Brazilian melon landraces resistant to Podosphaera xanthii are unique germplasm resources

"This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: [FULL CITE], which has been published in final form at [Link to final article using the DOI]. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving."[EN] Podosphaera xanthii is the most important causal agent of powdery mildew in melon, a crop ranked within the most economically important species worldwide. The best strategy to face this fungus disease, which causes important production losses, is the development of genetically resistant cultivars. Genetic breeding programmes require sources of resistance, and a few ones have been reported in melon, mostly in Momordica and Acidulus horticultural groups. However, the existence of many races that reduces the durability of the resistance makes necessary to find new resistant genotypes with different genetic backgrounds. In this work, Brazilian germplasm, together with a set of Indian landraces, and the COMAV¿s (Institute for the Conservation and Breeding of Agricultural Biodiversity) melon core collection, representing the whole variability of the species, were assessed for resistance against some common races in Spain and Brazil and genotyped with a 123-SNP (single nucleotide polymorphisms) genotyping platform to study the molecular relationships of the resistant accessions. In the first experiment, carried out in Valencia (Spain) in 2013, seventy-nine melon accessions were evaluated using artificial inoculation. Five accessions selected as resistant were also evaluated against races 1, 3, and 5 in Mossoró (Brazil, 2015) and against race 3.5 in Valencia (2016) under greenhouse conditions, and under four field conditions in Brazil. The accessions, AL-1, BA-3, CE-3, and RN-2, within the Brazilian collection, presented resistance against all the races of P. xanthii assayed in all conditions tested. AL-1, CE-3 and RN-2 were molecularly more similar to wild agrestis and Acidulus melons from Asia and Africa, while BA-3 grouped with Momordica types. Molecular analysis also confirmed that these new Brazilian sources of resistance differ from those previously reported, constituting interesting materials to encourage genetic breeding programmes, especially in Brazil and Spain.This work was supported by the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico (CNPq ( Processes: 485739/2013-5; 312315/2013-9) and CAPES-DPGU (294/2013) and by the projects funded by the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad AGL2014-53398-C2-1-R and AGL2014-53398-C2-2-R (jointly funded by FEDER). We also thank Sakata Seed Sudamerica Ltda for the inoculum source for the different P. xanthii races employed.Nunes, EWLP.; Esteras Gómez, C.; Ricarte, AO.; Martínez-Pérez, EM.; Gómez-Guillamon, ML.; Nunes, GHS.; Picó Sirvent, MB. (2017). Brazilian melon landraces resistant to Podosphaera xanthii are unique germplasm resources. Annals of Applied Biology. 171(2):214-228. https://doi.org/10.1111/aab.12370S214228171

Self-collected saliva for SARS-CoV-2 detection: A prospective study in the emergency room

