is a fast polysaccharide producer among species.

The selection of fast-growing and high-yield-producing strains is required to satisfy the market demand on fungal food supplements. To that aim, three strains deposited in our collection as and were screened for polysaccharide production and biomass yield. strains deposited as were identified as and by nuc rDNA internal transcribed spacer ITS1-5.

The cell cycle in Alzheimer disease: a unique target for neuropharmacology.

Several hypotheses have been proposed attempting to explain the pathogenesis of Alzheimer disease including, among others, theories involving amyloid deposition, tau phosphorylation, oxidative stress, metal ion dysregulation and inflammation. While there is strong evidence suggesting that each one of these proposed mechanisms contributes to disease pathogenesis, none of these mechanisms are able to account for all the physiological changes that occur during the course of the disease. For this reason, we and others have begun the search for a causative factor that predates known features found in Alzheimer disease, and that might therefore be a fundamental initiator of the pathophysiological cascade.

Presenilin 1 overexpressions in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells decreases the phosphorylation of retinoblastoma protein: relevance for neurodegeneration.

Mutations in the presenilin 1 (PS1) gene have been associated to familial Alzheimer disease although the exact pathogenic mechanism is unclear. We report that stable overexpression of wild type PS1 led to a decrease in cyclin-dependent kinase 4 (CDK 4) activity and retinoblastoma tumor suppressor protein (pRb) phosphorylation that correlated with decreased levels of beta-catenin and cyclin D1. PS1 mutant D385A also precipitated a similar effect suggesting that gamma-secretase cleavage is not essential for PS1-mediated CDK 4 inhibition.