Carabid patterns in olive orchards and woody semi-natural habitats: first implications for conservation biological control against <Emphasis Type="Italic">Bactrocera oleae</Emphasis>

The role of carabids (Coleoptera: Carabidae) for pest control service in perennial crop systems has been scarcely investigated. We addressed this knowledge gap exploring activity patterns and traits of adult carabids dwelling olive orchard agroecosystems as potential natural enemies of third instar larvae and pupae of Bactrocera oleae (Diptera: Tephritidae). Olive orchard supported a well-structured carabid assemblage, whose species phenologies revealed a temporal overlapping within the pest cycle. The assemblage of adjacent woody semi-natural habitats is more of conservation interest, but may play a weaker role in B. oleae control provisioning. We suggest the identification of carabids main traits for B. oleae conservation biological control as a cost-effective strategy for addressing future attention and resources only to those predators that satisfy basic requirements. This research may open new scenarios on management interventions to both conserve predators and encourage alternative approaches against olive orchards pest.     

Interaction of decorin with CNBr peptides from collagens I and II. Evidence for multiple binding sites and essential lysyl residues in collagen.

Decorin is a small leucine-rich chondroitin/dermatan sulfate proteoglycan reported to interact with fibrillar collagens through its protein core and to localize at d and e bands of the collagen fibril banding pattern. Using a solid-phase assay, we have determined the interaction of peptides derived by CNBr cleavage of type I and type II collagen with decorin extracted from bovine tendon and its protein core and with a recombinant decorin preparation. At least five peptides have been found to interact with all three decorin samples. The interaction of peptides with tendon decorin has a dissociation constant in the nanomolar range. The triple helical conformation of the peptide trimeric species is a necessary requisite for the binding. All positive peptides have a region within the d and e bands of collagen fibrils. Two chemical derivatives of collagens and of positive peptides were prepared by N-acetylation and N-methylation of the primary amino group of Lys/Hyl side chains. Chemical modifications performed in mild conditions do not significantly alter the thermal stability of peptide trimeric species whereas they affect the interaction with decorin: N-acetylation eliminates both the positive charge and the binding to decorin, whereas N-methylation preserves the cationic character and modulates the binding. We conclude that decorin makes contacts with multiple sites in type I collagen and probably also in type II collagen and that some collagen Lys/Hyl residues are essential for the binding.     

The enzyme glutamine synthetase I of Drosophila melanogaster is associated with a modified RNA

Glutamine synthetase I (L-glutamate:ammonia ligase, ADP forming; EC 6.3.1.2) was purified from Drosophila melanogaster larvae. The complete enzyme has an apparent molecular weight of 380,000. The subunit of the active enzyme has an apparent molecular weight of 43,000 after sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Routine preparations yield enzymes which have at least another polypeptide component of apparent molecular weight of 64,000. Several factors suggest that the 64,000-dalton polypeptide might be a transformation product of the 43,000-dalton subunit which occurs in association with enzyme inactivation. Distinct from its protein subunit, from pure glutamine synthetase I a material can be extracted which can be labeled with 32P-labeled gamma-ATP using polynucleotide kinase. After alkaline hydrolysis the majority of the radioactivity is recovered as 5'2' and 5'3' ribonucleotide diphosphates, and after venom phosphodiesterase digestion as 5' ribonucleotide. We therefore conclude that the native glutamine synthetase I enzyme contains, or at least is reproducibly associated with, an RNA component. Several characteristics of the labeled material indicate that the RNA is small in size and is bound to polymer molecules different from RNA.     

Cultured fibroblasts of juvenile diabetics have excessively soluble pericellular collagen

The solubility of collagen synthesized by cultured skin fibroblasts derived from three patients affected by juvenile-onset diabetes mellitus and two normal controls has been compared. The diabetic collagen is much more soluble in 1.0 M NaCl pH 7.5 and in 0.5 M acetic acid. This excessive solubility is partially corrected by the addition to the diabetic cultures of a naturally-occuring flavonoid, (+)-catechin.     

A xenogeneic monoclonal antibody recognizing specificities controlled byHLA-A andB alleles

In the present paper one reagent among the many prepared has been carefully studied. It is a xenogeneic monoclonal antibody, F10.13/13, obtained by immunizing mice with human peripheral blood lymphocytes. The splenocytes of the immunized mice were fused with a murine myeloma and the supernatants of the resulting Ig-secreting hybridomas were tested against appropriate targets. — F10.13/13 behaves in a very peculiar manner from the serological point of view and we think that it reacts with maximal affinity with an epitope expressed most strongly on HLA glycoproteins controlled by genesB8, B7, andAw19. Founded and supported by F. Hoffman-La Roche & Co., Ltd., Basel, Switzerland.     

