Analysis of NPF and NRT transporter families regarding the nitrate nutrition in maritime pine (Pinus pinaster)

Nitrogen is an essential element for life and the main limiting nutrient for plant growth and development1. The main forms of inorganic nitrogen in soils are nitrate and ammonium, which relative abundances depend on environmental conditions such as temperature. In agricultural soils the most abundant nitrogen form is nitrate because the use of chemical fertilizers however in natural ecosystems nitrogen soil composition can be more complex. Conifers are tree gymnosperms with a wide distribution although their large forests dominate the boreal ecosystems where nitrification is limited and ammonium is the main nitrogen soil source2. In this context, conifers have an appreciable tolerance to ammonium. Maritime pine (Pinus pinaster Aiton) is a conifer from the western Mediterranean region of high economic and ecological interest in Spain, France and Portugal. This pine is also a research model tree with different genomic resources such as a reference transcriptome and a gene expression atlas3. Taking advantage of these resources the members of the NPF and NRT transporter families involved in nitrate uptake and transport have been identified and analyzed in maritime pine4. Among the transporter families, the NRT3 one is expanded and composed by six members. The capacity of maritime pine to use nitrate or ammonium has been analyzed in seedlings. The development and growth responses to nitrate nutrition are comparable to ammonium supply. At molecular level, there are strong gene expressions for genes involved in nitrate uptake and assimilation such as Nitrate Reductase, Nitrite Reductase, Glutamine Synthetase 1a, three NRT3 genes and different NPF family members in the different organs. Since the NPF proteins can transport different metabolites, peptides and hormones, the NPF transporters involved in nitrate transport are being identified.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech. This project was supported by the grant MicroNUpE, BIO2015-73512-JIN; MINECO/AEI/FEDER, UE. JMVM was supported by a grant from the Spanish Ministerio de Educación y Formación Profesional (FPU17/03517) and FO by a grant from the Universidad de Málaga (Programa Operativo de Empleo Juvenil vía SNJG, UMAJI11, FEDER, FSE, Junta de Andalucía)

An unexpected actor in ammonium assimilation in conifer trees

Conifers are tree species with enormous environmental and economic interests but with several characteristics that complicate their investigation (big size, secondary compounds, large long-life cycles, megagenomes…). However, they are well adapted to ammonium-rich soils being a good model to study ammonium assimilation in plants. Although they have a special feature, only two glutamine synthetase (GS, EC 6.3.1.2) genes, GS1a and GS1b, coding for cytosolic proteins, have been identified. In angiosperms and in the gymnosperm Ginkgo biloba there are two types of this enzyme responsible of the ammonium assimilation: GS1 expressed in the cytosol and GS2 in the plastids. Until the date, the searches of new GS1 and GS2 genes in conifers have been made with classical biochemical and molecular biology techniques without satisfactory results. In the present context, the emergence of the next generation sequencing (NGS) techniques has open new opportunities in the resolution of old problems. They have allowed the whole sequencing of the massive conifer genomes and the analysis of their transcriptomes. Thus, in the framework of the European project ProCoGen, a gene expression atlas of the tissues of one-month seedlings was carried out using laser capture microdissection (LCM) and massive sequencing in maritime pine (Pinus pinaster), which is a conifer tree from the Southwestern Mediterranean region1. From the analysis of this work, a new gene coding for a new putative cytosolic GS has been identified, PpGS1c. 1Cañas, RA et al. (2017). Plant J, 91. 1064-1087Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech. Project funding by Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad BIO2015-69285-R and MicroNUpE (BIO2015-73512-JIN; MINECO/AEI/FEDER, UE

A process of rumor scotching on finite populations

Rumor spreading is a ubiquitous phenomenon in social and technological networks. Traditional models consider that the rumor is propagated by pairwise interactions between spreaders and ignorants. Spreaders can become stiflers only after contacting spreaders or stiflers. Here we propose a model that considers the traditional assumptions, but stiflers are active and try to scotch the rumor to the spreaders. An analytical treatment based on the theory of convergence of density dependent Markov chains is developed to analyze how the final proportion of ignorants behaves asymptotically in a finite homogeneously mixing population. We perform Monte Carlo simulations in random graphs and scale-free networks and verify that the results obtained for homogeneously mixing populations can be approximated for random graphs, but are not suitable for scale-free networks. Furthermore, regarding the process on a heterogeneous mixing population, we obtain a set of differential equations that describes the time evolution of the probability that an individual is in each state. Our model can be applied to study systems in which informed agents try to stop the rumor propagation. In addition, our results can be considered to develop optimal information dissemination strategies and approaches to control rumor propagation.Comment: 13 pages, 11 figure

