Luigi Ceci | Università degli Studi di Bari (original) (raw)

Papers by Luigi Ceci

Mol Gen Genet, 1996

The organization of the genes nad3 and rps12 has been investigated in the mitochondrial genome of... more The organization of the genes nad3 and rps12 has been investigated in the mitochondrial genome of two dicotyledonous plants - Helianthus and Magnolia - and one monocotyledonous plant (Allium). These plants all contain a complete rps12 gene downstream of the nad3 gene. This arrangement is thus highly conserved within angiosperms. The two genes are co-transcribed and the transcript is modified at several positions by RNA editing of the C to U-type, thus confirming that both genes encode functional proteins. Some 26, 35 and 27 editing events have been identified in the PCR-derived nad3-rps12 cDNA population from sunflower, Magnolia and onion, respectively. Editing of the nad3-rps12 transcript is thus more extensive in Magnolia than in the other angiosperms so far investigated and radically changes the genomically encoded polypeptide sequence. A novel species-specific codon modification was observed in Magnolia. Several homologous sites show differences in editing pattern among plant species. A C-to-U alteration is also found in the non-coding region separating the nad3 and rps12 genes in sunflower. The PCR-derived cDNA populations from the nad3-rps12 loci analysed were found to be differently edited. In addition the plant species show marked variations in the completeness of RNA editing, with only the Magnolia nad3 mRNA being edited fully.

Applied microbiology and biotechnology, Jan 13, 2015

A metagenomic fosmid expression library established from environmental DNA (eDNA) from the shallo... more A metagenomic fosmid expression library established from environmental DNA (eDNA) from the shallow hot vent sediment sample collected from the Levante Bay, Vulcano Island (Aeolian archipelago) was established in Escherichia coli. Using activity-based screening assays, we have assessed 9600 fosmid clones corresponding to approximately 350 Mbp of the cloned eDNA, for the lipases/esterases/lactamases, haloalkane and haloacid dehalogenases, and glycoside hydrolases. Thirty-four positive fosmid clones were selected from the total of 120 positive hits and sequenced to yield ca. 1360 kbp of high-quality assemblies. Fosmid inserts were attributed to the members of ten bacterial phyla, including Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Acidobateria, Firmicutes, Verrucomicrobia, Chloroflexi, Spirochaetes, Thermotogae, Armatimonadetes, and Planctomycetes. Of ca. 200 proteins with high biotechnological potential identified therein, we have characterized in detail three distinct α/β-hydrolases (LIPESV12_9...

Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, 2015

Lipid transfer proteins (LTPs) are food allergens found first in fruits of the Rosaceae family an... more Lipid transfer proteins (LTPs) are food allergens found first in fruits of the Rosaceae family and later identified in other food plants. Their high structural stability causes them to behave as allergens in cooked and processed foods. Allergenic LTPs have been identified in tomato fruits as well, but studies of their thermal stability and structural characteristics are limited. In this article we report the identification of the coding region for a novel 9 kDa LTP isoform in the tomato variety San Marzano, together with the expression of the recombinant mature protein. The purified recombinant protein was further characterized for its thermal stability and was found to bind 1-palmitoil-2-lysophosphatidylcholine (Lyso-C16) after thermal treatments up to 105 °C. Analysis of a modeling derived structure of the protein allowed the identification of possible epitope regions on the molecular surface.

Analytical Biochemistry

This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service... more This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain.

Journal of mass spectrometry : JMS, 2015

One of the hallmarks of blood bank stored red blood cells (RBCs) is the irreversible transition f... more One of the hallmarks of blood bank stored red blood cells (RBCs) is the irreversible transition from a discoid to a spherocyte-like morphology with membrane perturbation and cytoskeleton disorders. Therefore, identification of the storage-associated modifications in the protein-protein interactions between the cytoskeleton and the lipid bilayer may contribute to enlighten the molecular mechanisms involved in the alterations of mechanical properties of stored RBCs. Here we report the results obtained analyzing RBCs after 0, 21 and 35 days of storage under standard blood banking conditions by label free mass spectrometry (MS)-based experiments. We could quantitatively measure changes in the phosphorylation level of crucial phosphopeptides belonging to β-spectrin, ankyrin-1, α-adducin, dematin, glycophorin A and glycophorin C proteins. Data have been validated by both western blotting and pseudo-Multiple Reaction Monitoring (MRM). Although each phosphopeptide showed a distinctive trend...

Current protein & peptide science, 2011

und wer lebt, muss auf Wechsel gefasst sein.

