Simon Cruz - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Simon Cruz

Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology

The reject water of anaerobic digestors still contains high levels of methane and ammonium that n... more The reject water of anaerobic digestors still contains high levels of methane and ammonium that need to be treated before these effluents can be discharged to surface waters. Simultaneous anaerobic methane and ammonium oxidation performed by nitrate/ nitrite-dependent anaerobic methane-oxidizing(N-damo) microorganisms and anaerobic ammonium-oxidizing(anammox) bacteria is considered a potential solution to this challenge. Here, a stable coculture of N-damo archaea, N-damo bacteria, and anammox bacteria was obtained in a sequencing batch reactor fed with methane, ammonium, and nitrite. Nitrite and ammonium removal rates of up to 455 mg N-NO 2 − L −1 day −1 and 228 mg N-NH 4 + L −1 were reached. All nitrate produced by anammox bacteria (57 mg N-NO 3 − L −1 day −1) was consumed, leading to a nitrogen removal efficiency of 97.5%. In the nitrite and ammonium limited state, N-damo and anammox bacteria each constituted about 30-40% of the culture and were separated as granules and flocs in later stages of the reactor operation. The N-damo archaea increased up to 20% and mainly resided in the granular biomass with their N-damo bacterial counterparts. About 70% of the nitrite in the reactor was removed via the anammox process, and batch assays confirmed that anammox activity in the reactor was close to its maximal potential activity. In contrast, activity of N-damo bacteria was much higher in batch, indicating that these bacteria were performing suboptimally in the sequencing batch reactor, and would probably be outcompeted by anammox bacteria if ammonium was supplied in excess. Together these results indicate that the combination of N-damo and anammox can be implemented for the removal of methane at the expense of nitrite and nitrate in future wastewater treatment systems.

Argos Informativo Veterinario, 2013

Chapter 2, Article VII, Division 3 of the City Code of Miami Beach entitled "Lobbyists"... more Chapter 2, Article VII, Division 3 of the City Code of Miami Beach entitled "Lobbyists" requires the registration of all lobbyists with the City Clerk prior to engaging in any lobbying activity with the City Commission, any City Board or Committee, or any personnel as defined in the subject Code sections. Copies of the City Code sections on lobbyists laws

Trends in Plant Science, 1996

Recent studies with green fluorescent protein (GFP) are providing new insights into the mechanism... more Recent studies with green fluorescent protein (GFP) are providing new insights into the mechanisms of virus movement in plants. The gfp gene has been inserted into the genomes of a number of plant viruses, enabling production of either the free protein or a fusion with a virus-encoded protein. Fusion of GFP to the coat protein of potato virus X (PVX) has produced a functional virus with a GFP 'overcoat' that can be traced as it moves. Many plant viruses are known to use 2novement proteins' to assist in their transit through plasmodesmata. Movement protein-GFP fusions can be expressed from the parental virus or, in the absence of a full-length infectious clone, using an alternative expression vector. Such fusions retain their capacity to target plasmodesmata and are providing new information on the factors responsible for trafficking viral RNA to, and through, the plasmodesmal pore.

Cell, 1999

Leaves undergo a sink-source transition during which a physiological change occurs from carbon im... more Leaves undergo a sink-source transition during which a physiological change occurs from carbon import to export. In sink leaves, biolistic bombardment of plasmids encoding GFP-fusion proteins demonstrated that proteins with an Mr up to 50 kDa could move freely through plasmodesmata. During the sink-source transition, the capacity to traffic proteins decreased substantially and was accompanied by a developmental switch from simple to branched forms of plasmodesmata. Inoculation of sink leaves with a movement protein-defective virus showed that virally expressed GFP, but not viral RNA, was capable of trafficking between sink cells during infection. Contrary to dogma that plasmodesmata have a size exclusion limit below 1 kDa, the data demonstrate that nonspecific "macromolecular trafficking" is a general feature of simple plasmodesmata in sink leaves.

Biology of the Cell, 1998

Biology of the Cell, 1998

Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Proteins and Proteomics, 2006

Chitotriosidase protein (ChT) is the most important biochemical marker described for Gaucher dise... more Chitotriosidase protein (ChT) is the most important biochemical marker described for Gaucher disease (GD). ChT activity is increased several hundred-fold in plasma of GD patients and shows a strong positive correlation with the severity of the disease. However, a recessively inherited enzyme deficiency, with an incidence of about 6% in the Caucasian population, means that not all patients with GD can be monitored by measuring ChT activity. Applying two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) technology this study describes the localization and identification of five ChT isoforms in 2-DE images obtained from plasma of GD patients. All these isoforms were unequivocally identified using MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry (MS) and validated by western blot analysis. The features of each ChT isoform separated by 2-DE in plasma from GD patients homozygous for the wild-type ChT allele, carriers of one defective allele and patients homozygous for the mutant allele are presented. We also show the correlation between each ChT isoform and the plasma ChT enzymatic activity of the GD patients sampled in this study.

