Draft genome sequence of a novel Bacillus glycinifermentans strain having antifungal and antibacterial properties.

OBJECTIVES: Bacillus spp. have been used as biocontrol agents against soilborne pathogens because they produce secondary metabolites that exhibit a wide range of antibacterial or antifungal properties. In this study, a novel strain of Bacillus glycinifermentans sp. (JRCGR-1) was identified and its genome was sequenced and annotated. The genome was explored for putative genes involved in antimicrobial activity. METHODS: Whole-genome sequencing was performed on an Illumina NextSeq 500 platform. Read quality was checked by FastQC, paired-end reads were trimmed using Sickle, and de novo assembly was performed using SPAdes v.3.11.11. QUAST 5.02 was used to assess the quality of contigs and scaffolds. Finally, the assembled scaffolds were annotated by Prokka v.1.13. Genes involved in antimicrobial metabolite biosynthesis were predicted using antiSMASH. Virulence and antimicrobial resistance genes were predicted using BacWGSTdb and the Comprehensive Antibiotic Resistance Database (CARD), respectively. RESULTS: The genome of B. glycinifermentans JRCGR-1 was 4 700 692 bp in size with a G + C content of 45.52%. Final assembly of the genome resulted into 84 contigs and 83 scaffolds (>500 bp length). Overall, the genome comprises 5174 genes, 32 tRNAs, 4 rRNAs, 1 tmRNA and 92 misc_RNAs. Eleven putative gene clusters responsible for antimicrobial metabolite biosynthesis were identified, including genes for biosynthesis of non-ribosomal lipopeptides and polyketides. Virulence and antimicrobial resistance genes were also identified in the genome. CONCLUSION: The presence of antimicrobial resistance genes in the genome of B. glycinifermentans JRCGR-1 makes it a potential biocontrol agent against soilborne pathogens.

Apoptosis inhibition and ornithine decarboxylase superinduction as early epigenetic events in morphological transformation of Syrian hamster embryo cells exposed to 2-methoxyacetaldehyde, a metabolite of 2-methoxyethanol.

We have conducted a study to determine the carcinogenic potential of ethylene glycol monomethyl ether (EGME), a member of the glycol ether family, as compared to its reactive metabolite 2-methoxy-acetaldehyde (MALD). Since disruption of equilibrium between cell proliferation and cell death is thought to play a key role in multistage carcinogenesis, we investigated, in Syrian hamster embryo (SHE) cells exposed to various doses of EGME and MALD, impairment in apoptosis rate and in ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) metabolism. The activity of this rate-limiting enzyme of polyamine biosynthesis is closely related to cell proliferation and cell transformation. At the end-point, comparative action of the two products on SHE cell morphological transformation frequency was evaluated. One-stage exposure of SHE cells to 2 mM EGME and 200 microM MALD for 5 h did not change basal apoptotic level, whereas 0.16 microM phorbol ester (TPA) decreased it. Using two-stage exposure protocol (1 h xenobiotic followed by 5 h TPA), MALD strongly inhibited apoptosis more than did TPA alone; the parent compound EGME did not have any effect on TPA inhibiting action. Western blotting analysis showed that sequential treatment (MALD/TPA) increased Bcl-2 oncoprotein expression, whereas Bcl-XL and Bax proteins were not changed. The same staged exposure of SHE cells to MALD/TPA strongly induced ODC activity, and the rate was higher than that obtained with TPA alone: this was accompanied by an increase of ODC protein level. This ODC superinduction was not observed with EGME/TPA treatment. In long-term SHE-cell morphological transformation assay, staged exposure to MALD (800 microM or 1 mM for 24 h) followed by TPA applications increased the number of transformed colonies at the seventh day. Such early cooperative events as apoptosis inhibition and ODC superinduction, followed by the increase of SHE-cell transformation frequency, are highly indicative of a carcinogenic potential for the metabolite, MALD.

Cellular uptake, cytotoxic and mutagenic effects of insoluble chromic oxide in V79 Chinese hamster cells.

