Organic Amendments, Beneficial Microbes, and Soil Microbiota: Toward a Unified Framework for Disease Suppression

Organic amendments (OAs) and soilborne biocontrol agents or beneficial microbes (BMs) have been extensively studied and applied worldwide in most agriculturally important plant species. However, poor integration of research and technical approaches has limited the development of effective disease management practices based on the combination of these two bio-based strategies. Insights into the importance of the plant-associated microbiome for crop productivity, which can be modified or modulated by introducing OAs and/or BMs, are providing novel opportunities to achieve the goal of long-term disease control. This review discusses novel ways of functionally characterizing OAs and how they may be used to promote the effect of added biocontrol agents and/or beneficial soil microbiota to support natural suppressiveness of plant pathogens

Pea-Wheat Rotation Affects Soil Microbiota Diversity, Community Structure, and Soilborne Pathogens

Intensive cultivation based on monocultures has a significant impact on ecosystem function, and sustainable agriculture must rely on alternative methods, including crop rotation. On the Canadian prairies, the use of pulse crops is a common practice, but few studies have investigated the impact on soil microorganisms. Here, we studied the effect of pea, wheat, pea–wheat rotation, and fallow in bulk soil bacterial and fungal communities. We characterized soil microbiota by high-throughput sequencing of 16S and 18S rRNA genes for bacteria and eukaryotes. Different crop rotations and fallow significantly modified soil community composition, as well as bacterial and fungal diversity. Pea alone caused a strong reduction of bacterial and fungal richness and diversity compared to wheat, pea–wheat rotation, and fallow. Notably, pea–wheat rotation increased the abundance of Fusarium graminearum compared to other management practices. The bacterial community was less responsive to crop rotation identity compared to the fungal microbiota, and we found minor differences at the phylum level, with an increase in Actinobacteria in fallow and Firmicutes in wheat. In summary, our study demonstrated that rotations alter bulk soil microbial community diversity and composition in Canadian prairies. The frequent use of pea in rotation with wheat should be carefully evaluated, balancing their ecological effects on nitrogen mineralization, water conservation, and impact on beneficial, as well as pathotrophic, fungi

Decomposition and temperature sensitivity of fine root and leaf litter of 43 mediterranean species

Aims: Data on the decomposition of fine roots are scarce for the Mediterranean basin. This work aims to compare chemical traits, decomposition rate, and temperature sensitivity (Q10) for root and leaf litter of 43 Mediterranean species. Methods: We carried out a two-years litterbag decomposition experiment using 43 fine roots litter and leaf litter types incubated in laboratory conditions at three different temperatures, i.e. 4 °C, 14 °C, and 24 °C. Litter was characterized for carbon (C), nitrogen (N), lignin and cellulose concentration, C/N, and lignin/N ratios. Results: Fine root litter had lower N content but higher lignin concentration, lignin/N, and C/N ratios compared to leaf litter. The decay rate of fine root litter was slower than leaf litter. For both tissues, the decay rate was negatively associated with lignin concentration, lignin/N, and C/N ratios but positively with N concentration. Q10 was higher for fine root than leaf litter, with a positive correlation with lignin while negative with N concentration. Conclusions: Our findings demonstrate a higher Q10 accompanied by a slower decomposition rate of fine root litter compared to leaf litter in Mediterranean ecosystems. These results must be considered in modeling organic C at the ecosystem scale

Cytokine release syndrome after CAR infusion in pediatric patients with refractory/relapsed B-ALL: is there a role for diclofenac?

BACKGROUND: Cytokine release syndrome (CRS) is a major complication after chimeric-antigen receptor T-cell treatment, characterized by an uncontrolled systemic inflammatory reaction. We investigated the potential role of diclofenac in the management of CRS in five pediatric patients treated for relapsed/refractory B-lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemia. METHODS: In case of persistent fever with fever-free intervals shorter than 3 hours, diclofenac continuous infusion was initiated, at the starting dose of 0.5 mg/Kg/day, the lowest effective pediatric dose in our experience, possibly escalated up to 1 mg/Kg/day, as per institutional guidelines. RESULTS: CRS occurred at a median of 20 hours (range 8–27) after tisagenlecleucel infusion. Diclofenac was started at a median of 20 hours (range 13–33) after fever onset. A mean of 3.07 febrile peaks without diclofenac and 0.95 with diclofenac were reported (p = 0.02). Clinical benefit was achieved by hampering the progression of tachypnea and tachycardia. Despite fever control, CRS progressed in four of the five patients, and hypotension requiring vasopressors and fluid retention, as well as hypoxia, occurred. Vasopressors were followed by 1–2 doses of tocilizumab (one in patient 2 and two in patients 3, 4, and 5), plus steroids in patients 4 and 5. CONCLUSION: Based on a limited number of patients, diclofenac leads to better fever control, which translates into symptom relief and improvement of tachycardia, but could not prevent the progression of CRS

Topography modulates near-ground microclimate in the Mediterranean Fagus sylvatica treeline

