Heterologous expression of AtNPR1 gene in olive for increasing fungal tolerance

The NPR1 gene encodes a key component of SAR signaling mediated by salicylic acid (SA). After a pathogen infection, the accumulation of SA releases NPR1 monomers in the cytosol that are translocated to the nucleus, activating the expression of pathogenesis-related (PR) genes. Overexpression of NPR1 has conferred resistance to fungal, viral and bacterial pathogens in several plant species. The aim of this research was to generate transgenic olive plants expressing the gene AtNPR1 from Arabidopsis thaliana to obtain material resistant to fungal pathogens. Three transgenic lines expressing AtNPR1 gene under the control of the constitutive promoter CaMV35S were obtained following the protocol of Torreblanca et al. (2010), using an embryogenic line derived from a seed of cv. Picual. Level of AtNPR1 expression in transgenic calli varied greatly among the different lines, being higher in the line NPR1-780. The elicitation of embryogenic calli in liquid medium with AS did not increase endochitinase activity, a PR protein. However, jasmonic acid induced a transient increase in chitinase activity after 24 h of treatment in all the lines, being the increment higher in transgenic NPR1 than in control. After maturation and germination of transgenic somatic embryos, plants were micropropagated and acclimated to ex vitro conditions. The expression of AtNPR1 did not alter the growth of transgenic plants neither in vitro nor in the greenhouse. Experiments are in progress to determine the resistance of transgenic AtNPR1 plants to V. dalihae and R. necatrix.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech. Research projects: Plan Nacional AGL2014-52518-C2-1-R; AGL2017-83368-C2-1-R and Junta de Andalucía P11-AGR799

Potencial ornamental de Lapiedra martinezii Lag. (Amaryllidaceae): implicaciones de su revalorización en xerojardinería y en su conservación ex-situ

Lapiedra martinezii Lag. (Amaryllidaceae) is an autumn-flowering geophyte that grows in coastal and sublittoral environments. The interest in this species has emerged during recent decades due to its bioactive alkaloid content and its conservational status. The aim of this work was to review the available information on L. martinezii and to assess whether it could be introduced as an ornamental plant in xero-gardening. Therefore, its aesthetic appeal was reviewed and compared to other cultivated and wild plants. Also, information on its ecological and propagation requirements were checked to discern whether it could be adapted under different production systems and culture conditions. In addition, other aspects were also analyzed to identify strengths and limitations of this species for its further revalorization as an ornamental plant. The results obtained suggest that L. martinezii could be a good choice as a foliage plant for growing in gardens as an alpine bulb or pot plant. Moreover, it might be quite well adapted under different production and culture conditions to dry and semi-arid regions. The horticultural traits related to its germination and in vitro multiplication are interesting strengths to bear in mind for its industrial propagation and early domestication. Finally, its introduction in xero-gardening could also help in its ex-situ conservation. However, a more in-depth study would be needed to definitively introduce it into the ornamental plant market.Lapiedra martinezii Lag. (Amaryllidaceae) es un geófito bulboso de floración otoñal que vive en ambientes costeros y sublitorales. El interés en esta especie ha crecido durante las últimas décadas debido a su contenido en alcaloides bioactivos y a su estado de conservación. El objetivo de este trabajo fue revisar la información disponible sobre L. martinezii y evaluar si podría ser introducido como planta ornamental en xerojardinería. Por tanto, los caracteres estéticos fueron analizados y comparados con otras plantas cultivadas y silvestres. También, se estudia la información disponible acerca de sus requerimientos ecológicos y de propagación para detector si podría ser adaptada en distintos sistemas de producción y condiciones de cultivo. Además, otros aspectos fueron analizados para identificar tanto las fortalezas como las limitaciones de esta especie en su posterior revalorización como planta ornamental. Los resultados obtenidos sugieren que L. martinezii podría ser una buena opción como planta ornamental de follaje para su cultivo en jardines como bulbo de rocalla o planta de maceta. Además, podría adaptarse bastante bien a distintos sistemas de producción y condiciones de cultivo en regiones secas y semiáridas. Las características hortícolas relacionadas con la germinación y multiplicación in vitro son fortalezas interesantes para tener en cuenta en su puesta en cultivo a escala industrial y su domesticación preliminar. Finalmente, la introducción de esta especie en xerojardinería podría también ayudar a su conservación ex situ. Sin embargo, sería deseable una investigación más profunda para su inclusión en el mercado convencional de planta ornamental

Effect of Abiotic Climatic Factors on the Gonadal Maturation of the Biocontrol Agent Sphaerophoria rueppellii (Wiedemann, 1830) (Diptera: Syrphidae)

