Hacia la integración de Andalucía en la sociedad del conocimiento: algunas estrategias públicas regionales, metropolitanas y locales

Conocimiento e innovación actúan como principales impulsores de la competitividad y del dinamismo económico, al permitir maximizar las potencialidades productivas de las empresas, pero también del desarrollo territorial, propiciando comportamientos ambientalmente sostenibles, socialmente cohesionados y territorialmente equilibrados. En consecuencia, aumenta el interés por el análisis de las políticas y estrategias públicas que se están desarrollando para impulsar la innovación y la integración de los territorios en la sociedad del conocimiento. En este contexto general de referencia, el objetivo de este artículo es analizar la dimensión territorial de la innovación en Andalucía, así como las estrategias de actuación llevadas a cabo por instituciones públicas de distintos niveles y a diferentes escalas espaciales. Se presta, especial atención a la aglomeración metropolitana de Sevilla y, dentro de ésta, a las propuestas realizadas por la administración local en Alcalá de Guadaíra, al constituir un ejemplo interesante de este tipo de estrategias.Proyecto de I+D+i del Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovació

Análisis del genoma de Sphingopyxis granuli estirpe TFA y caracterización de un nuevo elemento regulador de los genes de degradación de tetralina

Programa de Doctorado en Biotecnología, Ingeniería y Tecnología QuímicaLínea de Investigación: Biotecnología MicrobianaClave Programa: DBICódigo Línea: 11La capacidad de los microorganismos para utilizar como fuente de carbono y energía multitud de compuestos orgánicos naturales o producidos por la actividad humana, resulta indispensable para la continuidad de la vida en la tierra. Además, esta versatilidad metabólica favorece la rápida adaptación de los microorganismos a los cambios en el medio y les permite habitar en nichos hostiles que resultan letales para la vida de organismos superiores. La degradación microbiana de compuestos recalcitrantes, tanto naturales como xenobióticos, suscita un gran interés debido a que su persistencia en el medio puede constituir un grave problema medioambiental y de salud. Dentro de estos compuestos recalcitrantes se encuentran los hidrocarburos aromáticos policíclicos (PAHs, acrónimo en inglés), cuyas propiedades tóxicas y carcinogénicas hacen especialmente preocupante su acumulación en los ecosistemas. Entre los microorganismos capaces de biodegradar PAHs se han descrito numerosos representantes de la familia Sphingomonadaceae, familia a la que pertenece la bacteria objeto de estudio en esta Tesis. La secuenciación y anotación de genomas completos de bacterias con la habilidad de degradar compuestos contaminantes es el primer paso para conocer en más detalle, no ya su capacidad degradadora concreta, sino los mecanismos globales de regulación génica que controlan la expresión de los genes implicados en el catabolismo de dichos contaminantes, así como la fisiología de estos microorganismos y sus capacidades metabólicas generales, información que puede integrarse en modelos metabólicos para comprender y predecir su comportamiento en distintas condiciones ambientales.Universidad Pablo de Olavide. Departamento de Biología Molecular e Ingeniería BioquímicaPostprin

A new element involved in the regulation of tetralin degradation genes in Sphingopyxis granuli strain TFA

Motivation: Sphingopyxis granuli strain TFA is a gram-negative bacterium able to grow on the organic solvent tetralin as the sole carbon and energy source. Tetralin is a bicyclic molecule, composed of an aromatic and an alicyclic moiety, which is toxic to bacterial cells as it makes the membrane permeable for ions (protons) and inhibits the respiratory enzymes (Sikkema et al., 1992). In our lab, the metabolic pathway and the specific regulation of genes involved on tetralin degradation (thn genes) has been deeply characterized (López-Sánchez et al., 2010 and references therein, Rivas-Marín et al., 2016 and references therein). Regarding the regulation, it is known that structural thn genes are induced in the presence of tetralin by ThnR, a LysR-like transcriptional regulator, and ThnY, a ThnR co-activator. Besides, the expression of thn genes is under carbon catabolite repression (CCR) by preferential carbon sources, such as β-hydroxybutyrate (β-HB) or sebacic acid. However, not very much is known about the regulatory elements involved in this repression. Synthesis of the carbon storage granule PHB is indirectly involved in CCR on thn genes.Methods: Comparison of the global gene expression in tetralin- and β-HB-grown cells revealed the presence of a small non-coding RNA (sRNA), annotated by Infernal Software 1.1, preferentially expressed in β-HB. Northern Blot analysis and β-galactosidase assays of a chromosomally integrated suhB::lacZ transcriptional fusion confirmed the differential expression of this sRNA. Expression of thn genes under CCR conditions in a mutant lacking the sRNA was evaluated using a chromosomally integrated thnC::lacZ translational fusion. Furthermore, putative targets of the sRNA were detected in vitro by IntaRNA software and the predicted interaction was experimentally validated by RNA-RNA EMSA.Results: A differentially expressed sRNA has been identified in TFA as belonging to the Rfam family RF00519 (SuhB) (García-Romero et al., 2016). It is a highly conserved sRNA in α-proteobacteria. Under CCR conditions, thn genes are partially de-repressed in a mutant lacking SuhB. Furthermore, the 5' UTR of thnR mRNA has been identified in silico as a target of SuhB. Direct interaction of SuhB at the thnR ribosomal binding site has been demonstrated. The high level of ThnR in the SuhB mutant indicates a negative role of SuhB on ThnR translation.Conclusions: The available data so far indicate that SuhB is one of the elements involved in CCR of thn genes in Sphingopyxis granuli strain TFA, by blocking the translation of the regulator ThnR.    

