CO-releasing molecules (CO-RMs) were previously shown by us to be more potent bactericides than CO gas. This suggests a mechanism of action for CO-RM, which either potentiates the activity of CO or uses another CO-RM-specific effect. We have also reported that CORM-2 induces the expression of genes related to oxidative stress. In the present study we intend to establish whether the generation of reactive oxygen species by CO-RMs may indeed result in the inhibition of bacterial cellular function. We now report that two CO-RMs (CORM-2 and ALF062) stimulate the production of ROS in Escherichia coli, an effect that is abolished by addition of antioxidants. Furthermore, deletion of genes encoding E. coli systems involved in reactive oxygen species scavenging, namely catalases and superoxide dismutases, potentiates the lethality of CORM-2 due to an increase of intracellular ROS content. CORM-2 also induces the expression of the E. coli DNA repair/SOS system recA, and its inactivation enhances toxicity of CORM-2. Moreover, fluorescence microscopy images reveal that CORM-2 causes DNA lesions to bacterial cells. We also demonstrate that cells treated with CORM-2 contain higher levels of free iron arising from destruction of iron-sulfur proteins. Importantly, we show that CO-RMs generate hydroxyl radicals in a cell-free solution, a process that is abolished by scavenging CO. Altogether, we provide a novel insight into the molecular basis of CO-RMs action by showing that their bactericidal properties are linked to cell damage inflicted by the oxidative stress that they are able to generate.

Water–gas shift chemistry modulates aqueous stability and protein interactions of Ru(CO)₃Cl₂L CORMs.

This article explores the relationship between the spatial concentration of short-term rentals in Lisbon’s historic center and the phenomena of uneven development and tourism gentrification. By providing quantitative and qualitative evidence of the uneven geographic distribution of tourist apartments within the municipality of Lisbon, it contributes to the study of the new processes of neoliberal urbanization in the crisis-ridden countries of Southern Europe. It argues that the great share of whole-home rentals and the expansion of the short-term rental market over the housing stock are symptoms of the commodification of housing in the neoliberal city. Due to the loss of consumption capacity by the Portuguese society amid crisis and austerity, real estate developers target external markets and local households must compete for access to a limited housing stock with tourists and other temporary city users. The subsequent global rent gap stimulates the proliferation of vacation rentals at the expense of the supply of residential housing, fueling property prices and jeopardizing housing affordability. With Portugal being a peripheral member of the EU and the Eurozone, the vulnerability of local households to the impacts of tourism gentrification is aggravated by the remarkable income gap with their counterparts of the core.

This article analyses the current outlook for governance and the structuring of urban political spaces in the city of Lisbon, in the face of a combination of transformative and significantly disruptive dynamics: from the far-reaching and dizzyingly fast changes underway in the city’s urban structure and its regional system, through the gradual reorganisation of its institutional and governmental structure, to the growing pressure from emerging urban movements. The article concludes with a critical analysis of the equally rapid redefinition of the main elements of disjunction as well as of the possible recomposition of the city’s political spaces.

This work deals with the ongoing commodification of Lisbon’s historic centre under the pressure of mass tourism and transnational real estate...

Este artigo, reconhecendo a relevância das dimensões territoriais e urbanas para uma melhor interpretação da atual crise e seus principais impulsionadores, bem como das suas consequências e reacções sociopolíticas, analisa a evolução recente da Área Metropolitana de Lisboa, perante tempos de crise económica e de políticas de austeridade. O artigo propõe duas conclusões, a merecer estudo adicional com o objectivo de uma sua possível teorização mais alargada: 1) podem distinguir-se fases distintas da crise e uma correlação entre estas, as políticas de austeridade implementadas e a correspondente ampliação dos efeitos da crise nos tecidos socioeconómicos territoriais; 2) verifica-se o aumento de um confronto de natureza estruturante entre políticas top-down de escalas europeia e nacionais e as dinâmicas sociopolíticas de escalas mais locais e mesmo bottom-up, redesenhando-se os quadros geopolíticos territoriais por formas crescentemente distintas e mais complexas; de divergências, aproximações e intersecções de base multi-escalar.