416 research outputs found
Lagarobasidium calongei (Aphyllophorales, Basidiomycota), a new species of corticioid fungi from Azores Islands
6 pages, 3 figures.[EN] On the base of morphologic and molecular studies, a new
species of the genus Lagarobasidium (Aphyllophorales, Basi -
diomycota), is described and illustrated. This new species was
collected on Pico Island (Azores) and is characterized by having
two types of cystidia, clavate leptocystidia and cylindrical skeletocystidia,
and smooth, thick-walled spores. It is compared with
Lagarobasidium detriticum (Bourdot) JĂŒlich and L. cymosum
(D.P. Rogers & H.S. Jacks.) JĂŒlich, until now the only two species
of the genus.[ES] Sobre la base de estudios morfolĂłgicos y moleculares se describe
e ilustra una nueva especie dentro del género Lagarobasidium
(Aphyllophorales, Basidiomycota). Esta nueva especie, recolectada
en la isla de Pico (Azores), se caracteriza por presentar
dos tipos de cistidios, leptocistidios claviformes y esqueletocistidios
cilĂndricos, y esporas lisas con paredes gruesas. Se compara
con Lagarobasidium detriticum (Bourdot) JĂŒlich y L. cymosum
(D.P. Rogers & H.S. Jacks.) JĂŒlich, las otras dos especies del
gĂ©nero.Financial support was given by DGI project n.Âș CGL2005-
01192, Biogeographic interconnections of the Corticiaceae
(Aphyl lo phorales, Basidiomycota) of the Macaronesian Islands.Peer reviewe
Molecular analyses confirm Brevicellicium in Trechisporales
The genus Brevicellicium encompasses wood-inhabiting corticioid fungi characterized by isodiametric subhymenial hyphae, short basidia, and smooth, often subangular spores with a distinct apiculus. Eight new LSU nrDNA sequences and 13 new ITS nrDNA of this genus, including the type species, were aligned with 47 and 42 accessions respectively of species of Trechisporales obtained from GenBank, and phylogenetic analyses were performed. The order Trechisporales was confirmed as a monophyletic group; the genera Porpomyces, Sistotremastrum, Subulicystidium and Trechispora form a highly supported clade where all Brevicellicium sequences are included. Our analyses also support that this genus belongs to Hydnodontaceae. A new species, Brevicellicium atlanticum from the Azores Archipelago, is described.Peer Reviewe
Towards a unified paradigm for sequence-based identification of fungi
KĂ”ljalg, Urmas et al.The nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region is the formal fungal barcode and in most cases the marker of choice for the exploration of fungal diversity in environmental samples. Two problems are particularly acute in the pursuit of satisfactory taxonomic assignment of newly generated ITS sequences: (i) the lack of an inclusive, reliable public reference data set and (ii) the lack of means to refer to fungal species, for which no Latin name is available in a standardized stable way. Here, we report on progress in these regards through further development of the UNITE database (http://unite.ut.ee) for molecular identification of fungi. All fungal species represented by at least two ITS sequences in the international nucleotide sequence databases are now given a unique, stable name of the accession number type (e.g. Hymenoscyphus pseudoalbidus|GU586904|SH133781.05FU), and their taxonomic and ecological annotations were corrected as far as possible through a distributed, third-party annotation effort. We introduce the term âspecies hypothesisâ (SH) for the taxa discovered in clustering on different similarity thresholds (97â99%). An automatically or manually designated sequence is chosen to represent each such SH. These reference sequences are released (http://unite.ut.ee/repository.php) for use by the scientific community in, for example, local sequence similarity searches and in the QIIME pipeline. The system and the data will be updated automatically as the number of public fungal ITS sequences grows. We invite everybody in the position to improve the annotation or metadata associated with their particular fungal lineages of expertise to do so through the new Web-based sequence management system in UNITE.The North European Forest Mycologists network is acknowledged for support. Urmas KĂ”ljalg and Kessy Abarenkov are supported by the Estonian Research Council grant no 8235.Peer reviewe
Laser nanostructuring of polymers: Ripples and applications
Polymer nanostructures and nanopatterns are being profusely used for developing next-generation organic devices with analytical and biological functions and photonic applications. Laser based strategies constitute an advantageous approach for the assembly and control of this type of soft matter nanostructures as they afford the sought versatility and reliability. Recent and on-going research on laser nanostructuring of thin films of synthetic polymers and natural biopolymers will be exemplified by studies on the generation of laser induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS) and their use for surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) based sensors. © 2012 American Institute of PhysicsFunded by MICINN, Spain, Projects CTQ2010-15680 and MAT2009-07789. MICINN, Spain, Juan de la Cierva contract and an FPI fellowshipPeer Reviewe
Sexual differences in hippocampal microglia of adult mice subjected to maternal separation stress.
