Xylella fastidiosa is a fastidious, xylem-limited bacterium that causes a range of economically important plant diseases. Here we report the complete genome sequence of X. fastidiosa clone 9a5c, which causes citrus variegated chlorosis--a serious disease of orange trees. The genome comprises a 52.7% GC-rich 2,679,305-base-pair (bp) circular chromosome and two plasmids of 51,158 bp and 1,285 bp. We can assign putative functions to 47% of the 2,904 predicted coding regions. Efficient metabolic functions are predicted, with sugars as the principal energy and carbon source, supporting existence in the nutrient-poor xylem sap. The mechanisms associated with pathogenicity and virulence involve toxins, antibiotics and ion sequestration systems, as well as bacterium-bacterium and bacterium-host interactions mediated by a range of proteins. Orthologues of some of these proteins have only been identified in animal and human pathogens; their presence in X. fastidiosa indicates that the molecular basis for bacterial pathogenicity is both conserved and independent of host. At least 83 genes are bacteriophage-derived and include virulence-associated genes from other bacteria, providing direct evidence of phage-mediated horizontal gene transfer.

No abstract

No abstract

This study provides several pieces of evidence indicating that 3F6-Ag, identified by monoclonal antibody (MAb) 3F6 as a stage-specific glycoprotein of approximately 82 kDa on the surface of metacyclic trypomastigotes of different Trypanosoma cruzi strains, promotes the entry of parasites into host cells through a ligand-receptor type interaction. First, invasion of Vero cells by metacyclic trypomastigotes of both CL and Tulahuen strains was significantly inhibited by MAb 3F6 or its Fab fragments. Second, purified 3F6-Ag bound to Vero cells in a dose-dependent and saturable fashion. Third, soluble 3F6-Ag reduced the infection of Vero cells by metacyclic forms of CL and Tulahuen strains by 90 to 97 and 50%Yo, respectively. Unrelated proteins, as well as extracellular matrix components, such as heparan sulfate and collagen, had no effect. Our studies also show that in the Tulahuen strain, 10D8-Ag, a 35/50-kDa glycoprotein identified by MAb 10D8, participates in target cell invasion, confirming previous observations, but the variant form of 10D8-Ag expressed by highly invasive CL strain metacyclic trypomastigotes appears to be irrelevant. Overall, our results indicate that the

The anti-Trypanosoma cruzi activity of natural products isolated from Azorella compacta was evaluated, with particular emphasis on their effect against intracellular amastigotes. Five diterpenoids from A. compacta derived from mulinane and azorellane were isolated and identified. Only two products, named azorellanol (Y-2) and mulin-11,3-dien-20-oic acid (Y-5) We evaluated the effect of diterpenoids against intracellular T. cruzi forms by immunofluorescent identification of a specific membrane molecular marker (Ssp-4 antigen) of the T. cruzi amastigote forms. The accuracy and reproducibility of the measurements were found to be outstanding when examined by confocal microscopy.