Very Rare Complementation between Mitochondria Carrying Different Mitochondrial DNA Mutations Points to Intrinsic Genetic Autonomy of the Organelles in Cultured Human Cells

In the present work, a large scale investigation was done regarding the capacity of cultured human cell lines (carrying in homoplasmic form either the mitochondrial tRNALys A8344G mutation associated with the myoclonic epilepsy and ragged red fiber (MERRF) encephalomyopathy or a frameshift mutation, isolated in vitro, in the gene for the ND4 subunit of NADH dehydrogenase) to undergo transcomplementation of their recessive mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations after cell fusion. The presence of appropriate nuclear drug resistance markers in the two cell lines allowed measurements of the frequency of cell fusion in glucose-containing medium, non-selective for respiratory capacity, whereas the frequency of transcomplementation of the two mtDNA mutations was determined by growing the same cell fusion mixture in galactose-containing medium, selective for respiratory competence. Transcomplementation of the two mutations was revealed by the re-establishment of normal mitochondrial protein synthesis and respiratory activity and by the relative rates synthesis of two isoforms of the ND3 subunit of NADH dehydrogenase. The results of several experiments showed a cell fusion frequency between 1.4 and 3.4% and an absolute transcomplementation frequency that varied between 1.2 × 10^-5 and 5.5 × 10^-4. Thus, only 0.3-1.6% of the fusion products exhibited transcomplementation of the two mutations. These rare transcomplementing clones were very sluggish in developing, grew very slowly thereafter, and showed a substantial rate of cell death (22-28%). The present results strongly support the conclusion that the capacity of mitochondria to fuse and mix their contents is not a general intrinsic property of these organelles in mammalian cells, although it may become activated in some developmental or physiological situations

On the potential biases of scientific estimates of catches of tropical tunas of purse seiners the EU and other countries report to the ICCAT and IOTC

This document represents a first attempt to explore potential differences between the catches of tropical tunas estimated using the EU software T3 and those recorded on sale slips completed by the canning factories purchasing fish from vessels registered with OPAGAC in the Atlantic and Indian oceans, over the period 2011-16. The analysis identified potential sources of bias estimates of catch of tropical tunas may be subject to, of different magnitude depending on the ocean, fleet, and size category. The largest bias was recorded in the Indian Ocean. In the Atlantic Ocean the catches of yellowfin and bigeye tunas seem to be also underestimated, with underestimation of both large and small fish. Although the study is preliminary, the results obtained indicate that the system the EU is using to sample purse seine landings and estimate catches may be subject to bias which, if confirmed, could have consequences on the statistics, stock assessments, management advice, and management measures adopted by ICCAT and IOT

La polémica sobre la ubicación del altar mayor de la catedral de México y la adopción del tabernáculo-ciprés exento

La construcción de la catedral de México, en su mayor parte finalizada en 1667, dio lugar a una interesante polémica sobre el espacio idóneo para ubicar su altar mayor: en el crucero o en la cabecera, en línea esta segunda opción con las catedrales españolas. Finalmente, las autoridades eclesiásticas se inclinaron por el procedimiento tradicional, si bien, en lugar de retablo adosado al muro, se optó por un original tabernáculo eucarístico, que siguió la costumbre de algunas catedrales peninsulares construidas a partir del XVI, como la de Granada y la de Málaga. La opinión de dos importantes arquitectos cortesanos, activos en Madrid, como fueron el hermano Francisco Bautista y Sebastián de Herrera Barnuevo, resultaría determinante. El maestro Antonio Maldonado se encargaría de la construcción del tabernáculo, que resultó transformado en el siglo XVIII y desapareció finalmente a mediados del siglo XIX.A Mexico’s cathedral construction, mostly completed in bstract r1667, led to an interesting debate about the main altar ideal location: in the transept or near the apse, in accordance with the spanish cathedrals. Finally, the ecclesiastical authorities preferred the traditional method, but instead of the attached altar to the wall, they opted for an original eucharistic exempt tabernacle, which followed the tradition of some spanish cathedrals built from the sixteenth century on, like those located in Granada and Malaga. The opinion of two courtiers and important architects, active in Madrid, as brother Francisco Bautista and Sebastián de Herrera Barnuevo, was decisive.The designer and tabernacle builder was the wood carver and assembler Antonio Maldonado. During the eighteenth century the tabernacle was transformed and finally, in the mid-nineteenth century it disappeared

Changes in the kinase activity of the insulin receptor account for an increased insulin sensitivity of mammary gland in late pregnancy

Copyright (1998) The Endocrine Society .The paper can be found at the following URL on the website http://endo.endojournals.org

Controle da podridão cinzenta da maçã por produtos naturais biologicamente ativos

