scholarly journals Arbuscular mycorrhiza, carbon content and soil aggregation in Sonoran Desert plants

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Dolores Armenta Calderón ◽  
Sergio F. Moreno-Salazar ◽  
Eduardo Furrazola Gómez ◽  
Andrés Ochoa-Meza

Desert trees and shrubs play a relevant role in stabilizing the deserts ecosystems, and mycorrhizal association is very important for its adaptation and survival in arid and semi-arid areas. The influence of mycorrhizic fungi on the formation of water stable aggregates through glomalin and on soil carbon content has been studied. We sampled the rhizosphere of representative trees (<em>Olneya tesota</em>, <em>Prosopis juliflora,</em> and<em> Parkinsonia microphylla</em>), and shrubs (<em>Jatropha cuneata</em> and <em>Larrea tridentata</em>) of the Sonoran Desert for four seasons in order to evaluate the mycorrhizal status, carbon and glomalin accumulation, and their relationship with water stable aggregates. Results showed that mycorrhizic association is present all the year on studied plants, with values from 1.2 to 57% of mycorrhizal colonization, with variations depending on the season. The accumulation of carbon in the soil profile has significant differences between plants and ranged from 1.1 to 1.75% for <em>Larrea</em> and <em>Prosopis</em>, respectively. The water stable aggregates were significantly different between plants and ranged between 24% and 42%. Glomalin correlation with carbon content and water stable aggregates shows the role of mycorrhizal fungi on soil quality, highlighting influence on carbon content in rhizosphere.

1989 ◽  
Vol 67 (1) ◽  
pp. 76-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. D. Mihail ◽  
T. V. Orum ◽  
S. M. Alcorn ◽  
J. L. Stroehlein

The relationship between microsclerotial populations of Macrophomina phaseolina (Tassi) Goid. and selected perennial species was investigated at five native Sonoran Desert sites. The population level of M. phaseolina was found to have an inverse relationship with the presence of several plant species, including Acacia constricta and Larrea tridentata, as measured by canopy cover, plant counts, and proximity of the soil sampling point to the nearest individual. Microsclerotia of M. phaseolina were detected in 45% of the 500 quadrats (3.3 m2) sampled, with a maximum observed population of 233 microsclerotia per 20 g soil. The microsclerotial populations of the five study sites showed significant aggregation as measured by Morisita's index of dispersion. No relationship was found between microsclerotial populations and soil pH, soil nitrate, or total soil nitrogen. The frequency of detection and population level of this agriculturally important pathogen raises questions concerning the role of the fungus in the Sonoran Desert ecosystem.


Genes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 902
Author(s):  
Eva Costanzi ◽  
Carolina Simioni ◽  
Gabriele Varano ◽  
Cinzia Brenna ◽  
Ilaria Conti ◽  
...  

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) have attracted interest as mediators of intercellular communication following the discovery that EVs contain RNA molecules, including non-coding RNA (ncRNA). Growing evidence for the enrichment of peculiar RNA species in specific EV subtypes has been demonstrated. ncRNAs, transferred from donor cells to recipient cells, confer to EVs the feature to regulate the expression of genes involved in differentiation, proliferation, apoptosis, and other biological processes. These multiple actions require accuracy in the isolation of RNA content from EVs and the methodologies used play a relevant role. In liver, EVs play a crucial role in regulating cell–cell communications and several pathophysiological events in the heterogeneous liver class of cells via horizontal transfer of their cargo. This review aims to discuss the rising role of EVs and their ncRNAs content in regulating specific aspects of hepatocellular carcinoma development, including tumorigenesis, angiogenesis, and tumor metastasis. We analyze the progress in EV-ncRNAs’ potential clinical applications as important diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for liver conditions.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yvonne Oelmann ◽  
Markus Lange ◽  
Sophia Leimer ◽  
Christiane Roscher ◽  
Felipe Aburto ◽  
...  

AbstractExperiments showed that biodiversity increases grassland productivity and nutrient exploitation, potentially reducing fertiliser needs. Enhancing biodiversity could improve P-use efficiency of grasslands, which is beneficial given that rock-derived P fertilisers are expected to become scarce in the future. Here, we show in a biodiversity experiment that more diverse plant communities were able to exploit P resources more completely than less diverse ones. In the agricultural grasslands that we studied, management effects either overruled or modified the driving role of plant diversity observed in the biodiversity experiment. Nevertheless, we show that greater above- (plants) and belowground (mycorrhizal fungi) biodiversity contributed to tightening the P cycle in agricultural grasslands, as reduced management intensity and the associated increased biodiversity fostered the exploitation of P resources. Our results demonstrate that promoting a high above- and belowground biodiversity has ecological (biodiversity protection) and economical (fertiliser savings) benefits. Such win-win situations for farmers and biodiversity are crucial to convince farmers of the benefits of biodiversity and thus counteract global biodiversity loss.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Reuter ◽  
Olga Ferlian ◽  
Mika Tarkka ◽  
Nico Eisenhauer ◽  
Karin Pritsch ◽  
...  

