Unearthing Genetic Treasures: Exploring Lost Autochthonous Varieties in Lebanon.

Background/objectives: Lebanon, one of the oldest centers of grapevine ( L.) cultivation, is home to a rich diversity of local grape varieties. This biodiversity is linked to the country's unique topography and millennia of cultural history.

The Archetypal Gamma-Core Motif of Antimicrobial Cys-Rich Peptides Inhibits H-ATPases in Target Pathogens.

Human lactoferrin (hLf) is an innate host defense protein that inhibits microbial H-ATPases. This protein includes an ancestral structural motif (i.e.

The Antimicrobial Activity of Human Defensins at Physiological Non-Permeabilizing Concentrations Is Caused by the Inhibition of the Plasma Membrane H-ATPases.

Human defensins are cysteine-rich peptides (Cys-rich peptides) of the innate immune system. Defensins contain an ancestral structural motif (i.e.

A review on lactoferrin as a proton pump inhibitor.

Lactoferrin (Lf) is a versatile natural milk-derived protein that exhibits multiple interesting biological activities. Since it is safe for human administration and currently manufactured using low cost and well-established large-scale processes, the Lf scientific community has been devoted at dissecting its mechanisms of action towards its more rational and efficient use for various applications. Emerging literature has identified proton pumping ATPases as molecular targets of Lf in different cellular models linked to distinct activities of this natural protein.

Lactoferrin perturbs lipid rafts and requires integrity of Pma1p-lipid rafts association to exert its antifungal activity against Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Lactoferrin (Lf) is a bioactive milk-derived protein with remarkable wide-spectrum antifungal activity. To deepen our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying Lf cytotoxicity, the role of plasma membrane ergosterol- and sphingolipid-rich lipid rafts and their association with the proton pump Pma1p was explored. Pma1p was previously identified as a Lf-binding protein.

Cytosolic Acidification Is the First Transduction Signal of Lactoferrin-induced Regulated Cell Death Pathway.

In yeast, we reported the critical role of K-efflux for the progress of the regulated cell death (RCD) induced by human lactoferrin (hLf), an antimicrobial protein of the innate immune system that blocks Pma1p H-ATPase. In the present study, the K channel Tok1p was identified as the K channel-mediating K-efflux, as indicated by the protective effect of extracellular K (30 mM), K-channel blockers, and the greater hLf-resistance of -disrupted strains. K-depletion was necessary but not sufficient to induce RCD as inferred from the effects of valinomycin, NHCl or nigericin which released a percentage of K similar to that released by lactoferrin without affecting cell viability.

Modulatory effect of intestinal polyamines and trace amines on the spontaneous phasic contractions of the isolated ileum and colon rings of mice.

: Gastrointestinal motility modulatory factors include substances of the intestinal content, such as polyamines and trace amines (TAs), the focus of this study. : The amines of food, intestinal content and from faecal bacteria of Swiss mice were determined by HPLC and functionally characterised in isolated distal ileum and medial colon rings. : Mouse food and intestinal content contain polyamines (spermidine>putrescine>spermine) and TAs (isoamylamine>cadaverine).

Antifungal Mechanism of Action of Lactoferrin: Identification of H+-ATPase (P3A-Type) as a New Apoptotic-Cell Membrane Receptor.

Human lactoferrin (hLf) is a protein of the innate immune system which induces an apoptotic-like process in yeast. Determination of the susceptibility to lactoferrin of several yeast species under different metabolic conditions, respiratory activity, cytoplasmic ATP levels, and external medium acidification mediated by glucose assays suggested plasma membrane Pma1p (P3A-type ATPase) as the hLf molecular target. The inhibition of plasma membrane ATPase activity by hLf and the identification of Pma1p as the hLf-binding membrane protein confirmed the previous physiological evidence.

Antimicrobial mechanism of action of transferrins: selective inhibition of H+-ATPase.

Two bacterial species with different metabolic features, namely, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Lactococcus lactis, were used as a comparative experimental model to investigate the antimicrobial target and mechanism of transferrins. In anaerobiosis, P. aeruginosa cells were not susceptible to lactoferrin (hLf) or transferrin (hTf).

