Search results for " Developmen"

Variation in the immune state of Gammarus pulex (Crustacea, Amphipoda) according to temperature: are extreme temperatures a stress?

2017

9 pages; International audience; Temperature is known to impact host-parasite interactions in various ways. Such effects are often regarded as the consequence of the increased metabolism of parasites with increasing temperature. However, the effect of temperature on hosts' immune system could also be a determinant. Here we assessed the influence of temperature on the immunocompetence of the crustacean amphipod Gammarus pulex. Amphipods play a key ecological role in freshwater ecosystems that can be altered by several parasites. We investigated the consequences of three weeks of acclimatization at four temperatures (from 9 °C to 17 °C) on different immunological parameters. Temperature influ…

Phylogeography, evolutionary history and effects of glaciations in a species (Zootoca vivipara) inhabiting multiple biogeographic regions

2018

[Aim]: During glaciations, the distribution of temperate species inhabiting the Northern Hemisphere generally contracts into southern refugia; and in boreo‐alpine species of the Northern Hemisphere, expansion from Northern refugia is the general rule. Little is known about the drivers explaining vast distributions of species inhabiting multiple biogeographic regions (major biogeographic regions defined by the European Environmental Agency). Here we investigate the fine‐scale phylogeography and evolutionary history of the Eurasian common lizard (Zootoca vivipara), the terrestrial reptile with the world's widest and highest latitudinal distribution, that inhabits multiple biogeographic region…

Floral scent in a sexually deceptive Ophrys orchid: from headspace collections to solvent extractions

2018

Sexually deceptive orchid flowers use visual, tactile and olfactory cues of female insects in order to attract males of one or a few closely related species as pollinators. Ophrys L. is the most species-rich genus of sexually deceptive orchids in the Mediterranean Basin. Despite Ophrys pollinated by Andrena male bees use alkanes and mainly alkenes with specific double-bond positions as key signals that trigger pseudocopulatory behavior, some volatile organic compounds (VOCs) with low molecular weight were found as long-range attractants non-eliciting copulatory behavior. Since floral scents in Ophrys have been extensively studied by solvent extractions here we aimed to understand which flor…

Potential risk evaluation for unintended entry of genetically modified plant Propagating material in Europe through import of seeds and animal feed –…

2019

Significant attention has been drawn to the adventitious and technically unavoidable presence of genetically modified (GM) organisms in the food and feed imported into the European Union (EU), while the potential presence of GM seeds in material for cultivation is less studied. Here we report a study from an EU member state, Latvia, during years 2017–2018 regarding monitoring for the presence of GM seeds in certified seed and animal feed material. Eighty-two and 28 samples of seeds intended for cultivation were analyzed in 2017 and 2018, respectively. One soybean sample contained MON40-3-2 soybean seeds (0.09 ± 0.01%) and one maize sample contained MON810 maize seeds (0.08 ± 0.01%). In addi…

Gametic and somatic embryogenesis through in vitro anther culture of different Citrus genotypes

2015

Abstract: In vitro tissue culture represents a useful technique for advancing Citrus breeding and propagation. Among in vitro regeneration systems, anther culture is commonly used to produce haploids and doubled haploids for a fast-track producing homozygous lines, in comparison with the traditional self-pollination approach, which involves several generations of selfing. In addition, anthers culture can produce somatic embryos that can also be used for clonal propagation. In this study, two thermal shocks were applied to the anthers of six Citrus genotypes (two clementine and four sweet oranges), just after they were put in culture. The response obtained was different depending on the geno…

A new genus for the eastern dwarf galagos (Primates: Galagidae).

2017

13 pages; International audience; The family Galagidae (African galagos or bushbabies) comprises five genera: EuoticusGray, 1872; GalagoGeoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1796; GalagoidesSmith, 1833; OtolemurCoquerel, 1859; and SciurocheirusGray, 1872, none of which is regarded as monotypic, but some (Euoticus and Otolemur) certainly qualify as oligotypic. We argue for the recognition of a sixth genus, if the taxonomy is to reflect galagid evolution accurately. Genetic evidence has consistently demonstrated that the taxa currently referred to the genus Galagoides are not monophyletic but form two clades (a western and an eastern clade) that do not share an exclusive common ancestor; we review 20 years…

Medicinal mushrooms: Valuable biological resources of high exploitation potential

2017

Higher Basidiomycetes and Ascomycetes mushrooms possess various immunological and anticancer properties. They also offer important health benefits and exhibit a broad spectrum of pharmacological activities including antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, cytotoxic, immunomodulating, anti-inflammatory, antioxidative, antiallergic, antidepressive, antihyperlipidemic, antidiabetic, digestive, hepatoprotective, neuroprotective, nephroprotective, osteoprotective, and hypotensive activities. This minireview summarizes the perspectives, recent advances, and major challenges of medicinal mushrooms with reference to their nutraceutical properties and dietary value, the production of mushroom biomass …

Evaluation of the Ability of Polyphenol Extracts of Cocoa and Red Grape to Promote the Antioxidant Response in Yeast Using a Rapid Multiwell Assay

2017

Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been used as a model organism to study the capacity of cocoa and red grape extracts to trigger an antioxidant response. A methodology adapted to microtiter plates has been developed to monitor yeast growth after culture preincubation with food ingredients and exposure to oxidative stress by hydrogen peroxide and menadione. This methodology proved effective in measuring the ability of cocoa and red grape extracts to promote an antioxidant response in yeast, and also the prospect of conducting dose-response studies. Additionally, the method has proven useful to perform studies with mutant strains lacking genes that may be related to the mechanism of action underly…

Effect of addition of Opuntia ficus-indica mucilage on the biological leavening, physical, nutritional, antioxidant and sensory aspects of bread

2019

The addition of active compounds to enhance the functional properties of foods is a quite common practice. Recently, bread became one of the target foods to incorporate functional ingredients such as those deriving from Opuntia spp. So far, only Opuntia ficus-indica cladodes in powder has been tested. The addition of fresh O. ficus-indica mucilage (in substitution to water) did not influence the biological leavening of the doughs. The resulting breads showed a biological role of the cactus mucilage, because their antioxidant activity was higher than that of control wheat bread. The sensory analysis indicated a general appreciation of the breads enriched with O. ficus-indica mucilage by the …

2020

Elucidating the diets of insect predators is important in basic and applied ecology, such as for improving the effectiveness of conservation biological control measures to promote natural enemies of crop pests. Here, we investigated the aphid diet of two common aphid predators in Central European agroecosystems, the native Coccinella septempunctata (Linnaeus) and the invasive Harmonia axyridis (Pallas; Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) by means of high throughput sequencing (HTS). For acquiring insights into diets of mobile flying insects at landscape scale minimizing trapping bias is important, which imposes methodological challenges for HTS. We therefore assessed the suitability of three field s…