[Conclusions and recommendations of a WHO expert consultation meeting on iron supplementation for infants and young children in malaria endemic areas]. / Conclusions et recommandations à l'issue de la consultation de l'OMS sur la lutte contre la carence martiale chez le nourrisson et le jeune enfant dans les pays d'endémie palustre.

This article presents the results of an expert consultation meeting aimed at evaluating the safety and public health implications of administering supplemental iron to infants and young children in malaria-endemic areas. Participants at this meeting that took place in Lyon, France on June 12-14, 2006 reached consensus on several important issues related to iron supplementation for infants and young children in malaria-endemic areas. The conclusions in this report apply specifically to regions where malaria is endemic.

High-cell-density cultivation of Schizochytrium sp. in an ammonium/pH-auxostat fed-batch system.

Thraustochytrids, in particular Schizochytrium spp., are used for the production of the valuable polyunsaturated fatty acid, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA; 22:6 n-3). Growth of Schizochytrium sp. G13/2S in a defined medium was initially made in shake-flask cultures to determine the optimum concentrations of glucose (100-200 g l(-1)) and ammonia ( approximately 300 mg l(-1)) that could be used by this microorganism. In subsequent fermenter cultures, a pH-auxostat method was used to maintain NH(3) from 200-300 mg l(-1). During the first 49 h of fermentation, 150 g glucose l(-1) produced 63 g cell dry wt l(-1). Although growth was not limited by the supply of nitrogen, total fatty acids were at 25% cell dry wt which is more than half the final lipid content of commercially-grown Schizochytrium biomass which uses N-limited medium in the final stages for maximum lipid accumulation. This strategy is therefore useful for the cultivation of Schizochytrium to a high cell density up to the point when lipid accumulation can be triggered by N exhaustion.

Regulation of lipid accumulation in oleaginous micro-organisms.

A small number of eukaryotic micro-organisms, the oleaginous species, can accumulate triacylglycerols as cellular storage lipids, sometimes up to 70% of the biomass. Some of these lipids, particularly those containing high proportions of polyunsaturated fatty acids of nutritional and dietary importance, are now in commercial production; these are known as single-cell oils. The biochemistry of lipid accumulation has been investigated in yeasts and filamentous fungi and can now be described in some detail: lipid accumulation is triggered by cells exhausting nitrogen from the culture medium, but glucose continues to be assimilated. Activity of isocitrate dehydrogenase within the mitochondrion, however, now slows or even stops due to the diminution of AMP within the cells. This leads to the accumulation of citrate, which is transported into the cytosol and cleaved to acetyl-CoA by ATP:citrate lyase, an enzyme that does not occur in non-oleaginous species. This enzyme is therefore essential for lipid accumulation. The presence of this enzyme does not, however, explain why different species of oleaginous micro-organisms have different capacities for lipid accumulation. The extent of lipid accumulation is considered to be controlled by the activity of malic enzyme (ME), which acts as the sole source of NADPH for fatty acid synthase (FAS). If ME is inhibited, or genetically disabled, then lipid accumulation is very low. There is no general pool of NADPH which can otherwise be used by FAS. The stability of ME is therefore crucial and it is proposed that ME is physically attached to FAS as part of the lipogenic metabolon. ME activity correlates closely with lipid accumulation in two filamentous fungi, Mucor circinelloides and Mortierella alpina. When ME ceases to be active, lipid accumulation also stops. No other enzyme activity shows such a correlation.

Production of docosahexaenoic acid by Crypthecodinium cohnii grown in a pH-auxostat culture with acetic acid as principal carbon source.

