Cytogenotoxicity biomarkers in fat snook Centropomus parallelus from Cananéia and São Vicente estuaries, SP, Brazil

The aquatic environment receives many contaminants that can induce damages at the molecular, biochemical, cellular and physiological levels. Centropomus parallelus, an important food resource for local populations, is a predator fish that feeds on small fishes and benthic invertebrates, thus being vulnerable to the bioconcentration and biomagnification processes. This study aimed to evaluate cytogenotoxic responses in erythrocytes from C. parallelus juveniles collected in the Cananéia and São Vicente estuaries, both in winter and in summer. After anesthesia, blood samples were collected by caudal puncture. Blood smears were prepared on glass slides and stained with May-Grünwald-Giemsa dye. Two thousand cells were analyzed per slide (1000x), and nuclear abnormalities (NA) and micronuclei (MN) were scored. The São Vicente sample showed MN and NA frequencies (%/1000 cells) of 0.325 and 3.575, in winter, and of 0.125 and 2.935 in summer respectively; the Cananéia sample showed frequencies of 0.0325 and 0.03, in winter, and of 0.065 and 0.355 in summer, respectively. The rates found in São Vicente were significantly higher than those found in Cananéia, evidencing that the levels of pollution in that estuary were high enough to induce genetic damages

Structural studies of a lipid-binding peptide from tunicate hemocytes with anti-biofilm activity

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Clavanins is a class of peptides (23aa) histidine-rich, free of post-translational modifications. Clavanins have been studied largely for their ability to disrupt bacterial membranes. In the present study, the interaction of clavanin A with membranes was assessed by dynamic light scattering, zeta potential and permeabilization assays. We observed through those assays that clavanin A lysis bacterial cells at concentrations corresponding to its MIC. Further, the structure and function of clavanin A was investigated. To better understand how clavanin interacted with bacteria, its NMR structure was elucidated. The solution state NMR structure of clavanin A in the presence of TFE-d3 indicated an α-helical conformation. Secondary structures, based on circular dichroism measurements in anionic sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and TFE (2,2,2-trifluorethanol), in silico lipid-peptide docking and molecular simulations with lipids DPPC and DOPC revealed that clavanin A can adopt a variety of folds, possibly influencing its different functions. Microcalorimetry assays revealed that clavanin A was capable of discriminating between different lipids. Finally, clavanin A was found to eradicate bacterial biofilms representing a previously unrecognized function.We would like to thank CNPq, CAPES (Ciências sem Fronteiras), FAPDF and FUNDECT. D.G. acknowledges Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia - Ministério da Educação e Ciência (FCT-MEC, Portugal) for fellowship SFRH/BPD/73500/2010 and A.S.V. for funding within the FCT Investigator Programme (IF/00803/2012).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Fine mapping of genomic regions associated with female fertility in Nellore beef cattle based on sequence variants from segregating sires

Impaired fertility in cattle limits the efficiency of livestock production systems. Unraveling the genetic architecture of fertility traits would facilitate their improvement by selection. In this study, we characterized SNP chip haplotypes at QTL blocks then used whole-genome sequencing to fine map genomic regions associated with reproduction in a population of Nellore (Bos indicus) heifers.https://doi.org/10.1186/s40104-019-0403-

Identification of genomic regions associated with feed efficiency in Nelore cattle

Abstract\ud \ud Background\ud Feed efficiency is jointly determined by productivity and feed requirements, both of which are economically relevant traits in beef cattle production systems. The objective of this study was to identify genes/QTLs associated with components of feed efficiency in Nelore cattle using Illumina BovineHD BeadChip (770 k SNP) genotypes from 593 Nelore steers. The traits analyzed included: average daily gain (ADG), dry matter intake (DMI), feed-conversion ratio (FCR), feed efficiency (FE), residual feed intake (RFI), maintenance efficiency (ME), efficiency of gain (EG), partial efficiency of growth (PEG) and relative growth rate (RGR). The Bayes B analysis was completed with Gensel software parameterized to fit fewer markers than animals. Genomic windows containing all the SNP loci in each 1 Mb that accounted for more than 1.0% of genetic variance were considered as QTL region. Candidate genes within windows that explained more than 1% of genetic variance were selected by putative function based on DAVID and Gene Ontology.\ud \ud \ud Results\ud Thirty-six QTL (1-Mb SNP window) were identified on chromosomes 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25 and 26 (UMD 3.1). The amount of genetic variance explained by individual QTL windows for feed efficiency traits ranged from 0.5% to 9.07%. Some of these QTL minimally overlapped with previously reported feed efficiency QTL for Bos taurus. The QTL regions described in this study harbor genes with biological functions related to metabolic processes, lipid and protein metabolism, generation of energy and growth. Among the positional candidate genes selected for feed efficiency are: HRH4, ALDH7A1, APOA2, LIN7C, CXADR, ADAM12 and MAP7.\ud \ud \ud \ud Conclusions\ud Some genomic regions and some positional candidate genes reported in this study have not been previously reported for feed efficiency traits in Bos indicus. Comparison with published results indicates that different QTLs and genes may be involved in the control of feed efficiency traits in this Nelore cattle population, as compared to Bos taurus cattle.CNPqCAPE

The association of myocardial strain with cardiac magnetic resonance and clinical outcomes in patients with acute myocarditis

IntroductionThe role of myocardial strain in risk prediction for acute myocarditis (AMC) patients, measured by cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR), deserves further investigation. Our objective was to evaluate the association between myocardial strain measured by CMR and clinical events in AMC patients.Material and methodsThis was a prospective single-center study of patients with AMC. We included 100 patients with AMC with CMR confirmation. The primary outcome was the composite of all-cause mortality, heart failure and AMC recurrence in 24 months. A subgroup analysis was performed on a sample of 36 patients who underwent a second CMR between 6 and 18 months. The association between strain measures and clinical events or an increase in left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) was explored using Cox regression analysis. Global peak radial, circumferential and longitudinal strain in the left and right ventricles was assessed. ROC curve analysis was performed to identify cutoff points for clinical event prediction.ResultsThe mean follow-up was 18.7 ± 2.3 months, and the composite primary outcome occurred in 26 patients. The median LVEF at CMR at baseline was 57.5% (14.6%). LV radial strain (HR = 0.918, 95% CI: 0.858–0.982, p = 0.012), LV circumferential strain (HR = 1.177, 95% CI: 1.046–1.325, p = 0.007) and LV longitudinal strain (HR = 1.173, 95% CI: 1.031–1.334, p = 0.015) were independently associated with clinical event occurrence. The areas under the ROC curve for clinical event prediction were 0.80, 0.79 and 0.80 for LV radial, circumferential, and longitudinal strain, respectively. LV longitudinal strain was independently correlated with prognosis (HR = 1.282, CI 95%: 1.022–1.524, p = 0.007), even when analyzed together with ejection fraction and delayed enhancement. LV and right ventricle (RV) strain were not associated with an increase in LVEF. Finally, when the initial CMR findings were compared with the follow-up CMR findings, improvements in the measures of LV and RV myocardial strain were observed.ConclusionMeasurement of myocardial strain by CMR can provide prognostic information on AMC patients. LV radial, circumferential and longitudinal strain were associated with long-term clinical events in these patients