Solar drying is a sustainable process that may impact the quality of dried food. This is because, pigments contained in food are sensitive to sunlight, and exposure to ultraviolet radiation can ...affect them. We applied biopolymer-based coatings on strawberry, from hydro-colloidal solutions of Opuntia ficus indica-mucilage, fenugreek, xanthan gum, gum Arabic, and guar gum to evaluate their potential use as UV filters for solar drying of food. Thermal properties and the optical transmittance, absorbance and reflectance of the coatings were measured to assess their influence on food-sunlight interaction. During the drying experiments, the moisture content, total anthocyanins (TA), and total phenolic compounds (TPC) were measured. Optical and thermal properties are influenced by the biopolymer-based coatings. Also, the optical properties are influenced by the coating thickness. The differences in optical and thermal properties influence the drying process. Differences exist in the drying rate for strawberry slices with coating, compared with those without the coatings. In general, the TA and TPC content in the product are better preserved under solar drying than in control experiments done in a drying oven. A partial transmittance of solar UV radiation is recommended to obtain increased TA and TPC contents in the dried product.
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•Dispersal of alien species is a global problem threatening native biodiversity.•The microsymbiotic community was rich in native amphipods and poor in invasive hosts.•Host species and ...locality are key drivers shaping the structure of microsymbionts.•Habitat condition was a stronger determinant of richness than geographic distance.•Random distribution of microsymbiotic species richness was common in gammarids.
Dispersal of alien species is a global problem threatening native biodiversity. Co-introduction of non-native parasites and pathogens adds to the severity of this threat, but this indirect impact has received less attention. To shed light on the key factors determining the richness of microorganisms in native and invasive host species, we compared symbiotic (parasitic and epibiotic) communities of gammarids across different habitats and localities along the Baltic coast of Poland. Seven gammarid species, two native and five invasive, were sampled from 16 freshwater and brackish localities. Sixty symbiotic species of microorganisms of nine phyla were identified. This taxonomically diverse species assemblage of symbionts allowed us to assess the effect of host translocation and regional ecological determinants driving assembly richness in the gammarid hosts. Our results revealed that (i) the current assemblages of symbionts of gammarid hosts in the Baltic region are formed by native and co-introduced species; (ii) species richness of the symbiotic community was higher in the native Gammarus pulex than in the invasive hosts, probably reflecting a process of species loss by invasive gammarids in the new area and the distinct habitat conditions occupied by G. pulex and invasive hosts; (iii) both host species and locality were key drivers shaping assembly composition of symbionts, whereas habitat condition (freshwater versus brackish) was a stronger determinant of communities than geographic distance; (iv) the dispersion patterns of the individual species richness of symbiotic communities were best described by Poisson distributions; in the case of an invasive host, the dispersion of the rich species diversity may switch to a right-skewed negative binomial distribution, suggesting a host-mediated regulation process. We believe this is the first analysis of the symbiotic species richness in native and invasive gammarid hosts in European waters based on original field data and a broad range of taxonomic groups including Microsporidia, Choanozoa, Ciliophora, Apicomplexa, Platyhelminthes, Nematoda, Nematomorha, Acanthocephala and Rotifera, to document the patterns of species composition and distribution.
We investigate the number of vortices embedded in a carrier beam needed to produce a speckle pattern and the necessary conditions in terms of their initial distribution and topological charges. A ...spatial light modulator is used to imprint arrays of vortices in a Gaussian beam, which is propagated in free space for a given distance and then focused in order to induce interaction among the vortices in the focal region. The resulting optical field is analyzed after propagation up to a transverse plane where the carrier beam would recover its initial size in the absence of vortices. The role of different control parameters for obtaining ordered and disordered patterns is discussed. Our experimental study is complemented with a thorough numerical analysis, from which the statistical properties of the disordered patterns are characterized, and the conditions for obtaining well-developed speckle are determined. We also discuss the creation and annihilation of vortex pairs, depending on the initial conditions.
An important question in the study of phenotypic evolution is whether characters are independent of each other or behave and evolve as integrated modules. Morphological integration and modularity ...provide a powerful framework for the analysis of the evolution of morphological traits. We used geometric morphometrics and phylogenetically independent contrasts (PIC) to test four different modularity hypotheses in the haptoral anchors of 14 monogenean species of
Ligophorus
. Integration between the modular units identified was further evaluated with two-block partial least squares analysis. Roots and points represented two modules in the dorsal and ventral anchors, but modularity was not statistically supported when parasite phylogeny was accounted for, which may indicate convergent evolution related to host characteristics and gill morphology. In contrast, PIC revealed medial and lateral modules in ventral anchors only. Moreover, we found evidence for ventral and dorsal anchor pairs forming two modules, supporting the notion that they play different functional roles. Integration between all identified modules was strong. We conclude that there is modular structure in the anchors of
Ligophorus
spp., accounted by adaptive and phylogenetic factors acting at different levels, and ventral and dorsal anchors evolve as integrated modules with specific roles in attachment.
PREMISE
The inference of evolutionary relationships in the species‐rich family Orchidaceae has hitherto relied heavily on plastid DNA sequences and limited taxon sampling. Previous studies have ...provided a robust plastid phylogenetic framework, which was used to classify orchids and investigate the drivers of orchid diversification. However, the extent to which phylogenetic inference based on the plastid genome is congruent with the nuclear genome has been only poorly assessed.