Crypthecodinium cohnii, a marine alga used for the commercial production of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), was cultivated in medium containing sodium acetate as principal carbon source; the pH was maintained at a constant value by addition of acetic acid, which also provided an additional carbon source in a controlled manner. The accumulation of lipid by C. cohnii in this pH-auxostat culture was significantly greater than previously reported for batch cultures using glucose as principal carbon source. Of six strains tested in pH-auxostat cultures, C. cohnii ATCC 30772 was the best, with the cells reaching 20 to 30 g dry weight per liter after 98 to 144 h and containing in excess of 40% (w/w) total lipid, with DHA representing approximately half of the total fatty acids in the triacylglycerol fraction. A productivity of 36 mg DHA L(-1) h(-1) was achieved during cultivation for 98 h using a 5% (vol/vol) inoculum, and DHA production was in excess of 3 g per liter of culture. Most of the DHA was present in neutral lipids.

Evidence for the mitochondrial biosynthesis of 3R-hydroxy-5Z,8Z,11Z,1 4Z-eicosatetraenoic acid in the yeast Dipodascopsis uninucleata.

The biosynthesis of 3R-hydroxy-5Z, 8Z, 11Z,14Z-eicosatetraenoic acid (3R-HETE) from arachidonic acid (20:4n-6) by the hyphal-forming yeast, Dipodascopsis uninucleata, in cell-free enzyme extracts required CoASH, ATP, NAD+ and Mg2+; 3R-HETE was present as the CoA derivative in enzyme extracts and its biosynthesis was associated with mitochondria. Its synthesis was high from arachidonoyl-CoA (15% conversion of the substrate; 22 nmol mg protein(-1) x h), but significantly higher from trans-2-arachidonoyl-CoA (53 nmol mg protein(-1) x min). Aspirin, an inhibitor of prostaglandin endoperoxide synthase synthase (cyclooxygenase), did not significantly inhibit 3R-HETE biosynthesis in enzyme extracts, as opposed to antimycin A (46% inhibition). The chirality of 3-HETE was 95% R and 5% S. 3R-HETE has the same chirality as the products of peroxisomal enoyl-CoA hydratases of Neurospora crassa and Saccharomyces cerevisiae; the difference appears to be that in D. uninucleata the Renantiomers are synthesized in mitochondria. Exogenously supplied eicosapentaenoic acid was converted to 3-hydroxy 5Z,11Z,14Z,17Z-eicosapentaenoic acid by cell-free enzyme extracts though there was no requirement for a 5Z,8Z-diene structure for the biosynthesis of 3-hydroxylated fatty acids as 3-hydroxy-8Z,11Z,14Z, and 3-hydroxy-11Z,14Z,17Z-eicosatrienoic acids were synthesized from the corresponding fatty acids. We found no evidence for the synthesis of the prostaglandins F2alpha and E2.

Iron metabolism in pathogenic bacteria.

The ability of pathogens to obtain iron from transferrins, ferritin, hemoglobin, and other iron-containing proteins of their host is central to whether they live or die. To combat invading bacteria, animals go into an iron-withholding mode and also use a protein (Nramp1) to generate reactive oxygen species in an attempt to kill the pathogens. Some invading bacteria respond by producing specific iron chelators-siderophores-that remove the iron from the host sources. Other bacteria rely on direct contact with host iron proteins, either abstracting the iron at their surface or, as with heme, taking it up into the cytoplasm. The expression of a large number of genes (>40 in some cases) is directly controlled by the prevailing intracellular concentration of Fe(II) via its complexing to a regulatory protein (the Fur protein or equivalent). In this way, the biochemistry of the bacterial cell can accommodate the challenges from the host. Agents that interfere with bacterial iron metabolism may prove extremely valuable for chemotherapy of diseases.

Salicylic acid is not a bacterial siderophore: a theoretical study.

