Búsqueda de dianas en Podosphaera Xanthii para el desarrollo de nuevas fitoterapias antifúngicas

La resistencia a fungicidas en uno de los principales problemas de la agricultura y esto es especialmente patente en el caso de los oídios. En España y en las principales áreas productoras del mundo, el oídio de las cucurbitáceas es una amenaza muy grave, y Podosphaera xanthii es considerado como el principal agente causante de la enfermedad. Hasta la fecha, la aplicación de fungicidas y el uso de variedades resistentes son las principales herramientas para el control de la enfermedad. En cualquier caso, el oídio sigue imponiendo serias limitaciones en la producción agrícola, siendo necesario el desarrollo de nuevas estrategias de control. En este estudio se pretende proporcionar información sobre las bases moleculares de P. xanthii que pueda ser de utilidad para el desarrollo de nuevas herramientas de fitoprotección. Para lograr este objetivo, estamos centrando nuestra atención en un conjunto de proteínas fúngicas carentes de función, determinado en un estudio anterior. Ante la falta de homología con proteínas funcionalmente anotadas, para conocer la posible función de dichas proteínas, en primer lugar, llevamos a cabo un análisis in silico detallado de las proteínas que incluye modelado 3D, predicción de posibles ligandos e identificación de dominios funcionales. En segundo lugar, para la identificación de proteínas clave para la patogénesis de P. xanthii, silenciamos proteínas del hongo con función predicha bioinformáticamente mediante silenciamiento génico inducido por hospedador (HIGS) empleando Agrobacterium tumefaciens como vector para la expresión transitoria de construcciones de silenciamiento en células de melón, y desde ellas, al hongo diana. Finalmente, las proteínas con un fenotipo claro de silenciamiento serán seleccionadas para la caracterización de su actividad biológica. En este congreso se mostrarán los resultados más relevantes obtenidos hasta la fecha, relativos a la asimilación de azufre.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech. Este trabajo ha sido financiado por una ayuda del Programa Estatal de I+D+i Orientada a los Retos de la Sociedad (AGL2016-76216-C2-1-R), cofinanciada con fondos FEDER (UE). Los autores agredecen además ayudas del Plan Propio de Investigación de la Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Evaluation of biological control agents for managing cucurbit powdery mildew on greenhouse-grown melon

An evaluation was made of the ability of two mycoparasite-based products AQ10® (Ampelomyces quisqualis) and Mycotal® (Lecanicillium lecanii), as well as three strains of Bacillus subtilis, to manage powdery mildew disease, caused by Podosphaera fusca on melon seedlings maintained under different regimes of relative humidity and on plants grown under greenhouse conditions in Spain. In every case fungal and bacterial biocontrol agents (BCAs) performed better under conditions of high relative humidity (90–95% RH). In greenhouse experiments, the effectiveness of the mycoparasites to manage powdery mildew was absolutely dependent on mineral oil. The strains of B. subtilis provided disease control similar to that achieved with the mycoparasites or the fungicide azoxystrobin. Microscopic analysis showed the ability of these bacterial strains to efficiently colonize leaf surfaces and revealed the occurrence of antagonistic interactions between biological agents and P. fusca structures. These results confirmed the usefulness of these BCAs for managing powdery mildew on greenhouse-grown cucurbits either as single products or as a component of integrated control programmes.Estación Experimental ‘La Mayora’ (CSIC), Algarrobo-Costa, 29750 Málaga, Spain Grupo de Microbiología y Patología Vegetal-Unidad Asociada a CSIC, Departamento de Microbiología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Málaga, 29071 MálagaPeer reviewe

Growth performance, in vitro antioxidant properties and chemical composition of the halophyte Limonium algarvense Erben are strongly influenced by the irrigation salinity

Limonium algarvense Erben (sea lavender) is a halophyte species with potential to provide natural ingredients with in vitro antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, neuroprotective and antidiabetic properties. This study reports for the first time the 1) cultivation of sea lavender in greenhouse conditions under irrigation with freshwater (approx. 0 mM NaCl) and saline aquaculture wastewater (300 and 600 mM NaCl), and 2) the influence of the irrigation salinity on the plant performance (e.g growth, number of produced leaves and flowers), in vitro antioxidant properties [radical scavenging activity (DPPH and ABTS), ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), metal chelating properties on copper (CCA) and iron (ICA)], toxicity (in vitro on three mammalian cell lines) and chemical composition (determined by LC-ESI-HRMS/MS). The freshwater-irrigated plants had better growth performance than those irrigated with saltwater. Extracts from wild plants, had the highest antioxidant activity, but those from cultivated ones kept high in vitro antioxidant properties and interesting chemical profile. The flowers' extracts of plants irrigated with 300 mM NaCl had the highest antioxidant activities against DPPH, whereas those from freshwater-irrigated plants were more active on ABTS, CCA and FRAP. Most of the extracts showed nil toxicity. The flowers' extracts displayed the highest diversity of compounds, mainly quercetin, apigenin, luteolin, naringenin and their glycoside derivatives. Moreover, their abundance varied with the irrigation salinity. These data indicate that sea lavender plants can be successfully cultivated in greenhouse conditions under fresh- and saltwater irrigation, maintaining interesting biological and chemical properties.Funding Agency Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology Portuguese National Budget CCMAR/Multi/04326/2019 GreenVet project ALG-01-0145-FEDER-028876 XtrerneAquaCrops FA-05-2017-028 Lisboa-01-0145-FEDER-022125-RNEM-IST ID/QUI/00100/201 Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology SFRH/BD/116604/2016 CEECIND/00425/2017info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A crowdsourcing database for the copy-number variation of the spanish population