Introduction: It is well known that early life adversities could a"ect brain development and
increase the vulnerability to stress-related disorders later in adulthood. Nevertheless, the neurobiological mechanisms underlying this susceptibility have been poorly characterized and sex could be an important variable. Recently, microglia, which is involved in many neurodevelopmental processes such as neurogenesis and synaptic plasticity, has been proposed as a mediator of this stress response and early life stress could âprimeâ microglia to be over- responsive in future challenges. Objective: The analysis of hippocampal microglia morphology and distribution in the dentate gyrus (DG) of mice subjected to early stress. Methods: Female and male C57BL/6J mice were subjected to 3h daily maternal separation (MS) for 21 days. In postnatal day 60, adult mice undertook a single 2h restriction stress (RS). Accordingly, the experimental groups were as follows: CTRL, RS, MS, MS+RS. The DG was analyzed using immunohistochemistry techniques against Iba1 (microglia) following image analysis (ImageJ) to obtain morphological and distribution data of microglial somas and DG surface area. Results: Smaller DG surface area was observed in MS male mice compared with the CTRL group, but not in female. Furthermore, microglial soma area changed in a sex-dependent manner, having female mice from MS group an increased soma area than those of MS male mice. This was also observed to be region-specific, with a larger microglia soma in DG subgranular zone (SGZ) of MS female compared to MS male. Since microglia in this DG zone is involved in neurogenesis, this might suggest a possible change in the formation of new born neurons. Conclusion: These results revealed a di"erent microglial response to stress depending on the animal sex and open the door to a better understanding of neurobiological basis in pathologies like depression. .University of MĂĄlaga, the project PID2020-117464RB-I00 from Ministerio de Ciencia e InnovaciĂłn (MCIN/AEI) Spain, awarded to Pedraza, C. and PĂ©rez-MartĂn, M. ; the project P20_00460 from ConsejerĂa de Conocimiento, InvestigaciĂłn y Universidades, Junta de AndalucĂa awarded to Pedraza, C. and predoctoral fellowship FPU21/01318 awarded to Munoz- Martin, J. funded by MCIN/AEI, Spain.
Universidad de MĂĄlaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional AndalucĂa Tech
Mild juvenile stress increases resilience to the development of anxious behaviors and prevents neurogenic reduction after stress exposure in adulthood.
Stress, especially during sensitive periods of development, can induce neuroplastic changes in brain regions such as the hippocampus, which increases vulnerability to the negative effects of a second stressor during adulthood, precipitating the development of depressive symptoms. For this reason, C57BL/6J mice were subjected to two stress protocols, the first in the juvenile period and the second in adulthood. Neurogenic and behavioral changes (saccharin preference test and social behavior test) were analyzed. The results revealed that juvenile stress increased basal saccharin preference in adulthood. However, animals subjected to stress in both juvenile and adulthood showed anhedonic behavior. In addition, stress in adulthood resulted in increased anxious behavior without affecting interest in social relationships. Stress in adulthood reduced neurogenesis. In contrast, juvenile stress prevented the development of anxious behavior and the reduction of hippocampal neurogenesis induced by stress in adulthood. In conclusion, juvenile stress increases the risk of developing anhedonia after exposure to a second stress, but, in contrast to our expectations, mild stress during the juvenile period increases resilience to the development of anxious behaviors and prevents neurogenic reduction after stress exposure in adulthoodUniversidad de MĂĄlaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional AndalucĂa Tech
Social defeat stress induces microglial alterations and impaired cell survival in the hypothalamus according to behavioral phenotype
Stress is the main environmental cause for depression, known to cause brain immune
alterations. As major brain immune cells, microglia undergo transcriptional and,
consequently, morphological changes that result in tissue damage, including new cell
generation impairment. Even so, few brain regions have been thoroughly studied,
excluding key regulators as the hypothalamus, in which this process remains partially
unknown. Moreover, there is a poor understanding in physiology related to behavioral
outcome. Therefore, it would be interesting to study the relationship between microglia
and cell proliferation in stressed mice while controlling for behavior.