Rhodobacter sphaeroides is known for its adaptive capacities to different environmental and nutri... more Rhodobacter sphaeroides is known for its adaptive capacities to different environmental and nutritional conditions, including presence of heavy metals. It is therefore a valuable model organism for understanding bacterial adaptation to metals and possible applications for bioremediation of polluted sites. To characterize the capability of R. sphaeroides to cope with high cobalt ion concentrations, we combined the selection of adaptive defective mutants, carried out by negative selection of transposon insertional libraries on 5 mM Co 2+ plate, with the analysis of growing capacities and transcriptome profiling. Comparative analysis of results from a selected mutant and wild-type strains indicated that the adaptive ability of R. sphaeroides strongly relies on its ability to exploit any available energy-supplying metabolisms, being able to behave as photo-or chemotrophic microorganism. The selected mutant exhibited a severe down-expression of a sugar ABC-transporter, which results non-...

FEMS Microbiology Letters, 2014

The genome sequence of a Sphingobium strain capable of tolerating high concentrations of Ni ions,... more The genome sequence of a Sphingobium strain capable of tolerating high concentrations of Ni ions, and exhibiting natural kanamycin resistance, is presented. The presence of a transposon derived kanamycin resistance gene and several genes for efflux-mediated metal resistance may explain the observed characteristics of the new Sphingobium isolate. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Photosynthesis. Energy from the Sun, 2008

Rhodobacter sphaeroides strain R26.1 showed tolerance to Co 2+ ions, up to 10 mM concentration. I... more Rhodobacter sphaeroides strain R26.1 showed tolerance to Co 2+ ions, up to 10 mM concentration. Interestingly the bacteriochlorophyll biosynthesis was found to decrease upon addition of such metal in the growth medium. Analysis of R. sphaeroides proteome from cells grown in control and in Co 2+ enriched media was performed by two dimensional electrophoresis (2DE) followed by mass spectrometry. Proteome and functional analyses of differentially expressed proteins in cobalt response clearly highlighted the involvement of several metabolic pathways, and in particular of some enzymes involved in tetrapyrrole biosynthesis pathway.

Plant Journal - PLANT J, 2003

The mustard trypsin inhibitor, MTI-2, is a potent inhibitor of trypsin with no activity towards c... more The mustard trypsin inhibitor, MTI-2, is a potent inhibitor of trypsin with no activity towards chymotrypsin. MTI-2 is toxic for lepidopteran insects, but has low activity against aphids. In an attempt to improve the activity of the inhibitor towards aphids, a library of inhibitor variants was constructed and cloned into the pRlac3 phagemid vector. The library of 9.3 107 independent colonies was created by randomisation of a stretch of five consecutive codons in the reactive site. Repeated selection rounds against bovine trypsin and chymotrypsin allowed the identification of novel, MTI-2 derived, antitrypsin and antichymotrypsin inhibitors. Chy8, the selected variant with highest affinity for bovine chymotrypsin (Ki = 32 nm versus >1000 nm for the wild-type) represents the strongest known recombinant chymotrypsin inhibitor of the MTI-2 family. It is highly toxic to nymphs of the aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum, and moderately toxic to nymphs of Aphis gossypii and Myzus persicae. The LC...

The Plant Journal, 2013

These authors contributed equally to this work.

Plant Science, 1989

A highly purified tRNA fraction isolated from sunflower mitochondria was used to probe a restrict... more A highly purified tRNA fraction isolated from sunflower mitochondria was used to probe a restriction fragment library of sunflower mitochondrial DNA. Approximately 20 different clones were detected. The 0.2-kbp HindIII insert of recombinant plasmid pHD500 was sequenced revealing the presence of a tRNA-His gene with 970/0 similarity to the equivalent of maize mitochondria and chloroplast. The single copy gene appears to be located at least 30 kbp distant from regions of high homology with cpDNA in the mitochondrial genome. This observation and other evidence (analysis of flanking regions and hybridization to epDNA) suggest that the gene probably does not belong to a chloroplast insertion. The possible expression of the tRNA-His gene is discussed.

Nucleic Acids Research, 1998

A new version of the compilation of higher plant mitochondrial tRNA genes (http://www.ebi.ac.uk/ ... more A new version of the compilation of higher plant mitochondrial tRNA genes (http://www.ebi.ac.uk/ service ) has been obtained by means of the FastA program for similarity searching in nucleotide sequence Databases. This approach improves the previous collection, which was based on literature data analysis. The current compilation contains 158 sequences with an increase of 43 units. In this paper, some interesting features of the new entries are briefly presented.