An integrated method for taxonomic identification of microorganisms.

For accurate species-level identification of microorganisms, researchers today increasingly use a combination of standard microbiological cultivation and visual observation methods with molecular biological and genetic techniques that help distinguish between species and strains of microorganisms at the level of DNA or RNA molecules. The aim of this work was to identify microorganisms from the ICG SB RAS Collection using an integrated approach that involves a combination of various phenotypic and genotypic characteristics. Key molecular-genetic and phenotypic characteristics were determined for 93 microbial strains from the ICG SB RAS Collection. The strains were characterized by means of morphological, physiological, moleculargenetic, and mass-spectrometric parameters. Specific features of the growth of the strains on different media were determined, and cell morphology was evaluated. The strains were tested for the ability to utilize various substrates. The strains studied were found to significantly differ in their biochemical characteristics. Physiological characteristics of the strains from the collection were identified too, e.g., the relationship with oxygen, type of nutrition, suitable temperature and pH ranges, and NaCl tolerance. In this work, the microorganisms analyzed were combined into separate groups based on the similarities of their phenotypic characteristics. This categorization, after further refinement and expansion of the spectrum of taxa and their metabolic maps, may serve as the basis for the creation of an "artificial" classification that can be used as a key for simplified and quicker identification and recognition of microorganisms within both the ICG SB RAS Collection and other collections.

Proteomic Study of Blood Serum in Coronary Atherosclerosis.

Changes in the blood serum proteins were assessed in men with coronary atherosclerosis and without coronary heart disease. Proteins were separated by 2D-electrophoresis, protein fractions were identified by their peptide fingerprint by MALDI method; fractions with more than twofold increase in protein level were determined. In blood serum of patients with coronary atherosclerosis, the content of C4 complement protein increased and ceruloplasmin level decreased, which is typical of heart failure and coronary heart disease.

[Interactions of pro- and eukaryotic DNA repair enzymes with oligodeoxyribonucleotides containing clustered lesions].

Interactions of oxoGuanine-DNA glycosylases from Escherichia coli (Fpg) and human (OGG1) and abasic site endonucleases from yeast (Apnl) and E. coli (Nfo) with oligodeoxyribonucleotides containing oxoGuanine (oxoG) and tetrahydrofuran (F, a stable analog of an abasic site) separated by various numbers of nucleotides have been studied. Inhibitor analysis has shown that the affinity of Fpg for single-stranded ligands does not depend on the relative positions of oxoG and F lesions. KM and kcat values have been determined for all double-stranded substrates and all enzymes under study. The effect of introducing the second lesion was strongly dependent on the relative positions of the lesions and the nature of the enzyme. The highest drop in the affinity (1.6-148-fold) and the reaction rate (4.8-58-fold) has been observed with Fpg and OGG1 for substrates containing F immediately 5' or 3' adjacent to oxoG. Introduction of the second lesion barely changed the KM values for Apnl and Nfo substrates. At the same time, the reaction rates were 5-10-fold lower for substrates containing two adjacent lesions. For all enzymes studied, increasing the distance between two lesions in duplex DNA reduced the effect of the lesion in KM and kcat values.