A comparison between the β-globin gene clusters of domestic sheep (Ovis aries) and Sardinian mouflon (Ovis gmelini musimon)

International audienc

Proline enantiomers discrimination by (L)-prolinated porphyrin derivative Langmuir-Schaefer films: proof of concept for chiral sensing applications

A porphyrin derivative functionalized with the L-enantiomer of proline amino acid was characterized at the air-pure water interface of the Langmuir trough. The porphyrin derivative was dissolved in dichloromethane solution, spread at the air-subphase interface and investigated by acquiring the surface pressure vs. area per molecule Langmuir curves. It is worth observing that the behavior of the molecules of the porphyrin derivative floating film was substantially influenced by the presence of L-proline amino acid dissolved in the subphase (10(-5) M); on the contrary, the physical chemical features of the floating molecules were only slightly influenced by the D-proline dissolved in the subphase. Such an interesting chirality-driven selection was preserved when the floating film was transferred onto solid supports by means of the Langmuir-Schaefer method, but it did not emerge when a spin-coating technique was used for the layering of the tetrapyrrolic derivatives. The obtained results represent proof of concept for the realization of active molecular layers for chiral discrimination: porphyrin derivatives, due to their intriguing spectroscopic and supramolecular properties, can be functionalized with the chiral molecule that should be detected. Moreover, the results emphasize the crucial role of the deposition technique on the features of the sensing layers

Proline Enantiomers Discrimination by (L)-Prolinated Porphyrin Derivative Langmuir–Schaefer Films: Proof of Concept for Chiral Sensing Applications

A porphyrin derivative functionalized with the L-enantiomer of proline amino acid was characterized at the air–pure water interface of the Langmuir trough. The porphyrin derivative was dissolved in dichloromethane solution, spread at the air–subphase interface and investigated by acquiring the surface pressure vs. area per molecule Langmuir curves. It is worth observing that the behavior of the molecules of the porphyrin derivative floating film was substantially influenced by the presence of L-proline amino acid dissolved in the subphase (10−5 M); on the contrary, the physical chemical features of the floating molecules were only slightly influenced by the D-proline dissolved in the subphase. Such an interesting chirality-driven selection was preserved when the floating film was transferred onto solid supports by means of the Langmuir–Schaefer method, but it did not emerge when a spin-coating technique was used for the layering of the tetrapyrrolic derivatives. The obtained results represent proof of concept for the realization of active molecular layers for chiral discrimination: porphyrin derivatives, due to their intriguing spectroscopic and supramolecular properties, can be functionalized with the chiral molecule that should be detected. Moreover, the results emphasize the crucial role of the deposition technique on the features of the sensing layers

Genetic characterization and implications for conservation of the last autochthonous Mouflon population in Europe

Population genetic studies provide accurate information on population structure, connectivity, and hybridization. These are key elements to identify units for conservation and define wildlife management strategies aimed to maintain and restore biodiversity. The Mediterranean island of Sardinia hosts one of the last autochthonous mouflon populations, descending from the wild Neolithic ancestor. The first mouflon arrived in Sardinia ~ 7000 years ago and thrived across the island until the twentieth century, when anthropogenic factors led to population fragmentation. We analysed the three main allopatric Sardinian mouflon sub-populations, namely: the native sub-populations of Montes Forest and Mount Tonneri, and the reintroduced sub-population of Mount Lerno. We investigated the spatial genetic structure of the Sardinian mouflon based on the parallel analysis of 14 highly polymorphic microsatellite loci and mitochondrial D-loop sequences. The Montes Forest sub-population was found to harbour the ancestral haplotype in the phylogeny of European mouflon. We detected high levels of relatedness in all the sub-populations and a mitochondrial signature of hybridization between the Mount Lerno sub-population and domestic sheep. Our findings provide useful insights to protect such an invaluable genetic heritage from the risk of genetic depletion by promoting controlled inter-population exchange and drawing informed repopulation plans sourcing from genetically pure mouflon stocks

Spectroscopic, Morphological and Mechanistic Investigation of the Solvent.Promoted Aggregation of Porphyrins Modified in meso-positions by Glucosylated steroids

Solvent-driven aggregation of a series of porphyrin derivatives was studied by UV/Vis and circular dichroism spectroscopy. The porphyrins are characterised by the presence in the meso positions of steroidal moieties further conjugated with glucosyl groups. The presence of these groups makes the investigated macrocycles amphiphilic and soluble in aqueous solvent, namely, dimethyl acetamide/ water. Aggregation of the macrocycles is triggered by a change in bulk solvent composition leading to formation of large architectures that express supramolecular chirality, steered by the presence of the stereogenic centres on the periphery of the macrocycles. The aggregation behaviour and chiroptical features of the aggregates are strongly dependent on the number of moieties decorating the periphery of the porphyrin framework. In particular, experimental evidence indicates that the structure of the steroid linker dictates the overall chirality of the supramolecular architectures. Moreover, the porphyrin concentration strongly affects the aggregation mechanism and the CD intensities of the spectra. Notably, AFM investigations reveal strong differences in aggregate morphology that are dependent on the nature of the appended functional groups, and closely in line with the changes in aggregation mechanism. The suprastructures formed at lower concentration show a network of long fibrous structures spanning over tens of micrometres, whereas the aggregates formed at higher concentration have smaller rodshaped structures that can be recognised as the result of coalescence of smaller globular structures. The fully steroid substituted derivative forms globular structures over the whole concentration range explored. Finally, a rationale for the aggregation phenomena was given by semiempirical calculations at the PM6 level

Selection of young ewe lambs according to their antral follicular count: response to exogenous hormonal stimulation and fertility at first breeding season

Anti-Mullerian Hormone (AMH), Antral Follicular Count (AFC) and the response to exogenous hormonal stimulation have been used, in adults, as suitable markers to determine the ovarian reserve (1-4), to predict oocyte quality (5,6) and a wide variety of fertility indices (6-9). This investigation aims to evaluate if animals selected according to their High or Low AFC at an early prepubertal age show different responses, in the number of follicles and AMH plasma levels, to exogenous hormonal stimulation; to verify whether differences are maintained over time until puberty; and to observe possible variations on fertility at first breeding season

Haplotype Affinities Resolve a Major Component of Goat (Capra hircus) MtDNA D-Loop Diversity and Reveal Specific Features of the Sardinian Stock

Goat mtDNA haplogroup A is a poorly resolved lineage absorbing most of the overall diversity and is found in locations as distant as Eastern Asia and Southern Africa. Its phylogenetic dissection would cast light on an important portion of the spread of goat breeding. The aims of this work were 1) to provide an operational definition of meaningful mtDNA units within haplogroup A, 2) to investigate the mechanisms underlying the maintenance of diversity by considering the modes of selection operated by breeders and 3) to identify the peculiarities of Sardinian mtDNA types. We sequenced the mtDNA D-loop in a large sample of animals (1,591) which represents a non-trivial quota of the entire goat population of Sardinia. We found that Sardinia mirrors a large quota of mtDNA diversity of Western Eurasia in the number of variable sites, their mutational pattern and allele frequency. By using Bayesian analysis, a distance-based tree and a network analysis, we recognized demographically coherent groups of sequences identified by particular subsets of the variable positions. The results showed that this assignment system could be reproduced in other studies, capturing the greatest part of haplotype diversity

Widening the scope of the corrole sulfonation

The sulfonation reaction has been particularly useful to prepare amphiphilic derivatives of 5,10,15-tris(pentafluorophenyl)corrole, but it has been limited to this corrole. We have studied the scope of this reaction, using 5,10,15-triphenylcorrole as the prototypical example of corrole structure. The reaction protocol has been modified to avoid the corrole aggregation, which limited its reactivity in the neat chlorosulfonic acid. Surprisingly, the reaction shows an unprecedented regioselectivity for corrole derivatives, affording 3 as the main product, but also corrole 5, which is the first example of monosubstituted corrole on pyrrole B. By modulating the corrole: chlorosulfonic acid reagent ratio, it has been possible to obtain the antipodal disubstituted product 6, demonstrating again a not usual regioselectivity for corrole substitution. These results allow the preparation of novel amphiphilic corrole derivatives, which open up their potential applications in different fields