Catálogo Taxonômico da Fauna do Brasil: setting the baseline knowledge on the animal diversity in Brazil

The limited temporal completeness and taxonomic accuracy of species lists, made available in a traditional manner in scientific publications, has always represented a problem. These lists are invariably limited to a few taxonomic groups and do not represent up-to-date knowledge of all species and classifications. In this context, the Brazilian megadiverse fauna is no exception, and the Catálogo Taxonômico da Fauna do Brasil (CTFB) (http://fauna.jbrj.gov.br/), made public in 2015, represents a database on biodiversity anchored on a list of valid and expertly recognized scientific names of animals in Brazil. The CTFB is updated in near real time by a team of more than 800 specialists. By January 1, 2024, the CTFB compiled 133,691 nominal species, with 125,138 that were considered valid. Most of the valid species were arthropods (82.3%, with more than 102,000 species) and chordates (7.69%, with over 11,000 species). These taxa were followed by a cluster composed of Mollusca (3,567 species), Platyhelminthes (2,292 species), Annelida (1,833 species), and Nematoda (1,447 species). All remaining groups had less than 1,000 species reported in Brazil, with Cnidaria (831 species), Porifera (628 species), Rotifera (606 species), and Bryozoa (520 species) representing those with more than 500 species. Analysis of the CTFB database can facilitate and direct efforts towards the discovery of new species in Brazil, but it is also fundamental in providing the best available list of valid nominal species to users, including those in science, health, conservation efforts, and any initiative involving animals. The importance of the CTFB is evidenced by the elevated number of citations in the scientific literature in diverse areas of biology, law, anthropology, education, forensic science, and veterinary science, among others

Leishmanicidal activity of the crude extract, fractions and major piperidine alkaloids from the flowers of Senna spectabilis

Senna spectabilis (sin. Cassia excelsa, C. spectabilis) is an endemic tree of South America and Africa, very common in Brazil, where it is known as canafistula-de-besouro and cassia-do-nordeste. In folk medicine, this plant is indicated for the treatment of constipation, insomnia, anxiety, epilepsy, malaria, dysentery and headache. Phytopharmacological studies have also confirmed anticonvulsive, sedative, anti-malarial, antimicrobial and cytotoxic properties of many parts of S. spectabilis. In this communication, we present a comparative study of the leishmanicidal activity of the crude ethanolic extract, its fractions and also the two major alkaloidal metabolites (-)-cassine/(-)-spectaline, trying to establish a relationship between the presence of piperidine alkaloidal constituents and leishmanicidal activity. The growth inhibitory effect of promastigote forms of Leishmania major was determined for the crude extract, fractions of the flowers of S. spectabilis and a mixture of (-)-cassine/(-)-spectaline in comparison to pentamidine used as standard drug. The cytotoxic effects were assessed on macrophage strain J774 by lactate dehydrogenase assay. Fractions dichloromethane (FL-DCM) and n-butanol (FL-Bu) and a mixture of (-)-cassine/(-)-spectaline (similar to 7:3) exhibited significant activity against the parasite Leishmania major (IC50 values of 0.6 +/- 0.1 mu g/ml, 1.6 +/- 0.9 mu g/ml and 24.9 +/- 1.4 mu g/ml, respectively), without toxic effects on murine macrophages. Due to the promising results elicited, further studies in vivo need to be performed to confirm the therapeutic potential of Senna spectabilis. (C) 2013 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES

Origin and dynamics of admixture in Brazilians and its effect on the pattern of deleterious mutations

