Evolutionary plasticity determination by orthologous groups distribution

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Genetic plasticity may be understood as the ability of a functional gene network to tolerate alterations in its components or structure. Usually, the studies involving gene modifications in the course of the evolution are concerned to nucleotide sequence alterations in closely related species. However, the analysis of large scale data about the distribution of gene families in non-exclusively closely related species can provide insights on how plastic or how conserved a given gene family is. Here, we analyze the abundance and diversity of all Eukaryotic Clusters of Orthologous Groups (KOG) present in STRING database, resulting in a total of 4,850 KOGs. This dataset comprises 481,421 proteins distributed among 55 eukaryotes.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We propose an index to evaluate the evolutionary plasticity and conservation of an orthologous group based on its abundance and diversity across eukaryotes. To further KOG plasticity analysis, we estimate the evolutionary distance average among all proteins which take part in the same orthologous group. As a result, we found a strong correlation between the evolutionary distance average and the proposed evolutionary plasticity index. Additionally, we found low evolutionary plasticity in <it>Saccharomyces cerevisiae </it>genes associated with inviability and <it>Mus musculus </it>genes associated with early lethality. At last, we plot the evolutionary plasticity value in different gene networks from yeast and humans. As a result, it was possible to discriminate among higher and lower plastic areas of the gene networks analyzed.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The distribution of gene families brings valuable information on evolutionary plasticity which might be related with genetic plasticity. Accordingly, it is possible to discriminate among conserved and plastic orthologous groups by evaluating their abundance and diversity across eukaryotes.</p> <p>Reviewers</p> <p>This article was reviewed by Prof Manyuan Long, Hiroyuki Toh, and Sebastien Halary.</p

Contribution of microscopy for understanding the mechanism of action against trypanosomatids

Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) has proved to be a useful tool to study the ultrastructural alterations and the target organelles of new antitrypanosomatid drugs. Thus, it has been observed that sesquiterpene lactones induce diverse ultrastructural alterations in both T. cruzi and Leishmania spp., such as cytoplasmic vacuolization, appearance of multilamellar structures, condensation of nuclear DNA, and, in some cases, an important accumulation of lipid vacuoles. This accumulation could be related to apoptotic events. Some of the sesquiterpene lactones (e.g., psilostachyin) have also been demonstrated to cause an intense mitochondrial swelling accompanied by a visible kinetoplast deformation as well as the appearance of multivesicular bodies. This mitochondrial swelling could be related to the generation of oxidative stress and associated to alterations in the ergosterol metabolism. The appearance of multilamellar structures and multiple kinetoplasts and flagella induced by the sesquiterpene lactone psilostachyin C indicates that this compound would act at the parasite cell cycle level, in an intermediate stage between kinetoplast segregation and nuclear division. In turn, the diterpene lactone icetexane has proved to induce the external membrane budding on T. cruzi together with an apparent disorganization of the pericellar cytoskeleton. Thus, ultrastructural TEM studies allow elucidating the possible mechanisms and the subsequent identification of molecular targets for the action of natural compounds on trypanosomatids.Fil: Lozano, Esteban Sebastián. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto de Medicina y Biología Experimental de Cuyo; ArgentinaFil: Spina Zapata, Renata María. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto de Histología y Embriología de Mendoza Dr. Mario H. Burgos. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Instituto de Histología y Embriología de Mendoza Dr. Mario H. Burgos; ArgentinaFil: Barrera, Patricia Andrea. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto de Histología y Embriología de Mendoza Dr. Mario H. Burgos. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Instituto de Histología y Embriología de Mendoza Dr. Mario H. Burgos; ArgentinaFil: Tonn, Carlos Eugenio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Luis. Instituto de Investigaciones en Tecnología Química. Universidad Nacional de San Luis. Facultad de Química, Bioquímica y Farmacia. Instituto de Investigaciones en Tecnología Química; ArgentinaFil: Sosa Escudero, Miguel Angel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto de Histología y Embriología de Mendoza Dr. Mario H. Burgos. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Instituto de Histología y Embriología de Mendoza Dr. Mario H. Burgos; Argentin

Programa Atividade Curricular de Extensão: Apoio técnico aos pescadores do manejo comunitário de pirarucu (Arapaima gigas) realizado em lagos de várzea na Ilha da Paciência, Iranduba - Amazonas

Community management of the pirarucu Arapaima gigas (Schinz, 1822) has proven to be an efficient strategy for the conservation of the species in the state of Amazonas. The objective of this work was to carry out and propose, through extension projects (PACEs), environmental education actions for children and training of fishermen from the Nossa Senhora de Fátima community, on Ilha da Paciência, Iranduba - Amazonas, in order to contribute to the strengthening of the productive chain of pirarucu management. Through the Extension Curricular Activity Program - PACEs, the following were approved: PACE - Fishing Knowledge: The art of Learning and Teaching, held in 2016, and PACE - Technical Support for fishermen handling the Arapaima gigas (Schinz, 1822), held in 2017. The environmental education workshop with the children was carried out through playful activities, while the lectures and short courses were carried out through expository, explanatory and practical classes. In total, six (6) activities were carried out with community residents: (1) environmental education workshop; (2) lectures and (3) short courses. As a result of the activities carried out, there was an exchange of traditional and scientific knowledge between the members involved, a feat that made it possible to improve and strengthen the productive chain of handling the Arapaima gigas pirarucu in the community of Nossa Senhora de Fátima (Ilha da Paciência), in the municipality from Iranduba – Amazonas. O manejo comunitário do pirarucu Arapaima gigas (Schinz, 1822) tem se mostrado uma estratégia eficiente para a conservação da espécie no estado do Amazonas. O objetivo deste trabalho foi realizar e propor através de projetos de extensão (PACEs), ações de educação ambiental para crianças e capacitação dos pescadores da comunidade Nossa Senhora de Fátima, na Ilha da Paciência, Iranduba – Amazonas, a fim de contribuir com o fortalecimento da cadeia produtiva do manejo do pirarucu. Através do Programa Atividade Curricular de Extensão – PACEs foram aprovados: o PACE - Pescando Conhecimento: A arte de Aprender e Ensinar, realizado em 2016, e o PACE – Apoio Técnico a pescadores do manejo do pirarucu Arapaima gigas (Schinz, 1822), realizado em 2017. A oficina de educação ambiental com as crianças foi realizada por meio de atividades lúdicas, enquanto que as palestras e minicursos foram realizados por meio de aulas expositivas, explicativas e práticas. Ao total foram realizadas seis (6) atividades com os moradores da comunidade: (1) oficina de educação ambiental; (2) palestras e (3) minicursos. Como resultado das atividades realizadas houve a troca de conhecimento tradicional e científico entre os membros envolvidos, feito este que possibilitou a melhoria e o fortalecimento da cadeia produtiva do manejo do pirarucu Arapaima gigas na comunidade Nossa Senhora de Fátima (Ilha da Paciência), no município de Iranduba – Amazonas