Undercovering the molecular mechanisms of lipid signalling at ER-PM contact sites in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) under abiotic stress conditions

Abiotic stresses cause large reductions in crop production. Therefore, is important to understand how plants respond in order to develop varieties with increased resistance. Lipid-transport proteins (LTP) are emerging as key players of lipid signaling in response to numerous stresses. Specifically, SYT1, a protein first identified by its role in abiotic stress tolerance, is now recognized as an endoplasmic reticulum-plasma membrane contact site tether capable. Our recent data support that SYT1 in involved on non-vesicular lipid-transport of diacyl glycerol (DAG) through its SMP domain. This data together with the interaction of SYT1 with a diacyl glycerol kinase (DGK) suggest a lipid signaling pathway where the product of phospholipase C, diacylglycerol, might be simultaneously translocated from the plasma membrane to the endoplasmic-reticulum by SYT1 and phosphorylated to phosphatidic acid by DGK at the plasma membrane. Using in vitro biochemical approaches we are investigating the affinity of specific lipid species transported by SYT1 using lipid-competition assays, where a fluorescent lipid competes for SYT1 binding-pocket with different lipid species. Using bioinformatic we are obtaining insight into the lipid signal pathway involving PHOSPHOLIPASE C (PLC), DIACYLGLYCEROL KINASE (DGK) and SYNAPTOTAGMIN1 (SYT1) in tomatoUniversidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Ejecución del programa de alfabetización “Yo sí Puedo” en Cusubamba-Salcedo

El analfabetismo es un problema que impide el desarrollo social y económico de las personas, afectando la calidad de vida y la salud. En este artículo se resume una experiencia de aplicación del método cubano “Yo sí Puedo”, para ayudar a reducir el analfabetismo en la Parroquia de Cusubamba, ubicada en Cotopaxi, Ecuador. Este método consiste en la asociación de las letras del alfabeto a un número, que forman palabras y grafemas, facilitando la memorización, combinando el uso de medios audiovisuales con el análisis y síntesis de los contenidos. El objetivo general fue aumentar el número de adultos alfabetizados, sin exclusiones de ningún tipo. Para ello se promovió la lectura con mediana fluidez y la redacción de oraciones, párrafos cortos y cartas. Esta experiencia vinculó los aprendizajes de lectura y escritura con eventos o situaciones significativas para los participantes, con lo cual se facilitó su motivación, comprensión y estudio.  Entre los resultados obtenidos, se logró alfabetizar a 380 personas, muchos de las cuales lograron realizar trámites cotidianos que posibilitarán en el futuro otros logros personales a los cuales estaban limitados por el analfabetismo. Asimismo, mejoraron sus expectativas laborales y relaciones mediante el uso de celulares. Con ello se fortalece una de las metas de la Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Educación, la Ciencia y la Cultura, al concebir la alfabetización como un incremento continuo de niveles de competencias, comenzando por conocimientos funcionales de lectura y escritura, equivalente al nivel que se obtiene con la enseñanza básica. &nbsp

Magnetism in nanometer-thick magnetite

The oldest known magnetic material, magnetite, is of current interest for use in spintronics as a thin film. An open question is how thin can magnetite films be and still retain the robust ferrimagnetism required for many applications. We have grown one-nanometer-thick magnetite crystals and characterized them in situ by electron and photoelectron microscopies including selected-area x-ray circular dichroism. Well-defined magnetic patterns are observed in individual nano-crystals up to at least 520 K, establishing the retention of ferrimagnetism in magnetite two-unit-cells thick.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Diagnostico situacional de profesionales en Laboratorio Clínico de la Universidad Técnica de Ambato

Introducción: Uno de los indicadores académicos, a nivel universitario en Ecuador es el seguimiento a graduados, el cual determina el impacto de las competencias adquiridas en los programas de pregrado, así como también la relación del perfil del graduado con las necesidades del campo laboral. Objetivo: Obtener información oportuna de los estudiantes que han completado satisfactoriamente su plan de estudios universitarios, situación e historia laboral, su desempeño profesional y valorar el grado de impacto que la Universidad Técnica de Ambato y la Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud han tenido dentro de su desenvolvimiento en el sector productivo, social y educativo. Métodos: Se realizó un estudio observacional descriptivo y retrospectivo como parte del seguimiento a graduados de la Carrera de Laboratorio Clínico. El universo estuvo representado por 573 desde el 2005, con una muestra de 335 graduados. Resultados: En el período de estudio hubo un total de 573 graduados. Se reportaron 15 graduados correspondientes al período marzo-septiembre 2017. La mayoría de los graduados se desempeñaron como empleados en el sector privado (55%); señalaron como principales asignaturas en su formación Urianálisis (56%), Hematología (55%) y Química Clínica (53%), de la misma forma que demandaron formación de posgrado en las áreas de Microbiología y Hematología. Conclusiones: Independientemente a la disminución en el número de graduados, la Carrera de Laboratorio Clínico de la UTA ha respondido a su encargo social en cuanto a la formación de talento humano que fundamentalmente se ha despeñado en el sector público. &nbsp

Magnetism in nanometer-thick magnetite

The oldest known magnetic material, magnetite, is of current interest for use in spintronics as a thin film. An open question is how thin can magnetite films be and still retain the robust ferrimagnetism required for many applications. We have grown 1-nm-thick magnetite crystals and characterized them in situ by electron and photoelectron microscopies including selected-area x-ray circular dichroism. Well-defined magnetic patterns are observed in individual nanocrystals up to at least 520 K, establishing the retention of ferrimagnetism in magnetite two unit cells thick

