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Aberrant secretion and accumulation of α-synuclein (α-Syn) as well as the loss of parkin function are associated with the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease (PD). Our previous study suggested a functional interaction between those two proteins, showing that the extracellular α-Syn evoked post-translational modifications of parkin, leading to its autoubiquitination and degradation. While parkin plays an important role in mitochondrial biogenesis and turnover, including mitochondrial fission/fusion as well as mitophagy, the involvement of parkin deregulation in α-Syn-induced mitochondrial damage is largely unknown. In the present study, we demonstrated that treatment with exogenous α-Syn triggers mitochondrial dysfunction, reflected by the depolarization of the mitochondrial membrane, elevated synthesis of the mitochondrial superoxide anion, and a decrease in cellular ATP level. At the same time, we observed a protective effect of parkin overexpression on α-Syn-induced mitochondrial dysfunction. α-Syn-dependent disturbances of mitophagy were also shown to be directly related to reduced parkin levels in mitochondria and decreased ubiquitination of mitochondrial proteins. Also, α-Syn impaired mitochondrial biosynthesis due to the parkin-dependent reduction of PGC-1α protein levels. Finally, loss of parkin function as a result of α-Syn treatment induced an overall breakdown of mitochondrial homeostasis that led to the accumulation of abnormal mitochondria. These findings may thus provide the first compelling evidence for the direct association of α-Syn-mediated parkin depletion to impaired mitochondrial function in PD. We suggest that improvement of parkin function may serve as a novel therapeutic strategy to prevent mitochondrial impairment and neurodegeneration in PD (thereby slowing the progression of the disease).

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In this study, we found that the loss of OmpR, the response regulator of the two-component EnvZ/OmpR system, increases the cellular level of Fur, the master regulator of iron homeostasis in Y. enterocolitica. Furthermore, we demonstrated that transcription of the fur gene from the YePfur promoter is subject to negative OmpR-dependent regulation. Four putative OmpR-binding sites (OBSs) were indicated by in silico analysis of the fur promoter region, and their removal affected OmpR-dependent fur expression. Moreover, OmpR binds specifically to the predicted OBSs which exhibit a distinct hierarchy of binding affinity. Finally, the data demonstrate that OmpR, by direct binding to the promoters of the fecA, fepA and feoA genes, involved in the iron transport and being under Fur repressor activity, modulates their expression. It seems that the negative effect of OmpR on fecA and fepA transcription is sufficient to counteract the indirect, positive effect of OmpR resulting from decreasing the Fur repressor level. The expression of feoA was positively regulated by OmpR and this mode of action seems to be direct and indirect. Together, the expression of fecA, fepA and feoA in Y. enterocolitica has been proposed to be under a complex mode of regulation involving OmpR and Fur regulators.

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The purinergic P2X7 receptor (P2X7R) belongs to a family of trimeric ion channels that are gated by extracellular adenosine 5'-triphosphate (ATP). Several studies have pointed to a role of P2X7R-dependent signalling in Parkinson's disease (PD)-related neurodegeneration. The pathology of (PD) is characterized by the formation of insoluble alpha-synuclein (α-Syn) aggregates-Lewy bodies, but the mechanisms underlying α-Syn-induced dopaminergic cell death are still partially unclear. Our previous studies indicate that extracellular α-Syn directly interact with neuronal P2X7R and induces intracellular free calcium mobilization in neuronal cells. The main objective of this study was to examine the involvement of P2X7R receptor in α-Syn-induced mitochondrial dysfunction and cell death. We found that P2X7R stimulation is responsible for α-Syn-induced oxidative stress and activation of the molecular pathways of programmed cell death. Exogenous α-Syn treatment led to P2X7R-dependent decrease in mitochondrial membrane potential as well as elevation of mitochondrial ROS production resulting in breakdown of cellular energy production. Moreover, P2X7R-dependent deregulation of AMP-activated protein kinase as well as decrease in parkin protein level could be responsible for α-Syn-induced mitophagy impairment and accumulation of dysfunctional mitochondria. P2X7R might be putative pharmacological targets in molecular mechanism of extracellular α-Syn toxicity.

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Urea cycle enzymes may play important yet poorly characterized roles in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Our previous results showed that amyloid-ß (Aß) affects urea cycle enzymes in rat pheochromocytoma (PC12) cells. The aim of the present study was to investigate the changes in arginases, other urea cycle enzymes, and nitric oxide synthases (NOSs) in PC12 cells transfected with AßPP bearing the double 'Swedish' mutation (APPsw, K670M/N671L) and in postmortem sporadic AD brain hippocampus; the mutation intensifies Aß production and strongly associates with AD neuropathology. mRNA expression was analyzed using real-time PCR in cell cultures and DNA microarrays in hippocampal CA1 area of human AD brains. Arginase activity was measured spectrophotometrically, and arginine, ornithine, and citrulline levels by high-performance liquid chromatography. Our data demonstrated that the expression and activity of arginases (Arg1 and Arg2), as well as the expression of argininosuccinate synthase (Ass) were significantly reduced in APPsw cells compared to control. However, argininosuccinate lyase (Asl) was upregulated in APPsw cells. Real-time PCR analysis revealed significant elevation of neuronal nitric oxide synthase (Nnos) mRNA in APPsw cells, without changes in the endothelial Enos, whereas inducible Inos was undetectable. The changes were found to follow closely those observed in the human hippocampal CA1 region of sporadic AD brains. The changes in enzyme expression were accompanied in APPsw cells by significantly elevated citrulline, ornithine, and arginine. Our findings demonstrate that AßPP/Aß alters arginine metabolism and induces a shift of cellular homeostasis that may support the oxidative/nitrosative stress observed in AD.

