Genetic Diversity and Population Structure Analyses of Wild Relatives and Cultivated Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.) from Senegal Using Simple Sequence Repeat Markers

Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.)) is an important crop for food security in Senegal; therefore, understanding the genetic diversity of local germplasm is relevant for crop improvement and genetic maintenance in the era of climate change. For this purpose, 15 microsatellite markers were used to estimate the genetic diversity of Senegalese cowpea germplasm, including 671 accessions grown in eight regions and 66 wild relatives and intermediate forms (weedy). For the cultivated, the main expected heterozygosity (mHe) ranged between 0.317 (Fatick) and 0.439 (South). A narrow genetic variation between accessions from the different regions was observed with genetic similarity ranging from 0.861 to 0.965 and genetic differentiation indices (Fst) between 0.018 and 0.100. The accessions from southern Senegal (Kédougou, Sédhiou, and Kolda regions) are more diverse than the others. However, the accessions from the North (Saint-Louis) are genetically different from other regions. The diversity analysis in wild relatives from Senegal, which had never been performed before, revealed that the wild/weedy forms remain more diverse than the cultivated with genetic diversity values (He) of 0.389 and 0.480, respectively. STRUCTURE software divided the Senegalese germplasm into five subpopulations. Three of them (i, ii, and iii) included only cultivated accessions from several regions, one (v) mainly from Saint-Louis, and one (iv) the wild/weedy with some cultivated accessions. Our results support the hypothesis that Vigna unguiculata var. spontanea is the wild progenitor of cowpea. The accessions from the South, the northern recession accessions, and the wild/weedy could serve as sources of new genes for the genetic improvement of cowpea in Senegal.

     

Correction to: Managing biological invasions: the cost of inaction

Biological Invasions -     

Introduction pathways of economically costly invasive alien species

Biological Invasions - Introduction pathways play a pivotal role in the success of Invasive Alien Species (IAS)—the subset of alien species that have a negative environmental and/or...     

Panleucogating as an accurate and affordable flow cytometric protocol to analyse lymphocyte subsets among HIV-positive patients on HAART treatment in Mozambique

In Africa tens of millions of people are HIV+. Prevention alone is not effective, and needs to be coupled with anti-retroviral treatment (HAART). Laboratory tests as CD4+ T cell count are fundamental tools in HIV disease monitoring, but they require costly equipment, reagents and specialised manpower. The goal of this study was to minimise and optimise the reagents needed for a reliable routine CD4+ cell count in a resource-poor setting (Mozambique). Panleucogating protocol (PLG), requires two antibodies only, CD45 and CD4, or three if CD8 is requested for special clinical reasons. PLG was compared with the current protocol used in two Mozambique hospitals, based on FSC/SSC gating and CD3/CD4/CD8 staining. 189 samples from HIV+ patients, included in the Community of Sant'Egidio's DREAM program and on HAART were processed with both protocols. The overall correlation of the lymphocyte subsets measurements was satisfactory, with r2 always >0.96. The Bland-Altman analysis of CD4+ cell count showed a negative bias when CD4+ cells were <15%, due to the imprecise FSC/SSC gating used previously. When CD4+ cells were >15% the negative bias tended to zero, further confirming the better quality of the PLG gating strategy. Two- or three color PLG protocol, in double platform, currently seems the most accurate and affordable method to monitor CD4+ lymphocytes and CD4/CD8 ratio by flow cytometry in resource-poor medical settings.     

Lésions des organes génitaux externes par arme a feu: a propos de six observations

Patients and Methods

This is a retrospective study of patients admitted with gunshot injuries to the external genital organs to the urology departments of Aristide Le Dantec Hospital, Grand Yoff General Hospital and Dakar Principal Hospital, between January 1998 and January 2003. The following parameters were studied: patients’ age and gender, interval between accident and admission, clinical features, complementary investigations and treatment, and early and late outcomes.

