Transcriptional response to lactic acid stress in the hybrid yeast Zygosaccharomyces parabailii

Lactic acid has a wide range of applications starting from its undissociated form, and its production using cell factories requires stress-tolerant microbial hosts. The interspecies hybrid yeast Zygosaccharomyces parabailii has great potential to be exploited as a novel host for lactic acid production, due to high organic acid tolerance at low pH, and a fermentative metabolism with a fast growth rate. Here we used RNA-seq to analyze Z. parabailii's transcriptional response to lactic acid added exogenously, and we explore the biological mechanisms involved in tolerance. Z. parabailii contains two homeologous copies of most genes. Under lactic acid stress, the two genes in each homeolog pair tend to diverge in expression to a significantly greater extent than in control conditions, indicating that stress tolerance is facilitated by interactions between the two gene sets in the hybrid. Lactic acid induces downregulation of genes related to cell wall and plasma membrane functions, possibly altering the rate of diffusion of lactic acid into cells. Genes related to iron transport and redox processes were upregulated, suggesting an important role for respiratory functions and oxidative stress defense. We found differences in the expression profiles of genes putatively regulated by Haa1 and Aft1/2, previously described as lactic acid-responsive in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Furthermore, formate dehydrogenase (FDH) genes form a lactic acid-responsive gene family that has been specifically amplified in Z. parabailii as compared to other closely related species. Our study provides a useful starting point for the engineering of Z. parabailii as a host for lactic acid production.Importance Hybrid yeasts are important in biotechnology because of their tolerance to harsh industrial conditions. The molecular mechanisms of tolerance can be studied by analyzing differential gene expression in conditions of interest, and relating gene expression patterns to protein functions. However, hybrid organisms present a challenge to the standard use of mRNA sequencing (RNA-seq) to study transcriptional responses to stress, because their genomes contain two similar copies of almost every gene. Here we used stringent mapping methods and a high-quality genome sequence to study the transcriptional response to lactic acid stress in Zygosaccharomyces parabailii ATCC60483, a natural interspecies hybrid yeast that contains two complete subgenomes that are approximately 7% divergent in sequence. Beyond the insights we gained into lactic acid tolerance in this study, the methods we developed will be broadly applicable to other yeast hybrid strains

Altered brain responses to specific negative emotions in schizophrenia

Esquizofrènia; Estímuls escènics; fMRIEsquizofrenia; Estímulos escénicos; fMRISchizophrenia; Scenic stimuli; fMRIDeficits in emotion processing are a core feature of schizophrenia, but their neurobiological bases are poorly understood. Previous research, mainly focused on emotional face processing and emotion recognition deficits, has shown controverted results. Furthermore, the use of faces has been questioned for not entailing an appropriate stimulus to study emotional processing. This highlights the importance of investigating emotional processing abnormalities using evocative stimuli. For the first time, we have studied the brain responses to scenic stimuli in patients with schizophrenia. We selected scenes from the IAPS that elicit fear, disgust, happiness, and sadness. Twenty-six patients with schizophrenia and thirty age-, sex- and premorbid IQ-matched healthy controls were included. Behavioral task results show that patients tended to misclassify disgust and sadness as fear. Brain responses in patients were different from controls in images eliciting disgust and fear. In response to disgust images, patients hyperactivated the right temporal cortex, which was not activated by the controls. With fear images, hyperactivation was observed in brain regions involved in fear processing, including midline regions from the medial frontal cortex to the anterior cingulate cortex, the superior frontal gyrus, inferior and superior temporal cortex, and visual areas. These results suggest that schizophrenia is characterized by hyper-responsivity to stimuli evoking high-arousal, negative emotions, and a bias towards fear in emotion recognition

Gravidez ectópica em cicatriz de cesárea: relato de caso e revisão da literatura. Hospital Simón Bolívar, subrede norte Bogotá, Colômbia

Ectopic pregnancy is defined as the implantation of the gestational sac outside the uterus and it represents 3 % of all pregnancies. The most frequent anatomical location is in the uterine tube, where it occurs in 95 % of the cases, thus leaving 5 % to other locations such as the ovary, the abdominal cavity, the cervix and a previous uterine scar. The case is relevant because of its low prevalence and because of the ultrasound findings, the possible therapeutic options for the patient, and the intraoperative findings. A literature review was carried out, using databases such as PubMed, Medline and Science Direct, in order to evaluate and analyze the state of the art of this pathological condition. Here, we present the case of a patient with a 7-week pregnancy located at the cervical isthmus level by ultrasound, initially treated conservatively with systemic Methotrexate (MTX), with no response to the treatment, and therefore she required surgical intervention and preservation of fertility. An updated review of the subject is carried out with the different therapeutic approaches.El embarazo ectópico se define como la implantación del saco gestacional fuera del útero y representa el 3 % de todos los embarazos. La ubicación anatómica más frecuente es en la trompa uterina, en donde se presenta en un 95 %, dejando así un 5 % a otras localizaciones como el ovario, la cavidad abdominal, cervicouterina y cicatriz uterina previa. El caso es relevante por su baja prevalencia y por los hallazgos ecográficos, las posibles opciones terapéuticas para la paciente y los hallazgos intraoperatorios. Se realizó una revisión de la literatura, utilizando bases de datos como PubMed, Medline y Science Direct, con el fin de evaluar y analizar el estado del arte de esta condición patológica. Presentamos el caso de una paciente con un embarazo de 7 semanas localizado a nivel ístmico cervical por ecografía, inicialmente tratada de manera conservadora con Metotrexato (MTX) sistémico, sin respuesta al tratamiento, por lo cual requirió intervención quirúrgica y preservación de la fertilidad. Se realiza una revisión actualizada del tema con los diferentes enfoques terapéuticos.A gravidez ectópica é definida como a implantação do saco gestacional fora do útero e representa 3 % de todas as gestações. A localização anatômica mais frequente é na trompa uterina, onde é apresentada em 95 %, deixando assim 5 % a outras localizações, como ovário, cavidade abdominal, cervicouterina e cicatriz uterina prévia. O caso é relevante por sua baixa prevalência e pelos achados ecográficos, as possíveis opções terapêuticas para a paciente e os achados intraoperatórios. Foi realizada uma revisão da literatura com a utilização de bases de dados como PubMed, Medline e Science Direct, a fim de avaliar e analisar o estado da arte dessa condição patológica. Apresentamos o caso de uma paciente com uma gravidez de sete semanas localizada no nível istmo cervical por ecografia, inicialmente tratada de maneira conservadora com metotrexato (MTX) sistêmico, sem resposta ao tratamento, razão pela qual requiriu intervenção cirúrgica e preservação da fertilidade. Foi realizada uma revisão atualizada do tema com diferentes abordagens terapêuticas

Analytic structure factors and pair-correlation functions for the unpolarized homogeneous electron gas

We propose a simple and accurate model for the electron static structure factors (and corresponding pair-correlation functions) of the 3D unpolarized homogeneous electron gas. Our spin-resolved pair-correlation function is built up with a combination of analytic constraints and fitting procedures to quantum Monte Carlo data, and, in comparison to previous attempts (i) fulfills more known integral and differential properties of the exact pair-correlation function, (ii) is analytic both in real and in reciprocal space, and (iii) accurately interpolates the newest, extensive diffusion-Monte Carlo data of Ortiz, Harris and Ballone [Phys. Rev. Lett. 82, 5317 (1999)]. This can be of interest for the study of electron correlations of real materials and for the construction of new exchange and correlation energy density functionals.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Neotropical termite microbiomes as sources of novel plant cell wall degrading enzymes

