Efecto de la vitrificación de los embriones sobre su desarrollo fetal y prepuberal

[ES] Los embriones preimplantacionales de mamífero son sensibles a las condiciones ambientales en las que se desarrollan, a pesar de ello, son capaces de adaptarse a las alteraciones del ambiente mediante cambios epignéticos. La crioconservación de óvulos y embriones es considerada una herramienta importante no solo en la reproducción humana asistida, sino también para preservar la biodiversidad animal. No obstante la neutralidad de esta técnica ha sido cuestionada durante los últimos años, por lo que se han iniciado estudios acerca de las repercusiones que podría tener a medio y largo plazo sobre los individuos. Por ello el objetivo de este trabajo fue evaluar si la vitrificación de embriones induce alteraciones en el desarrollo prenatal y prepuberal en el conejo, tanto en su crecimiento como a nivel hepático. Así se evaluó el desarrollo prenatal mediante ultrasonografía en individuos procedentes de embriones vitrificados, frescos y controles. Se realizó un seguimiento del crecimiento durante las 9 primeras semanas de vida, tras lo que se sacrificó un grupo de conejos macho y se registró el peso de los órganos de la cavidad torácica y abdominal. Además se estudió la expresión diferencial de genes (APOA4, ELOVL4, LIPC, CLN6, IGF-I, CYP7A1) y metabolitos (ácidos biliares, bilirrubina total, colesterol, albúmina y glucosa) relacionados con el metabolismo lipídico, el metabolismo del colesterol, y sobre crecimiento. Se encontraron diferencias respecto al desarrollo prenatal, el cual comienza tras la implantación, con retraso por parte de los animales procedentes de embriones vitrificados y frescos, pero que es compensado al inicio de la última semana de gestación. Por otro lado, no fueron encontradas diferencias estadísticas ni en la expresión genética ni en los metabolitos relacionados con la función hepática, aunque en algunos de ellos (APOA4, LIPC, CLN6, glucosa y colesterol) será necesaria la ampliación del número de muestras y su reanálisis. Por el contrario sí que se encontraron diferencias significativas respecto a las concentraciones de IGF-I y en los pesos de hígado, glándulas suprarrenales y pulmones, así como en los pesos de los animales al sacrificio. Por tanto se concluye que la vitrificación podría no ser neutral, induciendo cambios en el desarrollo de los individuos, aunque es necesario aumentar el número muestral para determinar la relevancia de estos efectos.[EN] Preimplantation mammalian embryos are sensitive to environmental conditions where they develop. However, they are able to adapt to changes in the environment through mechanisms which include epigenetic modifications. Oocytes and embryos cryopreservation is considered an important tool not only in assisted human reproduction, but also as a tool in the preservation of animal biodiversity. Nevertheless the neutrality of this technique has been questioned in the last years and as a result, studies have been initiated in order to evaluate the medium and long term effects of this technique on individuals. Then the aim of this study was thus, to evaluate whether early embryos vitrification induces alterations on prenatal and prepubertal development in rabbits, in both growth and hepatic function. Prenatal development was evaluated by ultrasonography of individuals from vitrified embryos, fresh and controls. Growth monitoring was performed during the first 9 weeks of life, after male rabbits were slaughtered, recording the weight of the organs of the chest and abdominal cavity. Furthermore, the differential expression of genes (APOA4, ELOVL4, LIPC, CLN6, IGF-I, CYP7A1) and metabolites (bile acids, total bilirubin, cholesterol, albumin and glucose) related to lipid metabolism, cholesterol metabolism and growth was studied. Differences were found in the prenatal development, which begins after implantation found, with a delay in animals from vitrified and fresh embryos, but this was compensated at the beginning of the last week of gestation. On the other hand no statistical differences were found in either gene expression or metabolites related to liver function, although in some of them (APOA4, LIPC, CLN6, glucose and cholesterol) the sample size needs to be increased and reanalysed. In contrast, significant differences were found in the concentrations of IGF-I and weights of liver, adrenal glands and lungs, as well as the weights of the animals at slaughter. Therefore it concludes that vitrification may not be neutral, inducing changes in the development of individuals, although it is necessary to increase the sample size to determine the relevance of these effects.Domínguez Martínez, M. (2016). Efecto de la vitrificación de los embriones sobre su desarrollo fetal y prepuberal. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/68678.TFG

