Reassessing Neotropical angiosperm distribution patterns based on monographic data: a geometric interpolation approach

Monographic data rely on specimens deposited in herbaria and museums, which have been thoroughly revised by experts. However, monographic data have been rarely used to map species richness at large scale, mainly because of the difficulties caused by spatially heterogeneous sampling effort. In this paper we estimate patterns of species richness and narrow endemism, based on monographic data of 4,055 Neotropical angiosperm species. We propose a geometric interpolation method to derive species ranges at a 1° grid resolution. To this we apply an inverse distance-weighted summation scheme to derive maps of species richness and endemism. In the latter we also adjust for heterogeneous sampling effort. Finally, we test the robustness of the interpolated species ranges and derived species richness by applying the same method but using a leave-one-out-cross-validation (LOOCV). The derived map shows four distinct regions of elevated species richness: (1) Central America, (2) the Northern Andes, (3) Amazonia and (4) the Brazilian Atlantic coast (‘Mata Atlantica’). The region with the highest estimated species richness is Amazonia, with Central America following closely behind. Centers of narrow endemism are located over the entire Neotropics, several of them coinciding with regions of elevated species richness. Sampling effort has a minor influence on the interpolation of overall species richness, but it substantially influences the estimation of regions of narrow endemism. Thus, in order to improve maps of narrow endemism and resulting conservation efforts, more collection and identification activity is required.     

Solid-phase synthesis of polymyxin B1 and analogues via a safety-catch approach.

As part of a program towards the development of novel antibiotics, a convenient method for solid-phase synthesis of the cyclic cationic peptide polymyxin B1 and analogues thereof is described. The methodology, based on cleavage-by-cyclization using Kenner's safety-catch linker, yields crude products with purities ranging from 37-67%. Antibacterial assays revealed that analogues 23-26, in which the (S)-6-methyloctanoic acid moiety is replaced with shorter acyl chains, exhibit distinct antimicrobial activity. The results suggest that the length of the acyl chain is rather critical for antimicrobial activity. On the other hand, substitution of the hydrophobic ring-segment D-Phe-6/Leu-7 in polymyxin B1 with dipeptide mimics (i.e. analogues 27-33) resulted in almost complete loss of antimicrobial activity.     

Alterations in cerebrospinal fluid uridine,hypoxanthine, and xanthine in head-injured patients

1. Examination of the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of head-injured patients reveals that the concentration of intraventricular xanthine is elevated and that of uridine is decreased relative to those of adult lumbar CSF. 2. No correlations were observed between CSF lactate and CSF hypoxanthine, xanthine, or uridine, suggesting that changes in purine metabolites and the pyrimidine nucleoside do not index similar cellular events as does lactic acid production. 3. Ventricular CSF from hydrocephalic infants had uridine and hypoxanthine concentrations not significantly different from those of normal adult lumbar CSF, but xanthine was significantly elevated. 4. Since uridine has anticonvulsant properties and is a crucial substrate for cerebral metabolism, it may be useful to evaluate this pyrimidine for use in the management of patients with head injury.     

IFN increases class I MHC antigen expression on adenovirus-infected human cells without inducing resistance to natural killer cell killing.

It has been previously shown that unstimulated NK cells cannot preferentially lyse adenovirus serotypes 2 and 5-infected human cells. In this study, the ability of IFN to promote the selective NK cell-mediated lysis of adenovirus-infected human cells was determined. The relationship between target cell susceptibility to NK cell-mediated killing and class I Ag expression was also analyzed through the use of adenovirus serotype 2 and 5 mutants that do not make the adenovirus early region 3 19-kDa class I binding protein. IFN induced the selective lysis of adenovirus serotype 2 and 5-infected human cells by activating NK cells (IFN-alpha) and protecting uninfected, but not adenovirus-infected cells, from NK cell-mediated lysis (IFN-gamma). IFN-gamma increased the expression of class I Ag on the surface of cells infected with the adenovirus early region 3 deletion mutants, dl327 or dl801, to a level equal to or greater than that expressed on uninfected cells. Despite the increased expression of class I Ag, IFN-gamma could not protect these adenovirus-infected cells from NK cell-mediated lysis. Thus, dl327 or dl801 infection prevented IFN-gamma's induction of cytolytic resistance to NK cell-mediated killing but left IFN-gamma's induction of class I Ag intact. Surface class I Ag levels were substantially higher on IFN-gamma-treated, dl327-, and dl801-infected cells in comparison to cells infected with wild type adenovirus serotype 5. Again, higher target cell levels of class I Ag did not correlate with increased resistance to NK cell-mediated lysis because there was equivalent NK cell-mediated killing of IFN-gamma-treated adenovirus serotype 5-, dl327-, or dl801-infected cells. Thus, IFN-gamma only protects uninfected cells from NK cell-mediated killing, irrespective of target class I Ag levels, and thereby concentrates NK lytic activity on just adenovirus-infected cells. These data demonstrate that IFN-gamma's ability to protect target cells from NK cell-mediated cytolysis is unrelated to IFN-gamma's induction of surface class I MHC Ag.     

Comparison of statistics for candidate-gene association studies using cases and parents.

Studies of association between candidate genes and disease can be designed to use cases with disease, and in place of nonrelated controls, their parents. The advantage of this design is the elimination of spurious differences due to ethnic differences between cases and nonrelated controls. However, several statistical methods of analysis have been proposed in the literature, and the choice of analysis is not always clear. We review some of the statistical methods currently developed and present two new statistical methods aimed at specific genetic hypotheses of dominance and recessivity of the candidate gene. These new methods can be more powerful than other current methods, as demonstrated by simulations. The basis of these new statistical methods is a likelihood approach. The advantage of the likelihood framework is that regression models can be developed to assess genotype-environment interactions, as well as the relative contribution that alleles at the candidate-gene locus make to the relative risk (RR) of disease. This latter development allows testing of (1) whether interactions between alleles exist, on the scale of log RR, and (2) whether alleles originating from the mother or father of a case impart different risks, i.e., genomic imprinting.     

Transcriptional control, translation and function of the products of the five open reading frames of the Escherichia coli nir operon

Five open reading frames designated nirB, nirD, nirE, nirC and cysG have been identified from the DNA sequence of the Escherichia coli nir operon. Complementation experiments established that the NirB, NirD and CysG polypeptides are essential and sufficient for NADH-dependent nitrite reductase activity (EC 1.6.6.4). A series of plasmids has been constructed in which each of the open reading frames has been fused in-phase with the beta-galactosidase gene, lacZ. Rates of beta-galactosidase synthesis during growth in different media revealed that nirB, -D, -E and -C are transcribed from the FNR-dependent promoter, p-nirB, located just upstream of the nirB gene: expression is co-ordinately repressed by oxygen and induced during anaerobic growth. Although the nirB, -D and -C open reading frames are translated into protein, no translation of nirE mRNA was detected. The cysG gene product is expressed from both p-nirB and a second, FNR-independent promoter, p-cysG, located within the nirC gene. No NADH-dependent nitrite reductase activity was detected in extracts from bacteria lacking either NirB or NirD, but a mixture of the two was as active as an extract from wild-type bacteria. Reconstitution of enzyme activity in vitro required stoichiometric quantities of NirB and NirD and was rapid and independent of the temperature during mixing. NirD remained associated with NirB during the initial stages of purification of the active enzyme, suggesting that NirD is a second structural subunit of the enzyme.