Éditeur(s) : Université Montpellier 2 - Sciences et Techniques du Languedoc
Résumé : The work reported here was motivated by the economical importance of the pacific blue shrimp Litopenaeus stylirostris farming where high mortality rates are due to bacterial and viral diseases. It consists in the characterisation of two original peptides, the first members of a new multifunctional family of peptides from peneide shrimps, the stylicines. Those two peptides, named stylicines 1 and 2, are negatively charged (pI < 6.0), and characterised by a proline-rich N-terminal region and a C-terminal region containing 13 cysteine residues. Stylicines are synthesized by heamocytes where they are stored within small cytoplasmic granules. To understand the role of these peptides in the immune response of shrimps to a vibrio infection, their recombinant forms were produced in E. coli BL21 (DE3) plysS, purified and characterised. The two rstylicines display biological anti-proliferative and blood clotting activities. Only rstylicine 1 displays antimicrobial activities: antifungal against Fusarium oxysporum (MIC<2.5μM) and bacteriostatic against Gram (−) bacteria, Vibrio sp. (MIC<80μM). Moreover this peptide displays an LPS-binding activity (dissociation constant (Kd) of 9.6×10−8 M) and agglutinate Vibrio. penaeicida "in vitro". Finally, the presence of sequences coding for modified forms of stylicine 1 in some shrimp’s genome may be in relation with their lower ability to survive infections.
Les travaux présentés dans ce mémoire ont été motivés par l’importance économique de l’élevage de la crevette bleue du pacifique Litopenaeus stylirostris dont les fortes mortalités sont principalement dues au développement de maladies bactériennes et virales. Ils ont consisté en la caractérisation des deux premiers membres d’une famille originale de peptides multifonctionnels présents chez les crevettes pénéides, les stylicines. Ces peptides, nommés stylicines 1 et 2, sont des peptides anioniques (pI < 6.0), formés d’une région amino-terminale riche en résidus de type proline et d’une région carboxyterminale riche de treize résidus cystéines. Ces molécules sont synthétisées et stockées dans de petits granules présents dans le cytoplasme des hémocytes. Pour mieux appréhender leurs rôles dans la réponse immunitaire des crevettes à une infection par des Vibrio, leurs formes recombinantes ont été produites dans E. coli BL21 (DE3) plysS, purifiées et caractérisées. Les deux rstylicines présentent des activités antiproliférative et anticoagulante. Seule la rstylicine1 présente des activités antimicrobiennes : antifongique sur Fusarium oxysporum (CMI<2.5 μM), et antibactérienne (bactériostatique) sur Vibrio sp (CMI<80 μM). Ce peptide est également capable de se lier aux LPS des bactéries à Gram (-) (Kd= 9.6x10-8 M) et d’agglutiner V. penaeicida "in vitro". Enfin, l’existence de gènes codant des formes modifiées de la stylicine1, chez certaines crevettes, pourrait être en relation avec une diminution de la résistante des individus aux infections.

Droits : 2010 The Author, Univ Montpellier 2
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00024/13558/10612.pdf
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00024/13558/

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
A multifunction Γ is called a Kakutani multifunction if there exist two nonempty convex sets X and Y , each in a Hausdorff topological vector space, such that Γ : X → Y is upper semi-continuous with nonempty compact convex values. We prove the following extension of the Kakutani fixed point theorem : Let Γ : X → X be a multi-function from a simplex X into itself ; if Γ can be factorized by an arbitrary finite number of Kakutani multifunctions, then Γ has a fixed point. The proof relies on a simplicial approximation technique and the Brouwer fixed point theorem. Extensions to infinite-dimensional spaces and applications to game theory are given.
Journal of Mathematical Analysis and applications

