Search results for "MACROMOLECULAR"
showing 10 items of 944 documents
Jellyfish Impacts on Marine Aquaculture and Fisheries
2020
Over the last 50 years, there has been an increased frequency and severity of negative impacts affecting marine fishery and aquaculture sectors, which claimed significant economic losses due to the interference of stinging gelatinous organisms with daily operational activities. Nevertheless, original scientific information on jellyfish-related incidents, their consequences, and potential preventative and mitigation countermeasures is limited and scattered across gray literature, governmental technical reports, and communication media. A literature scan searching for records of any interactions between jellyfish and the marine fishery/aquaculture sectors were carried out. Out of 553 papers, …
Do carotenoid-based sexual traits signal the availability of non-pigmentary antioxidants?
2006
SUMMARY Carotenoid-based signals are thought to be indicators of male quality because they must be obtained from the diet and might thus indicate the ability of individuals to gather high-quality food. However, carotenoids are also known to have important physiological functions as immunoenhancers and antioxidants, and, as such, carotenoid-based sexual traits have also been suggested to reflect the health and antioxidant status of their bearers. This last idea is based on the hypothesis that carotenoids that are allocated to sexual signals are no longer available for the detoxification system. Recently, this hypothesis has been challenged on the grounds that the antioxidant activity is not …
First successful eradication of invasive Norway rats Rattus norvegicus from a small Mediterranean island (Isola delle Femmine, Italy)
2019
Invasive alien species, once introduced, may affect local biodiversity, both directly (e.g. by predation) and indirectly (e.g. by reducing the vegetation cover). Among those, rats (Rodentia, Muridae) are listed among the most invasive species, exerting strong impacts particularly when introduced to island ecosystems. Accordingly, black rats Rattus rattus have been eradicated from a number of islands in the Mediterranean basin to protect breeding seabirds. Where the larger Norway rat Rattus norvegicus is present, extent of damage may be even higher. In our work, we present the results of the first eradication program dealing with Norway rats in a small Mediterranean island (Isola delle Femmi…
Interspecific variation in total phenolic content in temperate brown algae
2017
Marine algae synthesize secondary metabolites such as polyphenols that function as defense and protection mechanisms. Among brown algae, Fucales and Dictyotales (Phaeophyceae) contain the highest levels of phenolic compounds, mainly phlorotannins, that play multiple roles. Four temperate brown algae (Cystoseira amentacea, Cystoseira compressa, Dictyopteris polypodioides and Padina pavonica) were studied for total phenolic contents. Total phenolic content was determined colorimetrically with the Folin-Ciocalteu reagent. Significant differences in total phenolic content were observed between leathery and sheetlike algae and also within each morphological group. Among the four species, the she…
Role of Thylakoid ATP/ADP Carrier in Photoinhibition and Photoprotection of Photosystem II in Arabidopsis
2010
L'article original est publié par The American Society of Plant Biologists; International audience; The chloroplast thylakoid ATP/ADP carrier (TAAC) belongs to the mitochondrial carrier superfamily and supplies the thylakoid lumen with stromal ATP in exchange for ADP. Here, we investigate the physiological consequences of TAAC depletion in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). We show that the deficiency of TAAC in two T-DNA insertion lines does not modify the chloroplast ultrastructure, the relative amounts of photosynthetic proteins, the pigment composition, and the photosynthetic activity. Under growth light conditions, the mutants initially displayed similar shoot weight, but lower when r…
Protein phosphorylation is induced in tobacco cells by the elicitor cryptogein
1994
Changes in plasmalemma ion fluxes were observed when tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) cells were treated with cryptogein, a proteinaceous elicitor from Phytophthora cryptogea. A strong alkalization of the culture medium, accompanied by a leakage of potassium, was induced within a few minutes of treatment. These effects reached a maximum after 30 to 40 min and lasted for several hours. This treatment also resulted in a rapid, but transient, production of activated oxygen species. All these physiological responses were fully sensitive to staurosporine, a known protein kinase inhibitor. Furthermore, a study of protein phosphorylation showed that cryptogein induced a staurosporine-sensitive phosphor…
Phosphorylation of CENP-A on serine 7 does not control centromere function.
2019
CENP-A is the histone H3 variant necessary to specify the location of all eukaryotic centromeres via its CENP-A targeting domain and either one of its terminal regions. In humans, several post-translational modifications occur on CENP-A, but their role in centromere function remains controversial. One of these modifications of CENP-A, phosphorylation on serine 7, has been proposed to control centromere assembly and function. Here, using gene targeting at both endogenous CENP-A alleles and gene replacement in human cells, we demonstrate that a CENP-A variant that cannot be phosphorylated at serine 7 maintains correct CENP-C recruitment, faithful chromosome segregation and long-term cell viab…
Atrial fibrillation and cognitive disorders: An overview on possible correlation
2020
Atrial Fibrillation is the most common cardiac arrhythmia affecting people of all ages, principally the elderly. Cognitive decline and dementia are also prevalent diseases in elderly. The scientific community always showed interest in the possible association between these two pathological entities, both implicating social and economic burden. This has been confirmed by several longitudinal population-based studies. Some studies also revealed that the association between atrial fibrillation and dementia may be not related to history of stroke. Therefore, other pathophysiological mechanisms are likely implicated, so far unclear or undefined. The aim of the present review is to analyse the po…
Analysis of the 3H8 antigen of Candida albicans reveals new aspects of the organization of fungal cell wall proteins.
2017
The walls of both, yeast and mycelial cells of Candida albicans possess a species-specific antigen that is recognized by a monoclonal antibody (MAb 3H8). This antigen can be extracted in the form of a very high Mr complex, close or over 106 Da, by treatment, with β-1,3-glucanase, β mercaptoethanol or dithothreitol, or mild alkali, but not by saturated hydrogen fluoride (HF) in pyridine, suggesting that the complex is bound to wall β-1,3 glucans, and to proteins by disulfide bonds, but not to β-1,6 glucans. Through its sensitivity to trypsin and different deglycosylation procedures, it was concluded that the epitope is associated to a glycoprotein containing N-glycosidic, but not O-glycosidi…
Comparison of platelet function tests for the in vitro quality assessment of platelet concentrates produced under real-life conditions.
2018
Platelet quality in different platelet concentrates (PCs) has been the subject of several studies. Nonetheless, there is a lack of robust data on the correlation and agreement among platelet function tests as a prerequisite for the association of PC functionality in vitro with platelet function in vivo post PC transfusion. The purpose of our study was to correlate a larger panel of platelet function assays in PCs and to assess whether the methods agree sufficiently and can be used interchangeably. Twelve apheresis platelet concentrates in plasma (APC), 16 pooled platelet concentrates in plasma (PPC), and 12 PPC in T-sol (PPCA) were examined on days 1 and 4 after production. PCs were tested …