Human lactoferrin induces apoptosis-like cell death in Candida albicans: critical role of K+-channel-mediated K+ efflux.

Human lactoferrin (hLf) induced an apoptosis-like phenotype in Candida albicans cells, which includes phosphatidylserine externalization, nuclear chromatin condensation, DNA degradation, and increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) production. Intracellular ROS accumulation was seen to correlate with candidacidal activity in hLf-treated cells. Mitochondrial activity was involved as indicated by mitochondrial depolarization and increased hLf resistance of cells preincubated with sordarin or erythromycin, the latter of which inhibits protein synthesis in mitoribosomes.

The gamma-core motif correlates with antimicrobial activity in cysteine-containing kaliocin-1 originating from transferrins.

Kaliocin-1 is a 31-residue peptide derived from human lactoferrin, and with antimicrobial properties that recapitulate those of its 611 amino acid parent holoprotein. As kaliocin-1 is a cysteine-stabilized peptide, it was of interest to determine whether it contained a multidimensional gamma-core signature recently identified as common to virtually all classes of disulfide-stabilized antimicrobial peptides. Importantly, sequence and structural analyses identified an iteration of this multidimensional antimicrobial signature in kaliocin-1.

Molecular genetics of berry colour variation in table grape.

The genetics and biochemistry of anthocyanins and flavonol biosynthesis and their role in plant organ pigmentation is well established in model species. However, the genetic basis of colour variation is species specific and understanding this variation is very relevant in many fruit and flower crop species. Among grape cultivars, there is a wide genetic variation for berry colour ranging from yellow-green ("white" cultivars) to dark blue berries.

Different anti-Candida activities of two human lactoferrin-derived peptides, Lfpep and kaliocin-1.

The synthetic peptides Lfpep and kaliocin-1 include the sequences from positions 18 to 40 and 153 to 183 of human lactoferrin, respectively. Lfpep is a cationic peptide with bactericidal and giardicidal effects, whereas kaliocin-1 is a novel bactericidal peptide that corresponds to a highly homologous sequence present in the transferrin family of proteins. Both peptides presented fungicidal activity against Candida spp.

Antibiotic tolerance induced by lactoferrin in clinical Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates from cystic fibrosis patients.

Lactoferrin-induced cell depolarization and a delayed tobramycin-killing effect on Pseudomonas aeruginosa cells were correlated. This antibiotic tolerance effect (ATE) reflects the ability of a defense protein to modify the activity of an antibiotic as a result of its modulatory effect on bacterial physiology. P.

Effects of human lactoferrin on the cytoplasmic membrane of Candida albicans cells related with its candidacidal activity.

Human lactoferrin is an innate host defence protein with antimicrobial activity that exerts a candidacidal effect in a cation concentration-dependent manner. We investigated the ability of this cationic protein (with an isoelectric point of 8.7) to permeabilize the cytoplasmic membrane of Candida albicans cells.

Modulation of in vitro fungicidal activity of human lactoferrin against Candida albicans by extracellular cation concentration and target cell metabolic activity.

The anti-Candida activity of the innate defense protein human lactoferrin was investigated. Lactoferrin displayed a clear fungicidal effect against Candida albicans only under low-strength conditions. This candidacidal activity was inversely correlated with the extracellular concentration of the monovalent cations and was prevented by Na(+) and K(+) (> or 30 mM) and by divalent cations (Ca(2+) and Mg(2+) at > or 4 mM).

Chloroplast microsatellite polymorphisms in Vitis species.

The use of consensus chloroplast microsatellites primers for dicotyledonous chloroplast genomes revealed the existence of intra and interspecific length variation within the genus Vitis. Three chloroplast microsatellite loci were found to be polymorphic in samples of Vitis vinifera, Vitis berlandieri, Vitis riparia, and Vitis rupestris out of a total of 10 consensus primer pairs tested. These polymorphisms were always due to a variable number of mononucleotide residues within A and (or) T stretches in the amplified regions.