Host affinity of endophytic fungi and the potential for reciprocal interactions involving host secondary chemistry

PREMISE: Interactions between fungal endophytes and their host plants present useful systems for identifying important factors affecting assembly of host-associated microbiomes. Here we investigated the role of secondary chemistry in mediating host affinity of asymptomatic foliar endophytic fungi using Psychotria spp. and Theobroma cacao (cacao) as hosts. METHODS: First, we surveyed endophytic communities in Psychotria species in a natural common garden using culture-based methods. Then we compared differences in endophytic community composition with differences in foliar secondary chemistry in the same host species, determined by liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry. Finally, we tested how inoculation with live and heat-killed endophytes affected the cacao chemical profile. RESULTS: Despite sharing a common environment and source pool for endophyte spores, different Psychotria host species harbored strikingly different endophytic communities that reflected intrinsic differences in their leaf chemical profiles. In T. cacao, inoculation with live and heat-killed endophytes produced distinct cacao chemical profiles not found in uninoculated plants or pure fungal cultures, suggesting that endophytes, like pathogens, induce changes in secondary chemical profiles of their host plant. CONCLUSIONS: Collectively our results suggest at least two potential processes: (1) Plant secondary chemistry influences assembly and composition of fungal endophytic communities, and (2) host colonization by endophytes subsequently induces changes in the host chemical landscape. We propose a series of testable predictions based on the possibility that reciprocal chemical interactions are a general property of plant–endophyte interactionsPREMISE: Interactions between fungal endophytes and their host plants present useful systems for identifying important factors affecting assembly of host-associated microbiomes. Here we investigated the role of secondary chemistry in mediating host affinity of asymptomatic foliar endophytic fungi using Psychotria spp. and Theobroma cacao (cacao) as hosts. METHODS: First, we surveyed endophytic communities in Psychotria species in a natural common garden using culture-based methods. Then we compared differences in endophytic community composition with differences in foliar secondary chemistry in the same host species, determined by liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry. Finally, we tested how inoculation with live and heat-killed endophytes affected the cacao chemical profile. RESULTS: Despite sharing a common environment and source pool for endophyte spores, different Psychotria host species harbored strikingly different endophytic communities that reflected intrinsic differences in their leaf chemical profiles. In T. cacao, inoculation with live and heat-killed endophytes produced distinct cacao chemical profiles not found in uninoculated plants or pure fungal cultures, suggesting that endophytes, like pathogens, induce changes in secondary chemical profiles of their host plant. CONCLUSIONS: Collectively our results suggest at least two potential processes: (1) Plant secondary chemistry influences assembly and composition of fungal endophytic communities, and (2) host colonization by endophytes subsequently induces changes in the host chemical landscape. We propose a series of testable predictions based on the possibility that reciprocal chemical interactions are a general property of plant–endophyte interaction

Competencia de los cuidadores familiares para cuidar a los pacientes con falla cardíaca

Introducción: El cuidador familiar es la fuente más importante de apoyo social y requiere desarrollar habilidades para reforzar las conductas de autocuidado en su familiar. El objetivo de este estudio fue determinar la competencia de cuidado de los cuidadores familiares de los pacientes con falla cardiaca (FC) en una institución de cuarto nivel de complejidad. Materiales y Métodos: Estudio descriptivo de corte transversal. Con un tamaño de muestra de 41 cuidadores familiares de personas con FC que asisten al programa de FC en una institución de salud de cuarto nivel, durante el segundo semestre del 2016. Para la recolección de la información se utilizó el instrumento “CUIDAR” que cuenta con pruebas de validez de constructo y consistencia interna con un alfa de Cronbach de 0.93. Se realizó un análisis descriptivo con distribución de frecuencias absolutas y relativas. Resultados: El nivel de competencia global para el cuidado en el hogar de los cuidadores familiares de los pacientes con FC fue medio y alto. Las dimensiones que alcanzaron un nivel más alto de competencia fueron Disfrutar e Instrumental y Procedimental. Discusión: Una adecuada competencia para el cuidado en los cuidadores se convierte en un factor que puede influir de manera positiva en el manejo de la persona. Conclusiones: Una adecuada competencia del cuidador familiar va a permitir una mejor adaptación a los nuevos requerimientos de la vida del paciente con su enfermedad y pueden ayudar a prevenir las descompensaciones.Cómo citar este artículo: Achury DM, Restrepo A, Torres NM, Buitrago AL, Neira NX, Devia P. Competencia de los cuidadores familiares para cuidar a los pacientes con falla cardíaca. Rev Cuid. 2017; 8(3): 1721-32. http://dx.doi.org/10.15649/cuidarte.v8i3.40