In this study, we used shotgun metagenomic sequencing to characterise the microbial metabolic potential for lignocellulose transformation in the gut of two colonies of Argentine higher termite species with different feeding habits, Cortaritermes fulviceps and Nasutitermes aquilinus. Our goal was to assess the microbial community compositions and metabolic capacity, and to identify genes involved in lignocellulose degradation. Individuals from both termite species contained the same five dominant bacterial phyla (Spirochaetes, Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, Fibrobacteres and Bacteroidetes) although with different relative abundances. However, detected functional capacity varied, with C. fulviceps (a grass-wood-feeder) gut microbiome samples containing more genes related to amino acid metabolism, whereas N. aquilinus (a wood-feeder) gut microbiome samples were enriched in genes involved in carbohydrate metabolism and cellulose degradation. The C. fulviceps gut microbiome was enriched specifically in genes coding for debranching- and oligosaccharide-degrading enzymes. These findings suggest an association between the primary food source and the predicted categories of the enzymes present in the gut microbiomes of each species. To further investigate the termite microbiomes as sources of biotechnologically relevant glycosyl hydrolases, a putative GH10 endo-β-1,4-xylanase, Xyl10E, was cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli. Functional analysis of the recombinant metagenome-derived enzyme showed high specificity towards beechwood xylan (288.1 IU/mg), with the optimum activity at 50 °C and a pH-activity range from 5 to 10. These characteristics suggest that Xy110E may be a promising candidate for further development in lignocellulose deconstruction applications.Fil: Romero Victorica, Matias. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología y Biología Molecular. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología y Biología Molecular; ArgentinaFil: Soria, Marcelo Abel. 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: Batista García, Ramón Alberto. Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos.; MéxicoFil: Ceja Navarro, Javier A.. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; Estados UnidosFil: Vikram, Surendra. University of the Witwatersrand; SudáfricaFil: Ortiz, Maximiliano. University of Pretoria; SudáfricaFil: Ontañon, Ornella Mailén. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología y Biología Molecular. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología y Biología Molecular; ArgentinaFil: Ghio, Silvina. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología y Biología Molecular. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología y Biología Molecular; ArgentinaFil: Martínez Ávila, Liliana. Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos.; MéxicoFil: Quintero García, Omar Jasiel. Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos.; MéxicoFil: Etcheverry, Clara. Universidad Nacional del Nordeste. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Naturales y Agrimensura. Departamento de Biología. Cátedra Biología de los Invertebrados; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Campos, Eleonora. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología y Biología Molecular. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología y Biología Molecular; ArgentinaFil: Cowan, Donald Arthur. University of Pretoria; SudáfricaFil: Arneodo Larochette, Joel Demián. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología y Biología Molecular. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología y Biología Molecular; ArgentinaFil: Talia, Paola Monica. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología y Biología Molecular. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología y Biología Molecular; Argentin

Actions to strengthen the contribution of small farms and small food businesses to food security in Europe

This study stems from a participatory foresight exercise conducted in nine Mediterranean, Baltic, Nordic and Eastern European regions, aiming to strengthen the role of small farms and small food businesses in ensuring food security. A wide range of stakeholders participated by attending workshops. They represented farmers’ organisations, food businesses, consumers’ organisations, NGOs, researchers, extension services, professional groups, and administration and public bodies. The actions proposed by participants are scanned and categorised around six broad objectives, stakeholders’ priorities and their underlying beliefs and preconceptions are discussed around the current debates of the literature, and the drivers that influence the feasibility of the proposed actions are discussed. Furthermore, the alignment of stakeholders’ -driven objectives with the European Strategies on food, agriculture, and rural areas is examined, with a focus on: (i) the EU Farm to Fork Strategy, (ii) the Rural Action Plan contained in the Long-Term Vision of Rural Areas developed by the EU Commission, and (iii) the Common Agricultural Policy in force since January 2023

Genomic comparison of Trypanosoma conorhini and Trypanosoma rangeli to Trypanosoma cruzi strains of high and low virulence

Abstract Background Trypanosoma conorhini and Trypanosoma rangeli, like Trypanosoma cruzi, are kinetoplastid protist parasites of mammals displaying divergent hosts, geographic ranges and lifestyles. Largely nonpathogenic T. rangeli and T. conorhini represent clades that are phylogenetically closely related to the T. cruzi and T. cruzi-like taxa and provide insights into the evolution of pathogenicity in those parasites. T. rangeli, like T. cruzi is endemic in many Latin American countries, whereas T. conorhini is tropicopolitan. T. rangeli and T. conorhini are exclusively extracellular, while T. cruzi has an intracellular stage in the mammalian host. Results Here we provide the first comprehensive sequence analysis of T. rangeli AM80 and T. conorhini 025E, and provide a comparison of their genomes to those of T. cruzi G and T. cruzi CL, respectively members of T. cruzi lineages TcI and TcVI. We report de novo assembled genome sequences of the low-virulent T. cruzi G, T. rangeli AM80, and T. conorhini 025E ranging from ~ 21–25 Mbp, with ~ 10,000 to 13,000 genes, and for the highly virulent and hybrid T. cruzi CL we present a ~ 65 Mbp in-house assembled haplotyped genome with ~ 12,500 genes per haplotype. Single copy orthologs of the two T. cruzi strains exhibited ~ 97% amino acid identity, and ~ 78% identity to proteins of T. rangeli or T. conorhini. Proteins of the latter two organisms exhibited ~ 84% identity. T. cruzi CL exhibited the highest heterozygosity. T. rangeli and T. conorhini displayed greater metabolic capabilities for utilization of complex carbohydrates, and contained fewer retrotransposons and multigene family copies, i.e. trans-sialidases, mucins, DGF-1, and MASP, compared to T. cruzi. Conclusions Our analyses of the T. rangeli and T. conorhini genomes closely reflected their phylogenetic proximity to the T. cruzi clade, and were largely consistent with their divergent life cycles. Our results provide a greater context for understanding the life cycles, host range expansion, immunity evasion, and pathogenesis of these trypanosomatids

Neotropical termite microbiomes as sources of novel plant cell wall degrading enzymes

In this study, we used shotgun metagenomic sequencing to characterise the microbial metabolic potential for lignocellulose transformation in the gut of two colonies of Argentine higher termite species with different feeding habits, Cortaritermes fulviceps and Nasutitermes aquilinus. Our goal was to assess the microbial community compositions and metabolic capacity, and to identify genes involved in lignocellulose degradation. Individuals from both termite species contained the same five dominant bacterial phyla (Spirochaetes, Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, Fibrobacteres and Bacteroidetes) although with different relative abundances. However, detected functional capacity varied, with C. fulviceps (a grass-wood-feeder) gut microbiome samples containing more genes related to amino acid metabolism, whereas N. aquilinus (a wood-feeder) gut microbiome samples were enriched in genes involved in carbohydrate metabolism and cellulose degradation. The C. fulviceps gut microbiome was enriched specifically in genes coding for debranching- and oligosaccharide-degrading enzymes. These findings suggest an association between the primary food source and the predicted categories of the enzymes present in the gut microbiomes of each species. To further investigate the termite microbiomes as sources of biotechnologically relevant glycosyl hydrolases, a putative GH10 endo-β-1,4- xylanase, Xyl10E, was cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli. Functional analysis of the recombinant metagenome-derived enzyme showed high specificity towards beechwood xylan (288.1 IU/mg), with the optimum activity at 50 °C and a pH-activity range from 5 to 10. These characteristics suggest that Xy110E may be a promising candidate for further development in lignocellulose deconstruction applications.CONICET Fellowships, the Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA), Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica (ANPCyT) Proyectos de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica (PICT), Conacyt and the Conacyt Fellowships.http://www.nature.com/srepam2021BiochemistryGeneticsMicrobiology and Plant Patholog