Current diagnostic standards involve severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) detection in nasopharyngeal swabs (NPS), but saliva is an attractive and noninvasive option for diagnosis. The objectives were to determine the performance of saliva in comparison with NPS for detecting SARS-CoV-2 and to compare the optimized home brew reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) with a commercial RT-PCR. Paired NPS and saliva specimens were prospectively collected and tested by RT-PCR from patients presenting at an emergency room with signs and symptoms compatible with coronavirus disease-2019. A total of 348 samples from 174 patients were tested by RT-PCR assays. Among 174 patients with symptoms, 63 (36%) were SARS-CoV-2 positive in NPS using the optimized home-brew PCR. Of these 63 patients, 61 (98%) were also positive in saliva. An additional positive SARS-CoV-2 saliva was detected in a patient with pneumonia. Kappa Cohen´s coefficient agreement between NPS and saliva was 0.96 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.90?0.99). Median Ct values in NPS versus saliva were 18.88 (interquartile range [IQR], 15.60?23.58; range, 11.97?38.10) versus 26.10 (IQR, 22.75?30.06; range, 13.78?39.22), respectively (p <.0001). The optimized home-brew RT-PCR demonstrated higher analytical and clinical sensitivity compared with the commercial RT-PCR assay. A high sensitivity (98%) and agreement (kappa 0.96) in saliva samples compared to NPS was demonstrated when using an optimized home-brew PCR even when the viral load in saliva was lower than in NPS. This noninvasive sample is easy to collect, requires less consumable and avoids discomfort to patients. Importantly, self-collection of saliva can diminish exposure to healthcare personnel.Fil: Echavarría, Marcela Silvia. Centro de Educación Médica e Investigaciones Clínicas "Norberto Quirno"; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Reyes, Noelia Soledad. Centro de Educación Médica e Investigaciones Clínicas "Norberto Quirno"; ArgentinaFil: Rodriguez, Pamela Elizabeth. Centro de Educación Médica e Investigaciones Clínicas "Norberto Quirno"; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Ypas, Martin. Centro de Educación Médica e Investigaciones Clínicas "Norberto Quirno"; ArgentinaFil: Ricarte, Joaquina Carmen. Centro de Educación Médica e Investigaciones Clínicas "Norberto Quirno"; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Rodriguez, María P.. Centro de Educación Médica e Investigaciones Clínicas "Norberto Quirno"; ArgentinaFil: Pérez, Matías Gastón. Centro de Educación Médica e Investigaciones Clínicas "Norberto Quirno"; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Seoane, Alejandro. Centro de Educación Médica e Investigaciones Clínicas "Norberto Quirno"; ArgentinaFil: Martinez, Alfredo. Centro de Educación Médica e Investigaciones Clínicas "Norberto Quirno"; ArgentinaFil: Videla, Cristina Mónica. Centro de Educación Médica e Investigaciones Clínicas "Norberto Quirno"; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Stryjewski, Martin E.. Centro de Educación Médica e Investigaciones Clínicas "Norberto Quirno"; ArgentinaFil: Carballal, Guadalupe. Centro de Educación Médica e Investigaciones Clínicas "Norberto Quirno"; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Combined dark matter searches towards dwarf spheroidal galaxies with Fermi-LAT, HAWC, H.E.S.S., MAGIC, and VERITAS

Cosmological and astrophysical observations suggest that 85% of the total matter of the Universe is made of Dark Matter (DM). However, its nature remains one of the most challenging and fundamental open questions of particle physics. Assuming particle DM, this exotic form of matter cannot consist of Standard Model (SM) particles. Many models have been developed to attempt unraveling the nature of DM such as Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), the most favored particle candidates. WIMP annihilations and decay could produce SM particles which in turn hadronize and decay to give SM secondaries such as high energy \u1d6fe rays. In the framework of indirect DM search, observations of promising targets are used to search for signatures of DM annihilation. Among these, the dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSphs) are commonly favored owing to their expected high DM content and negligible astrophysical background. In this work, we present the very first combination of 20 dSph observations, performed by the Fermi-LAT, HAWC, H.E.S.S., MAGIC, and VERITAS collaborations in order to maximize the sensitivity of DM searches and improve the current results. We use a joint maximum likelihood approach combining each experiment’s individual analysis to derive more constraining upper limits on the WIMP DM self-annihilation cross-section as a function of DM particle mass. We present new DM constraints over the widest mass range ever reported, extending from 5 GeV to 100 TeV thanks to the combination of these five different \u1d6fe-ray instruments

First Sagittarius A* Event Horizon Telescope results. II. EHT and multiwavelength observations, data processing, and calibration

We present Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) 1.3 mm measurements of the radio source located at the position of the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), collected during the 2017 April 5–11 campaign. The observations were carried out with eight facilities at six locations across the globe. Novel calibration methods are employed to account for Sgr A*'s flux variability. The majority of the 1.3 mm emission arises from horizon scales, where intrinsic structural source variability is detected on timescales of minutes to hours. The effects of interstellar scattering on the image and its variability are found to be subdominant to intrinsic source structure. The calibrated visibility amplitudes, particularly the locations of the visibility minima, are broadly consistent with a blurred ring with a diameter of ∼50 μas, as determined in later works in this series. Contemporaneous multiwavelength monitoring of Sgr A* was performed at 22, 43, and 86 GHz and at near-infrared and X-ray wavelengths. Several X-ray flares from Sgr A* are detected by Chandra, one at low significance jointly with Swift on 2017 April 7 and the other at higher significance jointly with NuSTAR on 2017 April 11. The brighter April 11 flare is not observed simultaneously by the EHT but is followed by a significant increase in millimeter flux variability immediately after the X-ray outburst, indicating a likely connection in the emission physics near the event horizon. We compare Sgr A*'s broadband flux during the EHT campaign to its historical spectral energy distribution and find that both the quiescent emission and flare emission are consistent with its long-term behavior.http://iopscience.iop.org/2041-8205Physic

