Soil phosphorus dynamics as affected by Congo grass and P fertilizer

Some plant species can change soil phosphorus (P) availability and this may be an important tool in managing tropical high fixing phosphorus soils. An experiment was conducted to evaluate phosphorus transformations in the soil and phosphatase activity during periods of Congo grass (Brachiaria ruziziensis, Germain et Evrard) growth in two tropical soils receiving 20, 40, 80, 160 mg dm-3 of inorganic P. Plants were grown for 84 days in 8-L pots. Acid phosphatase activity, P in the microbial mass, soil organic and inorganic P and P accumulation by Congo grass were evaluated. Phosphorus fertilization increased soil P availability, Congo grass yields and P accumulation in the plant. On average, less labile P forms in the soil were not changed by Congo grass; however, the P in the soil extracted with HCl (P-Ca - non labil form) decreased. This decrease may have resulted from the combination of the presence of grass and phosphatase capacity to dissolve less available P in the soil. Thus, soil exploration by Congo grass roots and the subsequent extraction of calcium phosphate may have increased the P concentration in the plant tissue. Despite the decrease in the P extracted from the soil with HCl resulting in increased labile P forms in the soil, the effect of Congo grass on the availability of P depends on the soil type

Effects of propidium monoazide (PMA) treatment on mycobiome and bacteriome analysis of cystic fibrosis airways during exacerbation

Introduction and Purpose : Propidium monoazide (PMA)-pretreatment has increasingly been applied to remove the bias from dead or damaged cell artefacts, which could impact the microbiota analysis by high-throughput sequencing. Our study aimed to determine whether a PMA-pretreatment coupled with high-throughput sequencing analysis provides a different picture of the airway mycobiome and bacteriome. Results and Discussion : We compared deep-sequencing data of mycobiota and microbiota of 15 sputum samples from 5 cystic fibrosis (CF) patients with and without prior PMA-treatment of the DNA-extracts. PMA-pretreatment had no significant effect on the entire and abundant bacterial community (genera expressed as operational taxonomic units (OTUs) with a relative abundance greater than or equal to 1%), but caused a significant difference in the intermediate community (less than 1%) when analyzing the alpha biodiversity Simpson index (p = 0.03). Regarding PMA impact on the airway mycobiota evaluated for the first time here; no significant differences in alpha diversity indexes between PMA-treated and untreated samples were observed. Regarding beta diversity analysis, the intermediate communities also differed more dramatically than the total and abundant ones when studying both mycobiome and bacteriome. Our results showed that only the intermediate (or low abundance) population diversity is impacted by PMA-treatment, and therefore that abundant taxa are mostly viable during acute exacerbation in CF. Given such a cumbersome protocol (PMA-pretreatment coupled with high-throughput sequencing), we discuss its potential interest within the follow-up of CF patients. Further studies using PMA-pretreatment are warranted to improve our "omic" knowledge of the CF airways

Qualidade fisiológica de sementes de aveia-branca em função da adubação com silício e fósforo

