Studies of nesting ecology have proven to be extremely important for stingless bee conservation. These studies have rarely been conducted in urban landscapes, and even fewer have compared species diversity and abundances over time. We surveyed native stingless bee nests at the Federal University of Juiz de Fora campus in Minas Gerais, southeastern Brazil, from May 2008 to April 2009. We recorded the number of nests, nest height, species diversity, and nest substrate type (i.e., natural or artificial). We compared our results to those of a similar survey carried out in the same location eight years prior (2000/2001) in order to evaluate how urban expansion on campus has influenced the Meliponini bee community. Stingless bee abundance and richness were greater in the second survey. The use of natural substrates decreased, while the use of artificial substrates increased. This suggests that the increase in man-made structures on the UFJF campus has provided favorable sites for establishment of some stingless bee species.

The satellite cells are long regarded as heterogeneous cell population, which is intimately linked to the processes of muscular recovery. The heterogeneous cell population may be classified by specific markers. In spite of the significant amount of variation amongst the satellite cell populations, it seems that their activity is tightly bound to the paired box 7 transcription factor expression, which is, therefore, used as a canonical marker for these cells. Muscular dystrophic diseases, such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy, elicit severe tissue injuries leading those patients to display a very specific pattern of muscular recovery abnormalities. There have been works on the application of precursors cells as a therapeutic alternative for Duchenne muscular dystrophy and initial attempts have proven the cells inefficient; however later endeavours have proposed solutions for the experiments improving significantly the results. The presence of a range of satellite cells populations indicates the existence of specific cells with enhanced capability of muscular recovery in afflicted muscles.

Nanomaterials can mimic properties of extracellular matrix molecules, promising great potential for scaffold composition in tissue engineering. In the present study, we investigated whether barium titanate nanoparticles (BT NP) combined with alginate polymer would provide a new cytocompatible three-dimensional (3D) scaffold to induce osteogenic stem cell differentiation. In vitro cytocompatibility and osteogenic differentiation potential were investigated using human mesenchymal stem cells (MSC). Firstly, we studied the cell viability and oxidative stress by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) thiazolyl blue tetrazolium bromide (MTT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) assays. Overall, neither pure BT NP or BT NP/alginate 3D scaffold induced cytotoxicity. The scanning electron and atomic force microscopy revealed that BT NP/alginate 3D scaffold produced exhibited highly interconnected pores and surface nanotopography that were favorable for MSC differentiation. Von Kossa staining showed mineralization nodules and MSCs morphology changed from spindle to cuboid shape after 21 d. Finally, BMP-2 and ALP mRNA were significantly upregulated on cells grown into the BT NP/alginate 3D scaffold. Thus, the BT NP/alginate 3D scaffold showed an osteogenic differentiation induction potential, without the addition of osteogenic supplements. These results indicate that the BT NP/alginate 3D scaffold provides a cytocompatible and bioactive microenvironment for osteogenic human MSC differentiation.

Despite the advances in the hematology field, blood transfusion-related iatrogenesis is still a major issue to be considered during such procedures due to blood antigenic incompatibility. This places pluripotent stem cells as a possible ally in the production of more suitable blood products. The present review article aims to provide a comprehensive summary of the state-of-the-art concerning the differentiation of both embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells to hematopoietic cell lines. Here, we review the most recently published protocols to achieve the production of blood cells for future application in hemotherapy, cancer therapy and basic research.

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Fusarium oxysporum is a widespread necrotrophic plant pathogen. Its infection affects several crop plants such as potato, tomato, cotton, banana, coffee, strawberry and sugarcane. The fungus produces oxalic acid, which triggers apoptosis in plants by a reactive oxygen species-dependent mechanism. Tobacco plants were genetically modified to express a gene coding for the enzyme oxalate descarboxilase (OxDc), isolated from Flammulina velutipes. The transgenic plants showed tolerance to Fusarium oxysporum. Even under lower expression of the gene, plants were able to control F. oxysporum infection. Thus, we demonstrated that the expression of the oxdc gene is a good alternative for the development of F. oxysporum resistant crops.

Corals have been attracting huge attention due to the impact of climate change and ocean acidification on reef formation and resilience. Nevertheless, some species like Tubastraea coccinea and T. tagusensis have been spreading very fast replacing the native ones which affect the local environment and decrease biodiversity of corals and other organisms associated with them. Despite some focal efforts to understand the biology of these organisms, they remain understudied at the molecular level. This knowledge gap hinders the development of cost-effective strategies for both conservation and management of invasive species. In this circumstance, it is expected that genome sequencing would provide powerful insights that could lead to better strategies for prevention, management, and control of this and other invasive species. Here, we present three genomes of Tubastraea spp. in one of the most comprehensive biological studies of corals, that includes flow cytometry, karyotyping, transcriptomics, genomics, and phylogeny. The genome of T. tagusensis is organized in 23 chromosomes pairs and has 1.1 Gb, the T. coccinea genome is organized in 22 chromosome pairs and has 806 Mb, and the Tubastraea sp. genome is organized in 21 chromosome pairs and has 795 Mb. The hybrid assembly of T. tagusensis using short and long-reads has a N50 of 227,978 bp, 7,996 contigs and high completeness estimated as 91.6% of BUSCO complete genes, of T. coccinea has a N50 of 66,396 bp, 17,214 contigs and 88.1% of completeness , and of Tubastraea sp. has a N50 of 82,672 bp, 12,922 contigs and also 88.1% of completeness . We inferred that almost half of the genome consists of repetitive elements, mostly interspersed repeats. We provide evidence for exclusive Scleractinia and Tubastraea gene content related to adhesion and immunity. The Tubastraea spp. genomes are a fundamental study which promises to provide insights not only about the genetic basis for the extreme invasiveness of this particular coral genus, but to understand the adaptation flaws of some reef corals in the face of anthropic-induced environmental disturbances. We expect the data generated in this study will foster the development of efficient technologies for the management of coral species, whether invasive or threatened.

Corals have been attracting huge attention due to the impact of climate change and ocean acidification on reef formation and resilience. Nevertheless, some coral species have been spreading very fast, replacing native species and affecting local biodiversity. Despite some focal efforts to understand the biology of these organisms, they remain understudied at the molecular level. This knowledge gap hinders the development of cost-effective strategies for management of invasive species. Here, we present the first Tubastraea sp. genome in one of the most comprehensive biological studies of a coral, that includes morphology, flow cytometry, karyotyping, transcriptomics, genomics, and phylogeny. The Tubastraea sp. genome is organized in 23 chromosome pairs and has 1.4 Gb making it the largest coral and Cnidaria genome sequenced to date. The hybrid assembly using short and long-reads has a N50 of 180,044 pb, 12,320 contigs and high completeness estimated as 91.6% of BUSCO complete genes. We inferred that almost half of the genome consists of repetitive elements, mostly interspersed repeats. Gene content was estimated as about 94,000, a high number that warrants deeper scrutiny. The Tubastraea sp. genome is a fundamental study which promises to provide insights not only about the genetic basis for the extreme invasiveness of this particular coral species, but to understand the adaptation flaws of some reef corals in the face of anthropic-induced environmental disturbances. We expect the data generated in this study will foster the development of efficient technologies for the management of corals species, whether invasive or threatened.