970 research outputs found
Comparaison des qualitĂ©s sensorielles de la viande et de la carcasse dâagneaux Ă©levĂ©s au pĂąturage en production biologique ou conventionnelle Ă deux niveaux de disponibilitĂ©s en herbe
Nous avons comparĂ© les qualitĂ©s sensorielles des carcasses et des viandes dâagneaux engraissĂ©s au pĂąturage en Ă©levage biologique ou conventionnel (O vs. C) Ă deux niveaux de disponibilitĂ©s en herbe (Haut H vs. Bas L). Le profil de croissance a Ă©tĂ© maintenu similaire entre les deux systĂšmes de production. LâexpĂ©rimentation a Ă©tĂ© conduite pendant deux annĂ©es avec 12 agneaux mĂąles castrĂ©s de race Limousine dans chaque groupe OH, OL, CH et CL chaque annĂ©e. Les traitements O et C diffĂ©raient par le niveau de fertilisation azotĂ©e minĂ©rale Ă©pandu sur les parcelles. Les parcelles expĂ©rimentales Ă©taient des repousses aprĂšs fauche et elles Ă©taient conduites en pĂąturage tournant pour conduire Ă un Ăąge moyen des agneaux Ă lâabattage de 5 et 6 mois dans les lots H et L respectivement. Les cĂŽtelettes O ont Ă©tĂ© moins apprĂ©ciĂ©es que les cĂŽtelettes C. Lâindice de rouge du muscle longissimus thoracis et lumborum aprĂšs 2h dâexposition Ă lâair a Ă©tĂ© plus Ă©levĂ© chez les agneaux L que chez les agneaux H, indiquant les effets possibles dâune intensification de lâĂ©levage biologique Ă travers une augmentation du chargement
Thermal tolerance, climatic variability and latitude
The greater latitudinal extents of occurrence of species towards higher latitudes has been attributed to the broadening of physiological tolerances with latitude as a result of increases in climatic variation. While there is some support for such patterns in climate, the physiological tolerances of species across large latitudinal gradients have seldom been assessed. Here we report findings for insects based on published upper and lower lethal temperature data. The upper thermal limits show little geographical variation. In contrast, the lower bounds of supercooling points and lower lethal temperatures do indeed decline with latitude. However, this is not the case for the upper bounds, leading to an increase in the variation in lower lethal limits with latitude. These results provide some support for the physiological tolerance assumption associated with Rapoport's rule, but highlight the need for coupled data on species tolerances and range size
AMBER/VLTI high spectral resolution observations of the Br emitting region in HD 98922. A compact disc wind launched from the inner disc region
We analyse the main physical parameters and the circumstellar environment of
the young Herbig Be star HD 98922. We present AMBER/VLTI high spectral
resolution (R =12000) interferometric observations across the Br line,
accompanied by UVES high-resolution spectroscopy and SINFONI-AO assisted
near-infrared integral field spectroscopic data. To interpret our observations,
we develop a magneto-centrifugally driven disc-wind model. Our analysis of the
UVES spectrum shows that HD 98922 is a young (~5x10^5 yr) Herbig Be star
(SpT=B9V), located at a distance of 440(+60-50) pc, with a mass accretion rate
of ~9+/-3x10^(-7) M_sun yr^(-1). SINFONI K-band AO-assisted imaging shows a
spatially resolved circumstellar disc-like region (~140 AU in diameter) with
asymmetric brightness distribution. Our AMBER/VLTI UT observations indicate
that the Br emitting region (radius ~0.31+/-0.04 AU) is smaller than
the continuum emitting region (inner dust radius ~0.7+/-0.2 AU), showing
significant non-zero V-shaped differential phases (i.e. non S-shaped, as
expected for a rotating disc). The value of the continuum-corrected pure
Br line visibility at the longest baseline (89 m) is ~0.8+/-0.1, i.e.
