Methylation of cytosine in DNA is one of the most important epigenetic modifications in eukaryotes and plays a crucial role in the regulation of gene activity and the maintenance of genomic integrity. DNA methylation and other epigenetic mechanisms affect the development, differentiation or the response of plants to biotic and abiotic stress. This study compared the level of methylation of cyto...

The unique 75 K γ-secalins encoded by Sec2 loci in Secale species is composed of almost half rye storage proteins. The chromosomal location of Sec2 loci in wild Secale species, Secale africanum, was carried out by the wheat--S. africanum derivatives, which were identified by genomic in situ hybridization and multi-color fluorescence in situ hybridization. The Sec2 gene-specific PCR analysis ind...

The Afrotropical representatives of the spider genus Cheiracanthium C.L. Koch, 1839 from Madagascar and the Comoros Islands are revised, and new species are described. Five described species are recognized: C. africanum Lessert, 1921, C. furculatum Karsch, 1879, C. insulare (Vinson, 1863), C. leucophaeum Simon, 1896, and C. ludovici Lessert, 1921. The internal genitalia of the female of C. insu...

Primarily saprophytic in nature, fungi of the genus Acremonium are a well-documented cause of mycetoma and other focal diseases. More recently, a number of Acremonium spp. have been implicated in invasive infections in the setting of severe immunosuppression. During the course of routine microbiological studies involving a case of fatal mycosis in a nonmyeloablative hematopoietic stem cell tran...

A case of colonization of a prosthetic mitral valve in a 73-year-old Spanish male by the fungus Acremonium strictum W. Gams is described. The valve was replaced due to paravalvular leak and severe insufficiency and the patient died of multiorgan failure. The identity of the fungus was determined by morphological studies and it was confirmed by the analysis of the ITS region sequence analysis. M...

The biosorption potential of three fungal waste-biomasses (Acremonium strictum, Acremonium sp. and Penicillium sp.) from pharmaceutical companies was compared with that of a selected biomass (Cunninghamella elegans), already proven to be very effective in dye biosorption. Among the waste-biomasses, A. strictum was the most efficient (decolorization percentage up to 90% within 30 min) with regar...