Respuestas fisiológicas y metabólicas a la aplicación foliar de aminoácidos en plantas de tomate

Programa de Doctorado en Recursos y Tecnologías Agrarias, Agroambientales y AlimentariasEl tomate (Solanum lycopersicum L.) es uno de los alimentos vegetales más consumidos a nivel mundial por sus propiedades nutricionales y antioxidantes. Su cultivo tiene una gran repercusión a nivel social y económico. En los últimos años se ha producido una disminución de la producción y la calidad de la cosecha debido a los efectos adversos del cambio climático, y a la incidencia de plagas y enfermedades. Por lo tanto, la agricultura se enfrente al reto de tener que incrementar la producción en un ambiente de cambio climático, con el objetivo añadido de emplear técnicas sostenibles que repercutan lo menos posible en el medio ambiente. A día de hoy, se están diseñando y evaluando nuevas estrategias agronómicas como alternativa a las prácticas convencionales, como puede ser la utilización de productos bioestimulantes. Concretamente, el uso de estos productos tiene un papel fundamental en la mejora del rendimiento de los cultivos al incidir de forma beneficiosa en las plantas. Muchos de estos productos están formulados a base de aminoácidos, y, aunque no hay ninguna duda de los efectos positivos que tiene la aplicación de productos ricos en aminoácidos, se sabe muy poco sobre el papel que juegan cada uno de los aminoácidos en los procesos fisiológicos y metabólicos de las plantas. Bajo este contexto, el objetivo global de esta tesis ha consistido en conocer el papel que juegan los aminoácidos en las plantas de tomate y como se podrían aplicar estos compuestos con la finalidad de mejorar la producción y calidad del cultivo. Para ello, se han llevado a cabo cuatro experimentos independientes y cada uno de ellos corresponde con un capítulo de la tesis.En el primer experimento se ensayó el comportamiento agronómico de 10 variedades de tomate para seleccionar aquellas cuatro que tuvieran las características agronómicas más diferentes entre sí. De estas diez, se eligieron ‘Cherry’, ‘Green Zebra’, ‘Montserrat’ y ‘Tres Cantos’ y se hizo un estudio ionómico, metabólico y hormonal con el fin de determinar los nutrientes y metabolitos que predomina en los estados fenológicos y relacionar las características agronómicas con estos compuestos. Por su parte, en el segundo experimento se evaluó en plántulas de tomate cultivadas en maceta el efecto que tiene la aplicación foliar de los aminoácidos ácido aspártico (Asp), ácido glutámico (Glu), alanina (Ala) y las mezclas Asp+Glu y Asp+Glu+Ala en las respuestas fisiológicas, morfológicas y nutricionales en dichas plantas. De igual forma, el tercer ensayo fue similar al segundo, con la diferencia de que este experimento se realizó para conocer los efectos de la aplicación foliar de tirosina (Tyr), lisina (Lys), metionina (Met) y su mezcla (Tyr+Lys+Met) en plántulas de tomate. Por último, en el cuarto experimento consistió en estudiar la tolerancia a la salinidad de plantas de tomate cultivadas en hidropónico a las que se les aplicó foliarmente los aminoácidos metionina (Met), arginina (Arg), prolina (Pro), ácido glutámico (Glu), triptófano (Trp) y las mezclas Met+Arg, Met+Trp y Glu+Pro. De todos estos experimentos las conclusiones más relevantes fueron las que se muestran a continuación: Primer ensayo: de las diez variedades estudiadas agronómicamente, ‘Cherry’, ‘Green Zebra ‘, ‘Montserrat’ y ‘Tres Cantos’ fueron seleccionadas para un estudio ionómico, metabólico y hormonal para determinar los nutrientes y metabolitos predominantes en las diferentes fases fenológicas, y relacionarlos con sus características agronómicas. Se observó que la variabilidad de los resultados podría explicarse principalmente por las diferentes fases fenológicas durante el desarrollo del cultivo, más que por la variedad. Los compuestos principales fueron N (4,71 g 100 g-1 ps), K (3,86 g 100 g-1 ps), P (0,53 mg g-1 ps), glutamato (5,21 mg g-1 ps), glutamina (2,89 mg g-1 ps), aspartato (1,54 mg g-1 ps), tirosina (2,36 mg g-1 ps), fenilalanina (1,70 mg g-1 ps), sacarosa (14,4 mg g-1 ps), malato (13,2 mg g-1 ps) e isopenteniladenina (iP) (2,65 ng g-1 ps). Estos compuestos variaron según el estado