Background: Despite being a very common type of genetic variation, the distribution of copy-number variations (CNVs) in the population is still poorly understood. The knowledge of the genetic variability, especially at the level of the local population, is a critical factor for distinguishing pathogenic from non-pathogenic variation in the discovery of new disease variants. Results: Here, we present the SPAnish Copy Number Alterations Collaborative Server (SPACNACS), which currently contains copy number variation profiles obtained from more than 400 genomes and exomes of unrelated Spanish individuals. By means of a collaborative crowdsourcing effort whole genome and whole exome sequencing data, produced by local genomic projects and for other purposes, is continuously collected. Once checked both, the Spanish ancestry and the lack of kinship with other individuals in the SPACNACS, the CNVs are inferred for these sequences and they are used to populate the database. A web interface allows querying the database with different filters that include ICD10 upper categories. This allows discarding samples from the disease under study and obtaining pseudo-control CNV profiles from the local population. We also show here additional studies on the local impact of CNVs in some phenotypes and on pharmacogenomic variants. SPACNACS can be accessed at: http://csvs.clinbioinfosspa.es/spacnacs/. Conclusion: SPACNACS facilitates disease gene discovery by providing detailed information of the local variability of the population and exemplifies how to reuse genomic data produced for other purposes to build a local reference database.This work is supported by Grants PID2020-117979RB-I00 from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation; by the Institute of Health Carlos III (project IMPaCT-Data, exp. IMP/00019, IMP/00009 and PI20/01305), co-funded by the European Union, European Regional Development Fund (ERDF, “A way to make Europe”)

Does co-infection with vector-borne pathogens play a role in clinical canine leishmaniosis?

The severity of canine leishmaniosis (CanL) due to Leishmania infantum might be affected by other vector-borne organisms that mimic its clinical signs and clinicopathological abnormalities. The aim of this study was to determine co-infections with other vector-borne pathogens based on serological and molecular techniques in dogs with clinical leishmaniosis living in Spain and to associate them with clinical signs and clinicopathological abnormalities as well as disease severity. Sixty-one dogs with clinical leishmaniosis and 16 apparently healthy dogs were tested for Rickettsia conorii, Ehrlichia canis, Anaplasma phagocytophilum and Bartonella henselae antigens by the immunofluorescence antibody test (IFAT) and for E. canis, Anaplasma spp., Hepatozoon spp., Babesia spp. and filarioid DNA by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Among the dogs examined by IFAT, the seroprevalences were: 69% for R. conorii, 57% for E. canis, 44% for A. phagocytophilum and 37% for B. henselae ; while the prevalences found by PCR were: 8% for Ehrlichia / Anaplasma, 3% for Anaplasma platys and 1% for H. canis. No other pathogen DNA was detected. Statistical association was found between dogs with clinical leishmaniosis and seroreactivity to R. conorii antigen (Fisher's exact test: P = 0.025, OR = 4.1, 95% CI = 1-17) and A. phagocytophilum antigen (Fisher's exact test: P = 0.002, OR = 14.3, 95% CI = 2-626) and being positive to more than one serological or molecular tests (co-infections) (Mann-Whitney test: U = 243, Z = -2.6, n = 14, n = 61, P = 0.01) when compared with healthy dogs. Interestingly, a statistical association was found between the presence of R. conorii, E. canis, A. phagocytophilum and B. henselae antibodies in sick dogs and some clinicopathological abnormalities such as albumin and albumin/globulin ratio decrease and increase in serum globulins. Furthermore, seroreactivity with A. phagocytophilum antigens was statistically associated with CanL clinical stages III and IV. This study demonstrates that dogs with clinical leishmaniosis from Catalonia (Spain) have a higher rate of co-infections with other vector-borne pathogens when compared with healthy controls. Furthermore, positivity to some vector-borne pathogens was associated with more marked clinicopathological abnormalities as well as disease severity with CanL

Field resistance to QoI fungicides in Podosphaera fusca is not supported by typical mutations in the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene.

A single nucleotide polymorphism in the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene confers resistance to strobilurin (QoI) fungicides in phytopathogenic fungi. Recent studies have revealed worrying levels of resistance to strobilurins in Podosphaera fusca (Fr.) U Braun & N Shishkoff comb. nov. [ = Sphaerothecafusca (Fr.) S Blumer], the main causal agent of cucurbit powdery mildew in Spain. In the present study the underlying resistance mechanism to QoI fungicides in the Spanish populations of P. fusca was investigatedThis study was funded by a grant from Plan Nacional de Recursos y Tecnologías Agroalimentarias of Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia, Spain (AGL2004-06056).Peer reviewe

The powdery mildew fungus Podosphaera fusca (synonym Podosphaera xanthii), a constant threat to cucurbits

Numerous vegetable crops are susceptible to powdery mildew, but cucurbits are arguably the group most severely affected. Podosphaera fusca (synonym Podosphaera xanthii) is the main causal agent of cucurbit powdery mildew and one of the most important limiting factors for cucurbit production worldwide. Although great efforts have been invested in disease control, by contrast, many basic aspects of the biology of P. fusca remain unknown