The cellular uptake, the cytotoxicity and the induction of resistance to 6-thioguanine (6-TG) in Chinese hamster V79 cells exposed to insoluble crystalline trivalent chromium [Cr(III)], Cr2O3, were investigated. Intracytoplasmic Cr2O3 crystalline particle-containing vacuoles were observed by electron microscopy. Concentrations of 50-200 micrograms/ml did not have a marked killing effect but did show a predominantly concentration-dependent inhibitory effect on cell cycle progression with accumulation of cells in G2 phase. Exposure for 18 h to Cr2O3 induced a statistically significant (p less than 0.001) increase in the mutation frequency of up to 10-fold over the controls. Expression time was 6 days for the lowest concentration and 9 days for the highest. Culture of 6-TGr clones in selective media indicated that they were mutants at the hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyl transferase (HGPRT) locus. Examination of growth patterns of Cr2O3-induced mutants showed that, after a delay in reinitiating cell growth, they had varying growth kinetics. The results indicate the ability of a particulate (Cr(III) compound to induce mutation in a mammalian cell system and the usefulness of such systems for detecting genotoxic insoluble metal compounds.

Variability of biological responses to silicas: effect of origin, crystallinity, and state of surface on generation of reactive oxygen species and morphological transformation of mammalian cells.

Variously modified quartz dusts and one amorphous diatomaceous earth have been compared in their potential to release HO* radicals and in their activity in the Syrian hamster embryo (SHE) cell transformation assay. Both original dusts, made up by well-crystallized quartz particles, or by mostly amorphous, variously shaped, silica particles, were active in HO* release, were cytotoxic, and induced morphological transformation in SHE cells. The cristobalite dust, obtained by heating quartz above the phase transition temperature, lost any activity in free radical release, cytotoxicity, and transforming potency. Surface-modified quartz dusts were obtained by a mild etching with HF, by depriving the surface of trace iron with deferoxamine, or by enriching it with iron. The chemical and biological activity decreased in all cases. Both iron-deprived and iron-enriched quartz were nearly inactive. A linear correlation was found between the amount of HO* released by the particles and the transformation frequency. When the SHE cell assay was performed in the presence of mannitol or antioxidant enzymes (superoxide dismutase [SOD] or catalase), the number of transformed cells markedly decreased. This effect was more pronounced for catalase and mannitol than for SOD. HO* release was reduced, but not suppressed, by deferoxamine. All the above results are consistent with the presence of two kinds of surface sites active in HO* release and cell transformation: (1) silicon-based radicals, abundant on freshly ground dusts, which generate the HO* radicals without the superoxide ion as intermediate; and (2) isolated iron centers where the Haber-Weiss cycle takes place, with the superoxide ion as intermediate. The activities of both sites are inhibited by mannitol or catalase, whereas only the last one is inhibited by SOD.

Cytotoxic and transforming effects of silica particles with different surface properties in Syrian hamster embryo (SHE) cells.

Several crystalline and amorphous silica dusts (two quartz of natural origin, one cristobalite of natural and two of biogenic origin, three amorphous diatomite earths and one pyrogenic amorphous silica) were studied in the SHE cell transformation assay, in order to compare their cytotoxic and transforming potencies and examine the role of the structure and of the state of the surface on these effects. Some samples were modified by grinding, etching and heating with the aim of establishing relationships between single surface properties and biological responses. The results showed that some quartz and cristobalite dusts (crystalline) as well as the diatomaceous earths (amorphous), but not the pyrogenic amorphous silica, were cytotoxic and induced morphological transformation of SHE cells in a concentration-dependent manner. The ranking in cytotoxicity was different from that in transforming potency, suggesting two separate molecular mechanisms for the two effects. The cytotoxic and transforming potencies were different from one dust to another, even among the same structural silicas. The type of crystalline structure (quartz vs cristobalite) and the crystalline vs biogenic amorphous form did not correlate with cytotoxic or transforming potency of silica dusts. Comparison of cellular effects induced by original and surface modified samples revealed that several surface functionalities modulate cytotoxic and transforming potencies. The cytotoxic effects appeared to be related to the distribution and abundance of silanol groups and to the presence of trace amounts of iron on the silica surface. Silica particles with fractured surfaces and/or iron-active sites, able to generate reactive oxygen species, induced SHE cell transformation. The results show that the activity of silica at the cellular level is sensitive to the composition and structure of surface functionalities and confirm that the biological response to silica is a surface originated phenomenon.

Role of solubilized chromium in the induction of morphological transformation of Syrian hamster embryo (SHE) cells by particulate chromium(VI) compounds.