fenológico y mediante el análisis estadístico, no se encontró ninguna correlación entre estos compuestos y las características agronómicas. Pero, se puede concluir, para cada fase fenológica que compuestos podrían formar parte de los productos bioestimulantes para suministrar a los cultivos aquellos que más necesitan. Segundo ensayo: en este experimento se concluyó que la aplicación foliar de aminoácidos puede tener un efecto beneficioso en el desarrollo vegetativo de las plantas de tomate. Concretamente, en este experimento la aplicación foliar combinada de Asp+Glu tuvo mejores resultados que cuando eran aplicados de forma individual. Por su parte, cuando la Ala era aplicada con una dosis de 15 mM resultó tóxica y esta acción no fue revertida cuando se aplicaron simultáneamente Asp+Glu+Ala. Finalmente destacar que todos los aminoácidos produjeron cambios en el perfil ionómico, fisiológico y metabolómico de las plantas Tercer ensayo: en este experimento se puso de manifiesto que la aplicación foliar de Tyr, Lys y Met a una concentración de 15 mM tuvo efectos beneficiosos en las plantas de tomate, ya que se produjo un incremento del desarrollo vegetativo en relación a las plantas control. Estos tratamientos estimularon la ACO2 e incrementaron el uso eficaz de los nutrientes de manera que a pesar de que durante el experimento se observó que en las plantas tratadas con aminoácidos se redujo la concentración mineral, esto no tuvo limitaciones en los procesos fisiológicos. Se concluyó que la aplicación de estos AAs pueda llegar a ser útil en el cultivo de plantas hortícolas como el tomate. Cuarto ensayo: los resultados en este experimento mostraron que la salinidad disminuyó el crecimiento de las plantas, pero aquellas tratadas con Met, Pro+Glu y Met+Trp invirtieron el efecto negativo causado por este estrés. Esto no se debió a diferencias en la concentración de Cl- o Na acumuladas en las hojas o a cambios en el estado hídrico de las plantas, sino a una mayor acumulación de azúcares solubles totales, lo que podrían haber actuado como compuestos antioxidantes desactivando las especies reactivas de oxígeno causadas por la toxicidad de estos iones. En los resultados de este experimento también destacan el haber conocido los efectos antagónicos o sinérgicos que se dan entre los AAs, conocimiento que se debe tener en cuenta a la hora de formular productos bioestimulantesTomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is one of the most consumed vegetables worldwide due to its great nutritional and antioxidant properties. Its cultivation has a great impact on a social and economic level. In recent years there has been a decrease in production and harvest quality due to the adverse effects of climate change, and the incidence of pests and diseases. Therefore, agriculture faces the challenge of having to increase production in a climate change environment, with the added objective of using sustainable techniques that have the least possible impact on the environment. At the present time, new agronomic strategies are being designed and evaluated as an alternative to conventional practices, such as the use of biostimulant products. Specifically, the use of these products plays a fundamental role in improving crop yield by having a beneficial effect on plants. Many of these products are formulated with amino acids, and although there is no doubt about the positive effects of the application of products rich in amino acids, little is known about the role that each amino acid plays in physiological and metabolic processes of plants. Under this context, the overall objective of this thesis has consisted of knowing the role played by amino acids in tomato plants and how these compounds could be applied in order to improve the production and quality of the crop. For this, four independent experiments have been carried out and each of them corresponds to a chapter of the thesis. In the first experiment, the agronomic performance of 10 tomato varieties were tested in order to select those four that had the most different agronomic characteristics. Of these ten, ‘Cherry’, ‘Green Zebra’, ‘Montserrat’ and ‘Tres Cantos’ were chosen and an ionomic, metabolic and hormonal study was conducted with the purpose