Fruit cell culture as a model system to study cell wall changes during strawberry fruit ripening

Strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa, Duch.) fruit is characterized by its fast ripening and soft texture at the ripen stage, resulting in a short postharvest shelf life and high economic losses. It is generally believed that the disassembly of cell walls, the dissolution of the middle lamella and the reduction of cell turgor are the main factors determining the softening of fleshy fruits. In strawberry, several studies indicate that the solubilisation and depolymerisation of pectins, as well as the depolymerisation of xyloglucans, are the main processes occurring during ripening. Functional analyses of genes encoding pectinases such as polygalacturonase and pectate lyase also point out to the pectin fraction as a key factor involved in textural changes. All these studies have been performed with whole fruits, a complex organ containing different tissues that differ in their cell wall composition and undergo ripening at different rates. Cell cultures derived from fruits have been proposed as model systems for the study of several processes occurring during fruit ripening, such as the production of anthocyanin and its regulation by plant hormones. The main objective of this research was to obtain and characterize strawberry cell cultures to evaluate their potential use as a model for the study of the cell wall disassembly process associate with fruit ripening. Cell cultures were obtained from cortical tissue of strawberry fruits, cv. Chandler, at the stages of unripe-green, white and mature-red. Additionally, a cell culture line derived from strawberry leaves was obtained. All cultures were maintained in solid medium supplemented with 2.5 mg.l-1 2,4-D and incubated in the dark. Cell walls from the different callus lines were extracted and fractionated to obtain CDTA and sodium carbonate soluble pectin fractions, which represent polyuronides located in the middle lamella or the primary cell wall, respectively. The amounts of homogalacturonan in both fractions were estimated by ELISA using LM19 and LM20 antibodies, specific against demethylated and methyl-esterified homogalacturonan, respectively. In the CDTA fraction, the cell line from ripe fruit showed a significant lower amount of demethylated pectins than the rest of lines. By contrast, the content of methylated pectins was similar in green- and red-fruit lines, and lower than in white-fruit and leaf lines. In the sodium carbonate pectin fraction, the line from red fruit also showed the lowest amount of pectins. These preliminary results indicate that cell cultures obtained from fruits at different developmental stages differ in their cell wall composition and these differences resemble to some extent the changes that occur during strawberry softening. Experiments are in progress to further characterize cell wall extracts with monoclonal antibodies against other cell wall epitopes.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Bones of Puffinus Lherminieri Lesson (Aves: Procellaridae) and Two Other Vertebrates from Cueva del Agua, Mona Isalnd, Puerto Rico (West Indies)

From a dive in Cueva del Agua, Mona Island, Puerto Rico, twelve un-mineralized bones of Puffinus Lherminieri Lesson, one of Cyclura stejnegeri Stejneger, and one of Moormops blainvilii Leach were collected. The subfossil evidence confirms that P. Lherminieri was a common species on Mona Island. Cyclura stejnegeri and M. blainvilii probably became trapped and died in the pool chamber

A performance comparison of two small rocket nozzles

An experimental study was conducted on two small rockets (110 N thrust class) to directly compare a standard conical nozzle with a bell nozzle optimized for maximum thrust using the Rao method. In large rockets, with throat Reynolds numbers of greater than 1 x 10(exp 5), bell nozzles outperform conical nozzles. In rockets with throat Reynolds numbers below 1 x 10(exp 5), however, test results have been ambiguous. An experimental program was conducted to test two small nozzles at two different fuel film cooling percentages and three different chamber pressures. Test results showed that for the throat Reynolds number range from 2 x 10(exp 4) to 4 x 10(exp 4), the bell nozzle outperformed the conical nozzle. Thrust coefficients for the bell nozzle were approximately 4 to 12 percent higher than those obtained with the conical nozzle. As expected, testing showed that lowering the fuel film cooling increased performance for both nozzle types

CXCL12 retargeting of an adenovirus vector to cancer cells using a bispecific adapter

Ad vectors are promising delivery vehicles for cancer therapeutic interventions. However, their application is limited by promiscuous tissue tropism and hepatotoxicity. This limitation can be avoided by altering the native tropism of Ads so that they can be redirected to the target cells through alternate cellular receptors. The CXCR4 chemokine receptor belongs to a large superfamily of G-protein-coupled receptors and is known to be upregulated in a wide variety of cancers, including breast cancer and melanoma. These receptors have been associated with cancer cell survival, progression, and metastasis. In the current study, an Ad to cancer cells overexpressing CXCR4 by using a bispecific adapter, sCAR-CXCL12, was retargeted. The sCAR-CXCL12 adapter contained the soluble ectodomain form of the native Ad5 receptor (sCAR), which was fused to a mature human chemokine ligand, CXCL12, through a short peptide linker. A dramatic increase in the infectivity of cancer cells using a targeted Ad vector compared with an untargeted vector was observed. Furthermore, sCAR-CXCL12 attenuated Ad infection of liver ex vivo and in vivo and enhanced Ad vector infection of xenograft tumors implanted in immunodeficient SCID-bg mice. Thus, the sCAR-CXCL12 adapter could be used to retarget Ad vectors to chemokine receptor-positive tumors

