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Morelli L, Havurinne V, Madeira D, Martins P, Cartaxana P, Cruz S. Photoprotective mechanisms in Elysia species hosting Acetabularia chloroplasts shed light on host-donor compatibility in photosynthetic sea slugs. PHYSIOLOGIA PLANTARUM 2024; 176:e14273. [PMID: 38566156 DOI: 10.1111/ppl.14273] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/30/2024] [Revised: 03/13/2024] [Accepted: 03/18/2024] [Indexed: 04/04/2024]
Abstract
Sacoglossa sea slugs have garnered attention due to their ability to retain intracellular functional chloroplasts from algae, while degrading other algal cell components. While protective mechanisms that limit oxidative damage under excessive light are well documented in plants and algae, the photoprotective strategies employed by these photosynthetic sea slugs remain unresolved. Species within the genus Elysia are known to retain chloroplasts from various algal sources, but the extent to which the metabolic processes from the donor algae can be sustained by the sea slugs is unclear. By comparing responses to high-light conditions through kinetic analyses, molecular techniques, and biochemical assays, this study shows significant differences between two photosynthetic Elysia species with chloroplasts derived from the green alga Acetabularia acetabulum. Notably, Elysia timida displayed remarkable tolerance to high-light stress and sophisticated photoprotective mechanisms such as an active xanthophyll cycle, efficient D1 protein recycling, accumulation of heat-shock proteins and α-tocopherol. In contrast, Elysia crispata exhibited absence or limitations in these photoprotective strategies. Our findings emphasize the intricate relationship between the host animal and the stolen chloroplasts, highlighting different capacities to protect the photosynthetic organelle from oxidative damage.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luca Morelli
- ECOMARE-Laboratory for Innovation and Sustainability of Marine Biological Resources, CESAM - Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies, Department of Biology, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal
| | - Vesa Havurinne
- ECOMARE-Laboratory for Innovation and Sustainability of Marine Biological Resources, CESAM - Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies, Department of Biology, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal
| | - Diana Madeira
- ECOMARE-Laboratory for Innovation and Sustainability of Marine Biological Resources, CESAM - Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies, Department of Biology, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal
| | - Patrícia Martins
- ECOMARE-Laboratory for Innovation and Sustainability of Marine Biological Resources, CESAM - Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies, Department of Biology, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal
| | - Paulo Cartaxana
- ECOMARE-Laboratory for Innovation and Sustainability of Marine Biological Resources, CESAM - Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies, Department of Biology, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal
| | - Sónia Cruz
- ECOMARE-Laboratory for Innovation and Sustainability of Marine Biological Resources, CESAM - Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies, Department of Biology, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal
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Casal JJ, Fankhauser C. Shade avoidance in the context of climate change. PLANT PHYSIOLOGY 2023; 191:1475-1491. [PMID: 36617439 PMCID: PMC10022646 DOI: 10.1093/plphys/kiad004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/28/2022] [Revised: 12/09/2022] [Accepted: 12/10/2022] [Indexed: 05/13/2023]
Abstract
When exposed to changes in the light environment caused by neighboring vegetation, shade-avoiding plants modify their growth and/or developmental patterns to access more sunlight. In Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), neighbor cues reduce the activity of the photosensory receptors phytochrome B (phyB) and cryptochrome 1, releasing photoreceptor repression imposed on PHYTOCHROME INTERACTING FACTORs (PIFs) and leading to transcriptional reprogramming. The phyB-PIF hub is at the core of all shade-avoidance responses, whilst other photosensory receptors and transcription factors contribute in a context-specific manner. CONSTITUTIVELY PHOTOMORPHOGENIC1 is a master regulator of this hub, indirectly stabilizing PIFs and targeting negative regulators of shade avoidance for degradation. Warm temperatures reduce the activity of phyB, which operates as a temperature sensor and further increases the activities of PIF4 and PIF7 by independent temperature sensing mechanisms. The signaling network controlling shade avoidance is not buffered against climate change; rather, it integrates information about shade, temperature, salinity, drought, and likely flooding. We, therefore, predict that climate change will exacerbate shade-induced growth responses in some regions of the planet while limiting the growth potential in others.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jorge J Casal
- Universidad de Buenos Aires y Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Instituto de Investigaciones Fisiológicas y Ecológicas Vinculadas a la Agricultura, Facultad de Agronomía, 1417 Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Fundaciόn Instituto Leloir, Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, 1405 Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Christian Fankhauser
- Centre for Integrative Genomics, Faculty of Biology and Medicine, University of Lausanne, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
