Dendritic spines are small protrusions that receive 90% of excitatory cortical synapses and are critically important to neural function. Each dendritic spine is supported by a dynamic actin cytoskeleton that responds to internal and external cues to allow spine development, elongation, retraction and movement. Multiple proteins have roles in spinogenesis, but until now, a regulatory role for actin itself has not been established. Here, we show that, in the acute slice preparation, actin expression increases during a period of rapid spinogenesis. Furthermore, actin overexpression in organotypic hippocampal cultures leads to a significant increase in spine density on CA1 pyramidal cells. Specifically, the number of filopodia (long, thin protrusions without heads) increases by 38% on secondary apical dendrites and 88% on basal dendrites and the number of elongated spines with heads increases by 162% on secondary apical dendrites and 113% on basal dendrites. Synapsin-I immunostaining demonstrated that the majority of filopodia and elongated spines are apposed by axon terminals. Additionally, we show that overexpressed actin enters both new and established spines within 24 h. These data demonstrate that neurons undertaking spinogenesis upregulate actin expression, that actin overexpression per se increases spine density, and that both new and established spines incorporate exogenous actin.

CoordenaÃÃo de AperfeiÃoamento de Pessoal de NÃvel Superior / O camarÃo peneÃdeo Farfantepenaeus subtilis à uma importante espÃcie nativa do litoral nordestino que possui uma grande ocorrÃncia na pesca. Dentre os camarÃes marinhos de importÃncia comercial, os peneÃdeos se destacam por constituÃrem um valioso recurso para pesca e aqÃicultura em regiÃes tropicais e subtropicais. Entretanto, a disponibilidade de informaÃÃes sobre essas espÃcies à bastante escassa, principalmente em relaÃÃo à estrutura genÃtica que atua no crescimento muscular desses animais. Tendo como objetivo identificar genes envolvidos na contraÃÃo muscular de camarÃes, neste trabalho foram parcialmente isolados e seqÃenciados os genes de betaactina e miosina de cadeia pesada do camarÃo rosa F. subtilis, a partir do cDNA do mÃsculo abdominal. Para tanto, camarÃes coletados no estuÃrio do rio Pacoti, estado do CearÃ, foram inicialmente identificados taxonomicamente e, depois atravÃs de amplificaÃÃo de DNA seguida por sequenciamento das regiÃes citocromo oxidase subunidade I (COI) e 16S. Utilizando-se os tecidos frescos dos camarÃes, foi extraÃdo o RNA total e foram obtidos os respectivos DNAs complementares (cDNAs). Baseado na construÃÃo de primers especÃficos a partir do alinhamento entre sequÃncias descritas no Genbank/NCBI, os genes foram isolados por meio de RT-PCR (ReaÃÃo em Cadeia da Polimerase atravÃs da transcriptase reversa) e seqÃenciados. Foi obtido um fragmento parcial de 760 pares de base para o cDNA de beta-actina e para o cDNA de miosina de cadeia pesada foi obtido um fragmento de 570 pares de base. AnÃlises das sequÃncias realizadas pela ferramenta BLAST (Basic Local Alignment Search Tool) revelaram alta similaridade com outras beta-actinas e miosinas de camarÃes, confirmando a identidade das sequÃncias genÃticas isoladas. Como resultado do alinhamento pareado entre as sequÃncias desses genes obtidos no trabalho com as de outras espÃcies presentes no GenBank, pÃde-se observar que as maiores similaridades foram com Penaeus monodon (93%) e com Farfantepenaeus paulensis (88%). Os resultados obtidos neste estudo demonstraram a viabilidade da metodologia utilizada na identificaÃÃo de genes relacionados com caracterÃsticas importantes. Esses dados irÃo facilitar o isolamento completo das sequÃncias desses genes, alÃm de contribuir para incentivar a identificaÃÃo de outros genes importantes em camarÃes, principalmente os nativos do Brasil. AnÃlise de genes que atuam desenvolvimento do tecido muscular do animal poderà fornecer informaÃÃes genÃticas importantes acerca de uma espÃcie nativa que està sendo superexplorada e que poderà ser viÃvel para cultivo. Outrossim, esses dados beneficiarÃo a comunidade cientÃfica, servindo como base para estudos de fisiologia, filogenia e evoluÃÃo em peneÃdeos / The penaeid shrimp Farfantepenaeus subtilis is an important native species for fisheries industry in Brazil. Among marine shrimps of commercial importance, penaeids are recognized as a valuable resource for fishery and aquaculture in tropical and subtropical regions. However, data on these species is extremely reduced, especially concerning genetic elements involved in animal muscle growth. Therefore, aiming at identifying shrimp genes directly associated with muscle contraction in this research, beta-actin and myosin heavy chain genes of the pink shrimp F. subtilis were isolated from its muscular abdominal and partially sequenced. Shrimps collected from Pacoti estuary, CearÃ, were first identified through taxonomy and, then, through DNA amplification followed by sequencing of Cytochrome Oxidase subunit I (COI) and 16S. From fresh shrimp tissues, total RNA was extracted and complementary cDNA was obtained. Based on specific primers designed after sequence alignments performed against sequences at GenBank/NCBI, genes were amplified from RT-PCR (reverse transcriptase - polimerase chain reaction) and sequenced. A 760bp partial F. subtilis beta-actin cDNA fragment was obtained, while the partial F. subtilis myosin heavy chain cDNA was 570bp long. Sequence analyses using the Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) program indicated that F. subtilis beta-actin gene product is very similar to betaactin of other species of shrimps, while the myosin heavy chain protein is highly homologous to crustacean myosins heavy chain, confirming the identity of the isolated gene sequences. Alignment of these gene sequences with other sequences in GenBank showed high similarity with Penaeus monodon (93%) and Farfantepenaeus paulensis (88%). Results have showed the feasibility of partial gene identification as a means to identify genes of strategic interest. These data would help further attempts to elucidate the complete isolation of these genes, as well as the detection of other important genes, especially from shrimp species occurring at the Brazilian coast. Genes analyses involved with muscle growth might provide important genetic information on native species that are overexploited and may be viable for the shrimp cultivation. In addition, these data might also benefit the scientific community, improving a range of research areas such as physiology, phylogeny and evolution of penaeids

Evolutionary relationships between Barbus species have been already studied in the past, but most of the studies were based only on mitochondrial DNA, there is no detailed study based on nuclear markers. This is mainly due to the fact that Barbus species are tetraploid. The western part of Greece has been studied insufficiently, and moreover a greater diversity of freshwater ichthyofauna is expected here. Greece is one of the hotspots of biodiversity. Greek river system is characterized by a significant proportion of endemic species of freshwater fishes. In this work evolutionary relationships between Barbus species were studied, with focus on diversity of Greek lineages. The geographical distribution of Barbus species has been also revised. In total, 192 individuals were analyzed, 156 individuals were from 40 Greek localities and another 36 Barbus species were from other areas of distribution of the genus. Dataset was supplemented with avaible published sequences. For the phylogenetic analysis mitochondrial gene cytochrom b, 1st intron of ribosomal protein gene S7 and 2nd intron of gene beta-actin were used. For both nuclear markers paralog-specific primers were used. The analysis of cytochrom b revealed several well-supported lines: 1. species of southwestern Mediterranean (B. meridionalis and B....

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