The First Evidence of Gibberellic Acid's Ability to Modulate Target Species' Sensitivity to Honeysuckle (Lonicera maackii) Allelochemicals.

Invasive species employ competitive strategies such as releasing allelopathic chemicals into the environment that negatively impact native species. Decomposing Amur honeysuckle (Lonicera maackii) leaves leach various allelopathic phenolics into the soil, decreasing the vigor of several native species. Notable differences in the net negative impacts of L. maackii metabolites on target species were argued to depend on soil properties, the microbiome, the proximity to the allelochemical source, the allelochemical concentration, or environmental conditions. This study is the first to address the role of target species' metabolic properties in determining their net sensitivity to allelopathic inhibition by L. maackii. Gibberellic acid (GA3) is a critical regulator of seed germination and early development. We hypothesized that GA3 levels might affect the target sensitivity to allelopathic inhibitors and evaluated differences in the response of a standard (control, Rbr), a GA3-overproducing (ein), and a GA3-deficient (ros) Brassica rapa variety to L. maackii allelochemicals. Our results demonstrate that high GA3 concentrations substantially alleviate the inhibitory effects of L. maackii allelochemicals. A better understanding of the importance of target species' metabolic properties in their responses to allelochemicals will contribute to developing novel invasive species control and biodiversity conservation protocols and may contribute to applications in agriculture.

Multidrug Resistance (MDR) and Collateral Sensitivity in Bacteria, with Special Attention to Genetic and Evolutionary Aspects and to the Perspectives of Antimicrobial Peptides-A Review.

Antibiotic poly-resistance (multidrug-, extreme-, and pan-drug resistance) is controlled by adaptive evolution. Darwinian and Lamarckian interpretations of resistance evolution are discussed. Arguments for, and against, pessimistic forecasts on a fatal "post-antibiotic era" are evaluated. In commensal niches, the appearance of a new antibiotic resistance often reduces fitness, but compensatory mutations may counteract this tendency. The appearance of new antibiotic resistance is frequently accompanied by a collateral sensitivity to other resistances. Organisms with an expanding open pan-genome, such as Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Klebsiella pneumoniae, can withstand an increased number of resistances by exploiting their evolutionary plasticity and disseminating clonally or poly-clonally. Multidrug-resistant pathogen clones can become predominant under antibiotic stress conditions but, under the influence of negative frequency-dependent selection, are prevented from rising to dominance in a population in a commensal niche. Antimicrobial peptides have a great potential to combat multidrug resistance, since antibiotic-resistant bacteria have shown a high frequency of collateral sensitivity to antimicrobial peptides. In addition, the mobility patterns of antibiotic resistance, and antimicrobial peptide resistance, genes are completely different. The integron trade in commensal niches is fortunately limited by the species-specificity of resistance genes. Hence, we theorize that the suggested post-antibiotic era has not yet come, and indeed might never come.

Morphological, physiological and biochemical aspects of salt tolerance of halophyte Petrosimonia triandra grown in natural habitat.

Salt tolerance mechanisms of halophyte Petrosimonia triandra, growing in its natural habitat in Cluj County, Romania, were investigated via biomass, growth parameters, water status, ion content, photosynthetic and antioxidative system efficiency, proline accumulation and lipid degradation. Two sampling sites with different soil electrical conductivities were selected: site 1: 3.14 dS m-1 and site 2: 4.45 dS m-1. Higher salinity proved to have a positive effect on growth. The relative water content did not decline severely, Na+ and K+ content of the roots, stem and leaves was more, and the functions of the photosynthetic apparatus and photosynthetic pigment contents were not altered. The efficiency of the antioxidative defence system was found to be assured by coordination of several reactive oxygen species scavengers. The presence of higher salinity led to accumulation of the osmolyte proline, while degradation of membrane lipids was reduced. As a whole, P. triandra evolved different adaptational strategies to counteract soil salinity, including morphological and physiological adaptations, preservation of photosynthetic activity, development of an efficient antioxidative system and accumulation of the osmotic compound, proline.

Picophytoplankton predominance in hypersaline lakes (Transylvanian Basin, Romania).