Cultural resources and creative industries in spanish medium-sized cities

In recent years, stress has been put on the relationship between cultural resources and creative industries and their ability to dynamise the economy and generate development processes. At the same time, much geographical research and some public powers and institutions have highlighted the role that medium-sized towns and cities can play by acting as intermediaries between large cities and rural areas. Seeking to combine these two theoretical reference frameworks, this article aims to analyse the presence of cultural resources and creative industries in Spanish medium-sized towns and cities. A typology of these towns and cities is also proposed based on these resources and industries.En los últimos años, se ha acentuado el interés por las relaciones entre recursos culturales e industrias creativas y su capacidad para dinamizar la economía y generar procesos de desarrollo. Al mismo tiempo, una importante parte de la investigación geográfica, de los poderes públicos y otras instituciones han destacado la potencialidad de las ciudades medias para actuar como intermediarias entre las grandes ciudades y las áreas rurales. Con la intención de combinar estos dos marcos teóricos de referencia, este artículo pretende analizar la presencia de recursos culturales e industrias creativas en las ciudades medias españolas. A este respecto, se propone una tipología de estas ciudades basada en este tipo de recursos e industrias.Spanish National Plan R&D&i and ERDF fund

Economía creativa en la aglomeración metropolitana de Sevilla: agentes, redes locales de colaboración y principales actuaciones

Desde hace ya más de una década se viene atribuyendo un valor estratégico a la economía creativa al entender que puede contribuir a estimular la creación de empleo y a promover nuevos modelos de desarrollo territorial. Con este contexto general de referencia, el objetivo de este artículo es contribuir al conocimiento de la economía creativa en la aglomeración metropolitana de Sevilla, centrando especialmente la atención en los agentes a ella vinculados, en las redes de cooperación socio-institucional que entre dichos agentes se conforman y en sus principales actuaciones.For over a decade a strategic value has been placed on the so-called creative economy in the understanding that it can help to drive both job creation and promote new economic models. Given this general reference context, the aim of this article is to contribute to knowledge of the creative economy in the Urban Agglomeration of Seville, with special focus on the public and private agents with links to the area, on the local socio-institutional cooperation networks created by these agents, and on their main actions.Proyecto de Investigación del Plan Nacional de I+D+

Histidine kinases: a world to discover in the stress response of Sphingopyxis granuli TFA.

Motivation: In nature, there is a correlation between the diversity of habitats and the organisms that live in them. In such a way that different and changing environments can sometimes be observed, which causes stressful conditions for the organisms that inhabit them [1].Alphaproteobacteria (α-proteobacteria) are a specific case of microorganisms that present a great diversity of metabolisms and distinct ecological environments. As a survival response to these different habitats, they have developed a stress response system called the General Stress Response (GSR), which allows them to survive in changing environments with stressful conditions [2].The core of the alphaproteobacterial GSR system encompasses three main proteins: an extracytoplasmic function (ECF) sigma factor (σ factor) EcfG; an anti-sigma factor (anti-σ factor), NepR; and an anti-anti-sigma factor (anti-anti-σ), PhyR [3]. PhyR, consists of a unique multidomain protein that links signal transduction, acting as a phosphorylation-dependent protein-associated "switch" that also regulates the bacterial GSR system. In the case of Sphingopyxis granuli TFA, these regulatory proteins are duplicated in two different clusters, and whose functions within the GSR system have been accurately characterized.In the case of TFA, there are four histidine kinases of the HWE and HisKA2 subfamily that could be involved in the regulation of PhyR (SGRAN_1165, SGRAN_1773, SGRAN_2544 and SGRAN_3483). In this work we have constructed single, double and triple mutants to study the involvement of these histidine kinases in the regulation of GSR in TFA and its role in protection against environmental stresses. Methods: The experimental approach consists in constructing in frame deletion mutants of the genes encoding the histidine kinases.The aim is to observe the response to different environmental stresses (desiccation, osmotic, heavy metal and oxidative stress) and thus examine their involvement in the regulatory cascade.Results: As a result, the successful construction of one single mutant in ΔSGRAN_3483, two double mutants in ΔSGRAN_1773_ΔSGRAN_3483 and ΔSGRAN_2544_ΔSGRAN_3483, and one triple mutant in ΔSGRAN_1773_ΔSGRAN_2544_ΔSGRAN_3483 was achieved. Additionally, the phenotypic characterization of their stress response was carried out, obtaining some clear evidence of its involvement in the GSR in TFA

