Resistance of cactus pear (Opuntia ficus-indica) against Pseudocercospora opuntiae through β‑1,3‑glucanase activity and polyphenolic compounds in cladodes

Black spot disease, caused by the hemibiotrophic fungus Pseudocercospora opuntiae, is one of the main phytosanitary problems of cactus (Opuntia spp.). Through mass selection, one cultivar of Opuntia ficus-indica (L.) Mill. resistant to colonization by P. opuntiae was identified. The ethanolic extract of resistant cladodes showed higher levels of total condensed tannins, flavonoids and polyphenols than those of the susceptible genotypes, generating 93% inhibition of P. opuntiae conidial germination in vitro. The total protein in the resistant genotype showed 300% higher β-1,3-glucanase than the susceptible genotype. This increased activity was able to inhibit germination of conidia by 90%, a similar effect to that of the fungicide Captan® (N‑trichloromethylthio-4-cyclohexene 1,2-dicarboximide). It was shown, for the first time, that the combined action of cactus polyphenols and β-1,3-glucanase contributes significantly to resistance against P. opuntiae. Activity of this enzyme and the phytochemical profile can be used as criteria to predict and detect cactus germplasm with resistance to black spot.Fil: Ochoa, Maria Judith. Universidad Nacional de Santiago del Estero. Facultad de Agronomía y Agroindustrias; ArgentinaFil: González Flores, L. M.. Instituto Tecnológico de Tlajomulco; MéxicoFil: Cruz Rubio, J. M.. Instituto Tecnológico de Tlajomulco; MéxicoFil: Rivera López, L. A.. Instituto Tecnológico de Tlajomulco; MéxicoFil: Rodriguez, Sergio A.. Universidad Nacional de Santiago del Estero; ArgentinaFil: Nazareno, Mónica Azucena. Universidad Nacional de Santiago del Estero; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Santiago del Estero. Facultad de Agronomía y Agroindustrias; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucumán; ArgentinaFil: Gómez Leyva, J. F.. Instituto Tecnológico de Tlajomulco; Méxic

Bioactive Products From Plant-Endophytic Gram-Positive Bacteria

Endophytes constitute plant-colonizing microorganisms in a mutualistic symbiosis relationship. They are found in most ecosystems reducing plant crops’ biotic and abiotic stressors by stimulating immune responses, excluding plant pathogens by niche competition, and participating in antioxidant activities and phenylpropanoid metabolism, whose activation produces plant defense, structural support, and survival molecules. In fact, metabolomic studies have demonstrated that endophyte genes associated to specific metabolites are involved in plant growth promotion (PGP) by stimulating plant hormones production such as auxins and gibberellins or as plant protective agents against microbial pathogens, cancer, and insect pests, but eco-friendly and eco-safe. A number of metabolites of Gram-positive endophytes isolated from agriculture, forest, mangrove, and medicinal plants, mainly related to the Firmicutes phyla, possess distinctive biocontrol and plant growth-promoting activities. In general, Actinobacteria and Bacillus endophytes produce aromatic compounds, lipopeptides, plant hormones, polysaccharides, and several enzymes linked to phenylpropanoid metabolism, thus representing high potential for PGP and crop management strategies. Furthermore, Actinobacteria have been shown to produce metabolites with antimicrobial and antitumor activities, useful in agriculture, medicine, and veterinary areas. The great endophytes diversity, their metabolites production, and their adaptation to stress conditions make them a suitable and unlimited source of novel metabolites, whose application could reduce agrochemicals usage in food and drugs production

A novel retinoblastoma therapy from genomic and epigenetic analyses.

Retinoblastoma is an aggressive childhood cancer of the developing retina that is initiated by the biallelic loss of RB1. Tumours progress very quickly following RB1 inactivation but the underlying mechanism is not known. Here we show that the retinoblastoma genome is stable, but that multiple cancer pathways can be epigenetically deregulated. To identify the mutations that cooperate with RB1 loss, we performed whole-genome sequencing of retinoblastomas. The overall mutational rate was very low; RB1 was the only known cancer gene mutated. We then evaluated the role of RB1 in genome stability and considered non-genetic mechanisms of cancer pathway deregulation. For example, the proto-oncogene SYK is upregulated in retinoblastoma and is required for tumour cell survival. Targeting SYK with a small-molecule inhibitor induced retinoblastoma tumour cell death in vitro and in vivo. Thus, retinoblastomas may develop quickly as a result of the epigenetic deregulation of key cancer pathways as a direct or indirect result of RB1 loss

The Effects of Governmental Protected Areas and Social Initiatives for Land Protection on the Conservation of Mexican Amphibians