Results

Only males were observed and the mean age of these patients was 37.7 years (range: 22–52 years). Lesions were accidental in five cases. Two cases of testicular wounds, two cases of corpus cavernosum injuries, two cases of urethral injury, and one case of perineal wound were observed. After excision of the lesions, complementary procedures consisted of: orchidectomy in two cases, corpus cavernosum — albuginea suture in two cases and end-to-end urethral suture in one case. Perineoscrotal wounds were sutured three days after debridement. All patients received antibiotics and antitetanus serum. No death was observed during the immediate follow-up. No case of urethral stricture or erectile dysfunction was observed with a follow-up of 18 months. Semen analysis was normal in the two cases of orchidectomy.     

Aspects cliniques, biologiques et thérapeutiques de la cryptorchidie diagnostiquée à l’âge adulte: analyse d’une série de 69 cas

Objective

To report the clinical, biological and therapeutic features of adult cryptorchidism and to determine whether orchidopexy at adulthood may improve male fertility.

Material and methods

We retrospectively studied the clinical pattern, biological and therapeutic features of 69 men aged of more than 18 years admitted for cryptorchidism at the urological department of Aristide-Le-Dantec teaching hospital between January 1999 and December 2007.

Results

The mean age of our patients was 31.04 ± 8.4 years. In the majority of cases, cryptorchidism was diagnosed in a context of infertility (38 cases), scrotum vacancy (21 cases) and testicular cancer (six cases). Cryptorchidism was unilateral in 69.5% and bilateral in 30.4% of cases. Semen analyses were done for 60 patients and showed azoospermia in 46.6%, oligozoospermia in 38.3% and a normal sperm count in 15% of cases. In all bilateral cryptorchidism cases, semen analyses showed azoospermia. At surgery, the undescended testis was found in 66 cases (95.6%) and orchidopexy was the most done surgical procedure. Seven patients (without testicular cancer) underwent unilateral orchiectomy and histology of specimens showed sertoli-cell-only syndrome with no spermatogenesis in all cases. The histological type of testicular cancer was seminoma (three cases) and embryonic carcinoma (three cases). In azoospermic men (28 cases) no induction of spermatogenesis was achieved after orchidopexy. In infertile patients, the improvement of sperm count was seen in three patients with unilateral cryptorchidism. Three patients with unilateral crytorchidism achieved pregnancy (pregnancy rate of 7.8%).

Conclusion

Orchidopexy for adult cryptorcidism had little impact in male fertility. Because of the risk of testicular cancer, orchidectomy was recommended as treatment of unilateral cryptorchidism. But with the recent development of TESE, orchidopexy appears as a reasonable treatment of adult cryptorchidism.     

Paxillin-associated focal adhesion involvement in perinatal pulmonary arterial remodelling.

Birth is followed by remodelling of the actin cytoskeleton of pulmonary arterial smooth muscle cells, then by extracellular matrix deposition. Hypothesising that the cell/matrix adhesions would also be remodelled, we investigated the expression, localisation and biochemical characteristics of the focal adhesion protein paxillin in vivo, in vessels from normal and pulmonary hypertensive neonatal piglets. Initially we showed that in intact porcine pulmonary arteries exposed to cytochalasin D there was a reduction filamentous actin accompanied by a reduction in paxillin-associated focal adhesions, similar to that seen in cultured pulmonary arterial smooth muscle cells. Vessels from normal and hypoxic animals were found to have two isoforms of paxillin, of 60 and 66 kDa with pI values of 6.7-4.2. Transient changes occurred during the first 14 days of life. Between birth and 6 days there was a reduction in the amount of both paxillin isoforms, a shift to more acidic pI values and an increase in paxillin phosphorylation. Simultaneously, immunostaining showed a transient reduction in paxillin expression, a change temporally and spatially associated with a previously demonstrated reduction in actin. Findings are consistent with an immediate postnatal spatial reorganisation of paxillin-associated focal adhesions. Paxillin content and remodelling was abnormal in pulmonary hypertensive arteries, the response varying according to postnatal age.