Roberta Russo

Bio: Roberta Russo is an academic researcher from National Research Council. The author has contributed to research in topics: Paracentrotus lividus & Sea urchin. The author has an hindex of 20, co-authored 61 publications receiving 1106 citations. Previous affiliations of Roberta Russo include University of Palermo.

Titanium dioxide nanoparticles stimulate sea urchin immune cell phagocytic activity involving TLR/p38 MAPK-mediated signalling pathway

Abstract: Titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2NPs) are one of the most widespread-engineered particles in use for drug delivery, cosmetics, and electronics. However, TiO2NP safety is still an open issue, even for ethical reasons. In this work, we investigated the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus immune cell model as a proxy to humans, to elucidate a potential pathway that can be involved in the persistent TiO2NP-immune cell interaction in vivo. Morphology, phagocytic ability, changes in activation/inactivation of a few mitogen-activated protein kinases (p38 MAPK, ERK), variations of other key proteins triggering immune response (Toll-like receptor 4-like, Heat shock protein 70, Interleukin-6) and modifications in the expression of related immune response genes were investigated. Our findings indicate that TiO2NPs influence the signal transduction downstream targets of p38 MAPK without eliciting an inflammatory response or other harmful effects on biological functions. We strongly recommend sea urchin immune cells as a new powerful model for nano-safety/nano-toxicity investigations without the ethical normative issue.

SINEUPs are modular antisense long non-coding RNAs that increase synthesis of target proteins in cells

Abstract: Despite recent efforts in discovering novel long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) and unveiling their functions in a wide range of biological processes their applications as biotechnological or therapeutic tools are still at their infancy. We have recently shown that AS Uchl1, a natural lncRNA antisense to the Parkinson's disease-associated gene Ubiquitin carboxyl-terminal esterase L1 (Uchl1), is able to increase UchL1 protein synthesis at post-transcriptional level. Its activity requires two RNA elements: an embedded inverted SINEB2 sequence to increase translation and the overlapping region to target its sense mRNA. This functional organization is shared with several mouse lncRNAs antisense to protein coding genes. The potential use of AS Uchl1-derived lncRNAs as enhancers of target mRNA translation remains unexplored. Here we define AS Uchl1 as the representative member of a new functional class of natural and synthetic antisense lncRNAs that activate translation. We named this class of RNAs SINEUPs for their requirement of the inverted SINEB2 sequence to UP-regulate translation in a gene-specific manner. The overlapping region is indicated as the Binding Doman (BD) while the embedded inverted SINEB2 element is the Effector Domain (ED). By swapping BD, synthetic SINEUPs are designed targeting mRNAs of interest. SINEUPs function in an array of cell lines and can be efficiently directed toward N-terminally tagged proteins. Their biological activity is retained in a miniaturized version within the range of small RNAs length. Its modular structure was exploited to successfully design synthetic SINEUPs targeting endogenous Parkinson's disease-associated DJ-1 and proved to be active in different neuronal cell lines. In summary, SINEUPs represent the first scalable tool to increase synthesis of proteins of interest. We propose SINEUPs as reagents for molecular biology experiments, in protein manufacturing as well as in therapy of haploinsufficiencies.

The Alternative Faces of Macrophage Generate Osteoclasts

Abstract: The understanding of how osteoclasts are generated and whether they can be altered by inflammatory stimuli is a topic of particular interest for osteoclastogenesis. It is known that the monocyte/macrophage lineage gives rise to osteoclasts (OCs) by the action of macrophage colony stimulating factor (M-CSF) and receptor activator of nuclear factor-kB ligand (RANKL), which induce cell differentiation through their receptors, c-fms and RANK, respectively. The multinucleated giant cells (MGCs) generated by the engagement of RANK/RANKL are typical OCs. Nevertheless, very few studies have addressed the question of which subset of macrophages generates OCs. Indeed, two main subsets of macrophages are postulated, the inflammatory or classically activated type (M1) and the anti-inflammatory or alternatively activated type (M2). It has been proposed that macrophages can be polarized in vitro towards a predominantly M1 or M2 phenotype with the addition of granulocyte macrophage- (GM-) CSF or M-CSF, respectively. Various inflammatory stimuli known to induce macrophage polarization, such as LPS or TNF-α, can alter the type of MGC obtained from RANKL-induced differentiation. This review aims to highlight the role of immune-related stimuli and factors in inducing macrophages towards the osteoclastogenesis choice.

