Shared and Separate Knowledge among Eight Cultural Groups Based on Ethnobotanical Uses of Rhododendron (Ericaceae) in Yunnan Province, China

Shared and Separate Knowledge among Eight Cultural Groups Based on Ethnobotanical Uses of Rhododendron (Ericaceae) in Yunnan Province, China. Yunnan, a province in southwest China, is known for its cultural diversity of 25 ethnic minorities and its vast Himalayan biodiversity, especially of Rhododendron. Previous literature has shown that some cultural groups share ethnobotanical knowledge while other cultural groups keep their knowledge separate. We investigated factors that may lead to the sharing of knowledge based on the uses of rhododendron among seven cultural minorities (the Bai, Dulong, Lisu, Naxi, Nu, Tibetan, and Yi) and the Han majority. Semistructured interviews about rhododendrons were conducted with approximately 30 individuals in each cultural group. Cluster analyses and a new analysis method were conducted to determine the within-group homogeneity of knowledge of rhododendron uses to test hypotheses related to strength of cultural traditions. The Dulong, Lisu, and Nu were compared with each other as these groups share villages and languages. The Naxi, Tibetan, and Yi live predominantly with members of their cultural group, and are often monolingual; thus, these three cultural minorities were compared. The Bai and Han compose the final comparison as the Bai are increasingly interacting with the local Han majority as tourism grows in that area. The Bai, Dulong, Han, Lisu, and Nu had variable answers within each group, while the Naxi, Tibetan, and Yi have homogeneous knowledge of uses of rhododendron within their cultural group. Among the eight cultural groups compared for this study, factors such as sharing of language, overlap of living situation, and sharing of markets leads to non-homogenous knowledge of rhododendron uses among members of the same cultural group.     

Dynamic changes in the structure of microbial communities in Baltic Sea coastal seawater microcosms modified by crude oil,shale oil or diesel fuel

The coastal waters of the Baltic Sea are constantly threatened by oil spills, due to the extensive transportation of oil products across the sea. To characterise the hydrocarbon-degrading bacterial community of this marine area, microcosm experiments on diesel fuel, crude oil and shale oil were performed. Analysis of these microcosms, using alkane monooxygenase (alkB) and 16S rRNA marker genes in PCR-DGGE experiments, demonstrated that substrate type and concentration strongly influence species composition and the occurrence of alkB genes in respective oil degrading bacterial communities. Gammaproteobacteria (particularly the genus Pseudomonas) and Alphaproteobacteria were dominant in all microcosms treated with oils. All alkB genes carried by bacterial isolates (40 strains), and 8 of the 11 major DGGE bands from the microcosms, had more than 95% sequence identity with the alkB genes of Pseudomonas fluorescens. However, the closest relatives of the majority of sequences (54 sequences from 79) of the alkB gene library from initially collected seawater DNA were Actinobacteria. alkB gene expression, induced by hexadecane, was recorded in isolated bacterial strains. Thus, complementary culture dependent and independent methods provided a more accurate picture about the complex seawater microbial communities of the Baltic Sea.     

Proteomic Biomarkers Associated with Streptococcus agalactiae Invasive Genogroups

Group B streptococcus (GBS, Streptococcus agalactiae) is a leading cause of meningitis and sepsis in newborns and an etiological agent of meningitis, endocarditis, osteoarticular and soft tissue infections in adults. GBS isolates are routinely clustered in serotypes and in genotypes. At present one GBS sequence type (i.e. ST17) is considered to be closely associated with bacterial invasiveness and novel proteomic biomarkers could make a valuable contribution to currently available GBS typing data. For that purpose we analyzed the protein profiles of 170 genotyped GBS isolates by Surface-Enhanced Laser Desorption/Ionization Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry (SELDI). Univariate statistical analysis of the SELDI profiles identified four protein biomarkers significantly discriminating ST17 isolates from those of the other sequence types. Two of these biomarkers (MW of 7878 Da and 12200 Da) were overexpressed and the other two (MW of 6258 Da and 10463 Da) were underexpressed in ST17. The four proteins were isolated by mass spectrometry-assisted purification and their tryptic peptides analyzed by LC-MS/MS. They were thereby identified as the small subunit of exodeoxyribonuclease VII, the 50S ribosomal protein L7/L12, a CsbD-like protein and thioredoxin, respectively. In conclusion, we identified four candidate biomarkers of ST17 by SELDI for high-throughput screening. These markers may serve as a basis for further studies on the pathophysiology of GBS infection, and for the development of novel vaccines.     

