Fire and Pinus mugo Turra communities in the western Alps (Susa Valley, Italy) during the Lateglacial-Holocene transition: an evidence of refugia area

In western Italian Alps, small distinct populations of Pinus mugo Turra raise some questions concerning its ecological status and dynamics in the occidental Alps. This note present new palaeobotanical data based on cone imprints of Pinus mugo, identified in travertine systems located in the Val di Susa and dated back to the Late Dryas (11506+/-66 BP) and the Early Holocene (10145+/-225 et 9475+/-670 BP). Heliophilous species and charcoal fragments were also identified, testifying to the oldness of wildfires in this region. The data support the hypothesis that this zone was a refuge area of this pine during the last glaciation. Here we discuss about the postglacial dynamics of the Pinus mugo in the occidental Alps.     

Weed or Wheel! fMRI,Behavioural, and Toxicological Investigations of How Cannabis Smoking Affects Skills Necessary for Driving

Marijuana is the most widely used illicit drug, however its effects on cognitive functions underling safe driving remain mostly unexplored. Our goal was to evaluate the impact of cannabis on the driving ability of occasional smokers, by investigating changes in the brain network involved in a tracking task. The subject characteristics, the percentage of Δ⁹-Tetrahydrocannabinol in the joint, and the inhaled dose were in accordance with real-life conditions. Thirty-one male volunteers were enrolled in this study that includes clinical and toxicological aspects together with functional magnetic resonance imaging of the brain and measurements of psychomotor skills. The fMRI paradigm was based on a visuo-motor tracking task, alternating active tracking blocks with passive tracking viewing and rest condition. We show that cannabis smoking, even at low Δ⁹-Tetrahydrocannabinol blood concentrations, decreases psychomotor skills and alters the activity of the brain networks involved in cognition. The relative decrease of Blood Oxygen Level Dependent response (BOLD) after cannabis smoking in the anterior insula, dorsomedial thalamus, and striatum compared to placebo smoking suggests an alteration of the network involved in saliency detection. In addition, the decrease of BOLD response in the right superior parietal cortex and in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex indicates the involvement of the Control Executive network known to operate once the saliencies are identified. Furthermore, cannabis increases activity in the rostral anterior cingulate cortex and ventromedial prefrontal cortices, suggesting an increase in self-oriented mental activity. Subjects are more attracted by intrapersonal stimuli (“self”) and fail to attend to task performance, leading to an insufficient allocation of task-oriented resources and to sub-optimal performance. These effects correlate with the subjective feeling of confusion rather than with the blood level of Δ⁹-Tetrahydrocannabinol. These findings bolster the zero-tolerance policy adopted in several countries that prohibits the presence of any amount of drugs in blood while driving.     

Regulation of GacA in Pseudomonas chlororaphis Strains Shows a Niche Specificity

The GacS/GacA two-component system plays a central role in the regulation of a broad range of biological functions in many bacteria. In the biocontrol organism Pseudomonas chlororaphis, the Gac system has been shown to positively control quorum sensing, biofilm formation, and phenazine production, but has an overall negative impact on motility. These studies have been performed with strains originated from the rhizosphere predominantly. To investigate the level of conservation between the GacA regulation of biocontrol-related traits in P. chlororaphis isolates from different habitats, the studies presented here focused on the endophytic isolate G5 of P. chlororaphis subsp. aurantiaca. A gacA mutant deficient in the production of N-acylhomoserine lactones (AHLs) and phenazine was isolated through transposon mutagenesis. Further phenotypic characterization revealed that in strain G5, similar to other P. chlororaphis strains, a gacA mutation caused inability to produce biocontrol factors such as phenazine, HCN and proteases responsible for antifungal activity, but overproduced siderophores. LC-MS/MS analysis revealed that AHL production was also practically abolished in this mutant. However, the wild type exhibited an extremely diverse AHL pattern which has never been identified in P. chlororaphis. In contrast to other isolates of this organism, GacA in strain G5 was shown to negatively regulate biofilm formation and oxidative stress response whilst positively regulating cell motility and biosynthesis of indole-3-acetic acid (IAA). To gain a better understanding of the overall impact of GacA in G5, a comparative proteomic analysis was performed revealing that, in addition to some of the traits like phenazine mentioned above, GacA also negatively regulated lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and trehalose biosynthesis whilst having a positive impact on energy metabolism, an effect not previously described in P. chlororaphis. Consequently, GacA regulation shows a differential strain dependency which is likely to be in line with their niche of origin.     

