Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Symbiosis Limits Foliar Transcriptional Responses to Viral Infection and Favors Long-Term Virus Accumulation

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) can establish symbiotic interactions with arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi, and can be infected by several pathogenic viruses. Here, we investigated the impact of mycorrhization by the fungus Glomus mosseae on the Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) infection of tomato plants by transcriptomic and hormones level analyses. In TSWV-infected mycorrhizal plants, the AM fungus root colonization limited virus-induced changes in gene expression in the aerial parts. The virus-responsive upregulated genes, no longer induced in infected mycorrhizal plants, were mainly involved in defense responses and hormone signaling, while the virus-responsive downregulated genes, no longer repressed in mycorrhizal plants, were involved in primary metabolism. The presence of the AM fungus limits, in a salicylic acid-independent manner, the accumulation of abscissic acid observed in response to viral infection. At the time of the molecular analysis, no differences in virus concentration or symptom severity were detected between mycorrhizal and nonmycorrhizal plants. However, in a longer period, increase in virus titer and delay in the appearance of recovery were observed in mycorrhizal plants, thus indicating that the plant's reaction to TSWV infection is attenuated by mycorrhization. </jats:p

Dissolution susceptibility of glass-like carbon versus crystalline graphite in high-pressure aqueous fluids and implications for the behavior of organic matter in subduction zones

Organic matter, showing variable degrees of crystallinity and thus of graphitization, is an important source of carbon in subducted sediments, as demonstrated by the isotopic signatures of deep and ultra-deep diamonds and volcanic emissions in arc settings. In this experimental study, we investigated the dissolution of sp2 hybridized carbon in aqueous fluids at 1 and 3 GPa, and 800\ub0C, taking as end-members i) crystalline synthetic graphite and ii) X-ray amorphous glass-like carbon. We chose glass-like carbon as an analogue of natural \u201cdisordered\u201d graphitic carbon derived from organic matter, because unlike other forms of poorly ordered carbon it does not undergo any structural modification at the investigated experimental conditions, allowing approach to thermodynamic equilibrium. Textural observations, Raman spectroscopy, synchrotron X-ray diffraction and dissolution susceptibility of char produced by thermal decomposition of glucose (representative of non-transformed organic matter) at the same experimental conditions support this assumption. The redox state of the experiments was buffered at \u394FMQ 48 \u20130.5 using double capsules and either fayalite-magnetite-quartz (FMQ) or nickel-nickel oxide (NNO) buffers. At the investigated P\u2013T\u2013fO2 conditions, the dominant aqueous dissolution product is carbon dioxide, formed by oxidation of solid carbon. At 1 GPa and 800\ub0C, oxidative dissolution of glass-like carbon produces 16\u201319 mol% more carbon dioxide than crystalline graphite. In contrast, fluids interacting with glass-like carbon at the higher pressure of 3 GPa show only a limited increase in CO2 (fH2NNO) or even a lower CO2 content (fH2FMQ) with respect to fluids interacting with crystalline graphite. The measured fluid compositions allowed retrieving the difference in Gibbs free energy (\u394G) between glass-like carbon and graphite, which is +1.7(1) kJ/mol at 1 GPa\u2013800\ub0C and +0.51(1) kJ/mol (fH2NNO) at 3 GPa\u2013800\ub0C. Thermodynamic modeling suggests that the decline in dissolution susceptibility at high pressure is related to the higher compressibility of glass-like carbon with respect to crystalline graphite, resulting in G\u2013P curves crossing at about 3.4 GPa at 800\ub0C, close to the graphite\u2013diamond transition. The new experimental data suggest that, in the presence of aqueous fluids that flush subducted sediments, the removal of poorly crystalline \u201cdisordered\u201d graphitic carbon is more efficient than that of crystalline graphite especially at shallow levels of subduction zones, where the difference in free energy is higher and the availability of poorly organized metastable carbonaceous matter and of aqueous fluids produced by devolatilization of the downgoing slab is maximized. At depths greater than 110 km, the small differences in \u394G imply that there is minimal energetic drive for transforming \u201cdisordered\u201d graphitic carbon to ordered graphite; \u201cdisordered\u201d graphitic carbon could even be energetically slightly favored in a narrow P interval

