Comparative proteomic analysis of growth hormone secretagogue A233 treatment of murine macrophage cells J774A.2 indicates it has a role in antiviral innate response

BackgroundGrowth hormone secretagogues (GHS), among other factors, regulate the release of GH. The biological activity of the secretagogue peptide A233 as a promoter of growth and innate immunity in teleost fish has previously been demonstrated, but its role in the immune system of mammals is not well understood.MethodsThe effect of the peptide was investigated in J774A.2 macrophage cells using a comparative proteomics approach after 6 and 12 h of peptide stimulation.ResultsThe functional analysis of differentially modulated proteins showed that A233 peptide treatment appears to promote activation and ROS-dependent cytotoxic functions in macrophages and enhanced expression of antiviral protein complexes such as MAVS. In accordance with this hypothesis, we found that A233 treatment enhanced superoxide anion production and the IFN-γ level in J774A.2 cells and mouse splenocytes, respectively, and reduced viral load in a dengue virus mouse model of infection.ConclusionsThe growth hormone secretagogue A233 peptide promotes activation of ROS-dependent cytotoxic functions and exerts immunomodulatory effects that enable an antiviral state in a dengue virus mouse model.General SignificanceThe increase of IFN-γ level and the differential modulation of antiviral proteins by the A233 peptide suggest that the molecule could activate an innate immune response with a possible further impact in the treatment of acute and chronic diseases.     

Modeling bond correlations in denatured proteins and polypeptides

Bond‐orientational correlations for finite‐length homopolypeptides and a selected group of denatured proteins are obtained by numerical simulations using a polypeptide model with a potential of mean force. These correlations characterize the stiffness of the polypeptide backbone and are generally described by either an exponential or a power‐law decay in the asymptotic limit. However, for finite length polypeptides and unfolded proteins the correlations significantly deviate from either single exponential or power‐law behavior. A heuristic model is developed to analyze the correlations of homopolypeptides, which depends on the chain length and the side‐chain properties. The model contains power‐law and multi‐exponential terms, the latter which could be interpreted as local persistence lengths. In the asymptotic limit, the model reduces to the expected power‐law behavior. Simulations of denatured proteins show that the power‐law behavior of the correlations is significantly suppressed and only the multi‐exponential term is needed to model the correlations. In addition, average persistence lengths (ranging from 2.0 to 2.5 nm) are obtained from the correlations by fitting single exponentials and shown to be in general agreement with experiments, which also assume single exponential decay. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Biopolymers 105: 312–323, 2016.     

Diet–demography relationships in a long‐lived predator: from territories to populations

Understanding the mechanisms that shape animal population dynamics is of fundamental interest in ecology, evolution and conservation biology. Food supply is an important limiting factor in most animal populations and may have demographic consequences. Optimal foraging theory predicts greater consumption of preferred prey and less diet diversity when food is abundant, which may benefit key fitness parameters such as productivity and survival. Nevertheless, the correspondence between individual resource use and demographic processes in populations of avian predators inhabiting large geographic areas remains largely unexplored, particularly in complex ecosystems such as those of the Mediterranean basin. Based on a long‐term monitoring program of the diet and demography of Bonelli's eagle Aquila fasciata in western Europe, here we test the hypothesis that a predator's diet is correlated to its breeding productivity and survival at both the territorial and population levels, and ultimately to its population growth rate. At the territorial level, we found that productivity increased with greater consumption of European rabbits Oryctolagus cuniculus, the Bonelli's eagle's preferred prey, and pigeons, an important alternative prey for this predator. The survival of territorial pairs was negatively affected by higher diet diversity, which probably reflected the inability to find sufficient high quality prey. Diet effects at the population level were similar but more noticeable than at the territorial level, i.e. a greater consumption of rabbits, together with lesser consumption of small‐to‐medium avian species (‘other birds’; non‐preferred prey), increased productivity, while greater diet diversity and lower consumption of rabbits was associated with reduced survival and population growth rate. Overall, our study illustrates how the diet of a predator species can be closely related to key individual vital rates, which, in turn, leave a measurable fingerprint on population dynamics within and among populations across large spatial scales.     

Effects of light and temperature on seed germination of cacti of Brazilian ecosystems

Environmental factors are used by plants as spatio‐temporal indicators of favorable conditions for seed germination. Thus, the objective of this study was to determine the effect of light and temperature on seed germination of 30 taxa of Cactaceae occurring in northeastern Brazil and to evaluate whether fluctuations in temperature are capable of altering light sensitivity. The seeds were tested for germination under two light conditions (12 h photoperiod and continuous darkness) and 10 temperature treatments: eight constant temperatures (10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40 and 45°C) and two alternating temperatures (30/20°C and 35/25°C). The species studied showed two photoblastic responses. All cacti from the Cactoideae subfamily (22 taxa) were classified as positive photoblastic (i.e., no germination in darkness), regardless of the temperature treatment used. Likewise, temperature fluctuation did not alter the seed sensitivity to light. On the other hand, the species of the Opuntioideae (five taxa) and Pereskioideae (three taxa) subfamilies are indifferent to light (i.e., germinated both in the presence and absence of light). The cacti from the areas of Caatinga and Cerrado showed an optimal germination temperature of 30°C, while the species from Atlantic Forest and Restinga areas showed an optimal germination temperature of 25°C.     

Nutrient availability and climate as the main determinants of the ratio of biomass to NPP in woody and non-woody forest compartments

Key message

Once the effect of stand age has been taken into account, nutrient availability and climate play a crucial role in determining the B:NPPs of woody and non-woody tissues.

Abstract

Forest ecosystems accumulate large amounts of carbon in living tissues. The residence time of this carbon in the ecosystem depends largely on the turnover time of these tissues, which can be estimated as a surrogate of the ratio of biomass to net primary production (B:NPP). We used a global forest database of 310 sites containing data for biomass stocks and NPP to investigate the differences of B:NPPs among species and forest compartments and to determine B:NPPs main exogenous (mainly climate and nutrient availability) and endogenous (leaf habit and stand age) drivers. We used asymptotic exponential functions to adjust the B:NPPs of woody compartments to a theoretical stationary state to allow comparisons between forests of different ages. The B:NPPs of woody tissues (branches, stems, and coarse roots) were positively influenced by stand age, conversely to fine roots and leaves, which were weakly dependent on the age of the forest. The B:NPPs of woody tissues were positively correlated with nutrient availability, whereas fine-root B:NPPs decreased with increasing nutrient availability. The foliar B:NPP of evergreen forests was positively correlated with water deficit, and the fine-root B:NPP was correlated positively with the seasonality of precipitation and with annual thermal amplitude but negatively with water deficit. Our results support the influence of climate on the B:NPPs of non-woody compartments and identify nutrient availability as the main influence on the B:NPPs of woody tissues.