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

Heterologous Expression of the AtNPR1 Gene in Olive and Its Effects on Fungal Tolerance

En este trabajo se evalúa la tolerancia de plantas de olivo transgénicas que expresan el gen AtNPR1, clave en la regulación de la resistencia SAR de plantas, tras la transformación mediante Agrobacterium tumefaciens de embriones somáticos, frente a los patógenos de suelo Rosellinia necatrix, causante de la podredumbre blanca de raíz, y a Verticillium dahliae, causante de la verticilosis, mostrando menor desarrollo de la enfermedad con cepas no-defoliantes de V. dahliae y mayor tolerancia frente a R. necatrix.Este trabajo se realizó como parte de una Tesis doctoral, financiada con la beca No. P11-AGR-7992, de la Secretaría General de Investigación (Consejería de Innovación Ciencia y Empresa, Junta de Andalucía, Spain, Grant ), en la Universidad de Málag

Transformación de olivo con el gen AtNPR1 para inducir tolerancia a patógenos fúngicos.

El gen NPR1 codifica un componente esencial de la respuesta SAR mediada por ácido salicílico (AS). Tras la infección por el patógeno, la acumulación de AS libera los monómeros NPR1 en el citoplasma, los cuáles son translocados al núcleo activando la expresión de genes relacionados con la patogénesis (PR). La sobreexpresión del gen NPR1 de Arabidopsis thaliana ha incrementado la resistencia a hongos, bacterias y virus, en distintas especies. El objetivo de esta investigación fue sobreexpresar este gen en olivo con objeto de evaluar su efecto en la tolerancia a dos hongos de suelo, el hemibiotrofo Verticillium dahliae (Vd), una de las mayores amenazas del cultivo y el necrotrofo Rosellinia necatrix, un patógeno emergente en nuevas plantaciones. Se obtuvieron 3 líneas transgénicas, a partir de una línea embriogénica derivada de semilla del cv. Picual. Las líneas mostraron diferencias en el nivel de expresión del transgen en hoja, aunque estas diferencias no afectaron a los niveles de actividad endoquitinasa basal, similar a la de plantas control. La respuesta a Vd varió con el patotipo; así, todas las plantas murieron 50 días tras su inoculación con la cepa defoliante (D) V-138. Por otra parte, la respuesta a patotipos no defoliantes (ND) también fue variable, en función de la raza; tras la inoculación con la cepa V1242 (ND, raza 2), los síntomas aparecieron transcurridos 44-55 días, siendo la línea NPR1-780, con mayor expresión del transgen, la que mostró menor índice de severidad de la enfermedad. Esta línea también mostró un comportamiento superior al control tras la inoculación con la cepa V1558 (ND, raza 1), aunque las diferencias no fueron tan acusadas. En la respuesta a R. necatrix, las líneas transgénicas mostraron un ligero retraso en el desarrollo de la enfermedad con valores AUDPC entre 7-15% inferiores al control.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Gender differences in adaptation to heat in Spain (1983–2018)

In Spain the average temperature has increased by 1.7 °C since pre-industrial times. There has been an increase in heat waves both in terms of frequency and intensity, with a clear impact in terms of population health. The effect of heat waves on daily mortality presents important territorial differences. Gender also affects these impacts, as a determinant that conditions social inequalities in health. There is evidence that women may be more susceptible to extreme heat than men, although there are relatively few studies that analyze differences in the vulnerability and adaptation to heat by sex. This could be related to physiological causes. On the other hand, one of the indicators used to measure vulnerability to heat in a population and its adaptation is the minimum mortality temperature (MMT) and its temporal evolution.The authors wish to thank the funding provided by the ENPY 304/20, ENPY 376/18 and ENPY 107/18 projects of the Carlos III Health Institute III (ISCIII)

CD8+ T Cells from Human Neonates Are Biased toward an Innate Immune Response

To better understand why human neonates show a poor response to intracellular pathogens, we compared gene expression and histone modification profiles of neonatal naive CD8+ T cells with that of their adult counterparts. We found that neonatal lymphocytes have a distinct epigenomic landscape associated with a lower expression of genes involved in T cell receptor (TCR) signaling and cytotoxicity and a higher expression of genes involved in the cell cycle and innate immunity. Functional studies corroborated that neonatal CD8+ T cells are less cytotoxic, transcribe antimicrobial peptides, and produce reactive oxygen species. Altogether, our results show that neonatal CD8+ T cells have a specific genetic program biased toward the innate immune response. These findings will contribute to better diagnosis and management of the neonatal immune response.This project was specifically supported by a joint EcosNord-Anuies-SEP-Con-acyt project (M11S01). Work in the M.A.S. laboratory is supported by grantsfrom Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologı ́a(CONACYT; CB-2011-01168182) and Programa de Mejoramiento del Profesorado (PROMEPSI-UAEM/13/342). Work in the S.S. laboratory is supported by recurrent fundingfrom the Inserm and Aix-Marseille University and by specific grants from theEuropean Union’s FP7 Program (agreement 282510-BLUEPRINT), the Associ-ation pour la Recherche contre le Cancer (ARC) (project SFI20111203756), andthe Aix-Marseille initiative d’excelence (A*MIDEX) project ANR-11-IDEX-0001-02. We thank Centro Estatal de la Transfusio ́n Sanguı ́nea in Cuernavaca for thedonation of leukocyte concentrates and the mothers and babies of HospitalGeneral Parres in Cuernavaca for the donation of cord blood. This study makesuse of data generated by the Blueprint and Roadmap consortia. A full list of theinvestigators who contributed to the generation of the data is availablefromwww.blueprint-epigenome.euandhttp://www.roadmapepigenomics.org/. Funding for the Blueprint project was provided by the European Union’sSeventh Framework Program (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement282510 – BLUEPRINT. The Roadmap consortium is financed by the NIH. Weare grateful to Professor C.I. Pogson for critical reading of the manuscript.S