Stress to cadmium monitored by metallothionein gene induction in Paracentrotus lividus embryos.

Abstract: We used sea urchin embryos as bioindicators to study the effects of exposure to sublethal cadmium concentrations on the expression of the metallothionein (MT) gene stress marker. For this purpose, the complete complementary deoxyribonucleic acid of the species Paracentrotus lividus (Pl) was cloned and sequenced. Northern blot analysis showed that basal levels of Pl-MT messenger ribonucleic acid, having an apparent size of 700 bases, are expressed in all developmental stages analyzed, from early cleavage to pluteus. However, when embryos were continuously cultured in sublethal CdCl2 concentrations and harvested at cleavage, swimming blastula, late gastrula, and pluteus stages (6, 12, 24, and 48 hours after fertilization, respectively), a time- and dose-dependent increase in the transcription levels of the Pl-MT gene was observed. Interestingly, although microscopical inspection revealed the occurrence of abnormalities only after 24 hours of exposure to the pollutant, Northern blot and reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction analyses revealed significant increases in Pl-MT expression levels already after 12 and 6 hours of exposure, respectively. Therefore, this study confirms the validity of MT as marker of exposure and provides evidence that Pl-MT and sea urchin embryos can be a potentially valuable and sensitive model for testing in very short periods of time seawaters heavily contaminated with cadmium.

Effects of UV-B radiation on development and hsp70 expression in sea urchin cleavage embryos

Abstract: A number of studies aimed to assess the health of aquatic ecosystems have focused on the dangerous effects of ultraviolet B (UV-B) radiation on marine organisms, especially those living in shallow waters such as sea urchin embryos and their larvae We studied the effects of UV-B radiation on Paracentrotus lividus embryos at early stages of development, in laboratory experiments Embryos at the 16-cell stage were exposed to different doses of UV-B, ranging from 10 to 800 J/m2, and the resulting morphological abnormalities were observed In addition, putative variations in the expression of the heat shock proteins 70 (hsp70) stress marker, at the protein and mRNA levels, were evaluated The first effective dose was 150 J/m2, producing a significant number of abnormal embryos, scored 24 h after exposure This number increased up to 100% when the two highest doses were used (400 and 800 J/m2) Besides delays in embryonic development, the most abnormal morphology (abnormal blastula) consisted of blastula-like embryos, with cells unusually filling the blastocoelic cavity Abnormal blastulae were not able to continue development as they were found 48 h after exposure Some embryos with less severe abnormalities showed tri-radiate spicule rudiments, but had major defects in gut elongation A corresponding dose-dependent increase in the hsp70 protein levels was observed in embryos exposed to different UV-B doses Conversely, slight, if any variations were detected in the hsp70 mRNA levels for any of the doses tested, claiming for a post-transcriptional regulation of UV-B-induced stress response

Microplastic Size-Dependent Toxicity, Oxidative Stress Induction, and p-JNK and p-p38 Activation in the Monogonont Rotifer (Brachionus koreanus)

Abstract: In this study, we evaluated accumulation and adverse effects of ingestion of microplastics in the monogonont rotifer (Brachionus koreanus). The dependence of microplastic toxicity on particle size was investigated by measuring several in vivo end points and studying the ingestion and egestion using 0.05-, 0.5-, and 6-μm nonfunctionalized polystyrene microbeads. To identify the defense mechanisms activated in response to microplastic exposure, the activities of several antioxidant-related enzymes and the phosphorylation status of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) were determined. Exposure to polystyrene microbeads of all sizes led to significant size-dependent effects, including reduced growth rate, reduced fecundity, decreased lifespan and longer reproduction time. Rotifers exposed to 6-μm fluorescently labeled microbeads exhibited almost no fluorescence after 24 h, while rotifers exposed to 0.05- and 0.5-μm fluorescently labeled microbeads displayed fluorescence until 48 h, suggesting that 6-μm microbeads are more effectively egested from B. koreanus than 0.05- or 0.5-μm microbeads. This observation provides a potential explanation for our findings that microbead toxicity was size-dependent and smaller microbeads were more toxic. In vitro tests revealed that antioxidant-related enzymes and MAPK signaling pathways were significantly activated in response to microplastic exposure in a size-dependent manner.

