FitoMas-E: una alternativa para el enraizamiento in vitro de cultivares de caña de azúcar

FitoMas-E increases and accelerates the germination of the seeds, stimulates the development of roots, stems, leaves and improves the nutrition of plants.The objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of FitoMas-E on the in vitro rooting of sugarcane cultivars ‘CP52-43’, ‘C87-51’ and ‘C1051-73’. A completely randomized experimental design was used with four treatments, three concentrations of FitoMas-E (0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 ml l-1) and indoleacetic acid (IAA) 1.3 mg l-1 as control in the liquid culture medium, with five repetition. At 15 days of culture the number of rooted shoots, height, leaves number and length of roots were evaluated. In the ex vitro acclimatization stage, its were quantified the number of plants with root, leaves and roots number per plant and it was measured the height after 45 days of transplanted. The results showed that the Fitomas-E in the cultivars 'CP52-43' and 'C87-51' achieved a number of shoots with a root similar to the control and in 'C1051-73' it exceeded it with the concentration of 0.5 ml l-1 of this biostimulant. Leaf height, leaves number and root length reached values significantly higher than control, with 1.0 ml l-1 phytostimulant, except for 'CP52-43' where similar root length was achieved among treatments. In the ex vitro acclimatization stage the in vitro plants rooted with the FitoMas-E achieved the required quality parameters, exceeding the controls for the variables height, number of roots and length of the longest root. Among genotypes there were significant differences for all cultivars. Keywords: in vitro culture, micropropagation, Saccharum spp.FitoMas-E incrementa y acelerar la germinación de las semillas, estimula el desarrollo de las raíces, tallos, hojas y mejora la nutrición de las plantas. El objetivo del trabajo fue determinar el efecto del FitoMas-E sobre el enraizamiento in vitro de caña de azúcar cv. ‘CP52-43’, ‘C87-51’ y ‘C1051-73’. Se utilizó un diseño experimental completamente aleatorizado con cuatro tratamientos, tres concentraciones de FitoMas-E (0.5, 1.0 y 1.5 ml l-1) y 1.3 mg l-1 de ácido indolacético como control en el medio de cultivo líquido, con cinco repeticiones. A los 15 días de cultivo se cuantificó el número de brotes con raíz, longitud de la raíces, altura del brote y el número de hojas. En la fase de aclimatización ex vitro, se cuantificó el número de plantas con cepellón, número de hojas, raíces y se midió la altura de la planta a los 45 días de trasplantadas. Los resultados mostraron que el Fitomas-E en los cultivares ‘CP52-43’ y ‘C87-51’ logró un número de brotes con raíz similar al control y en ‘C1051-73’ lo superó con la concentración de 0.5 ml l-1 de este bioestimulante. La altura del brote, el número de hojas y la longitud de la raíz, alcanzaron valores significativamente superiores al control, con 1.0 ml l-1 del fitoestimulante, excepto en ‘CP52-43’ donde se logró longitud de la raíz similar entre tratamientos. En la fase de aclimatización ex vitro las plantas in vitro enraizadas con el FitoMas-E lograron los parámetros de calidad requeridos y superaron a los controles para las variables altura, número de raíces y longitud de la raíz más larga. Entre genotipos hubo diferencias significativas para todos los cultivares. Palabras clave: aclimatización ex vitro,  cultivo in vitro, Saccharum spp

Complement component C4 structural variation and quantitative traits contribute to sex-biased vulnerability in systemic sclerosis

Altres ajuts: Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER), "A way of making Europe".Copy number (CN) polymorphisms of complement C4 play distinct roles in many conditions, including immune-mediated diseases. We investigated the association of C4 CN with systemic sclerosis (SSc) risk. Imputed total C4, C4A, C4B, and HERV-K CN were analyzed in 26,633 individuals and validated in an independent cohort. Our results showed that higher C4 CN confers protection to SSc, and deviations from CN parity of C4A and C4B augmented risk. The protection contributed per copy of C4A and C4B differed by sex. Stronger protection was afforded by C4A in men and by C4B in women. C4 CN correlated well with its gene expression and serum protein levels, and less C4 was detected for both in SSc patients. Conditioned analysis suggests that C4 genetics strongly contributes to the SSc association within the major histocompatibility complex locus and highlights classical alleles and amino acid variants of HLA-DRB1 and HLA-DPB1 as C4-independent signals

Requirements of in vitro plantlets produced in a biofactory

The objective of the work was establishing the requirements of quality in in vitro sugarcane plantlets in the adaptation stage aimed to determine the nomina l values of the characteristics of substitute quality for this crop. It was used the cultivar C86-51, after t he rooting stage, being the one that was in existence in that period. The percentage of survival and loss was determi ned, coinciding with the transplant stage to the field where the greatest percentage of survival was reached by in vitro plantlets with size from 5 to 7 cm. To develop this work tools of quality like interviews, surveys, ex perts’ method and brain storming applying statisticians that determined the defined characteristics for t he realization of the study. It was recommended to make extensive the results to all the Tissue Culture Plants of the country and to make a diagnosis of quality that allows establishing a procedure for all the crops to marke t

Procedure for identifying and prevent risks in in vitro sugarcane plantlets marketing

