The red seaweeds belonging to the genus Laurencia are well known as halogenated secondary metabolites producers, mainly terpenoids and acetogennins. Several of these chemicals exhibit important ecological roles and biotechnological applications. However, knowledge regarding the genes involved in the biosynthesis of these compounds is still very limited. We detected 20 different genes involved in the biosynthesis of terpenoid precursors, and 21 different genes coding for terpene synthases that are responsible for the chemical modifications of the terpenoid precursors, resulting in a high diversity of carbon chemical skeletons. In addition, we demonstrate through molecular and cytochemical approaches the occurrence of the mevalonate pathway involved in the biosynthesis of terpenes in L. dendroidea. This is the first report on terpene synthase genes in seaweeds, enabling further studies on possible heterologous biosynthesis of terpenes from L. dendroidea exhibiting ecological or biotechnological interest.

Leishmaniasis is an infectious disease caused by Leishmania species. Leishmania amazonensis is a New World Leishmania species belonging to the Mexicana complex, which is able to cause all types of leishmaniasis infections. The L. amazonensis reference strain MHOM/BR/1973/M2269 was sequenced identifying 8,802 codifying sequences (CDS), most of them of hypothetical function. Comparative analysis using six Leishmania species showed a core set of 7,016 orthologs. L. amazonensis and Leishmania mexicana share the largest number of distinct orthologs, while Leishmania braziliensis presented the largest number of inparalogs. Additionally, phylogenomic analysis confirmed the taxonomic position for L. amazonensis within the “Mexicana complex”, reinforcing understanding of the split of New and Old World Leishmania. Potential non-homologous isofunctional enzymes (NISE) were identified between L. amazonensis and Homo sapiens that could provide new drug targets for development.

Summary: Zika virus (ZIKV) is a member of Flaviviridae family, as other agents of clinical significance, such as dengue (DENV) and hepatitis C (HCV) viruses. ZIKV spread from Africa to Pacific and South American territories, emerging as an etiological pathogen of neurological disorders, during fetal development and in adulthood. Therefore, antiviral drugs able to inhibit ZIKV replication are necessary. Broad spectrum antivirals, such as interferon, ribavirin and favipiravir, are harmful for pregnant animal models and women. The clinically approved uridine nucleotide analog anti-HCV drug, sofosbuvir, has not been affiliated to teratogenicity. Sofosbuvir target the most conserved protein over the members of the Flaviviridae family, the viral RNA polymerase. We thus studied ZIKV susceptibility to sofosbovir. We initially characterized a Brazilian ZIKV strain for use in experimental assays. Sofosbuvir inhibits the Brazilian ZIKV replication in a dose-dependent manner, both in BHK-21 cells and SH-Sy5y, by targeting ZIKV RNA polymerase activity, with the involvement of conserved amino acid residues over the members of Flaviviridae family. The identification of clinically approved antiviral drugs endowed with anti-ZIKV could reduce the time frame in pre-clinical development. Altogether, our data indicates that sofosbuvir chemical structure is endowed with anti-ZIKV activity.

Scientific Reports 7: Article number: 40920; published online 18 January 2017; updated on 24 April 2017 The Competing Financial Interests section in this Article is incorrect and should read: “Dr. Karin Brüning is a member of the BMK consortium, able to produce sofosbuvir”.

(1) Background: Treated water distributed in a Latin American megapolis has been the target of criticism in recent years. During the summers of 2020 and 2021, treated water had a taste and smell of mud in the metropolitan area of Rio de Janeiro city, affecting ~10 million people. (2) Methods: To evaluate the SRJ water quality, a comprehensive dataset was analyzed. In total, 194,821 samples were analyzed between 2018 and 2021, corresponding to three parameters (chlorine concentration, n = 67,723; turbidity, n = 55,186; and coliform abundance, n = 71,912). The 92 SRJ cities were analyzed using two approaches according to the relevant law: a quantitative and qualitative approach. (3) Results: In the qualitative analyses, four groups of cities were found (Group A: three parameters analyzed; 49 to 51 cities; Group B, two parameters analyzed, 9 to 14 cities; Group C, one parameter analyzed, 17 cities; Group D, no parameters analyzed, 12 to 16 cities). (4) Conclusions: In 2021, the top ten cities in Group A showed 100% performance in both the qualitative and quantitative rankings. However, several large cities, such as Duque de Caxias and São Gonçalo, did not have the minimum required number of samples or analyses, which poses serious risks for water quality control and public health.