of determining the nutrients and metabolites that predominate in the phenological states and relate the agronomic characteristics with these compounds. For its part, in the second experiment, in pot-grown tomato seedlings it was evaluated the effect of foliar application of the following amino acids: aspartic acid (Asp), glutamic acid (Glu), alanine (Ala) and the mixtures Asp+Glu and Asp+Glu+Ala, in the physiological, morphological and nutritional responses in these plants. The third experiment was similar to the second, with the difference that this experiment was conducted to know the effects of foliar application of tyrosine (Tyr), lysine (Lys), methionine (Met) and their mixture (Tyr+Lys+Met) in tomato seedlings Finally, the fourth experiment consisted of studying the tolerance to salinity of tomato plants grown in hydroponics with foliar application of the amino acids: methionine (Met), arginine (Arg), proline (Pro), glutamic acid (Glu), tryptophan (Trp) and the Met+Arg, Met+Trp and Glu+Pro mixtures. Of all these experiments, the most relevant conclusions were those shown below: First test: of the ten varieties studied agronomically, ‘Cherry’, ‘Green Zebra’, ‘Montserrat’ and ‘Tres Cantos’ were selected for an ionomic, metabolic and hormonal study to determine the predominant nutrients and metabolites in the different phenological phases and relate them to their agronomic characteristics. It was observed that the variability of the results could be explained mainly by the different phenological phases during the development of the crop, rather than by the variety. The main compounds were N (4.71 g 100 g-1 dw), K (3.86 g 100 g-1 dw), P (0.53 mg g-1 dw), glutamate (5.21 mg g-1 dw), glutamine (2.89 mg g-1 dw), aspartate (1.54 mg g-1 dw), tyrosine (2.36 mg g-1 dw), phenylalanine (1.70 mg g-1 dw), sucrose (14.4 mg g-1 dw), malate (13.2 mg g-1 dw) and isopentenyladenine (iP) (2.65 ng g-1 dw). These compounds varied according to the phenological state, and, through statistical analysis, no correlation was found between these compounds and the agronomic characteristics. But, it can be concluded, for each phenological phase, which compounds could be part of the biostimulant products to supply the crops with those they need most. Second test: in this experiment it was concluded that the foliar application of amino acids can have a beneficial effect on the vegetative development of tomato plants. Specifically, in this experiment the combined foliar application of Asp+Glu had better results than when they were applied individually. On the other hand, when Ala was applied with a dose of 15 mM it was toxic and this action was not reversed when Asp+Glu+Ala were applied simultaneously. Finally, it should be noted that all amino acids produced changes in the ionomic, physiological and metabolomic profile of the plants. Third test: in this experiment it was revealed that the foliar application of Tyr, Lys and Met at a concentration of 15 mM had beneficial effects on tomato plants, since there was an increase in vegetative development in relation to the control plants. These treatments stimulated ACO2 and increased the effective use of nutrients so, despite the fact that during the experiment it was observed that plants treated with amino acids the mineral concentration was reduced, this did not have limitations in the physiological processes. It was concluded that the application of these AAs could become useful in the cultivation of horticultural plants, such as tomatoes. • Fourth test: the results in this experiment showed that salinity decreased the growth of the plants, but those treated with Met, Pro+Glu and Met+Trp reversed the negative effect caused by this stress. This was not due to differences in the concentration of Cl- or Na accumulated in the leaves or to changes in the water state of the plants, but to a greater accumulation of total soluble sugars, which could have acted as antioxidant compounds deactivating the reactive species of oxygen caused by the toxicity of these ions. The results of this experiment also highlight having known the antagonistic or synergistic effects that occur between AAs, knowledge that must be taken into consideration when formulating biostimulant product

Diseño de identidad corporativa y transformación digital para un negocio artesanal

El proyecto que se presenta es un caso real en el que se trata demejorar la imagen de marca y crear nuevos canales de venta paraun negocio artesanal e individual dirigido por María Gracia, OriónJoyería de autor.El objetivo principal de este proyecto es aplicar diferentes áreasde conocimiento estudiadas durante el Grado de la Universidadde Zaragoza de “Ingeniería de Diseño Industrial y Desarrollo delProducto” como son el diseño gráfico, diseño de servicios y diseñode interfaces para mejorar el modelo de negocio de la artesana.La pretensión de este trabajo es conseguir una transferencia deconocimientos entre el Grado y la Industria Artesanal, ayudandoa conseguir una modernización tecnológica del sector, para darvisibilidad a sus productos y dar accesibilidad a ellos a todo tipode públicos.Este contacto fue facilitado por parte del Centro de Artesanos deAragón, abierto a nuevas propuestas que impulsen a la artesanía yacerquen a este tipo pequeñas empresas a las nuevas tecnologías,debido a que es un sector especialmente vulnerable a los cambiosque están sufriendo los métodos de producción.<br /

La transmisión vertical de precios en el sector ovino español

El objetivo de este trabajo se basa en conocer la eficacia de los fondos de la Política Agraria Común (PAC) en lo que respecta a la protección de los agricultores y la inestabilidad de precios de los productos agroalimentarios surgida sobre la economía española o, si por el contrario, dichos fondos han contribuido a la propagación de la cadena vertical en la cadena de valor agrícola. Este objetivo ha sido estudiado mediante el análisis de la cadena vertical de la propia cadena de valor de un producto agroalimentario típico en la cultura española: Cordero Pascual 1ª.Este objetivo ha sido investigado mediante el análisis descriptivo de los precios en origen y destino del Cordero Pascual 1ª en el año 2018, y a través del análisis econométrico del mismo producto entre el periodo temporal 2004-2018.Conforme los resultados obtenidos, existen indicios acerca de una intensa cadena vertical del Cordero Pascual 1ª, ya que los precios en origen y destino carecen de causalidad y relación entre los mismos.<br /

Estrategias de control para reducir el impacto de la mancha de la hoja del trigo

Trichoderma strains are used as biofungicides for some plant diseases. The aim of this research was to evaluate the effectiveness of Trichoderma harzianum isolates, applied alone and in combination with fungicides, to control Zymoseptoria tritici, the causal agent of Septoria tritici blotch of wheat, and their impact on wheat yield and its components. To this end, field experiments were performed in 2010 and 2011 and 10 different treatments were applied. The disease severity was assessed by visual estimation of the leaf area affected by Z. tritici at the first node, anthesis and early dough growth stages. The best results for reducing the area under the disease progress curve (AUDPC) were “coated seed only with T. harzianum” and “coated seed plus two foliar application of T. harzianum”. Regarding the increase in yield gain and the improvement of yield components, the fungicide treatment applied at seedling, and tillering in 2011 provided significant increase. Respect the treatments with the application of T. harzianum the best was only one application as coated seed of the biocontroler alone showing yield responses similar to the ones obtained with the fungicide treatments. We recommended the coated seed alone because the protective effect lasts until the early dough stage of ripening. This application produced a comparable yield to that obtained with three applications of T. harzianum at different phenological stages of wheat with as well as with more than one application of commercial fungicide. We found a strong relationship between the number of kernels per spike and the wheat yield in 2011 as a consequence of the best environmental conditions for the disease’s occurrence. Contrary, it was shown a non-significant association between thousand kernel weight (TKW) and the wheat yield.Las cepas de Trichoderma se usan como biofungicidas para el control de algunas enfermedades de las plantas. El objetivo de esta investigación fue evaluar la efectividad de dos cepas de Trichoderma harzianum, aplicadas solas y en combinación con fungicidas, para controlar Zymoseptoria tritici, el agente causal de la mancha de la hoja del trigo, y su impacto en el rendimiento del trigo y sus componentes. Con este fin, se realizaron experimentos de campo en 2010 y 2011 y se aplicaron 10 tratamientos diferentes. La severidad de la enfermedad se evaluó mediante la estimación visual del área de la hoja afectada por Z. tritici en el estadio de primer nudo, en antesis y en grano pastoso. Los mejores resultados para la reducción del área bajo la curva de progreso de la enfermedad (ABCPE) fueron "semillas recubiertas solamente con T. harzianum" y "semillas recubiertas más dos aplicaciones foliares de T. harzianum". Para un mayor rendimiento y la mejora de los componentes de rendimiento, el mejor tratamiento fue: solo una aplicación de T. harzianum (como “semillas recubiertas”). Recomendamos este tratamiento porque el efecto protector dura hasta la etapa temprana de maduración del grano. Esta aplicación produjo un rendimiento comparable al obtenido con tres aplicaciones de T. harzianum en diferentes estados fenológicos del trigo y, además de con más de una aplicación de fungicida comercial. Existió una relación significativa entre el número de granos por espiga y el rendimiento de trigo en 2011, como consecuencia de las mejores condiciones ambientales para el desarrollo de la enfermedad. Por el contrario, se mostró una asociación no significativa con el peso de mil granos

