Transcriptome of the deep-sea black scabbardfish, Aphanopus carbo (Perciformes: Trichiuridae) : tissue-specific expression patterns and candidate genes associated to depth adaptation

Deep-sea fishes provide a unique opportunity to study the physiology and evolutionary adaptation to extreme environments. We carried out a high throughput sequencing analysis on a 454 GS-FLX titanium plate using unnormalized cDNA libraries from six tissues of A. carbo. Assemblage and annotations were performed by Newbler and InterPro/Pfam analyses, respectively. The assembly of 544,491 high quality reads provided 8,319 contigs, 55.6% of which retrieved blast hits against the NCBI nonredundant database or were annotated with ESTscan. Comparison of functional genes at both the protein sequences and protein stability levels, associated with adaptations to depth, revealed similarities between A. carbo and other bathypelagic fishes. A selection of putative genes was standardized to evaluate the correlation between number of contigs and their normalized expression, as determined by qPCR amplification. The screening of the libraries contributed to the identification of new EST simple-sequence repeats (SSRs) and to the design of primer pairs suitable for population genetic studies as well as for tagging and mapping of genes. The characterization of the deep-sea fish A. carbo first transcriptome is expected to provide abundant resources for genetic, evolutionary, and ecological studies of this species and the basis for further investigation of depth-related adaptation processes in fishes.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

The MIPSGAL View of Supernova Remnants in the Galactic Plane

We report the detection of Galactic supernova remnants (SNRs) in the mid-infrared (at 24 and 70 μm), in the coordinate ranges 10° < l < 65° and 285° < l < 350°, |b| < 1°, using MIPS aboard the Spitzer Space Telescope. We search for infrared counterparts to SNRs in Green's catalog and identify 39 out of 121, i.e., a detection rate of about 32%. Such a relatively low detection fraction is mainly due to confusion with nearby foreground/background sources and diffuse emission. The SNRs in our sample show a linear trend in [F_8/F_(24)] versus [F_(70)/F_(24)]. We compare their infrared fluxes with their corresponding radio flux at 1.4 GHz and find that most remnants have a ratio of 70 μm to 1.4 GHz which is similar to those found in previous studies of SNRs (with the exception of a few that have ratios closer to those of H II regions). Furthermore, we retrieve a slope close to unity when correlating infrared (24 and 70 μm) with 1.4 GHz emission. Our survey is more successful in detecting remnants with bright X-ray emission, which we find is well correlated with the 24 μm morphology. Moreover, by comparing the power emitted in the X-ray, infrared, and radio, we conclude that the energy released in the infrared is comparable to the cooling in the X-ray range

Non-adiabatic radiative collapse of a relativistic star under different initial conditions

We examine the role of space-time geometry in the non-adiabatic collapse of a star dissipating energy in the form of radial heat flow, studying its evolution under different initial conditions. The collapse of a star with interior comprising of a homogeneous perfect fluid is compared with that of a star filled with inhomogeneous imperfect fluid with anisotropic pressure. Both the configurations are spherically symmetric, however, in the latter case, the physical space $t= constant$ of the configurations is assumed to be inhomogeneous endowed with spheroidal or pseudo-spheroidal geometry. It is observed that as long as the collapse is shear-free, its evolution depends only on the mass and size of the star at the onset of collapse.Comment: To appear in Pramana- j. of physic

Estudo morfológico e histoquímico dos processos etmoidais na espécie ovina.

Os processos etmoidais em ovinos vêm sendo percebidos há anos em propriedades de pequeno a médio porte no nordeste brasileiro, bem como mundialmente. Muito ainda deve ser estudado acerca da real lesão produzida nos processos etmoidais em ovinos, entretanto ainda não se tem n otificação concreta de qual (is) agente(s) etiológico(s) determina a enfermidade. Dessa forma as alterações teciduais ocorrem de varias maneiras e muitas são as designações, entre outras podem ser citadas: o Adenocarcinoma Nasal Infeccioso, Adenocarcinoma Nasal Enzoótico, Epitelioma das vias aéreas anteriores do ovino ou ainda Papiloma Granuloso da cavidade nasal dos ovinos. Os processos etmoidais em ovinos foram relatados como doença esporádica de ovinos por muitos anos, mas atualmente é identificado como neoplasia contagiosa nesta espécie. A infecção possivelmente ocorre pela via respiratória, sendo o período de incubação prolongado, manifestando-se principalmente em animais acima de um ano de idade. A pesquisa em questão tem como propósito analisar e caracterizar morfo-histoquimicamente processos etmoidais na espécie ovina. Foram analisados 82 cortes histológicos corados pela técnica de hematoxilina & eosina de encéfalo, cerebelo, pulmão e etmóide constando a área tumoral, procedentes de oito ovinos com quadro clínico confirmado de processo etmoidal da EMBRAPA caprinos (Sobral/CE). Nas amostras analisadas seis lâminas (7,31%) referentes a cinco animais (62,5%) apresentaram formação de granuloma, áreas de necrose difusas e seis lâminas (7,31%) constaram à presença suposta de hifas e conídios fúngicos referentes a cinco animais (62,5%) e duas lâminas (2,43%) constavam de lesões pulmonares com presença suposta de hifas e conídios. Não foram evidenciadas alterações em encéfalo e cerebelo. Uma melhor visualização deverá ser obtida nas colorações com o Ácido Periódico de Schiff (PAS) e Prata Metanamine Grocott´s (GMS) específicas para fungos. Com esses pode-se deduzir que a provável origem da doença seja fúngica, porém outros estudos também demonstram etiologia viral e bacteriana

Frações húmicas e propriedade químicas e físicas de latossolos.

O trabalho estabeleceu correlações entre as frações orgânicas e algumas propriedades físicas e químicas de horizontes A e B de persis Latossolos, oriundas de diferentes regiões do Brasi