Reappraisal and neotypification of Phyllachora feijoae.

Acca sellowiana (Myrtaceae), feijoa (in Brazil, goiaba da serra), is a native southern South America tree that produces edible fruits which, although only occasionally cultivated in South America, became a significant fruit crop in New Zealand. Recently, during surveys for fungal pathogens of feijoa in southern Brazil, several plants were found bearing tar-spot symptoms caused by a species of Phyllachora. A literature search enabled us to identify the fungus as Phyllachora feijoae, a little-known species originally described in the 19(th) century by H. Rehm and later transferred to the genus Catacauma. The name Catacauma feijoae, although now regarded as a later synonym of P. feijoae is still mistakenly in use (as, for instance, in the Brazilian list of fungi on plants). The type specimen was most probably deposited in the Botanisches Garten und Museum Berlin-Dahlem (B) and lost or destroyed during World War II, and could not be located. The recent recollection of abundant material of this fungus in the vicinity of Pelotas (Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil) allowed its re-examination and neotypification. Phyllachora feijoae is also illustrated here for the first time.

Trypanosoma cruzi modulates the expression of Rabs and alters the endocytosis in mouse cardiomyocytes in vitro.

Chagas disease is an incurable illness caused by the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi. Cardiomyocytes represent important targets for the parasite infection and alterations in their physiology were reported. Because endocytosis is involved in different cellular events and guanosine triphosphatase (GTPase) Rab proteins play important roles in various aspects of the membrane traffic, our aim was to characterize the expression of Rab proteins in T. cruzi-infected cardiomyocytes, which displayed a downregulation of Rab7 and Rab11, whereas the expression of Rab5a was maintained in the infected cultures even after longer periods of parasite internalization, but early endosome antigen 1 was partially downregulated. The parasite infection also decreased the uptake of fluid phase ligands by the cardiac cultures. The regulation of GTPase proteins and effector molecules can contribute to the altered physiology of the host cells by modifying the normal incoming of nutrients as well as interfering with other important events related to the endocytic pathway.