Molecular characterization of Portuguese populations of the pinewood nematode Bursaphelenchus xylophilus using cytochrome b and cellulase genes

Bursaphelenchus xylophilus is the causal agent of pine wilt disease and a worldwide pest with high economic impact. Since its first diagnosis in Portugal in 1999, it has been subjected to quarantine measures with impact on forest health and ecosystem stability, significantly affecting international trade of wood products. The disease was detected in the north and centre of continental Portugal and, since 2008, the whole country has been considered an affected area. Recently, it was detected in Madeira Island. In order to avoid new outbreaks, it has become of major importance to understand the patterns of spread, introduction points and to characterize the new populations from continental Portugal and Madeira Island. Mitochondrial cytochrome b (cytb) and parasitic cellulase gene sequences were used to evaluate the genetic relationships among isolates that could indicate possible origins of the new outbreaks. Portuguese isolates were compared with isolates from USA, China, Japan and South Korea, in order to investigate possible infection pathways and disease spread patterns in Portugal. Phylogenetic trees based on both genes show that Portuguese isolates group with Asian isolates. Isolates from USA are in a separate position in both gene trees. However, the phylogenetic tree based on the cellulase gene sequences shows higher differentiation among Portuguese isolates than that of cytb. These results agree with those previously obtained using inter-simple sequence repeats (ISSR). This was the first study to use cytb and cellulase genes to characterize pinewood nematode (PWN) populations. This study suggests that cellulase is a better marker than cytb to study genetic diversity in B. xylophilus

INTERMEDIALITY IN ELIZABETH BISHOP´S POETRY

Starting from the preciseness and expressiveness of the descriptions in Elizabeth Bishop´s poetry, the essay relies on the concepts of intermediality, iconotext and ekphrasis for the analysis of three of the poet´s best known poems, “Arrival at Santos”, “Brazil, January 1, 1502” and “The Burglar of Babylon”. The three are read as evidence of the poet´s changing attitudes towards Brazil as well as illustrations of the role played by intermediality – the relation between Literature and the other arts and media – as tools for social and historical criticism

INTERMEDIAL TEXTURES: GILBERTO FREYRE: SOCIOLOGIST, POET, PAINTER

Apoiado nos conceitos de intermidialidade, écfrase e referência intermidiática, o ensaio discute a vasta obra de Gilberto Freyre como a de um artista múltiplo, atuante em diferentes áreas ”“ poesia, pintura e prosa literária ”“ além de autor de contribuições pioneiras para as ciências sociais. O artigo destaca especialmente a íntima relação entre suas obras de arte visual e as de arte verbal, notáveis pela constante referência a acontecimentos, personagens e paisagens analisados em seus textos sociológicos. Nesse contexto, toda a produção de Freyre pode ser considerada um múltiplo e caleidoscópico texto, que, em diferentes mídias, explora temas estreitamente relacionados.Relying on the concepts of intermediality, ekphrasis and intermedial reference, the essay discusses Gilberto Freyre’s vast œuvre as that of a multiple artist, working in different areas ”“ poetry, painting, literary prose ”“ as well as the author of groundbreaking contributions to the social sciences. The article especially underscores the close relationships between his output in the verbal and in the visual arts, remarkable for their constant reference to events, characters and landscapes analyzed in his sociological texts. In this context, the whole of Freyre’s production may be taken as a multiple, kaleidoscopic text, which, in different media, explores close- knit themes

Rhizobial Strain Improvement: Genetic Analysis and Modification

Plant genetic engineering has revolutionized our ability to produce genetically improved plant varieties. A large portion of our major crops have undergone genetic improvement through the use of recombinant DNA techniques in which microorganisms play a vital role. The cross-kingdom transfer of genes to incorporate novel phenotypes into plants has utilized microbes at every step-from cloning and characterization of a gene to the production of a genetically engineered plant. This book covers the important aspects of Microbial Biotechnology in Agriculture and Aquaculture with and aim to improve crop yield

Most Acid-Tolerant Chickpea Mesorhizobia Show Induction of Major Chaperone Genes upon Acid Shock

