Frutos secos en la península ibérica: presente y futuro

Se analiza la situación actual y futura de la producción de las seis especies de frutos secos más importantes (almendro, avellano, nogal, pistachero, castaño y pino piñonero) en la península ibérica. Se detallan superficies de cultivo, producciones y su evolución tanto a nivel de esta como mundial. Se revisan las fortalezas, las debilidades, las oportunidades y las amenazas de cada fruto seco en España y Portugal. El sector ibérico de la fruta seca está experimentando una gran revolución tecnológica. Las producciones ibérica y mundial, debido a la creciente demanda se están incrementando en las últimas décadas. Los frutos secos presentan ventajas competitivas frente a las producciones de otros frutales desde el punto de vista del productor y del consumidor. Las plagas y enfermedades junto con el cambio climático son los principales factores limitantes. Es necesario el desarrollo de nuevas variedades y patrones adaptados a diferentes condicionantes productivos. Se consideran algunos aspectos de la calidad de los frutos secos, la seguridad alimentaria y su innovación. Además, la organización del sector, la investigación y la innovación junto con la transferencia son básicos para su competitividad.Este trabajo ha sido financiado en parte por el Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad español a través de varios proyectos y por el Programa CERCA de la Generalitat de Catalunya. Los autores agradecen a A. P. Silva de Universidade de Tràs os Montes e Alto Duoro, (UTAD) por la valiosa información facilitada referente a la situación actual y perspectivas sobre algunos frutos secos producidos en Portugal. La autora L. Lipan ha sido financiada por el Ministerio de Universidades y por la Unión Europea–Next Generation EU en el marco de las Ayudas para la Recualificación del Sistema Universitario Español, en la modalidad Margarita Salas. El autor F. Pérez de los Cobos agradece la beca doctoral otorgada por el MINECOinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Trade-offs and Noise Tolerance in Signal Detection by Genetic Circuits

Genetic circuits can implement elaborated tasks of amplitude or frequency signal detection. What type of constraints could circuits experience in the performance of these tasks, and how are they affected by molecular noise? Here, we consider a simple detection process–a signal acting on a two-component module–to analyze these issues. We show that the presence of a feedback interaction in the detection module imposes a trade-off on amplitude and frequency detection, whose intensity depends on feedback strength. A direct interaction between the signal and the output species, in a type of feed-forward loop architecture, greatly modifies these trade-offs. Indeed, we observe that coherent feed-forward loops can act simultaneously as good frequency and amplitude noise-tolerant detectors. Alternatively, incoherent feed-forward loop structures can work as high-pass filters improving high frequency detection, and reaching noise tolerance by means of noise filtering. Analysis of experimental data from several specific coherent and incoherent feed-forward loops shows that these properties can be realized in a natural context. Overall, our results emphasize the limits imposed by circuit structure on its characteristic stimulus response, the functional plasticity of coherent feed-forward loops, and the seemingly paradoxical advantage of improving signal detection with noisy circuit components

Deficit Irrigation and Its Implications for HydroSOStainable Almond Production

Deficit irrigation (DI) strategies are considered essential in many arid and semi-arid areas of Mediterranean countries for proper water management under drought conditions. This fact is even more necessary in crops such as almond (Prunus dulcis Mill.), which in the last recent years has been progressively introduced in irrigated areas. An essential aspect to be considered would be the ability to improve fruit-quality parameters when DI strategies are imposed, which can boost the final almond price and ensure the sustainability and competitiveness of this crop. This work examines the effects of sustained deficit irrigation (SDI) on three almond cultivars (Marta, Guara, and Lauranne) on parameters related to almond functionality, aroma and sensory profile, which consequently influence its marketability and consumers acceptance. SDI strategies allowed the improvement of physical parameters such as unit weight, kernel length, kernel thickness or color. Moreover, higher total phenolic compounds, organic acids and sugars were found in SDI almonds. Finally, the highest concentrations of volatile compounds were obtained under SDI, this being a clear advantage in relation to almond flavor. Thus, moderate SDI strategy offered relevant improvements in parameters regarding the marketability, by enhancing the final added value of hydroSOStainable almonds with respect to those cultivated under full irrigation conditions

Almond fruit quality can be improved by means of deficit irrigation strategies

7 páginas.- 3 figuras.- 6 tablas- 49 referenciasWater scarcity is considered one of the biggest global risks worldwide, not only because affects every continent but mostly because it can have dramatic impact in a long term. Deficit irrigation strategies can help in coping with this water scarcity and optimizing the water efficiency. Both regulated deficit irrigation (RDI) in moderate and severe levels and sustained deficit irrigation (SDI) were applied in almond nut crop within this study and quality parameters of obtained fruits were analyzed. Almost all morphological and physicochemical parameters were not affected by the water stress. However, statistically significant differences among treatments were observed for the fat content, the highest value being reached by moderate RDI treatment. Besides, differences were also found for total organic acids content, calcium, potassium, manganese and for six fatty acids (myristic, palmitic, margaric, cis-heptadecenoic, cis-vaccenic, and arachidic acids) content. According to experimental findings, it can be concluded that irrigation strategies do not affect almond fruit quality; being possible to increase the final quality of nuts, when moderate RDI is applied.The study has been funded (Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industryand Competitiveness) through a coordinated research project(hydroSOSmark) including the Universidad Miguel Hernández de Elche (AGL2016-75794-C4-1-R,hydroSOSfoods) and the Universidad deSevilla (AGL2016-75794-C4-4-R). Marina Cano-Lamadrid was fundedby a FPU grant from the Spanish Ministry of Education (FPU15/02158)Peer reviewe

Germline and somatic mutations in the tyrosine kinase domain of the MET proto-oncogene in papillary renal carcinomas

Hereditary papillary renal carcinoma (HPRC) is a recently recognized form of inherited kidney cancer characterized by a predisposition to develop multiple, bilateral papillary renal tumours. The pattern of inheritance of HPRC is consistent with autosomal dominant transmission with reduced penetrance. HPRC is histologically and genetically distinct from two other causes of inherited renal carcinoma, von Hippel-Lindau disease (VHL) and the chromosome translocation (3;8). Malignant papillary renal carcinomas are characterized by trisomy of chromosomes 7, 16 and 17, and in men, by loss of the Y chromosome. Inherited and sporadic clear cell renal carcinomas are characterized by inactivation of both copies of the VHL gene by mutation, and/or by hypermethylation. We found that the HPRC gene was located at chromosome 7q31.1-34 in a 27-centimorgan (cM) interval between D7S496 and D7S1837. We identified missense mutations located in the tyrosine kinase domain of the MET gene in the germline of affected members of HPRC families and in a subset of sporadic papillary renal carcinomas. Three mutations in the MET gene are located in codons that are homologous to those in c-kit and RET, proto-oncogenes that are targets of naturally-occurring mutations. The results suggest that missense mutations located in the MET proto-oncogene lead to constitutive activation of the MET protein and papillary renal carcinomas.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Pulsing cells: how fast is too fast?

Signal transduction pathways are complex coupled sets of biochemical reactions evolved to transmit and process information about the state of the immediate cell environment. Can we design experiments that would inform us about the properties and limitations of signal processing? Recent studies suggest that this indeed can be achieved by exciting a cell with carefully designed oscillatory stimuli. Although this analysis has its caveats, complex temporal stimulation of signal transduction networks can serve to rapidly advance our understanding of these information channels and ultimately create intelligent ways of controlling them