Abstract Mycorrhizal fungi play an important role for the nitrogen (N) supply of trees. The influence of different mycorrhizal types on N acquisition in tree-tree interactions is, however, not well understood, particularly with regard to the competition for growth-limiting N. We studied the effect of competition between temperate forest tree species on their inorganic and organic N acquisition in relation to their mycorrhizal type (i.e., arbuscular mycorrhiza or ectomycorrhiza). In a field experiment, we quantified net N uptake capacity from inorganic and organic N sources using 15N/13C stable isotopes for arbuscular mycorrhizal tree species (i.e., Acer pseudoplatanus L., Fraxinus excelsior L., and Prunus avium L.) as well as ectomycorrhizal tree species (i.e., Carpinus betulus L., Fagus sylvatica L., and Tilia platyphyllos Scop.). All species were grown in intra- and interspecific competition (i.e., monoculture or mixture). Our results showed that N sources were not used complementarily depending on a species´ mycorrhizal association, but their uptake rather depended on the competitor indicating species-specific effects. Generally, ammonium was preferred over glutamine and glutamine over nitrate. In conclusion, our findings suggest that inorganic and organic N acquisition of the studied temperate tree species is less regulated by mycorrhizal association, but rather by the availability of specific N sources in the soil as well as the competitive environment of different tree species.


Cancers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 462
Author(s):  
Víctor Mayoral-Varo ◽  
María Pilar Sánchez-Bailón ◽  
Annarica Calcabrini ◽  
Marta García-Hernández ◽  
Valerio Frezza ◽  
...  

The role of Src family kinases (SFKs) in human tumors has been always associated with tyrosine kinase activity and much less attention has been given to the SH2 and SH3 adapter domains. Here, we studied the role of the c-Src-SH2 domain in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). To this end, SUM159PT and MDA-MB-231 human cell lines were employed as model systems. These cells conditionally expressed, under tetracycline control (Tet-On system), a c-Src variant with point-inactivating mutation of the SH2 adapter domain (R175L). The expression of this mutant reduced the self-renewal capability of the enriched population of breast cancer stem cells (BCSCs), demonstrating the importance of the SH2 adapter domain of c-Src in the mammary gland carcinogenesis. In addition, the analysis of anchorage-independent growth, proliferation, migration, and invasiveness, all processes associated with tumorigenesis, showed that the SH2 domain of c-Src plays a very relevant role in their regulation. Furthermore, the transfection of two different aptamers directed to SH2-c-Src in both SUM159PT and MDA-MB-231 cells induced inhibition of their proliferation, migration, and invasiveness, strengthening the hypothesis that this domain is highly involved in TNBC tumorigenesis. Therefore, the SH2 domain of c-Src could be a promising therapeutic target and combined treatments with inhibitors of c-Src kinase enzymatic activity may represent a new therapeutic strategy for patients with TNBC, whose prognosis is currently very negative.


Genes ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 1237
Author(s):  
Anna Morgan ◽  
Stefania Lenarduzzi ◽  
Beatrice Spedicati ◽  
Elisabetta Cattaruzzi ◽  
Flora Maria Murru ◽  
...  

Hearing loss (HL), both syndromic (SHL) and non-syndromic (NSHL), is the most common sensory disorder, affecting ~460 million people worldwide. More than 50% of the congenital/childhood cases are attributable to genetic causes, highlighting the importance of genetic testing in this class of disorders. Here we applied a multi-step strategy for the molecular diagnosis of HL in 125 patients, which included: (1) an accurate clinical evaluation, (2) the analysis of GJB2, GJB6, and MT-RNR1 genes, (3) the evaluation STRC-CATSPER2 and OTOA deletions via Multiplex Ligation Probe Amplification (MLPA), (4) Whole Exome Sequencing (WES) in patients negative to steps 2 and 3. Our approach led to the characterization of 50% of the NSHL cases, confirming both the relevant role of the GJB2 (20% of cases) and STRC deletions (6% of cases), and the high genetic heterogeneity of NSHL. Moreover, due to the genetic findings, 4% of apparent NSHL patients have been re-diagnosed as SHL. Finally, WES characterized 86% of SHL patients, supporting the role of already know disease-genes. Overall, our approach proved to be efficient in identifying the molecular cause of HL, providing essential information for the patients’ future management.


Author(s):  
Maria Cristina Budani ◽  
Gian Mario Tiboni

Nitric oxide (NO) is formed during the oxidation of L-arginine to L-citrulline by the action of multiple isoenzymes of NO synthase (NOS): neuronal NOS (nNOS), endotelial NOS (eNOS), and inducible NOS (iNOS). NO plays a relevant role in the vascular endothelium, in central and peripheral neurons, and in immunity and inflammatory systems. In addition, several authors showed a consistent contribution of NO to different aspects of the reproductive physiology. The aim of the present review is to analyse the published data on the role of NO within the ovary. It has been demonstrated that the multiple isoenzymes of NOS are expressed and localized in the ovary of different species. More to the point, a consistent role was ascribed to NO in the processes of steroidogenesis, folliculogenesis, and oocyte meiotic maturation in in vitro and in vivo studies using animal models. Unfortunately, there are few nitric oxide data for humans; there are preliminary data on the implication of nitric oxide for oocyte/embryo quality and in-vitro fertilization/embryo transfer (IVF/ET) parameters. NO plays a remarkable role in the ovary, but more investigation is needed, in particular in the context of human ovarian physiology.


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