BackgroundThe biosynthesis of leucine is a biochemical pathway common to prokaryotes, plants and fungi, but absent from humans and animals. The pathway is a proposed target for antimicrobial therapy.Methodology/Principal FindingsHere we identified the leuA gene encoding α-isopropylmalate synthase in the zygomycete fungus Phycomyces blakesleeanus using a genetic mapping approach with crosses between wild type and leucine auxotrophic strains. To confirm the function of the gene, Phycomyces leuA was used to complement the auxotrophic phenotype exhibited by mutation of the leu3+ gene of the ascomycete fungus Schizosaccharomyces pombe. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the leuA gene in Phycomyces, other zygomycetes, and the chytrids is more closely related to homologs in plants and photosynthetic bacteria than ascomycetes or basidiomycetes, and suggests that the Dikarya have acquired the gene more recently.Conclusions/SignificanceThe identification of leuA in Phycomyces adds to the growing body of evidence that some primary metabolic pathways or parts of them have arisen multiple times during the evolution of fungi, probably through horizontal gene transfer events.

We reviewed the implementation of isoniazid preventive therapy (IPT) in South Africa from January 2010 to March 2011. The South African National Department of Health distributed revised IPT guidelines in May 2010 to increase IPT use in eligible human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infected patients. We found a dramatic increase in the absolute numbers of patients reported to have been initiated on IPT (from 3309 in January-March 2010 to 49 130 in January-March 2011), representing an increase in the proportion (1.0-10.5%) of potentially eligible HIV-infected patients started on IPT.

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Civic education is often aptly considered an important arena for cultivating the character of youth and instilling the importance of respect for fellow citizens. To address a growing concern regarding religious intolerance, civic education programs in Indonesia have increasingly stressed material about respect for diversity and inter-religious tolerance. In order to understand how the topic of religious diversity is addressed in civic education courses at the high school level, ethnographic data were collected over the course of 16 months at three different high schools (sekolah menengah atas) in Manado: a public high school (sekolah negeri), public madrasah (madrasah aliyah negeri), and a private high school (sekolah swasta) with Catholic affiliation. Interviews were also conducted with teachers, students, and school administrators. This study espouses a multi-centered understanding of education, which the researchers have operationalized via their examination of the implementation of the civic education in the classroom in addition to school policies, extracurricular activities, informal interactions, and local and national political debates that also shape frameworks for understanding religious diversity. Two major findings emerge from the study. First, although each of the schools is implementing the same national curriculum, each holds a different understanding of the role of the school, of religious education, and of civic education, in contributing to respect for religious diversity. These differences ultimately shape the delivery of the curriculum in each school. Second, at all schools, discussions of religious diversity alternate between collective and individual understandings of tolerance, which has significant ramifications for how tolerance is understood and enacted.

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