University of Madeira

About: University of Madeira is a education organization based out in Funchal, Portugal. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Dendrimer. The organization has 1014 authors who have published 2759 publications receiving 59457 citations.

An expanded molecular phylogeny of Plumbaginaceae, with emphasis on Limonium (sea lavenders): Taxonomic implications and biogeographic considerations.

Abstract: Plumbaginaceae is characterized by a history of multiple taxonomic rearrangements and lacks a broad molecular phylogenetic framework. Limonium is the most species-rich genus of the family with ca. 600 species and cosmopolitan distribution. Its center of diversity is the Mediterranean region, where ca. 70% of all Limonium species are endemic. In this study, we sample 201 Limonium species covering all described infrageneric entities and spanning its wide geographic range, along with 64 species of other Plumbaginaceae genera, representing 23 out of 29 genera of the family. Additionally, 20 species of the sister family Polygonaceae were used as outgroup. Sequences of three chloroplast (trnL-F, matK, and rbcL) and one nuclear (ITS) loci were used to infer the molecular phylogeny employing maximum likelihood and Bayesian analyses. According to our results, within Plumbaginoideae, Plumbago forms a non-monophyletic assemblage, with Plumbago europaea sister to Plumbagella, while the other Plumbago species form a clade sister to Dyerophytum. Within Limonioideae, Ikonnikovia is nested in Goniolimon, rejecting its former segregation as genus distinct from Goniolimon. Limonium is divided into two major clades: Limonium subg. Pteroclados s.l., including L. sect. Pteroclados and L. anthericoides, and L. subg. Limonium. The latter is divided into three well-supported subclades: the monospecific L. sect. Limoniodendron sister to a clade comprising a mostly non-Mediterranean subclade and a Mediterranean subclade. Our results set the foundation for taxonomic proposals on sections and subsections of Limonium, namely: (a) the newly described L. sect. Tenuiramosum, created to assign L. anthericoides at the sectional rank; (b) the more restricted circumscriptions of L. sect. Limonium (= L. sect. Limonium subsect. Genuinae) and L. sect. Sarcophyllum (for the Sudano-Zambezian/Saharo-Arabian clade); (c) the more expanded circumscription of L. sect. Nephrophyllum (including species of the L. bellidifolium complex); and (d) the new combinations for L. sect. Pruinosum and L. sect. Pteroclados subsect. Odontolepideae and subsect. Nobiles.

A highly effective polymerase chain reaction enhancer based on dendrimer-entrapped gold nanoparticles

Abstract: In molecular biology, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) has played an important role but suffers a general problem of low efficiency and specificity. Development of suitable PCR additives to improve the specificity and efficiency still remains a great challenge. Here we report the use of dendrimer-entrapped gold nanoparticles (Au DENPs) as a novel class of enhancers to improve the specificity and efficiency of PCR. We show that the Au DENPs prepared using amine-terminated generation 5 poly(amidoamine) dendrimers (G5.NH2) as templates are much more effective than the same dendrimers without AuNPs entrapped in improving the specificity and efficiency of an error-prone two-round PCR system. With the increase of the molar ratio between Au atom and G5.NH2 dendrimer in the Au DENPs, the optimum concentration of Au DENPs used to improve the PCR specificity and efficiency is decreased and can be as low as 0.37 nM when the Au atom/G5.NH2 dendrimer molar ratio reaches 100 : 1. Our PCR results along with the dynamic light scattering data suggest that unlike the flexible soft dendrimers without NPs entrapped that may display a non-spherical shape when interacting with the PCR components, the Au DENPs with increasing Au atom/dendrimer molar ratio are able to reserve the spherical shape of dendrimers, enabling much more efficient interaction with the PCR components. Therefore, as a NP-based PCR enhancer, both the surface charge and the shape of the particles should be responsible for effective interaction with the PCR components for improving the PCR specificity and efficiency. Furthermore, the used Au DENPs were proved to be stable after the PCR process, enabling them to be potentially used for enhancing different PCR systems.

Current trends on microextraction by packed sorbent - fundamentals, application fields, innovative improvements and future applications.

Abstract: MEPS, the acronym of microextraction by packed sorbent, is a simple, fast and user- and environmentally-friendly miniaturization of the popular solid-phase extraction technique (SPE). In fact, it has been widely shown that MEPS can easily replace SPE for most, if not all, previous applications. It can attain this with obvious gains in sample and solvent usage, which is greatly reduced without compromising the extraction efficiency. Furthermore, MEPS can be operated with semiautomatic electronic syringes, making it very reliable and versatile, particularly to handle very low and very high sample volumes. This review will focus on the strengths and weaknesses of this technique and the different MEPS architectures commercially available in the context of the MEPS applications reported in the last five years. Additionally, innovative improvements will be highlighted, particularly those related with new applications and recent MEPS configurations and sorbents, such as the controlled directional flow or the innovative μSPEed variant.