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Dive into the research topics where Chiara Lauritano is active.

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Featured researches published by Chiara Lauritano.


Nature | 2016

The genome of the seagrass Zostera marina reveals angiosperm adaptation to the sea

Jeanine L. Olsen; Pierre Rouzé; Bram Verhelst; Yao-Cheng Lin; Till Bayer; Jonas Collén; Emanuela Dattolo; Emanuele De Paoli; Simon M. Dittami; Florian Maumus; Gurvan Michel; Anna R. Kersting; Chiara Lauritano; Rolf Lohaus; Mats Töpel; Thierry Tonon; Kevin Vanneste; Mojgan Amirebrahimi; Janina Brakel; Christoffer Boström; Mansi Chovatia; Jane Grimwood; Jerry Jenkins; Alexander Jueterbock; Amy Mraz; Wytze T. Stam; Hope Tice; Erich Bornberg-Bauer; Pamela J. Green; Gareth A. Pearson

Seagrasses colonized the sea on at least three independent occasions to form the basis of one of the most productive and widespread coastal ecosystems on the planet. Here we report the genome of Zostera marina (L.), the first, to our knowledge, marine angiosperm to be fully sequenced. This reveals unique insights into the genomic losses and gains involved in achieving the structural and physiological adaptations required for its marine lifestyle, arguably the most severe habitat shift ever accomplished by flowering plants. Key angiosperm innovations that were lost include the entire repertoire of stomatal genes, genes involved in the synthesis of terpenoids and ethylene signalling, and genes for ultraviolet protection and phytochromes for far-red sensing. Seagrasses have also regained functions enabling them to adjust to full salinity. Their cell walls contain all of the polysaccharides typical of land plants, but also contain polyanionic, low-methylated pectins and sulfated galactans, a feature shared with the cell walls of all macroalgae and that is important for ion homoeostasis, nutrient uptake and O2/CO2 exchange through leaf epidermal cells. The Z. marina genome resource will markedly advance a wide range of functional ecological studies from adaptation of marine ecosystems under climate warming, to unravelling the mechanisms of osmoregulation under high salinities that may further inform our understanding of the evolution of salt tolerance in crop plants.


Marine Environmental Research | 2012

Gene expression patterns and stress response in marine copepods.

Chiara Lauritano; Gabriele Procaccini; Adrianna Ianora

Aquatic organisms are constantly exposed to both physical (e.g. temperature and salinity variations) and chemical (e.g. endocrine disruptor chemicals, heavy metals, hydrocarbons, diatom toxins, and other toxicants) stressors which they react to by activating a series of defense mechanisms. This paper reviews the literature on the defense systems, including detoxification enzymes and proteins (e.g. glutathione S-transferases, heat shock proteins, superoxide dismutase and catalase), studied in copepods at the molecular level. The data indicate high inter- and intra-species variability in copepod response, depending on the type of stressor tested, the concentration and exposure time, and the enzyme isoform studied. Ongoing -omics approaches will allow the identification of new genes which will give a more comprehensive overview of how copepods respond to specific stressors in laboratory and/or field conditions and the effects of these responses on higher trophic levels.


PLOS ONE | 2012

Copepod Population-Specific Response to a Toxic Diatom Diet

Chiara Lauritano; Ylenia Carotenuto; Antonio Miralto; Gabriele Procaccini; Adrianna Ianora

Diatoms are key phytoplankton organisms and one of the main primary producers in aquatic ecosystems. However, many diatom species produce a series of secondary metabolites, collectively termed oxylipins, that disrupt development in the offspring of grazers, such as copepods, that feed on these unicellular algae. We hypothesized that different populations of copepods may deal differently with the same oxylipin-producing diatom diet. Here we provide comparative studies of expression level analyses of selected genes of interest for three Calanus helgolandicus populations (North Sea, Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea) exposed to the same strain of the oxylipin-producing diatom Skeletonema marinoi using as control algae the flagellate Rhodomonas baltica. Expression levels of detoxification enzymes and stress proteins (e.g. glutathione S-transferase, glutathione synthase, superoxide dismutase, catalase, aldehyde dehydrogenases and heat shock proteins) and proteins involved in apoptosis regulation and cell cycle progression were analyzed in copepods after both 24 and 48 hours of feeding on the diatom or on a control diet. Strong differences occurred among copepod populations, with the Mediterranean population of C. helgolandicus being more susceptible to the toxic diet compared to the others. This study opens new perspectives for understanding copepod population-specific responses to diatom toxins and may help in underpinning the cellular mechanisms underlying copepod toxicity during diatom blooms.


