Temporins are small antimicrobial peptides isolated from North American and Eurasian ranid frogs ... more Temporins are small antimicrobial peptides isolated from North American and Eurasian ranid frogs that are particularly active against Gram-positive bacteria. To date, no temporins have been characterized from North African frog species. We isolated three novel members of the temporin family, named temporin-1Sa (FLSGIVGMLGKLF(amide)), -1Sb (FLPIVTNLLSGLL(amide)), and -1Sc (FLSHIAGFLSNLF(amide)), from the skin of the Sahara frog Pelophylax (Rana) saharica originating from Tunisia. These temporins were identified by a combined mass spectrometry/molecular cloning approach. Temporin-1Sa was found to be highly active against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, yeasts and fungi (MIC=2-30 microM). To our knowledge, this is the first 13-residue member of the temporin family with a net charge of +2 that shows such broad-spectrum activity with particularly high potency on the clinically relevant Gram-negative strains, Escherichia coli (MIC=10 microM) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (MIC=31 microM). Moreover, temporin-1Sa displays significant antiparasitic activity (IC50 approximately 20 microM) against the promastigote and amastigote stages of Leishmania infantum.
Supplementation of omega-3 fatty acids is considered a valuable strategy to supply the low intake... more Supplementation of omega-3 fatty acids is considered a valuable strategy to supply the low intake of these fatty acids. Thus, the safety of the supplements is an important milestone. Because of that, we analyzed 20 unflavored supplements sold in the French market for fatty acid and triglyceride composition, for EPA and DHA, and for tocol content, as well as for oxidative status. This study found that only 2.5% of the supplements did not meet their label claims for omega-3 content. TAG analysis showed high variability among the triglyceride distribution, and the same trend was also noticed for the tocol content; in fact, a high variability of the distribution of the six tocols (four tocopherols and two tocotrienols) was found among the samples. Of the tested products, all of them complied with peroxide value, p-anisidine value, and Totox values established by the Global Organization for EPA and DHA Omega-3s (GOED) and were not oxidized.
Investigating pottery function requires optimal preservation of both ceramic vessels and organic ... more Investigating pottery function requires optimal preservation of both ceramic vessels and organic residues related to vessel use. If these criteria are met then opportunities emerge for combining macroscopic observations, typological classification, and capacity measurements and molecular and isotopic proxies (GC, GC-MS, and GC-C-IRMS) to explore vessel use and resource exploitation. The exceptional ceramic assemblage of hundreds of vessels excavated from the Middle Neolithic site of Clairvaux XIV (Jura, France, IVth millennium B.C.) offered such an opportunity, with a wide diversity of vessel shapes and extraordinary preservation of lipids. Interrogating the lipid residues together with typological analyses revealed a complex system of ceramic vessel use. Despite the scarcity of aquatic products, a wide diversity of natural substances has been detected: ruminant adipose fats, dairy products, plant substances, and beeswax. These commodities were processed in specific vessels with thr...
Temporins are small antimicrobial peptides isolated from North American and Eurasian ranid frogs ... more Temporins are small antimicrobial peptides isolated from North American and Eurasian ranid frogs that are particularly active against Gram-positive bacteria. To date, no temporins have been characterized from North African frog species. We isolated three novel members of the temporin family, named temporin-1Sa (FLSGIVGMLGKLF(amide)), -1Sb (FLPIVTNLLSGLL(amide)), and -1Sc (FLSHIAGFLSNLF(amide)), from the skin of the Sahara frog Pelophylax (Rana) saharica originating from Tunisia. These temporins were identified by a combined mass spectrometry/molecular cloning approach. Temporin-1Sa was found to be highly active against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, yeasts and fungi (MIC=2-30 microM). To our knowledge, this is the first 13-residue member of the temporin family with a net charge of +2 that shows such broad-spectrum activity with particularly high potency on the clinically relevant Gram-negative strains, Escherichia coli (MIC=10 microM) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (MIC=31 microM). Moreover, temporin-1Sa displays significant antiparasitic activity (IC50 approximately 20 microM) against the promastigote and amastigote stages of Leishmania infantum.