Transgenic Research, 2010

Nicotiana tabacum is emerging as a crop of choice for production of recombinant protein pharmaceu... more Nicotiana tabacum is emerging as a crop of choice for production of recombinant protein pharmaceuticals. Although there is significant commercial expertise in tobacco farming, different cultivation practices are likely to be needed when the objective is to optimise protein expression, yield and extraction, rather than the traditional focus on biomass and alkaloid production. Moreover, pharmaceutical transgenic tobacco plants are likely

Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology

The reject water of anaerobic digestors still contains high levels of methane and ammonium that n... more The reject water of anaerobic digestors still contains high levels of methane and ammonium that need to be treated before these effluents can be discharged to surface waters. Simultaneous anaerobic methane and ammonium oxidation performed by nitrate/ nitrite-dependent anaerobic methane-oxidizing(N-damo) microorganisms and anaerobic ammonium-oxidizing(anammox) bacteria is considered a potential solution to this challenge. Here, a stable coculture of N-damo archaea, N-damo bacteria, and anammox bacteria was obtained in a sequencing batch reactor fed with methane, ammonium, and nitrite. Nitrite and ammonium removal rates of up to 455 mg N-NO 2 − L −1 day −1 and 228 mg N-NH 4 + L −1 were reached. All nitrate produced by anammox bacteria (57 mg N-NO 3 − L −1 day −1) was consumed, leading to a nitrogen removal efficiency of 97.5%. In the nitrite and ammonium limited state, N-damo and anammox bacteria each constituted about 30-40% of the culture and were separated as granules and flocs in later stages of the reactor operation. The N-damo archaea increased up to 20% and mainly resided in the granular biomass with their N-damo bacterial counterparts. About 70% of the nitrite in the reactor was removed via the anammox process, and batch assays confirmed that anammox activity in the reactor was close to its maximal potential activity. In contrast, activity of N-damo bacteria was much higher in batch, indicating that these bacteria were performing suboptimally in the sequencing batch reactor, and would probably be outcompeted by anammox bacteria if ammonium was supplied in excess. Together these results indicate that the combination of N-damo and anammox can be implemented for the removal of methane at the expense of nitrite and nitrate in future wastewater treatment systems.

Argos Informativo Veterinario, 2013

Chapter 2, Article VII, Division 3 of the City Code of Miami Beach entitled "Lobbyists"... more Chapter 2, Article VII, Division 3 of the City Code of Miami Beach entitled "Lobbyists" requires the registration of all lobbyists with the City Clerk prior to engaging in any lobbying activity with the City Commission, any City Board or Committee, or any personnel as defined in the subject Code sections. Copies of the City Code sections on lobbyists laws

Trends in Plant Science, 1996

Recent studies with green fluorescent protein (GFP) are providing new insights into the mechanism... more Recent studies with green fluorescent protein (GFP) are providing new insights into the mechanisms of virus movement in plants. The gfp gene has been inserted into the genomes of a number of plant viruses, enabling production of either the free protein or a fusion with a virus-encoded protein. Fusion of GFP to the coat protein of potato virus X (PVX) has produced a functional virus with a GFP 'overcoat' that can be traced as it moves. Many plant viruses are known to use 2novement proteins' to assist in their transit through plasmodesmata. Movement protein-GFP fusions can be expressed from the parental virus or, in the absence of a full-length infectious clone, using an alternative expression vector. Such fusions retain their capacity to target plasmodesmata and are providing new information on the factors responsible for trafficking viral RNA to, and through, the plasmodesmal pore.

Cell, 1999

Leaves undergo a sink-source transition during which a physiological change occurs from carbon im... more Leaves undergo a sink-source transition during which a physiological change occurs from carbon import to export. In sink leaves, biolistic bombardment of plasmids encoding GFP-fusion proteins demonstrated that proteins with an Mr up to 50 kDa could move freely through plasmodesmata. During the sink-source transition, the capacity to traffic proteins decreased substantially and was accompanied by a developmental switch from simple to branched forms of plasmodesmata. Inoculation of sink leaves with a movement protein-defective virus showed that virally expressed GFP, but not viral RNA, was capable of trafficking between sink cells during infection. Contrary to dogma that plasmodesmata have a size exclusion limit below 1 kDa, the data demonstrate that nonspecific "macromolecular trafficking" is a general feature of simple plasmodesmata in sink leaves.

Biology of the Cell, 1998

Biology of the Cell, 1998

Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Proteins and Proteomics, 2006

Chitotriosidase protein (ChT) is the most important biochemical marker described for Gaucher dise... more Chitotriosidase protein (ChT) is the most important biochemical marker described for Gaucher disease (GD). ChT activity is increased several hundred-fold in plasma of GD patients and shows a strong positive correlation with the severity of the disease. However, a recessively inherited enzyme deficiency, with an incidence of about 6% in the Caucasian population, means that not all patients with GD can be monitored by measuring ChT activity. Applying two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) technology this study describes the localization and identification of five ChT isoforms in 2-DE images obtained from plasma of GD patients. All these isoforms were unequivocally identified using MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry (MS) and validated by western blot analysis. The features of each ChT isoform separated by 2-DE in plasma from GD patients homozygous for the wild-type ChT allele, carriers of one defective allele and patients homozygous for the mutant allele are presented. We also show the correlation between each ChT isoform and the plasma ChT enzymatic activity of the GD patients sampled in this study.

Transgenic Research, 2010

Nicotiana tabacum is emerging as a crop of choice for production of recombinant protein pharmaceu... more Nicotiana tabacum is emerging as a crop of choice for production of recombinant protein pharmaceuticals. Although there is significant commercial expertise in tobacco farming, different cultivation practices are likely to be needed when the objective is to optimise protein expression, yield and extraction, rather than the traditional focus on biomass and alkaloid production. Moreover, pharmaceutical transgenic tobacco plants are likely