the Br emitting region is partially resolved. Our modelling suggests
that the observed Br line-emitting region mainly originates from a disc
wind with a half opening angle of 30deg, and with a mass-loss rate of ~2x10(-7)
M_sun yr^(-1). The observed V-shaped differential phases are reliably
reproduced by combining a simple asymmetric continuum disc model with our
Br disc-wind model. The Br emission of HD 98922 can be modelled
with a disc wind that is able to approximately reproduce all interferometric
observations if we assume that the intensity distribution of the dust continuum
disc is asymmetric.Comment: Accepted for publication on Astronomy \& Astrophysics. High
resolution figures published on the main journal (see Astronomy &
Astrophysics: Forthcoming) or at
www.researchgate.net/profile/Alessio_Caratti_o_Garatti/publication
Identification, characterization and localization of chagasin, a tight-binding cysteine protease inhibitor in Trypanosoma cruzi
Lysosomal cysteine proteases from mammalian cells and plants are regulated by endogenous tight-binding inhibitors from the cystatin superfamily. The presence of cystatin-like inhibitors in lower eukaryotes such as protozoan parasites has not yet been demonstrated, although these cells express large quantities of cysteine proteases and may also count on endogenous inhibitors to regulate cellular proteolysis. Trypanosoma cruzi, the causative agent of Chagas heart disease, is a relevant model to explore this possibility because these intracellular parasites rely on their major lysosomal cysteine protease (cruzipain) to invade and multiply in mammalian host cells. Here we report the isolation, biochemical characterization, developmental stage distribution and subcellular localization of chagasin, an endogenous cysteine protease inhibitor in T. cruzi. We used high temperature induced denaturation to isolate a heat-stable cruzipain-binding protein (apparent molecular mass, 12 kDa) from epimastigote lysates. This protein was subsequently characterized as a tight-binding and reversible inhibitor of papain-like cysteine proteases. Immunoblotting indicated that the expression of chagasin is developmentally regulated and inversely correlated with that of cruzipain. Gold-labeled antibodies localized chagasin to the flagellar pocket and cytoplasmic vesicles of trypomastigotes and to the cell surface of amastigotes. Binding assays performed by probing living parasites with fluorescein (FITC)-cruzipain or FITC-chagasin revealed the presence of both inhibitor and protease at the cell surface of amastigotes. The intersection of chagasin and cruzipain trafficking pathways may represent a checkpoint for downstream regulation of proteolysis in trypanosomatid protozoa
Tryptophan metabolism and bacterial commensals prevent fungal dysbiosis in Arabidopsis roots
In nature, roots of healthy plants are colonized by multikingdom microbial communities that include bacteria, fungi, and oomycetes. A key question is how plants control the assembly of these diverse microbes in roots to maintain hostâmicrobe homeostasis and health. Using microbiota reconstitution experiments with a set of immunocompromised Arabidopsis thaliana mutants and a multikingdom synthetic microbial community (SynCom) representative of the natural A. thaliana root microbiota, we observed that microbiota-mediated plant growth promotion was abolished in most of the tested immunocompromised mutants. Notably, more than 40% of between-genotype variation in these microbiota-induced growth differences was explained by fungal but not bacterial or oomycete load in roots. Extensive fungal overgrowth in roots and altered plant growth was evident at both vegetative and reproductive stages for a mutant impaired in the production of tryptophan-derived, specialized metabolites (cyp79b2/b3). Microbiota manipulation experiments with single- and multikingdom microbial SynComs further demonstrated that 1) the presence of fungi in the multikingdom SynCom was the direct cause of the dysbiotic phenotype in the cyp79b2/b3 mutant and 2) bacterial commensals and host tryptophan metabolism are both necessary to control fungal load, thereby promoting A. thaliana growth and survival. Our results indicate that protective activities of bacterial root commensals are as critical as the host tryptophan metabolic pathway in preventing fungal dysbiosis in the A. thaliana root endosphere
Possible detection of phase changes from the non-transiting planet HD 46375b by CoRoT
The present work deals with the detection of phase changes in an exoplanetary
system. HD 46375 is a solar analog known to host a non-transiting Saturn-mass
exoplanet with a 3.0236 day period. It was observed by the CoRoT satellite for
34 days during the fall of 2008. We attempt to identify at optical wavelengths,
the changing phases of the planet as it orbits its star. We then try to improve
the star model by means of a seismic analysis of the same light curve and the
use of ground-based spectropolarimetric observations. The data analysis relies
on the Fourier spectrum and the folding of the time series. We find evidence of
a sinusoidal signal compatible in terms of both amplitude and phase with light
reflected by the planet. Its relative amplitude is Delta Fp/F* = [13.0, 26.8]
ppm, implying an albedo A=[0.16, 0.33] or a dayside visible brightness
temperature Tb ~ [1880,2030] K by assuming a radius R=1.1 R_Jup and an
inclination i=45 deg. Its orbital phase differs from that of the
radial-velocity signal by at most 2 sigma_RV. However, the tiny planetary
signal is strongly blended by another signal, which we attribute to a telluric
signal with a 1 day period. We show that this signal is suppressed, but not
eliminated, when using the time series for HD 46179 from the same CoRoT run as
a reference. This detection of reflected light from a non-transiting planet
should be confirmable with a longer CoRoT observation of the same field. In any
case, it demonstrates that non-transiting planets can be characterized using
ultra-precise photometric lightcurves with present-day observations by CoRoT
and Kepler. The combined detection of solar-type oscillations on the same
targets (Gaulme et al. 2010a) highlights the overlap between exoplanetary
science and asteroseismology and shows the high potential of a mission such as
Plato.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figure
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