8 research outputs found

    Síntese proteica em espermatozoides de mamífero

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    Reversible protein phosphorylation is the key general mechanism for regulating vital sperm cells functions since sperm cells are highly compartmentalized and almost devoid of transcription and translation. However, there is a small area of uncondensed chromatin where transcription and translation are still possible. There is only one study in the literature showing protein synthesis occurs in spermatozoa during capacitation. The main goal of this work was to study if protein translation occurs, both in human and bovine spermatozoa. In order to achieve that, we monitored protein synthesis using the Surface Sensing of Translation (SUnSET) technique, followed by flow cytometry. The results revealed mRNA translation in spermatozoa. Furthermore, we analysed the impact of translation inhibition by mitochondrial and cytoplasmic ribosomes in the expression levels of diverse spermatozoa proteins. The results show that, while some proteins are affected by translation inhibitors, others remain stable. To conclude, our results support protein synthesis occurs in spermatozoa and show, for the first time, SUnSET technique allows to monitor and quantify the global protein synthesis in mammalian spermatozoa.A fosforilação proteica reversível é o principal mecanismo que regula as funções vitais dos espermatozóides, uma vez que, os espermatozóides são altamente compartimentados e praticamente desprovidos de transcrição e tradução. No entanto, existe uma pequena área de cromatina descondensada, na qual a transcrição e tradução ainda são possíveis. Existe apenas um estudo na literatura a demonstrar que ocorre síntese proteica nos espermatozóides durante a capacitação. O principal objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar se a síntese proteica ocorre em espermatozoides de bovino e de humano. Deste modo, monitorizámos a síntese proteica, utilizando a técnica Surface Sensing of Translation (SUnSET), seguida de citometria de fluxo. Os resultados revelaram tradução de mRNA nos espermatozóides. Para além disso, avaliamos o impacto da inibição da tradução pelos ribossomas mitocondriais e citoplasmáticos nos níveis de expressão de diversas proteínas do espermatozoide. Os resultados demonstraram que, enquanto algumas proteínas são afetadas pelos inibidores da tradução, outras mantêm-se estáveis. Concluindo, os nossos resultados suportam que ocorre síntese proteica nos espermatozoides e demonstram, pela primeira vez, que a técnica SUnSET permite monitorizar e quantificar a síntese global de proteínas em espermatozoides de mamíferos.Mestrado em Biomedicina Molecula

    Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

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    Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

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    Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear un derstanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5–7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8–11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world’s most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepre sented in biodiversity databases.13–15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may elim inate pieces of the Amazon’s biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological com munities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple or ganism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region’s vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most ne glected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lostinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

    Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

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    Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear understanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5,6,7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8,9,10,11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world's most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepresented in biodiversity databases.13,14,15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may eliminate pieces of the Amazon's biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological communities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple organism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region's vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most neglected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lost

    Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

    Get PDF
    Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear understanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5,6,7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8,9,10,11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world's most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepresented in biodiversity databases.13,14,15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may eliminate pieces of the Amazon's biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological communities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple organism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region's vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most neglected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lost

    Purification of antileukemic biopharmaceuticals using supported ionic liquid materials based on silica

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    Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) accounts with approximately 5,000 new cases in the United States and 4,000 in Europe each year. The first-line biopharmaceutical being used to treat acute ALL, Oncaspar, is based on L-asparaginase (LA), and accounts with approximately USD $100 million in annual sales, with its purification accounting for up to 80% of its total production cost. Therefore, it is crucial to optimize the purification of LA in order to decrease its current cost and allow their routinely use by a widespread population. Supported ionic liquid materials based on silica (SILs) are already reported in the literature and have been mainly used in the separation of natural compounds from vegetable biomass. Although SILs represent a class of materials with high potential in the purification of proteins, this particular application has been scarcely considered. In this work, the search for SILs able to establish (non-covalent) specific interactions with LA, allowing therefore its purification from the fermentation broth in which it is produced was investigated. Commercial LA was used in a first set of studies in order to understand the adsorption behavior of the enzyme into SILs. Experimental conditions, such as pH, contact time and SILs/LA ratio were evaluated and optimized in what concerns the LA purity and yield. With this strategy, process costs, energy consumed, and waste generated, may be significantly decreased, which may lead to this biopharmaceutical price decrease and wider application.publishe

    Brazilian Flora 2020: Leveraging the power of a collaborative scientific network

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    International audienceThe shortage of reliable primary taxonomic data limits the description of biological taxa and the understanding of biodiversity patterns and processes, complicating biogeographical, ecological, and evolutionary studies. This deficit creates a significant taxonomic impediment to biodiversity research and conservation planning. The taxonomic impediment and the biodiversity crisis are widely recognized, highlighting the urgent need for reliable taxonomic data. Over the past decade, numerous countries worldwide have devoted considerable effort to Target 1 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC), which called for the preparation of a working list of all known plant species by 2010 and an online world Flora by 2020. Brazil is a megadiverse country, home to more of the world's known plant species than any other country. Despite that, Flora Brasiliensis, concluded in 1906, was the last comprehensive treatment of the Brazilian flora. The lack of accurate estimates of the number of species of algae, fungi, and plants occurring in Brazil contributes to the prevailing taxonomic impediment and delays progress towards the GSPC targets. Over the past 12 years, a legion of taxonomists motivated to meet Target 1 of the GSPC, worked together to gather and integrate knowledge on the algal, plant, and fungal diversity of Brazil. Overall, a team of about 980 taxonomists joined efforts in a highly collaborative project that used cybertaxonomy to prepare an updated Flora of Brazil, showing the power of scientific collaboration to reach ambitious goals. This paper presents an overview of the Brazilian Flora 2020 and provides taxonomic and spatial updates on the algae, fungi, and plants found in one of the world's most biodiverse countries. We further identify collection gaps and summarize future goals that extend beyond 2020. Our results show that Brazil is home to 46,975 native species of algae, fungi, and plants, of which 19,669 are endemic to the country. The data compiled to date suggests that the Atlantic Rainforest might be the most diverse Brazilian domain for all plant groups except gymnosperms, which are most diverse in the Amazon. However, scientific knowledge of Brazilian diversity is still unequally distributed, with the Atlantic Rainforest and the Cerrado being the most intensively sampled and studied biomes in the country. In times of “scientific reductionism”, with botanical and mycological sciences suffering pervasive depreciation in recent decades, the first online Flora of Brazil 2020 significantly enhanced the quality and quantity of taxonomic data available for algae, fungi, and plants from Brazil. This project also made all the information freely available online, providing a firm foundation for future research and for the management, conservation, and sustainable use of the Brazilian funga and flora

    Núcleos de Ensino da Unesp: artigos 2007

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    Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq
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