La Dendrologia di Ulisse Aldrovandi

Abstract

Legume-Rhizobium symbiotic nitrogen (N₂) fixation plays a critical role in sustainable nitrogen management in agriculture. The nitrogen fixed by the root nodules not only affects the nitrogen cycle of nature, but is also of great economic importance. A number of physiological and biochemical processes in the nodules are affected by salt stress. The objective of this study was to evaluate the role of arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) in moderating toxic effects of salt stress on nodular metabolism in Cajanus cajan (L.) Millspaugh (pigeonpea) cv. Manak. Exposure of plants to salinity stress (4, 6 and 8 dSm^?1) caused ionic imbalance, which resulted in increased Na⁺ and reduced K⁺ and Ca²⁺ contents in the nodules. Salinity induced increased synthesis and accumulation of proline and glycine betaine. Salt stress significantly increased the antioxidant enzyme activities in the nodules of all plants. Nodular growth suffered remarkably and a marked decline in nodule biomass was observed under salt stress. Leghemoglobin content and acetylene reduction activity (ARA) also declined under saline conditions. AM could significantly improve nodule dry mass, leghemoglobin content and nitrogenase activity, and phosphorus content under salt stress. Activities of antioxidant enzymes increased markedly in nodules of mycorrhizal-stressed plants. This study suggested a correlation between improved functional efficiency of nodules and higher osmolyte accumulation and enhanced antioxidant enzyme activities of AM plants under stressed conditions relative to the nodules of uninoculated plants.     

MxA mRNA Quantification and Disability Progression in Interferon Beta-Treated Multiple Sclerosis Patients

Even though anti-interferon beta (IFNβ) antibodies are the main determinants of IFNβ bioactivity loss and Myxovirus-resistance protein A (MxA) is the most established marker of IFNβ biological activity in IFNβ-treated multiple sclerosis patients, their usefulness in the routine clinical practice is still debated. Therefore, 118 multiple sclerosis patients naïve for treatment were enrolled for a 3-year longitudinal observational study mimicking the conditions of a real-world setting. In order to evaluate the kinetics of bioactivity loss in blood samples obtained every 6 months after therapy initiation, MxA and interferon receptor isoform/subunit mRNA were quantified by real-time PCR, anti-IFNβ binding antibodies were detected by radioimmunoprecipitation, and neutralizing antibodies by cytopathic effect inhibition assay. Clinical measures of disease activity and disability progression were also obtained at all time points. We found that, at the individual-patient level, the response to IFNβ therapy was extremely heterogeneous, including patients with stable or transitory, early or late loss of IFNβ bioactivity, and patients with samples lacking MxA mRNA induction in spite of absence of antibodies. No interferon receptor isoform alterations that could explain these findings were found. At the group level, none of these biological features correlated with the measures of clinical disease activity or progression. However, when MxA mRNA was evaluated not at the single time point as a dichotomic marker (induced vs. non-induced), but as the mean of its values measured over the 6-to-24 month period, the increasing average MxA predicted a decreasing risk of short-term disability progression, independently from the presence of relapses. Therefore, a more bioactive treatment, even if unable to suppress relapses, reduces their severity by an amount that is proportional to MxA levels. Together with its feasibility in the routine laboratory setting, these data warrant the quantification of MxA mRNA as a primary tool for a routine monitoring of IFNβ therapy.     

Ultrastructural characterization of antennal sensilla and immunocytochemical localization of a chemosensory protein in Carausius morosus Brünner (Phasmida: Phasmatidae)

The aim of this work was to investigate the olfactory system of the walking stick insect, Carausius morosus. Morphological, ultrastructural and immunocytochemical studies of adult female antennae were conducted by scanning and transmission electron microscopy. Extensive cross-section series were made through the last antennal segment to define the cuticular apparatus, wall pore distribution and the number of innervating receptor neurons of each sensillum type. Single-walled wall pore sensilla occur in three subtypes: (i) with 27 or 28 branched receptor neurons, (ii) with two branched neurons and (iii) with one or two unbranched neurons, respectively. Double-walled wall pore sensilla were found in two subtypes with spoke channels, one with four unbranched neurons, the other with two unbranched neurons. One terminal pore sensillum was found, showing two cavities within the hair and being innervated by six sensory cells. Immunocytochemical experiments were performed to show the localization of a 19 kDa soluble protein found in the chemosensory organs of C. morosus. This protein shows an amino acid sequence homologous to the family of chemosensory proteins (CSP). The polyclonal antibody raised against the purified protein (CSP-cmA) showed, for the first time in CSPs, a strong labeling in olfactory sensilla, specifically in the sensillum lymph surrounding the dendritic branches of SW-WP sensilla and in the uninnervated lumen between the two concentric walls of DW-WP type 1 sensilla.     

rRNA pseudouridylation defects affect ribosomal ligand binding and translational fidelity from yeast to human cells

How pseudouridylation (Ψ), the most common and evolutionarily conserved modification of rRNA, regulates ribosome activity is poorly understood. Medically, Ψ is important because the rRNA Ψ synthase, DKC1, is mutated in X-linked dyskeratosis congenita (X-DC) and Hoyeraal-Hreidarsson (HH) syndrome. Here, we characterize ribosomes isolated from?a yeast strain in which Cbf5p, the yeast homolog of DKC1, is catalytically impaired through a D95A mutation (cbf5-D95A). Ribosomes from cbf5-D95A cells display decreased affinities for tRNA binding to the A and P sites as well as the cricket paralysis virus internal ribosome entry site (IRES), which interacts with both the P and the E sites of the ribosome. This biochemical impairment in ribosome activity manifests as decreased translational fidelity and IRES-dependent translational initiation, which are also evident in mouse and human cells deficient for DKC1 activity. These findings uncover specific roles for Ψ modification in ribosome-ligand interactions that are conserved in yeast, mouse, and humans.