Correlates between calcaneal morphology and locomotion in extant and extinct carnivorous mammals

Locomotor mode is an important component of an animal's ecology, relating to both habitat and substrate choice (e.g., arboreal versus terrestrial) and in the case of carnivores, to mode of predation (e.g., ambush versus pursuit). Here, we examine how the morphology of the calcaneum, the ‘heel bone’ in the tarsus, correlates with locomotion in extant carnivores. Other studies have confirmed the correlation of calcaneal morphology with locomotion behaviour and habitat. The robust nature of the calcaneum means that it is frequently preserved in the fossil record. Here, we employ linear measurements and 2D‐geometric morphometrics on a sample of calcanea from eighty‐seven extant carnivorans and demonstrate a signal of correlation between calcaneal morphology and locomotor mode that overrides phylogeny. We used this correlation to determine the locomotor mode, and hence aspects of the palaeobiology of, 47 extinct carnivorous mammal taxa, including both Carnivora and Creodonta. We found ursids (bears), clustered together, separate from the other carnivorans. Our results support greater locomotor diversity for nimravids (the extinct ‘false sabertooths’, usually considered to be more arboreal), than previously expected. However, there are limitations to interpretation of extinct taxa because their robust morphology is not fully captured in the range of modern carnivoran morphology.     

Validity of procedures involved in ultrasound-based measurement of human plantarflexor tendon elongation on contraction

Ultrasonography is becoming increasingly popular for studying the tensile behaviour of in vivo human tendons through elongation measurements during isometric contraction. For the plantarflexor tendons specifically, which receive much attention due to their functional role in locomotion, elongations are conventionally measured by fixing the scanning probe on the calf. Elongation corrections are also made to account for artifactual ankle rotations during the isometric test, by assuming that these occur round the tibio-talar joint axis, as is the case for passive ankle plantarflexion-dorsiflexion rotations. The present work was set out to examine the validity of these procedures. The displacement of the calcaneum, a skin marker on the calf, and the gastrocnemius myotendinous junction, were measured from rest to maximum isometric voluntary plantarflexion contraction (MVC) in six men by using ultrasound probes mounted on externally fixed points (active test). A passive ankle plantarflexion rotation equal in magnitude to that recorded during MVC was then performed (passive test). In the active test, the calcaneum and the skin marker shifted in the proximo-distal direction by approximately 13 mm. Moreover, the calcaneal displacements in the active and passive tests took place round different rotational axes, as indicated by a calcaneal displacement difference of approximately 10 mm between the two tests. These effects resulted in underestimating by 35% the actual elongation of the gastrocnemius tendon when following the currently suggested procedures. The present results directly invalidate the procedures conventionally followed for assessing the tensile response of the human plantarflexor tendons with ultrasonography.     

The Calcaneum—On the Heels of Marsupial Locomotion

The potential for making functional interpretations from a single postcranial element for marsupials was investigated through morphometric analysis of the calcanea of 61 extant species from Australia and New Guinea. Extant species were grouped into locomotor categories and a canonical variates analysis was carried out on measurements of their calcanea. A relationship between measurements of the calcanea and the locomotor behavior of species was found, allowing for prediction of locomotor behavior from calcaneum morphometrics. This was applied to fossil marsupial taxa, from early–late Miocene/?Pliocene deposits at Riversleigh, in an attempt to determine their locomotor behavior. Hopping (saltatorial) taxa are distinguished from quadruped terrestrial taxa and taxa capable of climbing (arboreal and scansorial) by their relatively longer tuber calcis and wider calcaneal head, by their dorso-ventrally thicker calcaneal head, and by their calcaneocuboid facet being less steeply angled antero-posteriorly. Taxa capable of climbing are distinguished from quadruped terrestrial taxa by their shorter tuber calcis relative to the calcaneal head and by their smaller calcaneo-astragalar facet. The locomotor categories distinguished in this study (arboreal/scansorial, quadruped terrestrial, and saltatorial) highlight differences between species in their use of available substrates and thus are informative with regards to the structural components of their habitat. The results of this analysis can be used, in combination with other data, to make inferences about the habitats of paleocommunities at Riversleigh through the Miocene. The calcaneum is a dense and very robust element and, therefore, has a good chance of being preserved. This method provides a quick and easy way of inferring locomotion and has a wide potential for application to many fossil deposits because it requires only a single element.     

