Beyond the genome: protecting the proteome may be the key to preventing skin aging.

Skin aging is associated with a progressive decline in physiological functions, skin cancers and, ultimately, death. It may be categorized as intrinsic or extrinsic, whereby intrinsic aging is attributed to chronological and genetic factors. At the molecular level, skin aging involves changes in protein conformation and function.

A Proteome-Centric View of Ageing, including that of the Skin and Age-Related Diseases: Considerations of a Common Cause and Common Preventative and Curative Interventions.

The proteome comprises all proteins of a cell or organism. To carry their catalytic and structure-related functions, proteins must be correctly folded into their unique native three-dimensional structures. Common oxidative protein damage affects their functionality by impairing their catalytic and interactive specificities.

Comparative genomics reveals high biological diversity and specific adaptations in the industrially and medically important fungal genus Aspergillus.

Background: The fungal genus Aspergillus is of critical importance to humankind. Species include those with industrial applications, important pathogens of humans, animals and crops, a source of potent carcinogenic contaminants of food, and an important genetic model. The genome sequences of eight aspergilli have already been explored to investigate aspects of fungal biology, raising questions about evolution and specialization within this genus.

Expansion of Signal Transduction Pathways in Fungi by Extensive Genome Duplication.

Plants and fungi use light and other signals to regulate development, growth, and metabolism. The fruiting bodies of the fungus Phycomyces blakesleeanus are single cells that react to environmental cues, including light, but the mechanisms are largely unknown [1]. The related fungus Mucor circinelloides is an opportunistic human pathogen that changes its mode of growth upon receipt of signals from the environment to facilitate pathogenesis [2].

Enhancing saccharification of wheat straw by mixing enzymes from genetically-modified Trichoderma reesei and Aspergillus niger.

Objectives: To increase the efficiency of enzymatic hydrolysis for plant biomass conversion into renewable biofuel and chemicals.

Results: By overexpressing the point mutation A824 V transcriptional activator Xyr1 in Trichoderma reesei, carboxymethyl cellulase, cellobiosidase and β-D-glucosidase activities of the best mutant were increased from 1.8 IU/ml, 0.

Spatial differentiation of gene expression in Aspergillus niger colony grown for sugar beet pulp utilization.

Degradation of plant biomass to fermentable sugars is of critical importance for the use of plant materials for biofuels. Filamentous fungi are ubiquitous organisms and major plant biomass degraders. Single colonies of some fungal species can colonize massive areas as large as five soccer stadia.

Closely related fungi employ diverse enzymatic strategies to degrade plant biomass.

Background: Plant biomass is the major substrate for the production of biofuels and biochemicals, as well as food, textiles and other products. It is also the major carbon source for many fungi and enzymes of these fungi are essential for the depolymerization of plant polysaccharides in industrial processes. This is a highly complex process that involves a large number of extracellular enzymes as well as non-hydrolytic proteins, whose production in fungi is controlled by a set of transcriptional regulators.

Sugar catabolism in Aspergillus and other fungi related to the utilization of plant biomass.

Fungi are found in all natural and artificial biotopes and can use highly diverse carbon sources. They play a major role in the global carbon cycle by decomposing plant biomass and this biomass is the main carbon source for many fungi. Plant biomass is composed of cell wall polysaccharides (cellulose, hemicellulose, pectin) and lignin.

Bacillus subtilis attachment to Aspergillus niger hyphae results in mutually altered metabolism.

Interaction between microbes affects the growth, metabolism and differentiation of members of the microbial community. While direct and indirect competition, like antagonism and nutrient consumption have a negative effect on the interacting members of the population, microbes have also evolved in nature not only to fight, but in some cases to adapt to or support each other, while increasing the fitness of the community. The presence of bacteria and fungi in soil results in various interactions including mutualism.

A genomic survey of proteases in Aspergilli.

Background: Proteases can hydrolyze peptides in aqueous environments. This property has made proteases the most important industrial enzymes by taking up about 60% of the total enzyme market. Microorganisms are the main sources for industrial protease production due to their high yield and a wide range of biochemical properties.

The genome of the white-rot fungus Pycnoporus cinnabarinus: a basidiomycete model with a versatile arsenal for lignocellulosic biomass breakdown.

Background: Saprophytic filamentous fungi are ubiquitous micro-organisms that play an essential role in photosynthetic carbon recycling. The wood-decayer Pycnoporus cinnabarinus is a model fungus for the study of plant cell wall decomposition and is used for a number of applications in green and white biotechnology.

Results: The 33.

Regulation of plant biomass utilization in Aspergillus.

The ability of fungi to survive in every known biotope, both natural and man-made, relies in part on their ability to use a wide range of carbon sources. Fungi degrade polymeric carbon sources present in the environment (polysaccharides, proteins, and lignins) to use the monomeric components as nutrients. However, the available carbon sources vary strongly in nature, both between biotopes and in time.

Nutritional physiology of a rock-inhabiting, model microcolonial fungus from an ancestral lineage of the Chaetothyriales (Ascomycetes).

Rock-inhabiting black fungi [also microcolonial or meristematic fungi (MCF)] are a phylogenetically diverse group of melanised ascomycetes with distinctive morphological features that confer extensive stress tolerance and permit survival in hostile environments. The MCF strain A95 Knufia petricola (syn. Sarcinomyces petricola) belongs to an ancestral lineage of the order Chaetothyriales (class Eurotiomycetes).

