Fungi of the family Botryosphaeriaceae are considered responsible for various symptoms in avocado such as dieback, external necrosis of branches and inflorescences, cankers on branches and trunks, or stem-end rot of fruits. In recent years, these problems are becoming more frequent in avocado orchards in the Canary Islands (Spain). This work includes the characterization of fungal species involved in these diseases, which were isolated from avocado crops in Tenerife Island between 2018 and 2022. A total of 158 vegetal samples were collected, from which 297 fungal isolates were culture-isolated. Fifty-two of them were selected according to their morphological features as representative isolates of Botryosphaeriaceae, and their molecular characterization was carried out, sequencing the ITS1-2 region as well as the β-tubulin and the elongation factor 1-alpha genes. Five species of Botryosphaeriaceae were isolated, including Neofusicoccum australe, N. cryptoaustrale/stellenboschiana, N. luteum, N. parvum, and Lasiodiplodia brasiliensis. This is the first time that L. brasiliensis has been associated with avocado dieback and that N. cryptoaustrale/stellenboschiana has been cited in avocado causing symptoms of dieback and stem-end rot. However, it was not possible to assign our isolates unequivocally to N. cryptoaustrale or N. stellenboschiana even additionally using the rpb2 marker for their molecular characterization. Botryosphaeriaceae family seem to be involved in avocado dieback, in the premature fall of fruits during their development in the field and in post-harvest damage in Tenerife, but further studies are needed to clarify the fungal pathogens associated with symptoms in relation to phenological plant growth stages or less frequently observed.

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of the airways. Asthma patients may experience potentially life-threatening episodic flare-ups, known as exacerbations, which may significantly contribute to the asthma burden. The Pi*S and Pi*Z variants of the SERPINA1 gene, which usually involve alpha-1 antitrypsin (AAT) deficiency, had previously been associated with asthma. The link between AAT deficiency and asthma might be represented by the elastase/antielastase imbalance. However, their role in asthma exacerbations remains unknown. Our objective was to assess whether SERPINA1 genetic variants and reduced AAT protein levels are associated with asthma exacerbations. In the discovery analysis, SERPINA1 Pi*S and Pi*Z variants and serum AAT levels were analyzed in 369 subjects from La Palma (Canary Islands, Spain). As replication, genomic data from two studies focused on 525 Spaniards and publicly available data from UK Biobank, FinnGen, and GWAS Catalog (Open Targets Genetics) were analyzed. The associations between SERPINA1 Pi*S and Pi*Z variants and AAT deficiency with asthma exacerbations were analyzed with logistic regression models, including age, sex, and genotype principal components as covariates. In the discovery, a significant association with asthma exacerbations was found for both Pi*S (odds ratio [OR]=2.38, 95% confidence interval [CI]= 1.40-4.04, p-value=0.001) and Pi*Z (OR=3.49, 95%CI=1.55-7.85, p-value=0.003)Likewise, AAT deficiency was associated with a higher risk for asthma exacerbations (OR=5.18, 95%CI=1.58-16.92, p-value=0.007) as well as AAT protein levels (OR= 0.72, 95%CI=0.57-0.91, p-value=0.005). The Pi*Z association with exacerbations was replicated in samples from Spaniards with two generations of Canary Islander origin (OR=3.79, p-value=0.028), and a significant association with asthma hospitalizations was found in the Finnish population (OR=1.12, p-value=0.007). AAT deficiency could be a potential therapeutic target for asthma exacerbations in specific populations.

Asthma is a heterogeneous and multifactorial respiratory disease with an important impact on childhood. Difficult-to-treat asthma is not uncommon among children, and it causes a high burden to the patient, caregivers, and society. This review aims to summarize the recent findings on pediatric asthma treatment response revealed by different omic approaches conducted in 2018–2019. A total of 13 studies were performed during this period to assess the role of genomics, epigenomics, transcriptomics, metabolomics, and the microbiome in the response to short-acting beta agonists, inhaled corticosteroids, and leukotriene receptor antagonists. These studies have identified novel associations of genetic markers, epigenetic modifications, metabolites, bacteria, and molecular mechanisms involved in asthma treatment response. This knowledge will allow us establishing molecular biomarkers that could be integrated with clinical information to improve the management of children with asthma.

Persea americana (avocado) represents one of the most demanded food products worldwide, with an important impact in several agronomy-based economies. The avocado is one of the most salt-sensitive and valuable crops. It is therefore necessary to use salt-tolerant varieties, such as the West Indian, for cultivation in locations with soil salinity problems, such as the Canary Islands. Therefore, characterization of avocado cultivars is in demand, as well as development of molecular tools able to easily identify the main avocado cultivars and horticultural races. In the present work, inter-Primer Binding Site (iPBS) and Inter-Retrotransposon Amplified Polymorphism (IRAP) techniques, which are based on retrotransposon with Long Terminal Repeats (LTR), have been implemented for the first time in P. americana, allowing the characterization of genetic variation among cultivars from the three main horticultural races and the identification of potential P. americana LTR sequences. The iPBS approach showed clear advantages over its technical implementation, and allowed a better delimitation of horticultural races, especially when focused on West Indian cultivars. However, both techniques generated reproducible genetic fingerprints that not only allowed genetic characterization of each cultivar analyzed, but also revealed potential molecular markers for the identification of avocado cultivars and horticultural races.

Alpha-1 antitrypsin (AAT) is an acute-phase reactant with immunomodulatory properties that mainly inhibits neutrophil elastase. Low serum levels cause AAT deficiency (AATD), an underdiagnosed condition that predisposes to pulmonary and hepatic diseases. The SERPINA1 gene, which encodes AAT, contains more than 500 variants. PI*Z and PI*S alleles are the most diagnosed causes of AATD, but the role of the SERPINA1 haplotypes in AAT function remains unknown. SERPINA1 gene was PCR amplified from 94 asthma patients, using primers with tails for indexing. Sequencing libraries were loaded into a MinION-Mk1C, and MinKNOW was used for basecalling and demultiplexing. Nanofilt and Minimap2 were used for filtering and mapping/alignment. Variant calling/phasing were performed with PEPPER-Margin-DeepVariant. SERPINA1 gene was 100% covered for all samples, with a minimum sequencing depth of 500X. 75 single nucleotide variants and 4 indels were detected, with 45 and 2 of them highly polymorphic (MAF>0.1), respectively. Nine of the SNVs showed differences in allele frequencies when compared with the overall Spanish population. More than 90% of heterozygous SNVs were phased, yielding 91 and 58 different haplotypes for each SERPINA1 amplified region. Haplotype-based Linkage Disequilibrium (LD) analysis suggests that a recombination hotspot could generate variation in the SERPINA1 gene. The proposed workflow enables haplotype-aware genotyping of the SERPINA1 gene by nanopore sequencing, which will allow the development of novel AATD diagnostic strategies.