Understanding processes controlling forest dynamics has become particularly important in the context of ongoing climate change, which is altering the ecological fitness and resilience of species worldwide. However, whether forest communities would be threatened by projected macroclimate change or unaffected due to the controlling effect of local site conditions is still a matter for debate. After all, forest canopy buffer climate extremes and promote microclimatic conditions, which matters for functional plant response, and act as refugia for understory species in a changing climate. Yet precisely how microclimatic conditions change in response to climate warming will depend on the extent to which vegetation structure and local topography shape air and soil temperature. In this study, we posited that forest microclimatic buffering is sensitive to local topographic conditions and canopy cover, and using meteorological stations equipped with data-loggers we measured this effect during 1 year across a climate gradient (considering aspect as a surrogate of local topography) in a Mediterranean beech treeline growing in contrasting aspects in southern Italy. During the growing season, the below-canopy near-ground temperatures were, on average, 2.4 and 1.0 °C cooler than open-field temperatures for south and north-west aspects, respectively. Overall, the temperature offset became more negative (that is, lower under-canopy temperatures at the treeline) as the open-field temperature increased, and more positive (that is, higher under-canopy temperatures at the treeline) as the open-field temperature decreased. The buffering effect was particularly evident for the treeline on the south-facing slope, where cooling of near-ground temperature was as high as 8.6 °C for the maximum temperature (in August the offset peaked at 10 °C) and as high as 2.5 °C for the average temperature. In addition, compared to the south-facing slope, the northern site exhibited less decoupling from free-air environment conditions and low variability in microclimate trends that closely track the free-air biophysical environment. Although such a decoupling effect cannot wholly isolate forest climatic conditions from macroclimate regional variability in the south-facing treeline, it has the potential to partly offset the regional macroclimatic warming experienced in the forest understory due to anthropogenic climate change

Topoclimate effect on treeline elevation depends on the regional framework: A contrast between Southern Alps (New Zealand) and Apennines (Italy) forests

Deciphering the spatial patterns of alpine treelines is critical for understanding the ecosystem processes involved in the persistence of tree species and their altitudinal limit. Treelines are thought to be controlled by temperature, and other environmental variables but they have rarely been investigated in regions with different land-use change legacies. Here, we systematically investigated treeline elevation in the Apennines (Italy) and Southern Alps (New Zealand) with contrasting human history but similar biogeographic trajectories, intending to identify distinct drivers that affect their current elevation and highlight their respective peculiarities. Over 3622 km of Apennines, treeline elevation was assessed in 302 mountain peaks and in 294 peaks along 4504 km of Southern Alps. The major difference between the Southern Alps and Apennines treeline limit is associated with their mountain aspects. In the Southern Alps, the scarcely anthropized Nothofagus treeline elevation was higher on the warmer equator-facing slopes than on the pole-facing ones. Contrary to what would be expected based on temperature limitation, the elevation of Fagus sylvatica treelines in the Apennines was higher on colder, pole-facing slopes than on human-shaped equator-facing, warmer mountainsides. Pervasive positive correlations were found between treeline elevation and temperature in the Southern Alps but not in the Apennines. While the position of the Fagus and Nothofagus treelines converge on similar isotherms of annual average temperature, a striking isothermal difference between the temperatures of the hottest month on which the two taxonomic groups grow exists. We conclude that actual treeline elevation reflects the ecological processes driven by a combination of local-scale topoclimatic conditions, and human disturbance legacy. Predicting dynamic processes affecting current and future alpine treeline position requires further insight into the modulating influences that are currently understood at a regional scale

Presenilin-Dependent Receptor Processing Is Required for Axon Guidance

SummaryThe Alzheimer's disease-linked gene presenilin is required for intramembrane proteolysis of amyloid-β precursor protein, contributing to the pathogenesis of neurodegeneration that is characterized by loss of neuronal connections, but the role of Presenilin in establishing neuronal connections is less clear. Through a forward genetic screen in mice for recessive genes affecting motor neurons, we identified the Columbus allele, which disrupts motor axon projections from the spinal cord. We mapped this mutation to the Presenilin-1 gene. Motor neurons and commissural interneurons in Columbus mutants lacking Presenilin-1 acquire an inappropriate attraction to Netrin produced by the floor plate because of an accumulation of DCC receptor fragments within the membrane that are insensitive to Slit/Robo silencing. Our findings reveal that Presenilin-dependent DCC receptor processing coordinates the interplay between Netrin/DCC and Slit/Robo signaling. Thus, Presenilin is a key neural circuit builder that gates the spatiotemporal pattern of guidance signaling, thereby ensuring neural projections occur with high fidelity

Assessing color rendering in a 3d setup

The Color-Rendering Index (CRI) for light source is a quantitative measure of the capability to preserve color appearance of illuminated objects. Recently, CRI has had a renewed interest because of the new LED systems, which usually have a CRI rather low, but a good preservation of color appearance and a pleasant visual appeal. This article presents an experiment performed by human observers to assess the appearance preservation of colors under a set of light sources. Results are then compared with a range of available color rendering indices, in order to assess CRIs variability relative to human judgment