Search results for " Aquatic Science"
showing 10 items of 92 documents
A versatile bioreactor for dynamic suspension cell culture. Application to the culture of cancer cell spheroids.
2016
A versatile bioreactor suitable for dynamic suspension cell culture under tunable shear stress conditions has been developed and preliminarily tested culturing cancer cell spheroids. By adopting simple technological solutions and avoiding rotating components, the bioreactor exploits the laminar hydrodynamics establishing within the culture chamber enabling dynamic cell suspension in an environment favourable to mass transport, under a wide range of tunable shear stress conditions. The design phase of the device has been supported by multiphysics modelling and has provided a comprehensive analysis of the operating principles of the bioreactor. Moreover, an explanatory example is herein prese…
Enrichment, isolation and biodegradation potential of psychrotolerant polychlorinated-biphenyl degrading bacteria from the Kongsfjorden (Svalbard Isl…
2016
Persistent organic pollutants (POPs), such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), have been detected in abiotic Arctic matrices: surface sediments and seawater from coastal areas in the Kongsfjorden were collected and analyzed. Levels of PCBs varied depending on the sampling site. Total PCB concentrations were between 11.63 (site C2W) and 27.69 pg l-1 (site AW). These levels were comparable to those reported previously in lake sediments from the northern Svalbard. The occurrence and biodegradation potential of cold-adapted PCB-oxidizing bacteria in seawater and sediment along the fjord was also evaluated. After enrichment with biphenyl, 246 isolates were obtained with 45 of them that were abl…
Effect of Salt Concentration and Extremely Halophilic Archaea on the Safety and Quality Characteristics of Traditional Salted Anchovies
2017
Extremely halophilic archaea (EHA) might play an important role in salted fish production. So far, limited information has been available on the effect of EHA and salt concentration on the safety and quality characteristics of salted anchovies. Eight Halobacterium salinarum strains were isolated from different sea salt samples and subjected to phenotypic and genotypic characterization. The strains were then inoculated into fresh salt before addition to anchovies. A total of 18 experimental productions were performed. The inoculated trials showed the lowest counts of undesired microorganisms. In particular, salted anchovies produced with Hbt. salinarum H11 showed the lowest histamine concent…
From mammals back to birds: Host-switch of the acanthocephalan Corynosoma australe from pinnipeds to the Magellanic penguin Spheniscus magellanicus.
2017
Trophically-transmitted parasites are regularly exposed to potential new hosts through food web interactions. Successful colonization, or switching, to novel hosts, occur readily when ?donor? and ?target? hosts are phylogenetically related, whereas switching between distantly related hosts is rare and may result from stochastic factors (i.e. rare favourable mutations). This study investigates a host-switching event between a marine acanthocephalan specific to pinnipeds that is apparently able to reproduce in Magellanic penguins Spheniscus magellanicus from Brazil. Detailed analysis of morphological and morphometrical data from acanthocephalans from penguins indicates that they belong to Cor…
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 …
Whole genome semiconductor based sequencing of farmed European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) Mediterranean genetic stocks using a DNA pooling appro…
2016
European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) is an important marine species for commercial and sport fisheries and aquaculture production. Recently, the European sea bass genome has been sequenced and assembled. This resource can open new opportunities to evaluate and monitor variability and identify variants that could contribute to the adaptation to farming conditions. In this work, two DNA pools constructed from cultivated European sea bass were sequenced using a next generation semiconductor sequencing approach based on Ion Proton sequencer. Using the first draft version of the D. labrax genome as reference, sequenced reads obtained a total of about 1.6 million of single nucleotide polymorp…
Screening archaeological bone for palaeogenetic and palaeoproteomic studies.
2020
Funder: FP7 Ideas: European Research Council; funder-id: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100011199; Grant(s): 295729
Deep-Sea Bioluminescence Blooms after Dense Water Formation at the Ocean Surface
2013
The deep ocean is the largest and least known ecosystem on Earth. It hosts numerous pelagic organisms, most of which are able to emit light. Here we present a unique data set consisting of a 2.5-year long record of light emission by deep-sea pelagic organisms, measured from December 2007 to June 2010 at the ANTARES underwater neutrino telescope in the deep NW Mediterranean Sea, jointly with synchronous hydrological records. This is the longest continuous time-series of deep-sea bioluminescence ever recorded. Our record reveals several weeks long, seasonal bioluminescence blooms with light intensity up to two orders of magnitude higher than background values, which correlate to changes in th…
Common genetic denominators for Ca++-based skeleton in Metazoa: role of osteoclast-stimulating factor and of carbonic anhydrase in a calcareous spong…
2012
Calcium-based matrices serve predominantly as inorganic, hard skeletal systems in Metazoa from calcareous sponges [phylum Porifera; class Calcarea] to proto- and deuterostomian multicellular animals. The calcareous sponges form their skeletal elements, the spicules, from amorphous calcium carbonate (ACC). Treatment of spicules from Sycon raphanus with sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) results in the disintegration of the ACC in those skeletal elements. Until now a distinct protein/enzyme involved in ACC metabolism could not been identified in those animals. We applied the technique of phage display combinatorial libraries to identify oligopeptides that bind to NaOCl-treated spicules: those oligop…
Paleoceanography of the Late Cretaceous northwestern Tethys Ocean: Seasonal upwelling or steady thermocline?
2020
In this study we attempted to assess whether seasonal upwelling or a steady thermocline persisted at the western margin of the Tethys Ocean during the late Turonian-early Coniacian interval. For this scope, we employed novel and published stable oxygen isotope (δ18O) data of various organisms (bivalves, bivalves, brachiopods, fish and belemnites). New seasonally resolved temperature estimates were based on the δ18O record of sequentially sampled inoceramid (Inoceramus sp.) and rudist (Hippurites resectus) shells from the Scaglia Rossa and Gosau deposits of northern Italy and western Austria, respectively. Diagenetic screening was performed using reflected light, cathodoluminescence (CL), sc…