two hybrid system, does not reconstitute S.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The function of KlSRB10 has been studied by diverse approaches. Primer extension analysis reveals several transcription start sites, position - 17 from ATG being predominant. Deletion of KlSRB10 diminishes growth in ethanol and decreases KlCYC1 transcript levels.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

We report the cloning and sequencing of a gene from Kluyveromyces lactis with high homology to the SRB10 gene (alias UME5, SSN3, GIG2, NUT7, RYE5) from Saccharomyces cerevisiae and other organisms. The KlSRB10 gene is located in a similar configuration to that found in S. cerevisiae, flanked by NOT4 and a gene with high similarity to YPL041c.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Secretion of the heterologous Kluyveromyces lactis beta-galactosidase into culture medium by several Saccharomyces cerevisiae osmotic-remedial thermosensitive-autolytic mutants was assayed and proved that new metabolic abilities were conferred since the constructed strains were able to grow in lactose-containing media. Cell growth became independent of a lactose-uptake mechanism. Higher levels of extra-cellular and intra-cellular beta-galactosidase production, lactose consumption and growth were obtained with the LHDP1 strain, showing a thermosensitive-autolytic phenotype as well as being peptidase-defective.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The yeast two-hybrid screening method was used to identify novel proteins that associate with human DNA polymerase delta (pol delta). Two baits were used in this study. These were the large (p125) and small (p50) subunits of the core pol delta heterodimer.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF