Maëva Sanchez

© 2015 Society for Experimental Biology, Association of Applied Biologists and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.Reduced cell wall recalcitrance and increased C6 monosaccharide content are desirable traits for future biofuel crops, as long as these biomass modifications do not significantly alter normal growth and development. Mixed-linkage glucan, a cell wall polysaccharide only present in grasses and related species among flowering plants, is comprised of glucose monomers linked by both β-1,3 and β-1,4 bonds. Previous data have shown that constitutive production of MLG in barley severely compromises growth and development. Here, we used spatio-temporal strategies to engineer Arabidopsis thaliana plants to accumulate significant amounts of MLG in the cell wall by expressing the rice CslF6 MLG synthase using secondary cell wall and senescence-associated promoters. Results using secondary wall promoters were suboptimal. When the rice MLG synthase was expressed under the control of a senescence-associated promoter, we obtained up to four times more glucose in the matrix cell wall fraction and up to a 42% increase in saccharification compared to control lines. Importantly, these plants grew and developed normally. The induction of MLG deposition at senescence correlated with an increase of gluconic acid in cell wall extracts of transgenic plants in contrast to the other approaches presented in this study. MLG produced in Arabidopsis has an altered structure compared to the grass glucan, which likely affects its solubility, while its molecular size is unaffected. The induction of cell wall polysaccharide biosynthesis in senescing tissues offers a novel engineering alternative to enhance cell wall properties of lignocellulosic biofuel crops.

States and societies are increasing concerned about issues associated with population diversity. When it comes to making legislative and political decisions, one sees a constant dissociation between the use of demographic concepts, demography and health and bioethics, along with very little academic impact and awareness in this area. The vast majority of countries lack an ethical framework that guarantees non-manipulation of the human being. The objectives of population policies go against children, the elderly and the disabled; their foundation is more ideological and utilitarian in nature. Opportunities for academic training and awareness on this subject are lacking.

El objetivo de este estudio es analizar las investigaciones de pregrado en Literatura de una universidad peruana. Se realizó el mapeo sistemático de diez trabajos publicados entre el 2017 y 2022. Los resultados evidencian preferencia por la investigación en literatura peruana y que el género literario más estudiado es el narrativo. Se concluye que en los trabajos no se describen claramente los métodos científicos ni las metodologías de análisis literario; debido a su diversidad, a que los estudios literarios poseen una complejidad interdisciplinaria, y porque los esfuerzos educativos universitarios en investigación se centran en los últimos semestres.

Even though sacred scriptures emphasize the key role that Creation and respect for living creatures play in all religions, the so-called religious schools seem to show little interest in putting this sacred mandate into effect. To shed light on this subject, this work investigates the role of teachers in the process, focusing on their environmental competencies. Our hypotheses are tested through a structural equation model on a sample of 214 biology and religion teachers from 118 Catholic schools in Spain who voluntary participated in a survey. The research findings confirm that it is crucial that environmental competencies are developed in teachers to enable the greening of schools. Theoretical and practical implications for defining the job training of teachers in religious schools are drawn from the study.

The attention to ethics has gradually become a concurrent topic of modern companies’ management. In the last years Social Responsibility has become a key issue in the strategic agenda of competitive agriculture cooperatives. However, reputation management has not been a visible strength in the cooperative enterprises. First of all, this work theoretically analyzes the relationship between Social Responsibility and reputation in cooperatives. Later, from a practical point of view, we carry on an empirical analysis focused on the olive oil cooperatives in the south of Spain, in the province of Jaén. With respect to the previous studies on the topic, this work reveals a main reason of interest reinforcing the role of research in addressing real problems of cooperatives. The article points out the characteristics of this kind of agribusiness and shows the importance of the adoption of a responsible orientation in fostering reputation for creating sustainable competitive advantages.

Women have been marginalized in different contexts and situations. Religion, and to be more specific Catholicism, is a tradition that has divided men and women but more importantly women themselves as they represent the dichotomy of good and evil. Michèle Roberts's heroines are inspired through biblical characters who will replace the binary system of being for dualities and pluralities in the same woman as part of their identities. This paper considers the feminist procedure of Adrienne Rich's re-visioning, re-imagining and re-writing, Julia Kristeva's notion of abjection plus a touch of Bakhtinian `open bodies' in the light of Catholic myths. The conclusion of this essay aims to present and celebrate Roberts's heroines in relation to their sexuality and religion.