Soil microbial communities respond to an environmental gradient of grazing intensity in south Patagonia Argentina

Soil microorganisms communities regulate key functions in terrestrial ecosystems and contributes to the formation of stable organic matter and hence climate change mitigation. The structure, diversity and activity of soil microbial communities are influenced by the quantity and quality of organic compounds entering soils through the contribution of their root exudates and plant litter, which the microorganisms use as a substrate for biosynthesis and energy source. However, grazing effect on the soil microorganisms showed variable results dependent on the ecosystem under study. One of the main challenges of this millennium is the sustainability of agricultural production, especially in fragile soils such as those present in Patagonia. Therefore, our objective was to evaluate the responses of microbial biomass carbon (MBC), soil basal respiration (SBR), the derived coefficients and the abundance of fungi and bacteria under contrasting long-term grazing intensities in an environmental gradient. The study was established in three ecological areas Mata Negra Thicket (MNT), Dry Magellanic Steppe (DMS) and Humid Magellanic Steppe (HMS) with two grazing intensities. Soil samples were taken over two years in different seasons (autumn, winter, spring and summer). Results showed that biotic and abiotic factors (temperature and precipitation), plant communities and soil characteristics modulated the microbial structure and function in ecological area. On the other hand, high grazing intensity decreased the MBC and microbial coefficient (qM). There was a seasonal and interannual dynamic in the MBC and the bacteria and fungal communities, attributed mainly to temperature and precipitation. The results indicated that the effect of grazing intensity in soil microbial communities depends largely on intrinsic characteristics of each ecological area defined by the environmental gradient.EEA Santa CruzFil: Toledo, Santiago. Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia Austral; Argentina.Fil: Peri, Pablo Luis. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Santa Cruz; Argentina.Fil: Correa, Olga S. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Departamento de Biología Aplicada y Alimentos; ArgentinaFil: Gargaglione, Veronica Beatriz. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Santa Cruz; Argentina.Fil: Gonzalez Polo, Marina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas.Fil: Toledo, Santiago. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Peri, Pablo Luis. Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia Austral; Argentina.Fil: Peri, Pablo Luis. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Gargaglione, Veronica Beatriz. Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia Austral; Argentina.Fil: Gargaglione, Veronica Beatriz. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Gonzalez Polo, Marina. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Instituto de Investigaciones en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente; Argentin

Influencia de la fertilización inorgánica sobre la actividad microbiana del suelo

Las mediciones se llevaron a cabo en la campaña 2010/11 en un ensayo en el establecimiento Balducchi, ubicado en la localidad de Teodelina (Santa Fe), que forma parte de la Red de Nutrición CREA Sur de Santa Fe (CREA-IPNI-ASP). En ese ensayo, bajo rotación maíz-trigo/soja, se evalúan, anualmente desde la campaña 2000/01, fertilizaciones con N, P, S y micronutrientes en las siguientes combinaciones: PS, NS, NP, NPS, NPS+Micronutrientes, y Testigo (sin adición de fertilizante) en 3 repeticiones siguiendo un diseño en bloques completos al azar.Según la información obtenida, la actividad microbiana del suelo, medida por la cuantificación del consumo de diversas fuentes de C, fue influenciada por la fertilización inorgánica. De acuerdo al ACP, el tratamiento con nutrición más balanceada (NPS+Micros) registró mayor consumo de sustratos carbonados, que los restantes tratamientos. Según algunos autores, los fertilizantes inorgánicos afectan los parámetros biológicos debido al incremento del contenido de C orgánico del suelo, que determina el crecimiento de los microorganismos, siendo el P un factor clave en el aumento de la diversidad microbiana y fertilidad del suelo. Finalmente, el rendimiento del cultivo también se incrementó en respuesta a la fertilización, en comparación con el Testigo. Existe una compleja interacción entre el nivel óptimo de fertilización, la disponibilidad de nutrientes para el crecimiento de los microorganismos y el buen desarrollo de las plantas. Esto demuestra que son necesarios más estudios para profundizar el conocimiento acerca del efecto de la fertilización inorgánica sobre las funciones metabólicas de la microbiota del suelo.Fil: Conforto, C.. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigaciones Agropecuarias. Instituto de Patología Vegetal; ArgentinaFil: Correa, Olga Susana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones en Biociencias Agrícolas y Ambientales. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Instituto de Investigaciones en Biociencias Agrícolas y Ambientales; ArgentinaFil: Rovea, A.. Grupo Crea Santa Fe; ArgentinaFil: Boxler, M.. Grupo Crea Santa Fe; ArgentinaFil: Rodríguez Grastorf, S.. Grupo Crea Santa Fe; ArgentinaFil: Minteguiaga, J.. Grupo Crea Santa Fe; ArgentinaFil: Meriles, Jose Manuel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; ArgentinaFil: Vargas Gil, Silvina. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigaciones Agropecuarias. Instituto de Patología Vegetal; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Characterizing genomic alterations in cancer by complementary functional associations.

