Bryo-Activities: A Review on How Bryophytes Are Contributing to the Arsenal of Natural Bioactive Compounds against Fungi

Usually regarded as less evolved than their more recently diverged vascular sisters, which currently dominate vegetation landscape, bryophytes seem having nothing to envy to the defensive arsenal of other plants, since they had acquired a suite of chemical traits that allowed them to adapt and persist on land. In fact, these closest modern relatives of the ancestors to the earliest terrestrial plants proved to be marvelous chemists, as they traditionally were a popular remedy among tribal people all over the world, that exploit their pharmacological properties to cure the most different diseases. The phytochemistry of bryophytes exhibits a stunning assortment of biologically active compounds such as lipids, proteins, steroids, organic acids, alcohols, aliphatic and aromatic compounds, polyphenols, terpenoids, acetogenins and phenylquinones, thus it is not surprising that substances obtained from various species belonging to such ancestral plants are widely employed as antitumor, antipyretic, insecticidal and antimicrobial. This review explores in particular the antifungal potential of the three Bryophyta divisions\u2014mosses (Musci), hornworts (Anthocerotae) and liverworts (Hepaticae)\u2014to be used as a sources of interesting bioactive constituents for both pharmaceutical and agricultural areas, providing an updated overview of the latest relevant insights

Leaf proteome modulation and cytological features of seagrass Cymodocea nodosa in response to long-term high CO2 exposure in volcanic vents

Seagrass Cymodocea nodosa was sampled off the Vulcano island, in the vicinity of a submarine volcanic vent. Leaf samples were collected from plants growing in a naturally acidified site, influenced by the long-term exposure to high CO2 emissions, and compared with others collected in a nearby meadow living at normal pCO(2) conditions. The differential accumulated proteins in leaves growing in the two contrasting pCO(2) environments was investigated. Acidified leaf tissues had less total protein content and the semi-quantitative proteomic comparison revealed a strong general depletion of proteins belonging to the carbon metabolism and protein metabolism. A very large accumulation of proteins related to the cell respiration and to light harvesting process was found in acidified leaves in comparison with those growing in the normal pCO(2) site. The metabolic pathways linked to cytoskeleton turnover also seemed affected by the acidified condition, since a strong reduction in the concentration of cytoskeleton structural proteins was found in comparison with the normal pCO(2) leaves. Results coming from the comparative proteomics were validated by the histological and cytological measurements, suggesting that the long lasting exposure and acclimation of C. nodosa to the vents involved phenotypic adjustments that can offer physiological and structural tools to survive the suboptimal conditions at the vents vicinity

The modulation of leaf metabolism plays a role in salt tolerance of Cymodocea nodosa exposed to hypersaline stress in mesocosms

Applying proteomics, we tested the physiological responses of the euryhaline seagrass Cymodocea nodosa to deliberate manipulation of salinity in a mesocosm system. Plants were subjected to a chronic hypersaline condition (43 psu) to compare protein expression and plant photochemistry responses after 15 and 30 days of exposure with those of plants cultured under normal/ambient saline conditions (37 psu). Results showed a general decline in the expression level of leaf proteins in hypersaline stressed plants, with more intense reductions after long-lasting exposure. Specifically, the carbon-fixing enzyme RuBisCo displayed a lower accumulation level in stressed plants relative to controls. In contrast, the key enzymes involved in the regulation of glycolysis, cytosolic glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, enolase 2 and triose-phosphate isomerase, showed significantly higher accumulation levels. These responses suggested a shift in carbon metabolism in stressed plants. Hypersaline stress also induced a significant alteration of the photosynthetic physiology of C. nodosa by means of a downregulation in structural proteins and enzymes of both PSII and PSI. However we found an over-expression of the cytochrome b559 alpha subunit of the PSII initial complex, which is a receptor for the PSII core proteins involved in biogenesis or repair processes and therefore potentially involved in the absence of effects at the photochemical level of stressed plants. As expected hypersalinity also affects vacuolar metabolism by increasing the leaf cell turgor pressure and enhancing the up-take of Na+ by overaccumulating the tonoplast specific intrinsic protein pyrophosphate-energized inorganic pyrophosphatase (H(+)-PPase) coupled to the Na+/H+-antiporter. The modulation of carbon metabolism and the enhancement of vacuole capacity in Na+ sequestration and osmolarity changes are discussed in relation to salt tolerance of C. nodosa.Postprin

Experimental simulation of environmental warming selects against pigmented morphs of land snails

H-R.K. and R.T. were gratefully hosted by INRA-PACA, Avignon, France, during the time of fieldwork in 2017. We gratefully acknowledge assistance in the field and with the open-top chamber experiments by Nik Triebskorn and Tim Triebskorn. The 35 field sites were sampled within the 2018 European Theba survey initiated by H-R.K and Thomas Knigge, Le Havre University, France. We also thank Menno Schilthuizen, Leiden University, the Netherlands, and another anonymous reviewer for constructive remarks on a previous manuscript version. Open access funding enabled and organized by ProjektDEAL.In terrestrial snails, thermal selection acts on shell coloration. However, the biological relevance of small differences in the intensity of shell pigmentation and the associated thermodynamic, physiological, and evolutionary consequences for snail diversity within the course of environmental warming are still insufficiently understood. To relate temperature‐driven internal heating, protein and membrane integrity impairment, escape behavior, place of residence selection, water loss, and mortality, we used experimentally warmed open‐top chambers and field observations with a total of >11,000 naturally or experimentally colored individuals of the highly polymorphic species Theba pisana (O.F. MÜLLER, 1774). We show that solar radiation in their natural Mediterranean habitat in Southern France poses intensifying thermal stress on increasingly pigmented snails that cannot be compensated for by behavioral responses. Individuals of all morphs acted neither jointly nor actively competed in climbing behavior, but acted similarly regardless of neighbor pigmentation intensity. Consequently, dark morphs progressively suffered from high internal temperatures, oxidative stress, and a breakdown of the chaperone system. Concomitant with increasing water loss, mortality increased with more intense pigmentation under simulated global warming conditions. In parallel with an increase in mean ambient temperature of 1.34°C over the past 30 years, the mortality rate of pigmented individuals in the field is, currently, about 50% higher than that of white morphs. A further increase of 1.12°C, as experimentally simulated in our study, would elevate this rate by another 26%. For 34 T. pisana populations from locations that are up to 2.7°C warmer than our experimental site, we show that both the frequency of pigmented morphs and overall pigmentation intensity decrease with an increase in average summer temperatures. We therefore predict a continuing strong decline in the frequency of pigmented morphs and a decrease in overall pigmentation intensity with ongoing global change in areas with strong solar radiation.ProjektDEA

Comunicación preliminar: Referencia a la Función Paterna en la caracterización psicoanalítica de las llamadas “presentaciones actuales” del padecimiento subjetivo

Este artículo presenta un proyecto de investigación que pretende contribuir a revisar y ampliar las bases teóricas del psicoanálisis como herramienta clínica para el abordaje del padecimiento subjetivo propio de nuestra época, indagando el papel atribuido en teorizaciones recientes a vicisitudes de la Función Paterna para dar cuenta de las llamadas “presentaciones clínicas actuales”. Durante las últimas décadas se han producido vertiginosos cambios en los modos de organización social y familiar de nuestra sociedad occidental, numerosos autores de distintas disciplinas vinculan estos cambios con nuevas presentaciones del malestar. En esta investigación nos proponemos realizar una indagación -bibliográfica pero también clínica- de las posiciones teóricas psicoanalíticas que intentan dar razón de las llamadas “presentaciones clínicas actuales” refiriéndolas a características de la época, tomando como eje de lectura el papel atribuido a la Función Paterna. Intentaremos ordenar y sistematizar las diversas posiciones existentes, y elucidar su incidencia tanto en la transmisión de la teoría psicoanalítica como en la práctica clínica. Este proyecto, basado en una metodología de análisis y comparación de textos (con la inclusión problemática de los “textos clínicos”), recorrerá una primera fase exploratoria, para luego intentar otra correlacional, de la que espera obtener conclusiones útiles para pensar la teoría y la clínica psicoanalíticas.This paper presents a research project that aims to contribute to expand the theoretical foundations of psychoanalysis as clinical tool for dealing with the subjective suffering of our own time, by investigating the role that recent theories attributed to vicissitudes of fatherly role for explain the so-called "present clinical presentations". During last decades there have been rapid changes in modes of social organization and family of our western society. Many authors of different disciplines link these changes with new presentations of discomfort. In this research we plan to undertake an inquiry -bibliographic but also clinical- of psychoanalytic theoretical positions that try to give a reason for the "present clinical presentations" referring it to actual characteristics of the time, by taking as an axis for reading the role attributed to the parental role. We will try to sort and systematize the various positions, and elucidate their impact on transmission of psychoanalytical theory as in clinical practice. This project, based on a methodology for analysis and comparison of texts (with the problematic inclusion of "clinical texts"), will travel a first exploratory phase, and then seek another correlational, which expects to obtain useful conclusions for thinking about the theory and the psychoanalytic clinic

Preliminary Communication: Reference to the Paternal Function in psychoanalytic characterization of the so-called "current presentations" of the subjective condition

Este artículo presenta un proyecto de investigación que pretende contribuir a revisar y ampliar las bases teóricas del psicoanálisis como herramienta clínica para el abordaje del padecimiento subjetivo propio de nuestra época, indagando el papel atribuido en teorizaciones recientes a vicisitudes de la Función Paterna para dar cuenta de las llamadas “presentaciones clínicas actuales”. Durante las últimas décadas se produjeron vertiginosos cambios en los modos de organización social y familiar de nuestra sociedad occidental, numerosos autores de distintas disciplinas vinculan estos cambios con nuevas presentaciones del malestar. En esta investigación nos proponemos realizar una indagación -bibliográfica pero también clínica- de las posiciones teóricas psicoanalíticas que intentan dar razón de las llamadas “presentaciones clínicas actuales” refiriéndolas a características de la época, tomando como eje de lectura el papel atribuido a la Función Paterna. Intentaremos ordenar y sistematizar las diversas posiciones existentes y elucidar su incidencia, tanto en la transmisión de la teoría psicoanalítica como en la práctica clínica. Este proyecto, basado en una metodología de análisis y comparación de textos (con la inclusión problemática de los “textos clínicos”) recorrerá una primera fase exploratoria, para luego intentar otra correlacional, de la que espera obtener conclusiones útiles para pensar la teoría y la clínica psicoanalíticas.This paper presents a research project that aims to contribute to expand the theoretical foundations of psychoanalysis as clinical tool for dealing with the subjective suffering of our own time, by investigating the role that recent theories attributed to vicissitudes of fatherly role for explain the so-called "present clinical presentations". During last decades there have been rapid changes in modes of social organization and family of our western society. Many authors of different disciplines link these changes with new presentations of discomfort. In this research we plan to undertake an inquiry -bibliographic but also clinical- of psychoanalytic theoretical positions that try to give a reason for the "present clinical presentations" referring it to actual characteristics of the time, by taking as an axis for reading the role attributed to the parental role. We will try to sort and systematize the various positions, and elucidate their impact on transmission of psychoanalytical theory as in clinical practice. This project, based on a methodology for analysis and comparison of texts (with the problematic inclusion of "clinical texts"), will travel a first exploratory phase, and then seek another correlational, which expects to obtain useful conclusions for thinking about the theory and the psychoanalytic clinic.Facultad de Psicologí

Preliminary Communication: Reference to the Paternal Function in psychoanalytic characterization of the so-called "current presentations" of the subjective condition

Este artículo presenta un proyecto de investigación que pretende contribuir a revisar y ampliar las bases teóricas del psicoanálisis como herramienta clínica para el abordaje del padecimiento subjetivo propio de nuestra época, indagando el papel atribuido en teorizaciones recientes a vicisitudes de la Función Paterna para dar cuenta de las llamadas “presentaciones clínicas actuales”. Durante las últimas décadas se produjeron vertiginosos cambios en los modos de organización social y familiar de nuestra sociedad occidental, numerosos autores de distintas disciplinas vinculan estos cambios con nuevas presentaciones del malestar. En esta investigación nos proponemos realizar una indagación -bibliográfica pero también clínica- de las posiciones teóricas psicoanalíticas que intentan dar razón de las llamadas “presentaciones clínicas actuales” refiriéndolas a características de la época, tomando como eje de lectura el papel atribuido a la Función Paterna. Intentaremos ordenar y sistematizar las diversas posiciones existentes y elucidar su incidencia, tanto en la transmisión de la teoría psicoanalítica como en la práctica clínica. Este proyecto, basado en una metodología de análisis y comparación de textos (con la inclusión problemática de los “textos clínicos”) recorrerá una primera fase exploratoria, para luego intentar otra correlacional, de la que espera obtener conclusiones útiles para pensar la teoría y la clínica psicoanalíticas.This paper presents a research project that aims to contribute to expand the theoretical foundations of psychoanalysis as clinical tool for dealing with the subjective suffering of our own time, by investigating the role that recent theories attributed to vicissitudes of fatherly role for explain the so-called "present clinical presentations". During last decades there have been rapid changes in modes of social organization and family of our western society. Many authors of different disciplines link these changes with new presentations of discomfort. In this research we plan to undertake an inquiry -bibliographic but also clinical- of psychoanalytic theoretical positions that try to give a reason for the "present clinical presentations" referring it to actual characteristics of the time, by taking as an axis for reading the role attributed to the parental role. We will try to sort and systematize the various positions, and elucidate their impact on transmission of psychoanalytical theory as in clinical practice. This project, based on a methodology for analysis and comparison of texts (with the problematic inclusion of "clinical texts"), will travel a first exploratory phase, and then seek another correlational, which expects to obtain useful conclusions for thinking about the theory and the psychoanalytic clinic.Facultad de Psicologí

Leaf proteomics of seagrasses under light conditions and salinity

Dottorato di Ricerca in Biologia Vegetale, Ciclo XXVI SSD, a.a.2013Le fanerogame marine, nel nostro studio limitate alle seagrasses, si sono adattate per occupare vaste estensioni dei fondi litorali e hanno dovuto sviluppare diversi adattamenti per poter vivere completamente sommerse. Le seagrasses non possono crescere in profondità dove non arriva almeno il 10% della luce in superficie, per questo si situano sempre sul piano infralitorale. In acque molto chiare, possono essere presenti fino a 70 m di profondità, però in mari con acque più torbide non superano i 15-20 m. Per tutte queste ragioni, queste formazioni vegetali sommerse rivestono un importante ruolo nella biologia e nella dinamica costiera. Posidonia oceanica è una specie esclusiva del mar Mediterraneo. Mentre Cymodocea nodosa è, dopo Posidonia oceanica, la seconda seagrass del Mediterraneo per estensione delle sue praterie ed è una specie di origine tropicale, attualmente ambientata nel Mediterraneo e nell’Atlantico nordorientale, dal sud del Portogallo fino al Senegal, includendo le isole Canarie. Rispetto a P.oceanica presenta una maggiore tolleranza agli aumenti di salinità. In questo lavoro è stata analizzata l’espressione proteica in Posidonia oceanica e Cymodocea nodosa sottoposte a diversi regimi luminosi e concentrazioni saline. L’analisi ha riguardato specificamente il proteoma foliare e il sub-proteoma del cloroplasto, attraverso l’estrazione delle proteine, separazione elettroforetica, analisi delle sequenze in spettrometria di massa e identificazione proteica con software bioinformatici. L’approccio proteomico così strutturato ha consentito di rilevare proteine differenzialmente espresse in popolazioni naturali adattate a tre diverse profondità. I risultati più evidenti riguardano proteine enzimatiche correlate al sistema fotosintetico PSII che risulta maggiormente espresso nelle praterie a 30 m di profondità alle 13:00, ora di massima disponibilità di luce. Altro dato rilevante è l’aumento dell’espressione degli enzimi del pathways metabolici che portano alla biosintesi di ATP, fotosfosforilazione cloroplastica e fosforilazione ossidativa mitocondriale. Sempre alla profondità di 30 m e alle 13:00, risultano overespressi gli enzimi del ciclo di Calvin-Benson rispetto ai livelli riscontrati nelle altre due profondità alla stesso tempo. Risultano invece poco espressi gli enzimi correlati alla glicolisi che raggiungono livelli molto elevati di espressione nel controllo, ossia alla profondità di 30 m nelle prime ore del mattino; anche le proteine correlate al PSI sono poco espresse in funzione delle profondità e raggiungono il minimo della loro espressione a 30 m nelle ore di massima illuminazione (13:00). Dato interessante e in apparente contraddizione con i dati di espressione dei gruppi funzionali correlati al processo fotosintetico, e la diminuzione dei livelli di espressione degli enzimi della via biosintetica delle clorofilla (a, b) alla profondità di 30 m associabili alla down-regolazione del fotosistema PSI. L’analisi delle proteine organellari ha consentito di creare un primo catalogo di proteine cloroplastiche di P. oceanica attraverso analisi dell’omologia di sequenza di proteine cloroplastiche di Arabidopsis e la loro localizzazione nei tre comparti sub-organellari (AT_CHLORO DATABASE). I cloroplasti intatti di P. oceanica sono stati ottenuti in accordo con quanto riportato in Rolland et al. 2003. Sono state identificate 74 proteine a cui è stata assegnata una diversa localizzazione e un numero di accesso corrispondente al database utilizzato. Il maggior numero di proteine identificate sono localizzate nei tilacoidi e nello stroma, mentre un numero minore di proteine sono localizzate nell’envelope. Inoltre l’8% delle proteine non hanno una esatta localizzazione nei compartimenti del cloroplasto. Infine è stato analizzato il proteoma foliare di Cymodocea nodosa esposta a stress salino in condizioni controllate in mesocosmo, dove la parziale inibizione della fotosintesi, mediante la down-regulation delle proteine e degli enzimi sia del PSII che del PSI, e la ridotta attività respiratoria ottenuta dall’analisi proteomica permette alle piante di adattarsi a questa grave condizione di stress, ma presumibilmente con vitalità ridotta, dal momento che alcune delle risorse interne necessarie per la crescita e il mantenimento della biomassa devono essere riassegnati per far fronte allo stress metabolico. Nei trattamenti ipersalini sia a breve che a lungo termine troviamo gravi alterazioni dei metabolismi primari. Inoltre, i risultati di una bassa espressione della RuBisCo nei campioni ipersalini, in accordo con Beer et al . ( 1980), suggerisce che in condizioni di stress salino il bilancio del carbonio tende a favorire una maggiore produzione di carbonio inorganico ( Ci). Si verifica, poi, un aumento degli enzimi della glicolisi per controbilanciare la richiesta di energia e quindi produrre più molecole di ATP. Anche il metabolismo vacuolare è stato influenzato dal trattamento ipersalino , infatti, l’over-espressione dell’H(+)-PPasi suggerisce che i vacuoli sono coinvolti nel sequestro del Na+. Questo potrebbe essere quindi il meccanismo che consente a C. nodosa di sopravvivere a condizioni di salinità estremamente variabili e definirla così una specie tolleranteUniversità della Calabri

