Exploration of Toxins from a Marine Annelid: An Analysis of Phyllotoxins and Accompanying Bioactives.

Proteinaceous toxins are peptides or proteins that hold great biotechnological value, evidenced by their ecological role, whether as defense or predation mechanisms. Bioprospecting using bioinformatics and omics may render screening for novel bioactives more expeditious, especially considering the immense diversity of toxin-secreting marine organisms. sp.

An Exploration of Novel Bioactives from the Venomous Marine Annelid .

The immense biodiversity of marine invertebrates makes them high-value targets for the prospecting of novel bioactives. The present study investigated proteinaceous toxins secreted by the skin and proboscis of (Annelida: Polychaeta), whose congenerics and are known to be venomous. Proteomics and bioinformatics enabled the detection of bioactive proteins that hold potential for biotechnological applications, including toxins like glycerotoxins (GLTx), which can interfere with neuromuscular calcium channels and therefore have value for the development of painkillers, for instance.

Endogenous Fluorescent Proteins in the Mucus of an Intertidal Polychaeta: Clues for Biotechnology.

The vast ocean holds many unexplored organisms with unique adaptive features that enable them to thrive in their environment. The secretion of fluorescent proteins is one of them, with reports on the presence of such compounds in marine annelids being scarce. The intertidal sp.

Dinosaur bonebed amber from an original swamp forest soil.

Dinosaur bonebeds with amber content, yet scarce, offer a superior wealth and quality of data on ancient terrestrial ecosystems. However, the preserved palaeodiversity and/or taphonomic characteristics of these exceptional localities had hitherto limited their palaeobiological potential. Here, we describe the amber from the Lower Cretaceous dinosaur bonebed of Ariño (Teruel, Spain) using a multidisciplinary approach.

A Transcriptomic Approach to the Metabolism of Tetrapyrrolic Photosensitizers in a Marine Annelid.

The past decade has seen growing interest in marine natural pigments for biotechnological applications. One of the most abundant classes of biological pigments is the tetrapyrroles, which are prized targets due their photodynamic properties; porphyrins are the best known examples of this group. Many animal porphyrinoids and other tetrapyrroles are produced through heme metabolic pathways, the best known of which are the bile pigments biliverdin and bilirubin.

Enhanced Delivery of Neuroactive Drugs via Nasal Delivery with a Self-Healing Supramolecular Gel.

This paper reports the use of a self-assembling hydrogel as a delivery vehicle for the Parkinson's disease drug l-DOPA. Based on a two-component combination of an l-glutamine amide derivative and benzaldehyde, this gel has very soft rheological properties and self-healing characteristics. It is demonstrated that the gel can be formulated to encapsulate l-DOPA.

ARID1A genomic alterations driving microsatellite instability through somatic MLH1 methylation with response to immunotherapy in metastatic lung adenocarcinoma: a case report.

Background: Tumor molecular screening allows categorization of molecular alterations to select the best therapeutic strategy. AT-rich interactive domain-containing 1A (ARID1A) gene mutations are present in gastric, endometrial, and clear cell ovarian tumors. Inactivation of this gene impairs mismatch repair (MMR) machinery leading to an increased mutation burden that correlates with microsatellite instability (MSI), associated with tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes and programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression.

A Transcriptomic Approach to the Recruitment of Venom Proteins in a Marine Annelid.

The growing number of known venomous marine invertebrates indicates that chemical warfare plays an important role in adapting to diversified ecological niches, even though it remains unclear how toxins fit into the evolutionary history of these animals. Our case study, the Polychaeta sp., is an intertidal predator that secretes toxins.

Specific Antiproliferative Properties of Proteinaceous Toxin Secretions from the Marine Annelid sp. onto Ovarian Cancer Cells.

As Yondelis joins the ranks of approved anti-cancer drugs, the benefit from exploring the oceans' biodiversity becomes clear. From marine toxins, relevant bioproducts can be obtained due to their potential to interfere with specific pathways. We explored the cytotoxicity of toxin-bearing secretions of the polychaete onto a battery of normal and cancer human cell lines and discovered that the cocktail of proteins is more toxic towards an ovarian cancer cell line (A2780).

Phloem sap in Cretaceous ambers as abundant double emulsions preserving organic and inorganic residues.

Fossilized remains preserved in amber provide abundant data on the paleobiota surrounding the resin-producing plants, but relatively scarcer information about the resinous sources themselves. Here, dark pseudoinclusions in kidney-shaped amber pieces from the Early Cretaceous (Albian) amber from Spain are studied. This type of fossilized remain, abundant in Cretaceous ambers, was first interpreted as fossilized vacuole-bearing microorganisms, but later regarded as artifactual and probably secreted by the resinous trees, although their origin remained unclear.

Self-assembled multivalent (SAMul) ligand systems with enhanced stability in the presence of human serum.

Self-assembled cationic micelles are an attractive platform for binding biologically-relevant polyanions such as heparin. This has potential applications in coagulation control, where a synthetic heparin rescue agent could be a useful replacement for protamine, which is in current clinical use. However, micelles can have low stability in human serum and unacceptable toxicity profiles.

The hidden biotechnological potential of marine invertebrates: The Polychaeta case study.

Marine biotechnology is under the spotlight, as researchers and industrialists become aware that bioprospecting through the oceans' vast biodiversity can replace the painstaking process of designing synthetic compounds. Millions of years of Natural Selection provided an almost inexhaustible source of marine products that can interfere with specific bioprocesses while being cost-effective, safer and more environmentally friendly. Still, the number of commercial applications of marine compounds, especially from eumetazoans, can seem disappointing.

Effect of buffer at nanoscale molecular recognition interfaces - electrostatic binding of biological polyanions.

