Phylogeny, distribution and pathogenicity of Lasiodiplodia species associated with dieback of table grape in the main Brazilian exporting region

[EN] Botryosphaeria dieback is an important disease of table grape in the Sao Francisco Valley, the main Brazilian exporting region. The objectives of this study were to identify species of Lasiodiplodia associated with botryosphaeria dieback of table grapes in the Sao Francisco Valley, investigate the prevalence and distribution of the species in the region, and evaluate their pathogenicity and virulence in green shoots of table grape. A total of 112 Lasiodiplodia isolates were obtained from 14 vineyards, located in Casa Nova, Juazeiro and Petrolina. Fungal identifications were made using phylogenetic analysis based on partial sequences of translation elongation factor 1-alpha (EF1-alpha) and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequences, in combination with morphometric characteristics of conidia. Eight species of Lasiodiplodia were identified: L. brasiliense, L. crassispora, L. egyptiacae, L. euphorbicola, L. hormozganensis, L. jatrophicola, L. pseudotheobromae and L. theobromae. Except for L. crassispora, L. pseudotheobromae and L. theobromae, all the other species are reported for the first time on grapevine worldwide. The distribution of Lasiodiplodia species differed between the three table grape populations of Sao Francisco Valley. All Lasiodiplodia species isolated in this study were present in the population of Casa Nova and Lasiodiplodia theobromae was the most prevalent. All species of Lasiodiplodia were pathogenic on detached green shoots of grapevine, with L. brasiliense being the most virulent.This study was financed by Fundacao de Amparo a Ciencia e Tecnologia do Estado de Pernambuco (FACEPE APQ 137-5.01/12, IBPG-0674-5.01/09). M.P.S.C. and S.J.M. also acknowledge the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico-CNPq research fellowship. A.J.L.P. thanks Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia (Portugal) for financial support through grant PEst-OE/BIA/UI0457/2011.Correia, KC.; Silva, M.; De Morais, M.; Armengol Fortí, J.; Phillips, A.; Camara, M.; Michereff, S. (2016). Phylogeny, distribution and pathogenicity of Lasiodiplodia species associated with dieback of table grape in the main Brazilian exporting region. Plant Pathology. 65(1):92-103. doi:10.1111/ppa.12388S9210365

NMD inhibition fails to identify tumour suppressor genes in microsatellite stable gastric cancer cell lines

BACKGROUND: Gastric cancers frequently show chromosomal alterations which can cause activation of oncogenes, and/or inactivation of tumour suppressor genes. In gastric cancer several chromosomal regions are described to be frequently lost, but for most of the regions, no tumour suppressor genes have been identified yet. The present study aimed to identify tumour suppressor genes inactivated by nonsense mutation and deletion in gastric cancer by means of GINI (gene identification by nonsense mediated decay inhibition) and whole genome copy number analysis. METHODS: Two non-commercial gastric cancer cell lines, GP202 and IPA220, were transfected with siRNA directed against UPF1, to specifically inhibit the nonsense mediated decay (NMD) pathway, and with siRNA directed against non-specific siRNA duplexes (CVII) as a control. Microarray expression experiments were performed in triplicate on 4 × 44 K Agilent arrays by hybridizing RNA from UPF1-transfected cells against non-specific CVII-transfected cells. In addition, array CGH of the two cell lines was performed on 4 × 44K agilent arrays to obtain the DNA copy number profiles. Mutation analysis of GINI candidates was performed by sequencing. RESULTS: UPF1 expression was reduced for >70% and >80% in the GP202 and IPA220 gastric cancer cell lines, respectively. Integration of array CGH and microarray expression data provided a list of 134 and 50 candidate genes inactivated by nonsense mutation and deletion for GP202 and IPA220, respectively. We selected 12 candidate genes for mutation analysis. Of these, sequence analysis was performed on 11 genes. One gene, PLA2G4A, showed a silent mutation, and in two genes, CTSA and PTPRJ, missense mutations were detected. No nonsense mutations were detected in any of the 11 genes tested. CONCLUSION: Although UPF1 was substantially repressed, thus resulting in the inhibition of the NMD system, we did not find genes inactivated by nonsense mutations. Our results show that the GINI strategy leads to a high number of false positives

Polarized and resonant Raman spectroscopy on single InAs nanowires

We report polarized Raman scattering and resonant Raman scattering studies on single InAs nanowires.Polarized Raman experiments show that the highest scattering intensity is obtained when both the incident and analyzed light polarizations are perpendicular to the nanowire axis. InAs wurtzite optical modes are observed. The obtained wurtzite modes are consistent with the selection rules and also with the results of calculations using an extended rigid-ion model. Additional resonant Raman scattering experiments reveal a redshifted E1 transition for InAs nanowires compared to the bulk zinc-blende InAs transition due to the dominance of the wurtzite phase in the nanowires. Ab initio calculations of the electronic band structure for wurtzite and zinc-blende InAs phases corroborate the observed values for the E1 transitions

Raman spectroscopy to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease and dementia with Lewy bodies in blood

Accurate identification of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is still of major clinical importance considering the current lack of non-invasive and low-cost diagnostic approaches. Detection of early-stage AD is particularly desirable as it would allow early intervention and/or recruitment of patients into clinical trials. There is also an unmet need for discrimination of AD from dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), as many cases of the latter are misdiagnosed as AD. Biomarkers based on a simple blood test would be useful in research and clinical practice. Raman spectroscopy has been implemented to analyse blood plasma of a cohort that consisted of early-stage AD, late-stage AD, DLB and healthy controls. Classification algorithms achieved high accuracy for the different groups: early-stage AD vs healthy with 84% sensitivity, 86% specificity; late-stage AD vs healthy with 84% sensitivity, 77% specificity; DLB vs healthy with 83% sensitivity, 87% specificity; early-stage AD vs DLB with 81% sensitivity, 88% specificity; late-stage AD vs DLB with 90% sensitivity, 93% specificity; and lastly, early-stage AD vs late-stage AD 66% sensitivity and 83% specificity. G-score values were also estimated between 74-91%, demonstrating that the overall performance of the classification model was satisfactory. The wavenumbers responsible for differentiation were assigned to important biomolecules which can serve as a panel of biomarkers. These results suggest a cost-effective, blood-based biomarker for neurodegeneration in dementias

The Effect of Chemical Information on the Spatial Distribution of Fruit Flies: I Model Results

Animal aggregation is a general phenomenon in ecological systems. Aggregations are generally considered as an evolutionary advantageous state in which members derive the benefits of protection and mate choice, balanced by the costs of limiting resources and competition. In insects, chemical information conveyance plays an important role in finding conspecifics and forming aggregations. In this study, we describe a spatio-temporal simulation model designed to explore and quantify the effects of these infochemicals, i.e., food odors and an aggregation pheromone, on the spatial distribution of a fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) population, where the lower and upper limit of local population size are controlled by an Allee effect and competition. We found that during the spatial expansion and strong growth of the population, the use of infochemicals had a positive effect on population size. The positive effects of reduced mortality at low population numbers outweighed the negative effects of increased mortality due to competition. At low resource densities, attraction toward infochemicals also had a positive effect on population size during recolonization of an area after a local population crash, by decreasing the mortality due to the Allee effect. However, when the whole area was colonized and the population was large, the negative effects of competition on population size were larger than the positive effects of the reduction in mortality due to the Allee effect. The use of infochemicals thus has mainly positive effects on population size and population persistence when the population is small and during the colonization of an area

Measurement of the polarisation of W bosons produced with large transverse momentum in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS experiment

This paper describes an analysis of the angular distribution of W->enu and W->munu decays, using data from pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC in 2010, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of about 35 pb^-1. Using the decay lepton transverse momentum and the missing transverse energy, the W decay angular distribution projected onto the transverse plane is obtained and analysed in terms of helicity fractions f0, fL and fR over two ranges of W transverse momentum (ptw): 35 < ptw < 50 GeV and ptw > 50 GeV. Good agreement is found with theoretical predictions. For ptw > 50 GeV, the values of f0 and fL-fR, averaged over charge and lepton flavour, are measured to be : f0 = 0.127 +/- 0.030 +/- 0.108 and fL-fR = 0.252 +/- 0.017 +/- 0.030, where the first uncertainties are statistical, and the second include all systematic effects.Comment: 19 pages plus author list (34 pages total), 9 figures, 11 tables, revised author list, matches European Journal of Physics C versio

Observation of a new chi_b state in radiative transitions to Upsilon(1S) and Upsilon(2S) at ATLAS

The chi_b(nP) quarkonium states are produced in proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV and recorded by the ATLAS detector. Using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.4 fb^-1, these states are reconstructed through their radiative decays to Upsilon(1S,2S) with Upsilon->mu+mu-. In addition to the mass peaks corresponding to the decay modes chi_b(1P,2P)->Upsilon(1S)gamma, a new structure centered at a mass of 10.530+/-0.005 (stat.)+/-0.009 (syst.) GeV is also observed, in both the Upsilon(1S)gamma and Upsilon(2S)gamma decay modes. This is interpreted as the chi_b(3P) system.Comment: 5 pages plus author list (18 pages total), 2 figures, 1 table, corrected author list, matches final version in Physical Review Letter