0000000000285811
AUTHOR
Isabel Mendoza-poudereux
Maritime Pine Pinus Pinaster Aiton
Maritime pine (Pinus pinaster Aiton) is the most abundant conifer in the Mediterranean basin. Currently, maritime pine is considered to be a model conifer species for study of the adaption responses to drought stress from a genomics approach. In this context, the availability of protocols that allow not only mass vegetative propagation of selected families or genotypes, but also facilitate the functional analyses needed to verify and further to study the effects of candidate genes are necessary. Here we describe an improved protocol to generate maritime pine plants through somatic embryogenesis from immature megagametophytes. Accurate procedures for explant preparation, somatic embryo induc…
Biotechnological Approaches to Increase Essential Oil Yield and Quality in Aromatic Plants: The Lavandula latifolia (Spike Lavender) Example. Past and Recommendations for the Future
Increasing knowledge about isoprenoid biosynthesis pathways has provided new tools for aromatic plant breeding using biotechnological approaches. Notably, there are possibilities to modify essential oil profiles and enhance production of valuable monoterpenes. This attains a particular significance in Lavandula latifolia Medik. (spike lavender), one of the most important essential oil crops in Spain. This chapter summarizes work done to improve essential oil yield and quality by engineering: (1) the enzymes controlling regulatory steps of methyl-D-erythritol 4-phosphate (MEP) and mevalonic acid (MVA) pathways to increase C5 units employed for monoterpene biosynthesis and (2) the monoterpene…
Exploratory study of the hoaxes spread via WhatsApp in Spain to prevent and/or cure COVID-19
Objective: To review the hoaxes’ characteristics spread through WhatsApp in Spain during COVID-19 lockdown and identify what kind of substances were promoted for consumption or application. Method: A phone number was activated to receive hoaxes via WhatsApp. A total of 2353 messages were collected, and among those 584 different hoaxes were identified and validated, between March 18 and April 18, 2020. From these 584 hoaxes, a sub-sample of 126 was selected, exclusively related to the object of study, and a content analysis table with fourteen registration fields was applied. Besides, the averages and medians of the quantitative fields were extracted. Results: Most of the messages received w…
Citizen Science: Society takes centre stage
En l’ultima decada la investigacio cientifica basada en la col·laboracio de la ciutadania ha crescut exponencialment. Ja siga recopilant dades sobre migracions d’ocells, contaminacio acustica o habitatges buits en un veinat, analitzant imatges de cel·lules tumorals o d’estels llunyans, transcrivint quaderns de bitacola o traduint jeroglifics egipcis (tots exemples de projectes reals de ciencia ciutadana), hi ha incomptables oportunitats perque la societat s’involucre en el treball cientific i contribuisca a l’acumulacio de coneixement cientific. Tambe son possibles altres nivells d’implicacio, mes enlla de la recopilacio o l’analisi de dades: suggerir objectes d’estudi, dissenyar metodes d’…
Citizen consultations on science communication: A citizen science approach
La ciencia ciutadana forma part d’una tendencia cientifica i social mes amplia que promou el dialeg bidireccional i la implicacio dels cientifics i el public a forca d’involucrar la ciutadania en el proces d’investigacio. Aquest article examina els esforcos de CONCISE (un projecte internacional en el qual participen Espanya, Italia, Portugal, Polonia i Eslovaquia) per a comprendre, mitjancant consultes publiques, com adquireix i utilitza la informacio cientifica la ciutadania. Les consultes, celebrades en 2019, van incloure prop de 500 persones. CONCISE intenta posar la participacio de la ciutadania en el centre del proces d’investigacio demanant-li suggeriments sobre com millorar la comuni…
Dynamics of Monoterpene Formation in Spike Lavender Plants
The metabolic cross-talk between the mevalonate (MVA) and the methylerythritol phosphate (MEP) pathways was analyzed in spike lavender (Lavandula latifolia Med) on the basis of 13CO2-labelling experiments using wildtype and transgenic plants overexpressing the 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl CoA reductase (HMGR), the first and key enzyme of the MVA pathway. The plants were labelled in the presence of 13CO2 in a gas chamber for controlled pulse and chase periods of time. GC/MS and NMR analysis of 1,8-cineole and camphor, the major monoterpenes present in their essential oil, indicated that the C5-precursors, isopentenyl diphosphate (IPP) and dimethylallyl diphosphate (DMAPP) of both monoterpenes …
Enhanced levels of S-linalool by metabolic engineering of the terpenoid pathway in spike lavender leaves
Transgenic Lavandula latifolia plants overexpressing the linalool synthase (LIS) gene from Clarkia breweri, encoding the LIS enzyme that catalyzes the synthesis of linalool were generated. Most of these plants increased significantly their linalool content as compared to controls, especially in the youngest leaves, where a linalool increase up to a 1000% was observed. The phenotype of increased linalool content observed in young leaves was maintained in those T1 progenies that inherit the LIS transgene, although this phenotype was less evident in the flower essential oil. Cross-pollination of transgenic spike lavender plants allowed the generation of double transgenic plants containing the …
Deoxyxylulose 5-phosphate reductoisomerase is not a rate-determining enzyme for essential oil production in spike lavender
[EN] Spike lavender (Lavandula latifolia) is an economically important aromatic plant producing essential oils, whose components (mostly monoterpenes) are mainly synthesized through the plastidial methylerythritol 4-phosphate (MEP) pathway. 1-Deoxy-d-xylulose-5-phosphate (DXP) synthase (DXS), that catalyzes the first step of the MEP pathway, plays a crucial role in monoterpene precursors biosynthesis in spike lavender. To date, however, it is not known whether the DXP reductoisomerase (DXR), that catalyzes the conversion of DXP into MEP, is also a rate-limiting enzyme for the biosynthesis of monoterpenes in spike lavender. To investigate it, we generated transgenic spike lavender plants con…
Metabolic cross-talk between pathways of terpenoid backbone biosynthesis in spike lavender
Abstract The metabolic cross-talk between the mevalonate (MVA) and the methylerythritol phosphate (MEP) pathways in developing spike lavender ( Lavandula latifolia Med) was analyzed using specific inhibitors and on the basis of 13 C-labeling experiments. The presence of mevinolin (MEV), an inhibitor of the MVA pathway, at concentrations higher than 0.5 μM significantly reduced plant development, but not the synthesis of chlorophylls and carotenoids. On the other hand, fosmidomycin (FSM), an inhibitor of the MEP pathway, at concentrations higher than 20 μM blocked the synthesis of chlorophyll, carotenoids and essential oils, and significantly reduced stem development. Notably, 1.2 mM MVA cou…
Perfil sociodemográfico del usuario de la homeopatía en España
Resumen: Objetivo: Identificar el perfil sociodemográfico del usuario de la homeopatía en España. Diseño: Estudio cuantitativo. Emplazamiento: España. Corpus: Base de datos del Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas (Estudio 3205, febrero de 2018), con un total de 2.486 entrevistas, y se analiza una submuestra (n = 124), que agrupa a todos los ciudadanos que afirman que han usado la homeopatía en España en los 12 meses anteriores. Mediciones principales: Se utilizaron los porcentajes, las medias y/o la desviación estándar de las medias, así como la significación de los cambios en las distintas variables analizadas entre la población en general y los usuarios específicos de la homeopatía en …