Physiological and Metabolic Response of Arthrospira maxima to Organophosphates

The Spirulina spp. exhibited an ability to tolerate the organophosphates. This study aimed to explore the effects of the herbicide glyphosate on a selected strain of the cyanobacteria Arthrospira maxima cultivated in a company. Experimental cultivations acclimated in aquaria were treated with 0.2 mM glyphosate [N-(phosphonomethyl) glycine]. The culture biomass, the phycocyanin, and the chlorophyll a concentrations were evaluated every week during 42 days of treatment. The differentially expressed proteins in the treated cyanobacteria versus the control cultivations were evaluated weekly during 21 days of treatment. Even if the glyphosate treatment negatively affected the biomass and the photosynthetic pigments, it induced resistance in the survival A. maxima population. Proteins belonging to the response to osmotic stress and methylation pathways were strongly accumulated in treated cultivation; the response to toxic substances and the negative regulation of transcription seemed to have a role in the resistance. The glyphosate-affected enzyme, chorismate synthase, a key enzyme in the shikimic acid pathway, was accumulated during treatment, suggesting that the surviving strain of A. maxima expressed a glyphosate-resistant target enzyme

Growth and Primary Metabolism of Lettuce Seedlings (<i>Lactuca sativa</i> L.) Are Promoted by an Innovative Iron-Based Fenton-Composted Amendment

Information regarding the physiological and molecular plant responses to the treatment with new biofertilizers is limited. In this study, a fast-composting soil amendment obtained from solid waste by means of a Fenton reaction was assessed to evaluate the effects on the growth of Lactuca sativa L. var. longifolia seedlings. Growth rate, root biomass, chlorophyll concentration, and total soluble proteins of seedlings treated with the 2% fast-composting soil amendment showed significant increases in comparison with the control seedlings. Proteomic analysis revealed that the soil amendment induced the up-regulation of proteins belonging to photosynthesis machinery, carbohydrate metabolism, and promoted energy metabolism. Root proteomics indicated that the fast-composting soil amendment strongly induced the organs morphogenesis and development; root cap development, lateral root formation, and post-embryonic root morphogenesis were the main biological processes enriched by the treatment. Overall, our data suggest that the addition of the fast-composting soil amendment formulation to the base soils might ameliorate plant growth by inducing carbohydrate primary metabolism and the differentiation of a robust root system