Search

Living the threshold: Simondon and the living individuation Describing the evolution of the individual from the physical to the vital individuation, from the psychic to the collective individuation, the article aims at reconstructing Simondon’s theory of the individual with which the philosopher shows how the subject is a never-ending process of individuation that emerges from a pre-individual field that makes individuation itself possible.

Transhumanism, enhancement and evolution. Preliminary reflections for a critical redefinition This paper aims at focusing some possible uses of evolutionary theory in transhumanist authors. In particular it is analysed the evolutionary heuristics discussed by Nick Bostrom and Anders Sandberg, the proposal of a moral bioenhancement in Julian Savulescu and Ingmar Persson and the idea itself of a self-direct evolution based on the assumption of a self-guided selection of men’s features. These ideas are discussed to bring out the critical elements which are present in some uses of a presumably Darwinian framework in transhumanist approach.

Mental Illness as biological-evolutive Dysfunction: neural Mechanisms, pertinent Activities and selected Effects In this paper I discuss the naturalistic and objectivist concept of mental illness as biological dysfunction. I argue for the so-called selected effect accounts, as alternative to bio-statistical accounts. In order to reply to accuses of normativism, particularly ethical one, I defend a minimalist account according to which the term "function" should be understood as, if not replaced by, the mechanistic-evolutionary expression “evolutionarily pertinent activity”.

Il presente lavoro si propone di indagare la pratica della scrittura a staffetta e le sue implicazioni teoriche e pratiche nel campo del romanzo. Nella scrittura a staffetta diversi individui, senza essersi messi preventivamente d’accordo, scrivono progressivamente le parti di un testo che, poste una di seguito all'altro, danno vita al testo finale. Si tratta di una tipologia di scrittura sequenziale che, applicata alla stesura di romanzi, solleva interessanti questioni: che tipo di romanzo è possibile scrivere separatamente e sequenzialmente? E chi ne deve essere considerato l'autore?, Between, Vol 6, N° 11 (2016): Forme, strategie e mutazioni del racconto seriale

In this paper I discuss Terrence Deacon's hypothesis about the origin of human aesthetic faculty, which he interprets as a by-product of human acquisition of language. In discussing Deacon's hypothesis I introduce the question about the adoption of exaptive evolutionary hypotheses in studies on human evolution and especially on human evolution of aesthetic faculty., Aisthesis. Pratiche, linguaggi e saperi dell’estetico, Vol. 5 (2012): Vol 5 (2012) Special Issue – Riconcepire l'estetica

To survive, organisms must continually adapt to continually evolving invading organisms. Hosts and pathogens are the key players of a continous conflict in which natural selection aids pathogens to increase virulence to escape host surveillance, and hosts to acquire adequate defence strategies. In both cases, these achievements are limited by several factors such as the genetic fitness and the number of genes required, much larger than that available in the genome. Moreover, since the pathogen usually has a very shorter life than the host, it has to fix new mutations favoring virulence much faster than the host can evolve effective defense mechanisms. Another constrain concerns the host that must avoid adverse effects which may derive from the defence system itself. Once resistance and counter resistance are genetically assessed, both the host and the pathogen evolve in response to mutually exerted pressures. This is generally referred to as the "Red Queen Paradigm", that highlights the significance of biotic versus abiotic factors that lead to constant evolutionary changes. Evolution acts at different levels: biotic factors mainly shape species diversity over short time periods, whereas changes in the physical environment such as climate changes drive evolution at a large scale, during much longer time. Much of our current knowledge of infection biology is based on studies of the immune system in humans and mice. In contrast, much less attention has been paid to immune response in lower vertebrates. Since many features of immune defence mechanisms have been acquired throughout evolution, studying the evolution of successful pathogen virulence mechanisms highlights the potential weaknesses in host immune defenses. On the other hand, investigating the defence mechanisms which species other than tetrapods have evolved to counter infectious agents may allow to identify novel molecules and strategies useful to manage an infection in the host' s favor. So far, few attempts have been made at considering host and pathogen as interacting partners into a common evolutionary framework. A short overview on how the host-pathogen interaction has been shaped by evolution will be given.