Understanding the Evolution of Multimorbidity: Evidences from the North West Adelaide Health Longitudinal Study (NWAHS)

Objective

The aim of this study is to describe the evolution of multimorbidity.

Study Design and Setting

Data from 1854 South Australians who participated in the North West Adelaide longitudinal Health Study(NWAHS) was collected between baseline (2000–2002) and follow-up (2008–2010). Status for eight chronic diseases (CDs) was determined by biomedical measurement or self-report. Chronic disease (CD) mean age of occurrence and order of appearance was investigated.

Results

The prevalence of multimorbidity increased from 32% to 64% during the 7.8±1.1 years of follow-up. The estimated mean age of onset of a new CD was significantly older for hypertension, cardiovascular disease (CVD) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and younger for hypercholesterolemia, asthma and other mental problem. Hypercholesterolemia was more likely to develop as a first than as a subsequent CD (39%vs.16%, p<0.0001) while CVD (1%vs.5%, p<0.0001), diabetes (5%vs.11%, p<0.001) and COPD (6%vs.16%, p<0.0001) were less likely. The presence of mood disorders at baseline was associated with an increased risk of developing other mental disorders (36%vs.12%, p<0.0001), diabetes (18%vs.9%, p<0.01) and asthma (30%vs.21%, p<0.05).

Conclusion

Longitudinal data could be used to study the evolution of multimorbidity and could provide information on CDs mean age of occurrence, order of appearance and impact on the development of future CDs.     

Evolution and history of grapevine (Vitis vinifera) under domestication: new morphometric perspectives to understand seed domestication syndrome and reveal origins of ancient European cultivars

Background and Aims

In spite of the abundance of archaeological, bio-archaeological, historical and genetic data, the origins, historical biogeography, identity of ancient grapevine cultivars and mechanisms of domestication are still largely unknown. Here, analysis of variation in seed morphology aims to provide accurate criteria for the discrimination between wild grapes and modern cultivars and to understand changes in functional traits in relation to the domestication process. This approach is also used to quantify the phenotypic diversity in the wild and cultivated compartments and to provide a starting point for comparing well-preserved archaeological material, in order to elucidate the history of grapevine varieties.

Methods

Geometrical analysis (elliptic Fourier transform method) was applied to grapevine seed outlines from modern wild individuals, cultivars and well-preserved archaeological material from southern France, dating back to the first to second centuries.

Key Results and Conclusions

Significant relationships between seed shape and taxonomic status, geographical origin (country or region) of accessions and parentage of varieties are highlighted, as previously noted based on genetic approaches. The combination of the analysis of modern reference material and well-preserved archaeological seeds provides original data about the history of ancient cultivated forms, some of them morphologically close to the current ‘Clairette’ and ‘Mondeuse blanche’ cultivars. Archaeobiological records seem to confirm the complexity of human contact, exchanges and migrations which spread grapevine cultivation in Europe and in Mediterranean areas, and argue in favour of the existence of local domestication in the Languedoc (southern France) region during Antiquity.     

Proof of the indigenous nature of Populus alba L. in the western Mediterranean Basin

Around the western Mediterranean Basin, the ecological status of Populus alba, whether indigenous or introduced, is controversial. This note presents new palaeobotanical data based on analyses of leaf imprints from a travertine formation located in southern France. This travertine presents two levels with Populus alba imprints. The oldest level is dated back by 14C to the Early Holocene, i.e., 8890 +/- 70 BP. This demonstrates that Populus alba is an autochthonous species of the southern-France vegetation, removing speculations reporting that its distribution area was greatly influenced by Roman civilization. Finally, we discuss this new data in regard to other Pleistocene and Holocene deposits circum the Mediterranean Basin and in Europe, where this species was identified.     

