N-glycans of human amniotic fluid transferrin stimulate progesterone production in human first trimester trophoblast cells in vitro

Aims: During pregnancy, the placenta produces a variety of steroid hormones and proteins. Several of these substances have been shown to exert immunomodulatory effects. Progesterone is thought to mediate some of these effects by regulating uterine responsiveness. The aim of this study was to clarify the effect of amniotic fluid transferrin and its N-glycans on the release of progesterone by first trimester trophoblast cells in vitro. Methods: Cytotrophoblast cells were prepared from human first trimester placentae by trypsin-DNAse dispersion of villous tissue followed by a percoll gradient centrifugation and depletion of CD45 positive cells by magnetic cell sorting. Trophoblasts were incubated with varying concentrations (50-300 mug/ml) of transferrin from human amniotic fluid and serum as well as with N-glycans obtained from amniotic fluid transferrin. Culture supernatants were assayed for progesterone by enzyme-immunometric methods. Results: The release of progesterone increased in amniotic fluid transferrin- and N-glycan-treated trophoblast cell cultures compared to untreated trophoblast cells. There was no stimulating effect of serum transferrin on the progesterone production of trophoblast cells. Conclusions: The results suggest that amnion-transferrin and especially its N-glycans modulate the endocrine function of trophoblasts in culture by up regulating progesterone secretion

A lattice gas model of II-VI(001) semiconductor surfaces

We introduce an anisotropic two-dimensional lattice gas model of metal terminated II-IV(001) seminconductor surfaces. Important properties of this class of materials are represented by effective NN and NNN interactions, which result in the competition of two vacancy structures on the surface. We demonstrate that the experimentally observed c(2x2)-(2x1) transition of the CdTe(001) surface can be understood as a phase transition in thermal equilbrium. The model is studied by means of transfer matrix and Monte Carlo techniques. The analysis shows that the small energy difference of the competing reconstructions determines to a large extent the nature of the different phases. Possible implications for further experimental research are discussed.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figure

ZnSe/GaAs(001) heterostructures with defected interfaces: structural, thermodynamic and electronic properties

We have performed accurate \emph{ab--initio} pseudopotential calculations for the structural and electronic properties of ZnSe/GaAs(001) heterostructures with interface configurations accounting for charge neutrality prescriptions. Beside the simplest configurations with atomic interdiffusion we consider also some configurations characterized by As depletion and cation vacancies, motivated by the recent successfull growth of ZnSe/GaAs pseudomorphic structures with minimum stacking fault density characterized by the presence of a defected (Zn,Ga)Se alloy in the interface region. We find that--under particular thermodynamic conditions--some defected configurations are favoured with respect to undefected ones with simple anion or cation mixing, and that the calculated band offsets for some defected structures are compatible with those measured. Although it is not possible to extract indications about the precise interface composition and vacancy concentration, our results support the experimental indication of (Zn,Ga)Se defected compounds in high-quality ZnSe/GaAs(001) heterojunctions with low native stacking fault density. The range of measured band offset suggests that different atoms at interfaces rearrange, with possible presence of vacancies, in such a way that not only local charges but also ionic dipoles are vanishing.Comment: 26 pages. 5 figures, revised version, in press (Physical Review B

Micro-spectroscopy on silicon wafers and solar cells

Micro-Raman (μRS) and micro-photoluminescence spectroscopy (μPLS) are demonstrated as valuable characterization techniques for fundamental research on silicon as well as for technological issues in the photovoltaic production. We measure the quantitative carrier recombination lifetime and the doping density with submicron resolution by μPLS and μRS. μPLS utilizes the carrier diffusion from a point excitation source and μRS the hole density-dependent Fano resonances of the first order Raman peak. This is demonstrated on micro defects in multicrystalline silicon. In comparison with the stress measurement by μRS, these measurements reveal the influence of stress on the recombination activity of metal precipitates. This can be attributed to the strong stress dependence of the carrier mobility (piezoresistance) of silicon. With the aim of evaluating technological process steps, Fano resonances in μRS measurements are analyzed for the determination of the doping density and the carrier lifetime in selective emitters, laser fired doping structures, and back surface fields, while μPLS can show the micron-sized damage induced by the respective processes

How and when fungal endophytes can eliminate the plant growth–defence trade-off: mechanistic perspectives

