Abstract Due to the limited coding capacity of viral genomes, plant viruses depend extensively on the host cell machinery to support the viral life cycle and, thereby, interact with a large number of host proteins during infection. Within this context, as plant viruses do not harbor translation-required components, they have developed several strategies to subvert the host protein synthesis machinery to produce rapidly and efficiently the viral proteins. As a countermeasure against infection, plants have evolved defense mechanisms that impair viral infections. Among them, the host-mediated translational suppression has been characterized as an efficient mean to restrict infection. To specifically suppress translation of viral mRNAs, plants can deploy susceptible recessive resistance genes, which encode translation initiation factors from the eIF4E and eIF4G family and are required for viral mRNA translation and multiplication. Additionally, recent evidence has demonstrated that, alternatively to the cleavage of viral RNA targets, host cells can suppress viral protein translation to silence viral RNA. Finally, a novel strategy of plant antiviral defense based on suppression of host global translation, which is mediated by the transmembrane immune receptor NIK1 (nuclear shuttle protein (NSP)-Interacting Kinase1), is discussed in this review.

OBJETIVO: Avaliar a influência do comprimento cabeça-nádega e do índice de massa corporal na avaliação ultrassonográfica do coração fetal, pelas vias abdominal e vaginal, no primeiro trimestre de gestação. MÉTODOS: Realizou-se um estudo de corte transversal com 57 gestantes normais entre 12 a 14 semanas (CCN < 84 mm). Foram avaliados os seguintes planos cardíacos, pelas vias abdominal e vaginal: quatro câmaras, via de saída do ventrículo direito, via de saída do ventrículo esquerdo e arco aórtico. Utilizou-se o modo B, Doppler colorido e ultrassonografia de quarta dimensão (spatio-temporal image correlation). Para avaliar a influência do comprimento cabeça-nádega e índice de massa corporal na avaliação dos planos cardíacos fetal, utilizou-se o teste t não-pareado. RESULTADOS: Não se observou diferenças estaticamente significativas nas taxas de sucesso e insucesso entre as vias abdominal e vaginal em relação ao índice de massa corporal, contudo, observou-se maior taxa de insucesso na avaliação vaginal utilizando o modo B associado ao Doppler colorido (P<0,01). CONCLUSÃO: O índice de massa corporal e o comprimento cabeça-nádega não tiveram interferência na avaliação cardíaca fetal no primeiro trimestre de gestação.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the influence of the crown-rump length and body mass index on sonographic evaluation of the fetal heart using abdominal and vaginal routes in the first trimester of pregnancy. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional study with 57 pregnant women between 12-14 weeks (CRL< 84 mm). We evaluated the following fetal cardiac plans using the abdominal and vaginal routes: four-chamber view, right ventricle outflow tract, left ventricle outflow tract and aortic arch. We used the B-mode, color Doppler and four-dimensional ultrasonography (spatio-temporal image correlation). To evaluate the influence of crown-rump length and body mass index in the assessment of fetal cardiac planes, we used the t test unpaired. RESULTS: There were no statistically significant differences in the rates of success and failure between abdominal and vaginal routes in relation to body mass index, however, there was a higher failure rate in vaginal assessment using B mode associated with color Doppler (P<0.01). CONCLUSION: The crown-rump length and body mass index had no interference in fetal cardiac assessment in the first trimester of pregnancy.

Despite the availability of several Saccharomyces cerevisiae commercial strains intended for wine production, strains isolated from winery regions are usually more adapted to their own climatic conditions, grapes and also partially responsible for particular characteristics that frequently identify specific wines and regions. Thus the microbiota of an important winery region (Colombo) was studied in order to isolate and characterize S. cerevisiae strains that could be used on wine production. From 61 yeasts isolated, 14 were identified as S. cerevisiae. Some of them showed fermentative characteristics even better than commercial strains indicating that they could be applied on wine production in order to increase the quality and assure the particular wine characteristics of that region.

A levedura Phaffia rhodozyma, produtora de astaxantina, pigmento carotenóide largamente empregado na aqüicultura de peixes e crustáceos, pode ser eficientemente cultivada num meio de cultura de baixo custo, à base de caldo de cana diluído 1:10 e uréia a 1 g/L. No entanto, a produção de biomassa e a formação do carotenóide sofrem a inibição pelo substrato (efeito "Crabtree"), limitando desta forma a utilização do caldo de cana com concentrações da fonte de carbono superiores a 20 g/L, importante consideração na produção industrial de astaxantina. No presente trabalho, o cultivo da levedura P. rhodozyma foi realizado em processo descontínuo alimentado, no qual se obteve produtividade volumétrica de 0,024 mg astaxantina/L.h. em relação aos 0,013 mg astaxantina/L.h. obtidos no cultivo controle, que não sofreu alimentação da fonte de carbono.

The yeast Phaffia rhodozyma produces astaxanthin, a carotenoid pigment widely applied in fish and crustaceous cultivation. This yeast can be efficiently cultured in a low cost medium, sugar cane broth diluted 1:10 and supplemented with 1 g/L urea. However, the biomass and astaxanthin production undergo inhibition by the substrate (Crabtree effect), limiting the utilization of sugar cane broth up to 20 g/L total sugar concentration. Therefore, this effect must be considered during the industrial production of astaxanthin. In the present work, using fed batch system to cultivate P. rhodozyma we were able to obtain 0.024 mg astaxanthin/l.h compared to 0.013 mg astaxanthin/l.h obtained by the discontinuous cultivation system.