Biology subjects

Gudra, D.

Publications and source records attributed to Gudra, D..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

Characterization of mycobiota in faba beans infected with Alternaria spp.

Leaf diseases pose a serious threat to faba bean production. Leaf blotch of faba bean, caused by Alternaria spp., has become increasingly widespread and destructive in several countries. Leaf diseases pose a serious threat to faba bean production. The infection of plant by pathogens can be influenced by various factors associated with the host plant, environmental conditions and presence of other microorganisms. The phyllosphere and endosphere play a critical role in plant health and disease development. This study aimed to evaluate the factors shaping the structure and diversity of fungal communities associated with faba beans. Plant samples were collected in 2004 from two intensively managed faba bean production fields in the central region of Latvia. Fungal assemblages were characterized using an ITS region metabarcoding approach based on Illumina MiSeq sequencing. Among the assigned amplicon sequence variant (AVS), 65% belonged to the phylum Ascomycota, while approximately 4% were classified as Basidiomycota. Alternaria and Cladosporium were the dominant genera across samples. The alfa and beta diversities of fungal communities was higher during flowering of faba beans to compare with ripening. The higher abundance of Basidiomycota yeasts were observed during flowering, in contrast, Cladosporium genus was significantly more abundant during ripening. Alternaria DNA was found on leaves that showed no symptoms of the disease. The diversity and composition of fungal communities were significantly influenced by sampling time and presence of leaf blotch, caused by Alternaria spp.

microbiology↗

bioRxiv2024

Investigation of plant virus-like particle formation in bacterial and yeast expression systems

Virus-like particles (VLPs) have garnered significant attention due to their potential applications in various fields, particularly in biomedicine, where they are used for drug delivery, vaccine development, and as diagnostic tools. Plant virus-derived VLPs have been especially successful, leading to a surge in research aimed at developing new VLPs. Despite this growing interest, not all attempts at VLP formation are successful. Understanding the factors that contribute to successful VLP assembly is crucial for advancing this field. In this study, we focus on the coat proteins (CPs) of three plant viruses belonging to the Sobemovirus genus as a model to investigate the process of VLP formation. Our findings demonstrated that the strong binding of CPs to ssDNA can be a major reason for unsuccessful VLP production. This issue can potentially be overcome by transitioning from an episomal to a chromosome-integrated expression system. By doing so, we aim to elucidate the mechanisms that facilitate successful VLP assembly. Our findings provide valuable insights into the properties of sobemovirus CPs and highlight their potential for encapsulating foreign nucleic acids, thereby providing additional applications as nanocontainers or vaccine platforms with interior modification capabilities for enhanced immune response. Moreover, our RNA-Seq data indicates that sobemovirus-derived VLPs predominantly package their CP mRNA, irrespective of the expression system used. This characteristic can be utilized for the functional encapsulation of nucleic acids, enhancing the versatility and utility of these VLPs in various biotechnological applications.

molecular biology↗

bioRxiv2022

OverFlap PCR - a reliable approach for generation of plasmid DNA libraries containing random sequences without template bias.

Over the decades the improvement of naturally occurring proteins and creation of novel ones has been the primary goal for many practical biotechnology researchers and it is widely recognized that randomization of protein sequences coupled to various effect screening methodologies is one of the most powerful techniques for fast, efficient and purposeful approach for acquisition of desired improvements. Over the years considerable advancements have been made in this field, however development of PCR based or template guided methodologies has been hampered by the resulting template sequence bias. In this article we present novel whole plasmid amplification based approach, which we named OverFlap PCR, for randomization of virtually any region of the plasmid DNA, without introduction of mentioned bias.

molecular biology↗