Transcriptomics of ammonium nutrition in the conifer Pinus pinaster Aiton

Nitrogen is an important element for all living beings because it is part of macromolecules as significant as nucleic acids or amino acids. For plants, it constitutes a limiting factor in their growth and development1 due to their low natural availability in soils thus limiting primary production in ecosystems2. Conifers are a group of gymnosperm plants that form large forest extensions of vegetation, being the main constituents of forests in boreal ecosystems3 where ammonium is the main source of inorganic nitrogen4. Due to the characteristics of the soils in which conifers usually grow, these plants have developed a high tolerance to the presence of ammonium, which may constitute their main source of inorganic nitrogen5. The maritime pine (Pinus pinaster Aiton) is a conifer that has a wide distribution in the western Mediterranean area and has been widely used in reforestation, soil stabilization tasks and industrially. In recent years, maritime pine has been the subject of multiple omic studies that have resulted in the acquisition of important tools and resources6,7. The present work is focused on the analysis of the ammonium uptake and management efficiency, and its relationship with the biomass accumulation in maritime pine. For this purpose, several experiments have been developed in which pine seedlings have undergone different levels of ammonium nutrition, both in the short and long term. As a result of short-term experiments, the characterization of transcriptomic response to the process of ammonium nutrition (uptake and assimilation) is being studied at mRNA, lncRNA and miRNA level in roots. In relation to long-term experiments, ten different provenances of maritime pine seedlings were treated with different ammonium levels and the biomass changes were measured. The results obtained suggest the existence a certain phenotypic plasticity grade for this conifer.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech. This project was supported by a grant form the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (MicroNUpE, BIO2015-73512-JIN; MINECO/AEI/FEDER, UE). FO was supported by a grant from the Universidad de Málaga (Programa Operativo de Empleo Juvenil vía SNJG, UMAJI11, FEDER, FSE, Junta de Andalucía) and JMVM by a grant from the Spanish Ministerio de Educación y Formación Profesional (FPU17/03517

Literatura y atención sanitaria : voluntariado para el fomento de la lectoescritura en la Universidad de Sevilla

el Plan Integral para el Fomento de la Lectoescritura-Universidad de Sevilla (PIFLUS) recibe una larga herencia de voluntariado que se ha venido desarrollando desde los años noventa en la planta infantil de los dos hospitales universitarios (HU) de la ciudad: HU Virgen Macarena y HU Virgen del Rocío. Desde su triple compromiso de formación, investigación y transferencia del conocimiento, este plan estratégico se ha propuesto recopilar el trabajo de más de una década para dotarlo de una metodología específica con la que formar a los voluntarios de las nuevas promociones de alumnos pertenecientes a estudios de grado, máster, doctorado y aula de la experiencia. Partiendo de los conceptos de conciencia metalingüística, oralidad, puesta en escena, teoría de la intertextualidad y con el álbum ilustrado como herramienta privilegiada para comunicar literatura infantil y juvenil trataremos de autoevaluar el proceso exponiendo sus claves. En este empeño consideraremos la lectoescritura, el doble proceso de lectura y escritura que se retroalimenta, como la mejor garantía de comprensión lectora e inteligencia creadora en nuestra experiencia con niños.our Literacy encouraging program at the University of Seville receives a long legacy of volunteerism that has been developing since the nineties in the children floor of the two university hospitals in the city: Virgen Macarena and Virgen del Rocío. From its triple commitment of training, research and knowledge transfer, this strategic plan which already collected more than a decade of work and research wants to launch a specific method for the new promotions of students from degree, master, PhD and the third age students. Based on concepts around metalinguistic selfconscience, orality, staging, intertextuality and with the illustrated book as the main tool to communicate literature to children, let us try to expose our keys and make a self evaluation. Taking this challenge, we consider literacy as a double reading and writing process linked by a feedback, as this is the, according to our experience with children, the best guarantee of reading comprehension and creative intelligence

The Effect On Firms' Productivity Of Accessibility. The Spanish Manufacturing Sector

This paper evaluates the impact of accessibility on the productivity of Spanish manufacturing firms. We suggest the use of accessibility indicators to workers and commodities, integrating transport, land use, and individual components in their measurement, and computing real distances or travelling times using the Spanish full road network. The estimation is carried out in two steps. In the first one we estimate almost a hundred production functions using a panel of 155,937 firms along the 1999-2009 period from SABI database, applying Levinsohn and Petrin technique. From these estimations we derive the Total Factor Productivity function for year 2009, which is then explained in the second estimation step as a function of the accessibility indicators and additional control variables. Results evidence the crucial role of the accessibility to commodities, and a lesser but significant effect of workers? accessibility on firms? productivity