We investigate the impact of an over-looked component on molecular recognition in water-buffer. The binding of a cationic dye to biological polyanion heparin is shown by isothermal calorimetry to depend on buffer (Tris-HCl > HEPES > PBS). The heparin binding of self-assembled multivalent (SAMul) cationic micelles is even more buffer dependent.

Biallelic Mutations in KDSR Disrupt Ceramide Synthesis and Result in a Spectrum of Keratinization Disorders Associated with Thrombocytopenia.

Mutations in ceramide biosynthesis pathways have been implicated in a few Mendelian disorders of keratinization, although ceramides are known to have key roles in several biological processes in skin and other tissues. Using whole-exome sequencing in four probands with undiagnosed skin hyperkeratosis/ichthyosis, we identified compound heterozygosity for mutations in KDSR, encoding an enzyme in the de novo synthesis pathway of ceramides. Two individuals had hyperkeratosis confined to palms, soles, and anogenital skin, whereas the other two had more severe, generalized harlequin ichthyosis-like skin.

A Case Report Demonstrating the Potential Clinical Benefit of Exhaustive Molecular Profiling in an Aggressive Muscle-Invasive High-Grade Metastatic Urothelial Carcinoma.

We present a muscle-invasive high-grade metastatic urothelial carcinoma patient, aged 71 years, with rapid progression from the diagnosis and a poor prognosis after 3 lines of treatment. A clinical exhaustive genomic profile was performed with the goal of finding potential actionable molecular alterations. The patient showed significant symptomatic and laboratory improvement with a nonstandard chemotherapy combination treatment identified by the molecular profiling, which would otherwise not have been considered.

Morphological control of self-assembled multivalent (SAMul) heparin binding in highly competitive media.

Tuning molecular structures of self-assembling multivalent (SAMul) dendritic cationic lipopeptides controls the self-assembled morphology. In buffer, spherical micelles formed by higher generation systems bind polyanionic heparin better than worm-like micelles formed by lower generation systems. In human serum, the binding of spherical micelles to heparin is adversely affected, while worm-like micelles maintain their relative binding ability.

The Role of the Cephalopod Digestive Gland in the Storage and Detoxification of Marine Pollutants.

The relevance of cephalopods for fisheries and even aquaculture, is raising concerns on the relationship between these molluscs and environmental stressors, from climate change to pollution. However, how these organisms cope with environmental toxicants is far less understood than for other molluscs, especially bivalves, which are frontline models in aquatic toxicology. Although, sharing the same basic body plan, cephalopods hold distinct adaptations, often unique, as they are active predators with high growth and metabolic rates.

An integrative assessment to determine the genotoxic hazard of estuarine sediments: combining cell and whole-organism responses.

The application of the Comet assay in environmental monitoring remains challenging in face of the complexity of environmental stressors, e.g., when dealing with estuarine sediments, that hampers the drawing of cause-effect relationships.

A study on the digestive physiology of a marine polychaete (Eulalia viridis) through microanatomical changes of epithelia during the digestive cycle.

As for many invertebrates, the gut of marine polychaete species has key physiological functions. However, studies integrating microanatomical descriptions with physiological processes are scarce. The present investigates histological, histochemical and cytological changes in the alimentary canal during the digestive cycle of the marine annelid Eulalia viridis, a species that combines opportunist scavenging, predation and cannibalistic behavior.

Suitability of oil bioremediation in an Artic soil using surplus heating from an incineration facility.

A 168-day period field study, carried out in Sisimiut, Greenland, assessed the potential to enhance soil remediation with the surplus heating from an incineration facility. This approach searches a feasible ex situ remediation process that could be extended throughout the year with low costs. Individual and synergistic effects of biostimulation were also tested, in parallel.

Efficient, non-toxic hybrid PPV-PAMAM dendrimer as a gene carrier for neuronal cells.

A novel hybrid dendrimer (TRANSGEDEN) that combines a conjugated rigid polyphenylenevinylene (PPV) core with flexible polyamidoamine (PAMAM) branches at the surface was synthesized and characterized. The potential of this material as a nonviral gene delivery system was also examined, and it was observed that dendriplexes formed by TRANSGEDEN and small interfering ribonucleic acids (siRNAs) can be incorporated into >90% of neuronal cells without any toxicity up to a dendrimer concentration of 3 μM. TRANSGEDEN was used to deliver a specific siRNA to rat cerebellar granular neurons (CGNs) to knock down the cofilin-1 protein.

A MALDI-TOF MS study of lanthanide(III)-cored poly(phenylenevinylene) dendrimers.

An extensive study by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry (MS) of some first-generation and second-generation lanthanide(III)-cored poly(phenylenevinylene) dendrimers is described. The complexes were obtained by self-assembly of suitably functionalized carboxylate dendrons around the lanthanide ion (La(3+), Er(3+)). Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy gave reasonable evidence for the proposed structures.

Lyophilization of lepidopteran midguts: a preserving method for Bacillus thuringiensis toxin binding studies.

Binding assays with brush border membrane vesicles (BBMV) from insect midguts are commonly used in the study of the interactions between Bacillus thuringiensis Cry toxins and their receptors. Collaboration between laboratories often require that frozen insect samples are sent in dry ice. Because of customs restrictions and delays, sample thawing is always a risk and often the biological material becomes ruined during shipping.

[Human immunodeficiency virus infection. Dermatologic perspective].

High prevalence and atypical cutaneous symptoms, signals and evolution are main characteristics of HIV-associated dermatosis, where infections and neoplasms are quite common. Mostly difficult, diagnosis of skin involvement is important to corroborate the clinical suspicion of HIV infection. In the present work, after a short review on epidemiology, pathogeny and clinical aspects of the HIV infection, main AIDS-related dermatosis are described.