Systematic efforts to sequence the cancer genome have identified large numbers of mutations and copy number alterations in human cancers. However, elucidating the functional consequences of these variants, and their interactions to drive or maintain oncogenic states, remains a challenge in cancer research. We developed REVEALER, a computational method that identifies combinations of mutually exclusive genomic alterations correlated with functional phenotypes, such as the activation or gene dependency of oncogenic pathways or sensitivity to a drug treatment. We used REVEALER to uncover complementary genomic alterations associated with the transcriptional activation of β-catenin and NRF2, MEK-inhibitor sensitivity, and KRAS dependency. REVEALER successfully identified both known and new associations, demonstrating the power of combining functional profiles with extensive characterization of genomic alterations in cancer genomes

The Fourteenth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: First Spectroscopic Data from the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey and from the second phase of the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment

The fourth generation of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-IV) has been in operation since July 2014. This paper describes the second data release from this phase, and the fourteenth from SDSS overall (making this, Data Release Fourteen or DR14). This release makes public data taken by SDSS-IV in its first two years of operation (July 2014-2016). Like all previous SDSS releases, DR14 is cumulative, including the most recent reductions and calibrations of all data taken by SDSS since the first phase began operations in 2000. New in DR14 is the first public release of data from the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS); the first data from the second phase of the Apache Point Observatory (APO) Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE-2), including stellar parameter estimates from an innovative data driven machine learning algorithm known as "The Cannon"; and almost twice as many data cubes from the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at APO (MaNGA) survey as were in the previous release (N = 2812 in total). This paper describes the location and format of the publicly available data from SDSS-IV surveys. We provide references to the important technical papers describing how these data have been taken (both targeting and observation details) and processed for scientific use. The SDSS website (www.sdss.org) has been updated for this release, and provides links to data downloads, as well as tutorials and examples of data use. SDSS-IV is planning to continue to collect astronomical data until 2020, and will be followed by SDSS-V.Comment: SDSS-IV collaboration alphabetical author data release paper. DR14 happened on 31st July 2017. 19 pages, 5 figures. Accepted by ApJS on 28th Nov 2017 (this is the "post-print" and "post-proofs" version; minor corrections only from v1, and most of errors found in proofs corrected

Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV: Mapping the Milky Way, Nearby Galaxies, and the Distant Universe

We describe the Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV (SDSS-IV), a project encompassing three major spectroscopic programs. The Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment 2 (APOGEE-2) is observing hundreds of thousands of Milky Way stars at high resolution and high signal-to-noise ratios in the near-infrared. The Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory (MaNGA) survey is obtaining spatially resolved spectroscopy for thousands of nearby galaxies (median $z\sim 0.03$). The extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS) is mapping the galaxy, quasar, and neutral gas distributions between $z\sim 0.6$ and 3.5 to constrain cosmology using baryon acoustic oscillations, redshift space distortions, and the shape of the power spectrum. Within eBOSS, we are conducting two major subprograms: the SPectroscopic IDentification of eROSITA Sources (SPIDERS), investigating X-ray AGNs and galaxies in X-ray clusters, and the Time Domain Spectroscopic Survey (TDSS), obtaining spectra of variable sources. All programs use the 2.5 m Sloan Foundation Telescope at the Apache Point Observatory; observations there began in Summer 2014. APOGEE-2 also operates a second near-infrared spectrograph at the 2.5 m du Pont Telescope at Las Campanas Observatory, with observations beginning in early 2017. Observations at both facilities are scheduled to continue through 2020. In keeping with previous SDSS policy, SDSS-IV provides regularly scheduled public data releases; the first one, Data Release 13, was made available in 2016 July

Формирование эмоциональной культуры как компонента инновационной культуры студентов

Homozygosity has long been associated with rare, often devastating, Mendelian disorders1 and Darwin was one of the first to recognise that inbreeding reduces evolutionary fitness2. However, the effect of the more distant parental relatedness common in modern human populations is less well understood. Genomic data now allow us to investigate the effects of homozygosity on traits of public health importance by observing contiguous homozygous segments (runs of homozygosity, ROH), which are inferred to be homozygous along their complete length. Given the low levels of genome-wide homozygosity prevalent in most human populations, information is required on very large numbers of people to provide sufficient power3,4. Here we use ROH to study 16 health-related quantitative traits in 354,224 individuals from 102 cohorts and find statistically significant associations between summed runs of homozygosity (SROH) and four complex traits: height, forced expiratory lung volume in 1 second (FEV1), general cognitive ability (g) and educational attainment (nominal p<1 × 10−300, 2.1 × 10−6, 2.5 × 10−10, 1.8 × 10−10). In each case increased homozygosity was associated with decreased trait value, equivalent to the offspring of first cousins being 1.2 cm shorter and having 10 months less education. Similar effect sizes were found across four continental groups and populations with different degrees of genome-wide homozygosity, providing convincing evidence for the first time that homozygosity, rather than confounding, directly contributes to phenotypic variance. Contrary to earlier reports in substantially smaller samples5,6, no evidence was seen of an influence of genome-wide homozygosity on blood pressure and low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, or ten other cardio-metabolic traits. Since directional dominance is predicted for traits under directional evolutionary selection7, this study provides evidence that increased stature and cognitive function have been positively selected in human evolution, whereas many important risk factors for late-onset complex diseases may not have been