Effects of solar UV radiation on aquatic ecosystems and interactions with climate change

Abstract: Recent results continue to show the general consensus that ozone-related increases in UV-B radiation can negatively influence many aquatic species and aquatic ecosystems (e.g., lakes, rivers, marshes, oceans). Solar UV radiation penetrates to ecological significant depths in aquatic systems and can affect both marine and freshwater systems from major biomass producers (phytoplankton) to consumers (e.g., zooplankton, fish, etc.) higher in the food web. Many factors influence the depth of penetration of radiation into natural waters including dissolved organic compounds whose concentration and chemical composition are likely to be influenced by future climate and UV radiation variability. There is also considerable evidence that aquatic species utilize many mechanisms for photoprotection against excessive radiation. Often, these protective mechanisms pose conflicting selection pressures on species making UV radiation an additional stressor on the organism. It is at the ecosystem level where assessments of anthropogenic climate change and UV-related effects are interrelated and where much recent research has been directed. Several studies suggest that the influence of UV-B at the ecosystem level may be more pronounced on community and trophic level structure, and hence on subsequent biogeochemical cycles, than on biomass levels per se.

History, Discovery, and Classification of lncRNAs.

Abstract: The RNA World Hypothesis suggests that prebiotic life revolved around RNA instead of DNA and proteins. Although modern cells have changed significantly in 4 billion years, RNA has maintained its central role in cell biology. Since the discovery of DNA at the end of the nineteenth century, RNA has been extensively studied. Many discoveries such as housekeeping RNAs (rRNA, tRNA, etc.) supported the messenger RNA model that is the pillar of the central dogma of molecular biology, which was first devised in the late 1950s. Thirty years later, the first regulatory non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) were initially identified in bacteria and then in most eukaryotic organisms. A few long ncRNAs (lncRNAs) such as H19 and Xist were characterized in the pre-genomic era but remained exceptions until the early 2000s. Indeed, when the sequence of the human genome was published in 2001, studies showed that only about 1.2% encodes proteins, the rest being deemed “non-coding.” It was later shown that the genome is pervasively transcribed into many ncRNAs, but their functionality remained controversial. Since then, regulatory lncRNAs have been characterized in many species and were shown to be involved in processes such as development and pathologies, revealing a new layer of regulation in eukaryotic cells. This newly found focus on lncRNAs, together with the advent of high-throughput sequencing, was accompanied by the rapid discovery of many novel transcripts which were further characterized and classified according to specific transcript traits.

Multiple forms of tubulin: different gene products and covalent modifications.

Abstract: Tubulin, the subunit protein of microtubules, is an alpha/beta heterodimer. In many organisms, both alpha and beta exist in numerous isotypic forms encoded by different genes. In addition, both alpha and beta undergo a variety of posttranslational covalent modifications, including acetylation, phosphorylation, detyrosylation, polyglutamylation, and polyglycylation. In this review the distribution and possible functional significance of the various forms of tubulin are discussed. In analyzing the differences among tubulin isotypes encoded by different genes, some appear to have no functional significance, some increase the overall adaptability of the organism to environmental challenges, and some appear to perform specific functions including formation of particular organelles and interactions with specific proteins. Purified isotypes also display different properties in vitro. Although the significance of all the covalent modification of tubulin is not fully understood, some of them may influence the stability of modified microtubules in vivo as well as interactions with certain proteins and may help to determine the functional role of microtubules in the cell. The review also discusses isotypes of gamma-tubulin and puts various forms of tubulin in an evolutionary context.

Antarctic climate change and the environment

Abstract: The Antarctic climate system varies on timescales from orbital, through millennial to sub-annual, and is closely coupled to other parts of the global climate system. We review these variations from the perspective of the geological and glaciological records and the recent historical period from which we have instrumental data (the last 50 years). We consider their consequences for the biosphere, and show how the latest numerical models project changes into the future, taking into account human actions in the form of the release of greenhouse gases and chlorofluorocarbons into the atmosphere. In doing so, we provide an essential Southern Hemisphere companion to the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment.