Magnaporthe grisea is the most destructive pathogen of rice worldwide and the principal model organism for elucidating the molecular basis of fungal disease of plants. Here, we report the draft sequence of the M. grisea genome. Analysis of the gene set provides an insight into the adaptations required by a fungus to cause disease. The genome encodes a large and diverse set of secreted proteins, including those defined by unusual carbohydrate-binding domains. This fungus also possesses an expanded family of G-protein-coupled receptors, several new virulence-associated genes and large suites of enzymes involved in secondary metabolism. Consistent with a role in fungal pathogenesis, the expression of several of these genes is upregulated during the early stages of infection-related development. The M. grisea genome has been subject to invasion and proliferation of active transposable elements, reflecting the clonal nature of this fungus imposed by widespread rice cultivation.

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The genome sequence of the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe grisea

Starting from known properties of non-specific salt effects on the surface tension at an air–water interface, we propose the first general, detailed qualitative molecular mechanism for the origins of ion-specific (Hofmeister) effects on the surface potential difference at an air–water interface; this mechanism suggests a simple model for the behaviour of water at all interfaces (including water–solute interfaces), regardless of whether the non-aqueous component is neutral or charged, polar or non-polar Specifically, water near an isolated interface is conceptually divided into three layers, each layer being 1 water-molecule thick We propose that the solute determines the behaviour of the adjacent first interfacial water layer ( I 1 ); that the bulk solution determines the behaviour of the third interfacial water layer ( I 3 ), and that both I 1 and I 3 compete for hydrogen-bonding interactions with the intervening water layer ( I 2 ), which can be thought of as a transition layer The model requires that a polar kosmotrope (polar water-structure maker) interact with I 1 more strongly than would bulk water in its place; that a chaotrope (water-structure breaker) interact with I 1 somewhat less strongly than would bulk water in its place; and that a non-polar kosmotrope (non-polar water-structure maker) interact with I 1 much less strongly than would bulk water in its place We introduce two simple new postulates to describe the behaviour of I 1 water molecules in aqueous solution The first, the ‘relative competition’ postulate, states that an I 1 water molecule, in maximizing its free energy (—δG), will favour those of its highly directional polar (hydrogen-bonding) interactions with its immediate neighbours for which the maximum pairwise enthalpy of interaction (—δ H ) is greatest; that is, it will favour the strongest interactions We describe such behaviour as ‘compliant’, since an I 1 water molecule will continually adjust its position to maximize these strong interactions Its behaviour towards its remaining immediate neighbours, with whom it interacts relatively weakly (but still favourably), we describe as ‘recalcitrant’, since it will be unable to adjust its position to maximize simultaneously these interactions The second, the ‘charge transfer’ postulate, states that the strong polar kosmotrope–water interaction has at least a small amount of covalent character, resulting in significant transfer of charge from polar kosmotropes to water–especially of negative charge from Lewis bases (both neutral and anionic); and that the water-structuring effect of polar kosmotropes is caused not only by the tight binding (partial immobilization) of the immediately adjacent ( I 1 ) water molecules, but also by an attempt to distribute among several water molecules the charge transferred from the solute When extensive, cumulative charge transfer to solvent occurs, as with macromolecular polyphosphates, the solvation layer (the layer of solvent whose behaviour is determined by the solute) can become up to 5- or 6-water-molecules thick We then use the ‘relative competition’ postulate, which lends itself to simple diagramming, in conjunction with the ‘charge transfer’ postulate to provide a new, startlingly simple and direct qualitative explanation for the heat of dilution of neutral polar solutes and the temperature dependence of relative viscosity of neutral polar solutes in aqueous solution This explanation also requires the new and intriguing general conclusion that as the temperature of aqueous solutions is lowered towards o °C, solutes tend to acquire a non-uniform distribution in the solution, becoming increasingly likely to cluster 2 water molecules away from other solutes and surfaces (the driving force for this process being the conversion of transition layer water to bulk water) The implications of these conclusions for understanding the mechanism of action of general (gaseous) anaesthetics and other important interfacial phenomena are then addressed

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0033583500005369

The Hofmeister effect and the behaviour of water at interfaces.

https://mmbr.asm.org/content/mmbr/56/4/622.full.pdf

Structure and function of cholera toxin and the related Escherichia coli heat-labile enterotoxin.

