Genetic diversity and population structure of a large collection of Magnaporthe oryzae isolates from italian rice field

Blast, caused by the filamentous ascomycete fungus Magnaporthe oryzae , is the most severe disease of rice worldwide, causing yield loss to rice cultivation up to 50 - 70%. To investigate rice - Magnaporthe interaction is crucial to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying durable blast resistance and establish improved rice protection strategies. However, durable resistance is a difficult task to achieve due to the high degree of pathogenic variability of host populations and large number of fungal races co - existing.. The study of the genetic diversity and definition of the structure of existing populations are necessary to overcome this hurdle and identify new virulent genotypes. Therefore, the development of robust and reliable molecular markers allowing to monitor the dynamics of Magnaporthe populations is a crucial goal to design strategies for rice blast control. During the last 20 years, the diversity and structure of M. oryzae populati ons on rice were described using different molecular techniques such as RFLP, rep - PCR markers, RAPD or AFLP. Simple Sequence Repeat (SSR) has become the most popular marker system used in genetic mapping, diversity studies and pedigree analysis, since are highly informative and highly reproducible. SSR have been only recently developed to analyze Magnaporthe genetic diversity, but studies have been carried out only at European or worldwide scale. The main goal of this study was to investigate the genetic di versity of Italian Magnaporthe oryzae strains to implement national rice breeding program for durable resistance towards blast population inhabiting Italian ricegrowing areas. To this aim, in the framework of the RISINNOVA project we created a large Magnap orthe collection constituted of 293 Italian strains isolated in the period 1998 - 2011, different locations in Italy and plant organs. To classify the biodiversity of RISINNOVA Magnaporthe collection a molecular characterization was carried out by a set of selected informative SSR and p reliminary results of the phylogenetic analyses will be presented. (Texte Intégral

A pilot study on the effects of probiotic supplementation on neuropsychological performance and microRNA-29a-c levels in antiretroviral-treated HIV-1-infected patients

The gut microbiota is involved in the regulation of cognition, mood, anxiety, and pain, and can impact cognitive functions by producing neuroactive substances or releasing bacterial by-products and metabolites. No information is available on the effects of a probiotic supplementation on brain function of HIV+ subjects. In light of the above considerations, we performed a pilot study in cART-treated HIV-1-positive patients with long-term virologic suppression. The aims were to analyze the effect of high-concentration multistrain probiotic supplementation (Vivomixx®; Visbiome®) on several neurocognitive abilities and to evaluate the safety of this supplementation

Conservation of core complex subunits shaped the structure and function of photosystem I in the secondary endosymbiont alga Nannochloropsis gaditana

Photosystem I (PSI) is a pigment protein complex catalyzing the light-driven electron transport from plastocyanin to ferredoxin in oxygenic photosynthetic organisms. Several PSI subunits are highly conserved in cyanobacteria, algae and plants, whereas others are distributed differentially in the various organisms. Here we characterized the structural and functional properties of PSI purified from the heterokont alga Nannochloropsis gaditana, showing that it is organized as a supercomplex including a core complex and an outer antenna, as in plants and other eukaryotic algae. Differently from all known organisms, the N. gaditana PSI supercomplex contains five peripheral antenna proteins, identified by proteome analysis as type-R light-harvesting complexes (LHCr4-8). Two antenna subunits are bound in a conserved position, as in PSI in plants, whereas three additional antennae are associated with the core on the other side. This peculiar antenna association correlates with the presence of PsaF/J and the absence of PsaH, G and K in the N. gaditana genome and proteome. Excitation energy transfer in the supercomplex is highly efficient, leading to a very high trapping efficiency as observed in all other PSI eukaryotes, showing that although the supramolecular organization of PSI changed during evolution, fundamental functional properties such as trapping efficiency were maintained

Differential effects of nitrogen and sulfur deprivation on growth and biodiesel feedstock production of chlamydomonas reinhardtii

Cataloged from PDF version of article.Biodiesel production from microalgae is a promising approach for energy production; however, high cost of its process limits the use of microalgal biodiesel. Increasing the levels of triacylglycerol (TAG) levels, which is used as a biodiesel feedstock, in microalgae has been achieved mainly by nitrogen starvation. In this study, we compared effects of sulfur (S) and nitrogen (N) starvation on TAG accumulation and related parameters in wild-type Chlamydomonas reinhardtii CC-124 mt(-) and CC-125 mt(+) strains. Cell division was interrupted, protein and chlorophyll levels rapidly declined while cell volume, total neutral lipid, carotenoid, and carbohydrate content increased in response to nutrient starvation. Cytosolic lipid droplets in microalgae under nutrient starvation were monitored by three-dimensional confocal laser imaging of live cells. Infrared spectroscopy results showed that relative TAG, oligosaccharide and polysaccharide levels increased rapidly in response to nutrient starvation, especially S starvation. Both strains exhibited similar levels of regulation responses under mineral deficiency, however, the degree of their responses were significantly different, which emphasizes the importance of mating type on the physiological response of algae. Neutral lipid, TAG, and carbohydrate levels reached their peak values following 4 days of N or S starvation. Therefore, 4 days of N or S starvation provides an excellent way of increasing TAG content. Although increase in these parameters was followed by a subsequent decline in N-starved strains after 4 days, this decline was not observed in S-starved ones, which shows that S starvation is a better way of increasing TAG production of C. reinhardtii than N starvation. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2012; 109:19471957. (c) 2012 Wiley Periodicals, In

The use of hydrothermal carbonization to recycle nutrients in algal biofuel production

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/100324/1/ep11812.pd

Systemic sclerosis-associated severe gastric antral vascular ectasia treated with tocilizumab:A case report and review of the literature

Gastric antral vascular ectasia is a frequent and potentially severe complication of systemic sclerosis. Management is presently limited to supportive care, acid suppression and endoscopic treatment. Many cases of gastric antral vascular ectasia tend to be refractory or partially responsive to standard treatment and require multiple endoscopic procedures to control the recurrent bleeding. Immunosuppression is not part of the recommended management of gastric antral vascular ectasia: limited data exist on the role of cyclophosphamide or autologous stem cell transplant in severe cases, but no prospective data or randomised controlled trial supports its routine use. Here, we present a case of an adult male patient with diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis complicated by arthritis and severe gastric antral vascular ectasia. The latter required multiple endoscopic procedures and remained transfusion-dependent. Due to progressive skin disease and active arthritis refractory to conventional synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs, the patient was started on tocilizumab. While he showed an early response in terms of scores related to skin involvement and arthritis, response to gastric antral vascular ectasia was unexpected. As soon as the biologic therapy was started, the patient was no longer transfusion-dependent and haemoglobin levels started to rise. Subsequent endoscopic investigations confirmed resolution of gastric antral vascular ectasia. This case is illustrative of an unexpected response to tocilizumab, and this observation is supported by the biological rationale of interleukin-6 in vascular remodelling