Nutraceutical Properties of Polyphenols against Liver Diseases

Current food tendencies, suboptimal dietary habits and a sedentary lifestyle are spreading metabolic disorders worldwide. Consequently, the prevalence of liver pathologies is increasing, as it is the main metabolic organ in the body. Chronic liver diseases, with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) as the main cause, have an alarming prevalence of around 25% worldwide. Otherwise, the consumption of certain drugs leads to an acute liver failure (ALF), with drug-induced liver injury (DILI) as its main cause, or alcoholic liver disease (ALD). Although programs carried out by authorities are focused on improving dietary habits and lifestyle, the long-term compliance of the patient makes them difficult to follow. Thus, the supplementation with certain substances may represent a more easy-to-follow approach for patients. In this context, the consumption of polyphenol-rich food represents an attractive alternative as these compounds have been characterized to be effective in ameliorating liver pathologies. Despite of their structural diversity, certain similar characteristics allow to classify polyphenols in 5 groups: stilbenes, flavonoids, phenolic acids, lignans and curcuminoids. Herein, we have identified the most relevant compounds in each group and characterized their main sources. By this, authorities should encourage the consumption of polyphenol-rich products, as most of them are available in quotidian life, which might reduce the socioeconomical burden of liver diseases.We thank University of Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Basque Government and Asociacion Espanola Contra el Cancer (AECC) for the Pre-doctoral grants to M.C.-A., N.G.-U. and M.S.-M., respectively. Ciberehd_ISCIII_MINECO is funded by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III. We thank MINECO for the Severo Ochoa Excellence Accreditation to CIC bioGUNE (SEV-2016-0644)

Inactivation of Capicua in adult mice causes T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma

CIC (also known as Capicua) is a transcriptional repressor negatively regulated by RAS/MAPK signaling. Whereas the functions of Cic have been well characterized in Drosophila, little is known about its role in mammals. CIC is inactivated in a variety of human tumors and has been implicated recently in the promotion of lung metastases. Here, we describe a mouse model in which we inactivated Cic by selectively disabling its DNA-binding activity, a mutation that causes derepression of its target genes. Germline Cic inactivation causes perinatal lethality due to lung differentiation defects. However, its systemic inactivation in adult mice induces T-cell acute lymphoblastic lymphoma (T-ALL), a tumor type known to carry CIC mutations, albeit with low incidence. Cic inactivation in mice induces T-ALL by a mechanism involving derepression of its well-known target, Etv4 Importantly, human T-ALL also relies on ETV4 expression for maintaining its oncogenic phenotype. Moreover, Cic inactivation renders T-ALL insensitive to MEK inhibitors in both mouse and human cell lines. Finally, we show that Ras-induced mouse T-ALL as well as human T-ALL carrying mutations in the RAS/MAPK pathway display a genetic signature indicative of Cic inactivation. These observations illustrate that CIC inactivation plays a key role in this human malignancy.We are grateful to Carol MacKintosh (University of Dundee, UK) for the pcDNA5/FRT/TO-GFP-CIC plasmid, and Huda Zoghbi (Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX) and Yoontae Lee (University of Pohang, Korea) for Cic antisera. We thank Scott Brown and Robert Holt (University of Vancouver, Canada) for their help with TCR abundance calculations. We also thank Carmen G. Lechuga, Marta San Roman, Raquel Villar, Beatriz Jimenez, and Nuria Cabrera for excellent technical assistance. We value the support of Sagrario Ortega (Transgenic Mice Core Unit, CNIO) for help in generating the Cic mutant mice, Orlando Dominguez (Genomics Core Unit, CNIO) for the RNA-seq analysis, and the Histopathology Core Unit. This work was supported by grants from the Fundacio La Marato de TV3 (20131730/1) to G.J. and M.B., and the European Research Council (ERC-AG/250297-RAS AHEAD), the EU-Framework Programme (HEALTH-F2-2010-259770/LUNGTARGET and HEALTH-2010-260791/EUROCANPLATFORM), the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (SAF2014-59864-R), the Autonomous Community of Madrid (S2011/BDM-2470/ONCOCYCLE), and the Asociacion Espanola contra el Cancer (AECC) (GC16173694BARB) to M.B. M.B. is the recipient of an Endowed Chair from the AXA Research Fund. L.S.-C. was supported by a fellowship from the Programa de Formacion de Personal Investigator (FPI) of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness. M.D. and M.B. conceived and designed the study. L.S.-C., O.G., G.J., M.D., and M.B. developed the methodology. L.S.-C., O.G., M.S., and M.D. acquired the data. L.S.-C., O.G., M.S., H.K.C.J., G.J., M.D., and M.B. analyzed and interpreted the data. L.S-C., O.G., G.J., M.D., and M.B. wrote, reviewed, and/or revised the manuscript. G.J. provided material support. A. G. analyzed the T-ALL sequencing. M.D. and M.B. supervised the study.S

Changes in the content of chlorophylls and carotenoids in the rind of Fino 49 lemons during maturation and their relationship with parameters from the CIELAB color space

In the present work, the coordinates L*, a* and b* from the CIELAB color space, as well as the chlorophyll, total carotenoids and the content of the carotenoids Lutein and β-cryptoxanthin were measured in the skin of fruits from the Fino 49 lemon during its development, with the aim of understanding the relationship that exists between the color changes of the fruit’s skin (color coordinates) and the pigment content. Also, the understanding of the relative importance of the contents of lutein and β-cryptoxanthin with respect to the total content of carotenoids was sought. The period of study lasted three years; from September 2015 to January 2016, from September 2016 to January 2017, and from September 2017 to January 2018, the periods that comprised the color changes of the lemon fruit until its harvest. The fruits were measured every two weeks in the experimental plot of the IMIDA (Murcian Institute of Agricultural and Food Research and Development) located at La Alberca (Murcia, Spain) and in the experimental orchards from the CEBAS-CSIC, located in Santomera (Murcia). During he experiment, the color and chlorophyll, Lutein and β-cryptoxanthin concentrations were measured. The results showed that there was a good correlation between the color coordinates and the pigments responsible for the lemon’s skin color: all the color pigments were correlated with the a*, b* color coordinates and the Hue angle index. Throughout the fruit’s maturation, a degradation of the chlorophylls was observed, as well as an increase of β-cryptoxanthin, which is responsible for the green and yellow color of the fruits, respectively. Lutein, which was found in high concentrations, decreased with time, but did not contribute to the fruit’s color