Os fertilizantes silicatados tem sido cada vez mais usados na agricultura devido a inúmeros benefícios, tais como correção da acidez de solos tropicais e efeitos positivos no desenvolvimento de gramíneas. A disponibilidade de nutrientes e a nutrição de plantas desempenham papel importante na produção de sementes e podem influenciar a qualidade fisiológica de sementes de aveia-branca (Avena sativa L.). Avaliou-se a germinação de sementes e o desenvolvimento de plântulas de aveia-branca em função da adubação com silício e fósforo. O delineamento experimental foi inteiramente casualizado, em esquema fatorial 2 x 4, com seis repetições. Os tratamentos consistiram de 20 e 200 mg dm-3 de P2O5, aplicados na forma de superfosfato triplo, combinados com 0, 150, 300 e 450 mg dm-3 de Si na forma de silicato de potássio. O experimento foi realizado em casa de vegetação, conduzindo-se sete plantas por vaso, com capacidade para 15 L de terra. As panículas foram colhidas e debulhadas manualmente e, as sementes, armazenadas em sacos de papel em condições normais de ambiente. As sementes foram avaliadas quanto ao teor de água, massa de sementes, germinação, condutividade elétrica, comprimento e massa da matéria seca de plântulas. Sementes de aveia-branca com qualidade superior são produzidas com 20 mg dm-3 de P2O5, independente da dose de Si. Sementes com maior germinação e vigor são obtidas com 300 e 450 mg dm-3 de K2SiO3, respectivamente. Os comprimentos da raiz e total das plântulas foram inferiores nas doses de Si até 300 kg ha-1, porém a dose de fósforo somente afetou o desenvolvimento das plântulas de maneira distinta quando aplicada junto com a maior dose de silício.Silicon (Si) fertilizers have been increasingly used in agriculture due to several benefits as acidity correction in tropical soils and positive effects on the development of grasses. Nutrient availability and plant nutrition play an important role in seed production and may affect the physiological quality of white oat seeds. The present study had as objective to evaluate seed germination and seedling development of white oat (Avena sativa L.) affected by silicon and phosphorus fertilization. The experimental design was the completely randomized, analyzed as a factorial 2 x 4, with six replications. Treatments consisted of 20 and 200 mg dm-3 of P2O5, applied as triple superphosphate, combined with 0, 150, 300 and 450 mg dm-3 of Si, as potassium silicate. The experiment was carried out in greenhouse, with seven plants per 15-L pot. Panicles were harvested and threshed manually and white oat seeds were stored in paper bags under normal environmental conditions. Seeds were evaluated by moisture content, seed weight, germination, electrical conductivity, seedling length and dry matter. White oat seeds with better quality are produced with 20 mg dm-3 of P2O5 under any Si doses. Higher seed germination and vigor is obtained with 300 and 450 mg dm-3 of K2SiO3, respectively. Silicon doses decreased root and total seedling length similarly up to the dose of 300 kg ha-1 but P dose only influenced seedling development distinctively whenever applied with the higher silicon dose

Efeito da braquiária sobre a disponibilidade de fósforo no solo

The objective of this work was to evaluate the effectiveness of ruzigrass (Urochloa ruziziensis) in enhancing soil‑P availability in areas fertilized with soluble or reactive rock phosphates. The area had been cropped for five years under no‑till, in a system involving soybean, triticale/black‑oat, and pearl millet. Previously to the five‑year cultivation period, corrective phosphorus fertilization was applied once on soil surface, at 0.0 and 80 kg ha-1 P2O5, as triple superphosphate or Arad rock phosphate. After this five‑year period, plots received the same corrective P fertilization as before and ruzigrass was introduced to the cropping system in the stead of the other cover crops. Soil samples were taken (0–10 cm) after ruzigrass cultivation and subjected to soil‑P fractionation. Soybean was grown thereafter without P application to seed furrow. Phosphorus availability in plots with ruzigrass was compared to the ones with spontaneous vegetation for two years. Ruzigrass cultivation increased inorganic (resin‑extracted) and organic (NaHCO3) soil P, as well as P concentration in soybean leaves, regardless of the P source. However, soybean yield did not increase significantly due to ruzigrass introduction to the cropping system. Soil‑P availability did not differ between soluble and reactive P sources. Ruzigrass increases soil‑P availability, especially where corrective P fertilization is performed.O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar a eficácia da braquiária (Urochloa ruziziensis) em aumentar a disponibilidade de P, em solo de áreas fertilizadas com fosfatos solúveis ou reativos. A área havia sido cultivada em semeadura direta por cinco anos, em sistema de cultivo com soja, triticale/aveia‑preta e milheto. Previamente ao período de cinco anos de cultivo, aplicou-se adubação corretiva de P à superfície do solo, com 0,0 ou 80,0 kg ha-1 P2O5, nas formas de superfosfato triplo ou fosfato Arad. Após esse período de cinco anos, as parcelas receberam a mesma adubação corretiva de antes, e a braquiária foi introduzida no sistema de cultivo no lugar das outras plantas de cobertura. Após o cultivo da braquiária, foram coletadas amostras de solo, na camada 0–10 cm, e submetidas ao fracionamento de P. A soja foi cultivada em seguida, sem adubação fosfatada no sulco de plantio. A disponibilidade de P nas parcelas com a braquiária foi comparada àquelas com vegetação espontânea, por dois anos. O cultivo da braquiária aumentou os teores de P inorgânico (extraído com resina) e orgânico (NaHCO3) no solo, bem como o conteúdo de P nas folhas da soja, independentemente da fonte de P utilizada. No entanto, a produtividade da soja não aumentou significativamente pela introdução da braquiária ao sistema de cultivo. A braquiária aumenta a disponibilidade de P no solo, especialmente nas áreas com adubação fosfatada corretiva

Compostos orgânicos de extratos de plantas e seus efeitos na disponibilidade de fósforo no solo

The objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of organic compounds from plant extracts of six species and phosphate fertilization on soil phosphorus availability. Pots of 30 cm height and 5 cm diameterwere fi lled with Typic Hapludox. Each pot constituted a plot of a completely randomized design, in a 7x2 factorial arrangement, with four replicates. Aqueous extracts of black oat (Avena strigosa), radish (Raphanus sativus), corn (Zea mays), millet (Pennisetum glaucum), soybean (Glycine max), sorghum (Sorghum bicolor), and water, as control, were added in each plot, with or without soluble phosphate fertilization. After seven days of incubation, soil samples were taken from soil layers at various depths, and labile, moderately labile andnonlabile P fractions in the soil were analysed. Plant extracts led to an accumulation of inorganic phosphorus in labile and moderately labile fractions, mainly in the soil surface layer (0–5 cm). Radish, with a higher amount of malic acid and higher P content than other species, was the most effi cient in increasing soil P availability.O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar o efeito de compostos orgânicos de extratos de plantas de seis espécies e da fertilização fosfatada na disponibilidade de fósforo no solo. Tubos de 30 cm de altura e5 cm de diâmetro foram preenchidos com Latossolo Vermelho-Amarelo. Cada tubo constituiu uma parcela, em delineamento completamente casualizado, em arranjo fatorial 7x2, com quatro repetições. Extratos líquidos de aveia-preta (Avena strigosa), nabo forrageiro (Raphanus sativus), milho (Zea mays), milheto (Pennisetum glaucum), soja (Glycine max), sorgo forrageiro (Sorghum bicolor) e água (testemunha) foram aplicados em cada parcela, com ou sem fertilização com fosfato solúvel. Após sete dias de incubação, amostras de soloforam coletadas em várias profundidades, e foram analisadas as formas lábil, moderadamente lábil e não lábil de fósforo no solo. Houve acúmulo de fósforo inorgânico nas frações lábil e moderadamente lábil do solo,como conseqüência da adição dos extratos de plantas, principalmente na camada superfi cial (0–5 cm). O nabo forrageiro, com maior concentração de ácido málico e maior conteúdo de P no tecido do que outras espécies, foi o mais efi ciente em incrementar a disponibilidade de P no solo

Monitoring Testbed Experiments with MonEx

International audienceAlmost all testbed experiments deal with different kinds of metrics which are collected from and/or about various kinds of resources. Despite the importance of collecting experiment metrics in the experiment life cycle, this phase is often done via ad hoc, manual, and artisanal actions such as manually combining multiple scripts, or manipulating some missing values. A few tools (e.g. Vendetta, OML) can be used for monitoring experiments. However their work is restricted to communicating metrics towards a central server, and they do not cover different features from user perspective such as drawing and archiving experiments results.In this talk, we will firstly discuss the requirements of experiment monitoring. Having a well-defined set of requirements eliminates the potential ambiguity around what should be targeted by any Experiment Monitoring Framework (EMF). The defined requirements are not testbed dependent nor technology-dependent, so any testbed community can build their own EMF by implementing these requirements, using different software systems.We will then describe our own proposition, MonEx (for long: Monitoring Experiments), which is an EMF that satisfies all the defined requirements. MonEx is built over several off-the-shelf infrastructure monitoring tools, and supports various monitoring approaches such as pull- and push-based monitoring, agent-based and agent-less monitoring. MonEx covers all the required steps of monitoring experiments from collecting metrics to archiving experiments data and producing figures.We will then demonstrate MonEx’s usability through a set of experiments , performed on the Grid’5000 testbed and being monitored by MonEx. Each of those experiments have different requirements, and as a group they show how MonEx meets all defined requirements. We show how MonEx nicely integrates the experimental workflow and how it simplifies the monitoring task, reducing the efforts of users during experimentation and pushing towards the repeatability of experiments’ analysis and metrics comparison

Rare mutations in SQSTM1 modify susceptibility to frontotemporal lobar degeneration

