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Diversity of coding sequences and gene structures of the antifungal peptide mytimycin (MytM) from the Mediterranean mussel, Mytilus galloprovincialis
Knowledge on antifungal biomolecules is limited compared to antibacterial peptides. A strictly antifungal peptide from the blue mussel, Mytilus edulis named mytimycin (MytM) was reported in 1996 as partial NH(2) 33 amino acid sequence. Using back-translations of the previous sequence, MytM-related nucleotide sequences were identified from a normalized Mytilus galloprovincialis expressed sequence tag library. Primers designed from a consensus sequence have been used to obtain a fragment of 560 nucleotides, including the complete coding sequence of 456 nucleotides. Precursor is constituted by a signal peptide of 23 amino acids, followed by MytM of 54 amino acids (6.2-6.3 kDa, 12 cysteines) and C-terminal extension of 75 amino acids. Only two major amino acid precursor sequences emerged, one shared by M. galloprovincialis from Venice and Vigo, the other belonging to M. galloprovincialis from Palavas, with nine amino acid differences between the two MytM. Predicted disulfide bonds suggested the presence of two constrained domains joined by amino acidic NIFG track. Intriguing was the presence of conserved canonical EF hand-motif located in the C-terminus extension of the precursor. The MytM gene was found interrupted by two introns. Intron 2 existed in two forms, a long (1,112 nucleotides) and a short (716 nucleotides) one resulting from the removal of the central part of the long one. Both the short (GenBank FJ804479) and the long (GenBank FJ804478) genes are simultaneously present in the mussel genome
Diversity of Coding Sequences and Gene Structures of the Antifungal Peptide Mytimycin (MytM) from the Mediterranean Mussel, Mytilus galloprovincialis
Knowledge on antifungal biomolecules is limited compared to antibacterial peptides. A strictly antifungal peptide from the blue mussel, Mytilus edulis named mytimycin (MytM) was reported in 1996 as partial NH2 33 amino acid sequence. Using back-translations of the previous sequence, MytM-related nucleotide sequences were identified from a normalized Mytilus galloprovincialis expressed sequence tag library. Primers designed from a consensus sequence have been used to obtain a fragment of 560 nucleotides, including the complete coding sequence of 456 nucleotides. Precursor is constituted by a signal peptide of 23 amino acids, followed by MytM of 54 amino acids (6.2-6.3 kDa, 12 cysteines) and C-terminal extension of 75 amino acids. Only two major amino acid precursor sequences emerged, one shared by M. galloprovincialis from Venice and Vigo, the other belonging to M. galloprovincialis from Palavas, with nine amino acid differences between the two MytM. Predicted disulfide bonds suggested the presence of two constrained domains joined by amino acidic NIFG track. Intriguing was the presence of conserved canonical EF hand-motif located in the C-terminus extension of the precursor. The MytM gene was found interrupted by two introns. Intron 2 existed in two forms, a long (1,112 nucleotides) and a short (716 nucleotides) one resulting from the removal of the central part of the long one. Both the short (GenBank FJ804479) and the long (GenBank FJ804478) genes are simultaneously present in the mussel genome
Gene expression specificity of the mussel antifungal mytimycin (MytM)
We previously reported the nucleotide sequences and diversity of mytimycin (MytM) from the Mediterranean
mussel, Mytilus galloprovincialis. Using real-time PCR (q-PCR), we observed that the MytM gene
was mainly expressed in circulating hemocytes and to a less extent in the mantle. In vivo challenge with
bacteria or with the yeast, Candida albicans, did not increase the expression as measured by q-PCR in
hemocytes. By contrast, injection of the filamentous fungus, Fusarium oxysporum, induced a sudden and
strong increase of expression at 9h p.i. (stimulation index of 25.7 +- 2.1). Optimum stimulating dose was
104 spores of F. oxysporum per mussel. In the same samples, AMP mytilin and myticin showed no
stimulation. Consequently, we hypothesized the existence of 2 different signal transduction pathways,
one activated by bacteria and yeast, the other triggered by filamentous fungi. A second challenge performed
with F. oxysporum 24 h after the first challenge induced an increase of MytM gene expression
(stimulation index of 3.5 +- 1.7). However, this second increase was significantly lower than the first,
suggesting less efficient response rather than significant protection
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
The present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Individual variability and gene expression specificity of the mussel antifungal mytimycin (MytM)
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
We provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
We conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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