A list of land plants of Parque Nacional do Caparaó, Brazil, highlights the presence of sampling gaps within this protected area

Brazilian protected areas are essential for plant conservation in the Atlantic Forest domain, one of the 36 global biodiversity hotspots. A major challenge for improving conservation actions is to know the plant richness, protected by these areas. Online databases offer an accessible way to build plant species lists and to provide relevant information about biodiversity. A list of land plants of “Parque Nacional do Caparaó” (PNC) was previously built using online databases and published on the website "Catálogo de Plantas das Unidades de Conservação do Brasil." Here, we provide and discuss additional information about plant species richness, endemism and conservation in the PNC that could not be included in the List. We documented 1,791 species of land plants as occurring in PNC, of which 63 are cited as threatened (CR, EN or VU) by the Brazilian National Red List, seven as data deficient (DD) and five as priorities for conservation. Fifity-one species were possible new ocurrences for ES and MG states

Simultaneous transcriptional profiling of Leishmania major and its murine macrophage host cell reveals insights into host-pathogen interactions

Parasites of the genus Leishmania are the causative agents of leishmaniasis, a group of diseases that range in manifestations from skin lesions to fatal visceral disease. The life cycle of Leishmania parasites is split between its insect vector and its mammalian host, where it resides primarily inside of macrophages. Once intracellular, Leishmania parasites must evade or deactivate the host's innate and adaptive immune responses in order to survive and replicate. We performed transcriptome profiling using RNA-seq to simultaneously identify global changes in murine macrophage and L. major gene expression as the parasite entered and persisted within murine macrophages during the first 72 h of an infection. Differential gene expression, pathway, and gene ontology analyses enabled us to identify modulations in host and parasite responses during an infection. The most substantial and dynamic gene expression responses by both macrophage and parasite were observed during early infection. Murine genes related to both pro- and anti-inflammatory immune responses and glycolysis were substantially upregulated and genes related to lipid metabolism, biogenesis, and Fc gamma receptor-mediated phagocytosis were downregulated. Upregulated parasite genes included those aimed at mitigating the effects of an oxidative response by the host immune system while downregulated genes were related to translation, cell signaling, fatty acid biosynthesis, and flagellum structure. The gene expression patterns identified in this work yield signatures that characterize multiple developmental stages of L. major parasites and the coordinated response of Leishmania-infected macrophages in the real-time setting of a dual biological system. This comprehensive dataset offers a clearer and more sensitive picture of the interplay between host and parasite during intracellular infection, providing additional insights into how pathogens are able to evade host defenses and modulate the biological functions of the cell in order to survive in the mammalian environment.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-015-2237-

Growing knowledge: an overview of Seed Plant diversity in Brazil

Abstract An updated inventory of Brazilian seed plants is presented and offers important insights into the country's biodiversity. This work started in 2010, with the publication of the Plants and Fungi Catalogue, and has been updated since by more than 430 specialists working online. Brazil is home to 32,086 native Angiosperms and 23 native Gymnosperms, showing an increase of 3% in its species richness in relation to 2010. The Amazon Rainforest is the richest Brazilian biome for Gymnosperms, while the Atlantic Rainforest is the richest one for Angiosperms. There was a considerable increment in the number of species and endemism rates for biomes, except for the Amazon that showed a decrease of 2.5% of recorded endemics. However, well over half of Brazillian seed plant species (57.4%) is endemic to this territory. The proportion of life-forms varies among different biomes: trees are more expressive in the Amazon and Atlantic Rainforest biomes while herbs predominate in the Pampa, and lianas are more expressive in the Amazon, Atlantic Rainforest, and Pantanal. This compilation serves not only to quantify Brazilian biodiversity, but also to highlight areas where there information is lacking and to provide a framework for the challenge faced in conserving Brazil's unique and diverse flora