hal-00699225
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00699225

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
In a period of agricultural decline in the uplands of Europe, agriculture is ceasing to provide the primary rationale for the organisation, utilisation and functioning of rural space. Policy reform, market trends and changes to the way citizens and consumers think about the countryside all suggest a need for thinking strategically about the future development of these areas. However, without a broad involvement of stakeholders, land use conflicts, and social and cultural conflicts in general, may increase. Involving stakeholders in upland areas can be facilitated by using scenario technique and by discussing alternative futures in local stakeholder panels. In this paper we present four scenarios of land-use change for the year 2030, and their assessments by stakeholder panels in Scotland, France, Norway, Switzerland, Slovakia and Greece. The aim of the paper is to explore the ways in which stakeholders in these locations advocate and assess these scenarios. We also explore how stakeholders in different countries weight the visual landscape impacts, the livelihood and biodiversity aspects of the scenarios in their assessment, and the reasons for their prioritising. The cross-country analysis shows that stakeholders across the study areas are united in their overall rejection of agricultural liberalisation, advocating a production-oriented, but multifunctional and environmentally-friendly agriculture that maintains landscapes and biodiversity.
ISSN: 0743-0167

halshs-01227527
https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-01227527
DOI : 10.1016/j.jrurstud.2007.04.001

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé :  
The main aspects of wood mechanics are approached through the role played by wood as the building material of the tree. The main concepts used by nature: progressive setting up of tree weight and architecture, multifunctional role of wood and adaptability to hazard and long-term evolution, are clarified together with their consequence on the multilayered, anisotropic nature of wood. The technological choices of the plant world as the cellular structure, the use of composite with oriented fibres and hydro-carbonated polymers, as well as the systematic prestressing of every new layer, bear obvious consequences on the type of mechanical behaviour of wood. The local control of the level of prestressing through minor modifications of the cell-wall biosynthesis allows the tree to adapt to conditions of light exploration that will evolve according to time and risk occurrence. This analysis of wood genesis process permits in return to improve our understanding of the mechanical behaviour of the material in relation with the parameters of the microstructure.
Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences Série 2

hal-01032151
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01032151
DOI : 10.1016/S1620-7742(01)01380-0

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Association for the Advancement of Science
Résumé : The biodiversity-productivity relationship (BPR) is foundational to our understanding of the global extinction crisis and its impacts on ecosystem functioning. Understanding BPR is critical for the accurate valuation and effective conservation of biodiversity. Using ground-sourced data from 777,126 permanent plots, spanning 44 countries and most terrestrial biomes, we reveal a globally consistent positive concave-down BPR, showing that continued biodiversity loss would result in an accelerating decline in forest productivity worldwide. The value of biodiversity in maintaining commercial forest productivity alone-US$166 billion to 490 billion per year according to our estimation-is more than twice what it would cost to implement effective global conservation. This highlights the need for a worldwide reassessment of biodiversity values, forest management strategies, and conservation priorities.
ISSN: 0036-8075

hal-01607784
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01607784
DOI : 10.1126/science.aaf8957
PRODINRA : 389856

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
The study of complex biological processes requires to forgo simplified models for extensive ones. Yet, these models' size and complexity place them beyond understanding. Their analysis requires new methods for identifying general patterns. The Transforming Growth Factor TGF-β is a multifunctional cytokine that regulates mammalian cell development , differentiation, and homeostasis. Depending on the context, it can play the antagonistic roles of growth inhibitor or of tumor promoter. Its context-dependent pleiotropic nature is associated with complex sig-naling pathways. The most comprehensive model of TGF-β-dependent signaling is composed of 15,934 chains of reactions (trajectories) linking TGF-β to at least one of its 159 target genes. Identifying functional patterns in such a network requires new automated methods. This article presents a framework for identifying groups of similar trajec-tories composed of the same molecules using an exhaustive and without prior assumptions approach. First, the trajectories were clustered using the Relevant Set Correlation model, a shared nearest-neighbors clustering method. Five groups of trajectories were identified. Second, for each cluster the over-represented molecules were determined by scoring the frequency of each molecule implicated in trajectories. Third, Gene set enrichment analysis on the clusters of trajectories revealed some specific TGF-β-dependent biological processes, with different clusters associated to the antagonists roles of TGF-β. This confirms that our approach yields biologically-relevant results. We developed a web interface that facilitates graph visualization and analysis. Our clustering-based method is suitable for identifying families of functionally-similar trajectories in the TGF-β signaling network. It can be generalized to explore any large-scale biological pathways.
CMSB 2017 - 15th International Conference on Computational Methods in Systems Biology
Darmstadt, France

hal-01559249
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01559249
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01559249/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01559249/file/JeanCoquet_CMSB.pdf

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Royal Society of Chemistry
Résumé : International audience
A versatile sol-gel route has been developed for the preparation of hierarchical porous silica membrane material with highly dispersed platinum nanoparticles (Pt-NPs). The outstanding feature of the "one pot" synthesis developed in this work lies in the successful preparation of a stable complex suspension made of silica sol, multi-scale porogens and Pt nanoparticles. The multi-scale porogens were based on non-ionic triblock copolymers and aqueous latex suspension to create mesopores and macropores, respectively, with finely tuned pore size and organization. For further functionalization of the membranes, Pt nanoparticles of about 4 nm in diameter were prepared by irradiating with microwaves (MW) the Pt precursors added in the starting suspension. This original path is suggested to enable a pre-organization of Pt nanoparticles in the ordered mesoporous structure. The suspensions were then deposited as thin films on either dense or macroporous supports, and further thermally treated at 450°C to remove the porogen units. Hierarchical porous layers composed of micropores (<2 nm), ordered mesopores (∼4 nm) and macropores (∼70 nm) with or without Pt were prepared and characterized. The resulting membranes are foreseen to exhibit great potential as multifunctional membranes for gas separation coupled with catalytic reaction. © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2008.
ISSN: 0959-9428

hal-01680586
https://hal.univ-antilles.fr/hal-01680586
DOI : 10.1039/b807029f

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Springer Verlag
Résumé : The diversity and functional identity of organisms are known to be relevant to the maintenance of ecosystem processes but can be variable in different environments. Particularly, it is uncertain whether ecosystem processes are driven by complementary effects or by dominant groups of species. We investigated how community structure (i.e., the diversity and relative abundance of biological entities) explains the community-level contribution of Neotropical ant communities to different ecosystem processes in different environments. Ants were attracted with food resources representing six ant-mediated ecosystem processes in four environments: ground and vegetation strata in cropland and forest habitats. The exploitation frequencies of the baits were used to calculate the taxonomic and trophic structures of ant communities and their contribution to ecosystem processes considered individually or in combination (i.e., multifunctionality). We then investigated whether community structure variables could predict ecosystem processes and whether such relationships were affected by the environment. We found that forests presented a greater biodiversity and trophic complementarity and lower dominance than croplands, but this did not affect ecosystem processes. In contrast, trophic complementarity was greater on the ground than on vegetation and was followed by greater resource exploitation levels. Although ant participation in ecosystem processes can be predicted by means of trophic-based indices, we found that variations in community structure and performance in ecosystem processes were best explained by environment. We conclude that determining the extent to which the dominance and complementarity of communities affect ecosystem processes in different environments requires a better understanding of resource availability to different species.
ISSN: 0029-8549

hal-01606497
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01606497
DOI : 10.1007/s00442-016-3741-z
PRODINRA : 407457

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD BioMed Central
Résumé : International audience
BACKGROUND: The TGF-β transforming growth factor is the most pleiotropic cytokine controlling a broad range of cellular responses that include proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis. The context-dependent multifunctional nature of TGF-β is associated with complex signaling pathways. Differential models describe the dynamics of the TGF-β canonical pathway, but modeling the non-canonical networks constitutes a major challenge. Here, we propose a qualitative approach to explore all TGF-β-dependent signaling pathways. RESULTS: Using a new formalism, CADBIOM, which is based on guarded transitions and includes temporal parameters, we have built the first discrete model of TGF-β signaling networks by automatically integrating the 137 human signaling maps from the Pathway Interaction Database into a single unified dynamic model. Temporal property-checking analyses of 15934 trajectories that regulate 145 TGF-β target genes reveal the association of specific pathways with distinct biological processes. We identify 31 different combinations of TGF-β with other extracellular stimuli involved in non-canonical TGF-β pathways that regulate specific gene networks. Extensive analysis of gene expression data further demonstrates that genes sharing CADBIOM trajectories tend to be co-regulated. CONCLUSIONS: As applied here to TGF-β signaling, CADBIOM allows, for the first time, a full integration of highly complex signaling pathways into dynamic models that permit to explore cell responses to complex microenvironment stimuli.
ISSN: 1752-0509

inserm-00978313
http://www.hal.inserm.fr/inserm-00978313
http://www.hal.inserm.fr/inserm-00978313/document
http://www.hal.inserm.fr/inserm-00978313/file/1752-0509-8-30.pdf
DOI : 10.1186/1752-0509-8-30