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Morelli L, Torres-Montilla S, Glauser G, Shanmugabalaji V, Kessler F, Rodriguez-Concepcion M. Novel insights into the contribution of plastoglobules and reactive oxygen species to chromoplast differentiation. THE NEW PHYTOLOGIST 2023; 237:1696-1710. [PMID: 36307969 DOI: 10.1111/nph.18585] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2022] [Accepted: 10/24/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Plant tissues can be enriched in phytonutrients not only by stimulating their biosynthesis but also by providing appropriate sink structures for their sequestering and storage. In the case of carotenoids, they accumulate at high levels in chromoplasts naturally found in flowers and fruit. Chromoplasts can also be artificially differentiated from leaf chloroplasts by boosting carotenoid production with the bacterial protein crtB. Here we used electron and confocal microscopy together with subplastidial fractionation and transcript, protein and metabolite analyses to analyze the structural and biochemical changes occurring in crtB-induced artificial chromoplasts and their impact on the accumulation of health-related isoprenoids. We show that leaf chromoplasts develop plastoglobules (PG) harboring high levels of carotenoids (mainly phytoene and pro-vitamin A β-carotene) but also other nutritionally relevant isoprenoids, such as tocopherols (vitamin E) and phylloquinone (vitamin K1). Further promoting PG proliferation by exposure to intense (high) light resulted in a higher accumulation of these health-related metabolites but also an acceleration of the chloroplast-to-chromoplast conversion. We further show that the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) stimulates chromoplastogenesis. Our data suggest that carotenoid accumulation and ROS production are not just consequences but promoters of the chromoplast differentiation process.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luca Morelli
- Institute for Plant Molecular and Cell Biology (IBMCP), CSIC-Universitat Politècnica de València, 46022, Valencia, Spain
- Centre for Research in Agricultural Genomics (CRAG) CSIC-IRTA-UAB-UB, Campus UAB Bellaterra, 08193, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Salvador Torres-Montilla
- Institute for Plant Molecular and Cell Biology (IBMCP), CSIC-Universitat Politècnica de València, 46022, Valencia, Spain
| | - Gaétan Glauser
- Neuchâtel Platform of Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Sciences, University of Neuchâtel, 2000, Neuchâtel, Switzerland
| | | | - Felix Kessler
- Laboratory of Plant Physiology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Neuchâtel, 2000, Neuchâtel, Switzerland
| | - Manuel Rodriguez-Concepcion
- Institute for Plant Molecular and Cell Biology (IBMCP), CSIC-Universitat Politècnica de València, 46022, Valencia, Spain
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Zhang YX, Niu YQ, Wang XF, Wang ZH, Wang ML, Yang J, Wang YG, Zhang WJ, Song ZP, Li LF. Phenotypic and transcriptomic responses of the shade-grown species Panax ginseng to variable light conditions. ANNALS OF BOTANY 2022; 130:749-762. [PMID: 35961674 PMCID: PMC9670753 DOI: 10.1093/aob/mcac105] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/08/2022] [Accepted: 08/10/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND AIMS Elucidating how plant species respond to variable light conditions is important to understand the ecological adaptation to heterogeneous natural habitats. Plant performance and its underlying gene regulatory network have been well documented in sun-grown plants. However, the phenotypic and molecular responses of shade-grown plants under variable light conditions have remained largely unclear. METHODS We assessed the differences in phenotypic performance between Panax ginseng (shade-grown) and Arabidopsis thaliana (sun-grown) under sunlight, shade and deep-shade conditions. To further address the molecular bases underpinning the phenotypic responses, we compared time-course transcriptomic expression profiling and candidate gene structures between the two species. KEY RESULTS Our results show that, compared with arabidopsis, ginseng plants not only possess a lower degree of phenotypic plasticity among the three light conditions, but also exhibit higher photosynthetic efficiency under shade and deep-shade conditions. Further comparisons of the gene expression and structure reveal that differential transcriptional regulation together with increased copy number of photosynthesis-related genes (e.g. electron transfer and carbon fixation) may improve the photosynthetic efficiency of ginseng plants under the two shade conditions. In contrast, the inactivation of phytochrome-interacting factors (i.e. absent and no upregulation of the PIF genes) are potentially associated with the observed low degree of phenotypic plasticity of ginseng plants under variable light conditions. CONCLUSIONS Our study provides new insights into how shade-grown plants respond to variable light conditions. Candidate genes related to shade adaptation in ginseng provide valuable genetic resources for future molecular breeding of high-density planting crops.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yu-Xin Zhang
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China
| | - Yu-Qian Niu
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China
| | - Xin-Feng Wang
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China
| | - Zhen-Hui Wang
- Department of Agronomy, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun 130118, China
| | - Meng-Li Wang
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China
| | - Ji Yang
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China
| | - Yu-Guo Wang
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China
| | - Wen-Ju Zhang