The ppuI-rsaL-ppuR quorum-sensing system regulates biofilm formation of Pseudomonas putida PCL1445 by controlling biosynthesis of the cyclic lipopeptides putisolvins I and II

Pseudomonas putida strain PCL1445 produces two cyclic lipopeptides, putisolvin I and putisolvin II, which possess surface tension-reducing abilities and are able to inhibit biofilm formation and to break down existing biofilms of several Pseudomonas spp., including P. aeruginosa. Putisolvins are secreted in the culture medium during growth at late exponential phase, indicating that production is possibly regulated by quorum sensing. In the present study, we identified a quorum-sensing system in PCL1445 that is composed of ppuI, rsaL, and ppuR and shows very high similarity with gene clusters of P. putida strains IsoF and WCS358. Strains with mutations in ppuI and ppuR showed a severe reduction of putisolvin production. Expression analysis of the putisolvin biosynthetic gene in a ppuI background showed decreased expression, which could be complemented by the addition of synthetic 3-oxo-C(10)-N-acyl homoserine lactone (3-oxo-C(10)-AHL) or 3-oxo-C(12)-AHL to the medium. An rsaL mutant overproduces AHLs, and production of putisolvins is induced early during growth. Analysis of biofilm formation on polyvinylchloride showed that ppuI and ppuR mutants produce a denser biofilm than PCL1445, which correlates with decreased production of putisolvins, whereas an rsaL mutant shows a delay in biofilm production, which correlates with early production of putisolvins. The results demonstrate that quorum-sensing signals induce the production of cyclic lipopeptides putisolvin I and II and consequently control biofilm formation by Pseudomonas putida.     

Unambiguous structure of atractyloside and carboxyatractyloside

Atractyloside (ATR) was characterized in 1868 and until now structural studies on diterpenic moiety had been done through the characterization of ATR derivatives; while the glycosidic moiety seemed to be a β-D-glucopyranose a recent crystal structure of the mitochondrial ATP/ADP carrier in complex with CATR showed an α-D-glucopyranose. We decided to re-examine the ATR and CATR structures by crystallographic study of ATR.     

Primary domestication and early uses of the emblematic olive tree: palaeobotanical, historical and molecular evidence from the Middle East

Our knowledge of the origins of olive tree domestication in the Middle East and on the processes governing its extension and persistence in different vegetation types from prehistory through antiquity to modern times derives from diverse sources, spanning the biological sciences to the humanities. Nonetheless, it lacks a robust overview that may lead to floating interpretations. This is especially true in the Middle East, considered as the cradle of agriculture, and where the evolutionary history of this emblematic tree is intertwined with that of civilizations. Olive fruit, oil and wood have been, since Prehistoric times, characteristic products of the lands bordering the Mediterranean Sea. In the domestic economy of these countries, the olive tree gradually became a traditional tree crop since the first oil extraction, through the emergence of regional commerce that accompanied the rise and fall of early Near-Middle Eastern urbanism, until the development of modern trade, with an oil production estimated at circa 3000000 tons per year. The rising importance of the olive tree in human life has turned the tree into an endless source of fascination in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean, a symbol and a sacred tree, widely cited in the Bibles, the Koran, and in ancient literature. Here we argue that advances in radiocarbon chronology, palaeobotany, genetics, and archaeology-history have profoundly refined the history of olive trees in the Middle East. This review shows that the heartland of primary olive domestication must be enlarged to the Levant and not only focus on the Jordan Valley. The domestication of the olive tree is a long and ongoing process, linked to the early production of oil and the development of the olive trade. We also suggest that the olive tree became a particular icon, a sacred tree, during the Biblical period in the Levant.