The ‘root-brain’ hypothesis of Charles and Francis Darwin: Revival after more than 125 years

This year celebrates the 200^th aniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin, best known for his theory of evolution summarized in On the Origin of Species. Less well known is that, in the second half of his life, Darwin’s major scientific focus turned towards plants. He wrote several books on plants, the next-to-last of which, The Power of Movement of Plants, published together with his son Francis, opened plants to a new view. Here we amplify the final sentence of this book in which the Darwins proposed that: “It is hardly an exaggeration to say that the tip of the radicle thus endowed [with sensitivity] and having the power of directing the movements of the adjoining parts, acts like the brain of one of the lower animals; the brain being seated within the anterior end of the body, receiving impressions from the sense-organs, and directing the several movements.” This sentence conveys two important messages: first, that the root apex may be considered to be a ‘brain-like’ organ endowed with a sensitivity which controls its navigation through soil; second, that the root apex represents the anterior end of the plant body. In this article, we discuss both these statements.Key words: auxin, cognition, plant neurobiology, plant tropisms, roots, sensory biology, signaling     

Virally and physically transgenized equine adipose-derived stromal cells as a cargo for paracrine secreted factors

Background  

Adipose-Derived Stromal Cells have been shown to have multiple lineage differentiation properties and to be suitable for tissues regeneration in many degenerative processes. Their use has been proposed for the therapy of joint diseases and tendon injuries in the horse. In the present report the genetic manipulation of Equine Adipose-Derived Stromal Cells has been investigated.     

Porous silicon-based optical microsensor for the detection of L-glutamine

The molecular binding between the glutamine-binding protein (GlnBP) from Escherichia coli and L-glutamine (Gln) is optically transduced by means of a biosensor based on porous silicon nano-technology. The sensor operates by the measurement of the interferometric fringes in the reflectivity spectrum of a porous silicon Fabry-Perot layer. The binding event is revealed as a shift in wavelength of the fringes. Due to the hydrophobic interaction with the Si-H terminated surface of the porous silicon, the GlnBP protein, which acts as a molecular probe for Gln, penetrates and links into the pores of the porous silicon matrix. We can thus avoid any preliminary functionalization process of the porous layer surface, which is also prevented from oxidation, at least for few cycles of wet measurements. The binding of Gln to GlnBP has also been investigated at different concentration of GlnBP.     

Modulation of Alpha-Synuclein Aggregation by Dopamine Analogs

The action of dopamine on the aggregation of the unstructured alpha-synuclein (α-syn) protein may be linked to the pathogenesis of Parkinson''s disease. Dopamine and its oxidation derivatives may inhibit α-syn aggregation by non-covalent binding. Exploiting this fact, we applied an integrated computational and experimental approach to find alternative ligands that might modulate the fibrillization of α-syn. Ligands structurally and electrostatically similar to dopamine were screened from an established library. Five analogs were selected for in vitro experimentation from the similarity ranked list of analogs. Molecular dynamics simulations showed they were, like dopamine, binding non-covalently to α-syn and, although much weaker than dopamine, they shared some of its binding properties. In vitro fibrillization assays were performed on these five dopamine analogs. Consistent with our predictions, analyses by atomic force and transmission electron microscopy revealed that all of the selected ligands affected the aggregation process, albeit to a varying and lesser extent than dopamine, used as the control ligand. The in silico/in vitro approach presented here emerges as a possible strategy for identifying ligands interfering with such a complex process as the fibrillization of an unstructured protein.     

Comparison of five commercial anti-SARS-CoV-2 total antibodies and IgG immunoassays after vaccination with BNT162b2 mRNA

BackgroundSince universal vaccinations represents the most effective strategy to mitigate coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), baseline assessment and post-vaccine monitoring of anti-SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies are essential to vaccination programs. Therefore, this study aimed to compare data of five commercial anti-SARS-CoV2 immunoassays after administration of an mRNA vaccine.MethodsVenous blood was collected from three healthcare workers, receiving a double (30 g) dose of BNT162b2 mRNA Covid-19 vaccine (Comirnaty, Pfizer), on the day of the first vaccine dose and then at fixed intervals for the following 2 months. Anti-SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibody response was assayed with Roche Total Ig anti-RBD (receptor binding domain), DiaSorin TrimericS IgG (spike trimer), Beckman Coulter IgG anti-RBD, SNIBE IgG anti-RBD and Technogenetics IgG anti-N/S1.ResultsA total number of 45 samples were drawn at the end of the 2-month study period. The Spearman''s correlations of absolute anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies were always excellent (all p<0.001), comprised between 0.967-0.994. Satisfactory results were also observed when absolute antiSARS-CoV-2 antibodies values of the five methods were compared with the mean consensus value, with correlations always higher than 0.979 (all p<0.001). The agreement of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies positivity versus the consensus median positivity ranged between 0.764 and 1.000 (always p<0.001), but become always >0.900 after readjustment of one assay cutoff.ConclusionsAll the immunoassays evaluated in this study appear suitable for monitoring anti-SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies response in subjects undergoing mRNA COVID-19 vaccination.