West Nile virus transmission potential in Portugal

© The Author(s) 2022. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.It is unclear whether West Nile virus (WNV) circulates endemically in Portugal. Despite the country's adequate climate for transmission, Portugal has only reported four human WNV infections so far. We performed a review of WNV-related data (1966-2020), explored mosquito (2016-2019) and land type distributions (1992-2019), and used climate data (1981-2019) to estimate WNV transmission suitability in Portugal. Serological and molecular evidence of WNV circulation from animals and vectors was largely restricted to the south. Land type and climate-driven transmission suitability distributions, but not the distribution of WNV-capable vectors, were compatible with the North-South divide present in serological and molecular evidence of WNV circulation. Our study offers a comprehensive, data-informed perspective and review on the past epidemiology, surveillance and climate-driven transmission suitability of WNV in Portugal, highlighting the south as a subregion of importance. Given the recent WNV outbreaks across Europe, our results support a timely change towards local, active surveillance.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Glutamate receptor-like channels are essential for chemotaxis and reproduction in mosses

The deposited article version is a "Accelerated Article Preview" provided by Nature Publishing Group, and it contains attached the supplementary materials within the pdf.». This publication hasn't any creative commons license associated.Glutamate receptors are well characterized channels that mediate cell-to-cell communication during neurotransmission in animals. Nevertheless, information regarding their functional role in organisms without nervous systems is still limited. In plants, Glutamate Receptor-like (GLR) genes have been implicated in defence against pathogens, reproduction, control of stomata aperture and light signal transduction(1-5). However, the numerous GLR genes present in angiosperm genomes (20 to 70)(6) has prevented the observation of strong phenotypes in loss-of-function mutants. Here, we show that in the moss Physcomitrella patens, a basal land plant, mutation of GLR genes cause sperm failure in targeting the female reproductive organs. In addition, we show that GLR genes encode non-selective Ca(2+) permeable channels that can regulate cytoplasmic Ca(2+) and are needed to induce the expression of a BELL1-like transcription factor essential for zygote development. Our work reveals novel functions for GLRs in sperm chemotaxis and transcriptional regulation. Sperm chemotaxis is essential for fertilization in both animals and early land plants like bryophytes and pteridophytes. Therefore, our results are suggestive that ionotropic glutamate receptors may have been conserved throughout plant evolution to mediate cell-to-cell communication during sexual reproduction.Phillips University; Oxford University; University of Marburg; University of Muenster; MarieCurie ITN-Plant Origins grant: (FP7-PEOPLE-ITN-2008); FCT grants: (BEX-BCM/0376/2012; PTDC/BIA-PLA/4018/2012); NSF-US grant: (MCB 1616437/2016).info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

An optimized genetically encoded dual reporter for simultaneous ratio imaging of Ca2+^{2+} and H+^{+} reveals new insights into ion signaling in plants

Whereas the role of calcium ions (Ca$^{2+}$) in plant signaling is well studied, the physiological significance of pH‐changes remains largely undefined. Here we developed CapHensor, an optimized dual‐reporter for simultaneous Ca$^{2+}$ and pH ratio‐imaging and studied signaling events in pollen tubes (PTs), guard cells (GCs), and mesophyll cells (MCs). Monitoring spatio‐temporal relationships between membrane voltage, Ca$^{2+}$‐ and pH‐dynamics revealed interconnections previously not described. In tobacco PTs, we demonstrated Ca$^{2+}$‐dynamics lag behind pH‐dynamics during oscillatory growth, and pH correlates more with growth than Ca$^{2+}$. In GCs, we demonstrated abscisic acid (ABA) to initiate stomatal closure via rapid cytosolic alkalization followed by Ca2+ elevation. Preventing the alkalization blocked GC ABA‐responses and even opened stomata in the presence of ABA, disclosing an important pH‐dependent GC signaling node. In MCs, a flg22‐induced membrane depolarization preceded Ca2+‐increases and cytosolic acidification by c. 2 min, suggesting a Ca$^{2+}$/pH‐independent early pathogen signaling step. Imaging Ca2+ and pH resolved similar cytosol and nuclear signals and demonstrated flg22, but not ABA and hydrogen peroxide to initiate rapid membrane voltage‐, Ca$^{2+}$‐ and pH‐responses. We propose close interrelation in Ca$^{2+}$‐ and pH‐signaling that is cell type‐ and stimulus‐specific and the pH having crucial roles in regulating PT growth and stomata movement

An optimized genetically encoded dual reporter for simultaneous ratio imaging of Ca 2+

Whereas the role of calcium ions (Ca(2+)) in plant signaling is well studied, the physiological significance of pH-changes remains largely undefined. Here we developed CapHensor, an optimized dual-reporter for simultaneous Ca(2+) and pH ratio-imaging and studied signaling events in pollen tubes (PTs), guard cells (GCs), and mesophyll cells (MCs). Monitoring spatio-temporal relationships between membrane voltage, Ca(2+)- and pH-dynamics revealed interconnections previously not described. In tobacco PTs, we demonstrated Ca(2+)-dynamics lag behind pH-dynamics during oscillatory growth, and pH correlates more with growth than Ca(2+). In GCs, we demonstrated abscisic acid (ABA) to initiate stomatal closure via rapid cytosolic alkalization followed by Ca(2+) elevation. Preventing the alkalization blocked GC ABA-responses and even opened stomata in the presence of ABA, disclosing an important pH-dependent GC signaling node. In MCs, a flg22-induced membrane depolarization preceded Ca(2+)-increases and cytosolic acidification by c. 2 min, suggesting a Ca(2+)/pH-independent early pathogen signaling step. Imaging Ca(2+) and pH resolved similar cytosol and nuclear signals and demonstrated flg22, but not ABA and hydrogen peroxide to initiate rapid membrane voltage-, Ca(2+)- and pH-responses. We propose close interrelation in Ca(2+)- and pH-signaling that is cell type- and stimulus-specific and the pH having crucial roles in regulating PT growth and stomata movement