Our goals were to evaluate the tolerance of mesorhizobia to acid and alkaline conditions as well as to investigate whether acid tolerance is related to the species or the origin site of the isolates. In addition, to investigate the molecular basis of acid tolerance, the expression of chaperone genes groEL and dnaKJ was analyzed using acid-tolerant and sensitive mesorhizobia. Tolerance to pH 5 and 9 was evaluated in liquid medium for 98 Portuguese chickpea mesorhizobia belonging to four species clusters. All isolates showed high sensitivity to pH 9. In contrast, mesorhizobia revealed high diversity in terms of tolerance to acid stress: 35 % of the isolates were acid sensitive and 45 % were highly tolerant to pH 5 or moderately acidophilic. An association between mesorhizobia tolerance to acid conditions and the origin soil pH was found. Furthermore, significant differences between species clusters regarding tolerance to acidity were obtained. Ten isolates were used to investigate the expression levels of the chaperone genes by northern hybridization. Interestingly, most acid-tolerant isolates displayed induction of the dnaK and groESL genes upon acid shock while the sensitive ones showed repression. This study suggests that acid tolerance in mesorhizobia is related to the pH of the origin soil and to the species cluster of the isolates. Additionally, the transcriptional analysis suggests a relationship between induction of major chaperone genes and higher tolerance to acid pH in mesorhizobia. This is the first report on transcriptional analysis of the major chaperones genes in mesorhizobia under acidity, contributing to a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms of rhizobia acidity tolerance

Brazilian Readings of British Decadentism: Abgar Renault and Pedro Nava Recreate W. B. Yeats and A. V. Beardsley

The paper focuses on a double affinity, which concerns Literature and the Visual Arts, involving Brazilian and Anglo/Irish works. The text likewise traces the affinities between Pedro Nava’ s illustrations of Renault’s poems and Beardley’s drawings for Salome. Centring on Abgar Renault’s translations of poems by Yeats and Wilde, the essay tries to trace the process of appropriation and re-invention which enables the Brazilian poet to transtextualize the Irish writers’ poetry, interweaving source and translated texts. The Brazilian poet’s choice of poems, which concentrates on different stages of Yeats’ production, further reflects Renault’s own stylistic choices: like Yeats, he starts as a symbolist, but moves on to a post-symbolist poetics, more attuned to modern taste. The paper relies on Augusto de Campos’ notion of translation as a persona, in which the translator gets into the foreign text’s skin, so as to “re-pretend everything again”. A parallel is also drawn with Machado de Assis’ translation tactics in Ocidentais: the appropriation of European poetry illustrates Machado’s own project for the construction of Brazilian literary identity.The paper focuses on a double affinity, which concerns Literature and the Visual Arts, involving Brazilian and Anglo/Irish works. The text likewise traces the affinities between Pedro Nava’ s illustrations of Renault’s poems and Beardley’s drawings for Salome. Centring on Abgar Renault’s translations of poems by Yeats and Wilde, the essay tries to trace the process of appropriation and re-invention which enables the Brazilian poet to transtextualize the Irish writers’ poetry, interweaving source and translated texts. The Brazilian poet’s choice of poems, which concentrates on different stages of Yeats’ production, further reflects Renault’s own stylistic choices: like Yeats, he starts as a symbolist, but moves on to a post-symbolist poetics, more attuned to modern taste. The paper relies on Augusto de Campos’ notion of translation as a persona, in which the translator gets into the foreign text’s skin, so as to “re-pretend everything again”. A parallel is also drawn with Machado de Assis’ translation tactics in Ocidentais: the appropriation of European poetry illustrates Machado’s own project for the construction of Brazilian literary identity

A ClpB Chaperone Knockout Mutant of Mesorhizobium ciceri Shows a Delay in the Root Nodulation of Chickpea Plants

Several molecular chaperones are known to be involved in bacteria stress response. To investigate the role of chaperone ClpB in rhizobia stress tolerance as well as in the rhizobiaplant symbiosis process, the clpB gene from a chickpea microsymbiont, strain Mesorhizobium ciceri LMS-1, was identified and a knockout mutant was obtained. The ClpB knockout mutant was tested to several abiotic stresses, showing that it was unable to grow after a heat shock and it was more sensitive to acid shock than the wild-type strain. A plant-growth assay performed to evaluate the symbiotic performance of the clpB mutant showed a higher proportion of ineffective root nodules obtained with the mutant than with the wild-type strain. Nodulation kinetics analysis showed a 6- to 8-day delay in nodule appearance in plants inoculated with the Delta clpB mutant. Analysis of nodC gene expression showed lower levels of transcript in the Delta clpB mutant strain. Analysis of histological sections of nodules formed by the clpB mutant showed that most of the nodules presented a low number of bacteroids. No differences in the root infection abilities of green fluorescent protein tagged clpB mutant and wild-type strains were detected. To our knowledge, this is the first study that presents evidence of the involvement of the chaperone ClpB from rhizobia in the symbiotic nodulation process

