Casearia Essential Oil: An Updated Review on the Chemistry and Pharmacological Activities

Casearia species are found in the America, Africa, Asia, and Australia and present pharmacological activities, besides their traditional uses. Here, we reviewed the chemical composition, content, pharmacological activities, and toxicity of the essential oils (EOs) from Casearia species. The EO physical parameters and leaf botanical characteristics were also described. The bioactivities of the EOs from the leaves and their components include cytotoxicity, anti-inflammatory, antiulcer, antimicrobial, antidiabetic, antioxidant, antifungal, and antiviral activities. The main components associated with these activities are the α-zingiberene, (E)-caryophyllene, germacrene D, bicyclogermacrene, spathulenol, α-humulene, β-acoradiene, and δ-cadinene. Data on the toxicity of these EOs are scarce in the literature. Casearia sylvestris Sw. is the most studied species, presenting more significant pharmacological potential. The chemical variability of EOs components was also investigated for this species. Caseria EOs have relevant pharmacological potential and must be further investigated and exploited.     

BLOEM: A spatially explicit model of bioenergy and carbon capture and storage,applied to Brazil

Bioenergy could play a major role in decarbonizing energy systems in the context of the Paris Agreement. Large-scale bioenergy deployment could be related to sustainability issues and requires major infrastructure investments. It, therefore, needs to be studied carefully. The Bioenergy and Land Optimization Spatially Explicit Model (BLOEM) presented here allows for assessing different bioenergy pathways while encompassing various dimensions that influence their optimal deployment. In this study, BLOEM was applied to the Brazilian context by coupling it with the Brazilian Land Use and Energy Systems (BLUES) model. This allowed investigating the most cost-effective ways of attending future bioenergy supply projections and studying the role of recovered degraded pasture lands in improving land availability in a sustainable and competitive manner. The results show optimizing for limiting deforestation and minimizing logistics costs results in different outcomes. It also indicates that recovering degraded pasture lands is attractive from both logistics and climate perspectives. The systemic approach of BLOEM provides spatial results, highlighting the trade-offs between crop allocation, land use and the logistics dynamics between production, conversion, and demand, providing valuable insights for regional and national climate policy design. This makes it a useful tool for mapping sustainable bioenergy value chain pathways.     

Parasitism, developmental plasticity and bilateral asymmetry of wing feathers in alpine swift, Apus melba, nestlings

The hypothesis that developmental instability is a cost of developmental plasticity is explored using the alpine swift ( Apus melba ) as a model organism. In a previous study, experimentally parasitized nestlings showed a reduced wing growth rate in the first half of the rearing period when parasites were abundant (i.e. peak infestation) and an accelerated growth rate (i.e. compensatory growth) in the second half when parasites decreased in number. This suggests that alpine swifts are able to adjust growth rate in relation to variation in parasite loads. Because developmental plasticity may entail fitness costs, the energy required to sustain compensatory growth may be invested at the expense of developmental stability, potentially resulting in larger deviations from symmetry in paired, bilateral traits (i.e. fluctuating asymmetry, FA). This hypothesis predicts higher FA in parasitized than deparasitized nestlings because of compensatory growth, and hence individuals sustaining the highest level of compensatory growth rate should exhibit the highest FA levels. Another non-mutually exclusive hypothesis argues that parasites directly cause FA by diverting energy required by host for maintenance and growth, and predicts that individuals suffering the most from parasitism during peak infestation should exhibit the highest FA levels. The present study shows that wing feathers of experimentally parasitized nestlings were more asymmetrical than those of experimentally deparasitized ones 50 days after hatching. Furthermore, in parasitized individuals FA was negatively correlated with wing growth rate during the period of peak infestation but not during the period of compensatory growth. These findings suggest that developmental homeostasis is more sensitive to parasites than to compensatory growth.     

Geographic variation in sexual dimorphism in the barn owl Tyto alba: a role for direct selection or genetic correlation?