Organisms show an extraordinary variation in their life history traits, both at inter- and intraspecific level, exhibiting phenotypic variations among populations inhabiting different habitat. The variability in life history traits has been related to environmental conditions, as a result of selective processes or phenotypic response to them. In addition to the huge diversity in life history traits, several trade-offs among them have been recognized. The variability in life history traits and in their trade-offs related to environmental conditions represents a key aspect in the study of evolutionary processes. A wide variation in life history traits is documented among teleost fishes, both among and within species, reflecting the effects of evolutionary forces acting on them over time and across environmental conditions. Several life history traits, such as growth rate, age at sexual maturity, fecundity, reproductive investment, egg size, hatching size, are strongly influenced by temperature and food availability. Notothenioid fish represent a unique example of fish adaptive radiation in marine environment. They dominate the waters surrounding the Antarctic continent both by species number, with over 120 species (47%), and biomass (90-95%). Notothenioids distribution is limited exclusively to the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic regions (South America, New Zealand and South East Australia). Variability in their life history traits at inter- and intra-specific levels has been described, with a latitudinal trends in some reproductive traits. In this framework, despite the availability of recent phylogenies of notothenioids, a comparative analysis aimed at studying habitat dependent evolution of reproductive strategies has not yet been performed. Given the particular characteristics of their habitats and the uniqueness of notothenioid fishes, they can be considered an excellent taxon model to investigate the evolution of life history traits in relation to environmental factors. The aim of this PhD project was to investigate the evolution of life history traits of notothenioid species in relation to environmental variables (such as sea water temperature, primary productivity and sea ice cover), controlling for phylogenetic relationships. The applied methodology (Independent Contrast Method) represents a key aspect in this study since its robustness can prevent the attribution of correlations between life history traits and environmental variables to evolutionary processes, being instead a consequence of phylogenetic relationships among considered species. Using life history traits estimated from collected species and reported in data available in literature, the study focused the attention on gametogenesis and, gonadal investment, such as fecundity and egg size. Such a comparative study of habitat dependent variation of life history traits is interesting for evolutionary biology, given the extreme adaptations shown by Antarctic fishes to their peculiar environment, as well as for conservation biology, because the knowledge of reproductive traits and of their sensitiveness to environmental changes is recognized as a crucial information for the sustainable management of exploited species and their resilience capacity to overcome current climate change. In the present research, life history traits of 17 species, belonging the eight notothenioid families were investigated (Papers I, II, III, IV, V, VI), providing original information on their biology and strengthening the reliability of the available literature. Intraspecific variability in life history traits was examined in three species, including in the analyses specimens sampled in different areas (Papers I, III and IV). Unpublished life history traits data of 15 species were included in the interspecific comparison (Paper VI). Species included in this study were collected during two cruises carried out onboard the German R/V Polarstern (ANT-XXVIII/4, 2012 and ANT-XXIX/9, 2014) off the Antarctic Peninsula and in the Weddell Sea. Samples, belonging to four notothenioid species, were provided by partner scientists during past Antarctic expeditions (2009, 2010 and 2011 during the austral summer) in different areas (i.e. South Orkney, South Georgia, Burdwood Bank and Western Antarctic Peninsula). Comparing the results obtained in studies dealing with individual species, the histological analyses generally indicated some similarities among notothenioids. In all the analysed species, females presented a group synchronous ovarian type, in which two clearly distinct groups of oocytes were visible. The more advanced stage of maturity in maturing or mature females were oocytes at late stage of vitellogenesis, constituting the batch of the current season, while the other group included oocytes at the cortical alveoli or previtellogenic stages, representing the next year batch. The occurrence of late vitellogenic oocytes together with others at the cortical alveoli stage supports a prolonged oogenesis, likely lasting more than one year. Testes were of the unrestricted spermatogonial testicular type. In mature males, testes were completely filled with sperm with few cysts of early-stages of spermatogenesis, indicating that sperm maturation completes before the beginning of the breeding season. Long lasting gametogenesis is likely related to the low temperature and to the high reproductive investment. The study on individual species provided new data on absolute and relative