Notes on the diet of seven terrestrial frogs in three agroecosystems and forest remnants in Northwestern São Paulo State, Brazil.

Anurans are predators of a great diversity of invertebrates, but studies on agroecosystems are very scarce. Herein we described the diet composition of seven species of terrestrial anurans captured in three different agroecosystems (corn, soybean and rubber tree) and in forest remnants of the Northwestern region of São Paulo state, Brazil. Ten prey categories were identified in the stomachs of 80 specimens belonging to the families Bufonidae, Leptodactylidae and Microhylidae. Hymenoptera (Formicidae) was consumed by all species. Coleoptera was the most frequent item, consumed by six of the even species followed by Araneae and Isoptera. Isoptera was the most abundant item followed by Formicidae, Coleoptera and Araneae. Adults and juveniles of Physalaemus nattereri, the most abundant species in our study, consumed Formicidae and Isoptera more than other food items and there is not a significant difference in the abundance of consumed prey items between the age categories. In summary, the majority of the studied species can be considered generalists predators and, probably, consumed the prey items available in the environment. The most abundant species found in our study can be considered here as having a specialized diet, by consuming social insects in great frequency.Published online on 12 August 2015

Monitoring of Land Subsidence in Ravenna Municipality Using Integrated SAR - GPS Techniques: Description and First Results

The Emilia Romagna Region (N-E Italy) and in particular the Adriatic Sea coastline of Ravenna, is affected by a noticeable subsidence that started in the 1950s, when the exploitation of on and off-shore methane reservoirs began, along with the pumping of groundwater for industrial uses. In such area the current subsidence rate, even if lower than in the past, reaches the -2 cm/y. Over the years, local Authorities have monitored this phenomenon with different techniques: spirit levelling, GPS surveys and, more recently, Differential Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (DInSAR) techniques, confirming the critical situation of land subsidence risk. In this work, we present the comparison between the results obtained with DInSAR and GPS techniques applied to the study of the land subsidence in the Ravenna territory. With regard to the DInSAR, the Small Baseline Subset (SBAS) and the Coherent Pixel Technique (CPT) techniques have been used. Different SAR datasets have been exploited: ERS-1/2, ENVISAT, TerraSAR-X and Sentinel-1. Some GPS campaigns have been also carried out in a subsidence prone area. 3D vertices have been selected very close to existing persistent scatterers in order to link the GPS measurement results to the SAR ones. GPS data were processed into the International reference system and the comparisons between the coordinates, for the first 6 months of the monitoring, provided results with the same trend of the DInSAR data, even if inside the precision of the method

Drosophila melanogaster cloak their eggs with pheromones, which prevents cannibalism

This is the final version. Available from Public Library of Science via the DOI in this recordData Availability: All relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information files: S1 Data and S2 Data.Oviparous animals across many taxa have evolved diverse strategies that deter egg predation, providing valuable tests of how natural selection mitigates direct fitness loss. Communal egg laying in nonsocial species minimizes egg predation. However, in cannibalistic species, this very behavior facilitates egg predation by conspecifics (cannibalism). Similarly, toxins and aposematic signaling that deter egg predators are often inefficient against resistant conspecifics. Egg cannibalism can be adaptive, wherein cannibals may benefit through reduced competition and added nutrition, but since it reduces Darwinian fitness, the evolution of anticannibalistic strategies is rife. However, such strategies are likely to be nontoxic because deploying toxins against related individuals would reduce inclusive fitness. Here, we report how D. melanogaster use specific hydrocarbons to chemically mask their eggs from cannibal larvae. Using an integrative approach combining behavioral, sensory, and mass spectrometry methods, we demonstrate that maternally provisioned pheromone 7,11-heptacosadiene (7,11-HD) in the eggshell’s wax layer deters egg cannibalism. Furthermore, we show that 7,11-HD is nontoxic, can mask underlying substrates (for example, yeast) when coated upon them, and its detection requires pickpocket 23 (ppk23) gene function. Finally, using light and electron microscopy, we demonstrate how maternal pheromones leak-proof the egg, consequently concealing it from conspecific larvae. Our data suggest that semiochemicals possibly subserve in deceptive functions across taxa, especially when predators rely on chemical cues to forage, and stimulate further research on deceptive strategies mediated through nonvisual sensory modules. This study thus highlights how integrative approaches can illuminate our understanding on the adaptive significance of deceptive defenses and the mechanisms through which they operate.Swiss National Science FoundationEuropean Research CouncilDeutsche ForschungsgemeinschaftBaden Württemberg Stiftung and Zukunftskolleg of the University of Konstan

Diet of five anuran species in a forest remnant in eastern Acre state, Brazilian Amazonia.

