How Coronavirus Restrictions Adopted by Governments Affected World Religious Groups: A Review.

The coronavirus pandemic has significantly affected the operation of the world's faith communities. The first reaction of different confessions to the introduction of corresponding restrictive measures was quite variable-it ranged from understanding and assisting the authorities to disobedience and deliberate violation of the quarantine regime. Today, religious precepts, values, and attitudes continue to exert an enormous influence on the behavioral patterns and public perception of the imposed COVID-19-related restrictions. In light of this, the present article aimed to study the effect of COVID-19 on religious communities' response to the pandemic progress to determine what tools of public influence can be used by secular authorities and religious leaders to counter the global viral threats. To achieve this goal, faith communities' reactions to restrictive measures adopted by the governments in relation to religious services and gatherings were analyzed. The study findings suggest that information campaigns launched by the secular authorities to prevent COVID-19 spread cannot offset the need for collective worshipping for a long time even under the possibility of being infected. Notwithstanding the fact that most modern world countries are secular and realize the freedom of religion or belief, this study calls for further discussion on the feasibility of additional regulations for religious communities in the context of the virus's active transmission. Along with this, it puts forward an offer for religious leaders to conduct more comprehensive explanatory work with believers concerning the pandemic issues from the perspective of religious dogmas. The research question concerns a review of academic research regarding the assessment of how secular authorities interacted with religious authorities in the context of the most common religions and churches and how much this changed the behavior of believers.

A spectrum of BRCA1 and BRCA2 germline deleterious variants in ovarian cancer in Russia.

PURPOSE: Pathogenic variants (PVs) in BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes are essential biomarkers of an increased breast and ovarian cancer risk and tumor sensitivity to poly ADP ribose polymerase inhibitors. In Russia, eight PVs were thought to be the most common, among which BRCA1 c.5266dup is the most frequently identified one. METHODS: We show the distribution of BRCA1/2 PVs identified with quantitative PCR and targeted next-generation sequencing in 1399 ovarian cancer patients recruited into the study from 72 Russian regions in 2015-2021. RESULTS: The most abundant PVs were c.5266dup (41.0%), c.4035del (7.0%), c.1961del (6.3%), c.181 T > G (5.2%), c.3756_3759del (1.8%), c.3700_3704del (1.5%), and c.68_69del (1.5%), all found in BRCA1 and known to be recurrent in Russia. Several other frequent PVs were identified: c.5152 + 1G > T (1.2%), c.1687C > T (1.0%), c.4689C > G (0.9%), c.1510del (0.6%), c.2285_2286del (0.6%) in the BRCA1 gene; and c.5286 T > G (1.2%), c.2808_2811del (0.8%), c.3847_3848del (0.8%), c.658_659del (0.7%), c.7879A > T (0.6%), in the BRCA2 gene. For the most common PV in the BRCA2 gene c.5286 T > G, we suggested that it arose about 700 years ago and is a new founder mutation. CONCLUSION: This study extends our knowledge about the BRCA1 and BRCA2 pathogenic variants variability.

Pho regulon promoter-mediated transcription of the key pathway gene aroGFbr improves the performance of an L-phenylalanine-producing Escherichia coli strain.

DAHP synthase (EC 4.1.2.15) is one of the key enzymes involved in aromatic amino acid biosynthesis in Escherichia coli. An approximately twofold decrease in DAHP synthase activity level was detected in the late growth phase of the L-phenylalanine (Phe)-producing E. coli strain, in which this enzyme encoded by aroG4 is resistant to feedback inhibition. An additional copy of aroG4 that is controlled by promoters of E. coli phoA or pstS genes was integrated into the chromosome of the Phe producer. The choice of promoter was based on the detected activation of the Pho regulon that occurs in response to the depletion of soluble inorganic orthophosphate (P(i)) in the medium, provided that the optical density of the Phe-producing culture did not exceed 70% of its maximum value. Pho-mediated aroG4 transcription increased both the accumulation of Phe and the level of DAHP synthase activity in the late stage of batch cultivation on glucose in P(i)-limited conditions. Disruption of rpoS led to the improved performance of a P(phoA)-aroG4 strain. The pstS promoter that is recognized by the σ(70)/σ(S)-associated core RNA polymerase resulted in the stable maintenance of DAHP synthase activity during long-drawn fed-batch cultivation of the RpoS(+) strain carrying the P(pstS)-aroG4.

Construction of an L-phenylalanine-producing tyrosine-prototrophic Escherichia coli strain using tyrA ssrA-like tagged alleles.

To construct a Phe-producing Tyr(+) Escherichia coli strain, TyrA (chorismate mutase/prephenate dehydrogenase) activity was varied by engineering a proteolytically unstable protein. The tyrA in the E. coli BW25113 was altered to include ssrA-like tags. The tagged tyrA genes, which ensured different growth rates in M9 medium, were introduced into a Phe-producing strain to replace DeltatyrA. Strains with unstable TyrA-(A)ANDENYALAA proteins had a lower biomass yield and a higher Phe accumulation than strains generating the more stable TyrA-(A)ANDENYALDD. The Tyr/Phe ratio produced by the TyrA-tag strains was 10-fold less than that produced by the TyrA(wt) strain.

Aromatic amino acid auxotrophs constructed by recombinant marker exchange in Methylophilus methylotrophus AS1 cells expressing the aroP-encoded transporter of Escherichia coli.

The isolation of auxotrophic mutants, which is a prerequisite for a substantial genetic analysis and metabolic engineering of obligate methylotrophs, remains a rather complicated task. We describe a novel method of constructing mutants of the bacterium Methylophilus methylotrophus AS1 that are auxotrophic for aromatic amino acids. The procedure begins with the Mu-driven integration of the Escherichia coli gene aroP, which encodes the common aromatic amino acid transporter, into the genome of M. methylotrophus. The resulting recombinant strain, with improved permeability to certain amino acids and their analogues, was used for mutagenesis. Mutagenesis was carried out by recombinant substitution of the target genes in the chromosome by linear DNA using the FLP-excisable marker flanked with cloned homologous arms longer than 1,000 bp. M. methylotrophus AS1 genes trpE, tyrA, pheA, and aroG were cloned in E. coli, sequenced, disrupted in vitro using a Kmr marker, and electroporated into an aroP carrier recipient strain. This approach led to the construction of a set of marker-less M. methylotrophus AS1 mutants auxotrophic for aromatic amino acids. Thus, introduction of foreign amino acid transporter genes appeared promising for the following isolation of desired auxotrophs on the basis of different methylotrophic bacteria.