Geographic variation in sexually selected traits is commonly attributed to geographic variation in the net benefit accrued from bearing such traits. Although natural and sexual selection are potentially important in shaping geographic variation, genetic constraints may also play a role. Although a genetic correlation between two traits may itself be the outcome of natural or sexual selection, it may indirectly reinforce the establishment and maintenance of cline variation with respect to one particular trait when across the cline different values of other traits are selected. Using the barn owl Tyto alba, a species in which the plumage of females is more reddish‐brown and more marked with black spots than that of males, I report results that are consistent with the hypothesis that both direct selection and genetic constraints may help establish and maintain cline variation in sexual dichromatism. In this species, inter‐individual variation in plumage coloration and spottiness has a genetic basis, and these traits are not sensitive to the environment. Data, based on the measurement of skin specimens, is consistent with the hypothesis that the stronger European cline variation in male spottiness than in female spottiness depends on the combined effects of (1) the similar cline variation in male and female plumage coloration and (2) the more intense phenotypic correlation between plumage coloration and spottiness in males (darker birds are more heavily spotted in the two sexes, but especially males) which is a general feature among the globally distributed barn owls. In northern Europe, male and female T. a. guttata are reddish‐brown and heavily spotted, and in southern Europe male and female T. a. alba are white, but only females display many spots. Here, I discuss the relative importance of direct selection, genetic correlation and the post‐ice age invasion of Europe by T. alba, in generating sex‐specific cline variation in plumage spottiness and non‐sex‐specific cline variation in plumage coloration.     

Do NOE distances contain enough information to assess the relative populations of multi-conformer structures?

Summary The feasibility of determining the relative populations of multi-conformer structures from NOE-derived distances alone is assessed. Without cross-validation of the NOE restraints, any population ratio can be refined to a similar quality of the fit. Complete cross-validation provides a less biased measure of fit and allows the estimation of the correct population ratio when used in conjunction with very tight distance restraints. With the qualitative distance restraints most commonly used in NMR structure determination, cross-validation is unsuccessful in providing the correct answer. Other experimental sources are therefore needed to determine relative populations of multi-conformer structures.To whom correspondence should be addressed.     

Magnesium Adenosine 5[prime]-Triphosphate-Energized Transport of Glutathione-S-Conjugates by Plant Vacuolar Membrane Vesicles

By characterization of the uptake of glutathione-S-conjugates, principally dinitrophenyl-S-glutathione (DNP-GS), by vacuolar membrane vesicles, we demonstrate that a subset of energy-dependent transport processes in plants are not H+-coupled but instead are directly energized by MgATP. The most salient features of this transport pathway are: (a) its specific, obligate requirement for MgATP as energy source; (b) the necessity for hydrolysis of the [gamma]-phosphate of MgATP for uptake; (c) the insensitivity of uptake to uncouplers of the transtonoplast H+ gradient (carbonylcyanide 4-trifluoromethoxyphenylhydrazone, gramicidin-D, and NH4Cl); (d) its pronounced sensitivity to vanadate and partial inhibition by vinblastine and verapamil; (e) the lack of chemical modification of DNP-GS either during or after transport; (f) the capacity of S-conjugates of chloroacetanilide herbicides, such as metolachlor-GS, but not free herbicide, to inhibit uptake; and (g) the ability of vacuolar membrane vesicles purified from a broad range of plant species, including Arabidopsis, Beta, Vigna, and Zea, to mediate MgATP-dependent, H+-electrochemical potential difference-independent DNP-GS uptake. On the basis of these findings it is proposed that the transport of DNP-GS across the vacuolar membrane of plant cells is catalyzed by a glutathione-conjugate transporter that directly employs MgATP rather than the energy contained in the transtonoplast H+-electrochemical potential difference to drive uptake. The broad distribution of the vacuolar DNP-GS transporter and its inhibition by metolachlor-GS are consistent with the notion that it plays a general role in the vacuolar sequestration of glutathione-conjugable cytotoxic agents.     