Supplementation of omega-3 fatty acids is considered a valuable strategy to supply the low intake... more Supplementation of omega-3 fatty acids is considered a valuable strategy to supply the low intake of these fatty acids. Thus, the safety of the supplements is an important milestone. Because of that, we analyzed 20 unflavored supplements sold in the French market for fatty acid and triglyceride composition, for EPA and DHA, and for tocol content, as well as for oxidative status. This study found that only 2.5% of the supplements did not meet their label claims for omega-3 content. TAG analysis showed high variability among the triglyceride distribution, and the same trend was also noticed for the tocol content; in fact, a high variability of the distribution of the six tocols (four tocopherols and two tocotrienols) was found among the samples. Of the tested products, all of them complied with peroxide value, p-anisidine value, and Totox values established by the Global Organization for EPA and DHA Omega-3s (GOED) and were not oxidized.
Investigating pottery function requires optimal preservation of both ceramic vessels and organic ... more Investigating pottery function requires optimal preservation of both ceramic vessels and organic residues related to vessel use. If these criteria are met then opportunities emerge for combining macroscopic observations, typological classification, and capacity measurements and molecular and isotopic proxies (GC, GC-MS, and GC-C-IRMS) to explore vessel use and resource exploitation. The exceptional ceramic assemblage of hundreds of vessels excavated from the Middle Neolithic site of Clairvaux XIV (Jura, France, IVth millennium B.C.) offered such an opportunity, with a wide diversity of vessel shapes and extraordinary preservation of lipids. Interrogating the lipid residues together with typological analyses revealed a complex system of ceramic vessel use. Despite the scarcity of aquatic products, a wide diversity of natural substances has been detected: ruminant adipose fats, dairy products, plant substances, and beeswax. These commodities were processed in specific vessels with thr...
Les oasis, espaces de polyculture intensive irrigués en milieu aride à semi-aride, sont caractéri... more Les oasis, espaces de polyculture intensive irrigués en milieu aride à semi-aride, sont caractérisées à la fois par des conditions physiques naturelles contraignantes mais aussi par les choix et mises en oeuvre anthropiques qui les façonnent. Ces espaces sont donc à l'équilibre entre différents facteurs socio-environnementaux : contraintes morpho-climatiques, variabilité des ressources, mais aussi dynamiques de peuplements, système socio-économique et développement technologique. L'oasis constitue un lieu privilégié pour l'enregistrement et la lecture des trajectoires homme-milieu au cours des millénaires.
Dans le sud de la Péninsule Arabique, les études botaniques réalisées sur les sites archéologiques de l’Age du Bronze ont conclu à l’émergence des oasis à la fin du 4ème mill. avant notre ère, en y reconnaissant le modèle actuel de polyculture sous palmier dattier1. Depuis, peu d’évolutions ont été détectées dans ce pattern. Pourtant très peu d’espaces et de sols agricoles ont été fouillés et notre vision de l’évolution de ces agrosystèmes reste partielle. Il apparait alors nécessaire de réinvestir ces oasis et de récolter de nouvelles données qui permettront de compléter notre vision de ces paysages et de rediscuter de ce modèle d’émergence et d’évolution.
L’oasis de Masafi est fouillée depuis 2007 dans le cadre de la Mission archéologique Française aux Emirats Arabes Unis (dir. S. Méry). Ces fouilles ont permis la découverte de vestiges de l’Age du Bronze et de l’époque Islamique tardive mais surtout d’une occupation importante de l'Age du Fer, qui semble s’être structurée autour d’un espace central irrigué et cultivé2. L’ouverture de sondages géoarchéologiques au sein de la zone agricole actuelle, menée depuis 2014 et aujourd’hui dans le cadre de l’ANR OASIWAT3 (dir. L. Purdue), a mis en évidence des phases d’emprises et de déprises agraires synchrones ou non aux différentes occupations connues. A travers l’analyse d’une de ces séquences stratigraphiques, notre approche vise à mieux caractériser ces phases et à approfondir les interprétations archéologiques en terme de gestion des sols. Des référentiels ont été construits sur le terrain et une étude mêlant analyses pédo-sédimentaires (pertes au feu 30, 105, 450 et 950°C ; pH et conductivité électrique ; susceptibilité magnétique) et géochimiques (ICP-OES) a été menée en laboratoire.