A central paradigm in plant biology is that there is a trade-off between growth and defence against biotic stresses (Herms & Mattson, 1992; Lind et al., 2013; Karasov et al., 2017; Zust & € Agrawal, 2017; Monson et al., 2022). This paradigm is based on recurrent observations that increased production of chemical defences is associated with compromised plant growth, and it provides obvious limits to increasing the productivity of plants that must also resist pests and pathogens (Ballare & Austin, 2019; Ha et al., 2021; Sestari & Campos, 2021).We have recently challenged this paradigm by proposing that fungal endophytes can simultaneously increase plant growth and defence against biotic stresses (Fig. 1) (Bastıas et al., 2021).Fil: Bastías, Daniel A.. Grasslands Research Centre; Nueva ZelandaFil: Gundel, Pedro Emilio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisiológicas y Ecológicas Vinculadas a la Agricultura. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisiológicas y Ecológicas Vinculadas a la Agricultura; Argentina. Universidad de Talca; ChileFil: Johnson, Richard D.. Grasslands Research Centre; Nueva ZelandaFil: Gianoli, Ernesto. Universidad de La Serena; Chil

Enhancement and suppression effects resulting from information structuring in sentences

Information structuring through the use of cleft sentences increases the processing efficiency of references to elements within the scope of focus. Furthermore, there is evidence that putting certain types of emphasis on individual words not only enhances their subsequent processing, but also protects these words from becoming suppressed in the wake of subsequent information, suggesting mechanisms of enhancement and suppression. In Experiment 1, we showed that clefted constructions facilitate the integration of subsequent sentences that make reference to elements within the scope of focus, and that they decrease the efficiency with reference to elements outside of the scope of focus. In Experiment 2, using an auditory text-change-detection paradigm, we showed that focus has similar effects on the strength of memory representations. These results add to the evidence for enhancement and suppression as mechanisms of sentence processing and clarify that the effects occur within sentences having a marked focus structure

A Systematic Review on the Effects of Epichloë Fungal Endophytes on Drought Tolerance in Cool-Season Grasses

Symptomless fungal endophytes in the genus Epichloë are repeatedly mentioned to increase tolerance of cool-season grasses to a wide range of environmental stress factors, mainly drought. However, the generality of this idea is challenged because (i) most studies have been conducted on two economically important forage grasses {tall fescue [Festuca arundinacea (Schreb.) Dumort] and perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.)}, (ii) endophyte-mediated mechanisms and effects on plant responses to drought have shown to be highly variable across species, and that (iii) symbiosis incidence in plant populations occurring in extremely arid environments is usually low. We question this idea by reviewing the existing information about Epichloë fungal endophyte effects on drought tolerance in cool-season grasses. We combined standard review, vote counting, and calculation of effect sizes to synthesize the literature, identify information gaps, and guide future research. The total number of studies was higher for domesticated than for wild species, a ratio that was balanced when papers with data quality for effect size calculus were considered. After the drought, endophyte-infected plants accumulated more aboveground and belowground biomass than non-infected counterparts, while no effect on tillering was observed. However, these effects remained significant for wild (even on tillering) but not for domesticated species. Interestingly, despite the continuous effort in determining physiological mechanisms behind the endophyte effects, no studies evaluated plant fecundity as a measure of ecological fitness nor vital rates (such as survival) as to escalate individual-level variables to population. Together with the high variability in results, our work shows that generalizing a positive effect of fungal endophytes in plant tolerance to drought may be misleading. Future studies combining field surveys with manipulative experiments would allow us to unravel the role of fungal endophytes in plant adaptation by considering the evolutionary history of species and populations to the different ecological contexts.Fil: Dedcunta, Facundo Alcides. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisiológicas y Ecológicas Vinculadas a la Agricultura. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisiológicas y Ecológicas Vinculadas a la Agricultura; ArgentinaFil: Perez, Luis Ignacio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisiológicas y Ecológicas Vinculadas a la Agricultura. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisiológicas y Ecológicas Vinculadas a la Agricultura; ArgentinaFil: Malinowski, Dariusz P.. Texas A&M University; Estados UnidosFil: Molina Montenegro, Marco A.. Universidad de Talca; Chile. Universidad Católica del Norte; ChileFil: Gundel, Pedro Emilio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisiológicas y Ecológicas Vinculadas a la Agricultura. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisiológicas y Ecológicas Vinculadas a la Agricultura; Argentina. Universidad de Talca; Chil

Mutualism effectiveness and vertical transmission of symbiotic fungal endophytes in response to host genetic backround

