Protective Effect of Oral BCG and Inactivated Mycobacterium bovis Vaccines in European Badgers (Meles meles) Experimentally Infected With M. bovis

In Europe, badgers (Meles meles) are recognized as major tuberculosis (TB) reservoir hosts with the potential to transmit infection to associated cattle herds. Recent studies in Spain have demonstrated that vaccination with a heat-inactivated Mycobacterium bovis vaccine (HIMB) successfully protects captive wild boar and red deer against progressive disease. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of two oral vaccines against TB in a badger model: the live-attenuated M. bovis bacillus Calmette-Guérin BCG vaccine (Danish strain) and a HIMB vaccine. Twenty-four badgers were separated in three treatment groups: oral vaccinated with live BCG (108 CFU, n = 5), oral vaccinated with HIMB (107 CFU, n = 7), and unvaccinated controls (n = 12). All badgers were experimentally infected with M. bovis (103 CFU) by the endobronchial route targeting the right middle lung lobe. Throughout the study, clinical, immunological, pathological, and bacteriological parameters of infection were measured. Both vaccines conferred protection against experimental TB in badger, as measured by a reduction of the severity and lesion volumes. Based on these data, HIMB vaccination appears to be a promising TB oral vaccine candidate for badgers in endemic countries

The GenTree dendroecological collection, tree-ring and wood density data from seven tree species across Europe

The dataset presented here was collected by the GenTree project (EU-Horizon 2020), which aims to improve the use of forest genetic resources across Europe by better understanding how trees adapt to their local environment. This dataset of individual tree-core characteristics including ring-width series and whole-core wood density was collected for seven ecologically and economically important European tree species: silver birch (Betula pendula), European beech (Fagus sylvatica), Norway spruce (Picea abies), European black poplar (Populus nigra), maritime pine (Pinus pinaster), Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris), and sessile oak (Quercus petraea). Tree-ring width measurements were obtained from 3600 trees in 142 populations and whole-core wood density was measured for 3098 trees in 125 populations. This dataset covers most of the geographical and climatic range occupied by the selected species. The potential use of it will be highly valuable for assessing ecological and evolutionary responses to environmental conditions as well as for model development and parameterization, to predict adaptability under climate change scenarios

Available and missing data to model impact of climate change on European forests

Climate change is expected to cause major changes in forest ecosystems during the 21st century and beyond. To assess forest impacts from climate change, the existing empirical information must be structured, harmonised and assimilated into a form suitable to develop and test state-of-the-art forest and ecosystem models. The combination of empirical data collected at large spatial and long temporal scales with suitable modelling approaches is key to understand forest dynamics under climate change. To facilitate data and model integration, we identified major climate change impacts observed on European forest functioning and summarised the data available for monitoring and predicting such impacts. Our analysis of c. 120 forest-related databases (including information from remote sensing, vegetation inventories, dendroecology, palaeoecology, eddy-flux sites, common garden experiments and genetic techniques) and 50 databases of environmental drivers highlights a substantial degree of data availability and accessibility. However, some critical variables relevant to predicting European forest responses to climate change are only available at relatively short time frames (up to 10-20 years), including intra-specific trait variability, defoliation patterns, tree mortality and recruitment. Moreover, we identified data gaps or lack of data integration particularly in variables related to local adaptation and phenotypic plasticity, dispersal capabilities and physiological responses. Overall, we conclude that forest data availability across Europe is improving, but further efforts are needed to integrate, harmonise and interpret this data (i.e. making data useable for non-experts). Continuation of existing monitoring and networks schemes together with the establishments of new networks to address data gaps is crucial to rigorously predict climate change impacts on European forests

Modulation of sex pheromone discrimination by a UDP-glycosyltransferase in Drosophila melanogaster

The detection and processing of chemical stimuli involve coordinated neuronal networks that process sensory information. This allows animals, such as the model species Drosophila melanogaster, to detect food sources and to choose a potential mate. In peripheral olfactory tissues, several classes of proteins are acting to modulate the detection of chemosensory signals. This includes odorant-binding proteins together with odorant-degrading enzymes (ODEs). These enzymes, which primarily act to eliminate toxic compounds from the whole organism also modulate chemodetection. ODEs are thought to neutralize the stimulus molecule concurrently to its detection, avoiding receptor saturation thus allowing chemosensory neurons to respond to the next stimulus. Here, we show that one UDP-glycosyltransferase (UGT36E1) expressed in D. melanogaster antennal olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) is involved in sex pheromone discrimination. UGT36E1 overexpression caused by an insertion mutation affected male behavioral ability to discriminate sex pheromones while it increased OSN electrophysiological activity to male pheromones. Reciprocally, the decreased expression of UGT36E1, controlled by an RNAi transgene, improved male ability to discriminate sex pheromones whereas it decreased electrophysiological activity in the relevant OSNs. When we combined the two genotypes (mutation and RNAi), we restored wild-type-like levels both for the behavioral discrimination and UGT36E1 expression. Taken together, our results strongly suggest that this UGT plays a pivotal role in Drosophila pheromonal detection

Impact de la fréquence des repiquages sur la stabilité du levain utilisé pour la fabrication d'un lait fermenté traditionnel, le Gwell

