La reconnaissance du génocide arménien de 1915 par le Parlement français : Brève histoire politico-diplomatique d'une loi atypique

Le 18 janvier 2001, le Parlement français adopte définitivement, après plus de trente mois de procédure, une proposition de loi par laquelle la France reconnaît publiquement le génocide arménien de 1915. Cette initiative parlementaire, qui répondait à une longue revendication de la communauté arménienne, souleva de profonds débats qui transcendèrent tous les clivages politiques. Elle fut acquise contre la volonté de l'exécutif, soucieux des relations franco-turques et de la position française dans le Sud-Caucase. Elle suscita aussi un vif ressentiment de la Turquie à l'égard d'un pays plutôt considéré comme un soutien traditionnel. Au terme de cette incursion relativement exceptionnelle du Parlement français dans l'Histoire et dans les relations internationales au nom du « devoir de mémoire », une première évaluation du contexte et des conséquences politiques et diplomatiques qui l'ont caractérisée peut être tentée

La reconnaissance du génocide arménien de 1915 par le Parlement français : Brève histoire politico-diplomatique d'une loi atypique

Le 18 janvier 2001, le Parlement français adopte définitivement, après plus de trente mois de procédure, une proposition de loi par laquelle la France reconnaît publiquement le génocide arménien de 1915. Cette initiative parlementaire, qui répondait à une longue revendication de la communauté arménienne, souleva de profonds débats qui transcendèrent tous les clivages politiques. Elle fut acquise contre la volonté de l'exécutif, soucieux des relations franco-turques et de la position française dans le Sud-Caucase. Elle suscita aussi un vif ressentiment de la Turquie à l'égard d'un pays plutôt considéré comme un soutien traditionnel. Au terme de cette incursion relativement exceptionnelle du Parlement français dans l'Histoire et dans les relations internationales au nom du « devoir de mémoire », une première évaluation du contexte et des conséquences politiques et diplomatiques qui l'ont caractérisée peut être tentée

Mécanismes de précipitation de carbonate de calcium dans les biofilms photosynthétiques

La précipitation de carbonate de calcium dans les systèmes benthiques est souvent associée aux biofilms photosynthétiques, et notamment observée au sein de structures d'une grande complexité morphologique comme les tapis microbiens, les stromatolithes et les microbialithes. Cette biocalcification modifie les flux de CO2, de calcium et d'alcalinité dans les hydrosystèmes (séquestration du carbone inorganique et d'alcalinité). Ce processus paraît donc très sensible aux impacts anthropiques, e.g. la perturbation globale du cycle du carbone et les contaminations atmosphériques. Son étude revêt une importance capitale pour la compréhension des paléoenvironnements. Différentes hypothèses ont été avancées pour expliquer la biocalcification dans ces biofilms. L'activité photosynthétique des cyanobactéries est souvent mise en cause, mais ce mécanisme est parfois contesté, privilégiant l'activité métabolique des bactéries organohétérotrophes, e.g. les bactéries sulfato-réductrices, qui sont associées aux micro-organismes phototrophes dans les biofilms La calcification peut aussi être contrôlée directement par l'interaction du calcium avec la matière organique, notamment les polymères extracellulaires sécrétés par les microorganismes (EPS) ou les fractions macromoléculaires riches en acides aspartique et glutamique de la matière organique dissoute (MOD)

Resting Cyst Distribution and Molecular Identification of the Harmful Dinoflagellate Margalefidinium polykrikoides (Gymnodiniales, Dinophyceae) in Lampung Bay, Sumatra, Indonesia

Margalefidinium polykrikoides, an unarmored dinoflagellate, was suspected to be the causative agent of the harmful algal blooms – associated with massive fish mortalities – that have occurred continually in Lampung Bay, Indonesia, since the first bloom event in October 2012. In this study, after examination of the morphology of putative M. polykrikoides-like cysts sampled in bottom sediments, cyst bed distribution of this harmful species was explored in the inner bay. Sediment samples showed that resting cysts, including several morphotypes previously reported as M. polykrikoides, were most abundant on the northern coast of Lampung Bay, ranging from 20.6 to 645.6 cysts g-1 dry sediment. Molecular phylogeny inferred from LSU rDNA revealed that the so-called Mediterranean ribotype was detected in the sediment while M. polykrikoides motile cells, four-cell chain forming in bloom conditions, belonged to the American-Malaysian ribotype. Moreover, hyaline cysts, exclusively in the form of four-cell chains, were also recorded. Overall, these results unequivocally show that the species M. polykrikoides is abundantly present, in the form of vegetative cells, hyaline and resting cysts in an Indonesian area

Extensive genetic diversity and rapid population differentiation during blooms of Alexandrium fundyense (Dinophyceae) in an isolated salt pond on Cape Cod, MA, USA

© The Author(s), 2012. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Ecology and Evolution 2 (2012): 2588–2599, doi:10.1002/ece3.373.In Massachusetts, paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) is annually recurrent along the coastline, including within several small embayments on Cape Cod. One such system, the Nauset Marsh System (NMS), supports extensive marshes and a thriving shellfishing industry. Over the last decade, PSP in the NMS has grown significantly worse; however, the origins and dynamics of the toxic Alexandrium fundyense (Balech) populations that bloom within the NMS are not well known. This study examined a collection of 412 strains isolated from the NMS and the Gulf of Maine (GOM) in 2006–2007 to investigate the genetic characteristics of localized blooms and assess connectivity with coastal populations. Comparisons of genetic differentiation showed that A. fundyense blooms in the NMS exhibited extensive clonal diversity and were genetically distinct from populations in the GOM. In both project years, genetic differentiation was observed among temporal samples collected from the NMS, sometimes occurring on the order of approximately 7 days. The underlying reasons for temporal differentiation are unknown, but may be due, in part, to life-cycle characteristics unique to the populations in shallow embayments, or possibly driven by selection from parasitism and zooplankton grazing; these results highlight the need to investigate the role of selective forces in the genetic dynamics of bloom populations. The small geographic scale and limited connectivity of NMS salt ponds provide a novel system for investigating regulators of blooms, as well as the influence of selective forces on population structure, all of which are otherwise difficult or impossible to study in the adjacent open-coastal waters or within larger estuaries.This study was funded through the Woods Hole Center for Oceans and Human Health, National Science Foundation OCE-0430724 and National Institutes of Health 1 P50 ES012742-01, and National Science Foundation OCE-0911031. Funding was also provided by NOAA Grant NA06NOS4780245

Diversity and dynamics of a widespread bloom of the toxic dinoflagellate Alexandrium fundyense

© The Author(s), 2011. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in PLoS One 6 (2011): e22965, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0022965.Historically, cosmopolitan phytoplankton species were presumed to represent largely unstructured populations. However, the recent development of molecular tools to examine genetic diversity have revealed differences in phytoplankton taxa across geographic scales and provided insight into the physiology and ecology of blooms. Here we describe the genetic analysis of an extensive bloom of the toxic dinoflagellate Alexandrium fundyense that occurred in the Gulf of Maine in 2005. This bloom was notable for its intensity and duration, covering hundreds of kilometers and persisting for almost two months. Genotypic analyses based on microsatellite marker data indicate that the open waters of the northeastern U.S. harbor a single regional population of A. fundyense comprising two genetically distinct sub-populations. These subpopulations were characteristic of early- and late-bloom samples and were derived from the northern and southern areas of the bloom, respectively. The temporal changes observed during this study provide clear evidence of succession during a continuous bloom and show that selection can act on the timescale of weeks to significantly alter the representation of genotypes within a population. The effects of selection on population composition and turnover would be magnified if sexual reproduction were likewise influenced by environmental conditions. We hypothesize that the combined effects of differential growth and reproduction rates serves to reduce gene flow between the sub-populations, reinforcing population structure while maintaining the diversity of the overall regional population.This work was supported by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (1-P50-ES012742 to DMA and DLE), by the National Science Foundation through the Woods Hole Center for Oceans and Human Health (OCE-0430724), and by the ECOHAB program (NOAA Grant NA06NOS4780245)

Intestinal, extra-intestinal and systemic sequelae of Toxoplasma gondii induced acute ileitis in mice harboring a human gut microbiota

Background Within seven days following peroral high dose infection with Toxoplasma gondii susceptible conventionally colonized mice develop acute ileitis due to an underlying T helper cell (Th) -1 type immunopathology. We here addressed whether mice harboring a human intestinal microbiota developed intestinal, extra-intestinal and systemic sequelae upon ileitis induction. Methodology/Principal findings Secondary abiotic mice were generated by broad- spectrum antibiotic treatment and associated with a complex human intestinal microbiota following peroral fecal microbiota transplantation. Within three weeks the human microbiota had stably established in the murine intestinal tract as assessed by quantitative cultural and culture-independent (i.e. molecular 16S rRNA based) methods. At day 7 post infection (p.i.) with 50 cysts of T. gondii strain ME49 by gavage human microbiota associated (hma) mice displayed severe clinical, macroscopic and microscopic sequelae indicating acute ileitis. In diseased hma mice increased numbers of innate and adaptive immune cells within the ileal mucosa and lamina propria and elevated intestinal secretion of pro-inflammatory mediators including IFN-γ, IL-12 and nitric oxide could be observed at day 7 p.i. Ileitis development was accompanied by substantial shifts in intestinal microbiota composition of hma mice characterized by elevated total bacterial loads and increased numbers of intestinal Gram-negative commensals such as enterobacteria and Bacteroides / Prevotella species overgrowing the small and large intestinal lumen. Furthermore, viable bacteria translocated from the inflamed ileum to extra- intestinal including systemic compartments. Notably, pro-inflammatory immune responses were not restricted to the intestinal tract as indicated by increased pro-inflammatory cytokine secretion in extra-intestinal (i.e. liver and kidney) and systemic compartments including spleen and serum. Conclusion/Significance With respect to the intestinal microbiota composition “humanized” mice display acute ileitis following peroral high dose T. gondii infection. Thus, hma mice constitute a suitable model to further dissect the interactions between pathogens, human microbiota and vertebrate host immunity during acute intestinal inflammation

Toxin Levels and Profiles in Microalgae from the North-Western Adriatic Sea—15 Years of Studies on Cultured Species

The Northern Adriatic Sea is the area of the Mediterranean Sea where eutrophication and episodes related to harmful algae have occurred most frequently since the 1970s. In this area, which is highly exploited for mollusk farming, the first occurrence of human intoxication due to shellfish consumption occurred in 1989, nearly 10 years later than other countries in Europe and worldwide that had faced similar problems. Until 1997, Adriatic mollusks had been found to be contaminated mostly by diarrhetic shellfish poisoning toxins (i.e., okadaic acid and dinophysistoxins) that, along with paralytic shellfish poisoning toxins (i.e., saxitoxins), constitute the most common marine biotoxins. Only once, in 1994, a toxic outbreak was related to the occurrence of paralytic shellfish poisoning toxins in the Adriatic coastal waters. Moreover, in the past 15 years, the Adriatic Sea has been characterized by the presence of toxic or potentially toxic algae, not highly widespread outside Europe, such as species producing yessotoxins (i.e., Protoceratium reticulatum, Gonyaulax spinifera and Lingulodinium polyedrum), recurrent blooms of the potentially ichthyotoxic species Fibrocapsa japonica and, recently, by blooms of palytoxin-like producing species of the Ostreopsis genus. This review is aimed at integrating monitoring data on toxin spectra and levels in mussels farmed along the coast of the Emilia-Romagna region with laboratory studies performed on the species involved in the production of those toxins; toxicity studies on toxic or potentially toxic species that have recently appeared in this area are also reviewed. Overall, reviewed data are related to: (i) the yessotoxins producing species P. reticulatum, G. spinifera and L. polyedrum, highlighting genetic and toxic characteristics; (ii) Adriatic strains of Alexandrium minutum, Alexandrium ostenfeldii and Prorocentrum lima whose toxic profiles are compared with those of strains of different geographic origins; (iii) F. japonica and Ostreopsis cf. ovata toxicity. Moreover, new data concerning domoic acid production by a Pseudo-nitzschia multistriata strain, toxicity investigations on a Prorocentrum cf. levis, and on presumably ichthyotoxic species, Heterosigma akashiwo and Chattonella cf. subsalsa, are also reported