Spores are essential particles for the survival of many organisms, both prokaryotic and eukaryotic. Among the eukaryotes, fungi have developed spores with superior resistance and dispersal properties. For the human fungal pathogens, however, relatively little is known about the role that spores play in dispersal and infection. Here we present the purification and characterization of spores from...

background: prolonged qt interval may lead to serious arrhythmias and ventricular fibrillation, hence prevention of the qt-interval prolongation is crucial for physicians. the aim of this study was to assess the influence of intravenous lidocaine on the qtc interval resulting from spinal anesthesia with bupivacaine. methods: in a randomized double blind trial, fifty male patients with mean age ...

The formation of mitotically derived spores, called conidia, is a common reproductive mode in filamentous fungi, particularly among the large fungal class Ascomycetes. Asexual sporulation strategies are nearly as varied as fungal species; however, the formation of conidiophores, specialized multicellular reproductive structures, by the filamentous fungus Aspergillus nidulans has emerged as the ...

In the vast majority of sexual life cycles, fusion between single-celled gametes is directly followed by nuclear fusion, leading to a diploid zygote and a lifelong commitment between two haploid genomes. Mushroom-forming basidiomycetes differ in two key respects. First, the multicellular haploid mating partners are fertilized in their entirety, each cell being a gamete that simultaneously can b...

In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, meiosis and spore formation as well as mating are controlled by mating-type genes. Diploids heterozygous for mating type (aalpha) can sporulate but cannot mate; homozygous aa and alpha-alpha diploids can mate, but cannot sporulate. From an alpha-alpha diploid parental strain, we have isolated mutants which have gained the ability to sporulate. Those mutants which co...

The use of trait-based approaches to detect effects of land use and climate change on terrestrial plant and aquatic phytoplankton communities is increasing, but such a framework is still needed for benthic stream algae. Here we present a conceptual framework of morphological, physiological, behavioural and life-history traits relating to resource acquisition and resistance to disturbance. We te...

Myxococcus xanthus, like other myxobacteria, is a social bacterium that moves and feeds cooperatively in predatory groups. On surfaces, rod-shaped vegetative cells move in search of the prey in a coordinated manner, forming dynamic multicellular groups referred to as swarms. Within the swarms, cells interact with one another and use two separate locomotion systems. Adventurous motility, which d...

Bacterial sporulation in Gram-positive bacteria results in small acid-soluble proteins called SASPs that bind to DNA and prevent the damaging effects of UV radiation. Orthologs of Bacillus subtilis genes encoding SASPs can be found in many sporulating and nonsporulating bacteria, but they are noticeably absent from spore-forming, Gram-negative Myxococcus xanthus. This is despite the fact that M...

Gametes are among the most highly specialized cells produced during development. Although gametogenesis culminates in transcriptional quiescence in plants and animals, regulatory mechanisms controlling this are unknown. Here, we confirm that gamete differentiation in the single-celled yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is accompanied by global transcriptional shutoff following the completion of mei...

Meiosis and spore formation in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae are associated with increased expression of sporulation-specific genes. One of these genes, IME2, encodes a putative protein kinase that is a positive regulator of other sporulation-specific genes. We have isolated mutations that cause reduced expression of an ime2-lacZ fusion gene. We found mutations in IME1, a known positive re...