PLOS ONE | 2011

Molecular Evidence of the Toxic Effects of Diatom Diets on Gene Expression Patterns in Copepods

Chiara Lauritano; Marco Borra; Ylenia Carotenuto; Elio Biffali; Antonio Miralto; Gabriele Procaccini; Adrianna Ianora

Background Diatoms are dominant photosynthetic organisms in the worlds oceans and are considered essential in the transfer of energy through marine food chains. However, these unicellular plants at times produce secondary metabolites such as polyunsaturated aldehydes and other products deriving from the oxidation of fatty acids that are collectively termed oxylipins. These cytotoxic compounds are responsible for growth inhibition and teratogenic activity, potentially sabotaging future generations of grazers by inducing poor recruitment in marine organisms such as crustacean copepods. Principal Findings Here we show that two days of feeding on a strong oxylipin-producing diatom (Skeletonema marinoi) is sufficient to inhibit a series of genes involved in aldehyde detoxification, apoptosis, cytoskeleton structure and stress response in the copepod Calanus helgolandicus. Of the 18 transcripts analyzed by RT-qPCR at least 50% were strongly down-regulated (aldehyde dehydrogenase 9, 8 and 6, cellular apoptosis susceptibility and inhibitor of apoptosis IAP proteins, heat shock protein 40, alpha- and beta-tubulins) compared to animals fed on a weak oxylipin-producing diet (Chaetoceros socialis) which showed no changes in gene expression profiles. Conclusions Our results provide molecular evidence of the toxic effects of strong oxylipin-producing diatoms on grazers, showing that primary defense systems that should be activated to protect copepods against toxic algae can be inhibited. On the other hand other classical detoxification genes (glutathione S-transferase, superoxide dismutase, catalase, cytochrome P450) were not affected possibly due to short exposure times. Given the importance of diatom blooms in nutrient-rich aquatic environments these results offer a plausible explanation for the inefficient use of a potentially valuable food resource, the spring diatom bloom, by some copepod species.


Frontiers in Marine Science | 2016

Bioactivity Screening of Microalgae for Antioxidant, Anti-Inflammatory, Anticancer, Anti-Diabetes, and Antibacterial Activities

Chiara Lauritano; Jeanette H. Andersen; Espen Hansen; Marte Albrigtsen; Laura Escalera; Francesco Esposito; Kirsti Helland; Kine Østnes Hanssen; Giovanna Romano; Adrianna Ianora

Marine microalgae are considered a potentially new and valuable source of biologically active molecules for applications in the food industry as well as in the pharmaceutical, nutraceutical and cosmetic sectors. They can be easily cultured, have short generation times and enable an environmentally-friendly approach to drug discovery by overcoming problems associated with the over-utilization of marine resources and the use of destructive collection practices. In this study, 21 diatoms, 7 dinoflagellates and 4 flagellate species were grown in three different culturing conditions and the corresponding extracts were tested for possible antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, anti-diabetes, antibacterial and anti-biofilm activities. In addition, for two diatoms we also tested two different clones to disclose diversity in clone bioactivity. Six diatom species displayed specific anti-inflammatory, anticancer (blocking human melanoma cell proliferation) and anti-biofilm (against the bacteria Staphylococcus epidermidis) activities whereas, none of the other microalgae were bioactive against the conditions tested for. Furthermore, none of the 6 diatom species tested were toxic on normal human cells. Culturing conditions (i.e. nutrient starvation conditions) greatly influenced bioactivity of the majority of the clones/species tested. This study denotes the potential of diatoms as sources of promising bioactives for the treatment of human pathologies.