Here, we used the social defeat stress (SDS) paradigm as a depression-inducing protocol
in 8-week-old male C57BL/6J mice for 10 consecutive days. Intruder mice behavior was
analyzed to assess depression using behavioral tests and K-means clustering. By
immunohistochemical and imaging procedures, microglial morphology, and
distribution, as well as cell survival, were analyzed in the hypothalamic paraventricular,
ventromedial and arcuate nucleus. Finally, statistical mediation analysis was conducted
to evaluate the relationship among variables.
Results show mice response to SDS was different, being half the mice resilient and half
sensitive to depressive-like symptoms. Microglial morphological activation was
enhanced in the ventromedial and arcuate nucleus, especially in stress sensitive animals.
Similar results were observed in cell survival, which was particularly affected in
sensitive mice. Strikingly, these cell survival changes were statistically mediated by
microglial activation.
As a conclusion, hypothalamic regions were found to respond differently to stress,
accordingly to behavioral outcome, in terms of microglial activation and subsequent
decrease in cell survival.This study was supported by FEDER/Ministerio de Ciencia, InnovaciĂłn y Universidades
â Agencia Estatal de InvestigaciĂłn from Spain (PSI2017-83408-P to Pedraza C.),
FEDER/Junta de AndalucĂa from Spain (UMA20-FEDERJA-112 to Pedraza C. and PĂ©rez-
MartĂn M), and Ministerio de EducaciĂłn, Cultura y Deporte from Spain (FPU19/03629 to
Infantes-LĂłpez MI and FPU16/05308 to Nieto-Quero A).
Universidad de MĂĄlaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional AndalucĂa Tech
Low-order harmonic generation in a ZnS laser ablation plasma
Low-order (3rd to 9th) harmonic generation of a near-infrared driving laser (1064 nm) is reported in a laser ablation plasma of ZnS. Temporal analysis shows two distinct components with respect to the ablation event. The late temporal component exhibits high conversion efficiency for the highest harmonic orders observed. This is attributed to a dramatic modification of the plasma medium with the driving laser.Peer Reviewe
Effects of chronic stress on hippocampal microglia and neurogenesis of mice under social defeat stress.
Introduction: Chronic stress is the main environmental factor in the aetiology of depression and
it is known that this type of stress may cause alterations in brain regions such as the
hippocampus. Nevertheless, changes in a cellular basis are still a subject of study. Objective: The
analysis of microglial cells and immature neurons in the dentate gyrus (DG) of stressed mice.
Methods: C57BL/6J mice were subjected to Social Defeat Stress model (SDS), consisting of 6
days of social isolation prior to 10 days of stressor. The DG was analysed using
immunohistochemistry techniques against Iba1 (microglia) and DCX (immature neurons)
following image analysis (ImageJ) to obtain morphological and distribution data of microglial
somas. Furthermore, hippocampal neurogenesis was assessed through stereological
quantification of DCX+ cells (Visiopharm). Results: An increase in soma size under chronic stress
conditions was shown, as well as a less circular and more ameboid soma. These changes were
observed mainly in the infrapyramidal blade of the DG. According to microglial cells distribution
parameters, the granular cell layer (GCL) was the region which presented the highest microglial
density under SDS. Regarding hippocampal neurogenesis, a decrease in the number of DCX+
Type 2-3 cells was observed in the whole DG. Conclusion: All these results o!er a more profound
insight of stress changes at a cellular level and could contribute to a better understanding of
neurobiological basis in pathologies such as depression. Projects: PSI2017-83408-P (MINECO)
and P20 00460 (ConsejerĂa de Conocimiento, InvestigaciĂłn y Universidades, Junta de AndalucĂa).University of MaÌlaga and the projects PID2020-117464RB-I00 (Ministerio de Ciencia e
InnovacioÌn, Spain) to Pedraza C. and PeÌrez-Martin M., PSI2017-83408-P (FEDER/Ministerio de
Ciencia, InnovacioÌn y Universidades, Spain) to Pedraza C., UMA20- FEDERJA-112 (FEDER/Junta
de AndaluciÌa) to Pedraza C. and PeÌrez-Martin M. and P20-00460 (ConsejeriÌa de Conocimiento,
InvestigacioÌn y Universidades, Junta de AndaluciÌa) to Pedraza C. Predoctoral Fellowship:
FPU16/05308 to Nieto-Quero A. and FPU19/03629 to Infantes-LoÌpez MI., Ayuda A.2 para
Contrato Predoctoral Del I Plan Propio de InvestigacioÌn, Transferencia y DivulgacioÌn CientĂfica
de la Universidad de MaÌlaga, Convocatoria 2021 to Munoz-Martin J.
Universidad de MĂĄlaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional AndalucĂa Tec
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