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Antarctic root endophytes improve physiological performance and yield in crops under salt stress by enhanced energy production and Na+ sequestration

Molina Montenegro, Marco A. Universidad de Talca. Instituto de Ciencias Biológicas. Campus Talca, Chile.Acuña Rodríguez, Ian S. Universidad de Talca. Instituto de Ciencias Biológicas. Campus Talca, Chile.Torres Díaz, Cristian. Universidad del Bío-Bío. Departamento de Ciencias Básicas. Grupo de Biodiversidad y Cambio Global (BCG). Chillán, Chile.Gundel, Pedro Emilio. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisiológicas y Ecológicas Vinculadas a la Agricultura (IFEVA). Buenos Aires, Argentina.Dreyer, Ingo. Universidad de Talca. Facultad de Ingeniería. Centro de Bioinformática y Simulación Molecular (CBSM). Campus Talca, Chile.10Climatic change is pointed as one of the major challenges for global food security. Based on current models of climate change, reduction in precipitations and in turn, increase in the soil salinity will be a sharp constraint for crops productivity worldwide. In this context, root fungi appear as a new strategy to improve plant ecophysiological performance and crop yield under abiotic stress. In this study, we evaluated the impact of the two fungal endophytes Penicillium brevicompactum and P. chrysogenum isolated from Antarctic plants on nutrients and Na+ contents, net photosynthesis, water use efficiency, yield and survival in tomato and lettuce, facing salinity stress conditions. Inoculation of plant roots with fungal endophytes resulted in greater fresh and dry biomass production, and an enhanced survival rate under salt conditions. Inoculation of plants with the fungal endophytes was related with a higher up/down-regulation of ion homeostasis by enhanced expression of the NHX1 gene. The two endophytes diminished the effects of salt stress in tomato and lettuce, provoked a higher efficiency in photosynthetic energy production and an improved sequestration of Na+ in vacuoles is suggested by the upregulating of the expression of vacuolar NHX1 Na+/H+ antiporters. Promoting plant-beneficial interactions with root symbionts appears to be an environmentally friendly strategy to mitigate the impact of climate change variables on crop production

Sipha maydis sensitivity to defences of Lolium multiflorum and its endophytic fungus Epichloë occultans

Background. Plants possess a sophisticated immune system to defend from herbivores. These defence responses are regulated by plant hormones including salicylic acid (SA) and jasmonic acid (JA). Sometimes, plant defences can be complemented by the presence of symbiotic microorganisms. A remarkable example of this are grasses establishing symbiotic associations with Epichloë fungal endophytes. We studied the level of resistance provided by the grass’ defence hormones, and that provided by Epichloë fungal endophytes, against an introduced herbivore aphid. These fungi protect their hosts against herbivores by producing bioactive alkaloids. We hypothesized that either the presence of fungal endophytes or the induction of the plant salicylic acid (SA) defence pathway would enhance the level of resistance of the grass to the aphid. Methods. Lolium multiflorum plants, with and without the fungal endophyte Epichloë occultans, were subjected to an exogenous application of SA followed by a challenge with the aphid, Sipha maydis. Results. Our results indicate that neither the presence of E. occultans nor the induction of the plant’s SA pathway regulate S. maydis populations. However, endophytesymbiotic plants may have been more tolerant to the aphid feeding because these plants produced more aboveground biomass. We suggest that this insect insensitivity could be explained by a combination between the ineffectiveness of the specific alkaloids produced by E. occultans in controlling S. maydis aphids and the capacity of this herbivore to deal with hormone-dependent defences of L. multiflorum.Fil: Bastias, Daniel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisiológicas y Ecológicas Vinculadas a la Agricultura. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisiológicas y Ecológicas Vinculadas a la Agricultura; Argentina. Grasslands Research Centre; Nueva ZelandaFil: Martinez-Ghersa, Maria Alejandra. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisiológicas y Ecológicas Vinculadas a la Agricultura. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisiológicas y Ecológicas Vinculadas a la Agricultura; ArgentinaFil: Newman, Jonathan A.. Wilfrid Laurier University; CanadáFil: Card, Stuart D.. Grasslands Research Centre; Nueva ZelandaFil: Mace, Wade J.. Grasslands Research Centre; Nueva ZelandaFil: Gundel, Pedro Emilio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisiológicas y Ecológicas Vinculadas a la Agricultura. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisiológicas y Ecológicas Vinculadas a la Agricultura; Argentin