The hoverfly Sphaerophoria rueppellii is currently one of the most effective predators commercially available for aphid pest control. However, knowledge of the reproductive system of males and females of this syrphid is limited. The present article aims to report how changes in the temperature and photoperiod may affect development of the gonads (ovaries and testes), oviposition, and fecundity during the lifespan of S. rueppellii. Four environmental conditions (14L:10D, T: 20 ± 1 °C; 12L:12D, T: 20 ± 1 °C; 14L:10D, T: 25 ± 1 °C; and 12L:12D, T: 25 ± 1 °C) were used to determine oviposition, hatching percentage, and lifespan during a period of 30 days after the adult emergence. The maturation of the ovaries was done under three treatments (barley leaves with aphids always available; barley leaves two days per week with aphids available; no barley leaves available), and in the same environmental conditions noted above. Males at 14L:10D, 20 ± 1 °C; and 14L:10D, 25 ± 1 °C; were used to analyze and study the maturation of the testes. Females at 14L:10D; T: 25 ± 1 °C showed a significant difference in oviposition, percentage of hatching, and rate of eggs. A detailed description of the male and female gonads was undertaken, and it was determined that the conditions in which males sexually mature early are at 14L:10D, 25 ± 1 °C. These results will improve the application of S. rueppellii in crops, for the control of aphid pests

Spectroscopic characterization of the copper(I)-thiolate cluster in the DNA-binding domain of yeast ACE1 transcription factor

AbstractA polypeptide containing the amino-terminal region of ACEI (residues 1–122; 122*), the activator of yeast Cu-methallothionein gene transcription, shows charge-transfer and metal-centered UV absorption bands, and orange luminescence which are characteristic of Cu-cysteinyl thiolate cluster structures. These spectral features are abolished by the Cu(1) complexing agents CN* and diethyldithiocarbamate or exposure to acid, but not by the Cu(II)chelator. EDTA. Binding of the polypeptide to its specific DNA recognition site, but not to calf-thymus double-stranded DNA, induces quenching of its Tyr and Cu-S cluster luminescence emission. The CD spectrum is characteristic of a tightly folded structure that may be organized around the Cu cluster

Architectural support for task dependence management with flexible software scheduling

The growing complexity of multi-core architectures has motivated a wide range of software mechanisms to improve the orchestration of parallel executions. Task parallelism has become a very attractive approach thanks to its programmability, portability and potential for optimizations. However, with the expected increase in core counts, finer-grained tasking will be required to exploit the available parallelism, which will increase the overheads introduced by the runtime system. This work presents Task Dependence Manager (TDM), a hardware/software co-designed mechanism to mitigate runtime system overheads. TDM introduces a hardware unit, denoted Dependence Management Unit (DMU), and minimal ISA extensions that allow the runtime system to offload costly dependence tracking operations to the DMU and to still perform task scheduling in software. With lower hardware cost, TDM outperforms hardware-based solutions and enhances the flexibility, adaptability and composability of the system. Results show that TDM improves performance by 12.3% and reduces EDP by 20.4% on average with respect to a software runtime system. Compared to a runtime system fully implemented in hardware, TDM achieves an average speedup of 4.2% with 7.3x less area requirements and significant EDP reductions. In addition, five different software schedulers are evaluated with TDM, illustrating its flexibility and performance gains.This work has been supported by the RoMoL ERC Advanced Grant (GA 321253), by the European HiPEAC Network of Excellence, by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (contracts TIN2015-65316-P, TIN2016-76635-C2-2-R and TIN2016-81840-REDT), by the Generalitat de Catalunya (contracts 2014-SGR-1051 and 2014-SGR-1272), and by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 671697 and No. 671610. M. Moretó has been partially supported by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness under Juan de la Cierva postdoctoral fellowship number JCI-2012-15047.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Three-dimensional Reconstruction of the Caspe Geological Structure (Spain) for Evaluation as a Potential CO2 Storage Site

The Caspe geological structure was formed by the convergence of the Iberian Range and the Catalonian Coastal Range, during the Tertiary compression. Traditionally, the Caspe structure has been interpreted from seismic profiles without considering surface structural data. The aim of this study is to build a 3D geological model taking into account the structural data from the geological map, stress fields and lineaments, and evaluate its possibility as potential CO2 storage site. Four surfaces have been modelled: Buntsandstein Top, Muschelkalk-I Top, Muschelkalk-II Top and Cenozoic Bottom. Considering the geometry and depth for storage the target reservoir was considered to be the Buntsandstein facies. The available seismic data indicate that the Buntsandstein facies top is at approximately 500 m depth and hosts a deep saline aquifer. The target reservoir series include the conglomerate and sandstone of the Hoz del Gallo and Cañizar Fms (Buntsandstein Facies) with an average thickness of 500 m and 21% porosity. The seal comprises the shales and silts of the Röt Fm with an average thickness of 100-150 m. The structure volume was calculated based on the -500 mbsl for the Buntsandstein top deepest closed contour lines. The estimated volume is 5, 800 Mm3 with most of CO2 in gaseous state

The Morfeo Open Source Community: Building Technologies of the Future Web through Open Innovation