The diet of anuran species is based on a large variety of prey items, which may be related to the availability of prey in the environment. In Amazonia, studies on the diet of anurans have occurred mainly in primary forests. Because forest fragmentation promotes changes in the environment, it is expected that the diet of anuran species will also be affected. Here we describe the diet composition of anurans captured in a forest remnant at Fazenda Amoty, municipality of Plácido de Castro, state of Acre, Brazil. Stomach contents of 34 specimens of Allobates femoralis (Aromobatidae), Adenomera hylaedactyla, Engystomops freibergi (Leptodactylidae), Rhinella sp. (Bufonidae), and Elachistocleis muiraquitan (Microhylidae) had 877 prey items belonging to 19 prey categories. The diet of most species were arthropods. Myrmicinae ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) was the most abundant and frequent item in A. hylaedactyla, Rhinella sp. and A. femoralis stomachs. Termitidae (Isoptera) was the second most abundant taxon in Rhinella sp. and A. hylaedactyla, and the only taxon found eaten by E. freibergi and E. muiraquitan. Most studied species showed generalist diet, which is the habit for most anuran species. Contrarily, E. freibergi and E. muiraquitan are likely specialized in Isoptera

Altered tumor formation and evolutionary selection of genetic variants in the human MDM4 oncogene

A large body of evidence strongly suggests that the p53 tumor suppressor pathway is central in reducing cancer frequency in vertebrates. The protein product of the haploinsufficient mouse double minute 2 (MDM2) oncogene binds to and inhibits the p53 protein. Recent studies of human genetic variants in p53 and MDM2 have shown that single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) can affect p53 signaling, confer cancer risk, and suggest that the pathway is under evolutionary selective pressure (1–4). In this report, we analyze the haplotype structure of MDM4, a structural homolog of MDM2, in several different human populations. Unusual patterns of linkage disequilibrium (LD) in the haplotype distribution of MDM4 indicate the presence of candidate SNPs that may also modify the efficacy of the p53 pathway. Association studies in 5 different patient populations reveal that these SNPs in MDM4 confer an increased risk for, or early onset of, human breast and ovarian cancers in Ashkenazi Jewish and European cohorts, respectively. This report not only implicates MDM4 as a key regulator of tumorigenesis in the human breast and ovary, but also exploits for the first time evolutionary driven linkage disequilibrium as a means to select SNPs of p53 pathway genes that might be clinically relevant

Altered tumor formation and evolutionary selection of genetic variants in the human MDM4 oncogene

A large body of evidence strongly suggests that the p53 tumor suppressor pathway is central in reducing cancer frequency in vertebrates. The protein product of the haploinsufficient mouse double minute 2 (MDM2) oncogene binds to and inhibits the p53 protein. Recent studies of human genetic variants in p53 and MDM2 have shown that single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) can affect p53 signaling, confer cancer risk, and suggest that the pathway is under evolutionary selective pressure (1–4). In this report, we analyze the haplotype structure of MDM4, a structural homolog of MDM2, in several different human populations. Unusual patterns of linkage disequilibrium (LD) in the haplotype distribution of MDM4 indicate the presence of candidate SNPs that may also modify the efficacy of the p53 pathway. Association studies in 5 different patient populations reveal that these SNPs in MDM4 confer an increased risk for, or early onset of, human breast and ovarian cancers in Ashkenazi Jewish and European cohorts, respectively. This report not only implicates MDM4 as a key regulator of tumorigenesis in the human breast and ovary, but also exploits for the first time evolutionary driven linkage disequilibrium as a means to select SNPs of p53 pathway genes that might be clinically relevant

Location of chlorogenic acid biosynthesis pathway and polyphenol oxidase genes in a new interspecific anchored linkage map of eggplant

© Gramazio et al.; licensee BioMed Central. 2014. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated

How underground systems can contribute to meet the challenges of energy transition

The paper provides an overview of the several scientific and technical issues and challenges to be addressed for underground storage of carbon dioxide, hydrogen and mixtures of hydrogen and natural gas. The experience gained on underground energy systems and materials is complemented by new competences to adequately respond to the new needs raised by transition from fossil fuels to renewables. The experimental characterization and modeling of geological formations (including geochemical and microbiological issues), fluids and fluid-flow behavior and mutual interactions of all the systems components at the thermodynamic conditions typical of underground systems as well as the assessment and monitoring of safety conditions of surface facilities and infrastructures require a deeply integrated teamwork and fit-for-purpose laboratories to support theoretical research. The group dealing with large-scale underground energy storage systems of Politecnico di Torino has joined forces with the researchers of the Center for Sustainable Future Technologies of the Italian Institute of Technology, also based in Torino, to meet these new challenges of the energy transition era, and evidence of the ongoing investigations is provided in this paper