METHODS
We inferred higher‐level phylogenetic relationships of orchids based on likelihood and ASTRAL analyses of 294 low‐copy nuclear genes sequenced using the Angiosperms353 universal probe set for 75 species (representing 69 genera, 16 tribes, 24 subtribes) and a concatenated analysis of 78 plastid genes for 264 species (117 genera, 18 tribes, 28 subtribes). We compared phylogenetic informativeness and support for the nuclear and plastid phylogenetic hypotheses.
RESULTS
Phylogenetic inference using nuclear data sets provides well‐supported orchid relationships that are highly congruent between analyses. Comparisons of nuclear gene trees and a plastid supermatrix tree showed that the trees are mostly congruent, but revealed instances of strongly supported phylogenetic incongruence in both shallow and deep time. The phylogenetic informativeness of individual Angiosperms353 genes is in general better than that of most plastid genes.
CONCLUSIONS
Our study provides the first robust nuclear phylogenomic framework for Orchidaceae and an assessment of intragenomic nuclear discordance, plastid‐nuclear tree incongruence, and phylogenetic informativeness across the family. Our results also demonstrate what has long been known but rarely thoroughly documented: nuclear and plastid phylogenetic trees can contain strongly supported discordances, and this incongruence must be reconciled prior to interpretation in evolutionary studies, such as taxonomy, biogeography, and character evolution.
We applied a combined molecular and morphological approach to resolve the taxonomic status of Saccocoelium spp. parasitizing sympatric mullets (Mugilidae) in the Mediterranean. Eight morphotypes of ...Saccocoelium were distinguished by means of multivariate statistical analyses: 2 of Saccocoelium obesum ex Liza spp.; 4 of S. tensum ex Liza spp.; and 2 (S. cephali and Saccocoelium sp.) ex Mugil cephalus. Sequences of the 28S and ITS2 rRNA gene regions were obtained for a total of 21 isolates of these morphotypes. Combining sequence data analysis with a detailed morphological and multivariate morphometric study of the specimens allowed the demonstration of cryptic diversity thus rejecting the hypothesis of a single species of Saccocoelium infecting sympatric mullets in the Mediterranean. Comparative sequence analysis revealed 4 unique genotypes, thus corroborating the distinct species status of Saccocoelium obesum, S. tensum and S. cephali and a new cryptic species ex Liza aurata and L. saliens recognized by its consistent morphological differentiation and genetic divergence. However, in spite of their sharp morphological difference the 2 morphotypes from M. cephalus showed no molecular differentiation and 4 morphotypes of S. tensum were genetically identical. This wide intraspecific morphological variation within S. tensum and S. cephali suggests that delimiting species of Saccocoelium using solely morphological criteria will be misleading.
Infections with betanodavirus affect a wide range of wild and farmed fish species throughout the world, mostly from the marine environment. The aim of this work was to develop and validate real-time ...RT-PCR assays for sensitive and specific detection of nodavirus in diseased or carrier fish. The new detection assay was used to study the transmission and development of nodavirus infection in juvenile sea bass, Dicentrarchus labrax (L.), challenged by different routes, and also to screen for nodavirus in various farmed fish species. On average, the sensitivity was 10-100 times higher than a standard RT-PCR, and the assay was able to detect asymptomatic carrier fish that otherwise could have been classified as free of infection. Clinical signs of nodavirus infection were reproduced in fish infected following bath exposure or intramuscular injection, demonstrating horizontal transmission of the disease. Nodavirus was always detected in the brain of diseased fish but also in many recovered fish. The new assay enables us to confirm the presence of the virus at an early phase in the production cycle and may represent a useful tool to prevent or slow down the spread of nodavirus to new locations.
Chloroquine, an anti-malarial quinoline, is structurally similar to quinidine. Both drugs have been shown to block ion channels. We tested the hypothesis that chloroquine's mode of interaction with ...the vestibule of the cytoplasmic domain of the inward rectifier potassium channel Kir2.1 makes it a more effective I(K1) blocker and anti-fibrillatory agent than quinidine.
We used comparative molecular modelling and ligand docking of the three-dimensional structures of quinidine and chloroquine in the intracellular domain of Kir2.1. Simulations predicted that chloroquine effectively blocks potassium flow by binding at the centre of the ion permeation vestibule of Kir2.1. In contrast, quinidine binds the vestibular side, only partially blocking ion movement. We tested the modelling predictions in Kir2.1-expressing human embryonic kidney (HEK)-293 cells. The half-maximal inhibitory concentration for chloroquine block of I(K1) was 1.2 µM, while that of quinidine was 57 µM. Finally, we used optical mapping of Langendorff-perfused mouse hearts with cardiac-specific Kir2.1 up-regulation to compare the anti-fibrillatory effects of the drugs. In five of six hearts, 10 μM quinidine slowed the frequency but did not terminate the tachyarrhythmia. In five of five hearts, 10 μM chloroquine terminated the arrhythmia, restoring sinus rhythm.
Quinidine only partially blocks I(K1). Chloroquine binds at the centre of the ion permeation vestibule of Kir2.1, which makes it a more effective I(K1) blocker and anti-fibrillatory agent than quinidine. Integrating the structural biology of drug-ion channel interactions with cellular electrophysiology and optical mapping is an excellent approach to understand the molecular mechanisms of anti-arrhythmic drug action and for drug discovery.
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