As conferências educacionais: projetos para a nação e modernidade pedagógica nos anos de 1920 - Brasil

Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro de Ciências da Educação, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Educação, Florianópolis, 2014.Esta pesquisa constitui-se por uma abordagem na área da história da educação com centralidade em cinco conferências educacionais ocorridas no Brasil nos anos de 1920: Conferência Interestadual do Ensino Primário (Rio de Janeiro, 1921); Congresso de Ensino Primário e Normal (Paraná, 1926); Primeiro Congresso de Instrução Primária (Minas Gerais, 1927); Primeira Conferência Estadual do Ensino Primário (Santa Catarina, 1927); Primeira Conferência Nacional de Educação, promovida por intermédio da ABE (Curitiba, 1927). Para as análises realizadas e apresentação textual, foram mobilizados alguns conceitos - moderno/modernidade, repertório, intelectuais, permanência, representação, instruir e educar por meio do ensino primário - com o objetivo central de investigar aspectos e elementos que se entrecruzam e que podem ser tomados como representativos de projetos para a nação e da modernidade pedagógica requeridos, no Brasil dos anos de 1920. Apresenta-se a seguinte questão-problema: Como pensar as conferências educacionais como integrantes de um repertório que mobilizou sujeitos - intelectuais - em defesa e disputa de concepções e projetos, no intento de estabelecer sob que sentidos e significados a modernidade pedagógica deveria estar assentada no Brasil dos anos de 1920? Os intelectuais em destaque foram Orestes de Oliveira Guimarães, Antonio de Sampaio Dória, Lysimaco Ferreira da Costa, Antonio de Arruda Carneiro Leão, Francisco Luís da Silva Campos, Manoel Bergström Lourenço Filho. A demarcação do período histórico desta pesquisa - anos de 1920 - é representada pela ocorrência da primeira iniciativa, no período republicano, em nível federal, para a realização de uma conferência, em 1921, que pretendia discutir e propor para o campo educacional, em nível nacional, e pela continuidade de eventos congêneres, no alongar desta década, por iniciativa de Estados brasileiros, bem como pela Primeira Conferência Nacional de Educação, proposta, em 1927, pela Associação Brasileira de Educação - ABE. As conferências educacionais, no Brasil dos anos de 1920, podem ser interpretadas por seu caráter educacional, pedagógico e político e como integrantes de um repertório de ações no intento de estabelecer propostas (projetos) e encontrar soluções para os problemas ligados ao contexto educacional ou escolar e que isto pudesse colaborar com o progresso do Brasil. Considera-se que as conferências educacionais constituíram-se como lugares de discussão e disputas entre sujeitos e ideias pelas balizas do que deveria compor a modernidade pedagógica para a formação do cidadão republicano, onde a escola primária teria papel preponderante neste intento. Inseridas em um programa de constituição ou de fortalecimento da identidade, sentimento e consciência nacionais do período, com perspectivas para além dele - para o futuro, para o progresso -, as conferências educacionais, como estruturas políticas de oportunidades, tiveram projeção no sentido de intervir nos espaços e problemas mais amplos da sociedade que transcendiam às questões educacionais e pedagógicas e permitiram que seus propositores ou participantes alçassem outros postos ou ocupassem outros lugares e posições, tanto relacionados à esfera educacional quanto à política.<br

Vision of Tnugdal. Harmony, Paradise and Salvation in Medieval Beyond

Medieval Church spread various narratives of imaginary journeys which describe the environment reserved to the elected souls in post-mortem in the space of Heaven. Vision of Tnugdal, example of those narratives, from anonymous authorship, produced in the 12 th century, was translated to Portuguese in the 15th century and give us the symbolic description of Heaven in Medieval Beyond. In this text, the knight Tnugdal, guided by an angel, runs through the various the paths of Celestial Kingdom, divided in the Walls of Silver, Gold and Precious Stones, where are placed the faire souls who possess Christian virtues. To earn and enjoy the things that those spaces offered, the Catholic Church spread ideal models of behavior, since its conception, for the faithful ones achieve eternal salvation in Celestial Paradise