Looking Time Predicts Choice but Not Aesthetic Value

Although visual fixations are commonly used to index stimulus-driven or internally-determined preference, recent evidence suggests that visual fixations can also be a source of decisional bias that moves selection toward the fixated object. These contrasting results raise the question of whether visual fixations always index comparative processes during choice-based tasks, or whether they might better reflect internal preferences when the decision does not carry any economic or corporeal consequences. In two experiments, participants chose which of two objects were more aesthetically pleasing (Exp.1) or appeared more organic (Exp.2), and provided independent aesthetic ratings of the stimuli. Our results demonstrated that fixation parameters were a better index of choice in both decisional domains than of aesthetic preference. The data support models in which visual fixations are specifically related to the evolution of decision processes even when the decision has no tangible consequences.     

红角鸮的食性及育雏行为初报

红角鸮(Otus sunia)广泛分布于东亚和南亚。2012和2013年的两个繁殖季节,在江苏省南京大学浦口校区通过红外摄像观察记录了红角鸮的摄食及育雏行为,统计了亲代红角鸮育雏食物的种类、育雏的时间和次数。以1 h为一个时段,利用单因素方差分析(ANOVA)及Student-Newman-Keulsa多重比较法分析各时段之间育雏频次的差异。亲鸟育雏的食物大部分为直翅目(62%)和鳞翅目(18%)昆虫,以及非昆虫类的无脊椎动物,如蜘蛛(8%)和唇足动物(7%),红角鸮也捕食小型陆栖脊椎动物例如田鼠、壁虎等育雏,但比例甚低(3%)。红角鸮育雏节律较为明显,亲鸟主要集中在夜间外出觅食,但在白天也有觅食行为。夜间共有三个育雏高峰,分别为日落之后的19:00~20:00时和21:00~22:00时以及日出之前的04:00~05:00时。     

A Cross-Species Analysis Reveals a General Role for Piezo2 in Mechanosensory Specialization of Trigeminal Ganglia from Tactile Specialist Birds

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Systematic identification of SH3 domain-mediated human protein-protein interactions by peptide array target screening

Systematic identification of direct protein-protein interactions is often hampered by difficulties in expressing and purifying the corresponding full-length proteins. By taking advantage of the modular nature of many regulatory proteins, we attempted to simplify protein-protein interactions to the corresponding domain-ligand recognition and employed peptide arrays to identify such binding events. A group of 12 Src homology (SH) 3 domains from eight human proteins (Swiss-Prot ID: SRC, PLCG1, P85A, NCK1, GRB2, FYN, CRK) were used to screen a peptide target array composed of 1536 potential ligands, which led to the identification of 921 binary interactions between these proteins and 284 targets. To assess the efficiency of the peptide array target screening (PATS) method in identifying authentic protein-protein interactions, we examined a set of interactions mediated by the PLCgamma1 SH3 domain by coimmunoprecipitation and/or affinity pull-downs using full-length proteins and achieved a 75% success rate. Furthermore, we characterized a novel interaction between PLCgamma1 and hematopoietic progenitor kinase 1 (HPK1) identified by PATS and demonstrated that the PLCgamma1 SH3 domain negatively regulated HPK1 kinase activity. Compared to protein interactions listed in the online predicted human interaction protein database (OPHID), the majority of interactions identified by PATS are novel, suggesting that, when extended to the large number of peptide interaction domains encoded by the human genome, PATS should aid in the mapping of the human interactome.