Mutations in the gene coding for Sequestosome 1 (SQSTM1) have been genetically associated with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and Paget disease of bone. In the present study, we analyzed the SQSTM1 coding sequence for mutations in an extended cohort of 1,808 patients with frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD), ascertained within the European Early-Onset Dementia consortium. As control dataset, we sequenced 1,625 European control individuals and analyzed whole-exome sequence data of 2,274 German individuals (total n = 3,899). Association of rare SQSTM1 mutations was calculated in a meta-analysis of 4,332 FTLD and 10,240 control alleles. We identified 25 coding variants in FTLD patients of which 10 have not been described. Fifteen mutations were absent in the control individuals (carrier frequency < 0.00026) whilst the others were rare in both patients and control individuals. When pooling all variants with a minor allele frequency < 0.01, an overall frequency of 3.2 % was calculated in patients. Rare variant association analysis between patients and controls showed no difference over the whole protein, but suggested that rare mutations clustering in the UBA domain of SQSTM1 may influence disease susceptibility by doubling the risk for FTLD (RR = 2.18 [95 % CI 1.24-3.85]; corrected p value = 0.042). Detailed histopathology demonstrated that mutations in SQSTM1 associate with widespread neuronal and glial phospho-TDP-43 pathology. With this study, we provide further evidence for a putative role of rare mutations in SQSTM1 in the genetic etiology of FTLD and showed that, comparable to other FTLD/ALS genes, SQSTM1 mutations are associated with TDP-43 pathology

Physical and spectroscopic properties of pure C2H4 and CH4:C2H4 ices

[EN] Physical and spectroscopic properties of ices of C2H4 and CH4:C2H4 mixtures with 3:1, 1:1 and 1:3 ratios have been investigated at 30 K. Two laboratories are involved in this work. In one of them, the density and refractive index of the samples have been measured by using a cryogenic quartz microbalance and laser interferometric techniques. In the other one, IR spectra have been recorded in the near- and mid-infrared regions, and band shifts with respect to the pure species, band strengths of the main bands, and the optical constants in both regions have been determined. Previous data on ethylene and the mixtures studied here were scarce. For methane, both the wavenumbers and band strengths have been found to follow a regular pattern of decrease with increasing dilution, but no pattern has been detected for ethylene vibrations. The method employed for the preparation of the samples, by vapour deposition under vacuum, is thought to be adequate to mimic the structure of astrophysical ices. Possible astrophysical implications, especially by means of the optical constants reported here, have been discussed.This work has been funded by the Ministerio de Ciencia y Competitividad (MINECO) of Spain under grants FIS2013-48087-C2-1P, FIS2013-48087-C2-2P and AYA2015-71975-REDT 'Polvo Cosmico' by the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion of Spain under grant CDS2009-00038 and by the European Research Council project ERC-2013-Syg 610256 'Nanocosmos'. GM acknowledges MINECO PhD grant BES-2014-069355. Our skillful technicians C. Santonja, M. A. Moreno, A. Gonzalez and J. Rodriguez are also gratefully acknowledged.Molpeceres, G.; Satorre Aznar, MÁ.; Ortigoso, J.; Zanchet, A.; Luna Molina, R.; Millán Verdú, C.; Escribano, R.... (2017). Physical and spectroscopic properties of pure C2H4 and CH4:C2H4 ices. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 466(2):1894-1902. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stw3166S18941902466

COMPASS identifies T-cell subsets correlated with clinical outcomes.

Advances in flow cytometry and other single-cell technologies have enabled high-dimensional, high-throughput measurements of individual cells as well as the interrogation of cell population heterogeneity. However, in many instances, computational tools to analyze the wealth of data generated by these technologies are lacking. Here, we present a computational framework for unbiased combinatorial polyfunctionality analysis of antigen-specific T-cell subsets (COMPASS). COMPASS uses a Bayesian hierarchical framework to model all observed cell subsets and select those most likely to have antigen-specific responses. Cell-subset responses are quantified by posterior probabilities, and human subject-level responses are quantified by two summary statistics that describe the quality of an individual's polyfunctional response and can be correlated directly with clinical outcome. Using three clinical data sets of cytokine production, we demonstrate how COMPASS improves characterization of antigen-specific T cells and reveals cellular 'correlates of protection/immunity' in the RV144 HIV vaccine efficacy trial that are missed by other methods. COMPASS is available as open-source software