The Interplay between Natural Selection and Susceptibility to Melanoma on Allele 374F of SLC45A2 Gene in a South European Population

We aimed to study the selective pressures interacting on SLC45A2 to investigate the interplay between selection and susceptibility to disease. Thus, we enrolled 500 volunteers from a geographically limited population (Basques from the North of Spain) and by resequencing the whole coding region and intron 5 of the 34 most and the 34 least pigmented individuals according to the reflectance distribution, we observed that the polymorphism Leu374Phe (L374F, rs16891982) was statistically associated with skin color variability within this sample. In particular, allele 374F was significantly more frequent among the individuals with lighter skin. Further genotyping an independent set of 558 individuals of a geographically wider population with known ancestry in the Spanish population also revealed that the frequency of L374F was significantly correlated with the incident UV radiation intensity. Selection tests suggest that allele 374F is being positively selected in South Europeans, thus indicating that depigmentation is an adaptive process. Interestingly, by genotyping 119 melanoma samples, we show that this variant is also associated with an increased susceptibility to melanoma in our populations. The ultimate driving force for this adaptation is unknown, but it is compatible with the vitamin D hypothesis. This shows that molecular evolution analysis can be used as a useful technology to predict phenotypic and biomedical consequences in humans.

Planificación estratégica de una asociación orientada a la gestión de actividades y servicios recreativo-deportivos en el medio natural

La idea del proyecto consiste en crear una asociación orientada a la gestión de actividades recreativo-deportivas en el medio natural. En un enclave puramente rural, la asociación tendrá su sede en Jaurrieta, un pueblo del Pirineo Navarro con menos de 200 habitantes. La intención es que el pueblo de Jaurrieta y el propio Valle de Salazar, formen parte de esta asociación, involucrando a un gran número de personas. Se considera que la unión y la heterogeneidad de cada una de estas personas, potenciarán positivamente la propuesta. Con el objetivo de ofrecer actividades recreativo-deportivas y servicios complementarios, se aprovecharán los recursos naturales del entorno para proporcionar al visitante un mayor conocimiento de la zona y su estilo de vida rural. La oferta de actividades recreativo-deportivas en el medio natural, estará dirigida a aquellas personas que decidan pasar su tiempo de ocio en el Pirineo Navarro. Por esto, surge la necesidad de elaborar un “Plan Estratégico” que facilite la creación y desarrollo de esta asociación. Como misión o fin último de la propuesta, se pretende contribuir en el desarrollo rural del Valle de Salazar; desde una perspectiva de progreso económico y social.

Natural Variation In Recovery From A Short Period Of Anoxia Due To A cGMP-Dependent Protein Kinase in Drosophila melanogaster

[EN] Protein Kinase G (PKG) or cGMP-dependent protein kinases (PKG) have been shown to play an important role in resistance to abiotic stressors such as high temperatures or oxygen deprivation in Drosophila melanogaster. In Drosophila, the foraging gene encodes a PKG; natural variants for this gene exist, which differ in the level of expression of PKG: rovers (forR allele) which express high PKG levels, and sitters (forS allele) which express lower PKG levels. This project explores the differences in recovery from short periods of anoxia between natural variants (focusing on forS2, flies with a sitter gene in a rover background), as well as mutants with insertions in the foraging gene and RNAi recombinants that show a reduced PKG expression. The parameters measured were time to recovery and level of activity after anoxia. The results showed lower activity after anoxia in sitters than in rovers, reflecting a worse recovery from the anoxic coma in flies with lower PKG levels.