0000000000256395
AUTHOR
Carmelo Bennici
showing 9 related works from this author
A modified culture medium for improved isolation of marine vibrios
2019
Abstract Marine Vibrio members are of great interest for both ecological and biotechnological research, which often relies on their isolation. Whereas many efforts have been made for the detection of food‐borne pathogenic species, much less is known about the performances of standard culture media toward environmental vibrios. We show that the isolation/enumeration of marine vibrios using thiosulfate‐citrate‐bile salts‐sucrose agar (TCBS) as selective medium may be hampered by the variable adaptability of different taxa to the medium, which may result even in isolation failure and/or in substantial total count underestimation. We propose a modified TCBS as isolation medium, adjusted for mar…
Characterization of Translationally Controlled Tumour Protein from the Sea Anemone Anemonia viridis and Transcriptome Wide Identification of Cnidaria…
2018
Gene family encoding translationally controlled tumour protein (TCTP) is defined as highly conserved among organisms; however, there is limited knowledge of non-bilateria. In this study, the first TCTP homologue from anthozoan was characterised in the Mediterranean Sea anemone, Anemonia viridis. The release of the genome sequence of Acropora digitifera, Exaiptasia pallida, Nematostella vectensis and Hydra vulgaris enabled a comprehensive study of the molecular evolution of TCTP family among cnidarians. A comparison among TCTP members from Cnidaria and Bilateria showed conserved intron exon organization, evolutionary conserved TCTP signatures and 3D protein structure. The pattern of mRNA exp…
Signals from the deep-sea: Genetic structure, morphometric analysis, and ecological implications of Cyclothone braueri (Pisces, Gonostomatidae) early…
2020
Abstract Cyclothone braueri (Stomiiformes, Gonostomatidae) is a widely distributed fish inhabiting the mesopelagic zone of marine tropical and temperate waters. Constituting one of the largest biomasses of the ocean, C. braueri is a key element in most of the ecological processes occurring in the twilight layer. We focused on the ecological processes linked to early life stages in relation to marine pelagic environmental drivers (temperature, salinity, food availability and geostrophic currents) considering different regions of the Central Mediterranean Sea. A multivariate morphometric analysis was carried out using six parameters with the aim of discerning different larval morphotypes, whi…
Aberrant gene expression profiles in Mediterranean sea urchin reproductive tissues after metal exposures
2019
Abstract Marine organisms are simultaneously exposed to numerous pollutants, among which metals probably represent the most abundant in marine environments. In order to evaluate the effects of metal exposure at molecular level in reproductive tissues, we profiled the sea urchin transcriptional response after non-lethal exposures using pathway-focused mRNA expression analyses. Herein, we show that exposures to relatively high concentrations of both essential and toxic metals hugely affected the gonadic expression of several genes involved in stress-response, detoxification, transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation, without significant changes in gonadosomatic indices. Even though …
Comprehensive analysis of a Vibrio parahaemolyticus strain extracellular serine protease VpSP37
2015
Proteases play an important role in the field of tissue dissociation combined with regenerative medicine. During the years new sources of proteolytic enzymes have been studied including proteases from different marine organisms both eukaryotic and prokaryotic. Herein we have purified a secreted component of an isolate of Vibrio parahaemolyticus, with electrophoretic mobilities corresponding to 36 kDa, belonging to the serine proteases family. Sequencing of the N-terminus enabled the in silico identification of the whole primary structure consisting of 345 amino acid residues with a calculated molecular mass of 37.4 KDa. The purified enzyme, named VpSP37, contains a Serine protease domain be…
Evolutionary conserved mechanisms pervade structure and transcriptional modulation of allograft inflammatory factor-1 from sea anemone Anemonia virid…
2017
Gene family encoding allograft inflammatory factor-1 (AIF-1) is well conserved among organisms; however, there is limited knowledge in lower organisms. In this study, the first AIF-1 homologue from cnidarians was identified and characterised in the sea anemone Anemonia viridis. The full-length cDNA of AvAIF-1 was of 913 bp with a 5' -untranslated region (UTR) of 148 bp, a 3'-UTR of 315 and an open reading frame (ORF) of 450 bp encoding a polypeptide with149 amino acid residues and predicted molecular weight of about 17 kDa. The predicted protein possesses evolutionary conserved EF hand Ca2+ binding motifs, post-transcriptional modification sites and a 3D structure which can be superimposed …
Gene expression changes after parental exposure to metals in the sea urchin affect timing of genetic programme of embryo development
2021
Simple Summary Intergenerational and transgenerational effects, in which exposure to stressors in a parental generation affects the phenotype of the offspring have been connected to anthropic impacts on biological systems. Therefore, environmental stress experienced inside a generation, particularly during gametogenesis, may lead to erroneous patterns in their offspring just emerging at early developmental stages. In this scenario, the sea urchin embryo represents a suitable model for integrating analyses of gene expression through embryogenesis with developmental alteration induced by environmental stressors. Herein we provide pieces of evidence for the alteration of the gene regulatory ne…
Coupling Lagrangian simulation models and remote sensing to explore the environmental effect on larval growth rate: The Mediterranean case study of r…
2023
The relationship between environmental conditions and early life-history traits of Sardinella aurita are investigated using material collected in two sites of the Central Mediterranean Sea. Individual mean daily growth during the planktonic phase has been determined by using otolith microstructure analysis, while Lagrangian simulation models allowed to estimate the daily position in space and time of each specimen from the hatching to the catch. Generalized Additive Mixed Models (GAMMs) have been implemented to explore the impact of environmental conditions at time t, t-1 day and t-2 days on the mean daily growth rate occurring at time t. Spatial analysis evidenced a wide dispersion of eggs…
The nucleic acid-binding protein PcCNBP is transcriptionally regulated during the immune response in red swamp crayfish Procambarus clarkii
2016
Gene family encoding cellular nucleic acid binding proteins (CNBP) is well conserved among vertebrates; however, there is limited knowledge in lower organisms. In this study, a CNBP homolog from the red swamp crayfish Procambarus clarkii was characterised. The full-length cDNA of PcCNBP was of 1257 bp with a 5′-untranslated region (UTR) of 63 bp and a 3′-UTR of 331 bp with a poly (A) tail, and an open-reading frame (ORF) of 864 bp encoding a polypeptide of 287 amino acids with the predicted molecular weight of about 33 kDa. The predicted protein possesses 7 tandem repeats of 14 amino acids containing the CCHC zinc finger consensus sequence, two RGG-rich single-stranded RNA-binding domain an…