Análise proteômica temporal de hipocampo de ratos fornece evidências para a reconsolidação de memórias no condicionamento operante

Tese (doutorado)—Universidade de Brasília, Departamento de Biologia Celular, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biologia Molecular, 2018.Os animais são capazes de guardar informações adquiridas do mundo exterior em forma de memórias. A formação de memórias ocorre através de um rearranjo de circuitos neurais, que é provocado por alterações na transcrição, tradução e adição de grupos químicos em proteínas em forma de mudanças pós-traducionais (PTMs) em células de regiões específicas do sistema nervoso central como o hipocampo. Notavelmente, a caracterização molecular da formação de memórias tem sido realizada primariamente em animais submetidos a paradigmas comportamentais relacionados a memória espacial ou de medo. Neste estudo, nós examinamos as mudanças moleculares associadas com o armazenamento de informações em animais submetidos ao condicionamento operante (OC). Aqui, empregamos a cromatografia de troca aniônica (SAX) offline com eluição através de um gradiente crescente de sal seguido de uma cromatografia líquida acoplada a espectrometria de massas em tandem (LC-MS/MS) para mensurar mudanças no proteoma e fosfoproteoma hipocampais em estágios precoce e tardio da formação de memórias, assim como depois da evocação do comportamento. Identificamos um total de 8.951 proteínas e 568 fosfoproteínas. Mudanças estatisticamente significativas foram detectadas em 456 proteínas e 53 fosfoproteínas ao longo dos intervalos de tempo mencionados anteriormente. Ademais, mensurações de abundância de mRNA por reação em cadeia de polimerase em tempo real revelou uma fraca interdependência entre os níveis de transcritos e proteínas, dando suporte a noção de uma baixa correlação entre proteínas e mRNAs em estados celulares perturbados. Além disso, a identificação de proteínas diferencialmente reguladas do sistema ubiquitina-proteassoma (UPS), assim como calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII), fornece evidência para a existência de uma janela de tempo depois da evocação do comportamento na qual informações armazenadas se tornam sensíveis a modificações conhecido como reconsolidação.Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES).Animals are able to store newly acquired information about the external world as memories. Memory formation occurs via rearrangements of neural circuitries, which are elicited by changes in transcription, translation and post-translation modifications (PTMs) in cells of specific regions of the central nervous system such as the hippocampus. Notably, the molecular characterization of memory formation has been carried out primarily in the context of animals that have been subjected to fear or spatial learning paradigms. In this study, we examined the molecular changes associated with information storage in rodents subjected to operant conditioning (OC). Herein, we employed strong anionic exchange (SAX) with salt gradient elution as a fractionation strategy followed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LCMS/ MS) to measure changes in hippocampal proteome and phosphoproteome at early and late stages of memory formation, as well as after behavior recall. We identified a total of 8,951 proteins and 568 phosphoproteins, making this study the largest hippocampal proteome to date. Statistically significant abundance changes were shown in 465 proteins and 64 phosphoproteins throughout the aforementioned time intervals. Furthermore, quantitative polymerase chain reaction measurements of mRNA abundance levels revealed a weak interdependence between protein and transcript levels, giving credence to the notion of a low correlation between proteins and mRNAs in disturbed cellular states. Also, the identification of differentially regulated proteins of the ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS), as well as calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII), provides evidence for the existence of a time window after behavioral recall in which stored information may become liable to further changes known as memory reconsolidation

Proteome analysis of Phytomonas serpens, a phytoparasite of medical interest.

The protozoan Phytomonas serpens (class Kinetoplastea) is an important phytoparasite that has gained medical importance due to its similarities to Trypanosoma cruzi, the etiological agent of Chagas disease. The present work describes the first proteome analysis of P. serpens. The parasite was separated into cytosolic and high density organelle fractions, which, together with total cell extract, were subjected to LC-MS/MS analyses. Protein identification was conducted using a comprehensive database composed of genome sequences of other related kinetoplastids. A total of 1,540 protein groups were identified among the three sample fractions. Sequences from Phytomonas sp. in the database allowed the highest number of identifications, with T. cruzi and T. brucei the human pathogens providing the greatest contribution to the identifications. Based on the proteomics data obtained, we proposed a central metabolic map of P. serpens, which includes all enzymes of the citric acid cycle. Data also revealed a new range of proteins possibly responsible for immunological cross-reactivity between P. serpens and T. cruzi

Implantação de um centro na área das violências doméstica e sexual em Campos dos Goytacazes, Rio de Janeiro, 2009-2012

OBJETIVO: descrever a experiência de implantação do Centro de Atendimento, Pesquisas e Estudos na Área das Violências Doméstica e Sexual (Capevi) em Campos dos Goytacazes-RJ, Brasil, 2009-2012. MÉTODOS: foram convocadas câmaras técnicas entre as secretarias municipais de Saúde e da Família e Assistência Social para implantação do Capevi, visando à reorganização da rede de assistência em urgência e emergência e unificação do instrumento de notificação de violência doméstica e sexual nos sistemas de Notificação de Violências (Sinov) e de Informação de Agravos de Notificação (Sinan). RESULTADOS: após a implantação, cresceram aproximadamente 2000% as notificações no Sinov-Sinan; os tipos de violência com maior incremento de casos no período estudado foram física (de 14 para 435), psicológica/moral (de 4 para 338), tortura (de 3 para 61) e doméstica (de 17 para 200). CONCLUSÃO: o Capevi permitiu o redimensionamento da rede de enfrentamento à violência local e propiciou o aumento quantitativo de notificações

Brazilian Flora 2020: Leveraging the power of a collaborative scientific network

International audienceThe shortage of reliable primary taxonomic data limits the description of biological taxa and the understanding of biodiversity patterns and processes, complicating biogeographical, ecological, and evolutionary studies. This deficit creates a significant taxonomic impediment to biodiversity research and conservation planning. The taxonomic impediment and the biodiversity crisis are widely recognized, highlighting the urgent need for reliable taxonomic data. Over the past decade, numerous countries worldwide have devoted considerable effort to Target 1 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC), which called for the preparation of a working list of all known plant species by 2010 and an online world Flora by 2020. Brazil is a megadiverse country, home to more of the world's known plant species than any other country. Despite that, Flora Brasiliensis, concluded in 1906, was the last comprehensive treatment of the Brazilian flora. The lack of accurate estimates of the number of species of algae, fungi, and plants occurring in Brazil contributes to the prevailing taxonomic impediment and delays progress towards the GSPC targets. Over the past 12 years, a legion of taxonomists motivated to meet Target 1 of the GSPC, worked together to gather and integrate knowledge on the algal, plant, and fungal diversity of Brazil. Overall, a team of about 980 taxonomists joined efforts in a highly collaborative project that used cybertaxonomy to prepare an updated Flora of Brazil, showing the power of scientific collaboration to reach ambitious goals. This paper presents an overview of the Brazilian Flora 2020 and provides taxonomic and spatial updates on the algae, fungi, and plants found in one of the world's most biodiverse countries. We further identify collection gaps and summarize future goals that extend beyond 2020. Our results show that Brazil is home to 46,975 native species of algae, fungi, and plants, of which 19,669 are endemic to the country. The data compiled to date suggests that the Atlantic Rainforest might be the most diverse Brazilian domain for all plant groups except gymnosperms, which are most diverse in the Amazon. However, scientific knowledge of Brazilian diversity is still unequally distributed, with the Atlantic Rainforest and the Cerrado being the most intensively sampled and studied biomes in the country. In times of “scientific reductionism”, with botanical and mycological sciences suffering pervasive depreciation in recent decades, the first online Flora of Brazil 2020 significantly enhanced the quality and quantity of taxonomic data available for algae, fungi, and plants from Brazil. This project also made all the information freely available online, providing a firm foundation for future research and for the management, conservation, and sustainable use of the Brazilian funga and flora