Le Gwell aussi appelé « gros-lait », est un lait fermenté issu de la tradition culinaire bretonne, produit à partir de lait de vaches locales bretonnes : Froment du Léon, Armoricaine, Nantaise et surtout la race Bretonne Pie Noir. Il est produit par repiquage, c’est-à-dire qu’on l’obtient en ensemençant du lait avec du Gwell de la production précédente, qui sert alors de ferment. Le repiquage ne donne parfois pas lieu à une acidification suffisante, le Gwell est alors dit « perdu ». La seule solution pour le producteur est d’obtenir un nouveau Gwell chez un collègue. L’Union Bretonne Pie Noir qui détient la marque Gwell a pris part à un projet européen soutenant la valorisation des produits issus de races locales. Un volet du projet visait à sécuriser la production de Gwell en identifiant les facteurs potentiellement à l'origine de la perte du ferment. Mon stage s'inscrivait dans la continuité du projet précédemment cité dans le cadre duquel on a montré que l'écosystème bactérien du Gwell reposait sur un équilibre entre 2 sous espèces de bactéries lactiques majoritaires : Lactococcus lactis sp. cremoris et Lactococcus lactis sp. lactis et que des repiquages trop rapprochés pourraient être responsables de la perte du ferment. Le sujet de mon stage visait donc à étudier l’impact de la fréquence des repiquages sur la stabilité du levain Gwell. Ce sujet a été conduit en étroite collaboration avec Lucas Von Gastrow, un doctorant, au sein de l'équipe CIRM-BIA, un centre de ressources biologiques de l'INRAe dédié aux bactéries d'intérêt alimentaires. Pour ce faire, en concertation avec 3 producteurs de Gwell, sélectionnés sur la base de résultat antérieurs, deux fréquences de repiquage ont été étudiées : soit un repiquage toutes les semaines, soit un repiquage 3 fois par semaine. Sachant qu'entre 2 repiquages le Gwell est conservé à 4°C et que la fermentation est conduite à 30°C, pour prendre en compte l’environnement varié pendant la fabrication et la conservation, deux contrôles respectivement à 30 et 4°C ont été inclus dans notre suivi. L’analyse de la stabilité du ferment Gwell était évaluée sur sa capacité acidifiante (suivi cinétique du pH pendant la fabrication) et sur l'analyse microbiolgique du Gwell résultats (dénombrement). Les résultats que nous avons obtenus mettent en évidence que la fréquence de repiquage a un effet direct sur l'équilibre entre les 2 sous espèces de Lactococcus : lactis et cremoris, le repiquage fréquent du Gwell étant responsable d'une augmentation de cremoris au détriment de lactis. La variation environnementale temporelle (passage sucessifs à 30 et 4°C) permet le maintien de l'équilibre entre lactis et cremoris mais la conservation sur une longue durée sans repiquage conduit au déséquilibre du ferment et est responsable d'une diminution de la population de la sous-espèce lactis avec en parallèle une augmentation du nombre de levures

GASP-2 overexpressing mice exhibit a hypermuscular phenotype with contrasting molecular effects compared to GASP-1 transgenics

Muscle atrophy is associated with many diseases including genetic disorders, sarcopenia, or cachexia syndromes. Myostatin (Mstn), a transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) member, plays a key role in skeletal muscle homeostasis as a powerful negative regulator. Over the last decade, about 15 clinical trials aimed at inhibiting the Mstn pathway, failed to produce conclusive results. In this context, we investigated whether growth and differentiation factor-associated serum protein-1 (GASP-1) or GASP-2, two natural inhibitors of Mstn, might represent a potential therapeutic. As we previously reported, mice overexpressing Gasp-1 (Tg(Gasp-1)) present an increase of muscle mass but develop metabolic disorders with aging. Here, we showed that overexpression of Gasp-2 increases the muscular mass without metabolic defects. We also found that Tg(Gasp-2) mice displayed, like Mstn(-/-) mice, a switch from slow- to fast-twitch myofibers whereas Tg(Gasp-1) mice exhibit a reverse switch. Our studies supported the fact that GASP-2 has less affinity than GASP-1 for Mstn, leading to a constitutive Mstn upregulation only in Tg(Gasp-1) mice, responsible for the observed phenotypic differences. Altogether, our findings highlighted a gene expression regulatory network of TGF-beta members and their inhibitors in muscle

Conception of local carbon markets connecting farmers and companies: socio-economic outlines of innovative devices

Conception of local carbon markets connecting farmers and companies: socio-economic outlines of innovative devices

Transcriptomic and proteomic data in developing tomato fruit.

Transcriptomic and proteomic analyses were performed on three replicates of tomato fruit pericarp samples collected at nine developmental stages, each replicate resulting from the pooling of at least 15 fruits. For transcriptome analysis, Illumina-sequenced libraries were mapped on the tomato genome with the aim to obtain absolute quantification of mRNA abundance. To achieve this, spikes were added at the beginning of the RNA extraction procedure. From 34,725 possible transcripts identified in the tomato, 22,877 were quantified in at least one of the nine developmental stages. For the proteome analysis, label-free liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) was used. Peptide ions, and subsequently the proteins from which they were derived, were quantified by integrating the signal intensities obtained from extracted ion currents (XIC) with the MassChroQ software. Absolute concentrations of individual proteins were estimated for 2375 proteins by using a mixed effects model from log10-transformed intensities and normalized to the total protein content. Transcriptomics data are available via GEO repository with accession number GSE128739. The raw MS output files and identification data were deposited on-line using the PROTICdb database (http://moulon.inra.fr/protic/tomato_fruit_development) and MS proteomics data have also been deposited to the ProteomeXchange with the dataset identifier PXD012877. The main added value of these quantitative datasets is their use in a mathematical model to estimate protein turnover in developing tomato fruit