Association between an oxidative balance score and mortality: a prospective analysis in the SUN cohort

We aimed to prospectively investigate the association of an overall oxidative balance score (OBS) with all-cause death and cause-specifc mortality among participants in the Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra (SUN) Study, a Mediterranean cohort of Spanish graduates. Methods Using baseline information on 12 a priori selected dietary and non-dietary lifestyle pro- and antioxidants exposures—vitamins C and E, β-carotenes, selenium, zinc, heme iron, polyphenols, total antioxidant capacity, body mass index, alcohol, smoking, and physical activity—we constructed an equally weighted OBS categorized into quartiles, with higher scores representing greater antioxidant balance. Cox proportional hazards models were ftted to evaluate the association between the OBS and mortality. Results A total of 18,561 participants (mean [SD] age, 38.5 [12.4] years; 40.8% males) were included in the analysis. During a median follow-up of 12.2 years (interquartile range 8.3–14.9), 421 deaths were identifed, including 80 deaths from cardiovascular disease (CVD), 215 from cancer, and 126 from other causes. After adjustment for potential confounders, the hazard ratios and 95% confdence interval (CIs) between the highest quartile (predominance of antioxidants) vs. the lowest quartile (reference category) were 0.35 (95% CI 0.22–0.54, P-trend<0.001) for all-cause mortality, 0.18 (95% CI 0.06–0.51, P-trend=0.001) for CVD mortality, 0.35 (95% CI 0.19–0.65, P-trend=0.002) for cancer mortality, and 0.45 (95% CI 0.20–1.02, P-trend=0.054) for other-cause mortality. Conclusion Our fndings suggest a strong inverse association between the OBS and all-cause, CVD, and cancer mortality. Individuals exposed to both antioxidant dietary and lifestyle factors may potentially experience the lowest mortality riskOpen Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature. The SUN Project has received funding from the Spanish Government-Instituto de Salud Carlos III, and the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) (RD 06/0045, CIBER-OBN, Grants PI10/02658, PI10/02293, PI13/00615, PI14/01668, PI14/01798, PI14/01764, PI17/01795, and G03/140), the Navarra Regional Government (27/2011, 45/2011, 122/2014), the Government Delegation for the National Drug Plan (2020/ 021) and the University of Navarra. Maria Soledad Hershey receives ERC traininggrant support (T42 OH008416

CD84 leukocyte antigen is a new member of the Ig superfamily

Producción CientíficacDNA isolated from a human B-cell line Raji library was ana- (CD48 and HumLy9) have been mapped. CD84 monoclonal lyzed and shown to encode the full-length cDNA sequence antibodies (MoAbs) were shown to react with cells transof a novel cell-surface glycoprotein, initially termed HLy9-b. fected with the cloned cDNA. These MoAbs were further The predicted mature 307-amino acid protein was composed used to show that CD84 is expressed as a single chain cellof two extracellular Ig-like domains, a hydrophobic trans- surface glycoprotein of Mr 64,000 to 82,000, which was membrane region, and an 83-amino acid cytoplasmic do- highly glycosylated. CD84 had a unique pattern of expresmain. The extracellular Ig-like domains presented structural sion, being found predominantly on lymphocytes and monoand sequence homology with a group of members of the Ig cytes. Thus, the glycoprotein HLy9-b is recognized by MoAbs superfamily that included CD2, CD48, CD58, and Ly9. North- previously clustered as CD84 and represents a newly identiern blot analysis showed that the expression of HLy9-b was fied member of the Ig superfamily that may play a significant predominantly restricted to hematopoietic tissues. Chromo- role in leukocyte activation

Diacylglycerol transport by Arabidopsis Synaptotagmin 1 at ERplasma membrane contact sites under abiotic stress.

Bulk lipid transport between membranes within cells involves vesicles, however membrane contact sites have recently been discovered as mediators of non-vesicular lipid transfer. ER-PM contact sites are conserved structures defined as regions of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) that tightly associate with the plasma membrane (PM). Our recent data suggest that the constitutively expressed Arabidopsis Synaptotagmin 1 (SYT1) and the cold-induced homolog AtSYT3 are proteins located in these ER-PM contact sites that are essential for the tolerance various abiotic stresses. Arabidopsis SYTs proteins are integral membrane proteins that contain multiple Ca2+-binding C2 domains and a synaptotagmin-like mitochondrial lipid-binding protein (SMP) domain that contains a hydrophobic groove. In mammals, several SMP proteins are responsible for the inter-organelle transport of glycerophospholipids. Our experiments have demonstrated that there is a recruitment of AtSYT1 and AtSTYT3 to ER-PM contact sites under stress conditions and it requires phosphatidylinositol 4- phosphate, PI(4)P in the PM, in opposition to the recruitment of PI(4,5)P2 in mammals. Moreover, our recent high-resolution lipidome analysis suggest that saturated diacylglycerols (DAGs) are the lipids that AtSYT1 is transferring between the PM and ER. Additionally, we have identified AtDGK2 (diacylglycerol kinase 2) as a key interactor of AtSYT1. Generally, in response to a stress stimulus, a phospholipase C (PLC), hydrolyses PIP2 after the elevation of cytosolic Ca2+, generating DAGs which immediately can be converted to phosphatidic acid (PA) by DGKs.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech. The authors acknowledge the support by the Plan Propio from University of Malaga, Campus de Excelencia Internacional de Andalucía and by the Redes of Excelencia (BIO2014-56153-REDT) and BIO2017-82609-R, RYC-2016-21172 & PGC2018-098789 of the Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad