Usability and Feasibility Study of a Remote Cognitive Behavioral Therapy System with Long-Term Unemployed Women

We present the results of the use of a cognitive behavioral therapeutic intervention tool to improve the mental, physical, and social health of a group of long-term unemployed women in Spain. Method: We sent automated text messages (SMS) to the mobile phones of long-term unemployed women selected at random from public social services. During a 28-day intervention period, women received four daily automated text messages on her mobile phone on a predetermined hourly schedule. We measured depression symptoms at the start and end of the intervention and we analyzed qualitative data to determine the acceptability of a remote SMS program. Results: Depression symptoms using the Personal Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), went from an average of 13.8 at baseline to 4.9 at the end of 28 days (p = 0.89). One hundred percent of the women reported that they liked receiving the text messages and most found them helpful

Nitrogen metabolism and gene expression landscape in maritime pine

This work was supported by the ProCoGen grant (FP7-KBBE-2011-5) and by the MicroNUpE grant (BIO2015-73512-JIN).Maritime pine (Pinus pinaster Aiton) is one the most important conifer species in the southwestern Mediterranean region because of its economic and environmental potential. For this reason, a work program in functional genomics has been developed in the frame of the ProCoGen project. One objective was to complete the knowledge about P. pinaster transcriptome with the tissue-specific localization of the gene expression of the low accumulated transcripts in sharper regions (Cañas et al. 2017). In order to reach these objectives total RNA was obtained from isolated tissues through laser capture microdissection (LCM). Due to the limiting amount from these extracts, the RNA samples were reverse-transcribed and the resultant cDNA amplified using our CRA+ protocol (Cañas et al. 2014). The obtained reads were assembled to improve the previous reference transcriptome. Reads were mapped against this transcriptome and the read accounts analyzed in order to found gene co-expression networks using the WGCNA software. These results have allowed us the characterization of nitrogen metabolism in maritime pine during the seedling stage stablishing relationships between the different components. This include the identification of new genes with low or very localized expression as occurred for the PpGS1c gene encoding a new cytosolic glutamine synthetase. From this starting point, we are developing a new project, MicroNUpE, to identify and study the genes involved in ammonium uptake and regulation in different root tissues that will be isolated through LCM. Cañas et al. (2017). Plant J, doi:10.1111/tpj.13617. Cañas et al. (2014). Tree Physiol, 34:1278-1288.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Analysis of NPF and NRT transporter families regarding the nitrate nutrition in maritime pine (Pinus pinaster)

Nitrogen is an essential element for life and the main limiting nutrient for plant growth and development1. The main forms of inorganic nitrogen in soils are nitrate and ammonium, which relative abundances depend on environmental conditions such as temperature. In agricultural soils the most abundant nitrogen form is nitrate because the use of chemical fertilizers however in natural ecosystems nitrogen soil composition can be more complex. Conifers are tree gymnosperms with a wide distribution although their large forests dominate the boreal ecosystems where nitrification is limited and ammonium is the main nitrogen soil source2. In this context, conifers have an appreciable tolerance to ammonium. Maritime pine (Pinus pinaster Aiton) is a conifer from the western Mediterranean region of high economic and ecological interest in Spain, France and Portugal. This pine is also a research model tree with different genomic resources such as a reference transcriptome and a gene expression atlas3. Taking advantage of these resources the members of the NPF and NRT transporter families involved in nitrate uptake and transport have been identified and analyzed in maritime pine4. Among the transporter families, the NRT3 one is expanded and composed by six members. The capacity of maritime pine to use nitrate or ammonium has been analyzed in seedlings. The development and growth responses to nitrate nutrition are comparable to ammonium supply. At molecular level, there are strong gene expressions for genes involved in nitrate uptake and assimilation such as Nitrate Reductase, Nitrite Reductase, Glutamine Synthetase 1a, three NRT3 genes and different NPF family members in the different organs. Since the NPF proteins can transport different metabolites, peptides and hormones, the NPF transporters involved in nitrate transport are being identified.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech. This project was supported by the grant MicroNUpE, BIO2015-73512-JIN; MINECO/AEI/FEDER, UE. JMVM was supported by a grant from the Spanish Ministerio de Educación y Formación Profesional (FPU17/03517) and FO by a grant from the Universidad de Málaga (Programa Operativo de Empleo Juvenil vía SNJG, UMAJI11, FEDER, FSE, Junta de Andalucía)

