Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto

About: Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto is a based out in . It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Genus. The organization has 2143 authors who have published 3674 publications receiving 71071 citations. The organization is also known as: FFCLRP & FFCLRP-USP.

Colony membership is reflected by variations in cuticular hydrocarbon profile in a Neotropical paper wasp, Polistes satan (Hymenoptera, Vespidae).

Abstract: Nestmate recognition is one the most important features in social insect colonies. Although epicuticular lipids or cuticular hydro- carbons have both structural and defensive functions in insects, they also seem to be involved in several aspects of communication in wasps, bees and ants. We analyzed and described for the first time the cuticular hydrocarbons of a Neotropical paper wasp, Polistes satan, and found that variation in hydrocarbon profile was sufficiently strong to discrimi-

Combined role of seizure-induced dendritic morphology alterations and spine loss in newborn granule cells with mossy fiber sprouting on the hyperexcitability of a computer model of the dentate gyrus.

Abstract: Temporal lobe epilepsy strongly affects hippocampal dentate gyrus granule cells morphology. These cells exhibit seizure-induced anatomical alterations including mossy fiber sprouting, changes in the apical and basal dendritic tree and suffer substantial dendritic spine loss. The effect of some of these changes on the hyperexcitability of the dentate gyrus has been widely studied. For example, mossy fiber sprouting increases the excitability of the circuit while dendritic spine loss may have the opposite effect. However, the effect of the interplay of these different morphological alterations on the hyperexcitability of the dentate gyrus is still unknown. Here we adapted an existing computational model of the dentate gyrus by replacing the reduced granule cell models with morphologically detailed models coming from three-dimensional reconstructions of mature cells. The model simulates a network with 10% of the mossy fiber sprouting observed in the pilocarpine (PILO) model of epilepsy. Different fractions of the mature granule cell models were replaced by morphologically reconstructed models of newborn dentate granule cells from animals with PILO-induced Status Epilepticus, which have apical dendritic alterations and spine loss, and control animals, which do not have these alterations. This complex arrangement of cells and processes allowed us to study the combined effect of mossy fiber sprouting, altered apical dendritic tree and dendritic spine loss in newborn granule cells on the excitability of the dentate gyrus model. Our simulations suggest that alterations in the apical dendritic tree and dendritic spine loss in newborn granule cells have opposing effects on the excitability of the dentate gyrus after Status Epilepticus. Apical dendritic alterations potentiate the increase of excitability provoked by mossy fiber sprouting while spine loss curtails this increase.

The conserved and divergent roles of carbonic anhydrases in the filamentous fungi Aspergillus fumigatus and Aspergillus nidulans.

Abstract: Carbon dioxide (CO(2)) and its hydration product bicarbonate (HCO(3)(-)) are essential molecules in various physiological processes of all living organisms. The reversible interconversion between CO(2) and HCO(3)(-) is in equilibrium. This reaction is slow without catalyst, but can be rapidly facilitated by Zn(2+)-metalloenzymes named carbonic anhydrases (CAs). To gain an insight into the function of multiple clades of fungal CA, we chose to investigate the filamentous fungi Aspergillus fumigatus and A. nidulans. We identified four and two CAs in A. fumigatus and A. nidulans, respectively, named cafA-D and canA-B. The cafA and cafB genes are constitutively, strongly expressed whereas cafC and cafD genes are weakly expressed but CO(2)-inducible. Heterologous expression of the A. fumigatus cafB, and A. nidulans canA and canB genes completely rescued the high CO(2)-requiring phenotype of a Saccharomyces cerevisiae Deltance103 mutant. Only the DeltacafA DeltacafB and DeltacanB deletion mutants were unable to grow at 0.033% CO(2), of which growth defects can be restored by high CO(2). Defects in the CAs can affect Aspergilli conidiation. Furthermore, A. fumigatus DeltacafA, DeltacafB, DeltacafC, DeltacafD and DeltacafA DeltacafB mutant strains are fully virulent in a low-dose murine infection.