Don\u27t Sell Them Short, There\u27s More to Bacterial Natural Products Than Antibiotics

Recent genomic studies of microbiomes have revealed an overwhelming number of biosynthetic genes of unknown function. Most of these “cryptic” biosynthetic genes are not expressed in laboratory monocultures of individual microbes. Thus, there remains tremendous untapped potential for natural products discovery. Here we employ mixed microbial culture (MMC) as a simple yet powerful approach to awaken cryptic biosynthetic gene clusters. Our preliminary studies demonstrated that arrays of metabolites could be induced in MMCs upon environmental cues, such as surface adhesion. Using this system, we have screened, identified, and isolated bioactive bacterial metabolites, which were characterized structurally and biologically. Of the metabolites identified, this project focused on a deeper exploration of fatty acids and cyclic dipeptides. This project revealed two major findings: 1. an overlooked potential interspecies signal: (R)-12-hydroxystearic acid, exchanged in a specific social context of a terrestrial MMC derived from wheatgrass, which modulated biofilm formation in marine bacteria, and 2. from the isolation of 2,5-diketopiperazines (DKPs) from MMCs, we identified a new approach to assigning their stereochemistry. While this class of molecules is well-studied, their stereochemical assignments have remained ambiguous due to a lack of reliable, sensitive, and well-established methods. Now, with electronic circular dichroism, an unprecedented assessment of DKP stereochemistry-bioactivity relationships can proceed. While microbial molecular discovery via environmentally-derived MMCs is still in its nascent stages, our findings are promising and have established a foothold in this area of research

Caso Superliga desde el punto de vista internacional

El Caso de la Superliga ha generado un gran debate en el ámbito del Derecho Internacional Privado estos últimos meses. La principal controversia gira en torno a la compatibilidad con las normas de la Unión Europea, en particular los artículos 101 y 102 del Tratado de Funcionamiento de la Unión Europea. Todo comenzó en abril del 2021, cuando doce clubs de fútbol europeos anunciaron la creación de la Superliga, una competición privada que competiría con la Champions League de la UEFA. Fue ahí cuando la UEFA y la FIFA reaccionaron amenazando con sancionar a los clubs participantes, excluyéndolos de sus competiciones. La principal cuestión y objetivo que se plantea es si la Superliga constituye una restricción de la competencia en el mercado único europeo. Por una parte, la UEFA y la FIFA argumentan que la Superliga es un acuerdo anticompetitivo que limita la libre competencia entre las competiciones de fútbol europeas; mientras que, por otro lado, los clubs fundadores de la Superliga sostienen que consiste en una nueva competición que no restringe la competencia, sino todo lo contrario, la fomenta.<br /

Morgenstadt City-Index

MORGENSTADT CITY-INDEX Morgenstadt City-Index / Radecki, Alanus von (Rights reserved) ( -