Seed Banks and agricultural farms benefit greatly from plant in vitro Culture techniques, for their rapid propagation processes and the production of desease-free plantlets. However, the production and commercialization process can fail and it is not as successful l as it was supposed to. The objective of this study is to identify potential failure modes at the acclimatiztion stage of plantlets to ex vitro conditions at Estación Territorial de Investigaciones de la Caña de Azúcar de Villa Clara (ETICA). A methodology of Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) was applied. A value of 80 or higher was determined to be the Risk Priority Number (RPN) and the more relevant failure modes were defined a t the acclimatization and commercialization stages and ground rules and assumptions were established in order to prevent and control failure modes of the process. The study and implementation of the methodology to other processes at ETICA is strongly recommended

GWAS for systemic sclerosis identifies multiple risk loci and highlights fibrotic and vasculopathy pathways

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is an autoimmune disease that shows one of the highest mortality rates among rheumatic diseases. We perform a large genome-wide association study (GWAS), and meta-analysis with previous GWASs, in 26,679 individuals and identify 27 independent genome-wide associated signals, including 13 new risk loci. The novel associations nearly double the number of genome-wide hits reported for SSc thus far. We define 95% credible sets of less than 5 likely causal variants in 12 loci. Additionally, we identify specific SSc subtype-associated signals. Functional analysis of high-priority variants shows the potential function of SSc signals, with the identification of 43 robust target genes through HiChIP. Our results point towards molecular pathways potentially involved in vasculopathy and fibrosis, two main hallmarks in SSc, and highlight the spectrum of critical cell types for the disease. This work supports a better understanding of the genetic basis of SSc and provides directions for future functional experiments

Investigación en la práctica docente universitaria: obstáculos epistemológicos y alternativas desde la Didáctica General Constructivista

El artículo se estructura señalando la docencia universitaria como un amplio campo de investigación y definiendo la práctica docente como objeto de estudio. De esta manera, emerge el problema teórico y metodológico de qué y cómo observar la dimensión didáctica en la práctica docente, frente a lo cual se hace una discusión en torno a la Didáctica General como derivada de las Teorías del Aprendizaje y las Didácticas Específicas fundamentadas en la especificidad epistemológica de cada disciplina. Frente a la dificultad de encontrar didácticas específicas de todas las disciplinas que pueden hacer parte de la formación de diferentes profesionales, las cuales estén argumentadas filosófica, epistemológica, teórica y metodológicamente, se propone optar la Didáctica General Constructivista como alternativa teórica y metodológica que fundamente la investigación sobre lo didáctico de la práctica docente. El artículo continúa con una revisión amplia sobre los paradigmas Positivista y Constructivista y las didácticas que desde cada uno se sustentan, para cerrar proponiendo los elementos y procesos que caracterizan la Didáctica General Constructivista

A cross-disease meta-GWAS identifies four new susceptibility loci shared between systemic sclerosis and Crohn’s disease

Abstract: Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have identified a number of genetic risk loci associated with systemic sclerosis (SSc) and Crohn’s disease (CD), some of which confer susceptibility to both diseases. In order to identify new risk loci shared between these two immune-mediated disorders, we performed a cross-disease meta-analysis including GWAS data from 5,734 SSc patients, 4,588 CD patients and 14,568 controls of European origin. We identified 4 new loci shared between SSc and CD, IL12RB2, IRF1/SLC22A5, STAT3 and an intergenic locus at 6p21.31. Pleiotropic variants within these loci showed opposite allelic effects in the two analysed diseases and all of them showed a significant effect on gene expression. In addition, an enrichment in the IL-12 family and type I interferon signaling pathways was observed among the set of SSc-CD common genetic risk loci. In conclusion, through the first cross-disease meta-analysis of SSc and CD, we identified genetic variants with pleiotropic effects on two clinically distinct immune-mediated disorders. The fact that all these pleiotropic SNPs have opposite allelic effects in SSc and CD reveals the complexity of the molecular mechanisms by which polymorphisms affect diseases

Brief Report: IRF4 Newly Identified as a Common Susceptibility Locus for Systemic Sclerosis and Rheumatoid Arthritis in a Cross-Disease Meta-Analysis of Genome-Wide Association Studies

Objective: Systemic sclerosis (SSc) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are autoimmune diseases that have similar clinical and immunologic characteristics. To date, several shared SSc–RA genetic loci have been identified independently. The aim of the current study was to systematically search for new common SSc–RA loci through an interdisease meta–genome-wide association (meta-GWAS) strategy. Methods: The study was designed as a meta-analysis combining GWAS data sets of patients with SSc and patients with RA, using a strategy that allowed identification of loci with both same-direction and opposite-direction allelic effects. The top single-nucleotide polymorphisms were followed up in independent SSc and RA case–control cohorts. This allowed an increase in the sample size to a total of 8,830 patients with SSc, 16,870 patients with RA, and 43,393 healthy controls. Results: This cross-disease meta-analysis of the GWAS data sets identified several loci with nominal association signals (P <5 × 10−6) that also showed evidence of association in the disease-specific GWAS scans. These loci included several genomic regions not previously reported as shared loci, as well as several risk factors that were previously found to be associated with both diseases. Follow-up analyses of the putatively new SSc–RA loci identified IRF4 as a shared risk factor for these 2 diseases (Pcombined = 3.29 × 10−12). Analysis of the biologic relevance of the known SSc–RA shared loci identified the type I interferon and interleukin-12 signaling pathways as the main common etiologic factors. Conclusion: This study identified a novel shared locus, IRF4, for the risk of SSc and RA, and highlighted the usefulness of a cross-disease GWAS meta-analysis strategy in the identification of common risk loci