Degradation of different pectins by fungi: correlations and contrasts between the pectinolytic enzyme sets identified in genomes and the growth on pectins of different origin.

Background: Pectins are diverse and very complex biomolecules and their structure depends on the plant species and tissue. It was previously shown that derivatives of pectic polymers and oligosaccharides from pectins have positive effects on human health. To obtain specific pectic oligosaccharides, highly defined enzymatic mixes are required.

The Paleozoic origin of enzymatic lignin decomposition reconstructed from 31 fungal genomes.

Wood is a major pool of organic carbon that is highly resistant to decay, owing largely to the presence of lignin. The only organisms capable of substantial lignin decay are white rot fungi in the Agaricomycetes, which also contains non-lignin-degrading brown rot and ectomycorrhizal species. Comparative analyses of 31 fungal genomes (12 generated for this study) suggest that lignin-degrading peroxidases expanded in the lineage leading to the ancestor of the Agaricomycetes, which is reconstructed as a white rot species, and then contracted in parallel lineages leading to brown rot and mycorrhizal species.

Post-genomic approaches to understanding interactions between fungi and their environment.

Fungi inhabit every natural and anthropogenic environment on Earth. They have highly varied life-styles including saprobes (using only dead biomass as a nutrient source), pathogens (feeding on living biomass), and symbionts (co-existing with other organisms). These distinctions are not absolute as many species employ several life styles (e.

Genomic analysis of the necrotrophic fungal pathogens Sclerotinia sclerotiorum and Botrytis cinerea.

Sclerotinia sclerotiorum and Botrytis cinerea are closely related necrotrophic plant pathogenic fungi notable for their wide host ranges and environmental persistence. These attributes have made these species models for understanding the complexity of necrotrophic, broad host-range pathogenicity. Despite their similarities, the two species differ in mating behaviour and the ability to produce asexual spores.

Serum resistance to singlet oxygen in patients with diabetes mellitus in comparison to healthy donors.

Diabetes mellitus causes endothelial injury through oxidative stress involving reactive oxygen species and peroxides as well as inflammation, both of which consume antioxidant defenses. Singlet oxygen ((1)O(2)) is produced by leukocytes during inflammatory and biochemical reactions and deactivated by producing reactive oxygen species and peroxides. To determine whether serum was capable of deactivating (1)O(2), we triggered a photo reaction in sera from 53 healthy donors and 52 diabetic patients.

Carbohydrate-active enzymes from the zygomycete fungus Rhizopus oryzae: a highly specialized approach to carbohydrate degradation depicted at genome level.

Background: Rhizopus oryzae is a zygomycete filamentous fungus, well-known as a saprobe ubiquitous in soil and as a pathogenic/spoilage fungus, causing Rhizopus rot and mucomycoses.

Results: Carbohydrate Active enzyme (CAZy) annotation of the R. oryzae identified, in contrast to other filamentous fungi, a low number of glycoside hydrolases (GHs) and a high number of glycosyl transferases (GTs) and carbohydrate esterases (CEs).

PCSK9 dominant negative mutant results in increased LDL catabolic rate and familial hypobetalipoproteinemia.

Objective: Proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) is a central player in the regulation of cholesterol homeostasis, increasing the low-density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor degradation. Our study aimed at exploring the pathogenic consequences in vivo and in vitro of a PCSK9 prodomain mutation found in a family with hypobetalipoproteinemia (FHBL).

Methods And Results: A white 49-year-old diabetic man had profound FBHL (LDLC: 16 mg/dL) whereas his daughter and sister displayed a milder phenotype (LDLC 44 mg/dL and 57 mg/dL, respectively), all otherwise healthy with a normal liver function.

Post-genomic insights into the plant polysaccharide degradation potential of Aspergillus nidulans and comparison to Aspergillus niger and Aspergillus oryzae.

The plant polysaccharide degradative potential of Aspergillus nidulans was analysed in detail and compared to that of Aspergillus niger and Aspergillus oryzae using a combination of bioinformatics, physiology and transcriptomics. Manual verification indicated that 28.4% of the A.

A corticotroph pituitary adenoma as the initial presentation of familial glucocorticoid deficiency.

Unlabelled: CONTEXT; Familial glucocorticoid deficiency (FGD) is a rare autosomal recessive ACTH-resistance syndrome characterized by glucocorticoid deficiency in the absence of mineralocorticoid deficiency. Here, we report the case of a young woman with a corticotroph pituitary adenoma as the initial presentation of FGD.

Case Report: A 15-year-old girl was referred to our institution for a 16 mm pituitary adenoma associated with glucocorticoid deficiency.

Biotechnological applications and potential of fungal feruloyl esterases based on prevalence, classification and biochemical diversity.

Feruloyl esterases are part of the enzymatic spectrum employed by fungi and other microorganisms to degrade plant polysaccharides. They release ferulic acid and other aromatic acids from these polymeric structures and have received an increasing interest in industrial applications such as in the food, pulp and paper and bio-fuel industries. This review provides an overview of the current knowledge on fungal feruloyl esterases focussing in particular on the differences in substrate specificity, regulation of their production, prevalence of these enzymes in fungal genomes and industrial applications.