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Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. thuringiensis IS5056, a strain highly toxic to Trichoplusia ni larvae, produces the newly described Cry1Ab21 delta-endotoxin encoded by a gene located in the 63.8 kb pIS56-63 plasmid. In this report we present the structure and functional similarity of this plasmid to other B. thuringiensis large toxigenic plasmids with particular interest focused on its modular architecture. The 61 open reading frames (ORFs) of the plasmid made four functional modules: (i) M1-mic, the mobile insertion cassette harboring cry1Ab21; (ii) M2-tra, the putative conjugative element; (iii) M3-reg, regulation sequence; and (iv) M4-rep, the ori44 replicon. These modules display similarity to corresponding sequences in distinct B. thuringiensis plasmids, but, in general, not to plasmid of other Bacillus cereus sensu lato. The nucleotide sequence and organization of genes in pIS56-63 were highly similar (80-100%) to those in pHT73 of B. thuringiensis HT73, and in p03 of B. thuringiensis HD771, particularly within the M3-reg and M4-rep modules, and slightly less in M2-tra, the latter of which is composed of two segments exhibiting homology to sequences in pBMB28, pAH187_45, pCT83, and pIS56-85 or to pCT72, pBMB67, p04, and pIS56-68. The tetrapartite structure of the toxigenic pIS56-63 plasmid strongly suggests that its hybrid nature is a result of recombination of various genetic elements originating from different extrachromosomal and chromosomal sources in B. thuringiensis. The presence of cry1Ab21 in the mobile cassette suggests that its occurrence on pIS56-63 resulted from recombination and transposition events during the evolution of the plasmid.

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Entomopathogenic Bacillus thuringiensis is closely related to Bacillus cereus, a human pathogen known to cause emesis and diarrhea. Standard detection methods do not distinguish these bacilli. Hemolysin BL (hbl) and non-hemolytic enterotoxin (nhe) genes that encode, respectively, HBL and NHE enterotoxins, are known to be harbored in both bacterial species, suggesting that differentiation of these bacilli is clinically and epidemiologically relevant. In this study the reliability of quantitative reverse transcription real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) and enzyme immunoassays (EIAs) in detecting hbl and nhe transcripts and corresponding toxins in environmental B. thuringiensis isolates was assessed. At least one enterotoxin gene was present in each isolate, and nhe or hbl genes were found in 85% and 55% of the strains, respectively. Based on statistical analyses, both BCET-RPLA and Duopath detected HBL at similar levels, and TECRA and Duopath can be used interchangeably for the detection of NHE, although TECRA has significantly lower sensitivity than Duopath. Thus, as potential enterotoxic B. thuringiensis strains occur in the natural environment, and EIA results may not correspond with the presence of enterotoxin genes and their expression, we suggest that reliable interpretation will be significantly enhanced by including qRT-PCR to support inferences based on EIAs.

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Escherichia albertii has been recently recognized as an emerging human and bird enteric pathogen. Here, we report the first complete chromosome nucleotide sequence of a clinical isolate of E. albertii strain KF1, which may provide information about the pathogenic potential of this new species and the mechanisms of evolution of enteropathogenic Escherichia spp.

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The genome sequence of the entomopathogen Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. thuringiensis strain IS5056 was determined. The chromosome is composed of 5,491,935 bp. In addition, IS5056 harbors 14 plasmids ranging from 6,880 to 328,151 bp, four of which contain nine insecticidal protein genes, cry1Aa3, cry1Ab21, cry1Ba1, cry1Ia14, cry2Aa9, cry2Ab1, vip1, vip2, and vip3Aa10.

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Ecological diversification of Bacillus thuringiensis soil isolates was examined to determine whether bacteria adapted to grow at low temperature and/or potentially pathogenic correspond to genetically distinct lineages. Altogether, nine phylogenetic lineages were found among bacilli originating from North-Eastern Poland (n = 24) and Lithuania (n = 25) using multi-locus sequence typing. This clustering was chiefly confirmed by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. One third of the bacilli were found to be psychrotolerant, which strongly supports the hypothesis of the existence of thermal ecotypes among B. thuringiensis. PCR screening was also performed to detect potential enterotoxin genes and Bacillus anthracis pXO1- and pXO2-like replicons. The cytK-positive isolates (22%) were significantly associated with two phylogenetic lineages (potential CytK pathotypes), whereas there was no correlation between phylogenetic grouping and the presence of the potential tripartite enterotoxin pathotypes (86% of strains). A statistically significant association between phylogenetic lineages and ecologic properties was found with regard to the cry1-positive Lithuanian isolates, while the cry genes in Polish isolates and the pXO1- and pXO2 replicon-like elements showed scattered distribution across phylogenetic lineages. Our results support the hypothesis that B. thuringiensis comprises strains belonging to different phylogenetic lineages, which exhibit specific ecological properties.

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