Marine Environmental Research | 2017

Marine microorganisms as a promising and sustainable source of bioactive molecules

Giovanna Romano; Maria Costantini; C. Sansone; Chiara Lauritano; Nadia Ruocco; Adrianna Ianora

There is an urgent need to discover new drug entities due to the increased incidence of severe diseases as cancer and neurodegenerative pathologies, and reducing efficacy of existing antibiotics. Recently, there is a renewed interest in exploring the marine habitat for new pharmaceuticals also thanks to the advancement in cultivation technologies and in molecular biology techniques. Microorganisms represent a still poorly explored resource for drug discovery. The possibility of obtaining a continuous source of bioactives from marine microorganisms, more amenable to culturing compared to macro-organisms, may be able to meet the challenging demands of pharmaceutical industries. This would enable a more environmentally-friendly approach to drug discovery and overcome the over-utilization of marine resources and the use of destructive collection practices. The importance of the topic is underlined by the number of EU projects funded aimed at improving the exploitation of marine organisms for drug discovery.


Harmful Algae | 2014

Insights into the transcriptome of the marine copepod Calanus helgolandicus feeding on the oxylipin-producing diatom Skeletonema marinoi

Ylenia Carotenuto; Emanuela Dattolo; Chiara Lauritano; Fabio Pisano; Remo Sanges; Antonio Miralto; Gabriele Procaccini; Adrianna Ianora

Diatoms dominate productive regions in the oceans and have traditionally been regarded as sustaining the marine food chain to top consumers and fisheries. However, many of these unicellular algae produce cytotoxic oxylipins that impair reproductive and developmental processes in their main grazers, crustacean copepods. The molecular mode of action of diatoms and diatom oxylipins on copepods is still unclear. In the present study we generated two Expressed Sequence Tags (ESTs) libraries of the copepod Calanus helgolandicus feeding on the oxylipin-producing diatom Skeletonema marinoi and the cryptophyte Rhodomonas baltica as a control, using suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH). Our aim was to investigate differences in the transcriptome between females fed toxic and non-toxic food and identify differentially expressed genes and biological processes targeted by this diatom. We produced 947 high quality ESTs from both libraries, 475 of which were functionally annotated and deposited in GenBank. Clustering and assembling of ESTs resulted in 376 unique transcripts, 200 of which were functionally annotated. Functional enirchment analysis between the two SSH libraries showed that ESTs belonging to biological processes such as response to stimuli, signal transduction, and protein folding were significantly over-expressed in the S. marinoi-fed C. helgolandicus compared to R. baltica-fed C. helgolandicus library. These findings were confirmed by RT-qPCR analysis. In summary, 2 days of feeding on S. marinoi activated a generalized Cellular Stress Response (CSR) in C. helgolandicus, by over-expressing genes of molecular chaperones and signal transduction pathways that protect the copepod from the immediate effects of the diatom diet. Our results provide insights into the response of copepods to a harmful diatom diet at the transcriptome level, supporting the hypothesis that diatom oxylipins elicit a stress response in the receiving organism. They also increase the genomic resources for this copepod species, whose importance could become ever more relevant for pelagic ecosystem functioning in European waters due to global warming.


Marine Drugs | 2016

Marine Organisms with Anti-Diabetes Properties

Chiara Lauritano; Adrianna Ianora

Diabetes is a chronic degenerative metabolic disease with high morbidity and mortality rates caused by its complications. In recent years, there has been a growing interest in looking for new bioactive compounds to treat this disease, including metabolites of marine origin. Several aquatic organisms have been screened to evaluate their possible anti-diabetes activities, such as bacteria, microalgae, macroalgae, seagrasses, sponges, corals, sea anemones, fish, salmon skin, a shark fusion protein as well as fish and shellfish wastes. Both in vitro and in vivo screenings have been used to test anti-hyperglycemic and anti-diabetic activities of marine organisms. This review summarizes recent discoveries in anti-diabetes properties of several marine organisms as well as marine wastes, existing patents and possible future research directions in this field.