Testing the Effect of Sodium Bicarbonate Base on Blood Lactate Levels after a Strenuous Exercise

INTRODUCTION: The lactate is an intermediate metabolic, its production in the skeletal muscle increase during the exercise, principally in anaerobic condition that include oxygen deficiency in the skeletal muscle during the exercise. The lactate is released to systemic blood, where it participate in the Cori cycle, although in the blood, the metabolite can modify the blood’s pH. For the last condition, the human has some mechanism to attenuate the lactate effects on the pH in blood PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was evaluate the effect of the sodium bicarbonate ingestion on the lactate blood levels before and after an acute strenuous exercise in undergraduate students. METHODS: Five male (21.2 ± 21.5 years; 78 ± 9.73 kg) were recruited. Two strenuous exercise test of 4 minutes were performed. An interval of 24 hours was present between exercise sessions. The test consisted in intervals of 30 seconds to maximum intensity and with periods of submaximal intensity for 30 seconds. The lower intensity consisted of continuous aerobic activity to ≈ 60% of HRmax. The first test was performed without NaHCO3 ingestion. Contrary, the second exercise session was performed with NaHCO3 ingestion (300mg/kg body weight). The NaHCO3 ingestion was performed 2 hours previous to exercise. RESULTS: Without sodium bicarbonate ingestion, the lactate before physical effort was 1,74mmol, SD 2,15mmol, the lactate after to physical effort was 7,94mmol, SD 9,73, the oxygen in blood before to physical effort was 99% SD 0%, the oxygen after to physical effort was 96,6% SD 1,74%, the systolic blood pressure before physical effort was 122mmHg, SD 11,66mmHg, the diastolic blood pressure was 91,2 mmHg, SD 10mmHg, after physical effort the systolic blood pressure was 131,2mmHg. SD 11,90mmHg, the diastolic blood pressure was 76mmHg, SD 12,58mmHg. With sodium bicarbonate ingest, the lactate before physical effort was 0.4mmol, SD 0.56mmol, lactate after physical effort was 6.73, SD 7,31mmol, the oxygen in blood before physical effort was 99% SD 0%, after to physical effort was 96.66%, SD 0.47%. CONCLUSION: The present study shows that the bicarbonate ingestion does not change significantly the blood lactate concentrations after a strenuous exercise. Our current data could be consequence by the low sample size. Therefore, we suggest perform a new study with a bigger sample than the current work

A New Concept for Direct Imaging and Spectral Characterization of Exoplanets in Multi-planet Systems

We present a novel method for direct detection and characterization of exoplanets from space. This method uses four collecting telescopes, combined with phase chopping and a spectrometer, with observations on only a few baselines rather than on a continuously rotated baseline. Focusing on the contiguous wavelength spectra of typical exoplanets, the (u, v) plane can be simultaneously and uniformly filled by recording the spectrally resolved signal. This concept allows us to perfectly remove speckles from reconstructed images. For a target comprising a star and multiple planets, observations on three baselines are sufficient to extract the position and spectrum of each planet. Our simulations show that this new method allows us to detect an analog Earth around a Sun-like star at 10 pc and to acquire its spectrum over the wavelength range from 8 to 19 {\mu}m with a high spectral resolution of 100. This method allows us to fully characterize an analog Earth and to similarly characterize each planet in multi-planet systems.Comment: 10 pages, 12 figure

BACTERIA ASSOCIATED WITH THE WEST INDIAN FRUIT FLY ANASTREPHA OBLIQUA (MACQUART) (DIPTERA: TEPHRITIDAE)

BACTERIA ASSOCIATED WITH THE WEST INDIAN FRUIT FLY ANASTREPHA OBLIQUA (MACQUART) (DIPTERA: TEPHRITIDAE

CARACTERIZACIÓN GEOMORFOLÓGICA, FLORISTICA Y ESTRUCTURAL DEL MANGLAR EN LA COSTA DE PIXVAE, GOLFO DE CHIRIQUÍ, PACÍFICO DE PANAMÁ

