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.

Cellular Response of Pea Plants to Cadmium Toxicity: Cross Talk between Reactive Oxygen Species, Nitric Oxide, and Calcium

Abstract: Cadmium (Cd) toxicity has been widely studied in different plant species; however, the mechanism involved in its toxicity as well as the cell response against the metal have not been well established. In this work, using pea (Pisum sativum) plants, we studied the effect of Cd on antioxidants, reactive oxygen species (ROS), and nitric oxide (NO) metabolism of leaves using different cellular, molecular, and biochemical approaches. The growth of pea plants with 50 μm CdCl2 affected differentially the expression of superoxide dismutase (SOD) isozymes at both transcriptional and posttranscriptional levels, giving rise to a SOD activity reduction. The copper/zinc-SOD down-regulation was apparently due to the calcium (Ca) deficiency induced by the heavy metal. In these circumstances, the overproduction of the ROS hydrogen peroxide and superoxide could be observed in vivo by confocal laser microscopy, mainly associated with vascular tissue, epidermis, and mesophyll cells, and the production of superoxide radicals was prevented by exogenous Ca. On the other hand, the NO synthase-dependent NO production was strongly depressed by Cd, and treatment with Ca prevented this effect. Under these conditions, the pathogen-related proteins PrP4A and chitinase and the heat shock protein 71.2, were up-regulated, probably to protect cells against damages induced by Cd. The regulation of these proteins could be mediated by jasmonic acid and ethylene, whose contents increased by Cd treatment. A model is proposed for the cellular response to long-term Cd exposure consisting of cross talk between Ca, ROS, and NO.

Inflammation and EMT: an alliance towards organ fibrosis and cancer progression

Abstract: Recent advances in our understanding of the molecular pathways that govern the association of inflammation with organ fibrosis and cancer point to the epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) as the common link in the progression of these devastating diseases. The EMT is a crucial process in the development of different tissues in the embryo and its reactivation in the adult may be regarded as a physiological attempt to control inflammatory responses and to ‘heal’ damaged tissue. However, in pathological contexts such as in tumours or during the development of organ fibrosis, this healing response adopts a sinister nature, steering these diseases towards metastasis and organ failure. Importantly, the chronic inflammatory microenvironment common to fibrotic and cancer cells emerges as a decisive factor in the induction of the pathological EMT.

DREAM is a Ca2+-regulated transcriptional repressor.

Abstract: Fluxes in amounts of intracellular calcium ions are important determinants of gene expression1,2,3. So far, Ca2+-regulated kinases and phosphatases have been implicated in changing the phosphorylation status of key transcription factors and thereby modulating their function4,5. In addition, direct effectors of Ca2+-induced gene expression have been suggested to exist in the nucleus2, although no such effectors have been identified yet. Expression of the human prodynorphin gene, which is involved inmemory acquisition and pain6,7, is regulated through its downstream regulatory element (DRE) sequence, which acts as a location-dependent gene silencer8. Here we isolate a new transcriptional repressor, DRE-antagonist modulator (DREAM), which specifically binds to the DRE. DREAM contains four Ca2+-binding domains of the EF-hand type. Upon stimulation by Ca2+, DREAM's ability to bind to the DRE and its repressor function are prevented. Mutation of the EF-hands abolishes the response of DREAM to Ca2+. In addition to the prodynorphin promoter, DREAM represses transcription from the early response gene c-fos. Thus, DREAM represents the first known Ca2+-binding protein to function as a DNA-binding transcriptional regulator.

Understanding the local reactivity in polar organic reactions through electrophilic and nucleophilic Parr functions

Abstract: Building upon our recent studies devoted to the bonding changes in polar reactions [RSC Advances, 2012, 2, 1334 and Org. Biomol. Chem., 2012, 10, 3841], we propose herein two new electrophilic, P+k, and nucleophilic, P−k, Parr functions based on the spin density distribution at the radical anion and at the radical cation of a neutral molecule. These local functions allow for the characterisation of the most electrophilic and nucleophilic centres of molecules, and for the establishment of the regio- and chemoselectivity in polar reactions. The proposed Parr functions are compared with both, the Parr–Yang Fukui functions [J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1984, 106, 4049] based on frontier molecular orbitals, and Yang–Mortier condensed Fukui functions [J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1986, 108, 5708] based on Mulliken charges.