Nowadays enterprise collaboration is becoming essential for valuable innovation and competitive advantage. This collaboration has to be brought a step forward from technical collaboration till collective smart exploitation of global intelligence. Morfeo Open Source Community implements it as an open innovation schema of collaboration among SME’s, universities, research centres, public administration and major corporations. Its disruptive contribution to the state of the art is to manage the collaboration licensing the shared technology as open, with an OSI accepted license. The main results of this innovation model are the development of SOA open software standards, the increase of OSS quality, the creation of an OSS services provider ecosystem, with an important impact in the local economical development and the dissemination of the R&D&i activities among a broader set of organizations. Now Morfeo, with established relationship in Spain and EU, is involved defining new cooperation schemas in Ibero-America. The aim is to define a network of Morfeo Office in several countries to coordinate the global communit

Changes in the free amino acid composition of Capsicum annuum (pepper) leaves in response to Myzus persicae (green peach aphid) infestation. A comparison with water stress

Amino acids play a central role in aphid-plant interactions. They are essential components of plant primary metabolism, function as precursors for the synthesis of defense-related specialized metabolites, and are major growth-limiting nutrients for aphids. To quantify changes in the free amino acid content of pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) leaves in response to green peach aphid (Myzus persicae Sulzer) feeding, plants were infested with a low (20 aphids/plant) or a high (200 aphids/plant) aphid density in time-course experiments ranging from 3 hours to 7 days. A parallel experiment was conducted with pepper plants that had been subjected to water stress. Factor Analysis of Mixed Data revealed a significant interaction of time x density in the free amino acid response of aphid-infested leaves. At low aphid density, M. persicae did not trigger a strong response in pepper leaves. Conversely, at high density, a large increase in total free amino acid content was observed and specific amino acids peaked at different times post-infestation. Comparing aphid-infested with water-stressed plants, most of the observed differences were quantitative. In particular, proline and hydroxyproline accumulated dramatically in response to water stress, but not in response to aphid infestation. Some additional differences and commonalities between the two stress treatments are discussed.This work has been supported by: Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, 518 Project CGL2016-79054-R; University of Alicante fellowship UAFPU2013-5793 519 to VFO, and the United States Department of Agriculture – National Institute of 520 Food and Agriculture award 2016-67013-24756 to GJ

The Web@classroom project: portables computers and wireless technology in the classroom

The study was carried out in four European schools (pupils age 9 to13 years old) within four countries (Portugal, Spain, UK and Ireland). The adopted methodology was based in action-research procedures and it included multiple methods and techniques: systematic classroom observation of teachers and pupil work and learning activities; documentary evidence (teachers working sheets, schemes of work) interviews (with selected pupils); questionnaires to all pupils and staff at intervals. This methodology implied the construction and testing of data collection instruments. Data was submitted to a qualitative and quantitative analysis. A summary of the findings is presented in this text.The study was carried out in four European schools (pupils age 9 to13 years old) within four countries (Portugal, Spain, UK and Ireland). The adopted methodology was based in action-research procedures and it included multiple methods and techniques: systematic classroom observation of teachers and pupil work and learning activities; documentary evidence (teachers working sheets, schemes of work) interviews (with selected pupils); questionnaires to all pupils and staff at intervals. This methodology implied the construction and testing of data collection instruments. Data was submitted to a qualitative and quantitative analysis. A summary of the findings is presented in this text

Effect of sucrose pre-culture on cryopreservation by vitrification of Sideritis leucantha Cav. subsp. leucantha seedlings produced in vitro

Sideritis leucantha Cav. subsp. leucantha es un endemismo valenciano con uso medicinal que tiene diversos problemas de conservación. Por tanto, el objetivo principal de este trabajo fue probar el efecto de un tratamiento de precultivo para la posterior criopreservación de brotes apicales de esta especie. Los resultados mostraron que el precultivo con sacarosa 0.3 M durante 24 horas resultó en una mayor supervivencia de los explantes y regeneración in vitro después de tres tratamientos de vitrificación ensayados. Estos resultados sugieren que el acondicionamiento de los explantes puede mejorar la supervivencia de los explantes de S. leucantha subps. leucantha cultivados in vitro tras la criopreservación.Sideritis leucantha Cav. subsp. leucantha is a Valencian endemic medicinal plant that faces some conservation constraints. Therefore, this work aimed to test a preconditioning treatment for the further cryopreservation of shoot tip explants of this species. The results showed that pre-culture in sucrose 0.3 M for 24 hours resulted in the highest explant survival and regeneration after three vitrification approaches. These findings point out that preconditioning of explants may enhance cryopreservation performance in tissue cultured plantlets of S. leucantha subps. leucantha.Este trabajo ha sido posible gracias al proyecto de la Generalitat Valenciana GV04B-459. Además, J. E. R. L. obtuvo una beca de la Universidad de Alicante para la formación de doctores