Incongruencia entre señal morfológica y molecular: una nueva propuesta sistemática para el complejo Grimmiaceae-Ptychomitriaceae (Bryophyta)

Tesis doctoral inédita de la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. Facultad de Ciencias, Departamento de Biología. Fecha de lectura : 29-06-200

Adaptation Strategies and Microwave Drying of Amaranth Species with a High Nutritional Value to the Ecuadorian Andean Region

In the Andean region of Ecuador, amaranth is a key species not only for its high nutritional value but also for its association with Ecuadorian culture, since it is one of the main indigenous crops of the pre-Columbian era. Over the time, the cultivation of this species ceased for several reasons result. However, in recent years, a number of strategies have been developed to retrieve it on a national level. In accordance with these strategies, the “Amaranth Improvement Program for Cotopaxi” (PROMAC) is being developed at the Technical University of Cotopaxi, with the main objective of selecting varieties with high levels of biologically active substances. This program is been executed through two main lines of investigation: (a) selection of varieties of amaranth of high nutritional value and (b) the improvement of techniques for conservation of the seeds. This chapter analyzes and shows the main results obtained to date from the study of eight varieties of amaranth seeds and the drying of one of the seeds by means of microwave energy in order to improve its conservation. In the light of the results obtained, the strategies to develop the following research lines within the PROMAC framework are exposed

Microwave drying of corn seeds: Effect of Temperature on Drying Time, Energy Consuption and Germination Rate

[EN] Previous studies on the microwave drying of corn seeds have shown that the process parameters employed play a very important role in determining the properties and quality of this grain (Gürsoy et al, 2013). Among these parameters, the drying temperature has a fundamental role (Nair et al, 2011). The main objective of this work is to evaluate the effect of temperature on drying time, energy consumption and germination rate of corn seeds after they have been dried with microwave energy. To achieve the proposed objective, the drying process of these seeds was carried out in a rotating turntable domestic microwave oven (LACOR Model 69330), with a capacity of 30 liters and a total output power of 900 W, fitted with a PID temperature controller Eurotherm 3216 L. In this oven, 100 g of corn seeds, with an initial humidity of approximately 20%, was heated up to 3 drying temperatures (35, 55 and 75 °C). The seeds were weighed every 30 minutes and the drying process was considered completed when a humidity of 12 % was obtained. For each drying temperature studied, the experiments were carried out in duplicate. In each experiment, the electrical energy consumption was measured using a FLUKE 1735 energy analyzer. A sample of the dried seeds was subject to germination tests in a petri dish using filter paper and a volume of distillate water of 20mL to achieve sufficient humidity for them to sprout. Table 1 shows the average values obtained from the variables evaluated for each drying temperature. Table 1. Results of the microwave drying experiments of the corn seeds at different temperatures and their germination tests. Drying temperature (ºC) Drying time to reach a humidity of 12% (min) Energy consumption (Wh) Germination rate (%) 35 345,0 880,3 90,0 55 118,5 330,0 81,3 75 73,5 183,9 12,0 As can be seen in Table 1, the temperature exerts a significant influence on the drying process and the germination rate of the corn seeds. An increase in the drying temperature causes a simultaneous decrease in drying time (∿ 78%) and in energy consumption (∿ 79%), which are very positive aspects. However, there is also an unacceptable decrease (∿ 87%) in the germination rate of the corn seeds. References Gürsoy, S., Choudhary, R., Watson, D.G. Int. J Agric. & Biol. Eng., 2013, 6, 1, 90–99.Nair, G.R., Li, Z., Gariepy, Y., Raghavan, V. Drying Technology, 2011, 29, 11, 1291-1296.The financial support received from Universidad Técnica de Cotopaxi (Ref. PI.EPSHMS.CIYA.2017) is greatly acknowledged. The authors also thank Cristian Hinojosa, Lili Tigasi and Daysi Pila for their contribution to the experimental work.Hernández Moreno, Á.; Hernández-Maqueda, R.; Ballesteros, I.; Torres-Miño, C. (2019). Microwave drying of corn seeds: Effect of Temperature on Drying Time, Energy Consuption and Germination Rate. En AMPERE 2019. 17th International Conference on Microwave and High Frequency Heating. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 238-244. https://doi.org/10.4995/AMPERE2019.2019.9831OCS23824

