Giorgio Mastromei, born in Rovereto (Trento) on April 16, 1951, graduated in Biological Sciences with 110/110 and praised at the University of Pavia, discussing an experimental thesis titled In vivo and in vitro studies on a mutant of Bacillus subtilis Defective in the replication of high temperature DNA. In 1977 he graduated in Biophysics with 50/50 and praised at the University of Pavia, discussing an experimental thesis entitled In vitro studies on a mutant of Bacillus subtilisTemperature-sensitive in the synthesis of RNA. From 1974 to 1978 he has various scholarships, including a ministerial check for scientific and didactic training to work at the Institute of Genetics at the University of Pavia (1976-1978). In 1978 he won a Genetics role assistant at the Institute of Genetics at the University of Pavia and then, from January 1982, at the Institute of Comparative Anatomy and Genetics at the University of Florence. In 1982, following the first round of fitness assessments, he was appointed Associate Professor of General Microbiology at the Faculty of Physical and Natural Sciences of the University of Florence. In 2001 he became Professor of General Microbiology (SSD BIO / 19) at the Faculty of Physical and Natural Sciences of the University of Florence. He has spent the following periods of activity abroad: 1978-1980 at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, where he studied polyoma virus replication, using three years of an EMBO Long Term Fellowship; 1982 (3 months) at the Genetics Lab of the University of Groningen (Netherlands), where he studies the process of developing competence in Bacillus subtilis ; 1982 (1 month) returns to the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm; 1984 (2 months) works in Czechoslovakia, as part of a project of cultural exchanges between the CNR and the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences; 1989 (1 month) goes to Tunisia as a consultant for Molecular Biology for lUNIDO, within a project on the study of cellulosolytic streptomycetes. The main lines of research you have been working on or are working on are the following: 1 Bacillus subtilis genetics : 1.1 Characterization of B. subtilis mutants altered in DNA replication. Sensitive temperature mutation has been identified and localized, which affects DNA duplication. The location of the mutation was compared with those known to give a similar phenotype. In this paper some aspects of the thymidine biosynthesis pathway in mutants requiring thymine have also been addressed. In addition, it was checked whether and how the replication of the SPP1 bacterial virus occurs in B. subtilis mutants altered in DNA duplication. 1.2 Characterization of a mutant of B. subtilis sensitive temperature in RNA synthesis. The chromosomal localization of the mutation has been identified and it has been shown that this acts on the RNA polymerase by altering the substrate specificity. 1.3 Isolation and characterization of B. subtilis mutants altered in the development of competence. Mutations affecting the development of competence, obtained both by classical mutagenesis and by insertion of a transposon, were mapped at various points of the B. subtilis chromosome . Mutations of the mutations have been studied by observing both the input of transforming DNA and by looking for changes in membrane proteins. 1.4 Identification of genes involved in the formation of calcite crystals. This process could be exploited for the restoration of stone monuments. Procedures for evaluating the effectiveness of the microbiological process have been developed and some genes involved in the process have been identified. 2 Isolation and characterization of streptomycetes capable of degrading cellulose. Clones have been cloned and characterized by genes involved in the cellulose degradation process. These were also used as probes for the identification of cellulosolytic streptomycetes. In this study, the problem of the significance of cryptic genes involved in the nellilization of b -glucosides has also been addressed . 3 Characterization of bacterial strains involved in biological hemp maceration. These strains were identified by the use of molecular methods and their efficacy in the maceration process was studied. 4 Study of microbiological soil diversity 5 Molecular characterization of hospital pathogens and epidemiological analysis of their diffusion and persistence in a hospital environment. The research work described above has been funded by various agencies: MURST, MIPAF, CNR, Tuscany Region and the European Community.

Genetics, Microbiology