Killer-cell immunoglobulin-like receptors and cytomegalovirus reactivation during late pregnancy.

Human cytomegalovirus (CMV) represents an important public health concern as it is associated with severe morbidity and mortality in transplant recipients, HIV-infected individuals and pregnant women given the risk of congenital infection. Congenital CMV is a leading cause of neurological sequelae, developmental delay and birth defects worldwide. Cytomegalovirus can be transmitted to the foetus following maternal infection or reactivation.

Control of volume-sensitive chloride channel inactivation by the coupled action of intracellular chloride and extracellular protons.

The volume-sensitive chloride current (I(ClVol)) exhibit a time-dependent decay presumably due to channel inactivation. In this work, we studied the effects of chloride ions (Cl(-)) and H(+) ions on I(ClVol) decay recorded in HEK-293 and HL-60 cells using the whole-cell patch clamp technique. Under control conditions ([Cl(-)](e) = [Cl(-)](i) = 140 mM and pH(i) = pH(e) = 7.

The MAP kinase TVK1 regulates conidiation, hydrophobicity and the expression of genes encoding cell wall proteins in the fungus Trichoderma virens.

Mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinases modulate morphological and genetic processes, which determine cell fate. The tvk1 gene encodes a MAP kinase of Trichoderma virens and its deletion promotes an unusual conidiation phenotype in submerged culture. Here, it is reported that the morphology, physiology and expression of genes encoding cell wall proteins from Trichoderma are significantly affected by Tvk1.

Novel light-regulated genes in Trichoderma atroviride: a dissection by cDNA microarrays.

The influence of light on living organisms is critical, not only because of its importance as the main source of energy for the biosphere, but also due to its capacity to induce changes in the behaviour and morphology of nearly all forms of life. The common soil fungus Trichoderma atroviride responds to blue light in a synchronized manner, in time and space, by forming a ring of green conidia at what had been the colony perimeter at the time of exposure (photoconidiation). A putative complex formed by the BLR-1 and BLR-2 proteins in T.

Cross talk between a fungal blue-light perception system and the cyclic AMP signaling pathway.

Blue light regulates many physiological and developmental processes in fungi. In Trichoderma atroviride the complex formed by the BLR-1 and BLR-2 proteins appears to play an essential role as a sensor and transcriptional regulator in photoconidiation. Here we demonstrate that the BLR proteins are necessary for carbon deprivation induced conidiation, even in the absence of light, pointing to the existence of an unprecedented cross talk between light and carbon sensing.