Traditionally, biodiversity conservation gap analyses have been focused on governmental protected areas (PAs). However, an increasing number of social initiatives in conservation (SICs) are promoting a new perspective for analysis. SICs include all of the efforts that society implements to conserve biodiversity, such as land protection, from private reserves to community zoning plans some of which have generated community-protected areas. This is the first attempt to analyze the status of conservation in Latin America when some of these social initiatives are included. The analyses were focused on amphibians because they are one of the most threatened groups worldwide. Mexico is not an exception, where more than 60% of its amphibians are endemic. We used a niche model approach to map the potential and real geographical distribution (extracting the transformed areas) of the endemic amphibians. Based on remnant distribution, all the species have suffered some degree of loss, but 36 species have lost more than 50% of their potential distribution. For 50 micro-endemic species we could not model their potential distribution range due to the small number of records per species, therefore the analyses were performed using these records directly. We then evaluated the efficiency of the existing set of governmental protected areas and established the contribution of social initiatives (private and community) for land protection for amphibian conservation. We found that most of the species have some proportion of their potential ecological niche distribution protected, but 20% are not protected at all within governmental PAs. 73% of endemic and 26% of micro-endemic amphibians are represented within SICs. However, 30 micro-endemic species are not represented within either governmental PAs or SICs. This study shows how the role of land conservation through social initiatives is therefore becoming a crucial element for an important number of species not protected by governmental PAs

Gobernanza y gestión del agua en el Occidente de México: la metrópoli de Guadalajara

La disponibilidad de agua como tal no es el problema más importante en la gestión del agua. La incertidumbre se sitúa en la capacidad para implementar sistemas de control, distribución y acceso al agua de una forma equitativa. Garantizar el acceso de agua potable a toda la población no es un problema financiero sino político, un asunto de prioridad .Ahora disponemos de un vasto conocimiento y herramientas aplicables en el campo de la hidrología, biotecnología e ingeniería del agua, pero nuestro entendimiento sobre procesos socioeconómicos, culturales y políticos involucrados en la gestión del agua, sigue siendo limitado. En este libro, desde diferentes ángulos, se analizan formas de gestión del agua, escenarios de gobernanza, conflictos sociales y soluciones de carácter sociopolítico y técnico encaminadas a un manejo más sustentable del agua con posibilidades de ser apropiado socialmente. La obra tiene un fuerte componente con tintes de ecología política alrededor de los conflictos por el agua en la metrópoli de Guadalajara y la cuenca Lerma–Chapala–Santiago, sobre todo en aquellos casos donde coinciden situaciones de deterioro ambiental y formas inadecuadas de desarrollo urbano. En las alternativas que se analizan y proponen, se descubre una rica diversidad que encabezan organizaciones sociales, ciudadanos, actores sociopolíticos, universidades e instituciones con diferentes niveles de impacto, vinculación y trayectorias. Se distinguen escalas y formas de gobernanza del agua a nivel de cuenca, zona metropolitana de Guadalajara, municipios y sistemas hidrográficos (microcuencas y sistemas de abastecimiento), además de revisar estilos de desarrollo urbano asociados al manejo del agua con una perspectiva de análisis y de propuesta.ITESO, A.C

Measurement of the cross-section and charge asymmetry of WW bosons produced in proton-proton collisions at s=8\sqrt{s}=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper presents measurements of the $W^+ \rightarrow \mu^+\nu$ and $W^- \rightarrow \mu^-\nu$ cross-sections and the associated charge asymmetry as a function of the absolute pseudorapidity of the decay muon. The data were collected in proton--proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV with the ATLAS experiment at the LHC and correspond to a total integrated luminosity of 20.2~\mbox{fb^{-1}}. The precision of the cross-section measurements varies between 0.8% to 1.5% as a function of the pseudorapidity, excluding the 1.9% uncertainty on the integrated luminosity. The charge asymmetry is measured with an uncertainty between 0.002 and 0.003. The results are compared with predictions based on next-to-next-to-leading-order calculations with various parton distribution functions and have the sensitivity to discriminate between them.Comment: 38 pages in total, author list starting page 22, 5 figures, 4 tables, submitted to EPJC. All figures including auxiliary figures are available at https://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/STDM-2017-13

Search for chargino-neutralino production with mass splittings near the electroweak scale in three-lepton final states in √s=13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for supersymmetry through the pair production of electroweakinos with mass splittings near the electroweak scale and decaying via on-shell W and Z bosons is presented for a three-lepton final state. The analyzed proton-proton collision data taken at a center-of-mass energy of √s=13  TeV were collected between 2015 and 2018 by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139  fb−1. A search, emulating the recursive jigsaw reconstruction technique with easily reproducible laboratory-frame variables, is performed. The two excesses observed in the 2015–2016 data recursive jigsaw analysis in the low-mass three-lepton phase space are reproduced. Results with the full data set are in agreement with the Standard Model expectations. They are interpreted to set exclusion limits at the 95% confidence level on simplified models of chargino-neutralino pair production for masses up to 345 GeV

Search for squarks and gluinos in events with isolated leptons, jets and missing transverse momentum at s√=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The results of a search for supersymmetry in final states containing at least one isolated lepton (electron or muon), jets and large missing transverse momentum with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider are reported. The search is based on proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy s√=8 TeV collected in 2012, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20 fb−1. No significant excess above the Standard Model expectation is observed. Limits are set on supersymmetric particle masses for various supersymmetric models. Depending on the model, the search excludes gluino masses up to 1.32 TeV and squark masses up to 840 GeV. Limits are also set on the parameters of a minimal universal extra dimension model, excluding a compactification radius of 1/R c = 950 GeV for a cut-off scale times radius (ΛR c) of approximately 30