Effectiveness of an intervention for improving drug prescription in primary care patients with multimorbidity and polypharmacy:Study protocol of a cluster randomized clinical trial (Multi-PAP project)

This study was funded by the Fondo de Investigaciones Sanitarias ISCIII (Grant Numbers PI15/00276, PI15/00572, PI15/00996), REDISSEC (Project Numbers RD12/0001/0012, RD16/0001/0005), and the European Regional Development Fund ("A way to build Europe").Background: Multimorbidity is associated with negative effects both on people's health and on healthcare systems. A key problem linked to multimorbidity is polypharmacy, which in turn is associated with increased risk of partly preventable adverse effects, including mortality. The Ariadne principles describe a model of care based on a thorough assessment of diseases, treatments (and potential interactions), clinical status, context and preferences of patients with multimorbidity, with the aim of prioritizing and sharing realistic treatment goals that guide an individualized management. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a complex intervention that implements the Ariadne principles in a population of young-old patients with multimorbidity and polypharmacy. The intervention seeks to improve the appropriateness of prescribing in primary care (PC), as measured by the medication appropriateness index (MAI) score at 6 and 12months, as compared with usual care. Methods/Design: Design:pragmatic cluster randomized clinical trial. Unit of randomization: family physician (FP). Unit of analysis: patient. Scope: PC health centres in three autonomous communities: Aragon, Madrid, and Andalusia (Spain). Population: patients aged 65-74years with multimorbidity (≥3 chronic diseases) and polypharmacy (≥5 drugs prescribed in ≥3months). Sample size: n=400 (200 per study arm). Intervention: complex intervention based on the implementation of the Ariadne principles with two components: (1) FP training and (2) FP-patient interview. Outcomes: MAI score, health services use, quality of life (Euroqol 5D-5L), pharmacotherapy and adherence to treatment (Morisky-Green, Haynes-Sackett), and clinical and socio-demographic variables. Statistical analysis: primary outcome is the difference in MAI score between T0 and T1 and corresponding 95% confidence interval. Adjustment for confounding factors will be performed by multilevel analysis. All analyses will be carried out in accordance with the intention-to-treat principle. Discussion: It is essential to provide evidence concerning interventions on PC patients with polypharmacy and multimorbidity, conducted in the context of routine clinical practice, and involving young-old patients with significant potential for preventing negative health outcomes. Trial registration: Clinicaltrials.gov, NCT02866799Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Testing reticulation and adaptive convergence in the Grimmiaceae (Bryophyta)

Phylogenetic relationships based on plastid DNA sequences have recently been explored for the genus Grimmia, revealing a complex evolutionary history and many incongruities with respect to traditional views. Based on empirical observations it was postulated that episodes of allopolyploidy and various hybridization events have triggered speciation in the genus Grimmia. Comparisons of genes from different genomes could therefore help to detect putative reticulations that cannot be detected using a single genome. For this purpose phylogenetic inferences, based on the complete ITS region of nuclear ribosomal DNA, were contrasted with plastid (trnS-trnF, trnK/matK) derived ones. The ITS region proved to be highly variable in Grimmia, with various lineage-specific indels interspersed among a considerable number of conserved regions that contained important phylogenetic information. The sectional placement of most species is congruent with previous results based on plastid DNA. However, some species seemingly combine nuclear sequences of one section with chloroplast sequences of another. The species of Grimmia subg. Grimmia, with the exception of G. pulvinata, are nested within Grimmia in plastid phylogenies, but are sister to the remaining Grimmia groups and closer to Dryptodon based on nuclear DNA sequences. According to the Shimodaira-Hasegawa (SH) test an alternative hypothesis in which Grimmia subg. Grimmia is nested within Grimmia could be rejected. Similarly, an alternative topology with G. tergestina close to G. laevigata as revealed by plastid data was clearly rejected by the SH test, supporting the observation that G. tergestina appears to have the nuclear sequence of section Orthogrimmia and the chloroplast sequence of section Guembelia. We hypothesize that both cases can be best explained by past reticulation events.This research was funded by a grant (BOS 2002-00285) from the Spanish Ministry of Education to J. Muñoz, a CSICI3P Fellowship to R. Hernández-Maqueda, and the mobility funds provided to D. Quandt by the European Commission’s Biodiberia Human Potential Programme. The project Deep Gene (to Brent Mishler, University of California at Berkeley)Peer reviewe