Chromium(VI) compounds--Ca, Sr, Zn and Pb chromates--were studied for cytotoxicity and morphological transformation in Syrian hamster embryo (SHE) cells in relation to their solubilization in cell culture conditions and intracellular Cr concentration. Ca, Sr and Zn chromates were completely solubilized after 1 day of incubation in cell cultures; for Pb chromate, 20-36% Cr was solubilized only after 7 days. In two parallel transformation assays, the SHE cells were treated with suspensions or with corresponding supernatants (containing only solubilized Cr) of these compounds. A statistically significant relationship was observed between the Cr treatment concentration and the amount of Cr per cell, irrespective of the compound (except suspensions of Pb chromate). The cytotoxicity was due to extracellular solubilized chromium because treatments with either supernatants or suspensions of Ca, Sr and Zn chromates gave the same LC50 of 0.31 +/- 0.01 microgram Cr/ml. A clear dose-response relationship was observed for the induction of morphological transformation for each compound, either previously solubilized or in suspension. The expression of the transformation frequencies as a function of the Cr concentration/cell revealed that (i) the transformation frequency is dependent on the Cr concentration/cell irrespective of the Cr compound Ca, Sr or Zn chromate, (ii) the transformation frequency induced by solubilized Pb chromate is higher than that induced by the other compounds at the same concentration of Cr/cell. A double treatment with solutions of Cr and Pb at corresponding concentrations induced the same transformation frequency as the solubilized Pb chromate. The results show that the solubilization of particulate Cr(VI) compounds is a critical step for their cytotoxic and transforming activities; the intracellular soluble Cr is the sole causative agent of the transforming activity of Ca, Sr and Zn chromates, while Pb appears to act synergistically with Cr in inducing the transformation by Pb chromate.

The difficulty of identifying genes in anonymous vertebrate sequences.

The identification of genes in newly determined vertebrate genomic sequences can range from a trivial to an impossible task. In a statistical preamble, we show how "insignificant" are the individual features on which gene identification can be rigorously based: promoter signals, splice sites, open reading frames, etc. The practical identification of genes is thus ultimately a tributary of their resemblance to those already present in sequence databases, or incorporated into training sets. The inherent conservatism of the currently popular methods (database similarity search, GRAIL) will greatly limit our capacity for making unexpected biological discoveries from increasingly abundant genomic data. Beyond a very limited subset of trivial cases, the automated interpretation (i.e. without experimental validation) of genomic data, is still a myth. On the other hand, characterizing the 60,000 to 100,000 genes thought to be hidden in the human genome by the mean of individual experiments is not feasible. Thus, it appears that our only hope of turning genome data into genome information must rely on drastic progresses in the way we identify and analyse genes in silico.

Comparative analysis of the Arabidopsis and rice expressed sequence tag (EST) sets.

Large numbers of expressed sequence tags (ESTs) have now been generated from a variety of model organisms. In plants, substantial collections of ESTs are available for Arabidopsis and rice, in each case representing significant proportions of the estimated total numbers of genes. Large-scale comparisons of Arabidopsis and rice sequences are especially interesting due to the fact that these two species are representatives of the two subclasses of the flowering plants (Dicotyledonae and Monocotyledonae, respectively). Here we present the results of systematic analysis of the Arabidopsis and rice EST sets. Non-redundant sets of sequences from Arabidopsis and rice were first separately derived and then combined so that gene families in common between the two species could be identified. Our results show that 58% of non-singleton ESTs are derived from genes in gene families common to the two species. These gene families constitute the basis of a core set of higher plant genes.

Sister chromatid exchanges in Chinese hamster V79 cells treated with the trivalent chromium compounds chromic chloride and chromic oxide.

The induction of sister chromatid exchanges (SCEs) in Chinese hamster V79 cells exposed to soluble CrCl3 and insoluble Cr2O3, compounds of trivalent chromium (Cr3+), was determined. Their ability to induce SCEs was compared with those of three hexavalent chromium (Cr6+) compounds: K2CrO4, Na2CrO4 and Na2Cr2O7. Both the delay in progression through the cell cycle induced by Cr3+ compounds and the SCE frequencies in the delayed cells were also evaluated. The exposure for 28 h to CrCl3 and Cr2O3 at concentrations of 9.7-39 micrograms and of 34-136 micrograms of Cr3+ per ml, respectively, induced a statistically significant (p less than 0.001) dose-dependent increase in SCEs up to 1.9-fold (CrCl3) and 4-fold (Cr2O3) over control levels. Compared with the effective concentrations of Cr6+ compounds, which produced up to 4-fold increase of SCEs, inducing concentrations of CrCl3 and Cr2O3 were 300- and 1000-fold higher in terms of chromium. By prolongation of treatment time up to 48 h, a progressive dose- and time-related enhancement in SCE frequencies induced by Cr3+ compounds in delayed cells was observed. Lower concentrations of Cr2O3, without effect after 28 h of treatment, induced an increase of SCEs by prolongation of exposure time.

