Seasonal variation and an “outbreak” of frog predation by tamarins

We report temporal variation and an “outbreak” of frog predation by moustached tamarins, Saguinus mystax, in north-eastern Peruvian Amazonia. Frog predation rates were generally very low, but strongly increased in October 2015. Other high rates, identified by outlier analyses, were also observed in September–November of other years. Over all study years, predation rates in this 3-month period were significantly higher than those in the remainder of the year, suggesting a seasonal pattern of frog predation by tamarins. Reduced fruit availability or increased frog abundance or a combination of both may be responsible for both the seasonal pattern and the specific “outbreak” of frog predation.     

Mid-Cretaceous/Albian (Cretaceous) ostracod assemblages from NW Hungary reflecting deep marine,nearshore and non-marine environments

The Albian sediments of the Transdanubian Range in Hungary were deposited in non-marine to fully-marine environments. The studied sections revealed diverse benthic ostracod faunas with moderately-preserved specimens. Forty-six taxa are identified and Cypridea zalanyii n. sp. is newly described. The detailed palaeoecological study of these ostracod faunas provided an opportunity to distinguish eight assemblages. The assemblages include limnic, brackish lagoon, shallow marine, reef and low oxygenated semi-enclosed basin environments in the Northern Tethys region we investigated. This work contributes to the knowledge about Albian non-marine faunas from Europe and explores ecological requirements of brackish faunas.     

Generation of diverse neuronal subtypes in cloned populations of stem-like cells

Background  

The central nervous tissue contains diverse subtypes of neurons with characteristic morphological and physiological features and different neurotransmitter phenotypes. The generation of neurons with defined neurotransmitter phenotypes seems to be governed by factors differently expressed along the anterior-posterior and dorsal-ventral body axes. The mechanisms of the cell-type determination, however, are poorly understood. Selected neuronal phenotypes had been generated from embryonic stem (ES) cells, but similar results were not obtained on more restricted neural stem cells, presumably due to the lack of homogeneous neural stem cell populations as a starting material.     

MAPL is a new mitochondrial SUMO E3 ligase that regulates mitochondrial fission

The modification of proteins by the small ubiquitin‐like modifier (SUMO) is known to regulate an increasing array of cellular processes. SUMOylation of the mitochondrial fission GTPase dynamin‐related protein 1 (DRP1) stimulates mitochondrial fission, suggesting that SUMOylation has an important function in mitochondrial dynamics. The conjugation of SUMO to its substrates requires a regulatory SUMO E3 ligase; however, so far, none has been functionally associated with the mitochondria. By using biochemical assays, overexpression and RNA interference experiments, we characterized the mitochondrial‐anchored protein ligase (MAPL) as the first mitochondrial‐anchored SUMO E3 ligase. Furthermore, we show that DRP1 is a substrate for MAPL, providing a direct link between MAPL and the fission machinery. Importantly, the large number of unidentified mitochondrial SUMO targets suggests a global role for SUMOylation in mitochondrial function, placing MAPL as a crucial component in the regulation of multiple conjugation events.     

Replication of recently identified systemic lupus erythematosus genetic associations: a case–control study

Introduction

We aimed to replicate association of newly identified systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) loci.

Methods

We selected the most associated SNP in 10 SLE loci. These 10 SNPs were analysed in 1,579 patients with SLE and 1,726 controls of European origin by single-base extension. Comparison of allele frequencies between cases and controls was done with the Mantel–Haenszel approach to account for heterogeneity between sample collections.

Results

A previously controversial association with a SNP in the TYK2 gene was replicated (odds ratio (OR) = 0.79, P = 2.5 × 10-⁵), as well as association with the X chromosome MECP2 gene (OR = 1.26, P = 0.00085 in women), which had only been reported in a single study, and association with four other loci, 1q25.1 (OR = 0.81, P = 0.0001), PXK (OR = 1.19, P = 0.0038), BANK1 (OR = 0.83, P = 0.006) and KIAA1542 (OR = 0.84, P = 0.001), which have been identified in a genome-wide association study, but not found in any other study. All these replications showed the same disease-associated allele as originally reported. No association was found with the LY9 SNP, which had been reported in a single study.

