Differentiation of junin virus and antigenic variants isolated in vivo by kinetic neutralization assays

The major natural reservoir of Junin virus, the aetiological agent of Argentine haemorrhagic fever, is the cricetid Calomys musculinus. Neonatal animals experimentally infected with Junin virus (XJCl3 strain) developed typical disease and approximately 80% of them died. Most survivors become persistently infected. Antigenically variant viruses were isolated from the blood and brain of infected cricetids during the acute and chronic stages of the disease. These variants could be distinguished from the parental strain by kinetic neutralization assays using polyclonal antibodies. Some biological properties were shared with the parental virus strain including its virulence for newborn C. musculinus. These variant viruses may play a major role in chronic disease since we have shown that a viral isolate from an infected brain was poorly neutralized by serum obtained from the same animal.Fil:Alche, L.E. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina.Fil:Coto, C.E. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina

Poly-extremophiles: exploring the limits of habitability

Brevibacterium linens AE038-8 is an arsenic hyper-tolerant bacterial strain, previously isolated from well water in Tucumán, Argentina. The aim of this study is to investigate the resistance of this strain to different stress factors relevant for astrobiology studies. We found that B. linens AE038-8 is capable of tolerating high concentrations of heavy metals such as Cd(II), Cr(VI) and Cu(II), and a range of temperatures from 10 to 30°C. It is also able to grow in the range of pH values from 3 to 11, and when grown in the presence of NaCl, it can tolerate concentrations up to 5 M. We also study the ability of the strain to grow under combined stress conditions. In particular, we found that it is able to grow under high NaCl concentrations and low pH, conditions relevant to the habitability of brines in Mars.Fil: Maizel, Daniela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Astronomía y Física del Espacio. - Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Astronomía y Física del Espacio; ArgentinaFil: Alche, Laura Edith. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Química Biológica; ArgentinaFil: Mauas, Pablo Jacobo David. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Astronomía y Física del Espacio. - Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Astronomía y Física del Espacio; Argentin

Infección experimental de Calomys musculinus, reservorio natural del virus Junín : aislamiento y caracterización de variantes antigénicas

Fil: Alche, Laura Edith. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina

Likelihood of suffering from an eating disorder in a sample of Spanish cyclists and triathletes

Background: During recent years, there has been increasing interest in the study of eating disorders within sports practitioners, with prevalence being reported to be higher than in the general population. The aim of this study was to describe and predict eating disorders according to sex, body mass index, age and sport discipline within a sample of athletes. Methods: A sample of 4037 cyclists and triathletes from across Spain was selected. Athletes self-reported demographic characteristics and completed the revised restraint scale, SCOFF questionnaire and Mediterranean diet adherence screener. To be eligible for inclusion, participants had to be over eighteen years old. Results: Males were significantly less likely than females (p < 0.001; OR = 0.33), and triathletes (p < 0.01; OR = 0.76) were less likely than cyclists to suffer from an eating disorder. Possibility of suffering from an eating disorder increased with increasing body mass index (p < 0.001; OR = 1.38) and decreasing age (p < 0.001; OR = 0.97). Conclusion: Findings suggest that the roles of sex, sport discipline, age and body mass index predict risk factors for eating disorders in a sample of Spanish athletes. Clinical diagnosis seems necessary to better understand the factors and mechanisms at play when Spanish athletes develop an eating disorder. Trial registration: Ethics Committee of the University of Granada (N°883) data: 16/11/2015

Systematic and Phylogenetic Analysis of the Ole e 1 Pollen Protein Family Members in Plants

16 páginas, 2 figuras, 1 tabla.Support of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (ERDF-cofinanced project BFU2008-00629) and Andalusian Regional Government (ERDF-cofinanced Proyectos de Excelencia CVI5767 and AGR6274) is gratefully acknowledged.Peer reviewe

Identification and functional annotation of genes differentially expressed in the reproductive tissues of the olive tree (Olea europaea L.) through the generation of subtractive libraries

The olive tree is a crop of high socio-economical importance in the Mediterranean area. Sexual reproduction in this plant is an essential process, which determines the yield. Successful fertilization is mainly favored and sometimes needed of the presence of pollen grains from a different cultivar as the olive seizes a self-incompatibility system allegedly determined of the sporophytic type. The purpose of the present study was to identify key gene products involved in the function of olive pollen and pistil, in order to help elucidate the events and signaling processes, which happen during the courtship, pollen grain germination, and fertilization in olive. The use of subtractive SSH libraries constructed using, on the one hand one specific stage of the pistil development with germinating pollen grains, and on the other hand mature pollen grains may help to reveal the specific transcripts involved in the cited events. Such libraries have also been created by subtracting vegetative mRNAs (from leaves), in order to identify reproductive sequences only. A variety of transcripts have been identified in the mature pollen grains and in the pistil at the receptive stage. Among them, those related to defense, transport and oxidative metabolism are highlighted mainly in the pistil libraries where transcripts related to stress, and response to biotic and abiotic stimulus have a prominent position. Extensive lists containing information as regard to the specific transcripts determined for each stage and tissue are provided, as well as functional classifications of these gene products. Such lists were faced up to two recent datasets obtained in olive after transcriptomic and genomic approaches. The sequences and the differential expression level of the SSH-transcripts identified here, highly matched the transcriptomic information. Moreover, the unique presence of a representative number of these transcripts has been validated by means of qPCR approaches. The construction of SSH libraries using pistil and pollen, considering the high interaction between male-female counterparts, allowed the identification of transcripts with important roles in stigma physiology. The functions of many of the transcripts obtained are intimately related, and most of them are of pivotal importance in defense, pollen-stigma interaction and signaling