Using a newly available program for calculating the concentrations and speciation of various ions (Pettit, LD & Powell KJ, 'SolEq' Academic Software, 1999), we have calculated that at pH 7 the amount of free Fe(III) present in an aqueous solution is 1.4 x 10(-9) M and not 10(-18) M as is usually quoted. In the presence of salicylic acid, included in the calculations at 10(-4) M, the solubility of Fe(III) is increased to only 9.8 x 10(-9) M suggesting that salicylate is unable to act as a siderophore although it is produced as an extracellular product by several bacterial genera when grown iron deficiently. In the presence of 40 mM phosphate, the soluble Fe(III) concentration is decreased by 10(4) at pH 7 and again this is hardly affected by the presence of salicylate. Thus, for microorganisms grown either in vitro or in vivo, salicylate is unlikely to function as a iron solubilizing agent. The same conclusions may also apply to 2,3-dihydroxybenzoic acid.

Compartmentation of ATP:citrate lyase in plants.

Extracts prepared from young leaves of Pea (Pisum sativum), tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum), rape (Brassica napus), and spinach (Spinacia oleracea) all contained ATP:citrate lyase (ACL) activity, which was most active in rape leaflets (130 nmol min(-1) g fresh weight). In rape and spinach, ACL activity was predominantly localized in the plastids (between about 78% and 90% of the total activity), whereas in pea and tobacco, distribution was mainly cytosolic (about 85% and 78%, respectively, of the total). These distributions were calculated from the relative distributions of plastid and cytosol marker enzymes. Cross-reactivity between plant and rat ACL antibody was carried out by immunoblot analysis and, in rape and spinach, showed that a 120-kD protein, presumably indicating homomeric ACL proteins, was present in both cytosolic and plastidic fractions. In pea, two cross-reacting proteins were detected, the major material being in the cytosol fraction. Therefore, ACL occurs both in the cytosol and plastids of higher plants, but the distribution of activity changes according to the species. The plastidic ACL is proposed to function for the supply of acetyl-coenzyme A for lipid biosynthesis de novo, whereas the cytosolic ACL may provide acetyl-coenzyme A for the mevalonate pathway or fatty acid elongation.

Genetic enhancement of fatty acid synthesis by targeting rat liver ATP:citrate lyase into plastids of tobacco.

ATP:citrate lyase (ACL) catalyzes the conversion of citrate to acetyl-coenzyme A (CoA) and oxaloacetate and is a key enzyme for lipid accumulation in mammals and oleaginous yeasts and fungi. To investigate whether heterologous ACL genes can be targeted and imported into the plastids of plants, a gene encoding a fusion protein of the rat liver ACL with the transit peptide for the small subunit of ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase was constructed and introduced into the genome of tobacco. This was sufficient to provide import of the heterologous protein into the plastids. In vitro assays of ACL in isolated plastids showed that the enzyme was active and synthesized acetyl-CoA. Overexpression of the rat ACL gene led to up to a 4-fold increase in the total ACL activity; this increased the amount of fatty acids by 16% but did not cause any major change in the fatty acid profile. Therefore, increasing the availability of acetyl-CoA as a substrate for acetyl-CoA carboxylase and subsequent reactions of fatty acid synthetase has a slightly beneficial effect on the overall rate of lipid synthesis in plants.

The biosynthesis of oxylipins of linoleic and arachidonic acids by the sewage fungus Leptomitus lacteus, including the identification of 8R-Hydroxy-9Z,12Z-octadecadienoic acid.

When the sewage fungus Leptomitus lacteus was grown in liquid culture aerobically and then transferred to medium containing long-chain fatty acids, it produced a number of oxygenated fatty acids. From linoleic acid (18:2n-6), the major metabolite produced was R-8-hydroxy-9Z,12Z-octadecadienoic acid (8R-HODE), with additional quantities of 8,11-di-HODE, 11,16-di-HODE, and 11,17-di-HODE. Other fatty acid derivatives identified included 7-HODE, 10-HODE, and 13-hydroxy-octadecamonoenoic acid. Arachidonic acid (20:4n-6) was metabolized primarily to 18- and 19-hydroxy-eicosatetraenoic acids (18- and 19-HETE) also as R enantiomers, along with smaller quantities of 17-HETE, 9-HETE, 14,15-dihydroxy-eicosatrienoic acid and 11,12,19-trihydroxy-eicosatrienoic acid. The oxygenated products of long-chain fatty acids, in particular the biosynthesis of 8R-HODE, a compound classified as a precocious sporulation inducer, were similar to those produced by an unrelated fungal species in the Ascomycota, the take-all fungus Gaeumannomyces graminis. As in G. graminis, the biotransformation of linoleate to 8R-HODE was not significantly inhibited by exposure of the organism to CO. This indicated that the enzyme responsible for 8R-HODE biosynthesis in Leptomitus could be similar to that of G. graminis; yet we did not detect 7,8-di-HODE as a product of 18:2n-6 metabolism as in G. graminis. CO did inhibit the biosynthesis of 14,15-di-HETE, 18-HETE, and 19-HETE in L. lacteus, which suggested the involvement of a cytochrome P450-type monooxygenase. The biosynthesis of 8R-HODE from 18:2n-6 was found to occur in certain cell lysates, specifically in low speed (15,000 x g) supernatant, following cell disruption.

Mutational analysis of a role for salicylic acid in iron metabolism of Mycobacterium smegmatis.

The role of salicylic acid in iron metabolism was examined in two wild-type strains (mc(2)155 and NCIMB 8548) and three mutant strains (mc(2)1292 [lacking exochelin], SM3 [lacking iron-dependent repressor protein IdeR] and S99 [a salicylate-requiring auxotroph derived in this study]) of Mycobacterium smegmatis. Synthesis of salicylate in SM3 was derepressed even in the presence of iron, as was synthesis of the siderophores exochelin, mycobactin, and carboxymycobactin. S99 was dependent on salicylate for growth and failed to grow with the three ferrisiderophores, suggesting that salicylate fulfills an additional function(s) other than being a precursor of mycobactin and carboxymycobactin. Salicylic acid at 100 microgram/ml repressed the formation of a 29-kDa cell envelope protein (putative exochelin receptor protein) in S99 grown both iron deficiently and iron sufficiently. In contrast, synthesis of this protein was affected only under iron-limited conditions in the parent strain, mc(2)155, and remained unaltered in SM3, suggesting an interaction between the IdeR protein and salicylate. Thus, salicylate may also function as a signal molecule for recognition of cellular iron status. Growth of all strains and mutants with p-aminosalicylate (PAS) at 100 microgram/ml increased salicylate accumulation between three- and eightfold under both iron-limited and iron-sufficient growth conditions and decreased mycobactin accumulation by 40 to 80% but increased carboxymycobactin accumulation by 50 to 55%. Thus, although PAS inhibited salicylate conversion to mycobactin, presumptively by blocking salicylate AMP kinase, PAS also interferes with the additional functions of salicylate, as its effect was heightened in S99 when the salicylate concentration was minimal.

Sesamol as an inhibitor of growth and lipid metabolism in Mucor circinelloides via its action on malic enzyme.

Sesamol, a nonoil component of sesame seed oil, inhibited growth, fatty acid synthesis, and desaturation by Mucor circinelloides in vivo. Although sesamol also inhibited the growth of other fungi and yeasts, its effect on the lipid metabolism of M. circinelloides was exceptional. An enzymological study demonstrated that sesamol affected lipid synthesis primarily by the inhibition of malic enzyme activity, thereby limiting the NADPH supply for fatty acid synthesis and desaturation. Sesamol itself had no inhibitory effect on malic enzyme activity in vitro. A metabolite of sesamol is therefore probably responsible for the in vivo effects of sesamol on lipid metabolism.

Correlation of ATP/citrate lyase activity with lipid accumulation in developing seeds of Brassica napus L.

