Cyclooxygenases and lipoxygenases are used by the fungus Podospora anserina to repel nematodes

Oxylipins are secondary messengers used universally in the living world for communication and defense. The paradigm is that they are produced enzymatically for the eicosanoids and non-enzymatically for the isoprostanoids. They are supposed to be degraded into volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and to participate in aroma production. Some such chemicals composed of eight carbons are also envisoned as alternatives to fossil fuels. In fungi, oxylipins have been mostly studied in Aspergilli and shown to be involved in signalling asexual versus sexual development, mycotoxin production and interaction with the host for pathogenic species. Through targeted gene deletions of genes encoding oxylipin-producing enzymes and chemical analysis of oxylipins and volatile organic compounds, we show that in the distantly-related ascomycete Podospora anserina, isoprostanoids are likely produced enzymatically. We show the disappearance in the mutants lacking lipoxygenases and cyclooxygenases of the production of 10-hydroxy-octadecadienoic acid and that of 1-octen-3-ol, a common volatile compound. Importantly, this was correlated with the inability of the mutants to repel nematodes as efficiently as the wild type. Overall, our data show that in this fungus, oxylipins are not involved in signalling development but may rather be used directly or as precursors in the production of odors against potential agressors.

UHPLC‐HRMS/MS Based Profiling of Algerian Lichens and Their Antimicrobial Activities

Lichens are complex symbiotic organisms able to produce a vast array of compounds. The Algerian lichen diversity has only prompted little interest even given the 1085 species listed. Herein, the chemodiversity of four Algerian lichens including Cladonia rangiformis, Ramalina farinaceae, R. fastigiata, and Roccella phycopsis was investigated. A dereplication strategy, using ultra high performance liquid chromatography‐high resolution‐electrospray ionization‐mass spectrometry (UHPLC‐HRMS/MS), was carried out for a comprehensive characterization of their substances including phenolics, depsides, depsidones, depsones, dibenzofurans, and aliphatic acids. Some known compounds were identified for the first time in some species. Additionally, the lichenic extracts were evaluated for their antifungal and antimicrobial activities on human pathogenic strains (Candida albicans, C. glabrata, Aspergillus fumigatus, Staphylococcus aureus, and Escherichia coli). Cyclohexane extracts were found particularly active against human pathogenic fungi with MIC₈₀ values ranging from 8 to 62.5 μg/mL, without cytotoxicity. This study highlights the therapeutic and prophylactic potential of lichenic extracts as antibacterial and antifungal agents.     

The French National Registry of patients with Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy

Background

Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy is a rare inherited neuromuscular disease with an estimated prevalence of 1/20,000 and France therefore harbors about 3000 FSHD patients. With research progress and the development of targeted therapies, patients’ identification through registries can facilitate and improve recruitment in clinical trials and studies.

Results

The French National Registry of FSHD patients was designed as a mixed model registry involving both patients and physicians, through self-report and clinical evaluation questionnaires respectively, to collect molecular and clinical data. Because of the limited number of patients, data quality is a major goal of the registry and various automatic data control features have been implemented in the bioinformatics system. In parallel, data are manually validated by molecular and clinical curators. Since its creation in 2013, data from 638 FSHD patients have been collected, representing about 21% of the French FSHD population. The mixed model strategy allowed to collect 59.1% of data from both patients and clinicians; 26 and 14.9% from respectively patients and clinicians only. With the identification of the FSHD1 and FSHD2 forms, specific questionnaires have been designed. Though FSHD2 patients are progressively included, FSHD1 patients still account for the majority (94.9%). The registry is compatible with the FAIR principles as data are Findable, Accessible and Interoperable. We thus used molecular standards and standardized clinical terms used by the FILNEMUS French network of reference centers for the diagnosis and follow-up of patients suffering from a rare neuromuscular disease. The implemented clinical terms mostly map to dictionaries and terminology systems such as SNOMED-CT (75% of terms), CTV3 (61.7%) and NCIt (53.3%). Because of the sensitive nature of data, they are not directly reusable and can only be accessed as aggregated data after evaluation and approval by the registry oversight committee.

Conclusions

The French National Registry of FSHD patients belongs to a national effort to develop databases, which should now interact with other initiatives to build a European and/or an international FSHD virtual registry for the benefits of patients. It is accessible at www.fshd.fr and various useful information, links, and documents, including a video, are available for patients and professionals.

     

Structural and functional mapping of geosigmeta in Atlantic coastal marshes (France) using a satellite time series

Geosynphytosociology deals with the study of combinations of vegetation series – or geosigmeta – within landscape. Its main advantage is to assess conservation status based on vegetation dynamics. However, this field-based approach has not been widely applied, because local surveys are not representative of spatio-temporal landscape complexity, which leads to uncertainties and errors for geosigmeta structural and functional mapping. In this context, satellite time series appear as relevant data for monitoring vegetation dynamics. This article aims to assess the contribution of an annual satellite time series for geosigmeta structural and functional mapping. The study area, which focuses on the French Atlantic coast (4630 km²), includes salt, brackish, sub-brackish and fresh marshes. A structural vegetation map was derived from the classification of an annual time series of 38 MODIS images validated with field surveys. The functional vegetation map was derived from the annual Integral of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI-I), as an indicator of above-ground net primary production. Results show that geosigmeta were successfully mapped at a scale of 1:250,000 with an overall accuracy of 82.9%. The geosigmeta functional map highlights a strong gradient from the lowest NDVI-I values in salt marshes to the highest values in fresh marshes.     

Complete and rapid reversal of the body color pattern in juveniles of the convict surgeonfish Acanthurus triostegus at Moorea Island (French Polynesia)

Coral Reefs - Color polymorphism is widespread in animals and can be associated with temporary adjustments to environmental variables (phenotypic plasticity). In teleost fishes, one of the most...     

Microbiome Influences Prenatal and Adult Microglia in a Sex-Specific Manner

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Available Light: Anthropological Reflections on Philosophical Topics

Available Light: Anthropological Reflections on Philosophical Topics. Clifford Geertz. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000. 27 lpp.     

Evaluation of prognostic factors following flow-cytometric DNA analysis after cytokeratin labelling: I. Breast cancer.

In gynecologic oncology valid prognostic factors are necessary to estimate the course of disease and to define biologically similar subgroups for analysis of therapeutic efficacy. The presented study is a prospective study concerning prognostic significance of DNA ploidy and S-phase fraction in breast cancer following enrichment of tumor cells by cytokeratin labelling. Epithelial cells were labeled by FITC-conjugated cytokeratin antibody (CK 5, 6, 8, and CK 17) prior to flow cytometric cell cycle analysis in 327 fresh specimens of primary breast cancer. Univariate analysis in breast cancer detected the prognostic significance of DNA-ploidy, S-phase fraction and CV (coefficient of variation) of G(0)G(1)-peak of tumor cells for clinical outcome, especially for nodal-negative patients. Multivariate analysis could not confirm prognostic evidence of DNA-ploidy and S-phase fraction.In conclusion, in breast cancer no clinical significance for determination of DNA-parameters was found.