Conclusions

Our results confirm nine SLE loci. For six of them, TYK2, MECP2, 1q25.1, PXK, BANK1 and KIAA1542, this replication is important. The other three loci, ITGAM, STAT4 and C8orf13-BLK, were already clearly confirmed. Our results also suggest that MECP2 association has no influence in the sex bias of SLE, contrary to what has been proposed. In addition, none of the other associations seems important in this respect.     

Isoprenoid biosynthesis in the erythrocytic stages of Plasmodium falciparum

The development of new drugs is one strategy for malaria control. Biochemical pathways localised in the apicoplast of the parasite, such as the synthesis of isoprenic precursors, are excellent targets because they are different or absent in the human host. Isoprenoids are a large and highly diverse group of natural products with many functions and their synthesis is essential for the parasite's survival. During the last few years, the genes, enzymes, intermediates and mechanisms of this biosynthetic route have been elucidated. In this review, we comment on some aspects of the methylerythritol phosphate pathway and discuss the presence of diverse isoprenic products such as dolichol, ubiquinone, carotenoids, menaquinone and isoprenylated proteins, which are biosynthesised during the intraerythrocytic stages of Plasmodium falciparum.     

Measuring Long-Term Impact Based on Network Centrality: Unraveling Cinematic Citations

Traditional measures of success for film, such as box-office revenue and critical acclaim, lack the ability to quantify long-lasting impact and depend on factors that are largely external to the craft itself. With the growing number of films that are being created and large-scale data becoming available through crowd-sourced online platforms, an endogenous measure of success that is not reliant on manual appraisal is of increasing importance. In this article we propose such a ranking method based on a combination of centrality indices. We apply the method to a network that contains several types of citations between more than 40,000 international feature films. From this network we derive a list of milestone films, which can be considered to constitute the foundations of cinema. In a comparison to various existing lists of ‘greatest’ films, such as personal favourite lists, voting lists, lists of individual experts, and lists deduced from expert polls, the selection of milestone films is more diverse in terms of genres, actors, and main creators. Our results shed light on the potential of a systematic quantitative investigation based on cinematic influences in identifying the most inspiring creations in world cinema. In a broader perspective, we introduce a novel research question to large-scale citation analysis, one of the most intriguing topics that have been at the forefront of scientific enquiries for the past fifty years and have led to the development of various network analytic methods. In doing so, we transfer widely studied approaches from citation analysis to the the newly emerging field of quantification efforts in the arts. The specific contribution of this paper consists in modelling the multidimensional cinematic references as a growing multiplex network and in developing a methodology for the identification of central films in this network.     

Carob pulp as raw material for production of the biocontrol agent <Emphasis Type="Italic">P. agglomerans</Emphasis> PBC-1

Large-scale production has been the major obstacle to the success of many biopesticides. The spreading of microbial biocontrol agents against postharvest disease, as a safe and environmentally friendly alternative to synthetic fungicides, is quite dependent on their industrial mass production from low-cost raw materials. Considerable interest has been shown in using agricultural waste products and by-products from food industry as nitrogen and carbon sources. In this work, carob pulp aqueous extracts were used as carbon source in the production of the biocontrol agent Pantoea agglomerans PBC-1. Optimal sugar extraction was achieved at a solid/liquid ratio of 1:10 (w/v), at 25°C, for 1 h. Batch experiments were performed in shake flasks, at different concentrations and in stirred reactors at two initial inoculums concentrations, 10⁶ and 10⁷ cfu ml⁻¹. The initial sugar concentration of 5 g l⁻¹ allowed rapid growth (0.16 h⁻¹) and high biomass productivity (0.28 g l⁻¹ h⁻¹) and was chosen as the value for use in stirred reactor experiments. After 22 and 32 h of fermentation the viable population reached was 3.2 × 10⁹ and 6.2 × 10⁹ cfu ml⁻¹ in the fermenter inoculated at 10⁶ cfu ml⁻¹ and 2.7 × 10⁹ and 6.7 × 10⁹ cfu ml⁻¹ in the bioreactor inoculated at 10⁷ cfu ml⁻¹. A 78% reduction of the pathogen incidence was achieved with PBC-1 at 1 × 10⁸ cfu ml⁻¹, grown in medium with carob extracts, on artificially wounded apples stored after 7 days at 25°C against P. expansum.