Boolean model of the gene regulatory network of Pseudomonas aeruginosa CCBH4851.

Introduction: Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections are one of the leading causes of death in immunocompromised patients with cystic fibrosis, diabetes, and lung diseases such as pneumonia and bronchiectasis. Furthermore, P. aeruginosa is one of the main multidrug-resistant bacteria responsible for nosocomial infections worldwide, including the multidrug-resistant CCBH4851 strain isolated in Brazil. Methods: One way to analyze their dynamic cellular behavior is through computational modeling of the gene regulatory network, which represents interactions between regulatory genes and their targets. For this purpose, Boolean models are important predictive tools to analyze these interactions. They are one of the most commonly used methods for studying complex dynamic behavior in biological systems. Results and discussion: Therefore, this research consists of building a Boolean model of the gene regulatory network of P. aeruginosa CCBH4851 using data from RNA-seq experiments. Next, the basins of attraction are estimated, as these regions and the transitions between them can help identify the attractors, representing long-term behavior in the Boolean model. The essential genes of the basins were associated with the phenotypes of the bacteria for two conditions: biofilm formation and polymyxin B treatment. Overall, the Boolean model and the analysis method proposed in this work can identify promising control actions and indicate potential therapeutic targets, which can help pinpoint new drugs and intervention strategies.

The COVID-19 pandemic as an opportunity to weaken environmental protection in Brazil.

This paper examines the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on environmental protection and legislation in Brazil. We evaluate major legislative actions, environmental fines and deforestation since January 2019. We show that 57 legislative acts aimed at weakening environmental protection in Brazil during the current administration, almost half of which in the seven-month period of the pandemic in Brazil, with September 2020 as the month with the most legislative acts (n = 16). These acts either deregulated or weakened current environmental legislation, with a number of them aimed at dismantling the main federal institutions in charge of environmental protection. We also found a 72% reduction in environmental fines during the pandemic, despite an increase in Amazonian deforestation during this period. We conclude that the current administration is taking advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic to intensify a pattern of weakening environmental protection in Brazil. This has the potential to intensify ongoing loss of biodiversity, greenhouse gas emissions, and the likelihood of other zoonotic disease outbreaks, and inflict substantial harm to traditional and indigenous peoples. We highlight the key role of the scientific community, media and civil society, national and international levels, in order to reverse these harmful actions.