The occurrence and importance of photoautotrophic picoplankton (PPP, cells with a diameter <2 µm) was studied along a trophic and salinity gradient in hypersaline lakes of the Transylvanian Basin (Romania). The studied lakes were found to be rich in PPP, with abundances (maximum 7.6 × 10(6) cells mL(-1)) higher than in freshwater and marine environments of similar trophic conditions. The contribution of PPP to the total phytoplankton biovolume did not decrease with increasing trophic state as it was generally found in other aquatic environments. Regardless of the trophic conditions, the contribution of PPP could reach 90-100 % in these hypersaline lakes. We hypothesized that the PPP predominance might be the result of the low grazing pressure, since heterotrophic nanoflagellates (the main grazers of PPP) were absent in the studied samples. There were significant differences in community composition among the lakes along the salinity gradient. CyPPP predominated in less saline waters (mainly below 5 %), while EuPPP were present along the entire salinity range (up to 18.7 %), dominating the phytoplankton between 3 and 13 % salinity. Above 13 % salinity, the phytoplankton was composed mainly of Dunaliella species.

Factors influencing quality of life and disease severity in Hungarian children and young adults with cystic fibrosis.

BACKGROUND: The aim of our study was to evaluate factors affecting cystic fibrosis (CF) patients' health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and to assess the level of agreement on HRQol between children and their parents. METHODS: Fifty-nine patients (mean age: 14.03 ± 4.81 years) from 5 Hungarian CF centres completed the survey. HRQoL was measured using The Cystic Fibrosis Questionnaire-Revised (CFQ-R). Parents were asked to fill out a questionnaire about their smoking habits, educational level and history of chronic illness. Disease severity was assessed using the physician-reported Shwachman-Kulczycki (SK) score system. Spirometry, Body Mass Index (BMI) percentile (pc), hospitalisation and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) infection were examined as physiologic parameters of CF, and the impact of these factors on HRQoL was assessed. A multivariate regression analysis was performed to identify the most important factors affecting HRQoL. The level of significance was set to 0.05. RESULTS: Passive smoking and parental educational level and chronic diseases status did not have a significant impact on the patients' HRQoL (p > 0.05). Significantly lower SK scores and spirometry values were found in low BMI pc patients (p < 0.001), in hospitalised (p < 0.01) and in PA-infected patients (p < 0.01), than in the adequate-weight, non-hospitalised and PA culture-negative subgroup. Lower CFQ-R scores were detected in hospitalised patients than in non-hospitalised patients in their Physical functioning domain. PA-infected patients had HRQoL scores that were significantly worse in the Body image (p < 0.01) and Respiratory symptoms (p < 0.05) domains than the PA culture-negative patients. Patients with a low BMI pc (<25th BMI pc) had significantly lower scores in the Eating, Body image and Treatment burden domains, than the adequate-weight patients (>25th BMI pc) (p < 0.01). A strong child-parent agreement was found in the Physical functioning domain (r = 0.77, p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Passive smoking, parental educational level and chronic diseases of parents do not affect the HRQoL of CF patients. In contrast, hospitalisation, PA infection and malnutrition have a significant and negative impact on patients' HRQoL and the clinical severity of the disease. Parents and children were consistent in their scoring of symptoms and behaviours that were observable.

[Quality of life in Hungarian patients with cystic fibrosis]. / Cystás fibrosisban szenvedo betegek életminoségének felmérése Magyarországon.

INTRODUCTION: Cystic fibrosis is a progressive multisystemic disease which affects the quality of life of patients. AIM: The aim of the study was to evaluate quality of life in Hungarian patients with cystic fibrosis. METHODS: Validated Hungarian translation of The Cystic Fibrosis Questionnaire - Revised was used to measure quality of life. Clinical severity was determined on the basis of Shwachman-Kulczycki score. Lung function was measured using spirometry. RESULTS: 59 patients were included from five centres in Hungary. The relationships between 8-13 year-old children self-report and parent proxy report was 0.77 (p<0.001) in physical functioning, 0.07 (p<0.001) in emotional functioning, 0.51 (p<0.001) in eating, 0.21 (p<0.001) in treatment burden, 0.54 (p<0.001) in body image, 0.49 (p<0.001) in respiratory symptoms and 0.40 (p<0.001) in digestive symptoms domains. CONCLUSIONS: In contrast to physical domains weak correlations were observed between answers obtained from children and their parents in psychosocial domains. The perception of both patients and their parents should be assessed when measuring quality of life in paediatric patients with cystic fibrosis.

First record of picophytoplankton diversity in Central European hypersaline lakes.