fecundity, egg size, gonadosomatic index (GSI) and age estimates and therefore information useful for the comparative analyses (Paper VI). By means of age estimates through otolith reading, growth rate, age/length relationship, maximum age and age at sexual maturity were assessed (Papers II, III, IV, V). As expected for cold water fish species, notothenioids exhibit slow growth rate, late sexual maturity (at about 50-87% of maximum size) and long life span (up to 24 years). The intraspecific comparison highlighted that the observed variation in life history traits could be addressed to local conditions (i.e. local prevailing currents linked to cold water masses and melting ice) and/or be a consequence of the species reproductive habits, including egg type, presence/absence of parental care, adult distribution and mobility. In Chaenocephalus aceratus, a benthic species with demersal eggs and parental care, fecundity was higher in the warmer study area, that is not influenced by cold water masses coming from Weddell Sea, respect to the colder area. In the Antarctic silverfish (Pleuragramma antarctica), the only species lying cryopelagic eggs (i.e. eggs laid to the lower surface of platelet pack ice), and in Notothenia rossii, in which individuals shift from benthic to bentho-pelagic habits achieving the adult phase, no differences emerged between populations, with the exception of some differences in oocyte size and GSI, likely related to temporal differences in sampling periods. The results of the interspecific comparative analyses highlighted some correlation between environmental factors and life history traits, revealing potential evolutionary forces. Differently from the other biological traits considered in this study, the maximum size did not correlate with any environmental variable. These results support the observation that the Bergmann’s rule, describing the occurrence of a positive relationship between maximum size and latitude, with larger specimens found in colder environments (higher latitudes), does not apply at high latitudes. In notothenioids egg size was negatively related to primary production. Primary production, in turn, is negatively related to latitude, and general theoretical models and relevant studies indicate a positive relationship between egg size and latitude. Food availability and temperature have been claimed as factors driving the general increasing trend in egg size with latitude. Primary production can be considered a proxy of food availability, therefore in notothenioids food availability appears to be the main factor influencing egg size. A positive relationship between egg and larval size is common, and larger larvae are expected to show enhanced competitive abilities, improved capacity to feed on a wide size range of prey items and enhanced starvation resistance, and ultimately higher survival probabilities in extreme conditions. Egg size is also positively related to the maximum parental body size. Generally, large fishes, as for instance tunas or the Ocean sunfish Mola mola, are not more likely to have large eggs than small ones, nonetheless fish size may indeed constrain, rather than determine, the range of possible egg sizes, as suggested also by the results on notothenioids. Large notothenioids could therefore have a wider range of tactics in the partition of reproductive effort between fecundity and egg size. While Low Antarctic species produce small and large eggs, High Antarctic species present only large eggs. Considering the trade-off between egg size and number, a positive relationship between relative fecundity (i.e. the number of eggs in relation to body weight) and primary production was expected but it was not found. Conversely a positive relationship was observed between relative fecundity and mean water temperature, although it remains an unsolved issue which need to be further investigated. Energetic investment in female reproductive effort, i.e. maximum female GSI, showed a positive relationship with sea ice cover. Seasonal pack ice melting, occurring in summer at intermediate Antarctic latitudes, triggers phytoplankton blooms, resulting in an increased primary production with a cascading effect on the pelagic food web. At higher latitudes, where maximum values of GSI have been detected, the sea ice cover is permanent through the year and the primary production is likely to remain low, being also influenced by the long and dark Antarctic winter. These extreme conditions may therefore trigger a higher investment in reproduction, including the investment in eggs (size and/or number) represented by the female GSI. The insights provided by this study shed light on the major factors that appear to drive the evolutionary processes occurring in the Antarctic environment. The comparative method proved to be a robust tool in investigating adaptive response to different environmental conditions. Despite notothenioids demonstrated to be an excellent model group to study evolutionary process, further investigations, extending to other taxa and species geographical distributions, are necessary to trace more general and comprehensive patterns in the evolution of life history traits. In any case, shared reproductive features such as low fecundity, large egg size, high reproductive investment in gonads and, in some cases, in parental care, low growth rate and late sexual maturity, depict notothenioids as a taxon highly vulnerable to climate change and fishery re-opening scenarios.

