La transizione energetica attraverso modelli educativi ispirati agli organismi vegetali

Climate changes are the side effects of anthropogenic activities over the past two centuries. Which are the activities that it could be taken into account to create a sustainable development model, meeting the present needs without compromising the future generation growths? Current modern societies are involved to carry out activities as ecological transition in order to decrease the greenhouse gas emissions released by energetic processes that use limited planet’s resources, fossil fuels. Waiting for this slow transition, it is also necessary to address environmental issues in the world of education, an awareness that should be received by the institution first, acquired by teachers and then lived by students. Finally, in order to deal with this radical transformation, it would be useful to recognize the main role of plants as oxygen producers, at the base of food chains, organisms able to capture carbon dioxide released by anthropogenic activities (energetic processes) new models based on plant organisms because essentials to maintain the fragile equilibrium of natural ecosystems.I cambiamenti climatici sono gli effetti collaterali delle attività antropiche degli ultimi due secoli. Quali sono le attività che potrebbero essere considerate per realizzare un modello di sviluppo sostenibile, che soddisfi i bisogni del presente senza compromette la crescita delle future generazioni? Le attuali società moderne sono coinvolte nell’eseguire azioni come la transizione ecologica per ridurre l’emissione di gas serra rilasciati dai processi energivori che utilizzano le risorse limitate del pianeta, i combustili fossili. In attesa di questa lenta transizione, è necessario affrontare le questioni ambientali nel mondo dell’educazione, una consapevolezza che dovrebbe essere recepita prima dalle istituzioni, acquisita dagli insegnanti e poi vissuta dagli studenti. Infine, per affrontare questa radicale trasformazione, è necessario riconoscere il ruolo principale delle piante come produttori di ossigeno, alla base delle catene alimentari, organismi capaci di catturare l’anidride carbonica rilasciata dalle attività antropogeniche (processi energivori): nuovi modelli basati sugli organismi vegetali poiché indispensabili per il mantenimento del fragile equilibrio degli ecosistemi naturali

Sometimes a Little Mango Goes a Long Way: a Rapid Approach to Assess How Different Shipping Systems Affect Fruit Commercial Quality

Mangoes are climacteric and highly perishable fruits and represent the most appreciated tropical fruits in the world for their special taste and aroma. Depending on the structure of the supply chain and on general environmental and technical factors, fruit picking may be anticipated or postponed within the frame time of fruit maturation stage. Hence, mangoes may be collected for long distance sea freight at the unripe green stage, while pre-ripened fruits, usually transported by air to shorten storage time, are harvested later and must be eaten within few days. In the present study, we assess the potential of an evaluation technique that combines conventional ripening measures with the new detection system of volatile compounds using the PTR-ToF-MS to obtain information on the fruit “eating” quality state. Fruits from the same mango cultivar and shipped from the same country with two alternative shipping systems were compared by analysing the evolution of their physicochemical characteristics and volatile organic compound (VOCs) profiles in time. By pooling the entire dataset together, it emerges that VOCs and physicochemical parameters can be used to separate the two types of transport and the two different ripening stages for the air-freighted fruits, while the sea-freighted fruits showed a rather static behaviour between the two sampling time. The two combined methods may provide a simple and fast tool to assess the presence of characters strongly attractive to mango consumers and in a broader context can be helpful in giving a better idea about the eating qualities of the commercialized products

Early signalling processes in roots play a crucial role in the differential salt tolerance in contrasting Chenopodium quinoa accessions

: Significant variation in epidermal bladder cell (EBC) density and salt tolerance (ST) exists amongst quinoa accessions, suggesting that salt sequestration in EBCs is not the only mechanism conferring ST in this halophyte. In order to reveal other traits that may operate in tandem with salt sequestration in EBCs and whether these additional tolerance mechanisms acted mainly at the root or shoot level, two quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) accessions with contrasting ST and EBC densities (Q30, low ST with high EBC density versus Q68, with high ST and low EBC density) were studied. The results indicate that responses in roots, rather than in shoots, contributed to the greater ST in the accession with low EBC density. In particular, the tolerant accession had improved root plasma membrane integrity and K+ retention in the mature root zone in response to salt. Furthermore, superior ST in the tolerant Q68 was associated with faster and root-specific H2O2 accumulation and reactive oxygen species-induced K+ and Ca2+ fluxes in the root apex within 30 min after NaCl application. This was found to be associated with the constitutive up-regulation of the membrane-localized receptor kinases regulatory protein FERONIA in the tolerant accession. Taken together, this study shows that differential root signalling events upon salt exposure are essential for the halophytic quinoa; the failure to do this limits quinoa adaptation to salinity, independently of salt sequestration in EBCs

Zn2+-induced changes at the root level account for the increased tolerance of acclimated tobacco plants

Evidence suggests that heavy-metal tolerance can be induced in plants following pre-treatment with non-toxic metal concentrations, but the results are still controversial. In the present study, tobacco plants were exposed to increasing Zn(2+) concentrations (up to 250 and/or 500 μM ZnSO(4)) with or without a 1-week acclimation period with 30 μM ZnSO(4). Elevated Zn(2+) was highly toxic for plants, and after 3 weeks of treatments there was a marked (≥50%) decline in plant growth in non-acclimated plants. Plant acclimation, on the other hand, increased plant dry mass and leaf area up to 1.6-fold compared with non-acclimated ones. In non-acclimated plants, the addition of 250 μM ZnSO(4) led to transient membrane depolarization and stomatal closure within 24h from the addition of the stress; by contrast, the acclimation process was associated with an improved stomatal regulation and a superior ability to maintain a negative root membrane potential, with values on average 37% more negative compared with non-acclimated plants. The different response at the plasma-membrane level between acclimated and non-acclimated plants was associated with an enhanced vacuolar Zn(2+) sequestration and up to 2-fold higher expression of the tobacco orthologue of the Arabidopsis thaliana MTP1 gene. Thus, the acclimation process elicited specific detoxification mechanisms in roots that enhanced Zn(2+) compartmentalization in vacuoles, thereby improving root membrane functionality and stomatal regulation in leaves following elevated Zn(2+) stress