Superação de dormência em sementes de vassoura-vermelha (Dodonea viscosa (L.) Jacq. , Sapindaceae).

Organizado por Patricia Póvoa de Mattos, Celso Garcia Auer, Rejane Stumpf Sberze, Katia Regina Pichelli e Paulo César Botosso

Sen1 is recruited to replication forks via Ctf4 and Mrc1 and promotes genome stability

DNA replication and RNA transcription compete for the same substrate during S phase. Cells have evolved several mechanisms to minimize such conflicts. Here, we identify the mechanism by which the transcription termination helicase Sen1 associates with replisomes. We show that the N terminus of Sen1 is both sufficient and necessary for replisome association and that it binds to the replisome via the components Ctf4 and Mrc1. We generated a separation of function mutant, sen1-3, which abolishes replisome binding without affecting transcription termination. We observe that the sen1-3 mutants show increased genome instability and recombination levels. Moreover, sen1-3 is synthetically defective with mutations in genes involved in RNA metabolism and the S phase checkpoint. RNH1 overexpression suppresses defects in the former, but not the latter. These findings illustrate how Sen1 plays a key function at replication forks during DNA replication to promote fork progression and chromosome stability

Isolation and Expansion of Muscle Precursor Cells from Human Skeletal Muscle Biopsies

One of the major issues concerning human skeletal muscle progenitor cells is represented by the efficient isolation and in vitro expansion of cells retaining the ability to proliferate, migrate and differentiate once transplanted. Here we describe a method (1) effective in obtaining human muscle precursor cells both from fresh and frozen biopsies coming from different muscles, (2) selective to yield cells uniformly positive for CD56 and negative for CD34 without FACS sorting, (3) reliable in maintaining proliferative and in vitro differentiative capacity up to passage 10

Isolation and Expansion of Muscle Precursor Cells from Human Skeletal Muscle Biopsies

One of the major issues concerning human skeletal muscle progenitor cells is represented by the efficient isolation and in vitro expansion of cells retaining the ability to proliferate, migrate and differentiate once transplanted. Here we describe a method (1) effective in obtaining human muscle precursor cells both from fresh and frozen biopsies coming from different muscles, (2) selective to yield cells uniformly positive for CD56 and negative for CD34 without FACS sorting, (3) reliable in maintaining proliferative and in vitro differentiative capacity up to passage 10

Food web structure shaped by habitat size and climate across a latitudinal gradient

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Habitat size and climate are known to affect the trophic structure and dynamics of communities, but their interactive effects are poorly understood. Organisms from different trophic levels vary in terms of metabolic requirements and heat dissipation. Indeed, larger species such as keystone predators require more stable climatic conditions than their prey. Likewise, habitat size disproportionally affects large-sized predators, which require larger home ranges and are thus restricted to larger habitats. Therefore, food web structure in patchy ecosystems is expected to be shaped by habitat size and climate variations. Here we investigate this prediction using natural aquatic microcosm (bromeliad phytotelmata) food webs composed of litter resources (mainly detritus), detritivores, mesopredators, and top predators (damselflies). We surveyed 240 bromeliads of varying sizes (water retention capacity) across 12 open restingas in SE Brazil spread across a wide range of tropical latitudes (-12.6 degrees to -27.6 degrees, ca. 2,000km) and climates ( mean annual temperature=5.3 degrees C). We found a strong increase in predator-to-detritivore mass ratio with habitat size, which was representative of a typical inverted trophic pyramid in larger ecosystems. However, this relationship was contingent among the restingas; slopes of linear models were steeper in more stable and favorable climates, leading to inverted trophic pyramids (and top-down control) being more pronounced in environments with more favorable climatic conditions. By contrast, detritivore-resource and mesopredator-detritivore mass ratios were not affected by habitat size or climate variations across latitudes. Our results highlight that the combined effects of habitat size, climate and predator composition are pivotal to understanding the impacts of multiple environmental factors on food web structure and dynamics.Habitat size and climate are known to affect the trophic structure and dynamics of communities, but their interactive effects are poorly understood. Organisms from different trophic levels vary in terms of metabolic requirements and heat dissipation. Inde971027052715FAPESP - FUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULOCNPQ - CONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICOFINANCIADORA DE ESTUDOS E PROJETOS - FINEPFundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)sem informação550022/2014- 701.13.0353.00The authors thank three anonymous reviewers for the valua-ble comments on the first edition of this report. A. L. Mendonça helped with invertebrate surveys, and identifications were con-ducted by L. C. de Pinho (Chironomidae), A. L. Mendonça (Culicidae), M