In conclusion, our study showed that the N-terminal domain of Pdc2p interacts

with the upstream region of THI genes and PDC5. In the mechanism for THI gene expression mediated by Pdc2p in response to thiamin starvation, not only the transactivation activity but also the recruitment to THI promoters seems to be enhanced via interaction with Thi3p (Fig. 4). It is highly likely that under thiamin-deprived conditions, the ternary Thi2p/Thi3p/Pdc2p complex is formed and transactivates THI genes in yeast cells. Conversely, the association of Pdc2p with PDC5 was unaffected by thiamin concentration in the medium. To date, a mechanism DAPT underlying the regulation of PDC5 expression by TPP remains uncertain. As Pdc1p, a major isoform of yeast pyruvate decarboxylase, functions as a negative regulator for expression of PDC5 (Eberhardt et al., 1999), it will be interesting to investigate the relation between the TPP-binding of Pdc1p and the transcriptional control of PDC5. This work was supported in part by a research grant from the Vitamin B Research Committee of Japan. “
“Two bacterial strains involved

in syntrophic degradation of chloroacetamide herbicide butachlor were isolated from a rice paddy soil. Analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that the two isolates were related to members of the genera Mycobacterium and Sphingobium, respectively. Thus, a pair consisted of Mycobacterium sp. J7A and Sphingobium sp. J7B could rapidly degrade butachlor (100 mg L−1) PLX3397 mouse at 28 °C within 24 h, while each isolate alone was not able to completely degrade butachlor. The isolate Mycobacterium sp. J7A was observed to grow slightly on butachlor, possibly utilizing the alkyl side chain of butachlor as its carbon and energy

source, but the isolate Sphingobium sp. J7B alone could not grow on GNAT2 butachlor at all. Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry on catabolic intermediates revealed that the strain J7A produced and accumulated 2-chloro-N-(2,6-diethylphenyl) acetamide (CDEPA) during growth on butachlor. This intermediate was not further degraded by strain J7A, but strain J7B was observed to be able to completely degrade and grow on it through 2,6-diethylaniline (DEA). The results showed that butachlor was completely degraded by the two isolates by syntrophic metabolism, in which strain Mycobacterium sp. J7A degraded butachlor to CDEPA, which was subsequently degraded by strain Sphingobium sp. J7B through DEA. “
“Overlapping embedded genes, such as htgA/yaaW, are assumed to be rare in prokaryotes. In Escherichia coli O157:H7, gfp fusions of both promoter regions revealed activity and transcription start sites could be determined for both genes. Both htgA and yaaW were inactivated strand specifically by introducing a stop codon. Both mutants exhibited differential phenotypes in biofilm formation and metabolite levels in a nontargeted analysis, suggesting that both are functional despite YaaW but not HtgA could be expressed.