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Invasive alien species are among the main global drivers of biodiversity loss posing major challenges to nature conservation and to managers of protected areas. The present study applied a methodological framework that combined invasive Species Distribution Models, based on propagule pressure, abiotic and biotic factors for 14 invasive alien plants of Union concern in Italy, with the local interpretable model-agnostic explanation analysis aiming to map, evaluate and analyse the risk of plant invasions across the country, inside and outside the network of protected areas. Using a hierarchical invasive Species Distribution Model, we explored the combined effect of propagule pressure, abiotic and biotic factors on shaping invasive alien plant occurrence across three biogeographic regions (Alpine, Continental, and Mediterranean) and realms (terrestrial and aquatic) in Italy. We disentangled the role of propagule pressure, abiotic and biotic factors on invasive alien plant distribution and projected invasion risk maps. We compared the risk posed by invasive alien plants inside and outside protected areas. Invasive alien plant distribution varied across biogeographic regions and realms and unevenly threatens protected areas. As an alien's occurrence and risk on a national scale are linked with abiotic factors followed by propagule pressure, their local distribution in protected areas is shaped by propagule pressure and biotic filters. The proposed modelling framework for the assessment of the risk posed by invasive alien plants across spatial scales and under different protection regimes represents an attempt to fill the gap between theory and practice in conservation planning helping to identify scale, site, and species-specific priorities of management, monitoring and control actions. Based on solid theory and on free geographic information, it has great potential for application to wider networks of protected areas in the world and to any invasive alien plant, aiding improved management strategies claimed by the environmental legislation and national and global strategies., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Crocus is a taxonomically complex genus, characterized by high intra- and inter-specific variability. Five wild Crocus taxa - Crocus biflorus, C. longiflorus, C. neapolitanus, C. siculus and C. thomasii from three different areas of Southern Italy (Calabria, Basilicata and Sicily) have been investigated. We considered both flower morphological traits (inner and outer perigone segments, style branches and anthers) and the chemical profile of specialised metabolites (apocarotenoids: crocins; flavonoids: flavonols) in style branches, which were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography, coupled with a diode array detector and mass spectrometry (HPLC-UV-DAD-ESI-MS). Saffron (C. sativus) was also included as the 'control' species. The length of perigone tube, outer and inner tepals, anthers and style branches gave the highest contribution to the discrimination of different taxa. Concerning the specialised metabolite profiles, 20 flavonols and 24 crocins have been identified and quantified in the Crocus extracts and used to discriminate among samples, confirming that Crocus taxa can be considered as an important natural source of these substances. The chemical profiles of the different populations showed some distinctive qualitative and quantitative patterns that contributed to a certain degree of discrimination among species, in fact, flavonoids content range is comprised between 2.7 and 145.9 mg/g, whereas crocins range between 19.8 and 604.0 mg/g. It is thus hypothesized that the combination of morphological and phytochemical screenings may be an effective methodology to characterize wild Crocus genotypes from Southern Italy, also in comparison to C. sativus (saffron)., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Copper is a catalytic cofactor required for the normal function of many enzymes involved in fundamental biological processes but highly cytotoxic when in excess. Therefore its homeostasis and distribution is strictly regulated by a network of transporters and intracellular chaperones. ATOX1 (antioxidant protein 1) is a copper chaperone that plays a role in copper homeostasis by binding and transporting cytosolic copper to ATPase proteins in the trans-Golgi network. In the present study the Caco-2 cell line, a colon carcinoma cell line, was used as an in vitro model to evaluate if ATOX1 deficiency could affect sensitivity to experimentally induced copper dyshomeostasis. Silencing of ATOX1 increased toxicity of a short treatment with a high concentration of Cu(2+). Copper ionophores, such as 5-chloro-8-hydroxyquinoline, induced a copper-dependent cell toxicity which was significantly potentiated after ATOX1 silencing. The copper chelator TPEN (N,N,N',N'-tetrakis (2-pyridylmethyl) ethylenediamine) produced a form of cell toxicity that was reversed by the addition of Cu(2+). ATOX1 silencing increased Caco-2 cell sensitivity to TPEN toxicity. Our results suggest the possibility of a therapy with copper-chelating or ionophore drugs in subtypes of tumors showing specific alterations in ATOX1 expression., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)