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Université de Fribourg

The rise of angiosperms pushed conifers to decline during global cooling

Condamine, Fabien L. ; Silvestro, Daniele ; Koppelhus, Eva B. ; Antonelli, Alexandre

In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2020, vol. 117, no. 46, p. 28867–28875

Competition among species and entire clades can impact species diversification and extinction, which can shape macroevolutionary patterns. The fossil record shows successive biotic turnovers such that a dominant group is replaced by another. One striking example involves the decline of gymnosperms and the rapid diversification and ecological dominance of angiosperms in the Cretaceous. It is...

Université de Fribourg

Fish, amphibian and reptilian assemblage from the middle Miocene locality Gračanica—Bugojno palaeolake, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Vasilyan, Davit

In: Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments, 2020, vol. 100, no. 2, p. 437–455

This paper presents the first fossil fish, amphibian and reptilian fauna from Bosnia and Herzegovina Dinarides. The fauna of ectothermic vertebrates of the Bugojno palaeolake, dated to 15.2–14.0 Ma, composes of killifishes (Cyprinodontiformes indet.), a barb (Barbini indet. (aff. Barbus), a crocodile newt (Chelotriton sp.), a painted frog (Latonia sp.) and a crocodile (Alligatoroidea indet....

Università della Svizzera italiana

Explaining the microtubule energy balance : contributions due to dipole moments, charges, van der Waals and solvation energy

Ayoub, Ahmed Taha ; Staelens, Michael ; Prunotto, Alessio ; Deriu, Marco A. ; Danani, Andrea ; Klobukowski, Mariusz ; Tuszynski, Jack Adam

In: International journal of molecular sciences, 2017, vol. 18, no. 10, p. 2042

Microtubules are the main components of mitotic spindles, and are the pillars of the cellular cytoskeleton. They perform most of their cellular functions by virtue of their unique dynamic instability processes which alternate between polymerization and depolymerization phases. This in turn is driven by a precise balance between attraction and repulsion forces between the constituents of...

Università della Svizzera italiana

Insights into the effect of the G245S single point mutation on the structure of p53 and the binding of the protein to DNA

Lepre, Marco Gaetano ; Omar, Sara Ibrahim ; Grasso, Gianvito ; Morbiducci, Umberto ; Deriu, Marco Agostino ; Tuszynski, Jack A.

In: Molecules, 2017, vol. 22, no. 8, p. 1358

The transcription factor p53 is a potent tumor suppressor dubbed as the “guardian of the genome” because of its ability to orchestrate protective biological outputs in response to a variety of oncogenic stresses. Mutation and thus inactivation of p53 can be found in 50% of human tumors. The majority are missense mutations located in the DNA binding region. Among them, G245S is known to be...

Università della Svizzera italiana

A novel interaction between the TLR7 and a colchicine derivative revealed through a computational and experimental study

Gentile, Francesco ; Deriu, Marco A. ; Barakat, Khaled ; Danani, Andrea ; Tuszynski, Jack

In: Pharmaceuticals, 2018, vol. 11, no. 1, p. 22

The Toll-Like Receptor 7 (TLR7) is an endosomal membrane receptor involved in the innate immune system response. Its best-known small molecule activators are imidazoquinoline derivatives such as imiquimod (R-837) and resiquimod (R-848). Recently, an interaction between R-837 and the colchicine binding site of tubulin was reported. To investigate the possibility of an interaction between...

Université de Fribourg

Early Miocene herpetofaunas from the Greek localities of Aliveri and Karydia – bridging a gap in the knowledge of amphibians and reptiles from the early Neogene of southeastern Europe

Georgalis, Georgios L. ; Villa, Andrea ; Ivanov, Martin ; Roussiakis, Socrates ; Skandalos, Panagiotis ; Delfino, Massimo

In: Historical Biology, 2019, vol. 31, no. 8, p. 1045–1064

We here describe new remains of amphibians and reptiles from the early Miocene (MN 4) of two different Greek localities, Aliveri and Karydia. The newly described material consists of urodelans, alytids, indeterminate anurans, turtles, crocodylians, lacertids, indeterminate scincomorphs, anguids, colubrids, viperids, and indeterminate snakes. The presence of the frog Latonia cf. gigantea in...

Université de Fribourg

Fossil amphibians and reptiles from Plakias, Crete: A glimpse into the earliest late Miocene herpetofaunas of southeastern Europe

Georgalis, Georgios L. ; Villa, Andrea ; Vlachos, Evangelos ; Delfino, Massimo

In: Geobios, 2016, vol. 49, no. 6, p. 433–444

Fossil amphibians and reptiles from the earliest late Miocene (early Tortonian, MN 9) of Plakias (Crete, Greece) are described in this paper. Most of the material is fragmentary, precluding precise taxonomic assignment. Nevertheless, the herpetofauna of Plakias is here shown to be diverse, comprising at least six different taxa: an alytid anuran, a crocodilian, two turtles (a pan-trionychid...

Université de Fribourg

Estimating economic benefits of biological control of Ambrosia artemisiifolia by Ophraella communa in southeastern France

Mouttet, Raphaelle ; Augustinus, Benno ; Bonini, Maira ; Chauvel, Bruno ; Desneux, Nicolas ; Gachet, Emmanuel ; Le Bourgeois, Thomas ; Müller-Schärer, Heinz ; Thibaudon, Michel ; Schaffner, Urs

In: Basic and Applied Ecology, 2018, vol. 33, p. 14–24

The North American common ragweed, Ambrosia artemisiifolia, which produces highly allergenic pollen, is invasive in different parts of the world, including Europe. In 2013, common ragweed in northern Italy was found attacked by another accidentally introduced species, the North American leaf beetle Ophraella communa, which is used for biological control of common ragweed in China. Since the...