Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Alessandra Gallo, Carola Murano, Rosaria Notariale, Davide Caramiello, Elisabetta Tosti, Stefano Cecchini Gualandi, Raffaele Boni
Summary: Short-term heat stress (HS) causes changes in the immune and reproductive systems of female sea urchins, leading to functional alterations in the cells involved in these activities.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Petra Buric, Ivana Carapar, Dijana Pavicic-Hamer, Ines Kovacic, Lara Jurkovic, Maja Dutour Sikiric, Darija Domazet Jurasin, Nevenka Mikac, Niko Bacic, Daniel Mark Lyons
Summary: Different sizes of silver nanoparticles have different effects on the embryogenesis of Mediterranean sea urchins. Smaller nanoparticles have higher toxicity, while larger nanoparticles have a dose-dependent effect. The toxicity is mainly attributed to the oxidative dissolution rate of the nanoparticles.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Flora Rendell-Bhatti, Periklis Paganos, Anna Pouch, Christopher Mitchell, Salvatore D'Aniello, Brendan J. Godley, Ksenia Pazdro, Maria Ina Arnone, Eva Jimenez-Guri
Summary: The study found that chemicals leached from plastic particles have severe impacts on the development of marine organisms, leading to developmental abnormalities. These findings suggest that microplastic pollution may have unknown negative effects on ecosystems.
ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Luisa Albarano, Valerio Zupo, Marco Guida, Giovanni Libralato, Davide Caramiello, Nadia Ruocco, Maria Costantini
Summary: The study found that exposure to PAHs and PCBs in marine sediments had short-term sublethal effects on sea urchins, which were explained at the molecular level. Twenty-five new genes were identified, and it was discovered that they were functionally connected to genes previously defined as molecular targets of these pollutants. The expression of these genes was affected by PAHs and PCBs.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
J. I. Bertucci, A. Juez, J. Bellas
Summary: The combined effects of ocean acidification and microplastic pollution on the early development of Paracentrotus lividus were studied. The results showed that both ocean acidification and microplastics can alter the growth and morphology of the embryo, with observed differences in morphology related to decreased width of larvae. The changes in larvae shape could affect their buoyancy and ability to obtain and ingest food.
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Carola Murano, Vincenzo Donnarumma, Ilaria Corsi, Raffaella Casotti, Anna Palumbo
Summary: The colonization of micro-PS by bacteria influenced the uptake and toxicological responses of the Mediterranean sea urchin P. lividus, leading to higher levels of biodistribution and faster egestion rates.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Roberto Chiarelli, Chiara Martino, Rosaria Scudiero, Fabiana Geraci
Summary: This study investigated the effects of vanadium on sea urchin embryo development and proteolytic activity of gelatinases. The results showed that vanadium exposure caused morphological aberrations, reduced embryonic cell distribution, and altered embryo volume. Additionally, vanadium affected the expression and activity of gelatinases, particularly MMP-14. These findings suggest that an integrated approach combining morphology, proteolytic activity, and MMP-14 expression is important for studying the effects of vanadium.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Food Science & Technology
Marco Chiaramonte, Rosa Bonaventura, Caterina Costa, Francesca Zito, Roberta Russo
Summary: The study found a dose-dependent toxic effect of [6]-gingerol on sea urchins, affecting both embryos and immune cells, with potential protective effects at low doses. Different doses of [6]-gingerol tested on three non-pathogenic bacteria did not show antimicrobial effects.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Thomas Viel, Mariacristina Cocca, Loredana Manfra, Davide Caramiello, Giovanni Libralato, Valerio Zupo, Maria Costantini
Summary: Plastic pollution is a significant environmental issue, and the improper management of plastic waste leads to serious environmental problems. Efforts are being made to develop sustainable and circular materials, and biodegradable polymers show promise. However, the lack of data on the fate and toxicity of these polymers on marine organisms limits their applicability. This research analyzed the impact of microplastics from biodegradable polyesters on the physiology of Paracentrotus lividus.
ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Luca Grosso, Arnold Rakaj, Alessandra Fianchini, Lorenzo Tancioni, Salvatrice Vizzini, Charles-Francois Boudouresque, Michele Scardi
Summary: Investigations on the trophic requirements of different life cycle stages of Paracentrotus lividus showed that higher animal supplements are needed during the juvenile stage, while lower animal supplements are required during the subadult and adult stages. The study revealed that the growth and energy allocation of P. lividus varied with the size after metamorphosis, leading to changes in macronutrient requirements.
FRONTIERS IN MARINE SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Natalia Abramenko, Marina Semenova, Alexander Khina, Pavel Zherebin, Yurii Krutyakov, Evgeny Krysanov, Leonid Kustov
Summary: Surface modification of nanoparticles with different stabilizers is commonly used to enhance their stability and applicability. Silver nanoparticle dispersions with biologically active stabilizers show potential as plant protection products, improving crop growth, yield, and protection. However, these stabilizers exhibit toxic effects on sea urchin embryos, with silver ions being more toxic than the nanoparticles themselves.
Article
Chemistry, Applied
Carolina Camacho, Tatiana Correia, Barbara Teixeira, Rogerio Mendes, Luisa M. P. Valente, M. Fernanda Pessoa, M. Leonor Nunes, Amparo Goncalves
Summary: This study aims to report the chemical changes in sea urchin during refrigerated storage and their contribution to taste. The results showed that adenylate energy charge is a suitable indicator of freshness, while amino acids are related to taste and maturation stage. Storage had minimal effect on amino acids, but nucleotides showed potential changes after day 5.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Ermelinda Prato, Adele Fabbrocini, Giovanni Libralato, Luciana Migliore, Isabella Parlapiano, Raffaele D'Adamo, Alice Rotini, Loredana Manfra, Giusy Lofrano, Federica Carraturo, Marco Trifuoggi, Francesca Biandolino
Summary: The study evaluated the toxicity of ZnO nanoparticles on three marine macroinvertebrates. Both ZnO NPs and ZnSO4 showed concentration- and time-dependent relationships with high toxicity to the tested species. ZnO NPs induced similar responses in G. aequicauda and C. truncata, but differences were found after exposure to ZnSO4.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLLUTION RESEARCH
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Alfonsina Milito, Maria Cocurullo, Alfredo Columbro, Simona Nonnis, Gabriella Tedeschi, Immacolata Castellano, Maria Ina Arnone, Anna Palumbo
Summary: This study investigates the biological relevance of ovothiol during sea urchin embryogenesis and the inflammatory response. It suggests that ovothiol may regulate cell proliferation in early developing embryos and play a key role in larval skeleton formation and inflammatory processes triggered by bacterial infection.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Dario Savoca, Raffaella Melfi, Antonio Palumbo Piccionello, Salvatore Barreca, Silvestre Buscemi, Vincenzo Arizza, Marco Arculeo, Andrea Pace
Summary: The study reported the presence and biodistribution of PFOA in sea urchins from two contaminated sites along Palermo's coastline. PFOA concentrations were found to be bioaccumulative, with significantly different levels observed between specimens collected from the two sites. This suggests the potential use of Paracentrotus lividus as a sentinel species for PFOA biomonitoring.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Adria Antich, Cruz Palacin, Emma Cebrian, Raul Golo, Owen S. Wangensteen, Xavier Turon
Summary: Efforts to obtain information from eukaryotic benthic communities by sampling the adjacent water layer showed limited feasibility, with water eDNA being a poor proxy for the analysis of benthic structure, highlighting the need for direct sampling methods.
Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Adria Antich, Creu Palacin, Owen S. Wangensteen, Xavier Turon
Summary: The study emphasizes the importance of combining denoising and clustering methods in COI metabarcoding. The UNOISE3 algorithm was found to better preserve intra-cluster variability in the study. The introduction of the DnoisE program incorporating the UNOISE3 algorithm based on natural variability was shown to increase the number of retained sequences by 88%.
BMC BIOINFORMATICS
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Rocio Perez-Portela, Alex Garcia-Cisneros, Marta Campos-Canet, Creu Palacin
Summary: The study analyzed the genetic structure of the fissiparous starfish in the Mediterranean region, revealing genetic homogeneity and low clonal richness in the Western Mediterranean, absence of new genotypes recruitment and females, indicating populations are maintained through asexual reproduction and recent colonization. The positive correlation between clonal richness and heterozygote excess suggests that genetic diversity is retained within individuals in the form of heterozygosity in clonal populations.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Adria Antich, Creu Palacin, Xavier Turon, Owen S. Wangensteen
Summary: DNA metabarcoding is widely used in biodiversity studies, but errors in amplification and sequencing can affect the interpretation of results. Existing denoising software is mainly designed for non-coding sequences and needs to be re-evaluated and calibrated for coding markers. We developed DnoisE, the first denoising program designed to detect and merge erroneous reads with correct ones based on entropy information from codon positions in coding barcodes. DnoisE has a parallelizable algorithm that reduces runtimes and can be easily integrated into existing metabarcoding pipelines.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Carlos Carreras, Victor Ordonez, Alex Garcia-Cisneros, Owen S. Wangensteen, Creu Palacin, Marta Pascual, Xavier Turon
Summary: Global environmental changes can have a profound impact on ecosystems, making it crucial to gather biological and ecological information on key species in order to predict and mitigate potential effects. The genetic structure of the black sea urchin Arbacia lixula in Mediterranean shallow littoral ecosystems was assessed using genotyping by sequencing (GBS), revealing significant genetic differentiation among populations and identifying salinity as a key driver of genetic structure. Despite shallow genetic differentiation, candidate regions for local adaptation were identified, suggesting that A. lixula has ample scope for thriving and adapting in the warming Mediterranean.
