Fundación Instituto Leloir

About: Fundación Instituto Leloir is a facility organization based out in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Dentate gyrus & Neurogenesis. The organization has 702 authors who have published 1052 publications receiving 39299 citations.

Genome Sequence of Bradyrhizobium japonicum E109, One of the Most Agronomically Used Nitrogen-Fixing Rhizobacteria in Argentina.

Abstract: We present here the complete genome sequence of Bradyrhizobium japonicum strain E109, one of the most used rhizobacteria for soybean inoculation in Argentina since the 1970s The genome consists of a 922-Mbp single chromosome and contains several genes related to nitrogen fixation, phytohormone biosynthesis, and a rhizospheric lifestyle

Set-up of an infrared fast behavioral assay using zebrafish (Danio rerio) larvae, and its application in compound biotoxicity screening

Abstract: Zebrafish (Danio rerio) is increasingly employed for evaluating toxicity and drug discovery assays Commonly experimental approaches for biotoxicity assessment are based on visual inspection or video recording However, these techniques are limited for large-scale assays, as they demand either a time-consuming detailed inspection of the animals or intensive computing resources in order to analyze a considerable amount of screenshots Recently, we have developed a simple methodology for tracking the locomotor activity of small animals cultured in microtiter plates In this work, we implemented this automatic methodology, based on infrared (IR) microbeam scattering, for measuring behavioral activity in zebrafish larvae We determined the appropriate culture conditions, number of animals and stage of development to get robust results Furthermore, we validated this methodology as a rapid test for evaluating toxicity By measuring the effects of reference compounds on larvae activity, we were able to estimate the concentration that could cause a 50% decrease in activity events values (AEC50), showing a strong linear correlation (R2 = 091) with the LC50 values obtained with the standard DarT test The toxicity order of the measured compounds was CuSO4 > 2,4-dinitrophenol > 3,4-dichloroaniline > SDS > sodium benzoate > EDTA > K2CrO4; regarding solvents, EtOH ≈ DMSO In this study, we demonstrate that global swimming behavior could be a simple readout for toxicity, easy to scale-up in automated experiments This approach is potentially applicable for fast ecotoxicity assays and whole-organism high-throughput compound screening, reducing the time and money required to evaluate unknown samples and to identify leading pharmaceutical compounds Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Human pleural fluid triggers global changes in the transcriptional landscape of Acinetobacter baumannii as an adaptive response to stress.

Abstract: Acinetobacter baumannii is a feared, drug-resistant pathogen, characterized by its ability to resist extreme environmental and nutrient-deprived conditions. Previously, we showed that human serum albumin (HSA) can increase foreign DNA acquisition specifically and alter the expression of genes associated with pathogenicity. Moreover, in a recent genome-wide transcriptomic study, we observed that pleural fluid (PF), an HSA-containing fluid, increases DNA acquisition, can modulate cytotoxicity, and control immune responses by eliciting changes in the A. baumannii metabolic profile. In the present work, using more stringent criteria and focusing on the analysis of genes related to pathogenicity and response to stress, we analyzed our previous RNA-seq data and performed phenotypic assays to further explore the impact of PF on A. baumannii’s microbial behavior and the strategies used to overcome environmental stress. We observed that PF triggered differential expression of genes associated with motility, efflux pumps, antimicrobial resistance, biofilm formation, two-component systems (TCSs), capsule synthesis, osmotic stress, and DNA-damage response, among other categories. Phenotypic assays of A. baumannii A118 and two other clinical A. baumannii strains, revealed differences in their responses to PF in motility, biofilm formation, antibiotic susceptibility, osmotic stress, and outer membrane vesicle (OMV) production, suggesting that these changes are strain specific. We conclude that A. baumannii’s pathoadaptive responses is induced by HSA-containing fluids and must be part of this bacterium armamentarium to persist in hostile environments.