Submitted by Nuzia Santos ([email protected]) on 2016-02-19T13:11:37Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Origin and dynamics of admixture in Brazilians and its effect on the pattern of deleterious mutations..pdf: 501572 bytes, checksum: 45f5ed2fc0a7c2cb73e047a75457edae (MD5)Approved for entry into archive by Nuzia Santos ([email protected]) on 2016-02-19T13:37:09Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Origin and dynamics of admixture in Brazilians and its effect on the pattern of deleterious mutations..pdf: 501572 bytes, checksum: 45f5ed2fc0a7c2cb73e047a75457edae (MD5)Made available in DSpace on 2016-02-19T13:37:09Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Origin and dynamics of admixture in Brazilians and its effect on the pattern of deleterious mutations..pdf: 501572 bytes, checksum: 45f5ed2fc0a7c2cb73e047a75457edae (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. Instituto de Ciências Biológicas. Departamento de Biologia Geral. Belo Horizonte, MG, BrasilUniversidade Federal de Minas Gerais. Instituto de Ciências Biológicas. Departamento de Biologia Geral. Belo Horizonte, MG, BrasilUniversidade Federal de Minas Gerais. Instituto de Ciências Biológicas. Departamento de Biologia Geral. Belo Horizonte, MG, BrasilUniversidade Federal de Minas Gerais. Instituto de Ciências Biológicas. Departamento de Biologia Geral. Belo Horizonte, MG, BrasilUniversidade de São Paulo. Instituto do Coração. São Paulo, SP, BrasilUniversidade Federal de Pelotas. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Epidemiologia. Pelotas, RS, BrasilUniversidade Federal de Minas Gerais. Instituto de Ciências Biológicas. Departamento de Biologia Geral. Belo Horizonte, MG, BrasilUniversidade Federal de Minas Gerais. Instituto de Ciências Biológicas. Departamento de Biologia Geral. Belo Horizonte, MG, BrasilUniversidade Federal de Minas Gerais. Instituto de Ciências Biológicas. Departamento de Biologia Geral. Belo Horizonte, MG, BrasilUniversidade Federal de Minas Gerais. Instituto de Ciências Biológicas. Departamento de Biologia Geral. Belo Horizonte, MG, BrasilUniversidade Federal de Minas Gerais. Instituto de Ciências Biológicas. Departamento de Biologia Geral. Belo Horizonte, MG, BrasilUniversidade Federal de Minas Gerais. Instituto de Ciências Biológicas. Departamento de Biologia Geral. Belo Horizonte, MG, BrasilUniversidade Federal de Minas Gerais. Instituto de Ciências Biológicas. Departamento de Biologia Geral. Belo Horizonte, MG, BrasilUniversidade Federal de Minas Gerais. Instituto de Ciências Biológicas. Departamento de Biologia Geral. Belo Horizonte, MG, BrasilUniversidade de São Paulo. Instituto do Coração. São Paulo, SP, BrasilUniversidade de São Paulo. Instituto do Coração. São Paulo, SP, BrasilUniversidade Federal da Bahia. Instituto de Matemática. Departamento de Estatística. Salvador, Bahia, BrasilUniversidade Federal da Bahia. Instituto de Ciências da Saúde. Departamento de Ciências da Biointeração. Salvador, Bahia, BrasilUniversidade Federal da Bahia. Instituto de Saúde Coletiva. Salvador, BA, BrasilUniversidade Federal da Bahia. Instituto de Saúde Coletiva. Salvador, BA, BrasilUniversity of Leicester. Department of Genetics. Leicester, United KingdomWashington University School of Medicine. Department of Molecular Microbiology. St. Louis, MO/University of California. Department of Medicine. San Diego, CAAsociación Benéfica Proyectos en Informática, Salud, Medicina y Agricultura. Biomedical Research Unit. Lima, PeruUniversidade Federal de Santa Catarina. Embriologia e Genética. Departamento de Biologia Celular. Florianópolis, SC, BrasilUniversidade Federal de Minas Gerais. Departamento de Estatística. Belo Horizonte, MG, BrasilUniversità di Ferrara. Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e Biotecnologie. Ferrara, ItalyJohns Hopkins University. International Health. Bloomberg School of Public Health. Baltimore, MD, USA/Universidade Peruana Cayetano Heredia. Laboratorio de Investigación de Enfermedades Infecciosas. Lima, PeruUniversity of Toronto. Center for Addiction and Mental Health. Department of Psychiatry and Neuroscience Section. Toronto, ON, CanadaUniversidade Federal de Santa Catarina. Embriologia e Genética. Departamento de Biologia Celular. Florianópolis, SC, BrasilUniversidade Federal de Santa Catarina. Embriologia e Genética. Departamento de Biologia Celular. Florianópolis, SC, BrasilInnsbruck Medical University. Molecular and Clinical Pharmacology. Department of Medical Genetics. Division of Genetic Epidemiology. Innsbruck, AustriaFrederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research. Leidos Biomedical Research. Cancer Genomics Research Laboratory. Frederick, MDLondon School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Faculty of Epidemiology. Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology. London, United KingdomUniversidade Federal da Bahia. Instituto de Saúde Coletiva. Salvador, BA, BrasilFundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto de Pesquisa Rene Rachou. Belo Horizonte, MG, BrasilUniversidade de São Paulo. Instituto do Coração. São Paulo, SP, BrasilUniversidade Federal de Minas Gerais. Instituto de Ciências Biológicas. Departamento de Biologia Geral. Belo Horizonte, MG, BrasilUniversidade Federal de Minas Gerais. Instituto de Ciências Biológicas. Departamento de Biologia Geral. Belo Horizonte, MG, BrasilUniversidade Federal da Bahia. Instituto de Ciências da Saúde. Departamento de Ciências da Biointeração. Salvador, BA, Brasil.Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. Instituto de Ciências Biológicas. Departamento de Biologia Geral. Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil.Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. Instituto de Ciências Biológicas. Departamento de Biologia Geral. Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil.Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. Laboratório de Computação Científica. Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil.Universidade Federal da Bahia. Instituto de Saúde Coletiva. Salvador, BA, Brasil.Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto de Pesquisa Rene Rachou. Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil.Universidade Federal de Pelotas. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Epidemiologia. Pelotas, RS, Brasil.Universidade Federal de Rio Grande do Sul. Centro Nacional de Supercomputação. Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil.Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. Instituto de Ciências Biológicas. Departamento de Biologia Geral. Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil.Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto de Pesquisa Rene Rachou. Grupo de Genômica e Biologia Computacional. Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil.Universidade Federal de Pelotas. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Epidemiologia. Pelotas, RS, Brasil.Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto de Pesquisa Rene Rachou. Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil.Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto de Pesquisa Rene Rachou. Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil.Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. Laboratório de Computação Científica. Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil.Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. Instituto de Ciências Biológicas. Departamento de Biologia Geral. Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil.Universidade Federal da Bahia. Instituto de Saúde Coletiva. Salvador, BA, Brasil.Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. Instituto de Ciências Biológicas. Departamento de Biologia Geral. Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil.While South Americans are underrepresented in human genomic diversity studies, Brazil has been a classical model for population genetics studies on admixture.We present the results of the EPIGEN Brazil Initiative, the most comprehensive up-to-date genomic analysis of any Latin-American population. A population-based genomewide analysis of 6,487 individuals was performed in the context of worldwide genomic diversity to elucidate how ancestry, kinship, and inbreeding interact in three populations with different histories from the Northeast (African ancestry: 50%), Southeast, and South (both with European ancestry >70%) of Brazil. We showed that ancestry-positive assortative mating permeated Brazilian history. We traced European ancestry in the Southeast/South to a wider European/Middle Eastern region with respect to the Northeast, where ancestry seems restricted to Iberia. By developing an approximate Bayesian computation framework, we infer more recent European immigration to the Southeast/South than to the Northeast. Also, the observed low Native-American ancestry (6–8%) was mostly introduced in different regions of Brazil soon after the European Conquest. We broadened our understanding of the African diaspora, the major destination of which was Brazil, by revealing that Brazilians display two within-Africa ancestry components: one associated with non-Bantu/western Africans (more evident in the Northeast and African Americans) and one associated with Bantu/eastern Africans (more present in the Southeast/South). Furthermore, the whole-genome analysis of 30 individuals (42-fold deep coverage) shows that continental admixture rather than local post-Columbian history is the main and complex determinant of the individual amount of deleterious genotypes