FRONTIERS IN MARINE SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Adria Antich, Creu Palacin, Jesus Zarcero, Owen Simon Wangensteen, Xavier Turon
Summary: This study investigates the effects of oceanographic barriers on the distribution and connectivity of marine biota, and the differentiation of macro- and meio-eukaryotes. The results show that hydrological discontinuities have a detectable effect on the biogeographical and phylogeographical structures, with meio-eukaryotes showing higher differentiation.
JOURNAL OF BIOGEOGRAPHY
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Carles Galia-Camps, Carlos Carreras, Xavier Turon, Marta Pascual
Summary: Population genomic studies have increased in the last decade, and 2b-RAD can provide further secondary reduction to adjust experimental costs. This study compares genotyping and genetic differentiation using fully degenerate or base-selective adaptors and explores the impact of missing data. The results indicate that missing data is a major concern for identifying genetic differentiation, and libraries using base-selective adaptors are a robust tool for population genomics.
FRONTIERS IN MARINE SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Zoology
Betzabe Moreno-Davila, Leonardo Huato-Soberanis, Jaime Gomez-Gutierrez, Carolina Galvan-Tirado, Carlos Sanchez, Teresa Alcoverro, Eduardo F. Balart, Xavier Turon
Summary: A colonial ascidian species, Distaplia stylifera, caused massive mortality of the pen shell Atrina maura in the southwest of the Gulf of California in 2016, resulting in significant socio-economic losses. This study provides a precise taxonomic determination of the aggressive species based on a detailed morphological study. The species, originally described from the Red Sea, has a wide circumtropical distribution and is reported as introduced in some areas. However, the reported variability of several characters suggests that the binomen may represent a complex of species, requiring further morphological and genetic studies.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Xavier Turon, Jesus Zarcero, Adria Antich, Owen Simon Wangensteen, Enric Ballesteros, Emma Cebrian, Candela Marco-Mendez, Teresa Alcoverro
Summary: Reliable biodiversity assessments are crucial for monitoring species decline, and DNA metabarcoding techniques can provide fast and comprehensive evaluation of diversity. However, standardized adaptations for each ecosystem are necessary for effective implementation. In this study, a protocol for metabarcoding seagrass meadows was developed and tested, revealing high diversity and clear differentiation between samples. This tool has the potential to deliver important data for the protection and management of seagrass habitats.
FRONTIERS IN MARINE SCIENCE
(2023)
Editorial Material
Ecology
Xavier Turon, Alberto Teodorico Correia
REGIONAL STUDIES IN MARINE SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Cell Biology
Ferdinand Marletaz, Arnaud Couloux, Julie Poulain, Karine Labadie, Corinne Da Silva, Sophie Mangenot, Benjamin Noel, Albert J. Poustka, Philippe Dru, Cinta Pegueroles, Marco Borra, Elijah K. Lowe, Guy Lhomond, Lydia Besnardeau, Stephanie Le Gras, Tao Ye, Daria Gavriouchkina, Roberta Russo, Caterina Costa, Francesca Zito, Letizia Anello, Aldo Nicosia, Maria Antonietta Ragusa, Marta Pascual, M. Dolores Molina, Aline Chessel, Marta Di Carlo, Xavier Turon, Richard R. Copley, Jean-Yves Exposito, Pedro Martinez, Vincenzo Cavalieri, Smadar Ben Tabou de Leon, Jenifer Croce, Paola Oliveri, Valeria Matranga, Maria Di Bernardo, Julia Morales, Patrick Cormier, Anne-Marie Genevieve, Jean Marc Aury, Valerie Barbe, Patrick Wincker, Maria Ina Arnone, Christian Gache, Thierry Lepage
Summary: Through the analysis of genome assembly and gene expression in sea urchins, we have identified unique characteristics in their chromosomal structure and gene duplication. Additionally, we have discovered conserved gene-regulatory modules between sea urchins and chordates. These findings contribute to a better understanding of the evolutionary mechanisms behind development.
Review
Ecology
Konstantinos Tsirintanis, Ernesto Azzurro, Fabio Crocetta, Margarita Dimiza, Carlo Froglia, Vasilis Gerovasileiou, Joachim Langeneck, Giorgio Mancinelli, Antonietta Rosso, Nir Stern, Maria Triantaphyllou, Konstantinos Tsiamis, Xavier Turon, Marc Verlaque, Argyro Zenetos, Stelios Katsanevakis
Summary: Biological invasions have significant negative impacts on marine Mediterranean ecosystems, biodiversity, and human health. This study reviewed the impacts of marine biological invasions in the Mediterranean Sea and identified 103 alien and cryptogenic species with both negative and positive effects. The main mechanisms of negative effects were competition for resources, ecosystem engineering, and predation. Positive impacts were more common than negative impacts on ecosystem services, while only negative impacts were recorded for human health. There was significant variation among Mediterranean ecoregions in terms of impact mechanisms and the taxonomic identity of impacting species. The magnitude of impact did not appear to increase with residence time. Holistic approaches and experimental research are crucial for understanding and managing biological invasions.