Our survey has revealed that the phytoplankton in the anthropo-hypersaline lakes of the Transylvanian Basin (Romania) was often dominated by photoautotrophic picoplankton (PPP, cells with a diameter <2 µm). Therefore, the aim of this study was to identify PPP members both in the summer and the winter communities using molecular biological techniques, denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and sequence analysis. The applied PCR-DGGE methods were highly specific to cyanobacteria and green algae. A total of 11 different plankton taxa were identified that were related to several distant taxonomic groups. PPP were represented by a simple community and consisted of two major genotypes, one from the green algal species Picochlorum oklahomense and the other related to marine Synechococcus isolates (Cyanobacteria). These marine PPP species were recorded for the first time in inland saline lakes from Europe. Besides picoplankton, several additional marine taxa (e.g. cryptophytes and haptophytes) were detected among the nanoplankton species. The presence of the identified marine and hypersaline species could be explained by wind, precipitation or waterfowl transfer; however, this latter could have smaller importance.

Human enterovirus 109 (EV109) in acute paediatric respiratory disease in Hungary.

Human enterovirus 109 (EV109) is a recently identified recombinant enterovirus in family Picornaviridae from acute paediatric respiratory illness in Nicaragua. EV109 have not been reported elsewhere. Our aims were the molecular detection and genetic analysis of EV109 from acute childhood respiratory infections in Hungary. Nasopharyngeal aspirates were collected from children under age of 10 years with acute respiratory infections treated in Department of Pulmonology, Kaposi Mór Teaching Hospital, Mosdós, Hungary. Samples were taken from 15 October to 15 May in two respiratory seasons 2005/2006 and 2006/2007. Samples were tested using EV109 specific VP1 primers by RT-PCR method. One (1.1%) of the 92 nasopharyngeal aspirates was positive for EV109 collected from a 2.5-year-old child in January, 2007. The main symptoms were dropping nose, fever (38.1°C), hard cough and wheezing associated with bronchitis and pneumonia. Based upon the VP1 gene region EV109 (L87/HUN/2007, JN900470) has 93% nucleotide identity and identical recombinant pattern to the prototype EV109. This is the first detection of the novel recombinant enterovirus, EV109, in Hungary (in Europe). This study supports the possibility that EV109 is able to cause acute respiratory infections, in addition, it might be plays a part in lower respiratory disease with hospitalization in children.

Detection and follow-up of torque teno midi virus ("small anelloviruses") in nasopharyngeal aspirates and three other human body fluids in children.

Torque teno midi virus/small anellovirus (TTMDV/SAV) is a member of the family Anelloviridae. It has a single-stranded, circular, negative-sense DNA genome. Its pathogenic role in human disease remains to be confirmed. In this study, viral shedding, molecular epidemiology and genetic diversity of TTMDV/SAV were studied in human body fluids. Nasopharyngeal aspirates collected from children with acute respiratory disease were tested by PCR/nested PCR for TTMDV/SAV in two seasons (2005/2006, 2006/2007). Two years later, additional urine, stool, and serum samples and nasopharyngeal aspirates were collected from eight symptomless children for follow-up investigation. Forty-three (46.7%) of the 92 nasopharyngeal aspirates collected contained TTMDV/SAV. High genetic diversity was observed; however, identical sequences were also detected in two patients. The mean age of the infected children was 3 years (1 months-8 years), and 58% of them were female. Co-infection with RSV was detected in 23% of the samples. In a follow-up study, nasopharyngeal aspirates and serum of six (75%), stool samples of four (50%) and urine samples of two (25%) of the eight children were anellovirus-positive. None of the anellovirus sequences were identical in the two collection periods, but identical sequences were detected in different body fluids collected at the same time from the same child. TTMDV/SAVs shedding was detected in four human body fluids. As a consequence, it is possible that generalized infection and fecal/uro-oral transmission of TTMDV/SAV occur. TTMDV/SAVs are frequently present in nasopharyngeal aspirates, although the variants may only be transient agents. Further research is needed to investigate the pathogenesis and pathogenic role of TTMDV/SAV.

Genetic variation at 15 polymorphic, autosomal, short tandem repeat loci of two Hungarian populations in Transylvania, Romania.