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China
| | - Zhi-Ping Song
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China
| | - Lin-Feng Li
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China
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Del-Saz NF, Iglesias-Sanchez A, Alonso-Forn D, López-Gómez M, Palma F, Clemente-Moreno MJ, Fernie AR, Ribas-Carbo M, Florez-Sarasa I. The Lack of Alternative Oxidase 1a Restricts in vivo Respiratory Activity and Stress-Related Metabolism for Leaf Osmoprotection and Redox Balancing Under Sudden Acute Water and Salt Stress in Arabidopsis thaliana. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2022; 13:833113. [PMID: 35656009 PMCID: PMC9152546 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2022.833113] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/10/2021] [Accepted: 04/19/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
In plants salt and water stress result in an induction of respiration and accumulation of stress-related metabolites (SRMs) with osmoregulation and osmoprotection functions that benefit photosynthesis. The synthesis of SRMs may depend on an active respiratory metabolism, which can be restricted under stress by the inhibition of the cytochrome oxidase pathway (COP), thus causing an increase in the reduction level of the ubiquinone pool. However, the activity of the alternative oxidase pathway (AOP) is thought to prevent this from occurring while at the same time, dissipates excess of reducing power from the chloroplast and thereby improves photosynthetic performance. The present research is based on the hypothesis that the accumulation of SRMs under osmotic stress will be affected by changes in folial AOP activity. To test this, the oxygen isotope-fractionation technique was used to study the in vivo respiratory activities of COP and AOP in leaves of wild-type Arabidopsis thaliana plants and of aox1a mutants under sudden acute stress conditions induced by mannitol and salt treatments. Levels of leaf primary metabolites and transcripts of respiratory-related proteins were also determined in parallel to photosynthetic analyses. The lack of in vivo AOP response in the aox1a mutants coincided with a lower leaf relative water content and a decreased accumulation of crucial osmoregulators. Additionally, levels of oxidative stress-related metabolites and transcripts encoding alternative respiratory components were increased. Coordinated changes in metabolite levels, respiratory activities and photosynthetic performance highlight the contribution of the AOP in providing flexibility to carbon metabolism for the accumulation of SRMs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Néstor F. Del-Saz
- Laboratorio de Fisiología Vegetal, Universidad de Concepción, Concepción, Chile
| | | | - David Alonso-Forn
- Unidad de Recursos Forestales, Centro de Investigación y Tecnología Agroalimentaria de Aragón, Zaragoza, Spain
| | | | - Francisco Palma
- Department of Plant Physiology, University of Granada, Granada, Spain
| | - María José Clemente-Moreno
- Grup de Recerca en Biologia de les Plantes en Condicions Mediterranies, Departament de Biologia, Universitat de les Illes Balears, Palma, Spain
| | | | - Miquel Ribas-Carbo
- Grup de Recerca en Biologia de les Plantes en Condicions Mediterranies, Departament de Biologia, Universitat de les Illes Balears, Palma, Spain
| | - Igor Florez-Sarasa
- Centre for Research in Agricultural Genomics CSIC-IRTA-UAB-UB, Barcelona, Spain
- Institut de Recerca i Tecnología Agroalimentàries (IRTA), Edifici CRAG, Barcelona, Spain
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Xie X, Cheng H, Hou C, Ren M. Integration of Light and Auxin Signaling in Shade Plants: From Mechanisms to Opportunities in Urban Agriculture. Int J Mol Sci 2022; 23:3422. [PMID: 35408782 PMCID: PMC8998421 DOI: 10.3390/ijms23073422] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2022] [Revised: 03/01/2022] [Accepted: 03/09/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
With intensification of urbanization throughout the world, food security is being threatened by the population surge, frequent occurrence of extreme climate events, limited area of available cultivated land, insufficient utilization of urban space, and other factors. Determining the means by which high-yielding and high-quality crops can be produced in a limited space is an urgent priority for plant scientists. Dense planting, vertical production, and indoor cultivation are effective ways to make full use of space and improve the crop yield. The results of physiological and molecular analyses of the model plant species Arabidopsis thaliana have shown that the plant response to shade is the key to regulating the plant response to changes in light intensity and quality by integrating light and auxin signals. In this study, we have summarized the major molecular mechanisms of shade avoidance and shade tolerance in plants. In addition, the biotechnological strategies of enhancing plant shade tolerance are discussed. More importantly, cultivating crop varieties with strong shade tolerance could provide effective strategies for dense planting, vertical production, and indoor cultivation in urban agriculture in the future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiulan Xie
- Laboratory of Space Biology, Institute of Urban Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Chengdu 610213, China; (X.X.); (H.C.)
- Zhengzhou Research Base, State Key Laboratory of Cotton Biology, School of Agricultural Science of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450000, China;
- Hainan Yazhou Bay Seed Laboratory, Sanya 572025, China
| | - Hao Cheng
- Laboratory of Space Biology, Institute of Urban Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Chengdu 610213, China; (X.X.); (H.C.)
