Search results for "pea"

Determination of melatonin in Acyrthosiphon pisum aphids by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.

2015

Melatonin is a hormone mainly involved in the regulation of circadian and seasonal rhythms in both invertebrates and vertebrates. Despite the identification of melatonin in many insects, its involvement in the insect seasonal response remains unclear. A liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method has been developed for melatonin analysis in aphids (Acyrthosiphon pisum) for the first time. After comparing two different procedures and five extraction solvents, a sample preparation procedure with a mixture of methanol/water (50:50) was selected for melatonin extraction. The method was validated by analyzing melatonin recovery at three spiked concentrations (5, 50 and 100 p…

Sex-Specific Genetic Effects Associated with Pigmentation, Sensitivity to Sunlight, And Melanoma in a Population of Spanish Origin

2016

Background Human pigmentation is a polygenic quantitative trait with high heritability. In addition to genetic factors, it has been shown that pigmentation can be modulated by oestrogens and androgens via up- or down-regulation of melanin synthesis. Our aim was to identify possible sex differences in pigmentation phenotype as well as in melanoma association in a melanoma case-control population of Spanish origin. Methods Five hundred and ninety-nine females (316 melanoma cases and 283 controls) and 458 males (234 melanoma cases and 224 controls) were analysed. We genotyped 363 polymorphisms (single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs)) from 65 pigmentation gene regions. Results When samples were…

Prickly Pear By-Product in the Feeding of Livestock Ruminants: Preliminary Investigation

2020

Simple Summary The question of sustainability of animal nutrition has become a popular topic. The gains made by recycling safe, yet otherwise valueless, by-products and wastes from human food and fiber production (green feeds) may lessen the competition between humans and animals for crops and decrease the environmental impact of food production. In this context, prickly pear by-product, which results from Opuntia ficus-indica (L.) Mill. fruits processed for juice extraction, could be an optimum by-product to ruminant feeding. This study evaluates the nutritional characteristics and its stability during storage using potassium metabisulfite as a preservative agent. This preliminary investig…

Dynamic evolution of mitochondrial genomes in Trebouxiophyceae, including the first completely assembled mtDNA from a lichen-symbiont microalga (Treb…

2019

AbstractTrebouxiophyceae (Chlorophyta) is a species-rich class of green algae with a remarkable morphological and ecological diversity. Currently, there are a few completely sequenced mitochondrial genomes (mtDNA) from diverse Trebouxiophyceae but none from lichen symbionts. Here, we report the mitochondrial genome sequence of Trebouxia sp. TR9 as the first complete mtDNA sequence available for a lichen-symbiont microalga. A comparative study of the mitochondrial genome of Trebouxia sp. TR9 with other chlorophytes showed important organizational changes, even between closely related taxa. The most remarkable change is the enlargement of the genome in certain Trebouxiophyceae, which is princ…

Human R1441C LRRK2 regulates the synaptic vesicle proteome and phosphoproteome in a Drosophila model of Parkinson's disease

2016

International audience; Mutations in leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) cause late-onset, autosomal dominant familial Parkinsons disease (PD) and variation at the LRRK2 locus contributes to the risk for idiopathic PD. LRRK2 can function as a protein kinase and mutations lead to increased kinase activity. To elucidate the pathophysiological mechanism of the R1441C mutation in the GTPase domain of LRRK2, we expressed human wild-type or R1441C LRRK2 in dopaminergic neurons of Drosophila and observe reduced locomotor activity, impaired survival and an age-dependent degeneration of dopaminergic neurons thereby creating a new PD-like model. To explore the function of LRRK2 variants in vivo, we …

Unveiling the evolution of bivalve nacre proteins by shell proteomics of Unionoidae.

2015

The formation of the molluscan shell nacre is regulated to a large extent by a matrix of extracellular macromolecules that are secreted by the shell forming tissue, the mantle. This so called “calcifying matrix” is a complex mixture of proteins and glycoproteins that is assembled and occluded within the mineral phase during the calcification process. While the importance of the calcifying matrix to shell formation has long been appreciated, the molecular basis that dictates nacre formation remains largely uncharacterized.Recent expressed sequence tag (EST) investigations of the freshwater mussels (Elliptio complanata and Villosa leinosa) provide an opportunity to further characterize the pr…

Proteomic fingerprinting of mistletoe (Viscum album L.) via combinatorial peptide ligand libraries and mass spectrometry analysis

2017

Abstract Combinatorial peptide ligand libraries (CPLLs), coupled to mass spectrometry (MS) analysis, have been used to investigate in depth the proteome of Viscum album L. (VA), commonly named European mistletoe, in order to provide a first proteomic fingerprinting. For this purpose, the proteins were captured via CPLLs at two different pH values (acidic and neutral). A total of 648 non-redundant proteins were identified by using two different databases. The two pH values, chosen for bead incubations, have contributed to increment the capture ability: 56% and 31% of CPLLs species were respectively recognized at pH 7.2 and at pH 2.2. Finally the biological function of identified proteins was…

Barber-Say Syndrome and Ablepharon-Macrostomia Syndrome: A Patient's View

2017

Barber-Say syndrome (BSS) and ablepharon-macrostomia syndrome (AMS) are infrequently reported congenital malformation disorders caused by mutations in the <i>TWIST2</i> gene. Both are characterized by abnormalities in ectoderm-derived structures and cause a very unusual morphology of mainly the face in individuals with otherwise normal cognition and normal physical functioning. We studied the impact that the presence of BSS and AMS has on psychosocial functioning of affected individuals and their families, using their point of view to start with. We tabulated frequently asked questions from affected individuals and families, and a parent of an affected child and an affected adul…

Sentinel hospital-based surveillance for norovirus infection in children with gastroenteritis between 2015 and 2016 in Italy

2018

Noroviruses are one of the leading causes of gastro-enteric diseases worldwide in all age groups. Novel epidemic noroviruses with GII.P16 polymerase and GII.2 or GII.4 capsid type have emerged worldwide in late 2015 and in 2016. We performed a molecular epidemiological study of the noroviruses circulating in Italy to investigate the emergence of new norovirus strains. Sentinel hospital-based surveillance, in three different Italian regions, revealed increased prevalence of norovirus infection in children (<15 years) in 2016 (14.4% versus 9.8% in 2015) and the emergence of GII.P16 strains in late 2016, which accounted for 23.0% of norovirus infections. The majority of the strains with a GII.…

2020

Huntington's disease (HD) is an autosomal dominantly inherited neurodegenerative disorder caused by a trinucleotide repeat expansion in the Huntingtin gene. As disease-modifying therapies for HD are being developed, peripheral blood cells may be used to indicate disease progression and to monitor treatment response. In order to investigate whether gene expression changes can be found in the blood of individuals with HD that distinguish them from healthy controls, we performed transcriptome analysis by next-generation sequencing (RNA-seq). We detected a gene expression signature consistent with dysregulation of immune-related functions and inflammatory response in peripheral blood from HD ca…