Natural compounds have had increasing applications in the biotechnological sector, with a large fraction of these substances being channeled to the pharmaceutical industry due to their important pharmacological properties. The discovery of new bioactive molecules with novel mechanisms of action constitutes a promising solution for the design of alternative therapeutic solutions. Actinobacteria are a large group of morphologically and physiologically diverse bacteria well known for their production of biotechnologically relevant compounds. The Portuguese coast is scantly explored in terms of Actinobacteria diversity and respective bioactive potential, offering a good opportunity to find new Actinobacteria taxa and bioactive natural products. In this study, we investigated the Actinobacteria diversity associated with a sediment sample collected from the intertidal zone of a beach in northern Portugal, through a cultivation-dependent approach, and screened its antimicrobial and cytotoxic potential. A total of 52 Actinobacteria strains were recovered from the marine sediment, with the largest fraction of the isolates belonging to the genus Micromonospora. Bioactivity screening assays identified crude extracts of six Streptomyces strains active against C. albicans, exhibiting minimum inhibition concentration (MIC) values in the range of 3.90–125 μg mL−1. Twenty-five Actinobacteria crude extracts (obtained from strains of the genera Micromonospora, Streptomyces and Actinomadura) exhibited significant effects on the viability of at least one tested cancer cell line (breast ductal carcinoma T-47D and liver hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2). The Actinobacteria extracts demonstrating activity in the antimicrobial and/or cytotoxic assays were subjected to metabolomic analysis (Mass spectrometry (MS)-based dereplication and molecular networking analyses), indicating the presence of four clusters that may represent new natural products. The results obtained demonstrate the importance of bioprospecting underexplored environments, like the Portuguese coast, for enhancing the discovery of new natural products, and call attention to the relevance of preserving the natural genetic diversity of coastal environments.
Avian infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) isolates have been widely characterized by reverse transcription followed by polymerase chain reaction and DNA sequencing. In present study, these techniques were applied to three viral genomic regions comprising the complete and/or a partial S1 segment, S2 and nucleocapsid genes. DNA sequences from viral isolates obtained from 1972 to 1989 and from 2006 to 2008 were compared. High similarity (>90%) was observed among some of the genomic segments, including S1 hypervariable region, which could suggest a common origin or ancestry. DNA sequences from S2 and N protein genes obtained from different infected tissues of the same flock were analyzed, and a clear segregation between respiratory and intestinal tract was observed. Therefore, these data suggest cocirculation of more than one viral strain in the same flock. 57.1% of DNA sequences from the S1 complete segment samples, 53.3% from the S2 fragment and 62.5% from the partial N gene were found to be different from analyzed sequences from reference strains leading to the conclusion that parte of viral isolates included in this study may be considered region specific. Considering the simultaneous analysis of the three genes, a large IBV genetic profile was observed in both old and recent isolates groups. However, most prominent diversity between viral isolates was obtained in the period from 1972 and 1989, showing the presence of a large number of variants in the state of Minas Gerais before the official approval of vaccination (1980).
18In recent years, a large number of nucleotide sequences have become available for plant 19 species by the advent of massive parallel sequencing. The use of genomic data has been 20 important for agriculture, food science, medicine or ecology. Despite the increasing amount of 21 data, nucleotide sequences are usually available in public databases as isolated records with 22 some descriptive information. Researchers interested in studying a wide range of specific 23 plant families are forced to do multiple searches, sequence downloads, data curation and 24 sequence alignments. In order to help researches overcoming these problems, we have built a 25 comprehensive on-line resource of curated nucleotide sequence alignments for plant research, 26 named PlantAligDB (available at http://plantaligdb.portugene.com). The latest release 27 incorporates 514 alignments with a total of 66,052 sequences from six important genomic 28 regions: atpF-atpH, psbA-trnH, trnL, rbcL, matK and ITS. The alignments represent 223 29 plant families from a variety of taxonomic groups. The users can quickly search the database, 30 download and visualize the curated alignments and phylogenetic trees using dynamic 31 browser-based applications. Different measures of genetic diversity are also available for each 32 plant family. We also provide the workflow script that allows the user to do the curation 33 process, explaining the steps involved. Overall, the PlantAligDB provides a complete, quality 34 checked and regularly updated collection of alignments that can be used in taxonomic, DNA 35 barcoding, molecular genetics, phylogenetic and evolutionary studies. 36 37 Keywords 38 DNA sequences, Multiple sequence alignments, Plant families 39 region-family were calculated using Tamura-Nei model using Geneious Tree Builder. The 130 methodology was built in Armadillo Workflow (http://www.bioinfo.uqam.ca/armadillo/) to 131 automate the update process of the database. The latest release update of June 2018 132 incorporates 514 alignments and phylogenetic trees, from 223 plant families. 133 134 Conservation measures 135 The database includes two measures of sequence conservation for each alignment: 136 percentage of identical sites (PIS), calculated by dividing the number of identical positions in 137 the alignment for an oligonucleotide by its length and the percentage of pairwise identity 138 (PPI), calculated by counting the average number of pairwise matches across the positions of 139
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.