Entrevista a Miguel Arévalo de Biomedal S.L.

Biomedal es una empresa biotecnológica que dedica su actividad al desarrollo y comercialización de productos, servicios y tecnologías de especial interés en la investigación, el diagnóstico y los procesos industriales.Miguel Arévalo Rodríguez, director de una parte del desarrollo y la investigación en Biomedal, nos explica muy amablemente su experiencia dentro de la empresa y su punto de vista sobre el emprendimiento

Gender-based differences in the high-risk sexual behaviours of young people aged 15-29 in Melilla (Spain): a cross-sectional study

Background: Research confirms the existence of gender-based differences regarding the high-risk sexual behaviour (non-use of condoms and casual partners) of young men and women. The objectives were to provide evidence for this association; to analyse the reasons why both sexes have sexual relations with casual partners and to ascertain the motives for condom use or non-use during casual sex. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed on a sample of 900 participants, 524 males and 376 females. All participants were 15-29 (20.93 ± 4.071) years of age and came from four different centres (a university, two secondary schools, and a military base) in Melilla (Spain). The participants were given a socio-demographic survey as well as a psychometric text on high-risk sexual behaviour. Results: The results found gender-based significant differences for sexual relations with penetration (p = 0.001), number of sexual partners (p = 0.001), and sexual relations with casual partners (p = 0.001). In all of these variables, male participants had higher percentages than female participants. Reasons for having casual sexual relations were also different for men and women, differences were found for the items, opportunity (p = 0.001), interest in knowing the other person (p = 0.015), physical excitement (p = 0.056) and drug consumption (p = 0.059). Regarding the reasons for consistent condom use with casual partners, there were differences for the item, my demand of a condom (p = 0.002). For the non-use of condoms with casual partners, differences were found for the items, I do not like to use condoms (p = 0.001) and condoms lessen sensitivity and reduce pleasure (p = 0.009). Conclusions: Men and women were found to have different high-risk sexual behaviours and practices. Of the motives for having sexual relations with casual partners, male participants considered opportunity and interest in knowing the other person to be more important than the female participants. Regarding condom use, the female participants’ demand to use a condom was a significant gender-based difference. In contrast to the young women, the male participants mostly justified not using a condom because it lessened sensitivity and reduced pleasure

Elemental composition in soft tissues as a model for identifying batches of juvenile Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus)

© 2023 The Authors.This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ This document is Published version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in Journal of Food Composition and Analysis. To access the final edited and published work see https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfca.2023.105176Integral Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) aquaculture will become a reality in the coming years and so tuna batches will have to be clearly identifiable to avoid commercial fraud and ensure this species’ conservation. Consequently, the objective of this study was to analyse the components of juvenile bluefin tissue to be able to discriminate between three tuna batches: specimens born in captivity and raised in inland facilities (onshore tanks), fish born in captivity and raised in the sea (sea cages), and wild tuna. Ten macro and trace elements (Ca, Fe, K, Mg, Na, P, S, Cu, Mn and Zn) were selected, and their concentrations were analysed in four soft tissues: liver, kidney, brain and muscle. Only one of the elements (Cu) showed statistically significant differences for fish batch in all tissues, so multivariate tests (Principal Component Analysis, PCA and Canonical Discriminant Analysis, DCA) were performed. In the PCA, there were partial batches separation in kidney and muscle. In DCA, the percentage of cases correctly classified using this validation were 60.8 % (liver), 88.6 % (kidney), 79.5 % (muscle) and 82.2 % (brain). Globally, muscle appear to be the best tissue for discriminating the batch of tunas, and wild specimens are the most readily identifiable