Selective inhibition of acylpeptide hydrolase in SAOS-2 osteosarcoma cells: is this enzyme a viable anticancer target?

Molecular Biology Reports - Serine hydrolases play crucial roles in many physiological and pathophysiological processes and a panel of these enzymes are targets of approved drugs. Despite this,...     

Evidence of horizontal gene transfer between land plant plastids has surprising conservation implications

Background and AimsHorizontal gene transfer (HGT) is an important evolutionary mechanism because it transfers genetic material that may code for traits or functions between species or genomes. It is frequent in mitochondrial and nuclear genomes but has not been demonstrated between plastid genomes of different green land plant species.MethodsWe Sanger-sequenced the nuclear internal transcribed spacers (ITS1 and 2) and the plastid rpl16 G2 intron (rpl16). In five individuals with foreign rpl16 we also sequenced atpB-rbcL and trnL_UAA-trnF_GAA.Key ResultsWe discovered 14 individuals of a moss species with typical nuclear ITSs but foreign plastid rpl16 from a species of a distant lineage. None of the individuals with three plastid markers sequenced contained all foreign markers, demonstrating the transfer of plastid fragments rather than the entire plastid genome, i.e. entire plastids were not transferred. The two lineages diverged 165–185 Myr BP. The extended time interval since lineage divergence suggests that the foreign rpl16 is more likely explained by HGT than by hybridization or incomplete lineage sorting.ConclusionsWe provide the first conclusive evidence of interspecific plastid-to-plastid HGT among land plants. Two aspects are critical: it occurred at several localities during the massive colonization of recently disturbed open habitats that were created by large-scale liming as a freshwater biodiversity conservation measure; and it involved mosses whose unique life cycle includes spores that first develop a filamentous protonema phase. We hypothesize that gene transfer is facilitated when protonema filaments of different species intermix intimately when colonizing disturbed early succession habitats.     

Rhizophagus irregularis MUCL 41,833 Association with Green Cuttings of Prunus sp. Rootstocks

Journal of Plant Growth Regulation - Sour cherry ‘Latvijas Zemais’ (Prunus cerasus) is a promising dwarfing rootstock for sweet cherries in Latvia, but low growing rate of newly...     

Higher structural connectivity and resistance against invasions of soil bioengineering over hard-engineering for riverbank stabilisation

Wetlands Ecology and Management - Riparian corridors play an important role for the maintenance of regional biodiversity and ecosystem functions. Riparian forests are even the only semi-natural...     

Influence of prior and visual information on eye movements in amblyopic children

This study analyzed the characteristics of pursuit and assessed the influence of prior and visual information on eye velocity and saccades in amblyopic and control children, in comparison to adults. Eye movements of 41 children (21 amblyopes and 20 controls) were compared to eye movements of 55 adults (18 amblyopes and 37 controls). Participants were asked to pursue a target moving at a constant velocity. The target was either a ‘standard’ target, with a uniform color intensity, or a ‘noisy’ target, with blurry edges, to mimic the blurriness of an amblyopic eye. Analysis of pursuit patterns showed that the onset was delayed, and the gain was decreased in control children with a noisy target in comparison to amblyopic or control children with a standard target. Furthermore, a significant effect of prior and visual information on pursuit velocity and saccades was found across all participants. Moreover, the modulation of the effect of visual information on the pursuit velocity by group, that is amblyopes or controls with a standard target, and controls with a noisy target, was more limited in children. In other words, the effect of visual information was higher in control adults with a standard target compared to control children with the same target. However, in the case of a blurry target, either in control participants with a noisy target or in amblyopic participants with a standard target, the effect of visual information was larger in children.

     

Sampling and distribution pattern of Trioza erytreae Del Guercio, 1918 (Hemiptera: Triozidae) in citrus orchard

Developing efficient sampling protocols is essential to monitor crop pests. One vector of the citrus disease HLB, the African citrus psyllid Trioza erytreae Del Guercio, 1918 (Hemiptera: Triozidae), currently threatens the lemon industry throughout the Mediterranean region. In this work, a pool of sampling methods devoted to monitoring the population of T. erytreae was compared, its spatial distribution in the orchard was assessed, and the minimum sampling effort for the best sampling method was estimated. Three lemon orchards in North-western Portugal were sampled for one year using two types of yellow sticky traps (standard yellow and fluorescent Saturn yellow), B-vac sampling and sweep net sampling. The method that best performed, in terms of cost-efficiency, was the yellow sticky traps. The two colours of the sticky traps tested did not yield a significantly different number of catches. The spatial distribution throughout the orchards was found to be aggregated towards the borders. A minimum of three sticky traps per hectare was found to be enough to estimate the population at 90% accuracy for the mean during the outbreak. These results should help to monitor and anticipate outbreaks that may even colonize neighbour orchards. Studies on the local dispersion patterns of T. erytreae throughout the orchard are mandatory to further refine and optimize efficient monitoring protocols.     

lca_algebraic: a library bringing symbolic calculus to LCA for comprehensive sensitivity analysis

The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment - In this paper, we present new tools to ease the analysis of the effect of variability and uncertainty on life cycle assessment (LCA) results....     

Effect of non-native species on taxonomic and functional diversity of fish communities in different river types

Recent researches suggest that functional diversity represents the response of communities to environmental alterations better than taxonomic diversity. However, there is scarce information about how the functional diversity of freshwater fishes is affected by habitat type and the dominance of non-native species. To address this question, we analysed a large database containing 15 morpho-functional traits of 61 fish species from the Pannon Biogeographic region (Hungary). Based on a fish faunistic list and relative abundance of taxa, we quantified the taxonomic and functional diversity of riverine communities for?>?700 sites of six habitat types. We asked how non-native fishes affected the taxonomic and functional diversity in different river types and at the local scale (i.e. at the site level), and how the diversity measures of native fauna elements changes along the invasion gradient. Our results showed that both functional and taxonomic richness increases with habitat complexity, from small headwater streams to large rivers. Therefore taxonomic diversity served as a good proxy for functional diversity along the environmental gradient of river types. Non-natives showed considerable functional diversity relative to their species number in each habitat type. Diversity values of native fauna elements initially increased, and then showed a major decrease along the invasion gradient. River type-specific evaluations highlighted the importance of considering the proliferation of invasive species based on both taxonomic and functional diversity indices. We argue that type-specific action plans are needed in conservation management to preserve the taxonomic and functional diversity of native fishes in Hungary, but also elsewhere.