Transcriptional regulation os phenylalaline biosynthesis and utilization

Conifer trees divert large quantities of carbon into the biosynthesis of phenylpropanoids, particularly to generate lignin, an important constituent of wood. Since phenylalanine is the precursor for phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, the precise regulation of phenylalanine synthesis and utilization should occur simultaneously. This crucial pathway is finely regulated primarily at the transcriptional level. Transcriptome analyses indicate that the transcription factors (TFs) preferentially expressed during wood formation in plants belong to the MYB and NAC families. Craven-Bartle et al. (2013) have shown in conifers that Myb8 is a candidate regulator of key genes in phenylalanine biosynthesis involved in the supply of the phenylpropane carbon skeleton necessary for lignin biosynthesis. This TF is able to bind AC elements present in the promoter regions of these genes to activate transcription. Constitutive overexpression of Myb8 in white spruce increased secondary-wall thickening and led to ectopic lignin deposition (Bomal et al. 2008). In Arabidopsis, the transcriptional network controlling secondary cell wall involves NAC-domain regulators operating upstream Myb transcription factors. Functional orthologues of members of this network described have been identified in poplar and eucalyptus, but in conifers functional evidence had only been obtained for MYBs. We have identified in the P. pinaster genome 37 genes encoding NAC proteins, which 3 NAC proteins could be potential candidates to be involved in vascular development (Pascual et al. 2015). The understanding of the transcriptional regulatory network associated to phenylpropanoids and lignin biosynthesis in conifers is crucial for future applications in tree improvement and sustainable forest management. This work is supported by the projects BIO2012-33797, BIO2015-69285-R and BIO-474 References: Bomal C, et al. (2008) Involvement of Pinus taeda MYB1 and MYB8 in phenylpropanoid metabolism and secondary cell wall biogenesis: a comparative in planta analysis. J Exp Bot. 59: 3925-3939. Craven-Bartle B, et al. (2013) A Myb transcription factor regulates genes of the phenylalanine pathway in maritime pine. Plant J, 74: 755-766. Pascual MB, et al. (2015) The NAC transcription factor family in maritime pine (Pinus pinaster): molecular regulation of two genes involved in stress responses. BMC Plant Biol, 15: 254.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

An unexpected actor in ammonium assimilation in conifer trees

Conifers are tree species with enormous environmental and economic interests but with several characteristics that complicate their investigation (big size, secondary compounds, large long-life cycles, megagenomes…). However, they are well adapted to ammonium-rich soils being a good model to study ammonium assimilation in plants. Although they have a special feature, only two glutamine synthetase (GS, EC 6.3.1.2) genes, GS1a and GS1b, coding for cytosolic proteins, have been identified. In angiosperms and in the gymnosperm Ginkgo biloba there are two types of this enzyme responsible of the ammonium assimilation: GS1 expressed in the cytosol and GS2 in the plastids. Until the date, the searches of new GS1 and GS2 genes in conifers have been made with classical biochemical and molecular biology techniques without satisfactory results. In the present context, the emergence of the next generation sequencing (NGS) techniques has open new opportunities in the resolution of old problems. They have allowed the whole sequencing of the massive conifer genomes and the analysis of their transcriptomes. Thus, in the framework of the European project ProCoGen, a gene expression atlas of the tissues of one-month seedlings was carried out using laser capture microdissection (LCM) and massive sequencing in maritime pine (Pinus pinaster), which is a conifer tree from the Southwestern Mediterranean region1. From the analysis of this work, a new gene coding for a new putative cytosolic GS has been identified, PpGS1c. 1Cañas, RA et al. (2017). Plant J, 91. 1064-1087Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech. Project funding by Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad BIO2015-69285-R and MicroNUpE (BIO2015-73512-JIN; MINECO/AEI/FEDER, UE