The climate of the Common Era off the Iberian Peninsula

The Mediterranean region is a climate hot spot, sensitive not only to global warming but also to water availability. In this work we document major temperature and precipitation changes in the Iberian Peninsula and margin during the last 2000 years and propose an interplay of the North Atlantic internal variability with the three atmospheric circulation modes (ACMs), (North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), east atlantic (EA) and Scandinavia (SCAND)) to explain the detected climate variability. We present reconstructions of sea surface temperature (SST derived from alkenones) and on-land precipitation (estimated from higher plant n-alkanes and pollen data) in sedimentary sequences recovered along the Iberian Margin between the south of Portugal (Algarve) and the northwest of Spain (Galiza) (36 to 42 degrees N). A clear long-term cooling trend, from 0 CE to the beginning of the 20th century, emerges in all SST records and is considered to be a reflection of the decrease in the Northern Hemisphere summer insolation that began after the Holocene optimum. Multi-decadal/centennial SST variability follows other records from Spain, Europe and the Northern Hemisphere. Warm SSTs throughout the first 1300 years encompass the Roman period (RP), the Dark Ages (DA) and the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA). A cooling initiated at 1300 CE leads to 4 centuries of colder SSTs contemporary with the Little Ice Age (LIA), while a climate warming at 1800 CE marks the beginning of the modern/Industrial Era. Novel results include two distinct phases in the MCA: an early period (900-1100 years) characterized by intense precipitation/flooding and warm winters but a cooler spring-fall season attributed to the interplay of internal oceanic variability with a positive phase in the three modes of atmospheric circulation (NAO, EA and SCAND). The late MCA is marked by cooler and relatively drier winters and a warmer spring-fall season consistent with a shift to a negative mode of the SCAND. The Industrial Era reveals a clear difference between the NW Iberia and the Algarve records. While off NW Iberia variability is low, the Algarve shows large-amplitude decadal variability with an inverse relationship between SST and river input. Such conditions suggest a shift in the EA mode, from negative between 1900 and 1970 CE to positive after 1970, while NAO and SCAND remain in a positive phase. The particularly noticeable rise in SST at the Algarve site by the mid-20th century (+/- 1970), provides evidence for a regional response to the ongoing climate warming. The reported findings have implications for decadal-scale predictions of future climate change in the Iberian Peninsula./2004]; CALIBERIA (FCT) [PTDC/MAR/102045/2008]; CALIBERIA [COMPETE/FEDER-FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-010599]; CI-IMAR [20132017 CIMAR]; CCMAR [PEstC/MAR/LA0015/2013]; IPMA, within the EU project SAFI [FP7-SPACE-2013-1, 607155]; [SFRH/BPD/36615/2007]; [SFRH/BPD/66025/2009]; [SFRH/BPD/26525/2006]; [SFRH/BPDINGMAR (FCT ARIPIPI Program - Support for State Labs Development); HOLSMEER [EVK2-CT-2000-00060]; CLIMHOL [PTDC/AAC-CLI/100157/2008]; MINO-MINHO [0234_NATURA_MM_1_E]; POPEI [PDCT/MAR/55618/111433/2015]info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Influence of diagenetic processes and terrestrial/anthropogenic sources in the REE contents of the Cascais submarine canyon (Iberian western coast)

ABSTRACT: Temporal variations of rare earth elements (REE) and their fractionation patterns, major elements, Pb and Hg were determined in two multicores collected at 445 and 2100 m water depth (mwd) in the Cascais submarine canyon (CSC). The PAAS-normalized REE patterns suggest mixing of Tagus estuarine and marine sediments, marked by MREE (Nd‐Dy series) enrichment and by positive Eu-anomaly, with marine sediments. The positive Eu/Eu* implies incorporation of detrital feldspar minerals derived from the estuary. Ce/Ce*, (La/Yb)PAAS and (Nd/Yb)PAAS show differences between the two cores. Core 252-35 from the shallower site is enriched in HREE (Ho‐Lu series) over LREE (La‐Pr series), a pattern also found in the Tagus estuary in the vicinity of an abandoned chemical complex, where the environment is affected by the legacy of massive-sulfide ores processing. There seems to be only limited down-canyon sediment transport to the deeper reaches where core 252-32 was collected. This deeper site shows Ce/Ce* peaks coinciding with low (La/Yb)PAAS values suggesting preferential diagenetic remobilization of LREE relative to HREE. Upcore Pb/Al and Hg/Corg trends observed in both cores indicate dispersion of the anthropogenic component from the estuary through the CSC, which is less obvious from the ∑REE/Al trends particularly in the deeper site. This may suggest the influence of diagenetic processes in the REE signal, associated with relatively low sediment accumulation rates.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Novel capsular depolymerases-based strategy to kill multidrug-resistant pathogenic bacteria

Multidrug resistant pathogens represent one of the greatest threats to human health of the new millennium. ESKAPE bacterial pathogens (Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and other Enterobacteriaceae species) are the leading group among these socalled superbugs, which rapidly acquire resistances to several (and sometimes all) available antibiotics and cause a variety of nosocomial infections (e.g. bacteraemia and wound infections). Our research has been leading an innovative approach based on bacteriophage-derived enzymes (called capsular depolymerases) against A. baumannii (see video at ref 1). Previously, we found that some bacteriophages (i.e. viruses that specifically infect bacteria) acquired the ability to infect different Acinetobacter hosts through acquisition of different capsular depolymerases (2). These enzymes located at the bacteriophage tails bind and degrade specific bacterial capsules types (2). Recently, recombinantly expressed capsular depolymerases showed to be active in several environment conditions, non-nontoxic to mammalian cells and able to make A. baumannii fully susceptible to host complement effect, namely in i) Galleria mellonella caterpillar, ii) murine and iii) human serum models (3, 4). A single intraperitoneal injection of depolymerase protect 60% of mice from dead, with significant reduction of proinflammatory cytokine profile (4). We show that capsular depolymerases fit the new trend of antimicrobials needed, as they are highly specific, stable and refractory to resistance as they do not kill bacteria per se, instead they remove bacterial surface polysaccharides, diminishing bacterial virulence and exposing them to the host immune system. This innovative antimicrobial approach can be applied to other pathogenic bacteria.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Characterization of DIVA09 : a gravity core from the Minho shelf

Project NATURA MIÑO-MINHO "Valorización de los recursos de la cuenca hidrográfica del MIÑO-MINHO

Erratum for Oliveira et al., "K2 Capsule Depolymerase Is Highly Stable, Is Refractory to Resistance, and Protects Larvae and Mice from Acinetobacter baumannii Sepsis"

Volume 85, no. 17, e00934-19, 2019, https://doi.org/10.1128/AEM.00934-19. Page 10, Acknowledgments, lines 4 and 5: POCI-01-0145-FEDER-016678 should read POCI-01-0145-FEDER-016643.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Alterações recentes nas razões isotópicas de Pb em sedimentos do Canhão Submarino de Cascais, Portugal

Temporal variations in lead concentrations and stable lead isotopic ratios in two sediment cores from the Cascais Canyon shows changes in sources of Pb during the last two centuries. The increase of total Pb contents wIth the evolution of Pb ratio recorded in both cores reveals the Increase of Pb from industrial sources. Nevertheless, this increase is lower in deeper core location (252-32) due to dilution and mixing with uncontaminated marine materials. An isotopic shift towards lower Pb/Pb in the shallower core (252-35) during the 1970s may reflect the increasing number of vehicles in the Lisboa area during that time

Controlling ETEC colonization on cultures of an intestinal pig cell line with a T4-like phage

Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) colonizes the intestine of young pigs causing severe diarrhoea and consequently bringing high producing costs. The rise of antibiotic selective pressure together with on-going limitation on their use demands news strategies to tackle this pathology. The pertinence of using phages to tackle this problematic is being explored, and in this work, the efficacy of a T4-like phage vB_EcoM_FJ1 (FJ1) in reducing the load of ETEC O9:H9 (Sta, F5/F41) was assessed. FJ1 has a 170,053 bp genome, and of the 270 coding sequences none corresponds to identified undesirable proteins, such as integrases or transposases. Envisaging the oral application to piglets, FJ1 was previously encapsulated on CaCO3/alginate. Assays were performed on 15-day cultures of the intestinal pig cell line IPEC-1 seeded in transwell inserts. Phage treatment occurred 2 hours after ETEC infection, when, in average, 5x105 CFU.cm-2 were adhered to cultured cells. Encapsulated phage provided reductions of, approximately, 2.3 Log CFU.cm-2 and 2.8 Log CFU.cm-2 on adhered bacteria, respectively 3 and 6 hours after administration. The repeated exposure of the host to FJ1 led to the emergence of phage-insensitive mutants, phenotype that brought fitness costs to the host strain: they were 70% more vulnerable to the pig complement system and less efficient in adhering to cultured cells (in about 90%). Overall, FJ1 is presented here as promising to fight against ETEC infections through oral administration to piglets.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Effect of phage vB_EcoM_FJ1 on the reduction of ETEC O9:H9 infection in a neonatal pig cell line

Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) colonizes the intestine of young pigs causing severe diarrhoea and consequently bringing high production costs. The rise of antibiotic selective pressure together with ongoing limitations on their use, demands new strategies to tackle this pathology. The pertinence of using bacteriophages as an alternative is being explored, and in this work, the efficacy of phage vB\_EcoM\_FJ1 (FJ1) in reducing the load of ETEC EC43-Ph (serotype O9:H9 expressing the enterotoxin STa and two adhesins F5 and F41) was assessed. Foreseeing the oral application on piglets, FJ1 was encapsulated on calcium carbonate and alginate microparticles, thus preventing phage release under adverse conditions of the simulated gastric fluid (pH 3.0) and allowing phage availability in simulated intestinal fluid (pH 6.5). A single dose of encapsulated FJ1, provided to IPEC-1 cultured cells (from intestinal epithelium of piglets) previously infected by EC43, provided bacterial reductions of about 99.9\\% after 6 h. Although bacteriophage-insensitive mutants (BIMs) have emerged from treatment, the consequent fitness costs associated with this new phenotype were demonstrated, comparatively to the originating strain. The higher competence of the pig complement system to decrease BIMs' viability, the lower level of colonization of IPEC-1 cells observed with these mutants, and the increased survival rates and health index recorded in infected Galleria mellonella larvae supported this observation. Most of all, FJ1 established a proof-of-concept of the efficiency of phages to fight against ETEC in piglet intestinal cells.This study was mainly supported by the project Susphage, POCI-01–0247FEDER-033679, funded by FEDER through COMPETE 2020—Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalização (POCI). The work was also supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the strategic fund of UIDB/04469/2020 unit and BioTecNorte operation (NORTE-01–0145-FEDER-000004) funded by the European Regional Development Fund under the scope of Norte2020—Programa Operacional Regional do Norte; by the project PTDC/CVT-CVT/29628/2017 [POCI-01–0145-FEDER-029628]; and by the project PhagoVet, H2020-EIC-FTI-2018–2020 funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 820523. From Spain, this work was supported by the project PID2019-104439RB-C21/ AEI/10.13039/501100011033 from the Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI, Spain), co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund of the Euro‑ pean Union, a Way to Make Europe (ERDF). IG-M acknowledges the Xunta de Galicia for his post-doctoral grant ED481B-2021–006.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Marine sponge and octocoral-associated bacteria show versatile secondary metabolite biosynthesis potential and antimicrobial activities against human pathogens

Marine microbiomes are prolific sources of bioactive natural products of potential pharmaceutical value. This study inspected two culture collections comprising 919 host-associated marine bacteria belonging to 55 genera and several thus-far unclassified lineages to identify isolates with potentially rich secondary metabolism and antimicrobial activities. Seventy representative isolates had their genomes mined for secondary metabolite biosynthetic gene clusters (SM-BGCs) and were screened for antimicrobial activities against four pathogenic bacteria and five pathogenic Candida strains. In total, 466 SM-BGCs were identified, with antimicrobial peptide- and polyketide synthase-related SM-BGCs being frequently detected. Only 38 SM-BGCs had similarities greater than 70% to SM-BGCs encoding known compounds, highlighting the potential biosynthetic novelty encoded by these genomes. Cross-streak assays showed that 33 of the 70 genome-sequenced isolates were active against at least one Candida species, while 44 isolates showed activity against at least one bacterial pathogen. Taxon-specific differences in antimicrobial activity among isolates suggested distinct molecules involved in antagonism against bacterial versus Candida pathogens. The here reported culture collections and genome-sequenced isolates constitute a valuable resource of understudied marine bacteria displaying antimicrobial activities and potential for the biosynthesis of novel secondary metabolites, holding promise for a future sustainable production of marine drug leads.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio