Molecular study of drought response in the Mediterranean conifer Pinus Pinaster Ait. : differential transcriptomic profiling reveals constitutive water deficit‐independent drought tolerance mechanisms

Adaptation of long‐living forest trees to respond to environmental changes is essential to secure their performance under adverse conditions. Water deficit is one of the most significant stress factors determining tree growth and survival. Maritime pine (Pinus pinaster Ait.), the main source of softwood in southwestern Europe, is subjected to recurrent drought periods which, according to climate change predictions for the years to come, will progressively increase in the Mediterranean region. The mechanisms regulating pine adaptive responses to environment are still largely unknown. The aim of this work was to go a step further in understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying maritime pine response to water stress and drought tolerance at the whole plant level. A global transcriptomic profiling of roots, stems, and needles was conducted to analyze the performance of siblings showing contrasted responses to water deficit from an ad hoc designed full‐sib family. Although P. pinaster is considered a recalcitrant species for vegetative propagation in adult phase, the analysis was conducted using vegetatively propagated trees exposed to two treatments: well‐watered and moderate water stress. The comparative analyses led us to identify organ‐specific genes, constitutively expressed as well as differentially expressed when comparing control versus water stress conditions, in drought‐sensitive and drought‐tolerant genotypes. Different response strategies can point out, with tolerant individuals being pre‐adapted for coping with drought by constitutively expressing stress‐related genes that are detected only in latter stages on sensitive individuals subjected to drought

Dissecting the molecular responses potentially involved in the tolerance of two Ulmus minor

Experimento molecular que sugiere que la tolerancia de Ulmus minor a la grafiosis está relacionada a la expresión diferencial de algunos genes como aquellos relacionados con GO:000960

CD38 Defines a Subset of B Cells in Rainbow Trout Kidney With High IgM Secreting Capacities

Funding Information: This work was supported by the European Research Council (ERC Consolidator Grant 2016 725061 TEMUBLYM) and by the Comunidad de Madrid (grant 2016-T1/BIO-1672).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Dysregulation of B Cell Activity During Proliferative Kidney Disease in Rainbow Trout

This work was supported by the European Research Council (ERC Consolidator Grant 2016 725061 TEMUBLYM) and the European Commission under the H2020 Programme (Grant H2020-634429 ParaFishControl). IE was recipient of APOSTD/2016/037 grant by the “Generalitat Valenciana” and YH was recipient of a PhD Studentship from the Ministry of Education, Republic of China (Taiwan). JWH was supported by BBSRC grant BB/K009125/1 and SNSF grant CRSII3_147649-1. PDR was funded by grant T1-BIO-1672 from the “Comunidad de Madrid”.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Analysis of adaptive responses of Pinus pinaster to changing environmental conditions in the Mediterranean region

Recent climate evolution studies highlight the progressive temperature increase and prevalence of seasonal drought, with specially incidence in the Mediterranean region. Although conifers are very important species regarding forest conservation, sustainability and productivity, given the large forest surface they cover in Spain and their active role in preventing soil erosion and desertification, we know little about the molecular mechanisms which control adaptation in this ancient taxonomic grou

A molecular approach to drought-induced reduction in leaf CO2 exchange in drought-resistant Quercus ilex

Drought-induced reduction of leaf gas exchange entails a complex regulation of the plant leaf metabolism. We used a combined molecular and physiological approach to understand leaf photosynthetic and respiratory responses of 2-year-old Quercus ilex seedlings to drought. Mild drought stress resulted in glucose accumulation while net photosynthetic CO2 uptake (Pn) remained unchanged, suggesting a role of glucose in stress signaling and/or osmoregulation. Simple sugars and sugar alcohols increased throughout moderate-to-very severe drought stress conditions, in parallel to a progressive decline in Pn and the quantum efficiency of photosystem II; by contrast, minor changes occurred in respiration rates until drought stress was very severe. At very severe drought stress, 2-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase complex gene expression significantly decreased, and the abundance of most amino acids dramatically increased, especially that of proline and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) suggesting enhanced protection against oxidative damage and a reorganization of the tricarboxylic cycle acid cycle via the GABA shunt. Altogether, our results point to Q. ilex drought tolerance being linked to signaling and osmoregulation by hexoses during early stages of drought stress, and enhanced protection against oxidative damage by polyols and amino acids under severe drought stress.Funding was provided by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (AGL2012-35580 and AGL2015-66925-R MINECO/FEDER, UE). C. A. gratefully acknowledges support from FCT Investigator Programme (IF/00376/2012/CP0165/CT0003) by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT), Portugal, ITQB NOVA R&D GREEN-it ‘Bioresources for sustainability’ (UID/Multi/04551/2013), and LabMet Metabolomics Facility at CTBE (Campinas, Brazil) for GC-TOF-MS metabolite profiling services. A. M. R. acknowledges FCT for the PhD fellowship (PD/BD/114417/2016) and the ITQB NOVA International PhD Programme ‘Plants for Life’ (PD/00035/2013). O. K. A. acknowledges the support of the Australian Research Council (CE140100008). P. P. acknowledges funding from the People Programme (Marie Curie Actions) of the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under REA grant agreement n∘ PIEF-GA-2013-627761