Production of extracellular glycogen by Pseudomonas fluorescens: spectroscopic evidence and conformational analysis by biomolecular recognition

Glycogen is mainly found as the principal storage form of glucose in cells. Many bacteria are able to synthesize large amounts of glycogen under unfavorable life conditions. By combining infrared spectroscopy, single molecule force spectroscopy (SMFS) and immuno-staining technique, we evidenced that planktonic P. fluorescens (Pf) cells are also able to produce glycogen as an extracellular polymeric substance. For this purpose, Pf suspensions were examined at 3 and 21 h of growth in nutritive medium (LB, 0.5 g/L). The conformation of the extracellular glycogen, revealed through its infrared spectral signature, has been investigated by SMFS measurements using Freely Jointed Chain model. The analysis of force versus distance curves showed over growth time that the increase of glycogen production was accompanied by an increase in glycogen contour lengths and ramifications. These results demonstrated that the production of extracellular bacterial glycogen can occur even if the cells are not subjected to unfavorable life conditions.     

Anatomy and relationships of Pachyrhachis problematicus,a primitive snake with hindlimbs

The anatomy of Pachyrhachis problematicus, an elongate, limb-reduced squamate from the Upper Cretaceous of Israel, is described and evaluated in detail. Previously considered a snake-like ''lizard'' of uncertain affinities, it is here shown to be the most primitive snake, and the sister-group to all other snakes. Pachyrhachis exhibits numerous derived characters uniting it with modern snakes (scolecophidians and alethinophidians): e.g. mobile premaxilla-maxilla articulation, braincase enclosed by frontals and parietals, sagittal parietal crest, absence of tympanic recess, single postdentary bone, over 140 presacral vertebrae, and complete loss of shoulder girdle and forelimb. However, it is more primitive than all modern snakes in retaining some strikingly primitive (lizard-like) features: presence of a jugal, squamosal, normal sacral attachment, and well-developed hindlimb composed of femur, tibia, fibula, and tarsals. Pachyrhachis provides additional support for the hypothesis that snakes are most closely related to Cretaceous marine lizards (mosasauroids). Almost all of the derived characters proposed to unite snakes and mosasauroids are highly developed in Pachyrhachis: the mobile mandibular symphysis, intramandibular joint, long and recurved pterygoid teeth, quadrate suspended by the supratemporal, loosely united pelvic elements (ilium, ischium, and pubis), and separate astragalus and calcaneum.     

Physiological response of Pichia pastoris GS115 to methanol-induced high level production of the Hepatitis B surface antigen: catabolic adaptation, stress responses, and autophagic processes

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Pichia pastoris is an established eukaryotic host for the production of recombinant proteins. Most often, protein production is under the control of the strong methanol-inducible aox1 promoter. However, detailed information about the physiological alterations in P. pastoris accompanying the shift from growth on glycerol to methanol-induced protein production under industrial relevant conditions is missing. Here, we provide an analysis of the physiological response of P. pastoris GS115 to methanol-induced high-level production of the Hepatitis B virus surface antigen (HBsAg). High product titers and the retention of the protein in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) are supposedly of major impact on the host physiology. For a more detailed understanding of the cellular response to methanol-induced HBsAg production, the time-dependent changes in the yeast proteome and ultrastructural cell morphology were analyzed during the production process. RESULTS: The shift from growth on glycerol to growth and HBsAg production on methanol was accompanied by a drastic change in the yeast proteome. In particular, enzymes from the methanol dissimilation pathway started to dominate the proteome while enzymes from the methanol assimilation pathway, e.g. the transketolase DAS1, increased only moderately. The majority of methanol was metabolized via the energy generating dissimilatory pathway leading to a corresponding increase in mitochondrial size and numbers. The methanol-metabolism related generation of reactive oxygen species induced a pronounced oxidative stress response (e.g. strong increase of the peroxiredoxin PMP20). Moreover, the accumulation of HBsAg in the ER resulted in the induction of the unfolded protein response (e.g. strong increase of the ER-resident disulfide isomerase, PDI) and the ER associated degradation (ERAD) pathway (e.g. increase of two cytosolic chaperones and members of the AAA ATPase superfamily) indicating that potential degradation of HBsAg could proceed via the ERAD pathway and through the proteasome. However, the amount of HBsAg did not show any significant decline during the cultivation revealing its general protection from proteolytic degradation. During the methanol fed-batch phase, induction of vacuolar proteases (e.g. strong increase of APR1) and constitutive autophagic processes were observed. Vacuolar enclosures were mainly found around peroxisomes and not close to HBsAg deposits and, thus, were most likely provoked by peroxisomal components damaged by reactive oxygen species generated by methanol oxidation. CONCLUSIONS: In the methanol fed-batch phase P. pastoris is exposed to dual stress; stress resulting from methanol degradation and stress resulting from the production of the recombinant protein leading to the induction of oxidative stress and unfolded protein response pathways, respectively. Finally, the modest increase of methanol assimilatory enzymes compared to the strong increase of methanol dissimilatory enzymes suggests here a potential to increase methanol incorporation into biomass/product through metabolic enhancement of the methanol assimilatory pathway.     

Influence of mold growth on the pressure drop in aerated solid state fermentors

The measurement of pressure drop(DeltaP) across an aerated fermentation bed is proposed as alternative on-line sensor for the qualitative and, in some cases, quantitative, macroscopic changes in a static solid state fermentor. An increase in the DeltaP is correlated with the evolution of the different phases of Aspergillus niger growth: germination, vegetative growth, limitation, and sporulation, we observed in the microscope. For the case where the support is not modified during the fermentation and the water content remains constant, i.e., a synthetic resin (Amberlite IRA-900), the gas phase permeability of the bed is directly related to the biomass content. For example, the permeability of the bed is reduced to 5% of the initial value when biomass attains 21 mg dry biomass/g dry support. Biomass was appropriately predicted from the DeltaP measurements in an independent test. Experiments with different initial sucrose solution concentrations showed that biomass could not be produced beyond a certain level (21.5 mg dry biomass/g dry support) which suggests steric limitations. For the case of wheat bran and cane bagasse, the increase in DeltaP was related qualitatively to the evolution in the growth and the morphology of the mold . (c) 1993 Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Phylogenetic, functional, and structural components of variation in bone growth rate of amniotes

SUMMARY The biological features observed in every living organism are the outcome of three sets of factors: historical (inherited by homology), functional (biological adaptation), and structural (properties inherent to the materials with which organs are constructed, and the morphogenetic rules by which they grow). Integrating them should bring satisfactory causal explanations of empirical data. However, little progress has been accomplished in practice toward this goal, because a methodologically efficient tool was lacking. Here we use a new statistical method of variation partitioning to analyze bone growth in amniotes. (1) Historical component . The variation of bone growth rates contains a significant phylogenetic signal, suggesting that the observed patterns are partly the outcome of shared ancestry. (2) Functional causation . High growth rates, although energy costly, may be adaptive (i.e., they may increase survival rates) in taxa showing short growth periods (e.g., birds). In ectothermic amniotes, low resting metabolic rates may limit the maximum possible growth rates. (3) Structural constraint . Whereas soft tissues grow through a multiplicative process, growth of mineralized tissues is accretionary (additive, i.e., mineralization fronts occur only at free surfaces). Bone growth of many amniotes partially circumvents this constraint: it is achieved not only at the external surface of the bone shaft, but also within cavities included in the bone cortex as it grows centrifugally. Our approach contributes to the unification of historicism, functionalism, and structuralism toward a more integrated evolutionary biology.     

Morphological indicators of foot posture in mammals: a statistical and biomechanical analysis

Mammalian foot posture has previously been described through the three-tiered hierarchy of plantigrady, digitigrady and unguligrady. This broadly applicable terminology has been used to categorize both living and fossil taxa, despite the fact that these postural grades, as traditionally used, do not rely on strict mechanical, kinematic or morphologic definitions. This paper redefines these terms: hind foot posture can be more accurately categorized if these definitions are based on the primary joint of flexure in the standing position. Once postures are so defined, a number of morphological features in taxa can be correlated with the use of particular postures. Bivariate and multivariate statistical analyses of morphological measurements from a large ( n = 61) group of plantigrade and digitigrade eutherian mammals indicate that foot posture can be reliably detected from a relatively small number of morphological measurements on a few limb and tarsal bones (femur, astragalus, calcaneum and metatarsals). The features important in distinguishing postural grades fit expectations from biomechanical theory, and should prove useful for the prediction of foot posture in fossil taxa, particularly when complete specimens are not known.