AIM: To determine allele distribution and genetic parameters for two populations living in the Romanian region of Transylvania: Hungarians from Cluj and Szeklers from Covasna county, and to compare the results between the two populations and with other Hungarian and Romanian populations. METHODS: Allele frequencies for 15 autosomal STR loci (D8S1179, D21S11, D7S820, CSF1PO, D3S1358, TH01, D13S317, D16S539, D2S1338, D19S433, VWA, TPOX, D18S51, D5S818, and FGA), several forensic parameters, and paternity parameters were determined for Szekler Hungarians of Covasna county (CV-Sze, n=278) and non-Szekler Transylvanian Hungarians, who were represented by Hungarians from Cluj county (CJ-Hu, n=146). RESULTS: Average expected heterozygosity was above 70%. The combined power of discrimination and combined power of exclusion values were high. All tested loci were in agreement with Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, with the exception of the CSF1PO locus for Covasna county. Pairwise population comparison tests and exact population differentiation tests showed no significant differences between the CJ-Hu and CV-Sze populations, and the CV-Sze group showed greater differences from other Romanian populations than did the CJ-Hu group. CONCLUSION: Hungarians from Cluj show greater genetic heterogeneity than Szeklers from Covasna. The loci tested are suitable for studying micro-differentiation between these two populations, and between these populations and other populations in Hungary and Romania.

[Detection and molecular epidemiology of respiratory syncytial virus type A and B strains in childhood respiratory infections in Hungary]. / A légúti óriássejtes vírus A és B típusának molekuláris kimutatása és epidemiológiája gyermekkori légúti fertozésekben.

UNLABELLED: Human respiratory syncytial virus (hRSV) is one of the major causes of respiratory infection of infants and children worldwide. The molecular epidemiology of hRSV is unknown in Hungary. AIMS: Our aims were the molecular detection and genetic analysis of hRSV from childhood respiratory infections in Hungary. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Nasopharyngeal aspirates were collected from children under the age of 10 years with acute respiratory infections provided by the Pediatric Department of the Hospital for Chest Diseases in Mosdós. Samples were taken from 15 October to 15 May in seasons of 2005/2006 and 2006/2007. The clinical and epidemiological data were collected prospectively. The amplification of the surface fusion glycoprotein (F) and the attachment glycoprotein (G) genes of viral RNA was made by RT-PCR method. PCR-products were sequenced and analyzed by phylogenetic analysis. RESULTS: Nasopharyngeal aspirates of 104 children were examined out of which 23 (22.1%) samples - 16 males (69.6%) and 7 females (30.4%) - (first season: 1/49, 2%; second season: 22/55, 40%) contained hRSV. The hRSV infections were taking place from December to March. The average age was 2.1 years (1 month to 8 years). The leading symptoms were dropping nose, fever, cough and wheezing. Thirty-nine point one percent of the hRSV infected children had underlying disease. Based upon the F region 22 (96%), viruses genetically belonged to type A and 1 (4%) was classified as type B hRSV. Based upon the G region, out of the 11 type A viruses 8 (72.7%) belonged to group GA5 and 3 (27.3%) to group GA2. Viral nucleotide sequence was identical in several cases. CONCLUSIONS: To our knowledge, this is the first report on molecular detection and genetic analysis of the two types (A and B) of hRSV of children under the age of 10 with respiratory infections in Hungary. In winter and spring hRSV is an important cause of childhood respiratory infections, particularly in infants, often requiring hospitalization.

Arabidopsis PPR40 connects abiotic stress responses to mitochondrial electron transport.

Oxidative respiration produces adenosine triphosphate through the mitochondrial electron transport system controlling the energy supply of plant cells. Here we describe a mitochondrial pentatricopeptide repeat (PPR) domain protein, PPR40, which provides a signaling link between mitochondrial electron transport and regulation of stress and hormonal responses in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). Insertion mutations inactivating PPR40 result in semidwarf growth habit and enhanced sensitivity to salt, abscisic acid, and oxidative stress. Genetic complementation by overexpression of PPR40 complementary DNA restores the ppr40 mutant phenotype to wild type. The PPR40 protein is localized in the mitochondria and found in association with Complex III of the electron transport system. In the ppr40-1 mutant the electron transport through Complex III is strongly reduced, whereas Complex IV is functional, indicating that PPR40 is important for the ubiqinol-cytochrome c oxidoreductase activity of Complex III. Enhanced stress sensitivity of the ppr40-1 mutant is accompanied by accumulation of reactive oxygen species, enhanced lipid peroxidation, higher superoxide dismutase activity, and altered activation of several stress-responsive genes including the alternative oxidase AOX1d. These results suggest a close link between regulation of oxidative respiration and environmental adaptation in Arabidopsis.

Duplicated P5CS genes of Arabidopsis play distinct roles in stress regulation and developmental control of proline biosynthesis.

Delta-1-pyrroline-5-carboxylate synthetase enzymes, which catalyse the rate-limiting step of proline biosynthesis, are encoded by two closely related P5CS genes in Arabidopsis. Transcription of the P5CS genes is differentially regulated by drought, salinity and abscisic acid, suggesting that these genes play specific roles in the control of proline biosynthesis. Here we describe the genetic characterization of p5cs insertion mutants, which indicates that P5CS1 is required for proline accumulation under osmotic stress. Knockout mutations of P5CS1 result in the reduction of stress-induced proline synthesis, hypersensitivity to salt stress, and accumulation of reactive oxygen species. By contrast, p5cs2 mutations cause embryo abortion during late stages of seed development. The desiccation sensitivity of p5cs2 embryos does not reflect differential control of transcription, as both P5CS mRNAs are detectable throughout embryonic development. Cellular localization studies with P5CS-GFP gene fusions indicate that P5CS1 is sequestered into subcellular bodies in embryonic cells, where P5CS2 is dominantly cytoplasmic. Although proline feeding rescues the viability of mutant embryos, p5cs2 seedlings undergo aberrant development and fail to produce fertile plants even when grown on proline. In seedlings, specific expression of P5CS2-GFP is seen in leaf primordia where P5CS1-GFP levels are very low, and P5CS2-GFP also shows a distinct cell-type-specific and subcellular localization pattern compared to P5CS1-GFP in root tips, leaves and flower organs. These data demonstrate that the Arabidopsis P5CS enzymes perform non-redundant functions, and that P5CS1 is insufficient for compensation of developmental defects caused by inactivation of P5CS2.

[First detection of human metapneumovirus in a child with respiratory syndrome in Hungary]. / Humán metapneumovírus elso hazai kimutatása gyermekkori légúti fertozésbol.

INTRODUCTION: Human metapneumovirus was identified in 2001 as a respiratory-tract pathogen that has been classified as a new genera in family Paramyxoviridae. AIMS: Molecular detection of human metapneumovirus in Hungary. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Human metapneumovirus was identified in nasopharyngeal aspirate amplification of the viral fusion and nucleocapsid genes by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction followed by sequencing and phylogenetic analysis. RESULTS: A 4 years-old girl with chronic respiratory syndrome chronically treated with anti-asthma drugs was admitted to hospital in November 2005 with acute respiratory syndrome and atelectasis. Nasopharyngeal aspirate was negative for common bacteria by culture and for influenza and coronavirus by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. By contrast, specimen was positive by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and was confirmed by sequencing both genes (nucleocapsid and fusion) of human metapneumovirus. Human metapneumovirus (HUN 05-L20) clustered into the subgroup B1 has the closest nucleotide similarity (98%) to JPS03-194 (AY530094) detected in Japan. CONCLUSIONS: Human metapneumovirus contributes as an etiological agent of acute lower and upper respiratory tract infection especially in winter season in children with bronchiolitis, pneumonia or episodes of asthma exacerbation in Hungary, too.

Light-dependent induction of proline biosynthesis by abscisic acid and salt stress is inhibited by brassinosteroid in Arabidopsis.

Osmotic stress-induced accumulation of proline, an important protective osmolyte in higher plants, is dependent on the expression of delta1-pyrroline-5-carboxylate synthase (P5CS) and proline dehydrogenase (PDH) enzymes that catalyze the rate-limiting steps of proline biosynthesis and degradation, respectively. Proline metabolism is modulated by differential regulation of organ specific expression of PDH and duplicated P5CS genes in Arabidopsis. Stimulation of proline synthesis by abscisic acid (ABA) and salt stress correlates with a striking activation of P5CS1 expression. By contrast, P5CS2 is only weakly induced, whereas PDH is inhibited to different extent by ABA and salt stress in shoots and roots of light-grown plants. Proline accumulation and light-dependent induction of PSCS1 by ABA and salt stress is inhibited in dark-adapted plants. During dark adaptation P5CS2 is also down-regulated, whereas PDH expression is significantly enhanced in shoots. The inhibitory effect of dark adaptation on PSCS1 is mimicked by the steroid hormone brassinolide. However, brassinolide fails to stimulate PDH, and inhibits P5CS2 only in shoots. Proline accumulation and induction of P5CS1 transcription are simultaneously enhanced in the ABA-hypersensitive prl1 and brassinosteroid-deficient det2 mutants, whereas P5CS2 shows enhanced induction by ABA and salt only in the det2 mutant. In comparison, the prl1 mutation reduces the basal level of PDH expression, whereas the det2 mutation enhances the inhibition of PDH by ABA. Regulation of P5CS1 expression thus appears to play a principal role in controlling proline accumulation stimulated by ABA and salt stress in Arabidopsis.