The temporal distribution of ATP/citrate lyase (ACL) activity in developing seeds of Brassica napus L. closely paralleled both that of acetyl-CoA carboxylase and the overall rate of lipid biosynthesis. Maximum ACL activities (250 nmol acetyl-CoA formed min-1.g fresh seed) were recorded between 35 to 42 d after pollination and, if the in vitro data could be extrapolated to the situation in vivo, could account for half of the acetyl-CoA required for the measured rate of fatty acid biosynthesis during seed development. The enzyme appeared to be localized in a subcellular compartment, which was clearly separated from mitochondria on a sucrose gradient and by differential centrifugation, and which corresponded to the chloroplast organelle.

Plastid targeting and transient expression of rat liver ATP: citrate lyase in pea protoplasts.

Protoplasts isolated from pea leaves (Pisum sativum L. cv. Hurst Greenshaft) were electroporated in the presence of plasmid pDR#1, which contains the rat liver ATP:citrate lyase gene fused to a duplex 35S cauliflower mosaic virus promoter with a transit peptide sequence of the Rubisco small subunit. The level of enzyme expression and viability of protoplasts were both influenced by polyethylene glycol treatment before electroporation. Under the optimised electroporation conditions, an average increase of ATP:citrate lyase activity of 14% was observed in the transfected cells after 24 h, with a similar magnitude of change in the abundance of the corresponding mRNA. Immunoblot analysis confirmed the correct expression and targeting of ATP:citrate lyase protein in the chloroplasts of pea protoplasts. These results provide a basis for the establishment of a procedure for targeting heterologous protein into pea plastids in the presence of a transit peptide.

Changes in cell morphology and carnitine acetyltransferase activity in Candida albicans following growth on lipids and serum and after in vivo incubation in mice.

Candida albicans C316, maintained in the yeast form, showed a proliferation of peroxisomes when grown on triolein or serum as sole carbon source but these structures were absent from glucose-grown cells. Peroxisomes were also apparent in C. albicans obtained after injection into mice and recovery from intraperitoneal washings and kidneys; they may therefore be useful markers to assess a potential in vivo response in cells that are growing in vitro. Transcell-wall structures also occurred in C. albicans grown on triolein or serum, and in cells cultured in vivo, but were not seen in cells grown on glucose. These structures consisted of electron-dense fibrillar material penetrating through the cell wall from the plasmalemma side and protruded out to the exterior of the cell. Endoplasmic reticulum, located at the periphery of the cell, was found to be in close proximity with these cell wall structures. Carnitine acetyltransferase (CAT; EC 2.3.1.7), the key enzyme for the translocation of acetyl units between intracellular compartments, was present in low activities in glucose-grown cells; its activity was increased some 100-fold in triolein-grown cells but only 4-fold in serum-grown cells. It was not possible to assess this activity in the in vivo-cultured cells. Two separate CAT proteins, partially purifed from isolated microchondria and peroxisomes, respectively, were identified, with different specificities and kinetic properties.

The occurrence of carboxymycobactin, the siderophore of pathogenic mycobacteria, as a second extracellular siderophore in Mycobacterium smegmatis.

Carboxymycobactin, in which the usual intracellular mycobactin siderophore is modified by possession of a carboxylic acid group, has been isolated as a second extracellular siderophore from culture filtrates of Mycobacterium smegmatis grown under iron-deficient conditions. (The primary siderophore is an exochelin which is a trihydroxamate, pentapeptide derivative). There may be up to 12 similar molecules produced with differing chain lengths that can be recognized by HPLC or HPTLC. The amount of carboxymycobactin is about 20 times higher when cultures are grown with glycerol instead of glucose. Formation is maximal with an initial pH of the medium of about 8.4. The proportion of carboxymycobactin to the total siderophore produced--mainly exochelins--is maximally 10% (usually 10-25 micrograms ml(-1)). Formation of both extracellular siderophores (exochelin and carboxymycobactin) and of the intracellular mycobactin is maximal at the same initial concentration of iron added to the medium, 0.05-0.1 micrograms Fe ml(-1), though exochelin is synthesized 24 h in advance of both carboxymycobactin and mycobactin.