Since poly-ADP ribose was discovered over 40 years ago, there has been significant progress in research into the biology of mono- and poly-ADP-ribosylation reactions. During the last decade, it became clear that ADP-ribosylation reactions play important roles in a wide range of physiological and pathophysiological processes, including inter- and intracellular signaling, transcriptional regulation, DNA repair pathways and maintenance of genomic stability, telomere dynamics, cell differentiation and proliferation, and necrosis and apoptosis. ADP-ribosylation reactions are phylogenetically ancient and can be classified into four major groups: mono-ADP-ribosylation, poly-ADP-ribosylation, ADP-ribose cyclization, and formation of O-acetyl-ADP-ribose. In the human genome, more than 30 different genes coding for enzymes associated with distinct ADP-ribosylation activities have been identified. This review highlights the recent advances in the rapidly growing field of nuclear mono-ADP-ribosylation and poly-ADP-ribosylation reactions and the distinct ADP-ribosylating enzyme families involved in these processes, including the proposed family of novel poly-ADP-ribose polymerase-like mono-ADP-ribose transferases and the potential mono-ADP-ribosylation activities of the sirtuin family of NAD+-dependent histone deacetylases. A special focus is placed on the known roles of distinct mono- and poly-ADP-ribosylation reactions in physiological processes, such as mitosis, cellular differentiation and proliferation, telomere dynamics, and aging, as well as “programmed necrosis” (i.e., high-mobility-group protein B1 release) and apoptosis (i.e., apoptosis-inducing factor shuttling). The proposed molecular mechanisms involved in these processes, such as signaling, chromatin modification (i.e., “histone code”), and remodeling of chromatin structure (i.e., DNA damage response, transcriptional regulation, and insulator function), are described. A potential cross talk between nuclear ADP-ribosylation processes and other NAD+-dependent pathways is discussed.

https://mmbr.asm.org/content/mmbr/70/3/789.full.pdf

Nuclear ADP-Ribosylation Reactions in Mammalian Cells: Where Are We Today and Where Are We Going?

Structural determination of a cyclic metabolite of NAD+ with intracellular Ca2+-mobilizing activity.

Isolation and properties of an NAD- and guanidine-dependent ADP-ribosyltransferase from turkey erythrocytes.

https://www.jbc.org/content/258/19/11879.full.pdf

Activation by thiol of the latent NAD glycohydrolase and ADP-ribosyltransferase activities of Bordetella pertussis toxin (islet-activating protein).

Molecular and immunological characterization of ADP-ribosylarginine hydrolases.

Amino acid-specific ADP-ribosylation.

Enzymes have been identified in animal tissues that catalyze the mono(ADP-ribosyl)ation of arginine and proteins Since these NAD:arginine ADP-ribosyltransferases under physiological conditions do not appear to catalyze the degradation of the product ADP-ribose-arginine, the possibility was investigated that a different family of enzymes exists that cleaves the ADP-ribose-arginine linkage An enzyme was identified in and partially purified from turkey erythrocytes that catalyzed the degradation of ADP-ribose-[14C]arginine synthesized by a salt-activated NAD:arginine ADP-ribosyl-transferase, resulting in the release of a radiolabeled compound that was characterized chromatographically and by amino acid analysis as arginine This putative arginine product was converted in a reaction dependent on NAD and the NAD:arginine ADP-ribosyltransferase to a compound exhibiting properties characteristic of ADP-ribose-arginine Action of cleavage enzyme on [adenine-U-14C]ADP-ribose-arginine resulted in the release of a radiolabeled compound that behaved chromatographically like [adenine-U-14C]ADP-ribose Since degradation of ADP-ribose-arginine appears to generate an arginine moiety that is a substrate for the NAD:arginine ADP-ribosyltransferase, it appears that ADP-ribosylation may be a reversible modification of proteins

S J Stanley

Papers

Isolation and properties of an NAD- and guanidine-dependent ADP-ribosyltransferase from turkey erythrocytes.

Activation by thiol of the latent NAD glycohydrolase and ADP-ribosyltransferase activities of Bordetella pertussis toxin (islet-activating protein).

Molecular and immunological characterization of ADP-ribosylarginine hydrolases.

Amino acid-specific ADP-ribosylation.

Reversibility of arginine-specific mono(ADP-ribosyl)ation: identification in erythrocytes of an ADP-ribose-L-arginine cleavage enzyme