Con el objetivo de generar información sobre la cobertura, composición florística y caracterización estructural del manglar en la costa de Pixvae, se realizaron muestreos entre febrero y abril de 2021. Para estimar la cobertura se utilizó la imagen satelital Planet Scope (2020), y el Raster DTM (2020). Para evaluar la composición florística y caracterización estructural se establecieron 42 cuadrantes de 10 m x 10 m, paralelos a los esteros y hacia la parte interna del manglar, en donde se registraron las especies, la altura de los árboles y la circunferencia a 1.30 cm de altura. Se calculó el área basal, densidad, volumen de los árboles y la regeneración. La extensión del manglar se estableció en 93.6 ha, se identificaron ciatro especies de mangle y dos especies asociadas. El histograma reflejó una distribución en forma de j invertida, con un mayor número de árboles entre los 2.5 y 10 cm y poca representación de árboles con diámetros superiores a los 10 cm. Se registró regeneración en todos los cuadrantes, Pelliciera rhizophorae fue la especie que presentó el mayor número de plántulas. Este estudio es la primera caracterización del manglar de Pixvae, lo que representa un insumo importante para establecer el plan de manejo del área

CARACTERIZACIÓN GEOMORFOLÓGICA, FLORISTICA Y ESTRUCTURAL DEL MANGLAR EN LA COSTA DE PIXVAE, GOLFO DE CHIRIQUÍ, PACÍFICO DE PANAMÁ

Con el objetivo de generar información sobre la cobertura, composición florística y caracterización estructural del manglar en la costa de Pixvae, se realizaron muestreos entre febrero y abril de 2021. Para estimar la cobertura se utilizó la imagen satelital Planet Scope (2020), y el Raster DTM (2020). Para evaluar la composición florística y caracterización estructural se establecieron 42 cuadrantes de 10 m x 10 m, paralelos a los esteros y hacia la parte interna del manglar, en donde se registraron las especies, la altura de los árboles y la circunferencia a 1.30 cm de altura. Se calculó el área basal, densidad, volumen de los árboles y la regeneración. La extensión del manglar se estableció en 93.6 ha, se identificaron ciatro especies de mangle y dos especies asociadas. El histograma reflejó una distribución en forma de j invertida, con un mayor número de árboles entre los 2.5 y 10 cm y poca representación de árboles con diámetros superiores a los 10 cm. Se registró regeneración en todos los cuadrantes, Pelliciera rhizophorae fue la especie que presentó el mayor número de plántulas. Este estudio es la primera caracterización del manglar de Pixvae, lo que representa un insumo importante para establecer el plan de manejo del área

CARACTERIZACIÓN GEOMORFOLÓGICA, FLORISTICA Y ESTRUCTURAL DEL MANGLAR EN LA COSTA DE PIXVAE, GOLFO DE CHIRIQUÍ, PACÍFICO DE PANAMÁ

Between February and April 2021, information on the cover, floristic composition, and structural characterization of the mangrove on the Pixvae coast, Veraguas, Pacific Panama, was generated. Coverage was estimated using the Planet Scope (2020) satellite image and the Raster DTM (2020). For the floristic composition and structural characterization, 42 quadrants of 10 m x 10 m were established parallel to the estuaries and towards the inner part of the mangrove, where the species, height of trees, and circumference at 1.30 cm were recorded. The basal area, density, volume of the trees, and regeneration were calculated as well. Five mangrove species and t other associated species were identified in an area of 93.6 ha. The histogram reflected an inverted j-shaped distribution, with a greater number of trees between 2.5 and 10 cm and little representation of trees with diameters greater than 10 cm. Regeneration was recorded in all quadrants, and Pelliciera rhizophorae was the species that presented the highest number of seedlings. This study presents the first characterization of the Pixvae mangrove, which is an important component towards establishing the management plan for the area.  Con el objetivo de generar información sobre la cobertura, composición florística y caracterización estructural del manglar en la costa de Pixvae, se realizaron muestreos entre febrero y abril de 2021. Para estimar la cobertura se utilizó la imagen satelital Planet Scope (2020), y el Raster DTM (2020). Para evaluar la composición florística y caracterización estructural se establecieron 42 cuadrantes de 10 m x 10 m, paralelos a los esteros y hacia la parte interna del manglar, en donde se registraron las especies, la altura de los árboles y la circunferencia a 1.30 cm de altura. Se calculó el área basal, densidad, volumen de los árboles y la regeneración. La extensión del manglar se estableció en 93.6 ha, se identificaron ciatro especies de mangle y dos especies asociadas. El histograma reflejó una distribución en forma de j invertida, con un mayor número de árboles entre los 2.5 y 10 cm y poca representación de árboles con diámetros superiores a los 10 cm. Se registró regeneración en todos los cuadrantes, Pelliciera rhizophorae fue la especie que presentó el mayor número de plántulas. Este estudio es la primera caracterización del manglar de Pixvae, lo que representa un insumo importante para establecer el plan de manejo del área