Nucleus-directed fluorescent reporter system for promoter studies in the ectomycorrhizal fungus Laccaria bicolor.

Currently ectomycorrhizal research suffers from a lack of molecular tools specifically adapted to study gene expression in fungal symbionts. Considering that, we designed pReNuK, a cloning vector for transcriptional promoter studies in the ectomycorrhizal basidiomycete Laccaria bicolor. The pReNuK vector offers the use of a nuclear localizing and chromatin incorporating histone H2B-mCherry fluorescent reporter protein and it is specifically optimized for efficient transgene expression in Laccaria.

Assessing the efficacy of melatonin to curtail benzodiazepine/Z drug abuse.

The abuse of benzodiazepine (BZP) and Z drugs has become, due to the tolerance and dependence they produce, a serious public health problem. Thirty years ago, we demonstrated in experimental animals the interaction of melatonin with central BZD receptors, and in 1997 we published the first series of elderly patients who reduced BZP consumption after melatonin treatment. Almost every single neuron in the hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN), the central pacemaker of the circadian system, contains γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and many results in animals point out to a melatonin interaction with GABA-containing neurons.

Some implications of melatonin use in chronopharmacology of insomnia.

The last decade has witnessed the emergence of new chronopharmacological perspectives. In the case of sleep disorders, the accumulating evidence suggests that even a minor dysfunction in the biological clock can impact broadly upon body physiology causing increases in sleep onset latency, phase delays or advances in sleep initiation, frequent nocturnal awakenings, reduced sleep efficiency, delayed and shortened rapid eye movement sleep and increased periodic leg movements, among others. Thus, restoration of the adequate circadian pattern of proper sleep hygiene, targeted exposure to light and the use of chronobiotic drugs, such as melatonin, which affect the output phase of clock-controlled circadian rhythms, can help to recover the sleep-wake cycle.