- Zhengzhou Research Base, State Key Laboratory of Cotton Biology, School of Agricultural Science of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450000, China;
- Hainan Yazhou Bay Seed Laboratory, Sanya 572025, China
| | - Chenyang Hou
- Zhengzhou Research Base, State Key Laboratory of Cotton Biology, School of Agricultural Science of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450000, China;
| | - Maozhi Ren
- Laboratory of Space Biology, Institute of Urban Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Chengdu 610213, China; (X.X.); (H.C.)
- Zhengzhou Research Base, State Key Laboratory of Cotton Biology, School of Agricultural Science of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450000, China;
- Hainan Yazhou Bay Seed Laboratory, Sanya 572025, China
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Hernández KV, Moreno-Romero J, Hernández de la Torre M, Manríquez CP, Leal DR, Martínez-Garcia JF. Effect of light intensity on steviol glycosides production in leaves of Stevia rebaudiana plants. PHYTOCHEMISTRY 2022; 194:113027. [PMID: 34861537 DOI: 10.1016/j.phytochem.2021.113027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/18/2021] [Revised: 11/19/2021] [Accepted: 11/20/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Stevia rebaudiana leaf extracts contain stevioside and rebaudioside A, two steviol glycosides (SGs) used as natural sweeteners because of their non-toxic, thermally stable and non-caloric properties. Indeed, leaf extracts can be up to 300 times sweeter than sucrose. Stevioside and rebaudioside A have organoleptic differences, the first one having an undesirable bitterness and the second one a higher sweetener capacity. Selection of the S. rebaudiana varieties and the best environmental conditions that elicit higher SGs content and the appropriate composition is an important goal. In this study we quantified and compared the amount of stevioside and rebaudioside A in two of the most used S. rebaudiana cultivars, Morita II and Criolla. Our results show a strong differential ratio of stevioside and rebaudioside A accumulated in the leaf between these cultivars. The Criolla cultivar showed about 3 times more stevioside per mg of dry weight than Morita II, whereas the Morita II accumulated almost 10 times more rebaudioside A than that produced in Criolla. We observed an enhanced expression in Morita II of three genes (SrKA13H, SrUGT74G1 and SrUGT76G1) known to encode three enzymes that participate in SGs biosynthesis, likely contributing to the differences in the stevioside and rebaudioside A accumulation. Not only genetic variation can affect SGs composition, but also environmental factors and crop management. Numerous studies have shown that the light regime in which S. rebaudiana cultivars grow can affect SGs accumulation. However, the optimal light regime to increase total SGs content is currently controversial. By applying various light intensities, we detected an increase of expression of these three biosynthetic genes at higher light intensity, accompanied by higher levels of stevioside and rebaudioside A, demonstrating that light intensity influences the synthesis of SGs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karel Vives Hernández
- Faculty of Natural Sciences and Oceanography, Universidad de Concepción, Victoria 631, Barrio Universitario, Casilla 160-Correo 3, Concepción, Chile; Centre for Research in Agricultural Genomics (CRAG), CSIC-IRTA-UAB-UB, Barcelona, Spain.
| | - Jordi Moreno-Romero
- Centre for Research in Agricultural Genomics (CRAG), CSIC-IRTA-UAB-UB, Barcelona, Spain; Institute for Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology (IBMCP), CSIC-UPV, Valencia, Spain
| | - Martha Hernández de la Torre
- Faculty of Forestry Sciences and Biotechnology Center. Universidad de Concepción, Victoria 631, Barrio Universitario, Casilla 160-Correo 3, Concepción, Chile
| | - Claudia Pérez Manríquez
- Faculty of Natural Sciences and Oceanography, Universidad de Concepción, Victoria 631, Barrio Universitario, Casilla 160-Correo 3, Concepción, Chile
| | - Darcy Ríos Leal
- Faculty of Forestry Sciences and Biotechnology Center. Universidad de Concepción, Victoria 631, Barrio Universitario, Casilla 160-Correo 3, Concepción, Chile
| | - Jaime F Martínez-Garcia
- Centre for Research in Agricultural Genomics (CRAG), CSIC-IRTA-UAB-UB, Barcelona, Spain; Institute for Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology (IBMCP), CSIC-UPV, Valencia, Spain
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Charrier G. Perceiving neighbors to anticipate the struggle for light. PLANT PHYSIOLOGY 2021; 186:1760-1761. [PMID: 34618112 PMCID: PMC8331153 DOI: 10.1093/plphys/kiab260] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2021] [Accepted: 05/28/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Guillaume Charrier
- INRAE, Université Clermont Auvergne, PIAF, F-63000 Clermont-Ferrand, France
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