Traditionally, pottery use has been discussed through morphotypological characteristics and mecha... more Traditionally, pottery use has been discussed through morphotypological characteristics and mechanic properties of the vessels (Rice 1987) but amorphous organic residues analysis has also greatly contributed to understand exploitation of natural resources during the Holocene (Evershed 2008). Nevertheless these methodologies are rarely combined due to the high fragmentation of pottery and to the impossibility to link ceramic content with specific shape. At the site of Clairvaux XIV (Middle Neolithic, NMB - 39e-37e century BC), the large and diversified corpus of ceramic vessels (377 vessels with restituted profiles) combined to anoxic condition favoring lipids preservation offers a unique opportunity to investigate the use of pottery to better understand lake dwelling Neolithic society (Pétrequin et Pétrequin 2015).
The corpus was first classified based on morphological and morphometric criteria. Chemical analysis of the lipids preserved into pottery walls or into carbonized surface residues were then carried out using an analytical strategy combining chromatographic (HT GC), spectrometric (HT GC-MS, NanoESI MS and MS/MS – Mirabaud et al. 2007) and isotopic (GC-C-IRMS) techniques.
The data obtained on 95 pottery conducted to: (i) the identification of a broad diversity of commodities processed in the vessels, mainly from animal origin; (ii) the establishment of clear relationships between content, traces of cooking, shape and volumes of the vessels.
This study highlights some characteristic consumption pattern of the Neolithic people living at Clairvaux XIV in the first half of 4th millennium BC. First, a clear difference is observed between cooking pots and serving vessels. Dairy substances were significantly used in all category of ceramics but small individual vessels seem to be especially dedicated to the consumption or transformation of these high value products. The surprising low representation of fish and vegetable products may be due to the low fat-content of cereals and to the fact that lake resources were prepared and consumed without using ceramics (grilled, dried etc.). Non-food products as beeswax and birch bark tar were also detected in some pottery.
From the results of our work, we suggest that (i) depending on the commodity, it existed a large variety of transformation and consumption usages on this site, and (ii) dairy products possessed a particular status. These complex culinary customs carried out at Clairvaux XIV and highlighted by our integrative approach will be compared with data from other archaeological sites in order to build an overview of food practices in lacustrine Middle Neolithic societies.
Evershed, R. P. (2008). "Organic residue analysis in archaeology: the archaeological biomarker revolution." Archaeometry 50: 895-924.
Mirabaud, S., et al. (2007). "Molecular criteria for discriminating adipose fat and milk from different species by NanoESl MS and MS/MS of their triacylglycerols: Application to archaeological remains." Analytical Chemistry 79(16): 6182-6192.
Pétrequin P. & Pétrequin A.M. (ed.), 2015.- Clairvaux et le « Néolithique Moyen Bourguignon ». Cahiers de la MSHE C.N. Ledoux, Besançon, Presses Universitaires de Franche-Comté et Centre de Recherche Archéologique de la Vallée de l’Ain, 2 vol., 1430 p.
Rice, P. M. (1987). Vessel function: Form, Technology, and use. Pottery Function, a source book: 207-243
The Masafi oasis, in the ophiolithic al Hajar mountains (United Arab Emirates, Fujairah), has bee... more The Masafi oasis, in the ophiolithic al Hajar mountains (United Arab Emirates, Fujairah), has been excavated since 2007 in the framework of the French archaeological mission (Dir. S. Méry). The excavations have revealed an occupation spanning from the Iron Age to the late Islamic Period, structured on the exploitation of agro-pastoral products and copper. To understand the environmental context and subsistence strategies, geoarchaeological test pits have been dug in the palm grove since 2014. While they have revealed cycles of cultivation and abandonment for the last 3000 years, the farming activities themselves remain poorly understood and the agrarian patterns need to be clarified. The present study aims to improve our knowledge of ancient agrosystems by identifying new proxies in soils to 1-characterize phases of occupation versus abandonment, 2-estimate soil fertility, implementation and nature of soil enrichment products, and the impact of agriculture on soil resilience, 3-assess land cover, 4-detect paleo-pollutions linked with human activities. To this end, shallow test pits were dug in the current Masafi oasis in abandoned areas and in cultivated plots possibly representative of ancient agricultural landscapes: irrigated plots with palm trees, fruit trees or cereals; plots with manure, ashes, or carbonates. Systematic samples were taken for laboratory studies: elementary and isotopic analyses, loss on ignition, pH, electrical conductivity, magnetic susceptibility. Statistical analyses allowed for the creation of agricultural facies characteristic of agricultural modes. This reference collection is a powerful analytical tool to study agrosystems as a whole, from socio-environmental dynamics (identification of cultivated soils and agrarian patterns) to technical systems (agricultural strategies, gestures and heritage). This will be applied to the study of the 3000 years old Masafi oasis, with the aim to enlarge its use to ancient agricultural soils in semi-arid environments in Arabia.
