Summary• Alyssum murale has a remarkable ability to hyperaccumulate Ni from soils containing mostly nonlabile Ni. Here, rhizobacteria are shown to play an important role in increasing the availability of Ni in soil, thus enhancing Ni accumulation by A. murale .• Three bacteria, originally isolated from the rhizosphere of A. murale , were examined for their ability to solubilize Ni in soil and for their effect on Ni uptake into Alyssum . Sphingomonas macrogoltabidus , Microbacterium liquefaciens , and Microbacterium arabinogalactanolyticum were added to both sterile and nonsterile Ni-rich Serpentine soil from OR, USA.• Sphingomonas macrogoltabidus significantly reduced Ni extraction by 10 mM Sr(NO 3 ) 2 from soil, M. arabinogalactanolyticum significantly increased Ni extraction, whereas M. liquefaciens had no effect. Extractability of few other metals was affected by inoculation. When these bacteria were added to surface-sterilized seeds of A. murale grown in nonsterile soil, they increased Ni uptake into the shoot by 17% ( S. macrogoltabidus ), 24% ( M. liquefaciens ), and 32.4% ( M. arabinogalactanolyticum ), compared with uninoculated controls.• These results show that bacteria are important for Ni uptake, which from a commercial perspective, could significantly increase revenue generated during phytomining of Ni from soil.

Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is associated with the production of serum cytokines, including transforming growth factor (TGF)-␤2. Despite the occurrence of hepatic angiogenesis in liver conditions, the role of HCV proteins in this context is currently unknown. We demonstrated that the development of hepatic neoangiogenesis in patients infected with HCV is associated with the expression of TGF-␤2 and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and with activation of endothelial cells, as evidenced by CD34 expression. The analysis of liver biopsies of HCV-positive and HCV-negative patients using immunostaining showed significant elevation of TGF-␤2, VEGF, and CD34 expression in patients who were HCV-positive. Using an HCV established culture system, we confirmed further the production of both TGF-␤2 and VEGF proteins, in the hepatoma cell lines HepG2 and Huh7 by transfection with full-length HCV RNA (JFH1) or by the regulated expression of core. In addition, regulated expression of core protein in HepG2 or Huh7 cells was found to induce expression and activation of the transcription factor E2F1 and apoptosis signal-regulating kinase 1 (ASK1), activation of c-jun-N-terminal kinase (JNK) and p38, and extracellular-regulated kinase (ERK), and transcription factors activator protein 1 (AP-1), activating transcription factor 2 (ATF-2), cyclic adenosine monophosphate response element binding (CREB), E2F1, hypoxia inducing factor 1 alpha (HIF-1␣), and specificity protein 1. Furthermore, data obtained from inhibitor experiments revealed the importance of E2F1 and ASK1 in the modulation of core-induced activation of JNK and p38 pathways and suggested an essential role for JNK, p38, and ERK pathways in the regulation of core-induced production of TGF-␤2 and VEGF proteins. Thus, our data provide insight into the molecular mechanisms whereby core protein mediates the development of hepatic angiogenesis in patients with chronic HCV infection.

Halophilic archaea are a promising natural source of carotenoids. However, little information is available about the biological impacts of these archaeal metabolites. Here, carotenoids of Natrialba sp. M6, which was isolated from Wadi El-Natrun, were produced, purified and identified by Raman spectroscopy, Gc-mass spectrometry, and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Lc-mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. the c 50 carotenoid bacterioruberin was found to be the predominant compound. Because cancer and viral hepatitis are serious diseases, the anticancer, anti-HcV and anti-HBV potentials of these extracted carotenoids (pigments) were examined for the first time. In vitro results indicated that the caspase-mediated apoptotic anticancer effect of this pigment and its inhibitory efficacy against matrix metalloprotease 9 were significantly higher than those of 5-fluorouracil. Furthermore, the extracted pigment exhibited significantly stronger activity for eliminating HcV and HBV in infected human blood mononuclear cells than currently used drugs. this antiviral activity may be attributed to its inhibitory potential against HcV RnA and HBV DnA polymerases, which thereby suppresses HcV and HBV replication, as indicated by a high viral clearance % in the treated cells. These novel findings suggest that the C 50 carotenoid of Natrialba sp. M6 can be used as an alternative source of natural metabolites that confer potent anticancer and antiviral activities. Halophilic archaea (haloarchaea) belong to the family Halobacteriaceae. This family includes a group of microorganisms that are able to live in hypersaline environments with high salt concentrations (up to 4 M), such as solar salterns, salt lakes and salt deposits 1. Interestingly, these organisms have received increasing attention due to their ability to produce a plethora of compounds with potential applications in many fields of biotechnology, including salt-tolerant enzymes, biodegradable polyesters, exopolysaccharides, antimicrobial halocins, biosurfactants, and photon-driven retinal protein 2. Most haloarchaeal species (e.g., Natrialba) can produce pigments, including carotenoids. Natrialba is an organism in our research that belongs to the Halobacteriaceae family. However, the genus has recently been reassigned to the novel family Natrialbaceae 3. Natrialba sp. M6 is an extreme haloalkaliphile that grows at pH 10.0 and 20-25% w/v NaCl and utilizes a wide range of carbohydrate and noncarbohydrate substrates. Carotenoids are lipid-soluble pigments that vary in colour between yellow, orange, and red. Carotenoids are classified based on the number of carbons in their backbones into the categories C 30 , C 40 and C 50. Most carotenoids exist as a C 40 structure in different living organisms, including bacteria, archaea, fungi, algae, and plants 4. Meanwhile, haloarchaea can produce C 50 bacterioruberin (BR), a rare carotenoid form that contains four hydroxyl groups 5. These pigments are divided into two major groups: xanthophylls (molecu...

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) non-structural protein 3 (NS3) has been shown to affect cellular functions and is thought to contribute to the development of HCV-related hepatocarcinogenesis. In this study, we delineated part of the mechanisms whereby NS3 protein stimulates cell growth in liver (HepG2) and non-liver (HeLa) cells. The expression of NS3 protein enhanced cell growth, c-jun NH(2)-terminal kinase (JNK) activation, DNA binding activities of the transcription factors AP-1 and ATF-2, and c-jun expression, but not the activation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) or p38(MAPK). Whereas co-expression of NS3 with its cofactor NS4A inhibited NS3-mediated cell growth without to influence NS3-mediated JNK activation, or to affect the basal activities of ERK or p38(MAPK). Pre-treatment of NS3 protein-expressing cells with JNK inhibitor, SP600125, abolished activation of AP-1 and ATF-2 and inhibited c-jun expression and induced cell growth, suggesting that JNK activation is essential for the stimulation of NS3-mediated cell growth.

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