Autonomous growth of BALB/MK keratinocytes transfected with a retroviral vector carrying the human epidermal growth factor gene

Epidermal growth factor (EGF), which promotes epidermal regeneration and wound closure, is important for the proliferation and differentiation of epidermal and epithelial tissues in animals. Exogenous EGF is a promising therapeutic agent for wound healing, but its general use is restricted by the limited availability of this protein. In this work, we show that the transfection of mouse BALB/MK keratinocytes, which are totally dependent on EGF for growth and migration, with mature cDNA for human EGF via a retroviral vector abolished the cells requirement for exogenous EGF. The transformed cells had normal morphology and a growth rate that varied according to the source of the retroviral vector used. Keratinocyte transfection with EGF cDNA provides a time- and cost-efficient means of culturing keratinocytes and yields cells that may be useful for skin grafting.

The missing link: Bordetella petrii is endowed with both the metabolic versatility of environmental bacteria and virulence traits of pathogenic Bordetellae.

BACKGROUND: Bordetella petrii is the only environmental species hitherto found among the otherwise host-restricted and pathogenic members of the genus Bordetella. Phylogenetically, it connects the pathogenic Bordetellae and environmental bacteria of the genera Achromobacter and Alcaligenes, which are opportunistic pathogens. B. petrii strains have been isolated from very different environmental niches, including river sediment, polluted soil, marine sponges and a grass root. Recently, clinical isolates associated with bone degenerative disease or cystic fibrosis have also been described. RESULTS: In this manuscript we present the results of the analysis of the completely annotated genome sequence of the B. petrii strain DSMZ12804. B. petrii has a mosaic genome of 5,287,950 bp harboring numerous mobile genetic elements, including seven large genomic islands. Four of them are highly related to the clc element of Pseudomonas knackmussii B13, which encodes genes involved in the degradation of aromatics. Though being an environmental isolate, the sequenced B. petrii strain also encodes proteins related to virulence factors of the pathogenic Bordetellae, including the filamentous hemagglutinin, which is a major colonization factor of B. pertussis, and the master virulence regulator BvgAS. However, it lacks all known toxins of the pathogenic Bordetellae. CONCLUSION: The genomic analysis suggests that B. petrii represents an evolutionary link between free-living environmental bacteria and the host-restricted obligate pathogenic Bordetellae. Its remarkable metabolic versatility may enable B. petrii to thrive in very different ecological niches.

Complete genome sequence of the myxobacterium Sorangium cellulosum.

The genus Sorangium synthesizes approximately half of the secondary metabolites isolated from myxobacteria, including the anti-cancer metabolite epothilone. We report the complete genome sequence of the model Sorangium strain S. cellulosum So ce56, which produces several natural products and has morphological and physiological properties typical of the genus. The circular genome, comprising 13,033,779 base pairs, is the largest bacterial genome sequenced to date. No global synteny with the genome of Myxococcus xanthus is apparent, revealing an unanticipated level of divergence between these myxobacteria. A large percentage of the genome is devoted to regulation, particularly post-translational phosphorylation, which probably supports the strain's complex, social lifestyle. This regulatory network includes the highest number of eukaryotic protein kinase-like kinases discovered in any organism. Seventeen secondary metabolite loci are encoded in the genome, as well as many enzymes with potential utility in industry.

Whole genome analysis of the marine Bacteroidetes'Gramella forsetii' reveals adaptations to degradation of polymeric organic matter.

Members of the Bacteroidetes, formerly known as the Cytophaga-Flavobacteria-Bacteroides (CFB) phylum, are among the major taxa of marine heterotrophic bacterioplankton frequently found on macroscopic organic matter particles (marine snow). In addition, they have been shown to also represent a significant part of free-living microbial assemblages in nutrient-rich microenvironments. Their abundance and distribution pattern in combination with enzymatic activity studies has led to the notion that organisms of this group are specialists for degradation of high molecular weight compounds in both the dissolved and particulate fraction of the marine organic matter pool, implying a major role of Bacteroidetes in the marine carbon cycle. Despite their ecological importance, comprehensive molecular data on organisms of this group have been scarce so far. Here we report on the first whole genome analysis of a marine Bacteroidetes representative, 'Gramella forsetii' KT0803. Functional analysis of the predicted proteome disclosed several traits which in joint consideration suggest a clear adaptation of this marine Bacteroidetes representative to the degradation of high molecular weight organic matter, such as a substantial suite of genes encoding hydrolytic enzymes, a predicted preference for polymeric carbon sources and a distinct capability for surface adhesion.

The subsystems approach to genome annotation and its use in the project to annotate 1000 genomes.

The release of the 1000th complete microbial genome will occur in the next two to three years. In anticipation of this milestone, the Fellowship for Interpretation of Genomes (FIG) launched the Project to Annotate 1000 Genomes. The project is built around the principle that the key to improved accuracy in high-throughput annotation technology is to have experts annotate single subsystems over the complete collection of genomes, rather than having an annotation expert attempt to annotate all of the genes in a single genome. Using the subsystems approach, all of the genes implementing the subsystem are analyzed by an expert in that subsystem. An annotation environment was created where populated subsystems are curated and projected to new genomes. A portable notion of a populated subsystem was defined, and tools developed for exchanging and curating these objects. Tools were also developed to resolve conflicts between populated subsystems. The SEED is the first annotation environment that supports this model of annotation. Here, we describe the subsystem approach, and offer the first release of our growing library of populated subsystems. The initial release of data includes 180 177 distinct proteins with 2133 distinct functional roles. This data comes from 173 subsystems and 383 different organisms.

GenAlyzer: interactive visualization of sequence similarities between entire genomes.

SUMMARY: Genalyzer is a software tool designed for the interactive visualization of sequence matches between DNA or protein sequences. It provides visualizations on different levels of granularity, from complete overviews via zoomed regions to alignments of particular matching substrings. Genalyzer can efficiently handle very large datasets, allowing to display tens of thousands of matches between sequences of tens of millions of bases. AVAILABILITY: Genalyzer is available free of charge for non-commercial research institutions. For more details, see http://www.genalyzer.de