Earthworms and Grape Marc: Simultaneous Production of a High-Quality Biofertilizer and Bioactive-Rich Seeds

Winemaking produces annually millions of tons of grape marc as a byproduct, which is a revaluable resource having many potential uses, including a nutrient‐rich organic soil amendment. However, its application as untreated raw material can damage crops owing to the release of phytotoxic polyphenols. This agronomic problems can be minimized by vermicomposting, as earthworms can partly digest polyphenols. This chapter reports the results obtained in the processing of grape marc derived from white wine through vermicomposting on an industrial scale to yield both a high quality organic, polyphenol‐free fertilizer and grape seeds as a source of bioactive compounds. Vermicomposting reduced substantially the residue biomass. In a very short‐term, the process yielded a nutrient‐rich, microbiologically active and stabilized peat‐like material that can be easily separated from the seeds by sieving. The isolation of the seeds eliminates the polyphenol‐associated phytotoxicity from the vermicompost and left those seeds prepared to be easily processed to get different bioactive compounds, mainly rich‐polyphenols extracts but also rich‐fatty acids seed oil. The procedure described is effective, simple, environmental‐friendly and economical, and can easily be scaled up for industrial application yielding a variety of added‐value products from the initial grape marc

Trace elements and C and N isotope composition in two mushroom species from a mine-spill contaminated site

Fungi play a key role in the functioning of soil in terrestrial ecosystems, and in particular in the remediation of degraded soils. The contribution of fungi to carbon and nutrient cycles, along with their capability to mobilise soil trace elements, is well-known. However, the importance of life history strategy for these functions has not yet been thoroughly studied. This study explored the soil-fungi relationship of two wild edible fungi, the ectomycorrhizal Laccaria laccata and the saprotroph Volvopluteus gloiocephalus. Fruiting bodies and surrounding soils in a mine-spill contaminated area were analysed. Isotope analyses revealed Laccaria laccata fruiting bodies were 15N-enriched when compared to Volvopluteus gloiocephalus, likely due to the transfer of 15N-depleted compounds to their host plant. Moreover, Laccaria laccata fruiting bodies δ13C values were closer to host plant values than surrounding soil, while Volvopluteus gloiocephalus matched the δ13C composition to that of the soil. Fungal species presented high bioaccumulation and concentrations of Cd and Cu in their fruiting bodies. Human consumption of these fruiting bodies may represent a toxicological risk due to their elevated Cd concentrations

Vermicompostaje del bagazo de uva: fuente de enmienda orgánica de alta calidad agrícola y de polifenoles bioactivos

El bagazo de uva es un residuo vitivinícola generado en grandes cantidades en regiones como Galicia (España). Posee unas concentraciones polifenólicas elevadas que inhiben el crecimiento de raíces y plantas y son un riesgo para su aplicación como enmienda orgánica en agricultura sin un proceso de tratamiento previo. Pero los polifenoles son también compuestos bioactivos naturales, y por su carácter antioxidante y demás propiedades asociadas son sustancias a considerar en la obtención de ingredientes para la industria cosmética, farmacéutica o alimentaria. En este experimento se realizó un proceso de vermicompostaje del bagazo de uva de la variedad Albariño y se estudiaron los principales cambios físicos, biológicos y químicos (particularmente, polifenólicos) que se producen durante su degradación. Tras 42 días de vermicompostaje, las semillas aisladas presentaban todavía unas concentraciones de polifenoles importantes y de elevado interés industrial. En cuanto al bagazo vermicompostado las concentraciones polifenólicas disminuyeron rápidamente hasta el final del proceso (día 112) y se obtuvo un vermicompost final maduro, estable y de calidad para su uso como enmienda orgánica en campos de cultivoGrape marc is a winery waste generated in large quantities in regions such as Galicia (Spain). It has high polyphenol concentrations that inhibit the growth of roots and plants and that could become a risk in using it as organic amendment in agriculture without pretreatment process. Polyphenols are natural bioactive compounds that for their antioxidant properties and other associated properties are important substances considered in obtaining ingredients for cosmetic, pharmaceutical or food industry. In this experiment we performed a vermicomposting process with grape marc from the Albariño variety. The main physical, biological and chemical changes (particularly, polyphenolics) during the degradation process have been studied. After 42 days of vermicomposting, the isolated seeds still have high concentrations of polyphenols with important industrial interest. The polyphenolic content of the vermicomposted grape marc was decreasing rapidly until the end of the process (day 112); and a mature, stable and high quality vermicompost was obtained for use as organic fertilizer on cropsS

