Cellulose and sugar from microalgae can be utilized for the production of biofuel ethanol. Increasing cellulose and sugar synthesis capacity is key for high yield production of this biofuel. To enhance cellulose production, we transferred acsAB, responsible for cellulose synthesis in bacterium Acetobacter xylinum, into the cyanobacterium, Anabaena sp. strain PCC7120, by conjugation. PCR confirm...

The influence of the sepA gene on the growth of Aspergillus nidulans has been investigated by characterizing and comparing the parental strain A28 (pabaA6 biA1) with the sepA null mutant (sepA4DeltaBM:). The sepA gene is known to affect the septation process in A. nidulans, therefore the sepA4DeltaBM: strain does not produce any septa during the first hours of growth. During batch cultivations ...

Establishing the occurrence of endocytosis in filamentous fungi was elusive in the past mainly due to the lack of reliable indicators of endocytosis. Recently, however, it was shown that the fluorescent dye N-(3-triethylammoniumpropyl)-4-(p-diethyl-aminophenyl-hexatrienyl)pyridinium dibromide (FM4-64) and the plasma membrane protein AoUapC (Aspergillus oryzae UapC) fused to enhanced green fluor...

Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense (FOC) is an important soil-borne fungal pathogen causing devastating vascular wilt disease of banana plants and has become a great concern threatening banana production worldwide. However, little information is known about the molecular mechanisms that govern the expression of virulence determinants of this important fungal pathogen. In this study, we showed th...

Background and Objectives Acetic acid bacteria (AAB) are one of the major interests of researchers. Traditional vinegars are suitable sources of AAB because they are not undergone industrial process like filtering and adding preservatives. Komagataeibacter xylinus as a member of AAB is known as the main cellulose producer among other bacteria. The purpose of the current study was to isolate the...

Combinations of nikkomycin X (NX) or nikkomycin Z (NZ), known inhibitors of chitin synthesis in fungi, together with papulacandin B (PB), an inhibitor of beta-glucan synthesis, were tested for synergistic activity against four isolates of Candida albicans by using the broth microdilution checkerboard technique and a method to assess the regeneration of cell wall material in protoplasts. The con...

Encystment is an essential process in the biological cycle of the human parasite Entamoeba histolytica. In the present study, we evaluated the participation of E. histolytica Gln6Pi in the formation of amoeba cyst-like structures by RNA interference assay. Amoeba trophozoites transfected with two Gln6Pi siRNAs reduced the expression of the enzyme in 85%, which was confirmed by western blot usin...

Inhibition of encystment can be conceived as a potentially useful mechanism to block the transmission of Entamoeba histolytica under natural conditions. Unfortunately, amoeba encystment has not been achieved in vitro and drugs inhibiting the formation of cysts are not available. Luminal conditions inducing encystment in vivo are also unknown, but cellular stress such as exposure to reactive oxy...

BACKGROUND There is limited data on comparing stains in the detection of microsporidia in corneal biopsies. Hence we wanted to evaluate various stains for their ability to detect microsporidia in corneal tissue sections. METHODS Four cases diagnosed with microsporidiosis on Hematoxylin and Eosin and Periodic Acid Schiff's stained sections of the corneal button between January 2002 and Decembe...

Thiosemicarbazides are compounds known for their biological activity, particularly their antimicrobial properties, which include activity against fungi. The difficulty of treating fungal diseases induced us to assess the antifungal properties of some novel thiosemicarbazide compounds. We selected the natural products limonene and camphene as sources for the preparation of these new thiosemicarb...