Scientific Reports | 2017

Depth-specific fluctuations of gene expression and protein abundance modulate the photophysiology in the seagrass Posidonia oceanica

Gabriele Procaccini; Miriam Ruocco; Lázaro Marín-Guirao; Emanuela Dattolo; Christophe Brunet; Daniela D’Esposito; Chiara Lauritano; Silvia Mazzuca; Ilia Anna Serra; Letizia Bernardo; Amalia Piro; Sven Beer; Mats Björk; Martin Gullström; Pimchanok Buapet; Lina M. Rasmusson; Paulo Felisberto; Sylvie Gobert; John W. Runcie; João Albino Silva; Irene Olivé; Monya M. Costa; Isabel Barrote; Rui Santos

Here we present the results of a multiple organizational level analysis conceived to identify acclimative/adaptive strategies exhibited by the seagrass Posidonia oceanica to the daily fluctuations in the light environment, at contrasting depths. We assessed changes in photophysiological parameters, leaf respiration, pigments, and protein and mRNA expression levels. The results show that the diel oscillations of P. oceanica photophysiological and respiratory responses were related to transcripts and proteins expression of the genes involved in those processes and that there was a response asynchrony between shallow and deep plants probably caused by the strong differences in the light environment. The photochemical pathway of energy use was more effective in shallow plants due to higher light availability, but these plants needed more investment in photoprotection and photorepair, requiring higher translation and protein synthesis than deep plants. The genetic differentiation between deep and shallow stands suggests the existence of locally adapted genotypes to contrasting light environments. The depth-specific diel rhythms of photosynthetic and respiratory processes, from molecular to physiological levels, must be considered in the management and conservation of these key coastal ecosystems.


Harmful Algae | 2016

New oxylipins produced at the end of a diatom bloom and their effects on copepod reproductive success and gene expression levels

Chiara Lauritano; Giovanna Romano; Vittoria Roncalli; Angela Amoresano; Carolina Fontanarosa; Mauro Bastianini; Federica Braga; Ylenia Carotenuto; Adrianna Ianora

Diatoms are dominant photosynthetic organisms in the worlds oceans and are considered essential in the transfer of energy to higher trophic levels. However, these unicellular organisms produce secondary metabolites deriving from the oxidation of fatty acids, collectively termed oxylipins, with negative effects on predators, such as copepods, that feed on them (e.g. reduction in survival, egg production and hatching success) and, indirectly, on higher trophic levels. Here, a multidisciplinary study (oxylipin measurements, copepod fitness, gene expression analyses, chlorophyll distribution, phytoplankton composition, physico-chemical characteristics) was carried out at the end of the spring diatom bloom in April 2011 in the Northern Adriatic Sea (Mediterranean Sea) in order to deeply investigate copepod-diatom interactions, chemical communication and response pathways. The results show that the transect with the lowest phytoplankton abundance had the lowest copepod egg production and hatching success, but the highest oxylipin concentrations. In addition, copepods in both the analyzed transects showed increased expression levels of key stress-related genes (e.g. heat-shock proteins, catalase, glutathione S-transferase, aldehyde dehydrogenase) compared to control laboratory conditions where copepods were fed with the dinoflagellate Prorocentrum minimum which does not produce any oxylipins. New oxylipins that have never been reported before for microalgae are described for the first time, giving new insights into the complex nature of plant-animal signaling and communication pathways at sea. This is also the first study providing insights on the copepod response during a diatom bloom at the molecular level.

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Dive into the Chiara Lauritano's collaboration.

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Adrianna Ianora

Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn

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Gabriele Procaccini

Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn

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Giovanna Romano

Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn

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Ylenia Carotenuto

Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn

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Emanuela Dattolo

Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn

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Antonio Miralto

Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn

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Francesco Esposito

Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn

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Maria Costantini

Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn

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Miriam Ruocco

University of the Algarve

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Nadia Ruocco

Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn

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