Organic distributed feedback laser for label-free biosensing of ErbB2 protein biomarker

The human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (ErbB2) protein plays an important role in human malignancies. Its overexpression has been recognized as a feature of a malignant cancerous phenotype in breast cancer cell lines, and has become one of the most widely investigated clinical indicators of breast, ovarian, gastrointestinal and lung cancers. In this work a vertically emitting organic distributed feedback (DFB) laser has been used to detect the ErbB2 protein. This DFB laser consists of a polystyrene (PS) film containing a perylenediimide laser dye, deposited over a second-order one dimensional grating fabricated on fused silica by thermal-nanoimprint lithography and subsequent reactive ion etching processes. Specificity of the system to ErbB2 protein biomarker, achieved by functionalizing the PS with anti-ErbB2 monoclonal antibodies, is demonstrated. A concentration limit of detection for ErbB2 protein of 14 ng/mL has been obtained, and no cross-reactivity has been observed with bovine serum albumin (BSA) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) proteins. These findings open the possibility of using this type of biosensors in clinical applications.This work was supported by the Spanish Government (MINECO) and the European Community (FEDER) through grant no. MAT-2011–28167-C02. This work was partially funded by the Basque Government within the framework of the Etortek Program (Grant No. IE13-360). M. Morales-Vidal has been partly supported by a MINECO FPI fellowship (no. BES-2009-020747)

Organic distributed feedback laser for label-free biosensing of ErbB2 protein biomarker

The human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (ErbB2) protein plays an important role in human malignancies. Its overexpression has been recognized as a feature of a malignant cancerous phenotype in breast cancer cell lines, and has become one of the most widely investigated clinical indicators of breast, ovarian, gastrointestinal and lung cancers. In this work a vertically emitting organic distributed feedback (DFB) laser has been used to detect the ErbB2 protein. This DFB laser consists of a polystyrene (PS) film containing a perylenediimide laser dye, deposited over a second-order one dimensional grating fabricated on fused silica by thermal-nanoimprint lithography and subsequent reactive ion etching processes. Specificity of the system to ErbB2 protein biomarker, achieved by functionalizing the PS with anti-ErbB2 monoclonal antibodies, is demonstrated. A concentration limit of detection for ErbB2 protein of 14 ng/mL has been obtained, and no cross-reactivity has been observed with bovine serum albumin (BSA) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) proteins. These findings open the possibility of using this type of biosensors in clinical applications.This work was supported by the Spanish Government (MINECO) and the European Community (FEDER) through grant no. MAT-2011–28167-C02. This work was partially funded by the Basque Government within the framework of the Etortek Program (Grant No. IE13-360). M. Morales-Vidal has been partly supported by a MINECO FPI fellowship (no. BES-2009-020747)

Immunogenicity and efficacy of a novel multi-patch SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 vaccine candidate

23 Pág.While there has been considerable progress in the development of vaccines against SARS-CoV-2, largely based on the S (spike) protein of the virus, less progress has been made with vaccines delivering different viral antigens with cross-reactive potential.This research was supported by La Caixa Banking Foundation grant CF01-00008, Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MCIN)/Spanish Research Agency grant PID2020-117425RB-C22, Fondo COVID-19 grant COV20/00151 (Spanish Health Ministry and Instituto de Salud Carlos III), CSIC grant 2020E84 and Ferrovial donations (to ME). AcknowledgmentsPeer reviewe

C3G promotes a selective release of angiogenic factors from activated mouse platelets to regulate angiogenesis and tumor metastasis

[EN]Previous observations indicated that C3G (RAPGEF1) promotes α-granule release, evidenced by the increase in P-selectin exposure on the platelet surface following its activation. The goal of the present study is to further characterize the potential function of C3G as a modulator of the platelet releasate and its implication in the regulation of angiogenesis. Proteomic analysis revealed a decreased secretion of anti-angiogenic factors from activated transgenic C3G and C3GΔCat platelets. Accordingly, the secretome from both transgenic platelets had an overall pro-angiogenic effect as evidenced by an in vitro capillary-tube formation assay with HUVECs (human umbilical vein endothelial cells) and by two in vivo models of heterotopic tumor growth. In addition, transgenic C3G expression in platelets greatly increased mouse melanoma cells metastasis. Moreover, immunofluorescence microscopy showed that the pro-angiogenic factors VEGF and bFGF were partially retained into α-granules in thrombin- and ADP-activated mouse platelets from both, C3G and C3GΔCat transgenic mice. The observed interaction between C3G and Vesicle-associated membrane protein (Vamp)-7 could explain these results. Concomitantly, increased platelet spreading in both transgenic platelets upon thrombin activation supports this novel function of C3G in α-granule exocytosis. Collectively, our data point out to the co-existence of Rap1GEF-dependent and independent mechanisms mediating C3G effects on platelet secretion, which regulates pathological angiogenesis in tumors and other contexts. The results herein support an important role for platelet C3G in angiogenesis and metastasis