Hydrogen Peroxide Induces a Long-Lasting Inhibition of the Ca2+-Dependent Glutamate Release in Cerebrocortical Synaptosomes Without Interfering with Cytosolic Ca2+

Abstract: We studied the action of H₂O₂ on the exocytosis of glutamate by cerebrocortical synaptosomes. The treatment of synaptosomes with H₂O₂ (50–150 µ M ) for a few minutes results in a long-lasting depression of the Ca²⁺-dependent exocytosis of glutamate, induced by KCl or by the K⁺-channel inhibitor 4-aminopyridine. The energy state of synaptosomes, as judged by the level of phosphocreatine and the ATP/ADP ratio, was not affected by H₂O₂, although a transient decrease was observed after the treatment. H₂O₂ did not promote peroxidation, as judged by the formation of malondialdehyde. In indo-1-loaded synaptosomes, the treatment with H₂O₂ did not modify significantly the KCl-induced increase of [Ca²⁺]_i. H₂O₂ inhibited exocytosis also when the latter was induced by increasing [Ca²⁺]_i with the Ca²⁺ ionophore ionomycin. The effects of H₂O₂ were unchanged in the presence of superoxide dismutase and the presence of the Fe³⁺ chelator deferoxamine. These results appear to indicate that H₂O₂, apparently without damaging the synaptosomes, induces a long-lasting inhibition of the exocytosis of glutamate by acting directly on the exocytotic process.     

The application of robotics and mass spectrometry to the characterisation of the Drosophila melanogaster indirect flight muscle proteome

The rapid accumulation of sequence data generated by the various genome sequencingprojects and the generation of expressed sequence tag databases has resulted in the need forthe development of fast and sensitive methods for the identification and characterisation oflarge numbers of gel electrophoretically separated proteins to translate the sequence data intobiological function. To achieve this goal it has been necessary to devise new approaches toprotein analysis: matrix-assisted laser desorption and electrospray mass spectrometry havebecome important protein analytical tools which are both fast and sensitive. When combinedwith a robotic system for the in-gel digestion of electrophoretically separated proteins, itbecomes possible to rapidly identify many proteins by searching databases with MS data. Thepower of this combination of techniques is demonstrated by an analysis of the proteins presentin the myofibrillar lattice of the indirect flight muscle of Drosophila melanogaster. Theproteins were separated by SDS-PAGE and in-gel proteolysis was performed bothautomatically and manually. All 16 major proteins could quickly be identified by massspectrometry. Although most of the protein components were known to be present in theflight muscle, two new components were also identified. The combination of methodsdescribed offers a means for the rapid identification of large numbers of gel separatedproteins.     

Effects of X-irradiation induced loss of cerebellar granule cells on the synaptosomal levels and the high affinity uptake of amino acids.

Abstract— Crude synaptosomal (P₂) preparations were obtained from the cerebella of rats in which the granule cell population had been selectively reduced by X-irradiation treatment and from the cerebella of control animals. In the P₂ fraction from control cerebella, the level of glutamate was greater than any other of the 5 amino acids measured and was 2-fold higher than taurine, which was present at the next highest level. The content of taurine was slightly higher than that found for aspartate and was 3-fold greater than that observed for GABA. Alanine and glycine were present in the lowest amounts. The levels of glutamate and aspartate were significantly (P < 0.05) lower by 25 and 15%, respectively, in the P₂ fraction isolated from the X-irradiated cerebella in comparison to control values. The content of taurine, GABA, glycine, and alanine were not changed by the X-irradiation treatment. The uptake of 1.0 μm -l -[³H]glutamate and l -[³H]aspartate was reduced approx 20% by X-irradiation treatment, whereas the uptake of 1.0 μm -[³H]GABA and [³H]taurine was unchanged. A more detailed kinetic analysis of l -[³H]glutamate uptake revealed there was a 20% decrease in the V_max value with X-irradiation treatment and no change in the apparent K_m value. In a second study, the uptake of l -[³H]glutamate, l -[³H]aspartate and [³H]GABA was measured using P₂ fractions obtained from the cerebella of rats in which the population of granule, stellate and basket cells had been reduced by X-irradiation treatment. The uptake of 1.0μm -l -[³H]glutamate, l -[³H]aspartate and [³H]GABA was significantly (P < 0.05) reduced to 57, 68, and 59%, respectively, of control values. A more detailed kinetic analysis of [³H]GABA uptake revealed no significant change in the apparent K_m and a 35% decrease in the V_max value. The data are discussed in terms of glutamate being the excitatory neurotransmitter released from granule cells and GABA being the inhibitory neurotransmitter released from basket cells.