Long-term social recognition memory in adult male rats: factor analysis of the social and non-social behaviors

A modified version of the intruder-resident paradigm was used to investigate if social recognition memory lasts at least 24 h. One hundred and forty-six adult male Wistar rats were used. Independent groups of rats were exposed to an intruder for 0.083, 0.5, 2, 24, or 168 h and tested 24 h after the first encounter with the familiar or a different conspecific. Factor analysis was employed to identify associations between behaviors and treatments. Resident rats exhibited a 24-h social recognition memory, as indicated by a 3- to 5-fold decrease in social behaviors in the second encounter with the same conspecific compared to those observed for a different conspecific, when the duration of the first encounter was 2 h or longer. It was possible to distinguish between two different categories of social behaviors and their expression depended on the duration of the first encounter. Sniffing the anogenital area (49.9% of the social behaviors), sniffing the body (17.9%), sniffing the head (3%), and following the conspecific (3.1%), exhibited mostly by resident rats, characterized social investigation and revealed long-term social recognition memory. However, dominance (23.8%) and mild aggression (2.3%), exhibited by both resident and intruders, characterized social agonistic behaviors and were not affected by memory. Differently, sniffing the environment (76.8% of the non-social behaviors) and rearing (14.3%), both exhibited mostly by adult intruder rats, characterized non-social behaviors. Together, these results show that social recognition memory in rats may last at least 24 h after a 2-h or longer exposure to the conspecific

The effect of the sixth sulfur ligand in the catalytic mechanism of periplasmic nitrate reductase

The catalytic mechanism of nitrate reduction by periplasmic nitrate reductases has been investigated using theoretical and computational means. We have found that the nitrate molecule binds to the active site with the Mo ion in the +6 oxidation state. Electron transfer to the active site occurs only in the proton-electron transfer stage, where the MoV species plays an important role in catalysis. The presence of the sulfur atom in the molybdenum coordination sphere creates a pseudo-dithiolene ligand that protects it from any direct attack from the solvent. Upon the nitrate binding there is a conformational rearrangement of this ring that allows the direct contact of the nitrate with MoVI ion. This rearrangement is stabilized by the conserved methionines Met141 and Met308. The reduction of nitrate into nitrite occurs in the second step of the mechanism where the two dimethyl-dithiolene ligands have a key role in spreading the excess of negative charge near the Mo atom to make it available for the chemical reaction. The reaction involves the oxidation of the sulfur atoms and not of the molybdenum as previously suggested. The mechanism involves a molybdenum and sulfur-based redox chemistry instead of the currently accepted redox chemistry based only on the Mo ion. The second part of the mechanism involves two protonation steps that are promoted by the presence of MoV species. MoVI intermediates might also be present in this stage depending on the availability of protons and electrons. Once the water molecule is generated only the MoVI species allow water molecule dissociation, and, the concomitant enzymatic turnover.Fil: Cerqueira, N.M.F.S.A.. Faculdade de Ciências E Tecnologia, Universidade Nova de Lisboa; PortugalFil: Gonzalez, P.J.. Faculdade de Ciências E Tecnologia, Universidade Nova de Lisboa; PortugalFil: Brondino, Carlos Dante. Universidad Nacional del Litoral; ArgentinaFil: Romão, M.J.. Faculdade de Ciências E Tecnologia, Universidade Nova de Lisboa; PortugalFil: Romão, C.C.. Instituto de Tecnologia Qu&Fil: Moura, I.. Faculdade de Ciências E Tecnologia, Universidade Nova de Lisboa; PortugalFil: Moura, J.J.G.. Faculdade de Ciências E Tecnologia, Universidade Nova de Lisboa; Portuga

Electronic localization at mesoscopic length scales: different definitions of localization and contact effects in a heuristic DNA model

In this work we investigate the electronic transport along model DNA molecules using an effective tight-binding approach that includes the backbone on site energies. The localization length and participation number are examined as a function of system size, energy dependence, and the contact coupling between the leads and the DNA molecule. On one hand, the transition from an diffusive regime to a localized regime for short systems is identified, suggesting the necessity of a further length scale revealing the system borders sensibility. On the other hand, we show that the lenght localization and participation number, do not depended of system size and contact coupling in the thermodynamic limit. Finally we discuss possible length dependent origins for the large discrepancies among experimental results for the electronic transport in DNA sample

Dark Matter with Dirac and Majorana Gaugino Masses

We consider the minimal supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model allowing both Dirac and Majorana gauginos. The Dirac masses are obtained by pairing up extra chiral multiplets: a singlet S for U(1)_Y, a triplet T for SU(2) and an octet O for SU(3) with the respective gauginos. The electroweak symmetry breaking sector is modified by the couplings of the new fields S and T to the Higgs doublets. We discuss two limits: i) both the adjoint scalars are decoupled with the main effect being the modification of the Higgs quartic coupling; ii) the singlet remaining light, and due to its direct coupling to sfermions, providing a new contribution to the soft masses and inducing new decay/production channels. We discuss the LSP in this scenario; after mentioning the possibility that it may be a Dirac gravitino, we focus on the case where it is identified with the lightest neutralino, and exhibit particular values of the parameter space where the relic density is in agreement with WMAP data. This is illustrated for different scenarios where the LSP is either a bino (in which case it can be a Dirac fermion) or bino-higgsino/wino mixtures. We also point out in each case the peculiarity of the model with respect to dark matter detection experiments.Comment: 43 pages, 5 figures; one reference added. Corresponds to published version in JCA

Epigenetic loss of RNA-methyltransferase NSUN5 in glioma targets ribosomes to drive a stress adaptive translational program

Altres ajuts: This work was supported by the Obra Social "La Caixa" (to M. Esteller).Tumors have aberrant proteomes that often do not match their corresponding transcriptome profiles. One possible cause of this discrepancy is the existence of aberrant RNA modification landscapes in the so-called epitranscriptome. Here, we report that human glioma cells undergo DNA methylation-associated epigenetic silencing of NSUN5, a candidate RNA methyltransferase for 5-methylcytosine. In this setting, NSUN5 exhibits tumor-suppressor characteristics in vivo glioma models. We also found that NSUN5 loss generates an unmethylated status at the C3782 position of 28S rRNA that drives an overall depletion of protein synthesis, and leads to the emergence of an adaptive translational program for survival under conditions of cellular stress. Interestingly, NSUN5 epigenetic inactivation also renders these gliomas sensitive to bioactivatable substrates of the stress-related enzyme NQO1. Most importantly, NSUN5 epigenetic inactivation is a hallmark of glioma patients with long-term survival for this otherwise devastating disease