The results of measurement of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in surface bottom sediments contaminated by technical PCB mixtures Delor collected from the Červený potok (stream in the Litavka River catchment), Czech Republic in 2008 are presented. The sediment samples of two different grain size fractions (< 2 mm and < 200 μm) were analyzed for 8 congeners of PCBs using Soxhlet extraction and gas chromatography (GC-ECD). Total concentrations of PCBs ranged from 15.3 to 997 ng g-1 (dry weight) in < 2 mm fraction and from 29.9 to 952 ng g-1 in < 200 μm fraction, where PCBs 28, 52, 101, 138, 153, 180 and 194 were found in all the samples. The highest levels of PCBs were found in sediment collected from the area below the discharge of municipal wastewater treatment plant and local engineering industry in the Komárov village. High percentage of PCBs 28, 153 and 138 (22-74%, 5-22% and 5-20% respectively) indicates the contamination by PCBs commercial mixtures Delor 103 and Delor 105 (an equivalent of AROCLOR 1242 and 1254). The result of PCA analysis indicates that the more highly chlorinated PCB congeners tend to be more associated with finer organic carbon particles of the < 200 μm sediment fraction. and Práce se zabývá distribucí polychlorovaných bifenylů (PCB) v povrchových sedimentech Červeného potoka (povodí Litavky), kontaminovaných technickými směsmi Delor. Ve dvou zrnitostních frakcích sedimentů (< 2 mm a < 200 μm) odebraných v roce 2008 byly prostřednictvím Soxhletovy extrakce a plynové chromatografie (GC-ECD) stanoveny koncentrace 8 indikačních kongenerů PCB. Celkové koncentrace PCB se v zrnitostní frakci < 2 mm pohybovaly od 15,3 do 997 ng g-1 sušiny, ve frakci < 200 μm bylo rozpětí koncentrací 29,9 až 952 ng g-1 sušiny. PCB kongenery 28, 52, 101, 138, 153, 180 a 194 byly naměřeny ve všech vzorcích sedimentů. Z výsledků vyplývá, že nejvyšší koncentrace PCB byly zjištěny v sedimentech odebraných z lokality pod zaústěním odtoku z čistírny odpadních vod v obci Komárov, do které ústí i kanalizační větev z místního strojírenského podniku. Vysoké procentuální zastoupení kongenerů PCB 28, 153 a 138 (22-74%, 5-22% a 5-20%) v sumě všech osmi kongenerů značí kontaminaci technickými směsmi Delor 103 a Delor 105 (srovnatelných se směsmi AROCLOR 1242 a 1254). Z výsledků PCA analýzy vyplývá, že vícechlorované kongenery PCB jsou intenzivněji asociovány s organickou hmotou v jemnější frakci sedimentu < 200 μm.
A new Cryptosporidium species, C. saurophilum, is described from Schneider’s skinks Eumeces schneidert Daudin, 1802. Oocysts were fully sporulated in fresh faeces and measured 5.0 x 4.7 pm (4.4-5.6 x 4.2-5.2 pm). The new species differs from C. serpentis Levine, 1980 by having smaller oocysts, developing in a different location of intestine, and by the inability to infect snakes.
The genome sequence of the microsporidian parasite Encephalitozoon cuniculi Levaditi, Nicolau et Schoen, 1923 contains about 2,000 genes that are representative of a non-redundant potential proteome composed of 1,909 protein chains. The purpose of this review is to relate some advances in the characterisation of this proteome through bioinformatics and experimental approaches. The reduced diversity of the set of E. cuniculi proteins is perceptible in all the compilations of predicted domains, orthologs, families and superfamilies, available in several public databases. The phyletic patterns of orthologs for seven eukaryotic organisms support an extensive gene loss in the fungal clade, with additional deletions in E. cuniculi. Most microsporidial orthologs are the smallest ones among eukaryotes, justifying an interest in the use of these compacted proteins to better discriminate between essential and non-essential regions. The three components of the E. cuniculi mRNA capping apparatus have been especially well characterized and the three-dimensional structure of the cap methyltransferase has been elucidated following the crystallisation of the microsporidial enzyme Ecm1. So far, our mass spectrometry-based analyses of the E. cuniculi spore proteome has led to the identification of about 170 proteins, one-quarter of these having no clearly predicted function. Immunocytochemical studies are in progress to determine the subcellular localisation of microsporidia-specific proteins. Posttranslational modifications such as phosphorylation and glycosylation are expected to be soon explored.