Indexación: Web of Science; ScieloBiorend SC (chitosan), BC-1000 EC (grapefruit extract plus bioflavonoids) and ECO-100 SC (bioflavonoids plus organic acids, citric phytoalexins, fatty acids, glycerides and sugars), respectively, suppressed grey rot of apple caused by B. cinerea by 80.1%, 79.0% and 76.5% when used as post-harvest treatments under controlled conditions. When applied as combined pre- and post-harvest treatments Biorend SC inhibited fruit rot by 49.9 %, while BC-1000 EC and ECO-100 SC were ineffective. None of the products inhibited fruit rot when applied as pre-harvest treatments under controlled conditions or as post-harvest treatments under commercial conditions. The algal polysaccharide ulvan used in post-harvest treatments suppressed grey rot by 56.0% under controlled conditions, but had no inhibitory effect on combined pre- and post-harvest treatments. The inability of products to activate defense mechanisms (chitinase and peroxidase) of fruits was consistent with the unsuccessful control of rot by pre-harvest treatment. The results suggest that the natural products used have potential for use in integrated management of Botrytis rot when applied after harvest.Biorend SC (quitosana), BC-1000 EC (extrato de toranja mais flavonóides), e ECO-100 SC (bioflavonóides mais ácidos orgânicos, fitoalexinas cítricas, ácidos graxos glicerídeos e açúcares) inibiram em 80,1%, 79,0% e 76,5%, respectivamente, a podridão causada por Botrytis cinerea quando utilizados no tratamento pós-colheita de frutos de maçã sob condições controladas.Tratamento combinado de Biorend SC, com aplicação tanto em pré como no pós-colheita, proporcionou 49,9% de inibição da podridão, enquanto BC-1000 e ECO-100 EC não foram efetivos. Nenhum desses produtos inibiu a podridão cinzenta, quando utilizados em tratamento de pré-colheita em condições controladas ou em tratamento de pós-colheita em condições comerciais. O polissacarídeo algal ulvana, utilizado nos tratamentos de pós-colheita, reduziu em 56% a podridão cinzenta das maçãs em condições controladas, mas não teve efeito inibitório nos tratamentos combinados de pré e pós-colheita. A incapacidade dos produtos em ativar mecanismos de defesa (quitinases e peroxidases) nos frutos, após o tratamento em pré-colheita, foi consistente com a falta de controle da podridão nesse tipo de ensaio. Pelos resultados, sugere-se que os produtos naturais utilizados apresentam potencial para a utilização no manejo integrado da podridão de Botrytis quando aplicados em pós-colheita.http://ref.scielo.org/kcxb9

Differential effects of fruit availability and habitat cover for frugivore-mediated seed dispersal in a heterogeneous landscape

1. We investigated the effect of forest cover and fruit availability on frugivore-mediated seed dispersal of the ornithochorous tree Crataegus monogyna in highly heterogeneous secondary-growth forests of the Cantabrian Range (NW Spain). 2. During 2006 and 2007, we collected dispersed Crataegus seeds from 283 sampling stations in a 400 × 440 m study plot in which forest cover varied from dense to scant. Dispersal kernels were characterized with an extended version of the inverse modelling framework that incorporates the effect of the local environment at the source and the influence of all those environments that seeds potentially encountered during their dispersal path. 3. We found that forest cover and fruit abundance had opposite influences on dispersal patterns. Plants growing in cells with denser cover dispersed more seeds and at larger average distances than those from more sparsely covered cells, while mean dispersal distance and the probability of long-distance dispersal decreased with increasing abundance of fleshy fruits. However, the relative influence of these factors changed between study years, as forest cover had a weak effect on seed dispersal in the second year when fruits were scarcer and more heterogeneously distributed across the landscape. 4. Habitat resistance to seed movement increased with increasing forest cover. Consequently, cells with high forest cover in a matrix of sparse tree density were predicted to intercept a substantial amount of seeds. 5. Synthesis. Our results suggest that the local environment at a seed’s source and, to a lesser extent, all those environments that seeds potentially encounter during their dispersal path can have pervasive effects on frugivore-mediated seed dispersal kernels in heterogeneous landscapes. They also highlight the fact that not just forest cover, but also the underlying fruit-resource distribution, needs to be considered to understand how environmental heterogeneity affects seed dispersal patterns. Our findings could be extended to landscapes subjected to anthropogenic disturbance such as fragmentation. Thus, the consideration of fruit-resource distribution seems essential for establishing the relationship between landscape pattern and the spatial behaviour of frugivores, and in turn, for explaining frugivore-mediated seed dispersal in fragmented landscapes

How well do CMIP5 Earth System Models simulate present climate conditions in Europe and Africa?