Evaluación de la seguridad hidrológica de las presas bajo un enfoque probabilístico

El presente trabajo realiza una propuesta metodológica para evaluar la seguridad hidrológica de una presa, con aplicación práctica para el diseño probabilístico de aliviaderos. La metodología consiste en la generación y análisis de numerosas avenidas junto con el desarrollo de un modelo que permite obtener una descripción probabilística del comportamiento del aliviadero frente a las variables estudiadas. El trabajo es una combinación de técnicas previamente desarrolladas para plantear un nuevo enfoque metodológico en un problema de gran trascendencia práctica: la seguridad hidrológica de las presas. El principal aporte del documento se constituye en el estudio de un conjunto representativo de los posibles hidrogramas de entrada al embalse en lugar de un único hidrograma de proyecto. Esto permite el análisis probabilístico de los resultados, lo que facilita la incorporación de la incertidumbre hidrológica en las decisiones de diseño. De esta forma se ha desarrollado un entorno de cálculo que permite el estudio de numerosos hietogramas y su respuesta en la cuenca con un bajo costo de tiempo de cómputo por lo que viabiliza la utilización de este tipo de herramientas y planteamientos probabilísticos con un esquema de simulación de Monte Carlo; siendo una herramienta muy útil para realizar estudios de evaluación de seguridad hidrológica de presas así como de sensibilidad de cada una de las variables que intervienen. Asimismo, un abordaje probabilístico al tema permite el estudio del universo de posibles soluciones con su incertidumbre asociada como contraposición a los métodos determinísticos usualmente utilizados. Entre otros factores, la metodología de análisis planteada permite analizar la influencia de la forma del hietograma e hidrograma de entrada en el efecto laminador del embalse y puede observarse la existencia de una importante influencia de la forma de los hietogramas en la respuesta de la cuenca y los valores máximos de caudal en la entrada del embalse

Role of floral strips and semi-natural habitats as enhancers of wild bee functional diversity in intensive agricultural landscapes

Los autores de la UAM pertenecen al Terrestrial Ecology Group, Department of EcologyInstalling patches of flowering plants is a commonly used strategy to enhance refuge and food resources for pollinators in intensive agricultural landscapes. Here, we evaluated how floral strips and semi-natural habitats impact the taxonomic and functional diversity of wild bees in intensively farmed sunflower fields. Pan traps were used to assess bee richness and functional diversity at 22 sampling sites (11 sites were positioned in sunflower fields with floral strips, and 11 control sites were adjacent to semi-natural habitats). Five sampling levels were established in each field, positioned at different distances from the flower strip or semi-natural habitat. Wild bee species richness and functional richness were significantly higher inside floral strips and semi-natural habitats compared to sunflower fields. Functional redundancy was significantly higher inside agricultural fields compared to inside floral strips and semi-natural habitats. Sunflower fields with floral strips had lower Rao values compared to sunflower fields adjacent to semi-natural habitats. The community-weighted mean (CWM) of intertegular distance (distance between where wings attach to body) of wild bees was significantly higher in sunflower fields adjacent to semi-natural habitats. In comparison, the CWM of wing length varied across sampling levels in sunflower fields with semi-natural habitats. Our results show it is essential to have semi-natural habitats within intensive agricultural landscapes to ensure the conservation of wild bee diversity, while the installation of floral strips offers a partial substitute to enhance wild bee diversity when semi-natural habitats are scarce or absentFinancial support was provided by the European Union FEDER INTERREG SUDOE Program (SOE1/P5/E0129). CPC was supported by the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research (PSG293) and the European Regional Development Fund (Centre of Excellence EcolChange

¿Normal o patológico? Antropometría y Paleopatología

X Congreso Nacional de Paleopatología. Univesidad Autónoma de Madrid, septiembre de 200

Prehistoria de la matemática y mente moderna : pensamiento matemático y recursividad en el Paleolítico franco-cantábrico

En este artículo, en primer lugar, se repasan de forma general distintos tipos de registros simbólicos realizados por los grupos prehistóricos desde los más remotos y probables orígenes de la mente humana moderna. A continuación, se revisan algunas de las más destacadas piezas de la Prehistoria relacionadas con el registro matemático, destacando la importancia (por cantidad y calidad), no suficientemente valorada, de las piezas de este tipo de la región franco-cantábrica. La información anterior, finalmente, nos da pie a destacar la tremenda importancia en este contexto de cuatro plaquitas de hueso hioides de caballo de la Cueva de Altamira, datadas en el Solutrense Superior (c. 18.500 años). Estas plaquitas, al ser un conjunto coherente de elementos interrelacionados, se proponen aquí como la representación de una recursividad, cualidad ésta que se ha considerado como propia y exclusiva del lenguaje humano