Aesculus hippocastanum L. seed extract shows virucidal and antiviral activities against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and reduces lung inflammation in vivo

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a leading cause of lower respiratory tract disease and bronchiolitis in children worldwide. No vaccine or specific, effective treatment is currently available. β-escin is one of the main bioactive constituents of Aesculus hippocastanum L. (Hippocastanaceae) seed extract (AH), and both β-escin and AH have demonstrated a beneficial role in clinical therapy because of their anti-edematous, anti-inflammatory and antioxidative effects. Besides, we have reported that β-escin and AH show virucidal, antiviral and immunomodulatory activities against the enveloped viruses HSV-1, VSV and Dengue virus in vitro. In this study, we demonstrate that β-escin and AH have virucidal and antiviral activities against RSV, as well as NF-κB, AP-1 and cytokine modulating activities in RSV infected epithelial and macrophage cell lines in vitro. Besides, in a murine model of pulmonary RSV infection, AH treatment improves the course of acute disease, evidenced by decreased weight loss, reduced RSV lung titers, and attenuated airway inflammation. In contrast, even though β-escin showed, similarly to AH, antiviral and immunomodulatory properties in vitro, it neither reduces viral titers nor attenuates lung injury in vivo. Thus, our data demonstrate that AH restrains RSV disease through antiviral and immunomodulatory effect.Fil: Salinas, Franco Maximiliano. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; ArgentinaFil: Vázquez, Luciana. Dirección Nacional de Instituto de Investigación. Administración Nacional de Laboratorio e Instituto de Salud "Dr. C. G. Malbrán"; ArgentinaFil: Gentilini, Maria Virginia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Medicina Traslacional, Trasplante y Bioingeniería. Fundación Favaloro. Instituto de Medicina Traslacional, Trasplante y Bioingeniería; ArgentinaFil: O´Donohoe, Ailin. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental. Laboratorio de Histología Animal; ArgentinaFil: Regueira, Eleonora. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental. Laboratorio de Histología Animal; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Nabaes Jodar, Mercedes Soledad. Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Hospital General de Niños "Ricardo Gutiérrez"; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Viegas, Mariana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Hospital General de Niños "Ricardo Gutiérrez"; ArgentinaFil: Michelini, Flavia Mariana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; ArgentinaFil: Hermida, Gladys Noemí. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental. Laboratorio de Histología Animal; ArgentinaFil: Alche, Laura Edith. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; ArgentinaFil: Bueno, Carlos Alberto. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentin

First draft genome assembly of the Argane tree (Argania spinosa) [version 2; peer review: 2 approved]

BACKGROUND : The Argane tree (Argania spinosa L. Skeels) is an endemic tree of mid-western Morocco that plays an important socioeconomic and ecologic role for a dense human population in an arid zone. Several studies confirmed the importance of this species as a food and feed source and as a resource for both pharmaceutical and cosmetic compounds. Unfortunately, the argane tree ecosystem is facing significant threats from environmental changes (global warming, over-population) and over-exploitation. Limited research has been conducted, however, on argane tree genetics and genomics, which hinders its conservation and genetic improvement. METHODS : Here, we present a draft genome assembly of A. spinosa. A reliable reference genome of A. spinosa was created using a hybrid de novo assembly approach combining short and long sequencing reads. RESULTS : In total, 144 Gb Illumina HiSeq reads and 7.6 Gb PacBio reads were produced and assembled. The final draft genome comprises 75 327 scaffolds totaling 671 Mb with an N50 of 49 916 kb. The draft assembly is close to the genome size estimated by k-mers distribution and covers 89% of complete and 4.3 % of partial Arabidopsis orthologous groups in BUSCO. CONCLUSION : The A. spinosa genome will be useful for assessing biodiversity leading to efficient conservation of this endangered endemic tree. Furthermore, the genome may enable genome-assisted cultivar breeding, and provide a better understanding of important metabolic pathways and their underlying genes for both cosmetic and pharmacological.DATA AVAILABILITY: All of the A. spinosa datasets can be retrieved under BioProject accession number PRJNA294096: http://identifiers.org/ bioproject:PRJNA294096. The raw reads are available at NCBI Sequence Reads Archive under accession number SRP077839: http://identifiers.org/insdc.sra:SRP077839. The complete genome sequence assembly project has been deposited at GenBank under accession number QLOD00000000: http://identifiers. org/ncbigi/GI:1408199612. Data can also be retrieved via the International Argane Genome Consortium (IAGC) website: http://www.arganome.org.https://f1000research.compm2021BiochemistryGeneticsMicrobiology and Plant Patholog

Nanovesicles Are Secreted during Pollen Germination and Pollen Tube Growth: A Possible Role in Fertilization

Depto. de Bioquímica y Biología MolecularFac. de Ciencias QuímicasTRUEMinisterio de Ciencia e Innovación (Spain)Instituto de Salud Carlos III (Spain)pu

Infección experimental de Calomys musculinus, reservorio natural del virus Junín : aislamiento y caracterización de variantes antigénicas

Fil: Alche, Laura Edith. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina