Bibliografía histórica sobre la Ciencia y la Técnica en España. 1997

Repertori de bibliografia històrica sobre la ciència i la tècnica a Espanya editada en 1994. //.Repertorio de bibliografía histórica sobre la ciencia y la técnica en España editada en 1994

The c4h, tat, hppr and hppd Genes Prompted Engineering of Rosmarinic Acid Biosynthetic Pathway in Salvia miltiorrhiza Hairy Root Cultures

Rational engineering to produce biologically active plant compounds has been greatly impeded by our poor understanding of the regulatory and metabolic pathways underlying the biosynthesis of these compounds. Here we capitalized on our previously described gene-to-metabolite network in order to engineer rosmarinic acid (RA) biosynthesis pathway for the production of beneficial RA and lithospermic acid B (LAB) in Salvia miltiorrhiza hairy root cultures. Results showed their production was greatly elevated by (1) overexpression of single gene, including cinnamic acid 4-hydroxylase (c4h), tyrosine aminotransferase (tat), and 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate reductase (hppr), (2) overexpression of both tat and hppr, and (3) suppression of 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase (hppd). Co-expression of tat/hppr produced the most abundant RA (906 mg/liter) and LAB (992 mg/liter), which were 4.3 and 3.2-fold more than in their wild-type (wt) counterparts respectively. And the value of RA concentration was also higher than that reported before, that produced by means of nutrient medium optimization or elicitor treatment. It is the first report of boosting RA and LAB biosynthesis through genetic manipulation, providing an effective approach for their large-scale commercial production by using hairy root culture systems as bioreactors

Nurses' perceptions of aids and obstacles to the provision of optimal end of life care in ICU

Contains fulltext : 172380.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access

Main properties of Al2O3 thin films deposited by magnetron sputtering of an Al2O3 ceramic target at different radio-frequency power and argon pressure and their passivation effect on p-type c-Si wafers

In this work, 50-nm thick Al2O3 thin films were deposited at room temperature by magnetron sputtering from an Al2O3 ceramic target at different RF power and argon pressure values. The sputtering technique could be preferred to conventional atomic layer deposition for an industrial application, owing to its simplicity, availability, and higher deposition rate. The resulting thin films were characterized by UV/Vis/NIR spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The deposited Al2O3 material was always highly transparent and amorphous in nature. It was found that the O/Al ratio is higher when the Al2O3 layer is deposited at lower RF power or higher argon pressure. Also, some argon incorporation into the films was observed at low deposition pressure. On the other hand, the performance of the previously characterized Al2O3 thin films in the passivation of 2.25-O cm p-type float zone c-Si wafer surfaces was evaluated by the quasi-steady-state photoconductance technique. The best effective carrier lifetime value at one-sun illumination, 0.34 ms (corresponding to a surface recombination velocity of 41 cm/s), was obtained with the 50-nm Al2O3 deposited at the higher argon pressure studied, 0.67 Pa (5.0 mTorr), with the lowest RF power studied, 150 W (corresponding to a power density of 3.3 W/cm2), and after an annealing process, in this case at 350 °C for 20 min with forming gas. It was assumed that the reduction of the surface passivation quality at higher RF power or lower argon pressure is a consequence of an increased surface damage, and, probably, to a decrease of the O/Al ratio of the Al2O3 passivation material. These assumptions were confirmed with the obtainment of a lifetime of 0.73 ms (a surface recombination velocity equal to 19 cm/s) with a simple experiment with Al2O3 deposited with progressively varied sputtering conditions started from minimal silicon surface damage conditions: 50 W (corresponding to a power density of 1.1 W/cm2) and 6.67 Pa (50 mTorr). Finally, comments about further improvement of the effective lifetime (up to 1.25 ms, corresponding to a surface recombination velocity of 11 cm/s) with preliminary experiments about the incorporation of an intrinsic hydrogenated amorphous silicon interlayer are included.The Centres Científics i Tecnològics de la Universitat de Barcelona (CCiTUB) is acknowledged for the XRD and XPS measurements. The authors acknowledge the financial support by the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad through the projects ENE2013-48629-C4-1-R and ENE2013-48629-C4-2-R, and J.A. García-Valenzuela acknowledges the financial support by the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACyT) with the registration numbers 208159 and 251082.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Apoplastic lipid barriers regulated by conserved homeobox transcription factors extend seed longevity in multiple plant species

Cutin and suberin are lipid polyesters deposited in specific apoplastic compartments. Their fundamental roles in plant biology include controlling the movement of gases, water and solutes, and conferring pathogen resistance. Both cutin and suberin have been shown to be present in the Arabidopsis seed coat where they regulate seed dormancy and longevity. In this study, we use accelerated and natural ageing seed assays, glutathione redox potential measures, optical and transmission electron microscopy and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry to demonstrate that increasing the accumulation of lipid polyesters in the seed coat is the mechanism by which the AtHB25 transcription factor regulates seed permeability and longevity. Chromatin immunoprecipitation during seed maturation revealed that the lipid polyester biosynthetic gene long-chain acyl-CoA synthetase 2 (LACS2) is a direct AtHB25 binding target. Gene transfer of this transcription factor to wheat and tomato demonstrated the importance of apoplastic lipid polyesters for the maintenance of seed viability. Our work establishes AtHB25 as a trans-species regulator of seed longevity and has identified the deposition of apoplastic lipid barriers as a key parameter to improve seed longevity in multiple plant species