New Eco-gas mixtures for the Extreme Energy Events MRPCs: results and plans

The Extreme Energy Events observatory is an extended muon telescope array, covering more than 10 degrees both in latitude and longitude. Its 59 muon telescopes are equipped with tracking detectors based on Multigap Resistive Plate Chamber technology with time resolution of the order of a few hundred picoseconds. The recent restrictions on greenhouse gases demand studies for new gas mixtures in compliance with the relative requirements. Tetrafluoropropene is one of the candidates for tetrafluoroethane substitution, since it is characterized by a Global Warming Power around 300 times lower than the gas mixtures used up to now. Several mixtures have been tested, measuring efficiency curves, charge distributions, streamer fractions and time resolutions. Results are presented for the whole set of mixtures and operating conditions, %. A set of tests on a real EEE telescope, with cosmic muons, are being performed at the CERN-01 EEE telescope. The tests are focusing on identifying a mixture with good performance at the low rates typical of an EEE telescope.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, proceedings for the "XIV Workshop on Resistive Plate Chambers and Related Detectors" (19-23 February 2018), Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco State, Mexic

The Extreme Energy Events HECR array: status and perspectives

The Extreme Energy Events Project is a synchronous sparse array of 52 tracking detectors for studying High Energy Cosmic Rays (HECR) and Cosmic Rays-related phenomena. The observatory is also meant to address Long Distance Correlation (LDC) phenomena: the network is deployed over a broad area covering 10 degrees in latitude and 11 in longitude. An overview of a set of preliminary results is given, extending from the study of local muon flux dependance on solar activity to the investigation of the upward-going component of muon flux traversing the EEE stations; from the search for anisotropies at the sub-TeV scale to the hints for observations of km-scale Extensive Air Shower (EAS).Comment: XXV ECRS 2016 Proceedings - eConf C16-09-04.

The ASIMOV Prize for scientific publishing - HEP researchers trigger young people toward science

This work presents the ASIMOV Prize for scientific publishing, which was launched in Italy in 2016. The prize aims to bring the young generations closer to scientific culture, through the critical reading of popular science books. The books are selected by a committee that includes scientists, professors, Ph.D. and Ph.D. students, writers, journalists and friends of culture, and most importantly, over 800 school teachers. Students are actively involved in the prize, according to the best practices of public engagement: they read, review the books and vote for them, choosing the winner. The experience is quite successful: 12,000 students from 270 schools all over Italy participated in the last edition. The possibility of replicating this experience in other countries is indicated, as was done in Brazil in 2020 with more than encouraging results

A Network of Genes, Genetic Disorders, and Brain Areas

The network-based approach has been used to describe the relationship among genes and various phenotypes, producing a network describing complex biological relationships. Such networks can be constructed by aggregating previously reported associations in the literature from various databases. In this work, we applied the network-based approach to investigate how different brain areas are associated to genetic disorders and genes. In particular, a tripartite network with genes, genetic diseases, and brain areas was constructed based on the associations among them reported in the literature through text mining. In the resulting network, a disproportionately large number of gene-disease and disease-brain associations were attributed to a small subset of genes, diseases, and brain areas. Furthermore, a small number of brain areas were found to be associated with a large number of the same genes and diseases. These core brain regions encompassed the areas identified by the previous genome-wide association studies, and suggest potential areas of focus in the future imaging genetics research. The approach outlined in this work demonstrates the utility of the network-based approach in studying genetic effects on the brain

Measurement of the Positive Muon Anomalous Magnetic Moment to 0.20 ppm

We present a new measurement of the positive muon magnetic anomaly, a_{μ}≡(g_{μ}-2)/2, from the Fermilab Muon g-2 Experiment using data collected in 2019 and 2020. We have analyzed more than 4 times the number of positrons from muon decay than in our previous result from 2018 data. The systematic error is reduced by more than a factor of 2 due to better running conditions, a more stable beam, and improved knowledge of the magnetic field weighted by the muon distribution, ω[over ˜]_{p}^{'}, and of the anomalous precession frequency corrected for beam dynamics effects, ω_{a}. From the ratio ω_{a}/ω[over ˜]_{p}^{'}, together with precisely determined external parameters, we determine a_{μ}=116 592 057(25)×10^{-11} (0.21 ppm). Combining this result with our previous result from the 2018 data, we obtain a_{μ}(FNAL)=116 592 055(24)×10^{-11} (0.20 ppm). The new experimental world average is a_{μ}(exp)=116 592 059(22)×10^{-11} (0.19 ppm), which represents a factor of 2 improvement in precision