SAmBA: an interactive software for optimizing the design of biological macromolecules crystallization experiments.

SAmBA is a new software for the design of minimal experimental protocols using the notion of orthogonal arrays of strength 2. The main application of SAmBA is the search of protein crystallization conditions. Given a user input defining the relevant effectors/variables (e.g., pH, temperature, salts) and states (e.g., pH: 5, 6, 7 and 8), this software proposes an optimal set of experiments in which all tested variables and the pairwise interactions between them are symmetrically sampled. No a priori restrictions on the number and range of experimental variables is imposed. SAmBA consists of two complementary programs, SAm and BA, using a simulated annealing approach and a backtracking algorithm, respectively. The software is freely available as C code or as an interactive JAVA applet at http:/(/)igs-server.cnrs-mrs.fr.

Study of Cell Division Aberrations Induced by Some Silica Dusts in Mammalian Cells in Vitro.

Previously we observed that some crystalline and amorphous (diatomaceous earths) silicas (but not pyrogenic amorphous silica) induced morphological transformation of Syrian hamster embryo (SHE) cells. In order to explore the mechanisms of the silica-induced cell transformation, in this study we have examined the possibility that silica may cause genomic changes by interfering with the normal events of mitotic division. The SHE cells were exposed to transforming samples of Min-U-Sil 5 quartz and amorphous diatomite earth (DE) as well as to inactive amorphous synthetic Aerosil 0X50 at concentrations between 9 and 36 µg/cm(2) of culture slide. Effects on the mitotic spindle and on chromosome congression and segregation through the mitotic stages were concurrently examined by differential and indirect immunofluorescence stainings using anti-ß-tubulin antibody. Min-U-Sil 5 and DE dusts induced a significant increase in the number of aberrant mitotic cells detected by differential staining. Increased frequencies of monopolar mitoses and scattered chromosomes as well as a small incidence of lagging chromosomes in DE-treated cells were observed. The immunostaining was more efficient in the detection of spindle disturbances. Min-U-Sil induced a significantly concentration-dependent increase of monopolar spindles. At the highest concentration, highly disorganized prophase spindles and prometaphase multipolars were observed. These damages caused a concentration-dependent decrease in metaphase to anaphase transition. DE-induced spindle aberrations did not reach significant levels over control, although increase in monopolar and multipolar spindles were recorded. Exposure to OX50 particles did not disrupt spindle integrity. To determine whether micronuclei (MN) arise from divisional abnormalities induced by the active samples, we performed in SHE and human bronchial epithelial cells kinetochore (K)-specific and centromere (C)-specific staining, respectively. A concentration-dependent increase in K(+) and C(+) MN with increase of K(+)/K(-) and C(+)/C(-) MN ratio were induced by Min-U-Sil in both cells systems. The DE sample was positive only in SHE cells. The results suggest that some silicas are potential aneugens by disturbance of cell division, leading to genomic imbalance that can be one of the mechanisms of silica-induced cell transformation.

Alternate polyadenylation in human mRNAs: a large-scale analysis by EST clustering.

Alternate polyadenylation is an important post-transcriptional regulatory process now open to large-scale analysis by use of cDNA databases. We clustered 164,000 expressed sequence tags (ESTs) into approximately 15,000 groups and aligned each group to a putative mRNA 3' end. By use of stringent criteria to discard artifactual mRNA extremities, clear evidence for alternate polyadenylation was obtained in 189 of the 1000 EST clusters studied. A number of previously unreported polyadenylation sites were identified, together with possible instances of tissue-specific differential polyadenylation. This study demonstrates that, besides quantitative aspects of gene expression, the distribution of alternate mRNA forms can be analyzed through EST sampling.

Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction validation of 25 "orphan" genes from Escherichia coli K-12 MG1655.

Despite the accumulation of sequence information sampling from a broad spectrum of phyla, newly sequenced genomes continue to reveal a high proportion (50%-30%) of "uncharacterized" genes, including a significant number of strictly "orphan" genes, i.e., putative open reading frames (ORFs) without any resemblance to previously determined protein-coding sequences. Most genes found in databases have only been predicted by computer methods and have never been experimentally validated. Although theoretical evolutionary arguments support the reality of genes when homologs are found in a variety of distant species, this is not the case for orphan genes. Here, we report the direct reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction assay of 25 strictly orphan ORFs of Escherichia coli. Two growth conditions, exponential and stationary phases, were tested. Transcripts were identified for a total of 19 orphan genes, with 2 genes found to be expressed in only one of the two growth conditions. Our results suggest that a vast majority of E. coli ORFs presently annotated as "hypothetical" correspond to bona fide genes. By extension, this implies that randomly occurring "junk" ORFs have been actively counter selected during the evolution of the dense E. coli genome.

Annotation of bacterial genomes using improved phylogenomic profiles.

MOTIVATION: Phylogenomic profiling is a large-scale comparative genomic method used to infer protein function from evolutionary information first described in a binary form by Pellegrini et al. (1999). Here, we propose improvements of this approach including the use of normalized Blastp bit scores, a normalization of the matrix of profiles to take into account the evolutionary distances between bacteria, the definition of a phylogenomic neighborhood based on continuous pairwise distances between genes and an original annotation procedure including the computation of a p-value for each functional assignment. RESULTS: The method presented here increases the number of Ecocyc enzymes identified as being evolutionarily related by about 25% with respect to the original binary form (absent/present) method. The fraction of 'false' positives is shown to be smaller than 20%. Based on their phylogenomic relationships, genes of unknown function can then be automatically related to annotated genes. Each gene annotation predicted is associated with a p-value, i.e. its probability to be obtained by chance. The validity of this method was extensively tested on a large set of genes of known function using the MultiFun database. We find that 50% of 3122 function attributions that can be made at a p-value level of 10(-11) correspond to the actual gene annotation. The method can be readily applied to any newly sequenced microbial genome. In contrast to earlier work on the same topic, our approach avoids the use of arbitrary cut-off values, and provides a reliability estimate of the functional predictions in form of p-values.

Large-scale statistical analyses of rice ESTs reveal correlated patterns of gene expression.

Large, publicly available collections of expressed sequence tags (ESTs) have been generated from Arabidopsis thaliana and rice (Oryza sativa). A potential, but relatively unexplored application of this data is in the study of plant gene expression. Other EST data, mainly from human and mouse, have been successfully used to point out genes exhibiting tissue- or disease-specific expression, as well as for identification of alternative transcripts. In this report, we go a step further in showing that computer analyses of plant EST data can be used to generate evidence of correlated expression patterns of genes across various tissues. Furthermore, tissue types and organs can be classified with respect to one another on the basis of their global gene expression patterns. As in previous studies, expression profiles are first estimated from EST counts. By clustering gene expression profiles or whole cDNA library profiles, we show that genes with similar functions, or cDNA libraries expected to share patterns of gene expression, are grouped together. Promising uses of this technique include functional genomics, in which evidence of correlated expression might complement (or substitute for) those of sequence similarity in the annotation of anonymous genes and identification of surrogate markers. The analysis presented here combines the application of a correlation-based clustering method with a graphical color map allowing intuitive visualization of patterns within a large table of expression measurements.

Two-stage exposure of Syrian-hamster-embryo cells to environmental carcinogens: superinduction of ornithine decarboxylase correlates with increase of morphological-transformation frequency.

As part of environmental toxicology, it is important to assess both the carcinogenic potential of xenobiotics and their mode of action on target cells. Since dysregulation of ornithine decarboxylase (ODC), a rate-limiting enzyme of polyamine biosynthesis, is considered as an early and essential component in the process of multistage carcinogenesis, we have studied the mode of ODC induction in Syrian-hamster-embryo(SHE) cells stage-exposed to carcinogens and to non-carcinogens. One-stage (5 hr) treatment of SHE cells with 50 microM clofibrate (CLF), a non-genotoxic carcinogen, or with 0.4 microM benzo(a)pyrene (BaP), a genotoxic carcinogen, slightly decreased basal ODC activity. Using the 2-stage exposure, 1 hr to carcinogen, then replacement by TPA for 5 hr, the ODC activity was higher than that obtained with TPA alone. This ODC superinduction was not observed when SHE cells were similarly pre-treated with non-carcinogenic compounds. Several environmental chemicals, pesticides, solvents, oxidizers and drugs were investigated with this SHE cell model. With one-stage exposure, some xenobiotics decreased basal ODC activity, while for others ODC changes were not noticeable. With 2-stage exposure (chemical followed by TPA), all carcinogens amplified the TPA-inducing effect, resulting in ODC superinduction. Comparative studies of the action of carcinogens and of non-carcinogens, using 2-stage exposure protocols, clearly show a close relationship between ODC induction rate and morphological transformation frequency.

Cytotoxic and neoplastic transforming effects of industrial hexavalent chromium pigments in Syrian hamster embryo cells.

Twenty eight moderately water-soluble to insoluble chromium (VI) compounds, such as zinc and lead chromate, industrial and laboratory synthesized pigments, and the analytical reagents strontium, barium and calcium chromate, were physicochemically characterized and studied for cytotoxicity and morphological transformation in cultured Syrian hamster embryo (SHE) cells. In vivo validation of malignancy of transformed SHE cells was performed. A high physicochemical diversity among the complex chromium pigments was revealed. The solubility of the compounds was greatly increased after incubation in a complete medium and even higher under cell culture conditions. The cytotoxic effects appeared to be due principally to extracellular solubilized chromium because the most solubilized compounds. Zn, Ca and Sr chromates, were equitoxic at about the same Cr concentration treatment and 8-fold more cytotoxic than less soluble compounds such as some Pb chromates and Ba chromate. However, certain physicochemical properties of lead chromate pigments could also influence their cytotoxic activity. All test compounds were, in a dose-dependent manner, efficient in inducing morphological transformation of SHE cells. Many of the Cr pigments, although physicochemically different, were similarly effective in transformation induction. Nevertheless, compounds among Zn and Pb chromates had various transforming potencies. Ba chromate was the least active in inducing transformation. Certain physicochemical properties could mediate the transforming activity but no particular relationship could be established between any one of the physicochemical parameters and the transforming potency. Cloned morphologically-transformed colonies of SHE cells were grown in soft agar medium and showed true neoplastic behaviour by tumour formation in syngeneic animals. These results show that various chromate pigments containing either Zn or Pb, of medium to very low aqueous solubility, induced neoplastic transformation of SHE cells.

Cytotoxic and transforming effects of some iron-containing minerals in Syrian hamster embryo cells.

Four physicochemically characterized iron-containing minerals, one fibrous (a nemalite [brucite]) and three nonfibrous (a biotite [phyllosilicate], a magnetite (Fe3O4), and a goethite [FeOOH alpha]), were studied for cytotoxicity and morphological transformation of Syrian hamster embryo (SHE) cells. When colony-forming efficiency was used as a measure of cytotoxicity, it appeared that the nemalite was about 1.7-fold more cytotoxic than the biotite and magnetite. However, if the inhibitory effect on the cell growth was considered the nemalite appeared to be 8-fold more effective. The analysis of the cell cycle kinetics by flow cytometry revealed a time- and dose-dependent delay in the progression of cells through the cell cycle, with the accumulation of cells in S and G2-M phases, more particularly in the cultures treated with nemalite. While the goethite was neither cytotoxic nor transforming, the other three dusts were, in a dose-dependent manner, efficient in inducing morphological transformation of SHE cells. According to their transforming potency they ranged as follows: nemalite > biotite > magnetite. A 18-fold higher treatment concentration of magnetite than that of nemalite was necessary to induce the same transformation frequency. The iron chelator desferrioxamine abolished the transforming effect of nemalite. The results suggest that (i) the cytotoxicity and the transformation are induced by some divalent iron-containing minerals and that they are two distinct processes; (ii) there is a varying ability among these dusts to induce cell transformation; and (iii) the bioavailability of divalent iron leading to formation of reactive iron-oxygen species could mediate the transforming potency of a mineral. Physicochemical studies correlated to biological effects of many metallic mine dusts are the only approach for understanding their mechanisms of action and their role in occupational pathology.