First Sagittarius A* Event Horizon Telescope Results. II. EHT and Multiwavelength Observations, Data Processing, and Calibration

We present Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) 1.3 mm measurements of the radio source located at the position of the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), collected during the 2017 April 5–11 campaign. The observations were carried out with eight facilities at six locations across the globe. Novel calibration methods are employed to account for Sgr A*'s flux variability. The majority of the 1.3 mm emission arises from horizon scales, where intrinsic structural source variability is detected on timescales of minutes to hours. The effects of interstellar scattering on the image and its variability are found to be subdominant to intrinsic source structure. The calibrated visibility amplitudes, particularly the locations of the visibility minima, are broadly consistent with a blurred ring with a diameter of ∼50 μas, as determined in later works in this series. Contemporaneous multiwavelength monitoring of Sgr A* was performed at 22, 43, and 86 GHz and at near-infrared and X-ray wavelengths. Several X-ray flares from Sgr A* are detected by Chandra, one at low significance jointly with Swift on 2017 April 7 and the other at higher significance jointly with NuSTAR on 2017 April 11. The brighter April 11 flare is not observed simultaneously by the EHT but is followed by a significant increase in millimeter flux variability immediately after the X-ray outburst, indicating a likely connection in the emission physics near the event horizon. We compare Sgr A*’s broadband flux during the EHT campaign to its historical spectral energy distribution and find that both the quiescent emission and flare emission are consistent with its long-term behavior

Effectiveness of three sampling methods to survey saproxylic beetle assemblages in Mediterranean woodland

The choice of sampling methods to survey saproxylic beetles is a key aspect to assessing conservation strategies for one of the most endangered assemblages in Europe. We evaluated the efficiency of three sampling methods: baited tube traps (TT), window traps in front of a hollow opening (WT), and emergence traps covering tree hollows (ET) to study richness and diversity of saproxylic beetle assemblages at species and family levels in Mediterranean woodlands. We also examined trap efficiency to report ecological diversity, and changes in the relative richness and abundance of species forming trophic guilds: xylophagous, saprophagous/saproxylophagous, xylomycetophagous, predators and commensals. WT and ET were similarly effective in reporting species richness and diversity at species and family levels, and provided an accurate profile of both the flying active and hollow-linked saproxylic beetle assemblages. WT and ET were the most complementary methods, together reporting more than 90 % of richness and diversity at both species and family levels. Diversity, richness and abundance of guilds were better characterized by ET, which indicates higher efficiency in outlining the ecological community of saproxylics that inhabit tree hollows. TT were the least effective method at both taxonomic levels, sampling a biased portion of the beetle assemblage attracted to trapping principles, however they could be used as a specific method for families such as Bostrichiidae, Biphyllidae, Melyridae, Mycetophagidae or Curculionidae Scolytinae species. Finally, ET and WT combination allows a better characterization of saproxylic assemblages in Mediterranean woodland, by recording species with different biology and linked to different microhabitat types.Research Projects CGL2008-04472, CGL2009-09656 and CGL2011-23658 of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, and LIFE-07/NAT/00762 of the European Commission LIFE-Nature

National records of 3000 European bee and hoverfly species: A contribution to pollinator conservation

Pollinators play a crucial role in ecosystems globally, ensuring the seed production of most flowering plants. They are threatened by global changes and knowledge of their distribution at the national and continental levels is needed to implement efficient conservation actions, but this knowledge is still fragmented and/or difficult to access. As a step forward, we provide an updated list of around 3000 European bee and hoverfly species, reflecting their current distributional status at the national level (in the form of present, absent, regionally extinct, possibly extinct or non-native). This work was attainable by incorporating both published and unpublished data, as well as knowledge from a large set of taxonomists and ecologists in both groups. After providing the first National species lists for bees and hoverflies for many countries, we examine the current distributional patterns of these species and designate the countries with highest levels of species richness. We also show that many species are recorded in a single European country, highlighting the importance of articulating European and national conservation strategies. Finally, we discuss how the data provided here can be combined with future trait and Red List data to implement research that will further advance pollinator conservation