Pseudomonas syringae is a phytopathogenic bacterium that attacks both herbaceous and woody plants. In the last 20 years, more than 55 disease outbreaks caused by this bacterium have been reported on woody plants. The recent studies concerning the ecology of P. syringae demonstrated that this bacterium is present in several environmental habitats. These studies also showed that the environment is a reservoir of different P. syringae genetic lineages. In this thesis, I made an effort to understand what kind of evolutionary mechanisms can underline the emergence of new P. syringae pathogenic strains and how the environment can play a role in the evolution of pathogenicity traits of this bacterium. In particular, I focused on P. syringae lineages known to be pathogenic on kiwifruit. As a first step, I participated in a study about the diversity of P. syringae. This study was carried out in the laboratory of Cindy Morris at INRA of Avignon (France), where I performed almost all the experiments of the thesis. In the study concerning the P. syringae diversity, we showed that the genetic diversity (investigated on strains isolated from a wide range of substrates) of this species complex is wider than what was previously reported by considering only strains isolated from diseased crops. In fact, we found that P. syringae is composed by 13 phylogroups. In this thesis I showed that the phylogroup 7 and 8, also called as P. viridiflava, are formed by two different Type Three Secretion Systems. However, the evolution of these two systems does not seem to be related with the ability of P. viridiflava to cause disease. In addition I showed that avrE was the only effector correlated with the pathogenicity; it seems to be necessary but not sufficient for strains to be pathogenic. In the study concerning the role of the environment as reservoirs of P. syringae pathogenic to kiwifruit, we demonstrated that strains from aquatic habitats are kiwifruit pathogens since they are able to multiply into the kiwifruit tissues as well as cause the bacterial canker disease. These environmental strains, such as the strains that cause the bacterial canker of kiwifruit, have an operon for the degradation of phenolic compounds. We then hypothesized that this operon is important during the kiwifruit vascularization. In addition, we demonstrated that the environmental strains share 18 effectors with the epidemic strains but they lack 13 of the effectors present in all the epidemic strains. We then hypothesized that less aggressive environmental strains can acquire new effectors by horizontal gene transfer and become new future epidemic strains. This scenario, as I described in the review article, could be regulated by a defective methyl-directed repair system. The understanding of why this system can be defective could provide insights on the emergence of new diseases caused by P. syringae or other pathogens. Pseudomonas syringae é un batterio patogeno di piante erbacee e legnose. Negli ultimi 20 anni piantepiù di 55 nuove malattie causate da questo fitopatogeno sono state descritte. Dato che recenti studi sull’ecologia di P. syringae hanno messo in evidenza la sua ubiquità in differenti habitat ambientali, domande riguardati il ruolo dell’ambiente come “reservoire” di linee genetiche patogene di P. syringae sono rapidamente emerse negli ultimi cinque anni. In questa tesi é stato fatto uno sforzo per comprendere quali meccanismi evolutivi possono entrare in gioco nell’evoluzione di ceppi patogeni di P. syringae e su come l’ambiente in sensu latu possa essere coinvolto nell’evoluzione di tratti connessi con la patogenicità. In particolare mi sono focalizzata su linee genetiche di P. syringae conosciute essere patogene per l’ actinidia. Come primo passo nella mia ricerca ho collaborato ad un lavoro sulla diversità di P. syringae nel laboratorio di Cindy Morris, INRA di Avignone-France) in cui ho condotto la maggior parte delle mie ricerche di tesi. Nel lavoro riguardante la diversità di P. syringae, abbiamo messo in evidenza che le diversità conosciuta fino ad oggi, e basata su ceppi isolati da piante di origine agraria, é molto sottostimata. Analizzando ceppi provenienti da tutti gli ambienti abbiamo trovato che il complesso P. syringae é costituito da 13 gruppi genetici. Nella mia tesi, in particolare, ho messo in evidenza che il gruppo 7 e 8, costituiti da ciò che viene chiamato P. viridiflava, sono formati da due diversi Type Three Secretion System. L’evoluzione di questi due sistemi non sembra però essere connessa con l’abilità di P. viridiflava in indurre la malattia. Inoltre abbiamo messo in risalto che l’unico effettore connesso con la patogenicità é l’AvrE. Nel lavoro riguardante il ruolo dell’ambiente come “reservoire” di patogeni dell’actinidia abbiamo dimostrato che ceppi isolati da ambienti acquatici rappresentano patogeni deboli ma capaci di crescere e sopravvivere in piante di actinidia allo stesso modo di ceppi che sono attualmente responsabili dell’epidemia del cancro batterico. Questi ceppi ambientali, come tutti i ceppi che causano il cancro batterico, hanno un operone per la degradazione di sostanze fenoliche, e abbiamo ipotizzato che questi geni siano importanti nella vascolarizzazione in tutte le infezioni di piante legnose. Inoltre abbiamo dimostrato che i ceppi ambientali condividono 18 effettori con i ceppi dell’epidemia ma ne mancano 13. Abbiamo quindi proposto che ceppi meno aggressivi provenienti da differenti substrati possano acquisire tramite trasferimento orizzontale nuovi effettori e quindi diventare più aggressivi e essere i rappresentanti di nuove future epidemie. Questo scenario evolutivo, come ho descritto nell’articolo di sintesi riguardante i meccanismi di evoluzione di nuove malattie emergenti, potrebbe essere regolato da un sistema di riparazione del DNA (methyl-directed mismatch repair system) difettoso. Capire il perché questo sistema a volte non funziona bene ci potrebbe aiutare nel capire e nel controllare l’emergenza di nuove malattie causate da P. syringae ed altri patogeni. Dottorato di ricerca in Protezione delle piante

Relazione sull'attività svolta nell'ambito del periodo trascorso da Miguel REPULLO, studente di dottorato, presso IMAMOTER (prot. IMAMOTER 778 del 05/04/2013)

«Nel rumore di tutti il tempo che si perde / per essere solo ciò che siamo adesso, / per diventare solo solitudine». I mondi, libro di poesia pubblicato da Guido Mazzoni nel 2010, si congeda con questi tre versi – tratti da Pure Morning – e con l’indicazione di una durata: 1997-2007. Sono dieci inverni, dunque: per scrivere I mondi; ma sono anche un tempo dentro un altro tempo: quello dei quindici anni (1995-2010) dedicati, come segnala la riga finale, a Teoria del romanzo. Sembra un gioco di date, ma è qualcosa di più, perché sotto sotto vale come invito a riconoscere la skyline – la stessa a cui appartiene anche Sulla poesia moderna (2005). In più, questa linea di orizzonte orienta Teoria del romanzo su due punti di tensione semantica e filosofica: “tempo” e “solitudine”., Between, Vol 2, N° 3 (2012): Davanti alla legge. Tra letteratura e diritto

L’attuale contesto di competizione globale, tra città, aree metropolitane, regioni economiche, sta incidendo fortemente anche sullo sviluppo di aree rurali ad alto valore paesaggistico-culturale, fino a pochi anni fa quasi del tutto escluse dai processi di territorializzazione degli investimenti. Al fine di comprendere al meglio questi inediti processi, l’autore sostiene che sia necessario formulare nuove interpretazioni critiche sul tema del marketing territoriale e sui suoi rapporti con piani e strumenti di gestione e valorizzazione di siti UNESCO caratterizzati da un alto grado di ruralità.

