Spanish National Research Council

About: Spanish National Research Council is a government organization based out in Madrid, Spain. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Galaxy. The organization has 79563 authors who have published 220470 publications receiving 7698991 citations. The organization is also known as: CSIC & Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas.

Animal antimicrobial peptides: an overview.

Abstract: Antibiotic peptides are a key component of the innate immune systems of most multicellular organisms. Despite broad divergences in sequence and taxonomy, most antibiotic peptides share a common mechanism of action, i.e., membrane permeabilization of the pathogen. This review provides a general introduction to the subject, with emphasis on aspects such as structural types, post-translational modifications, mode of action or mechanisms of resistance. Some of these questions are treated in depth in other reviews in this issue. The review also discusses the role of antimicrobial peptides in nature, including several pathological conditions, as well as recent accounts of their application at the preclinical level.

Combined co and dust scaling relations of depletion time and molecular gas fractions with cosmic time, specific star-formation rate, and stellar mass

Abstract: We combine molecular gas masses inferred from CO emission in 500 star-forming galaxies (SFGs) between z = 0 and 3, from the IRAM-COLDGASS, PHIBSS1/2, and other surveys, with gas masses derived from Herschel far-IR dust measurements in 512 galaxy stacks over the same stellar mass/redshift range. We constrain the scaling relations of molecular gas depletion timescale (t depl) and gas to stellar mass ratio (M mol gas/M* ) of SFGs near the star formation "main-sequence" with redshift, specific star-formation rate (sSFR), and stellar mass (M* ). The CO- and dust-based scaling relations agree remarkably well. This suggests that the CO → H2 mass conversion factor varies little within ±0.6 dex of the main sequence (sSFR(ms, z, M *)), and less than 0.3 dex throughout this redshift range. This study builds on and strengthens the results of earlier work. We find that t depl scales as (1 + z)–0.3 × (sSFR/sSFR(ms, z, M *))–0.5, with little dependence on M *. The resulting steep redshift dependence of M mol gas/M * ≈ (1 + z)3 mirrors that of the sSFR and probably reflects the gas supply rate. The decreasing gas fractions at high M* are driven by the flattening of the SFR-M * relation. Throughout the probed redshift range a combination of an increasing gas fraction and a decreasing depletion timescale causes a larger sSFR at constant M *. As a result, galaxy integrated samples of the M mol gas-SFR rate relation exhibit a super-linear slope, which increases with the range of sSFR. With these new relations it is now possible to determine M mol gas with an accuracy of ±0.1 dex in relative terms, and ±0.2 dex including systematic uncertainties.

Genetic association analyses implicate aberrant regulation of innate and adaptive immunity genes in the pathogenesis of systemic lupus erythematosus

Abstract: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a genetically complex autoimmune disease characterized by loss of immune tolerance to nuclear and cell surface antigens. Previous genome-wide association studies (GWAS) had modest sample sizes, reducing their scope and reliability. Our study comprised 7,219 cases and 15,991 controls of European ancestry, constituting a new GWAS, a meta-analysis with a published GWAS and a replication study. We have mapped 43 susceptibility loci, including ten new associations. Assisted by dense genome coverage, imputation provided evidence for missense variants underpinning associations in eight genes. Other likely causal genes were established by examining associated alleles for cis-acting eQTL effects in a range of ex vivo immune cells. We found an over-representation (n = 16) of transcription factors among SLE susceptibility genes. This finding supports the view that aberrantly regulated gene expression networks in multiple cell types in both the innate and adaptive immune response contribute to the risk of developing SLE.

Calorie restriction induces mitochondrial biogenesis and bioenergetic efficiency.

Abstract: Age-related accumulation of cellular damage and death has been linked to oxidative stress. Calorie restriction (CR) is the most robust, nongenetic intervention that increases lifespan and reduces the rate of aging in a variety of species. Mechanisms responsible for the antiaging effects of CR remain uncertain, but reduction of oxidative stress within mitochondria remains a major focus of research. CR is hypothesized to decrease mitochondrial electron flow and proton leaks to attenuate damage caused by reactive oxygen species. We have focused our research on a related, but different, antiaging mechanism of CR. Specifically, using both in vivo and in vitro analyses, we report that CR reduces oxidative stress at the same time that it stimulates the proliferation of mitochondria through a peroxisome proliferation-activated receptor coactivator 1α signaling pathway. Moreover, mitochondria under CR conditions show less oxygen consumption, reduce membrane potential, and generate less reactive oxygen species than controls, but remarkably they are able to maintain their critical ATP production. In effect, CR can induce a peroxisome proliferation-activated receptor coactivator 1α-dependent increase in mitochondria capable of efficient and balanced bioenergetics to reduce oxidative stress and attenuate age-dependent endogenous oxidative damage.

Nutrient and temperature control of the contribution of picoplankton to phytoplankton biomass and production

Abstract: The observation that the relative importance of picophytoplankton is greatest in warm and nutrient-poor waters was tested here based on a comprehensive review of the data available in the literature from oceanic and coastal estuarine areas. Results show that picophytoplankton dominate ($50%) the biomass and production in oligotrophic (chlorophyll a [Chl a] , 0.3 mg m 23 ), nutrient poor (NO3 1 NO2 , 1 mM), and warm (.268C) waters, but represent ,10% of autotrophic biomass and production in rich (Chl a . 5m g m 23 ) and cold (,38C) waters. There is, however, a strong covariation between temperature and nutrient concentration (r 52 0.95, P , 0.001), but the number of observations where both temperature and nutrient concentrations are available is too small to allow attempts to statistically separate their effects. The results of mesocosm nutrient addition experiments during summer in the Mediterranean Sea allowed the dissociation of the effects of temperature from those of nutrients on picophytoplankton production and biomass and validated the magnitude at which picoplankton dominates ($50%) autotrophic biomass and production obtained in the comparative analysis. The fraction contributed by picoplankton significantly declined (r 2 5 0.76 and 0.90, respectively, P , 0.001) as total autotrophic production and biomass increased. These results support the increasing importance of picophytoplankton in warm, oligotrophic waters. The reduced contribution of picophytoplankton in warm productive waters is hypothesized here to be due to increased loss rates, whereas the dominance of picophytoplankton in warm, oligotrophic waters is attributable to the differential capacity to use nutrients as a function of differences in size and capacity of intrinsic growth of picophytoplankton and larger phytoplankton cells.