Educación para la muerte y el morir para una vida plena: aprender a morir para aprender a vivir

Death is an event that comes to us, by natural order or not, unfailingly at the end of our life. This may sound like a truism, but it is the only certainty we really have. Not all cultures confront, officiate, commemorate or psychosocially represent death in the same way and, consequently, neither all people go through the same grief, nor do they have the same attitudes, thoughts and feelings towards the matter. In our society, death is a taboo subject and constitutes one of the most significant and important sources of anguish. This work presents a study carried out on a sample of people of legal age (n = 200), distributed over five age ranges, to try to determine the life stage, if any, in which one goes from fearing death to accept it. Do we learn to die in the last moments of life or, perhaps, not even then? In this sense, a self-elaborated questionnaire has been used, the items of which are related to the type of thoughts towards death, the qualms about talking about it, the fear to the loved ones death, of dying alone, of loss, to the sudden death, the anxiety about the subject, etc. Finally, a mention is made on the education for death as a tool to assume and accept it, with the aim of leading a full life and full psychosocial well-being.La muerte es un acontecimiento que nos llega, por orden natural o no, indefectiblemente al final de nuestra vida. Pudieraesto parecer una perogrullada, pero esla únicacerteza querealmentetenemos. No todaslasculturas afrontan, ofician, conmemoran ni representan psicosocialmente la muerte de igual manera y, en consecuencia, no todas las personas pasan por el mismo duelo, ni tienen las mismas actitudes, pensamientos y sentimientos hacia el tema. En nuestra sociedad la muerte es un tema tabú y constituye una de las fuentes de angustia más significativas e importantes. Este trabajo presenta un estudio realizado en una muestra de personas mayores de edad (n=200), distribuida en cinco rangos etarios, para intentar determinar la etapa vital, si es que la hubiere, en la que se pasa de temer a la muerte a aceptarla ¿Aprendemos a morir en los últimos momentos de la vida o, tal vez, ni siquiera entonces? En este sentido, se ha utilizado un cuestionario de elaboración propia, cuyos ítems están relacionados con el tipo de pensamientos hacia la muerte, el reparo a hablar de ella, el miedo a la muerte de los seres queridos, a morir solo, a la pérdida, a la muerte repentina, la ansiedad ante el tema, etc. Finalmente, se hace mención a la educación para la muerte como herramienta para asumir y aceptar la misma, con el objetivo de llevar una vida plena y de completo bienestar psicosocial

Whole blood DNA methylation analysis reveals respiratory environmental traits involved in COVID-19 severity following SARS-CoV-2 infection

SARS-CoV-2 infection can cause an inflammatory syndrome (COVID-19) leading, in many cases, to bilateral pneumonia, severe dyspnea, and in ~5% of these, death. DNAmethylation is known to play an important role in the regulation of the immune processes behind COVID-19 progression, however it has not been studied in depth. In this study, we aim to evaluate the implication of DNA methylation in COVID-19 progression by means of a genome-wide DNA methylation analysis combined with DNA genotyping. The results reveal the existence of epigenomic regulation of functional pathways associated with COVID-19 progression andmediated by genetic loci.We find an environmental trait-related signature that discriminatesmild from severe cases and regulates, among other cytokines, IL-6 expression via the transcription factor CEBP. The analyses suggest that an interaction between environmental contribution, genetics, and epigenetics might be playing a role in triggering the cytokine storm described in the most severe cases.Consejeria de Transformacion Economica, Industria, Conocimiento y Universidades of the regional government of AndaluciaEuropean Union through European Regional Development Fund CV20-10150Consejo Superior de Investigaciones cientificas CSIC-COV19-016/202020E155Junta de Castilla y Leon COVID 07.04.467B04.74011.0Consejeria de Salud y Familias of the regional government of Andalucia PECOVID-0072-2020Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII, Spanish Health Ministry) through the Sara Borrell subprogram CD18/00153Programa Estrategico Instituto de Biologia y Genetica Molecular, IBGM excellence programme CLU-2029-02 CCVC848

The age of black pine (Pinus nigra Arn. ssp. salzmannii (Dunal) Franco) mother trees has no effect on seed germination and on offspring seedling performance

Key message: We sampled Pinus nigra cones in 29 trees in an age range of 90 to 725 years. The mother tree age did not significantly influence the pinecone or pine seed size, seed germination capacity, or plant size or vigor displayed during the first year of growth in the nursery. Context: Pinus nigra Arn. ssp. salzmannii is a long-lived Mediterranean species, with millenary trees residing in an old-growth forest in the Cazorla Mountain Range in SE Spain which is home to the oldest known trees in the Iberian Peninsula. Aims: This study aimed to assess how the mother tree age in Pinus nigra influences seed viability, germination capacity, and the seedling survival and growth during the first year under nursery conditions. Methods: Twenty-nine trees aged 90 to 725 years were selected and 60 cones were harvested per tree to study the cone characteristics (size and weight), seed viability, and germination capacity in relation to the mother tree age. Eighty germinated seeds per tree were transferred to the nursery and seedling survival and growth were measured after the first growing season. Results: Significant between-tree differences were detected for cone characteristics (cone and seed weight, number of seeds per cone), as well as for germination capacity. Notably, however, the mother tree age did not significantly influence the aforementioned parameters. Conclusion: Forest management and regeneration practices of Pinus nigra should take into account that trees of this species up to at least 725 years old produce seeds with a fairly high reproductive capacity.The dendrochronological fieldwork of this research was funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO-number 236-61-001) and National Geographic Society (Waitts Grant W 329-14). The University of Huelva, Spain, provided the lab and nursery with the needed material to perform the experiment

Kinetics of oxygen consumption, a key factor in the changes of young wines composition

Producción CientíficaThe oxygen that a wine receives during the winemaking process defines its properties. The aim of this work was to evaluate the oxygen consumption capacity of wines and its influence on the modification of their composition. This preliminary work evaluated the changes after 3 months in the chemical composition of twenty-seven Spanish commercial red, white and rosé wines after their air saturation and oxidation process at 35 °C for 7 days. All the wines studied were high oxygen consumers, while the white and rosé wines showed greater variability according to their chemical composition. Wines that consumed a lot of oxygen did so quickly or slowly, while wines that consumed little oxygen did so slowly. All the wines showed a significant decrease in ethyl esters of straight-chain fatty acids (50–58%), ethyl esters of branched-chain fatty acids (48–56%) and alcohol acetates (34–65%) content, and a significant increase in Strecker aldehydes (24%) because of oxygen consumption. This paper presents a preliminary approach to determine the oxidation tendency of different wines showing the importance of controlling the winemaking processes that can increase oxygen availability and of establishing the minimum appropriate level of free sulfur dioxide.Ministerio de Asuntos Económicos y Transformación Digital (AGL2017-87373-C3-2-R

Scoring personalized molecular portraits identify Systemic Lupus Erythematosus subtypes and predict individualized drug responses, symptomatology and disease progression

Objectives Systemic Lupus Erythematosus is a complex autoimmune disease that leads to significant worsening of quality of life and mortality. Flares appear unpredictably during the disease course and therapies used are often only partially effective. These challenges are mainly due to the molecular heterogeneity of the disease, and in this context, personalized medicine-based approaches offer major promise. With this work we intended to advance in that direction by developing MyPROSLE, an omic-based analytical workflow for measuring the molecular portrait of individual patients to support clinicians in their therapeutic decisions. Methods Immunological gene-modules were used to represent the transcriptome of the patients. A dysregulation score for each gene-module was calculated at the patient level based on averaged z-scores. Almost 6100 Lupus and 750 healthy samples were used to analyze the association among dysregulation scores, clinical manifestations, prognosis, flare and remission events and response to Tabalumab. Machine learning-based classification models were built to predict around 100 different clinical parameters based on personalized dysregulation scores. Results MyPROSLE allows to molecularly summarize patients in 206 gene-modules, clustered into nine main lupus signatures. The combination of these modules revealed highly differentiated pathological mechanisms. We found that the dysregulation of certain gene-modules is strongly associated with specific clinical manifestations, the occurrence of relapses or the presence of long-term remission and drug response. Therefore, MyPROSLE may be used to accurately predict these clinical outcomes. Conclusions MyPROSLE (https://myprosle.genyo.es) allows molecular characterization of individual Lupus patients and it extracts key molecular information to support more precise therapeutic decisions.PID2020-119032RB-I00 supported by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033FEDER and the Innovative Medicines Initiative 2 Joint Undertaking (JU) under grant agreement No 831434 (3TR)European Union’s Horizon 2020EFPIAFEDER/Junta de Andalucía-Consejer’a de Transformación Económica, Industria, Conocimiento y Universidades (grants P20_00335 and B-CTS-40-UGR20)‘Consejería de Transformación Económica, Industria, Conocimiento y Universidades’ (CTEICU)European Union through the European Social Fund (ESF) named ‘Andalucía se mueve con Europa”Andalusian ESF Operational Program 2014–2020ISCIII CD18/00149Ministerio de Universidades (Spain’s Government) and the European Union – NextGenerationE

Ectomycorrhizal fungal communities and their functional traits mediate plant–soil interactions in trace element contaminated soils

There is an increasing consensus that microbial communities have an important role in mediating ecosystem processes. Trait-based ecology predicts that the impact of the microbial communities on ecosystem functions will be mediated by the expression of their traits at community level. The link between the response of microbial community traits to environmental conditions and its effect on plant functioning is a gap in most current microbial ecology studies. In this study, we analyzed functional traits of ectomycorrhizal fungal species in order to understand the importance of their community assembly for the soil–plant relationships in holm oak trees (Quercus ilex subsp. ballota) growing in a gradient of exposure to anthropogenic trace element (TE) contamination after a metalliferous tailings spill. Particularly, we addressed how the ectomycorrhizal composition and morphological traits at community level mediate plant response to TE contamination and its capacity for phytoremediation. Ectomycorrhizal fungal taxonomy and functional diversity explained a high proportion of variance of tree functional traits, both in roots and leaves. Trees where ectomycorrhizal fungal communities were dominated by the abundant taxa Hebeloma cavipes and Thelephora terrestris showed a conservative root economics spectrum, while trees colonized by rare taxa presented a resource acquisition strategy. Conservative roots presented ectomycorrhizal functional traits characterized by high rhizomorphs formation and low melanization which may be driven by resource limitation. Soil-to-root transfer of TEs was explained substantially by the ectomycorrhizal fungal species composition, with the highest transfer found in trees whose roots were colonized by Hebeloma cavipes. Leaf phosphorus was related to ectomycorrhizal species composition, specifically higher leaf phosphorus was related to the root colonization by Thelephora terrestris. These findings support that ectomycorrhizal fungal community composition and their functional traits mediate plant performance in metal-contaminated soils, and have a high influence on plant capacity for phytoremediation of contaminants. The study also corroborates the overall effects of ectomycorrhizal fungi on ecosystem functioning through their mediation over the plant economics spectrum