1,720,975 research outputs found
The CRZ1 transcription factor in plant fungi. Regulation mechanism and impact on pathogenesis
Full text linkCalcium (Ca2+) is a universal signaling molecule that is tightly regulated, and a fleeting elevation in cytosolic concentration triggers a signal cascade within the cell, which is crucial for several processes such as growth, tolerance to stress conditions, and virulence in fungi. The link between calcium and calcium-dependent gene regulation in cells relies on the transcription factor Calcineurin-Responsive Zinc finger 1 (CRZ1). The direct regulation of approximately 300 genes in different stress pathways makes it a hot topic in host-pathogen interactions. Notably, CRZ1 can modulate several pathways and orchestrate cellular responses to different types of environmental insults such as osmotic stress, oxidative stress, and membrane disruptors. It is our belief that CRZ1 provides the means for tightly modulating and synchronizing several pathways allowing pathogenic fungi to install into the apoplast and eventually penetrate plant cells (i.e., ROS, antimicrobials, and quick pH variation). This review discusses the structure, function, regulation of CRZ1 in fungal physiology and its role in plant pathogen virulence
Oxford Nanopore Technologies for Biocodicology: a case study on a 15th-century parchment - Vassallo Y., Waldherr M., Lehner E., Graf A., Cappa F., Hartl A., Schober R., Beccaccioli M., Sterflinger K., Piñar G., Reverberi M.
No full textBiocodicology, a term coined by Sarah Fiddyment in 2019, is an emerging field which studies the biological information stored in manuscripts: fungi/bacteria that colonise and degrade the surface (microbiome), and the animal species used for the manufacturing of the parchment, to better understand the production and the history of the artefact.
The analyses usually used for the identification of the animal are: visual analysis, protein analysis, or DNA analysis. In this field Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) and in particular their portable device MinION it’s a great instrument to investigate the DNA of the microbiome of cultural artefacts, but so far it has never been used to study the microbiome and the animal species of parchment.
Animal DNA found in ancient parchment manuscripts can be considered ancient DNA (aDNA), as it's characterised by short (40-200 bp) fragments and can have different mutations, therefore, until now the sequencing technology used has been Illumina (short-read sequencing). The portable device MinION (ONT) on the other hand, it’s a long-read sequencer, but last year Nanopore released a new Short Fragmented Mode (SFM) and a new chemistry of the flowcell (R10.4.1) which makes it potentially usable for sequencing short fragments.
In this case study we report for the first time the potential of MinION (ONT) for the identification of the animal species (aDNA) and the microbiome of a 15th-century parchment from the Graphic Collection (Kupferstichkabinett) of the Academy of Fine Arts, in Vienna. The results show the feasibility of this technology for this type of studies
A novel approach to control biodeterioration of wooden made materials based on R-(+)-pulegone loaded chitosan nanoparticles
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Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Use of the secreted proteome of Trametes versicolor for controlling the cereal pathogen Fusarium langsethiae
Full text linkFusarium langsethiae is amongst the most recently discovered pathogens of small grains cereals. F. langsethiae is the main producer, in Europe, of T2 and HT-toxins in small grain cereals, albeit often asymptomatic; this makes its control challenging. The European Union (EU) is pushing hard on the use of biocontrol agents to minimize the use of fungicides and pesticides, which are detrimental to the environment and responsible for serious pollution of the soil and superficial water. In line with EU directives (e.g., 128/2009), here we report the use of protein fractions, purified from the culture filtrate of the basidiomycete Trametes versicolor, for controlling F. langsethiae. T. versicolor, a so-called medicinal mushroom which is applied as a co-adjuvant in oncology and other pathologies as a producer of biological response modifiers. In this study, the exo-proteome of T. versicolor proved highly efficient in inhibiting the growth of F. langsethiae and the biosynthesis of the T2 toxin. Results are promising for its future use as a sustainable product to control F. langsethiae infection in cereals under field conditions
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Biocontrol of Occurrence Ochratoxin A in Wine: A Review
No full textViticulture has been an important economic sector for centuries. In recent decades, global wine production has fluctuated between 250 and almost 300 million hectoliters, and in 2022, the value of wine exports reached EUR 37.6 billion. Climate change and the associated higher temperatures could favor the occurrence of ochratoxin A (OTA) in wine. OTA is a mycotoxin produced by some species of the genera Aspergillus and Penicillium and has nephrotoxic, immunotoxic, teratogenic, hepatotoxic, and carcinogenic effects on animals and humans. The presence of this toxin in wine is related to the type of wine-red wines are more frequently contaminated with OTA-and the geographical location of the vineyard. In Europe, the lower the latitude, the greater the risk of OTA contamination in wine. However, climate change could increase the risk of OTA contamination in wine in other regions. Due to their toxic effects, the development of effective and environmentally friendly methods to prevent, decontaminate, and degrade OTA is essential. This review summarises the available research on biological aspects of OTA prevention, removal, and degradation
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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