Chloroplast data reveal two conflicting hypotheses for the positions of Campylostelium and Grimmia pitardii (Bryophyta)

Due to conflicting morphological characters, the systematic placement of the Mediterranean-Central Asian Grimmia pitardii, lately considered a member of Campylostelium (Ptychomitriaceae), has been controversial. Phylogenetic inferences based on the chloroplast gene rps4 and the trnL-F region were performed to clarify its systematic affinities. Grimmia pitardii is consistently resolved as a member of a maximally supported clade together with the genus Campylostelium. This combined clade forms the sister group to a similarly high supported clade comprising Grimmia, Racomitrium, Coscinodon, and Schistidium. Consequently, G. pitardii must be treated as Campylostelium pitardii (Corb.) E. Maier. Analysis of the systematic position of Campylostelium and Ptychomitrium, traditionally placed in the family Ptychomitriaceae, yielded two conflicting topologies: one groups Ptychomitrium and Campylostelium, whilst the second branches Campylostelium first, grouping Ptychomitrium with Grimmiaceae.We thank the Spanish Ministry of Education for funding this research through project BOS2002-00285 (to J. Muñoz), and the curators of BCB, MO, MUB and S for sending us specimens.Peer reviewe

Phylogeny and classification of the Grimmiaceae/Ptychomitriaceae complex (Bryophyta) inferred from cpDNA.

Phylogenetic relationships within the Grimmiaceae/Ptychomitriaceae were studied using a plastid tRNA cluster, including four tRNAs (trnS, trnT, trnL, trnF), a fast evolving gene (rps4), four spacers separating the coding regions, as well as one group I intron. Secondary structure analyses of the spacers as well as the trnL intron P8 domain identified several homoplastic inversions. Tracing the structural evolution of P8 we were able to identify lineage specific modifications that are mainly explained by inversions often in combination with large indel events. Phylogenetic analyses using maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood, and Bayesian methods indicate that Jaffueliobryum and Indusiella are closely related to Ptychomitrium and form the Ptychomitriaceae s. str. As Campylostelium is neither resolved within Ptychomitriaceae s. str. nor Grimmiaceae s. str., we prefer to treat it in its own family, Campylosteliaceae De Not. The systematic position of Glyphomitrium, as also found by other authors, should be considered in a broader analysis of haplolepidous mosses as our analyses indicate that it is not part of Campylosteliaceae, Grimmiaceae, or Ptychomitriaceae. Within Grimmiaceae s. str., Racomitrium is recognized as a monophyletic group sister to a clade including Dryptodon, Grimmia, and Schistidium. Coscinodon species appear disperse in Grimmia s. str. next to species sharing the same gametophyte morphology, and thus the genus is synonymized with Grimmia. Finally, Schistidium is resolved monophyletic with high statistical support, and seems to represent a rapidly evolving group of species. Our results are not fully congruent with recently published treatments splitting Grimmiaceae in a fairly high number of genera, neither with a comprehensive Grimmia including Dryptodon and Grimmia s. str.This research was funded by a Grant (BOS 2002-00285) from the Spanish Ministry of Education to J. Muñoz, a CSIC-I3P Fellowship to R. Hernández-Maqueda, and the mobility funds provided to D. Quandt by the European Commission’s BIODIBERIA HUMAN POTENTIAL PROGRAMME. The project Deep Gene (to Brent Mishler, University of California at Berkeley) funded the visit of RHM and DQ to St. Louis to attend the symposium “Molecular Systematics of Bryophytes: Progress, Problems, and Perspectives”.Peer reviewe

Phylogeny of haplolepideous mosses - Challenges and perspectives

The haplolepideous mosses (Dicranidae) form the second largest group of mosses and are morphologically and ecologically highly diverse. This review summarizes the current state and addresses the most urgent remaining problems in unravelling systematic relationships in the haplolepideous mosses. The main results of early molecular phylogenetic reconstructions based on few chloroplast markers are compared with recent approaches based on markers from different genomes as well as with a new phylogeny based on a novel combination of non-coding plastid markers (rps4-trnF region and atpB-rbcL spacer). According to the available molecular data, three major groups are provisionally distinguished within Dicranidae. The first group comprises morphologically diverse species from different families (Bryoxiphiaceae, Catoscopiaceae, Distichiaceae, Ditrichaceae p.p., Drummondiaceae, Pottiaceae p.p., Rhabdoweisiaceae p.p., and Scouleriaceae p.p.), which form grades branching off first in the phylogenetic reconstructions. The second group, which appears as a grade or unsupported clade, includes Grimmiales, Leucobryaceae, Archidiaceae, Eustichiaceae, and Saelania glaucescens (Ditrichaceae). The third group comprises the largest portion of the haplolepideous mosses, namely most families of Dicranales as well as the most speciose Pottiales; the respective clades receive significant statistical support in part of the analyses. The position of Amphidium in between the second and third group remains ambiguous. It is concluded that further phylogenetic analyses based on new combinations of markers are necessary at different taxonomic levels, especially to resolve the backbone of the Dicranidae phylogeny, but also to tackle large and taxonomically complex genera that are severely understudied. Implications of the molecular phylogenetic reconstructions for morphological character evolution are exemplarily discussed for the different types of haplolepideous peristomes. Furthermore, genetic and genomic research using haplolepideous taxa is briefly reviewed. © British Bryological Society 2012

Designing Biodiversity Management Strategies at the Community Level: Approaches Based on Participatory Action Research

Through Traditional Plant Knowledge (TPK), the Indigenous communities of the Ecuadorian Andes benefit from the different ecosystem services provided by plants. However, this TPK is endangered for several causes. Thus, we developed a Participatory Action Research (PAR) project in the community of San Ignacio (Ecuadorian Andes) to test whether, through the implementation of the PAR project, it was possible to increase the inhabitants' use of plants. In order to verify if the actions carried out resulted in higher use of the plants, a subsequent survey with information about the taxa employed and their uses was applied to the 22 Family Agricultural Productive Units (FAPUs) that participated in the project and in 21 that did not (control group). In addition, an inventory was conducted in the same FAPUs to determine species richness and abundance. The inhabitants reported 1,266 uses for 118 taxa, which are mainly used for food, medicine, and wind barriers, amongst other uses. The post-control evaluation revealed an increase the inhabitants' use of plants at the FAPU level with an average of 16 to 21 species, especially among medicinal plants and plantings for live fences purpose, showing that the activities carried out in the framework of the project are an interesting starting point for developing future biodiversity management strategies at the community level

Ecological intensification strategies increase abundance of denitrifying functional genes in a greenhouse agricultural soil

Understanding the denitrification process in agriculture is key to preventing nitrogen (N) losses and reducing emissions of the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N2O) to the atmosphere. Since the type of fertilization influences this process, in this study we evaluated the comparative effect of conventional (CON) versus ecological intensification (EI) soil management under greenhouse conditions on the abundance and expression of the denitrifying functional genes nitrite reductase (nirK, nirS) and nitrous oxide reductase (nosZ). For this purpose, quantitative PCR (qPCR) was performed in three phenological stages of eggplant (Solanum melongena L var. Telma). The results showed that the addition of organic amendments tripled the copies of nirK DNA, doubled the copies of nosZ DNA and increased the copies of nirS, albeit by 2 %, compared to conventionally managed soils. The abundance of mRNA transcripts also increased for all three genes studied: nirK increased 15-fold, followed by nirS, which tripled its expression, and nosZ, which doubled its expression. Ammonium ion (NH4-N) correlated positively with the three genes analyzed, total organic carbon (TOC) with nirK and nosZ, and pH correlated negatively with nirK and nosZ. Regardless of the type of fertilization (CON or EI), a decreasing trend in gene abundance was observed from the initial growth phase of the crop (t0) until the crop was removed and crop residues incorporated into the soil (t2). The results suggest that the dynamics and composition of the denitrifying community varied in response to the type of fertilization and the phenological stage of the crop. Further studies based on metagenomics and transcriptomics, including N2O flux measurements, are needed to better understand the denitrification process in these soils.Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (España)European Union-Next GenerationAsociación Universitaria Iberoamericana de Postgrado (AUIP)Depto. de Genética, Fisiología y MicrobiologíaFac. de Ciencias BiológicasTRUEpu