Barrier crossings and winds shape daily travel schedules and speeds of a flight generalist

External factors such as geography and weather strongly affect bird migration influencing daily travel schedules and flight speeds. For strictly thermal-soaring migrants, weather explains most seasonal and regional differences in speed. Flight generalists, which alternate between soaring and flapping flight, are expected to be less dependent on weather, and daily travel schedules are likely to be strongly influenced by geography and internal factors such as sex. We GPS-tracked the migration of 70 lesser kestrels (Falco naumanni) to estimate the relative importance of external factors (wind, geography), internal factors (sex) and season, and the extent to which they explain variation in travel speed, distance, and duration. Our results show that geography and tailwind are important factors in explaining variation in daily travel schedules and speeds. We found that wind explained most of the seasonal differences in travel speed. In both seasons, lesser kestrels sprinted across ecological barriers and frequently migrated during the day and night. Conversely, they travelled at a slower pace and mainly during the day over non-barriers. Our results highlighted that external factors far outweighed internal factors and season in explaining variation in migratory behaviour of a flight generalist, despite its ability to switch between flight modes.Peer reviewe

Cosmic ray oriented performance studies for the JEM-EUSO first level trigger

JEM-EUSO is a space mission designed to investigate Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays and Neutrinos (E > 5 ⋅ 1019 eV) from the International Space Station (ISS). Looking down from above its wide angle telescope is able to observe their air showers and collect such data from a very wide area. Highly specific trigger algorithms are needed to drastically reduce the data load in the presence of both atmospheric and human activity related background light, yet retain the rare cosmic ray events recorded in the telescope. We report the performance in offline testing of the first level trigger algorithm on data from JEM-EUSO prototypes and laboratory measurements observing different light sources: data taken during a high altitude balloon flight over Canada, laser pulses observed from the ground traversing the real atmosphere, and model landscapes reproducing realistic aspect ratios and light conditions as would be seen from the ISS itself. The first level trigger logic successfully kept the trigger rate within the permissible bounds when challenged with artificially produced as well as naturally encountered night sky background fluctuations and while retaining events with general air-shower characteristics

Heterologous Expression of the AtNPR1 Gene in Olive and Its Effects on Fungal Tolerance

The NPR1 gene encodes a key component of systemic acquired resistance (SAR) signaling mediated by salicylic acid (SA). Overexpression of NPR1 confers resistance to biotrophic and hemibiotrophic fungi in several plant species. The NPR1 gene has also been shown to be involved in the crosstalk between SAR signaling and the jasmonic acid-ethylene (JA/Et) pathway, which is involved in the response to necrotrophic fungi. The aim of this research was to generate transgenic olive plants expressing the NPR1 gene from Arabidopsis thaliana to evaluate their differential response to the hemibiotrophic fungus Verticillium dahliae and the necrotroph Rosellinia necatrix. Three transgenic lines expressing the AtNPR1 gene under the control of the constitutive promoter CaMV35S were obtained using an embryogenic line derived from a seed of cv. Picual. After maturation and germination of the transgenic somatic embryos, the plants were micropropagated and acclimated to ex vitro conditions. The level of AtNPR1 expression in the transgenic materials varied greatly among the different lines and was higher in the NPR1-780 line. The expression of AtNPR1 did not alter the growth of transgenic plants either in vitro or in the greenhouse. Different levels of transgene expression also did not affect basal endochitinase activity in the leaves, which was similar to that of control plants. Response to the hemibiotrophic pathogen V. dahliae varied with pathotype. All plants died by 50 days after inoculation with defoliating (D) pathotype V-138, but the response to non-defoliating (ND) strains differed by race: following inoculation with the V-1242 strain (ND, race 2), symptoms appeared after 44–55 days, with line NPR1-780 showing the lowest disease severity index. This line also showed good performance when inoculated with the V-1558 strain (ND, race 1), although the differences from the control were not statistically significant. In response to the necrotroph R. necatrix, all the transgenic lines showed a slight delay in disease development, with mean area under the disease progress curve (AUDPC) values 7–15% lower than that of the control.-This investigation was funded by the Junta de Andalucía (Grant No. P11-AGR-7992) and by the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación of Spain and Feder European Union Funds (Grant No. AGL2017-83368-C2-1-R)

Granular flow through vertical slots: analysis of a general formula

Currently, very little is known about reliable phenomelogical correlations to estimate the gravity-driven mass flow rate, of dry non-cohesive granular material, outflowing from thin thickness slots in vertical sidewalls of rectangular silos. Here, we validate a simple and general formula that fits pretty well data published elsewhere, including the cases of vertically and horizontally elongated slots

Granular flow through vertical slots: analysis of a general formula

Currently, very little is known about reliable phenomelogical correlations to estimate the gravity-driven mass flow rate, of dry non-cohesive granular material, outflowing from thin thickness slots in vertical sidewalls of rectangular silos. Here, we validate a simple and general formula that fits pretty well data published elsewhere, including the cases of vertically and horizontally elongated slots