This study provides a comprehensive evaluation of seven Earth System Models (ESMs) from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 in present climate conditions from a downscaling perspective, taking into account the requirements of both statistical and dynamical approaches. ECMWF's ERA-Interim reanalysis is used as reference for an evaluation of circulation, temperature and humidity variables on daily timescale, which is based on distributional similarity scores. To additionally obtain an estimate of reanalysis uncertainty, ERA-Interim's deviation from the Japanese Meteorological Agency JRA-25 reanalysis is calculated. Areas with considerable differences between both reanalyses do not allow for a proper assessment, since ESM performance is sensitive to the choice of reanalysis. For use in statistical downscaling studies, ESM performance is computed on the grid-box scale and mapped over a large spatial domain covering Europe and Africa, additionally highlighting those regions where significant distributional differences remain even for the centered/zero-mean time series. For use in dynamical downscaling studies, performance is specifically assessed along the lateral boundaries of the three CORDEX domains defined for Europe, the Mediterranean Basin and Africa.S.B. would like to thank the CSIC JAE-PREDOC programme for financial support. J.F. and J.M.G. acknowledge financial support from the Spanish R&D&I programme through grants CGL2010-22158-C02 (CORWES project) and CGL2010-21869 (EXTREMBLES project) and from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement 243888 (FUME Project).Peer Reviewe

On the physics of transient ejection from bubble bursting

Using a dynamical scaling analysis of the flow variables and their evolution due to bubble bursting, here we predict the size and speed of ejected droplets for the whole range of experimental Ohnesorge and Bond numbers where ejection occurs. The transient ejection, which requires the backfire of a vortex ring inside the liquid to preserve physical symmetry, shows a delicate balance between inertia, surface tension and viscous forces around a critical Ohnesorge number, akin to an apparent singularity. Like in other natural phenomena, this balance makes the process extremely sensitive to initial conditions. Our model generalizes or displaces other recently proposed ones, impacting on, for instance, the statistical description of sea spray.Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad DPI2016-78887Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad PID2019-108278RBJunta de Andalucía P18-FR-362

Comments on "global and regional comparison of daily 2-m and 1000-hPa maximum and minimum temperatures in three global reanalyses"

Pitman and Perkins claimed that instantaneous 2-m air temperatures from different reanalysis products largely disagree over widespread regions of the globe and that, because of their much smaller differences, temperatures at 1000 hPa should be preferably used. This comment shows that this claim is based on erroneous results. © 2012 American Meteorological Society.S.B. would like to thank the 'Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas' (CSIC) pre- doctoral program 'JAE-PREDOC' for funding.Peer Reviewe

Future trends of snowfall days in northern Spain from ENSEMBLES regional climate projections

In a previous study Pons et al. (Clim Res 54(3):197-207, 2010. doi:10.3354/cr01117g) reported a significant decreasing trend of snowfall occurrence in the Northern Iberian Peninsula since the mid 70s. The study was based on observations of annual snowfall frequency (measured as the annual number of snowfall days NSD) from a network of 33 stations ranging from 60 to 1350 m. In the present work we analyze the skill of Regional Climate Models (RCMs) to reproduce this trend for the period 1961-2000 (using both reanalysis- and historical GCM-driven boundary conditions) and the trend and the associated uncertainty of the regional future projections obtained under the A1B scenario for the first half of the twenty-first century. In particular, we consider the regional simulation dataset from the EU-funded ENSEMBLES project, consisting of thirteen state-of-the-art RCMs run at 25 km resolution over Europe. While ERA40 severely underestimates both the mean NSD and its observed trend (-2.2 days/decade), the corresponding RCM simulations driven by the reanalysis appropriately capture the interannual variability and trends of the observed NSD (trends ranging from -3.4 to -0.7, -2.1 days/decade for the ensemble mean). The results driven by the GCM historical runs are quite variable, with trends ranging from -8.5 to 0.2 days/decade (-1.5 days/decade for the ensemble mean), and the greatest uncertainty by far being associated with the particular GCM used. Finally, the trends for the future 2011-2050 A1B runs are more consistent and significant, ranging in this case from -3.7 to -0.5 days/decade (-2.0 days/decade for the ensemble mean), indicating a future significant decreasing trend. These trends are mainly determined by the increasing temperatures, as indicated by the interannual correlation between temperature and NSD (-0.63 in the observations), which is preserved in both ERA40- and GCM-driven simulations.This research has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme under Grant Agreements 606799 (INTACT Project). The RCM simulations used in this study were obtained from the European Union-funded FP6 Integrated Project ENSEMBLES (Contract No. 505539)