Brazilian Flora 2020: Leveraging the power of a collaborative scientific network

International audienceThe shortage of reliable primary taxonomic data limits the description of biological taxa and the understanding of biodiversity patterns and processes, complicating biogeographical, ecological, and evolutionary studies. This deficit creates a significant taxonomic impediment to biodiversity research and conservation planning. The taxonomic impediment and the biodiversity crisis are widely recognized, highlighting the urgent need for reliable taxonomic data. Over the past decade, numerous countries worldwide have devoted considerable effort to Target 1 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC), which called for the preparation of a working list of all known plant species by 2010 and an online world Flora by 2020. Brazil is a megadiverse country, home to more of the world's known plant species than any other country. Despite that, Flora Brasiliensis, concluded in 1906, was the last comprehensive treatment of the Brazilian flora. The lack of accurate estimates of the number of species of algae, fungi, and plants occurring in Brazil contributes to the prevailing taxonomic impediment and delays progress towards the GSPC targets. Over the past 12 years, a legion of taxonomists motivated to meet Target 1 of the GSPC, worked together to gather and integrate knowledge on the algal, plant, and fungal diversity of Brazil. Overall, a team of about 980 taxonomists joined efforts in a highly collaborative project that used cybertaxonomy to prepare an updated Flora of Brazil, showing the power of scientific collaboration to reach ambitious goals. This paper presents an overview of the Brazilian Flora 2020 and provides taxonomic and spatial updates on the algae, fungi, and plants found in one of the world's most biodiverse countries. We further identify collection gaps and summarize future goals that extend beyond 2020. Our results show that Brazil is home to 46,975 native species of algae, fungi, and plants, of which 19,669 are endemic to the country. The data compiled to date suggests that the Atlantic Rainforest might be the most diverse Brazilian domain for all plant groups except gymnosperms, which are most diverse in the Amazon. However, scientific knowledge of Brazilian diversity is still unequally distributed, with the Atlantic Rainforest and the Cerrado being the most intensively sampled and studied biomes in the country. In times of “scientific reductionism”, with botanical and mycological sciences suffering pervasive depreciation in recent decades, the first online Flora of Brazil 2020 significantly enhanced the quality and quantity of taxonomic data available for algae, fungi, and plants from Brazil. This project also made all the information freely available online, providing a firm foundation for future research and for the management, conservation, and sustainable use of the Brazilian funga and flora