Competencia de los cuidadores familiares para cuidar a los pacientes con falla cardíaca

Introducción: El cuidador familiar es la fuente más importante de apoyo social y requiere desarrollar habilidades para reforzar las conductas de autocuidado en su familiar. El objetivo de este estudio fue determinar la competencia de cuidado de los cuidadores familiares de los pacientes con falla cardiaca (FC) en una institución de cuarto nivel de complejidad. Materiales y Métodos: Estudio descriptivo de corte transversal. Con un tamaño de muestra de 41 cuidadores familiares de personas con FC que asisten al programa de FC en una institución de salud de cuarto nivel, durante el segundo semestre del 2016. Para la recolección de la información se utilizó el instrumento “CUIDAR” que cuenta con pruebas de validez de constructo y consistencia interna con un alfa de Cronbach de 0.93. Se realizó un análisis descriptivo con distribución de frecuencias absolutas y relativas. Resultados: El nivel de competencia global para el cuidado en el hogar de los cuidadores familiares de los pacientes con FC fue medio y alto. Las dimensiones que alcanzaron un nivel más alto de competencia fueron Disfrutar e Instrumental y Procedimental. Discusión: Una adecuada competencia para el cuidado en los cuidadores se convierte en un factor que puede influir de manera positiva en el manejo de la persona. Conclusiones: Una adecuada competencia del cuidador familiar va a permitir una mejor adaptación a los nuevos requerimientos de la vida del paciente con su enfermedad y pueden ayudar a prevenir las descompensaciones

Field sampling of fig pollinator wasps across host species and host developmental phase: Implications for host recognition and specificity

Abstract Previous genetic studies of pollinator wasps associated with a community of strangler figs (Ficus subgenus Urostigma, section Americana) in Central Panama suggest that the wasp species exhibit a range in host specificity across their host figs. To better understand factors that might contribute to this observed range of specificity, we used sticky traps to capture fig‐pollinating wasp individuals at 13 Ficus species, sampling at different phases of the reproductive cycle of the host figs (e.g., trees with receptive inflorescences, or vegetative trees, bearing only leaves). We also sampled at other tree species, using them as non‐Ficus controls. DNA barcoding allowed us to identify the wasps to species and therefore assign their presence and abundance to host fig species and the developmental phase of that individual tree. We found: (1) wasps were only very rarely captured at non‐Ficus trees; (2) nonetheless, pollinators were captured often at vegetative individuals of some host species; (3) overwhelmingly, wasp individuals were captured at receptive host fig trees representing the fig species from which they usually emerge. Our results indicate that wasp occurrence is not random either spatially or temporally within the forest and across these hosts, and that wasp specificity is generally high, both at receptive and vegetative host trees. Therefore, in addition to studies that show chemicals produced by receptive fig inflorescences attract pollinator wasps, we suggest that other cues (e.g., chemicals produced by the leaves) can also play a role in host recognition. We discuss our results in the context of recent findings on the role of host shifts in diversification processes in the Ficus genus

Field sampling of fig pollinator wasps across host species and host developmental phase: Implications for host recognition and specificity

International audiencePrevious genetic studies of pollinator wasps associated with a community of strangler figs ( Ficus subgenus Urostigma , section Americana ) in Central Panama suggest that the wasp species exhibit a range in host specificity across their host figs. To better understand factors that might contribute to this observed range of specificity, we used sticky traps to capture fig‐pollinating wasp individuals at 13 Ficus species, sampling at different phases of the reproductive cycle of the host figs (e.g., trees with receptive inflorescences, or vegetative trees, bearing only leaves). We also sampled at other tree species, using them as non‐ Ficus controls. DNA barcoding allowed us to identify the wasps to species and therefore assign their presence and abundance to host fig species and the developmental phase of that individual tree. We found: (1) wasps were only very rarely captured at non‐ Ficus trees; (2) nonetheless, pollinators were captured often at vegetative individuals of some host species; (3) overwhelmingly, wasp individuals were captured at receptive host fig trees representing the fig species from which they usually emerge. Our results indicate that wasp occurrence is not random either spatially or temporally within the forest and across these hosts, and that wasp specificity is generally high, both at receptive and vegetative host trees. Therefore, in addition to studies that show chemicals produced by receptive fig inflorescences attract pollinator wasps, we suggest that other cues (e.g., chemicals produced by the leaves) can also play a role in host recognition. We discuss our results in the context of recent findings on the role of host shifts in diversification processes in the Ficus genus