Genetic Tools in Rodents to Study Cannabinoid Functions.

During the past 30 years, the endocannabinoid system (ECS) has emerged as a major signalling system in the mammalian brain regulating neurotransmission in numerous brain regions and in various cell populations. Endocannabinoids are able to regulate specific physiological functions and thus modify their behavioural manifestations and allostatic alterations of the ECS linked to different pathological conditions. As discussed in detail in other chapters of this book, endocannabinoids are involved in learning and memory, stress, and anxiety, feeding, energy balance, development, and ageing.

Kinetic modulation of bacterial hydrolases by microbial community structure in coastal waters.

In this study, we hypothesized that shifts in the kinetic parameters of extracellular hydrolytic enzymes may occur as a consequence of seasonal environmental disturbances and would reflect the level of adaptation of the bacterial community to the organic matter of the ecosystem. We measured the activities of enzymes that play a key role in the bacterial growth (leucine aminopeptidase, β- and α-glucosidases) in surface coastal waters of the Eastern Cantabrian Sea and determined their kinetic parameters by computing kinetic models of distinct complexity. Our results revealed the existence of two clearly distinct enzymatic systems operating at different substrate concentrations: a high-affinity system prevailing at low substrate concentrations and a low-affinity system characteristic of high substrate concentrations.

Prokaryotic Capability to Use Organic Substrates Across the Global Tropical and Subtropical Ocean.

Prokaryotes play a fundamental role in decomposing organic matter in the ocean, but little is known about how microbial metabolic capabilities vary at the global ocean scale and what are the drivers causing this variation. We aimed at obtaining the first global exploration of the functional capabilities of prokaryotes in the ocean, with emphasis on the under-sampled meso- and bathypelagic layers. We explored the potential utilization of 95 carbon sources with Biolog GN2 plates in 441 prokaryotic communities sampled from surface to bathypelagic waters (down to 4,000 m) at 111 stations distributed across the tropical and subtropical Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific oceans.

Recurrent seasonal changes in bacterial growth efficiency, metabolism and community composition in coastal waters.

The microbial response to environmental changes in coastal waters of the eastern Cantabrian Sea was explored for four years by analysing a broad set of environmental variables along with bacterial community metabolism and composition. A recurrent seasonal cycle emerged, consisting of two stable periods, characterized by low bacterial metabolic activity (winter) from October to March, and high bacterial metabolic activity (summer) from May to August. These two contrasting periods were linked by short transition periods in April (T ) and September (T ).

Imbalanced nutrient recycling in a warmer ocean driven by differential response of extracellular enzymatic activities.

Ocean oligotrophication concurrent with warming weakens the capacity of marine primary producers to support marine food webs and act as a CO sink, and is believed to result from reduced nutrient inputs associated to the stabilization of the thermocline. However, nutrient supply in the oligotrophic ocean is largely dependent on the recycling of organic matter. This involves hydrolytic processes catalyzed by extracellular enzymes released by bacteria, which temperature dependence has not yet been evaluated.

Release and consumption of D-amino acids during growth of marine prokaryotes.

Analysis of the composition of the marine-dissolved organic matter has highlighted the importance of D-amino acids, whose origin is attributed mainly to the remains of bacterial peptidoglycan released as a result of grazing or viral lysis. However, very few studies have focused on the active release of D-amino acids by bacteria. With this purpose, we measured the concentration of dissolved amino acids in both enantiomeric forms with two levels of complexity: axenic cultures of Vibrio furnissii and Vibrio alginolyticus and microcosms created from marine microbial assemblages (Biscay Bay, Cantabrian Sea) with and without heterotrophic nanoflagellates (HNFs).

Influence of age of aggregates and prokaryotic abundance on glucose and leucine uptake by heterotrophic marine prokaryotes.

The kinetics of glucose and leucine uptake in attached and free-living prokaryotes in two types of microcosms with different nutrient qualities were compared. Microcosm type M1, derived from unaltered seawater, and microcosm type M2, from phytoplankton cultures, clearly expressed different kinetic parameters (Vmax/cell and K' m). In aggregates with low cell densities (M1 microcosm), the attached prokaryotes benefited from attachment as reflected in the higher potential uptake rates, while in aggregates with high cell densities (M2 microcosm) differences in the potential uptake rates of attached and free-living prokaryotes were not evident.