Copy number variations in SPAST and ATL1 are rare among Brazilians

Copy number variations (CNV) may represent a significant proportion of SPG4 and SPG3A diagnosis, the most frequent autosomal dominant subtypes of hereditary spastic paraplegias (HSP). We aimed to assess the frequency of CNVs in SPAST and ATL1 and to update the molecular epidemiology of HSP families in southern Brazil. A cohort study that included 95 Brazilian index cases with clinical suspicion of HSP was conducted between April 2011 and September 2022. Multiplex Ligation Dependent Probe Amplification (MLPA) was performed in 41 cases without defined diagnosis by different massive parallel sequencing techniques (MPS). Diagnosis was obtained in 57/95 (60%) index cases, 15/57 (26.3%) being SPG4. Most frequent autosomal recessive HSP subtypes were SPG7 followed by SPG11, SPG76 and cerebrotendinous xanthomatosis. No CNVs in SPAST and ATL1 were found. Copy number variations are rare among SPG4 and SPG3A families in Brazil. Considering the possibility of CNVs detection by specific algorithms with MPS data, we consider that this is likely the most cost-effective approach to investigate CNVs in these genes in low-risk populations, with MLPA being reserved as an orthogonal confirmatory test.

Amino acids biosynthesis and nitrogen assimilation pathways: a great genomic deletion during eukaryotes evolution

Background

Besides being building blocks for proteins, amino acids are also key metabolic intermediates in living cells. Surprisingly a variety of organisms are incapable of synthesizing some of them, thus named Essential Amino Acids (EAAs). How certain ancestral organisms successfully competed for survival after losing key genes involved in amino acids anabolism remains an open question. Comparative genomics searches on current protein databases including sequences from both complete and incomplete genomes among diverse taxonomic groups help us to understand amino acids auxotrophy distribution.

Results

Here, we applied a methodology based on clustering of homologous genes to seed sequences from autotrophic organisms Saccharomyces cerevisiae (yeast) and Arabidopsis thaliana (plant). Thus we depict evidences of presence/absence of EAA biosynthetic and nitrogen assimilation enzymes at phyla level. Results show broad loss of the phenotype of EAAs biosynthesis in several groups of eukaryotes, followed by multiple secondary gene losses. A subsequent inability for nitrogen assimilation is observed in derived metazoans.

Conclusions

A Great Deletion model is proposed here as a broad phenomenon generating the phenotype of amino acids essentiality followed, in metazoans, by organic nitrogen dependency. This phenomenon is probably associated to a relaxed selective pressure conferred by heterotrophy and, taking advantage of available homologous clustering tools, a complete and updated picture of it is provided.

Multiple antimicrobial resistance of gram-negative bacteria from natural oligotrophic lakes under distinct anthropogenic influence in a tropical region

The aim of this study was to evaluate the resistance to ten antimicrobial agents and the presence of bla ( TEM1 ) gene of Gram-negative bacteria isolated from three natural oligotrophic lakes with varying degrees of anthropogenic influence. A total of 272 indigenous bacteria were recovered on eosin methylene blue medium; they were characterized for antimicrobial resistance and identified taxonomically by homology search and phylogenetic comparisons. Based on 16S ribosomal RNA sequences analysis, 97% of the isolates were found to be Gram-negative bacteria; they belonged to 11 different genera. Members of the genera Acinetobacter, Enterobacter, and Pseudomonas predominated. Most of the bacteria were resistant to at least one antimicrobial. The incidence of resistance to beta-lactams, chloramphenicol, and mercury was high, whereas resistance to tetracycline, aminoglycosides, and nalidixic acid was low. There was a great frequency of multiple resistances among the isolates from the three lakes, although no significant differences were found among the disturbed and reference lakes. The ampicillin resistance mechanism of 71% of the isolates was due to the gene bla ( TEM1 ). Our study suggests that multiresistant Gram-negative bacteria and the bla ( TEM1 ) gene are common in freshwater oligotrophic lakes, which are subject to different levels of anthropogenic inputs.