Crasiella diplura from Sweden and Crasiella sp. from Italy were studied alive and with transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The two species are simultaneous hermaphrodites and share the same reproductive system lay-out: paired ovaries extend along the posterior part of the intestine and join mid-dorsally, while bilateral, club-shaped testes lie at the sides of the anterior gut, extending as deferentia that fuse on the mid-ventral plane and open into a single pore; gametes mature in a caudocephalic and centripetal direction. The bulky, sac-like, frontal organ is lined by a simple epithelium and lies dorsolaterally to the intestine, on the left side of the body. The spindle-shaped caudal organ is musculo-glandular and is located ventrolaterally to the gut on the right side. It is characterized by the presence of a roughly Y-shaped internal channel that opens into two pores close to each other, which function for the intake and outlet of the (auto)sperm, respectively. The spermatozoa, which are peculiar and similar in the two species, are characterized by a long and complex acrosome consisting of four ultrastructurally distinct regions, three of which find equivalence in other gastrotrich species. The flagellum lacks a striated cylinder. Anatomy and ultrastructure enable us to hypothesize a modality of sperm transfer in Crasiella that is similar to that observed in Macrodasys.

The metropolitan areas in Italy represent one on the unfinished reform in national administrative structure

We selected a mass-limited sample of 4048 objects from the VIMOS VLT Deep Survey in the redshift interval 0.5, Comment: Accepted for pubblication in A&A, 14 pages, 5 figures

Once transcribed at its own DNA locus, a tubulin monomer knows that it will be eventually incorporated within microtubules (MTs). What it does not know, though, is how it will ultimately reach its final destination, how complex the path will be, and at which regulatory step it will have to stop. In fact, this will depend upon the status of the cell, the genetic background and the external stimuli. In this article, we will try to guide the reader through the many places of this fascinating journey. In the post-genomic era it may appear anachronistic to keep studying plant tubulin genes. We all know what they do: they encode tubulin, one of the major cytoskeletal proteins, the building block of microtubules (MTs). However, accumulation of the transcripts of the various tubulin genes of plants, tubulin synthesis and post-translational modification, tubulin folding and assembly into MTs, and control of MT dynamics and positioning remain as fascinating, vast and still unresolved fields of investigation, full of novelties and peculiarities. We may as well call this arena of research microTUBULOMICS, recognizing the very many aspects that impinge on tubulin expression and subunit turn-over, accumulation, and interaction with proteins and drugs.

The advertisement call of frogs and toads is an example of multiple message signal because different acoustic properties encode different kinds of biologically significant information. In the Italian treefrog, Hyla intermedia, pulse rate and frequency have been found to be under stabilizing female preferences and to encode information important for mate recognition, whereas the number of calls per call group have been found to be under directional preferences and, thus, to be important for mate quality assessment. In this study, we investigate preferences for calls that differ simultaneously in frequency, pulse rate, and number of calls per call group, and we ask how these properties interact with each other in influencing female mating decisions. Results of two-choice phonotaxis experiments provide no evidence to support the hypothesis that females process multi-attribute signals in a hierarchical way. In contrast, the pattern of preferences is consistent with the ‘preference function’ hypothesis, that is, with the hypothesis that females rank signals along an ordinal scale of values and choose accordingly. Pulse rate and frequency influence mating preferences more than does the number of calls per call group. The interaction between pulse rate and frequency is not additive but multiplicative: small differences in either pulse rate or frequency that, alone, have no effects on female choice, interact synergistically so that their combination has strong influence on female preferences. A preference repeatability test shows strong among-female differences in preference for multi-attribute signals. We suggest that this result reveals not only a variation in attribute values among females, but also a variation in the way females weight and combine attribute values into a single preference score.