Search results for "Nature"
showing 10 items of 1564 documents
Soil conservation and sustainable development goals(SDGs) achievement in Europe and central Asia: Which role for the European soil partnership?
2021
Abstract Voluntary soil protection measures are not sufficient to achieve sustainable soil management at a global scale. Additionally, binding soil protection legislation at national and international levels has also proved to be insufficient for the effective protection of this non-renewable natural resource. In 2012, the FAO Members established the Global Soil Partnership (GSP) with the mission to facilitate and contribute exchange of knowledge and technologies related to soils, and develop dialogue and raise awareness for the need to establish a binding global agreement for sustainable soil management. Moreover, region-specific aspects of implementation are considered and strengthened th…
A population genomics analysis of the native Irish Galway sheep breed.
2019
SUMMARYThe Galway sheep population is the only native Irish sheep breed and represents an important livestock genetic resource, which is currently categorised as “at-risk”. In the present study, comparative population genomics analyses of Galway sheep and other sheep populations of European origin were used to investigate the microevolution and recent genetic history of the breed. These analyses support the hypothesis that British Leicester sheep were used in the formation of the Galway breed and suggest more recent gene flow from the Suffolk sheep breed. When compared to conventional and endangered breeds, the Galway breed was intermediate in effective population size, genomic inbreeding a…
The Bioactive Compounds and Antioxidant Activity of Food Products of Rhizophora stylosa Fruit (Coffee and Tea Mangrove)
2018
The objective of this study is to investigate the bioactive compounds and antioxidant activity of coffee and tea mangrove (locally known in Indonesia) produced from the fruit of Rhizophora stylosa. Furthermore, three raw materials of coffee mangrove were also investigated to clarify their potencies. The crude extracts of five samples were subjected to antioxidant assay using DPPH. The results show that the extract of tea mangrove has the strongest activity; then, it was successfully fractionated using different polarity of solvents and yielded acetone and methanol fractions that had high antioxidant activity. The acetone fraction was purified and gave fractions A1, A2, A3, A4, A5, and A6, b…
Distribution, redox state and (bio)geochemical implications of arsenic in present day microbialites of Laguna Brava, Salar de Atacama
2018
Understanding how microorganisms adapted to the high arsenic concentration present on early Earth requires understanding of the processes involved in the arsenic biogeochemical cycle operating in living microbial mats. To this end, we investigated a living microbial mat from Laguna Brava (Salar de Atacama, Chile), a hypersaline lake with high arsenic concentration, using an array of conventional geochemical techniques, such as X-ray diffraction, SEM-EDX and Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy (CLSM), combined with state-of-the-art high resolution scanning imaging techniques, including X-ray micro-fluorescence (μXRF) and X-ray Absorption Near Edge Structure (XANES) mapping. This experimental …
Cadmium-Associated Molecular Signatures in Cancer Cell Models
2021
Simple Summary The exposure of cancer cells to cadmium compounds may be associated with the acceleration of tumor progression. It is known that cadmium is a transcriptional regulator, and the study of differentially expressed genes has enabled the identification and classification of cadmium-associated molecular signatures as useful biomarkers that are potentially transferable to clinical research. This review recapitulates the studies that report the detection of such signatures in breast, gastric, colon, liver, lung, and nasopharyngeal tumor cell models, as specifically demonstrated by individual gene or whole genome expression profiling. Abstract The exposure of cancer cells to cadmium a…
Fifteen Shades of Grey: Combined Analysis of Genome-Wide SNP Data in Steppe and Mediterranean Grey Cattle Sheds New Light on the Molecular Basis of C…
2020
Coat color is among the most distinctive phenotypes in cattle. Worldwide, several breeds share peculiar coat color features such as the presence of a fawn pigmentation of the calf at birth, turning over time to grey, and sexual dichromatism. The aim of this study was to search for polymorphisms under differential selection by contrasting grey cattle breeds displaying the above phenotype with non-grey cattle breeds, and to identify the underlying genes. Using medium-density SNP array genotype data, a multi-cohort FST-outlier approach was adopted for a total of 60 pair-wise comparisons of the 15 grey with 4 non-grey cattle breeds (Angus, Limousin, Charolais, and Holstein), with the latter sel…
Genome-Wide Analysis Reveals Selection Signatures Involved in Meat Traits and Local Adaptation in Semi-Feral Maremmana Cattle
2021
The Maremmana cattle is an ancient Podolian-derived Italian breed raised in semi-wild conditions with distinctive morphological and adaptive traits. The aim of this study was to detect potential selection signatures in Maremmana using medium-density single nucleotide polymorphism array. Putative selection signatures were investigated combining three statistical approaches designed to quantify the excess of haplotype homozygosity either within (integrated haplotype score, iHS) or among pairs of populations (Rsb and XP-EHH), and contrasting the Maremmana with a single reference population composed of a pool of seven Podolian-derived Italian breeds. Overall, the three haplotype-based analyses …
Taxonomic clarification of three taxa of Iberian geomitrids, Helix montserratensis Hidalgo, 1870 and subspecies (Gastropoda, Pulmonata), based on mor…
2017
Revisión taxonómica de tres taxones de geomítridos ibéricos, Helix montserratensis Hidalgo, 1870, y subespecies (Gastropoda, Pulmonata), basada en datos morfo–anatómicos Helix montserratensis (actualmente Xerocrassa montserratensis) es un geomítrido ibérico descrito por Hidalgo en 1870 en Montserrat (Barcelona, España). Sobre la base de varios caracteres conquiológicos, se describieron dos taxones muy similares, como variedades de este taxón: Helix montserratensis betulonensis y otro menos nombrado, Helix montserratensis delicatula. Estas variedades, sobre todo betulonensis, se han considerado subespecies de X. montserratensis, aunque algunos autores las consideran especies diferentes, basá…
Genetic and Epigenetic Characteristics of Inflammatory Bowel Disease-Associated Colorectal Cancer.
2021
doi: 10.1053/j.gastro.2021.04.042 Background & Aims Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic, relapsing inflammatory disorder associated with an elevated risk of colorectal cancer (CRC). IBD-associated CRC (IBD-CRC) may represent a distinct pathway of tumorigenesis compared to sporadic CRC (sCRC). Our aim was to comprehensively characterize IBD-associated tumorigenesis integrating multiple high-throughput approaches, and to compare the results with in-house data sets from sCRCs. Methods Whole-genome sequencing, single nucleotide polymorphism arrays, RNA sequencing, genome-wide methylation analysis, and immunohistochemistry were performed using fresh-frozen and formalin-fixed tissue sam…
2018
Secondary sexual trait expression can be influenced by fixed individual factors (such as genetic quality) as well as by dynamic factors (such as age and environmentally induced gene expression) that may be associated with variation in condition or quality. In particular, melanin-based traits are known to relate to condition and there is a well-characterized genetic pathway underpinning their expression. However, the mechanisms linking variable trait expression to genetic quality remain unclear. One plausible mechanism is that genetic quality could influence trait expression via differential methylation and differential gene expression. We therefore conducted a pilot study examining DNA meth…