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Dans le sud de la Péninsule Arabique, les études botaniques réalisées sur les sites archéologiques de l’Age du Bronze ont conclu à l’émergence des oasis à la fin du 4ème mill. avant notre ère, en y reconnaissant le modèle actuel de polyculture sous palmier dattier1. Depuis, peu d’évolutions ont été détectées dans ce pattern. Pourtant très peu d’espaces et de sols agricoles ont été fouillés et notre vision de l’évolution de ces agrosystèmes reste partielle. Il apparait alors nécessaire de réinvestir ces oasis et de récolter de nouvelles données qui permettront de compléter notre vision de ces paysages et de rediscuter de ce modèle d’émergence et d’évolution.
L’oasis de Masafi est fouillée depuis 2007 dans le cadre de la Mission archéologique Française aux Emirats Arabes Unis (dir. S. Méry). Ces fouilles ont permis la découverte de vestiges de l’Age du Bronze et de l’époque Islamique tardive mais surtout d’une occupation importante de l'Age du Fer, qui semble s’être structurée autour d’un espace central irrigué et cultivé2. L’ouverture de sondages géoarchéologiques au sein de la zone agricole actuelle, menée depuis 2014 et aujourd’hui dans le cadre de l’ANR OASIWAT3 (dir. L. Purdue), a mis en évidence des phases d’emprises et de déprises agraires synchrones ou non aux différentes occupations connues. A travers l’analyse d’une de ces séquences stratigraphiques, notre approche vise à mieux caractériser ces phases et à approfondir les interprétations archéologiques en terme de gestion des sols. Des référentiels ont été construits sur le terrain et une étude mêlant analyses pédo-sédimentaires (pertes au feu 30, 105, 450 et 950°C ; pH et conductivité électrique ; susceptibilité magnétique) et géochimiques (ICP-OES) a été menée en laboratoire.
The corpus was first classified based on morphological and morphometric criteria. Chemical analysis of the lipids preserved into pottery walls or into carbonized surface residues were then carried out using an analytical strategy combining chromatographic (HT GC), spectrometric (HT GC-MS, NanoESI MS and MS/MS – Mirabaud et al. 2007) and isotopic (GC-C-IRMS) techniques.
The data obtained on 95 pottery conducted to: (i) the identification of a broad diversity of commodities processed in the vessels, mainly from animal origin; (ii) the establishment of clear relationships between content, traces of cooking, shape and volumes of the vessels.
This study highlights some characteristic consumption pattern of the Neolithic people living at Clairvaux XIV in the first half of 4th millennium BC. First, a clear difference is observed between cooking pots and serving vessels. Dairy substances were significantly used in all category of ceramics but small individual vessels seem to be especially dedicated to the consumption or transformation of these high value products. The surprising low representation of fish and vegetable products may be due to the low fat-content of cereals and to the fact that lake resources were prepared and consumed without using ceramics (grilled, dried etc.). Non-food products as beeswax and birch bark tar were also detected in some pottery.
From the results of our work, we suggest that (i) depending on the commodity, it existed a large variety of transformation and consumption usages on this site, and (ii) dairy products possessed a particular status. These complex culinary customs carried out at Clairvaux XIV and highlighted by our integrative approach will be compared with data from other archaeological sites in order to build an overview of food practices in lacustrine Middle Neolithic societies.
Evershed, R. P. (2008). "Organic residue analysis in archaeology: the archaeological biomarker revolution." Archaeometry 50: 895-924.
Mirabaud, S., et al. (2007). "Molecular criteria for discriminating adipose fat and milk from different species by NanoESl MS and MS/MS of their triacylglycerols: Application to archaeological remains." Analytical Chemistry 79(16): 6182-6192.
Pétrequin P. & Pétrequin A.M. (ed.), 2015.- Clairvaux et le « Néolithique Moyen Bourguignon ». Cahiers de la MSHE C.N. Ledoux, Besançon, Presses Universitaires de Franche-Comté et Centre de Recherche Archéologique de la Vallée de l’Ain, 2 vol., 1430 p.
Rice, P. M. (1987). Vessel function: Form, Technology, and use. Pottery Function, a source book: 207-243