Palaeoecological analysis of two Late Pleistocene continental mollusc assemblages from Uruguay

Ponencia presentada en World Congress of Malacology, 1-5 Aug. 2022, Münich - Alemania, organizado por UNITAS Malacologica y Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität.Extant continental (freshwater and terrestrial) molluscs are very informative from an environmental point of view. The specific environmental requirements of different taxa can be extrapolated to the fossil assemblages in order to reconstruct past environments. This is especially true for the Quaternary, when fossil assemblages are mostly composed by extant species. We analysed two associations of continental molluscs from the Late Pleistocene of Uruguay, with the goal of reconstruct the depositional environments for each assemblage. For this analysis, 11 localities from the Sopas Formation and 10 from the Dolores Formation were selected. The statistical analyses aimed to understand the diversity of each locality and to make comparisons among them, using traditional diversity indices (Shannon, Simpson, Equitability). To estimate the diversity Rarefaction and Chao1 were applied. Lastly, the species occurrence in all localities were compared, using several multivariate analyses: NMDS with axes rotation by Principal Components Analysis, Correspondence Analysis, and Cluster Analysis. The multivariate analyses show that all local assemblages are distributed in two main associations: one composed mostly by Sopas Formation localities (Sopas Association) and the other composed mostly by Dolores Formation localities (Dolores Association). Only one locality from each Formation was interchanged. The Sopas Association records mostly the families Cyrenidae (36.1 %), Tateidae (32 %), Cochliopidae (26.1 %), and the only record of the family Chilinidae. Also, the large, massive species Diplodon charruanus, D. wymanii and D. peraeformis are present. Meanwhile, the Dolores Association records mostly representatives of Cochliopidae (54.4 %), Planorbinae (20.2 %), Sphaeridae (16 %), and has the only records of Physidae and Succineidae. Cochliopidae (Heleobia) are present in both associations, which is logical since currently they are quite ubiquitous in most lotic and lentic environments. Ampullariidae and the subfamily Ancylinae are also present in both associations, along with the delicate species Diplodon rhuacoicus, which is the only Diplodon from the Dolores Association. Presently, the communities that include Sopas-like assemblages are mostly found in high to moderate current lotic environments, with rocky to coarse bottoms. Meanwhile, the communities that include the taxa typical of the Dolores Association are common in lentic or very calm lotic environments, with fine sediments and abundant aquatic vegetation.ANII: FCE_3_2018_1_148922ANII: POS_NAC_2015_1_10947

An Open-Source Storage Solution for Cryo-Electron Microscopy Samples

Cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) enables the study of biological structures in situ in great detail and to solve protein structures at Ångstrom level resolution. Due to recent advances in instrumentation and data processing, the field of cryo-EM is a rapidly growing. Access to facilities and national centers that house the state-of-the-art microscopes is limited due to the ever-rising demand, resulting in long wait times between sample preparation and data acquisition. To improve sample storage, we have developed a cryo-storage system with an efficient, high storage capacity that enables sample storage in a highly organized manner. This system is simple to use, cost-effective and easily adaptable for any type of grid storage box and dewar and any size cryo-EM laboratory.Microbial Biotechnolog

Singlet-Oxygen Generation by Peroxidases and Peroxygenases for Chemoenzymatic Synthesis

Singlet oxygen is a reactive oxygen species undesired in living cells but a rare and valuable reagent in chemical synthesis. We present a fluorescence spectroscopic analysis of the singlet-oxygen formation activity of commercial peroxidases and novel peroxygenases. Singlet-oxygen sensor green (SOSG) is used as fluorogenic singlet oxygen trap. Establishing a kinetic model for the reaction cascade to the fluorescent SOSG endoperoxide permits a kinetic analysis of enzymatic singlet-oxygen formation. All peroxidases and peroxygenases show singlet-oxygen formation. No singlet oxygen activity could be found for any catalase under investigation. Substrate inhibition is observed for all reactive enzymes. The commercial dye-decolorizing peroxidase industrially used for dairy bleaching shows the highest singlet-oxygen activity and the lowest inhibition. This enzyme was immobilized on a textile carrier and successfully applied for a chemical synthesis. Here, ascaridole was synthesized via enzymatically produced singlet oxygen. © 2020 Wiley-VCH Gmb

The dynamics of language and ethnicity in Mauritius

The link between ethnicity and language has been well established in research but its contextual, perspectual and variable nature demands that this connection be re-examined in each attempt to understand a nation. This paper is about Mauritius, a postcolonial context where French and British colonisation has left salient features which continue to influence the dynamics around language and ethnicity in the country. By describing its demographic characteristics and its linguistic and political situation, I retrieve some of the key facets of this multi-ethnic and multi-lingual nation which evidence resistance by both the state and the populace against the established colonial languages. To compensate for the lack of appropriate theoretical framework in existing research on Mauritius, I use Homi Bhabha’s postcolonial theoretical framework to uncover the realities faced by both the state and the people of this country and the impacts these may have in the workplace

New Speakers and Language Revitalisation: Arpitan and Community (Re)formation

Today, it is uncontroversial to claim that France’s regional (minority) languages (RLs) are in decline. However, revitalisation movements have nonetheless continued to surface, and this chapter considers one by-product of such efforts: the emergence of new speakers in RL contexts. The term ‘new speaker’ refers to individuals who acquire the target language not through traditional transmission contexts (e.g. home, family), but instead as adults through language revitalisation initiatives. The chapter focuses on revitalisation efforts in the context of Francoprovençal, a severely endangered and understudied RL spoken transnationally across French, Italian and Swiss borders. A critical examination of current studies supplemented with recently collected empirical data shows new speakers to be central agents in a movement championing proto-nation-statehood across national borders, reorienting the region’s traditional sociolinguistic field

A flexible and efficient microfluidics platform for the characterization and isolation of novel bacteriophages

Bacteriophages are viruses that infect bacteria. This property makes them highly suitable for varied uses in industry or in the development of the treatment of bacterial infections. However, the conventional methods that are used to isolate and analyze these bacteriophages from the environment are generally cumbersome and time consuming. Here, we adapted a high-throughput microfluidic setup for long-term analysis of bacteriophage-bacteria interaction and demonstrate isolation of phages from environmental samples.</p

An Open-Source Storage Solution for Cryo-Electron Microscopy Samples

Cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) enables the study of biological structures in situ in great detail and to solve protein structures at Ångstrom level resolution. Due to recent advances in instrumentation and data processing, the field of cryo-EM is a rapidly growing. Access to facilities and national centers that house the state-of-the-art microscopes is limited due to the ever-rising demand, resulting in long wait times between sample preparation and data acquisition. To improve sample storage, we have developed a cryo-storage system with an efficient, high storage capacity that enables sample storage in a highly organized manner. This system is simple to use, cost-effective and easily adaptable for any type of grid storage box and dewar and any size cryo-EM laboratory.Microbial Biotechnolog