Are Hazel Grouse Bonasa bonasia monogamous?

The apparently monogamous social organization of Hazel Grouse Bonasa bonasia previously had been inferred only from observations of unmarked birds. Using radio-marked Hazel Grouse, we confirmed that the social organization during the breeding season was indeed monogamous, the pair being the social unit. The pair bond, however, appeared relatively weak, as birds were together only 37% of the time during the prelaying period. We could not document mating behaviour, but observations suggested that most males mated monogamously and that at least 37% of the females had an opportunity to mate polyandrously because of (1) the seemingly weak pair bond, (2) attentive neighbouring males, (3) larger territory size of unpaired males, (4) extensive movements of some unpaired males, (5) sharing of a female by two males and (6) a potentially male-biased sex ratio.     

The land flora: a phototroph-fungus partnership?

Numerous mutualistic associations between phototrophs and fungi exist in the extant land biota. Some are widespread, such as lichens and mycorrhizae, but some are less well known or restricted to special ecological conditions, such as endophytes in plants and algae. Recent molecular data and fossils suggest that associations arose repeatedly and that some of them are ancient, and even ancestral in the case of land plants. Mutualism, that provides various adaptations to terrestrial constraints, may have played a crucial role during terrestrialization and evolution of land phototrophs.     

Microalgae and biofuels: a promising partnership?

Microalgae have much higher lipid yields than those of agricultural oleaginosous crops, and they do not compromise arable land. Despite this, current microalga-based processes suffer from several constraints pertaining to the biocatalyst and the bioreactor, which hamper technologically and economically feasible scale-up. Here, we briefly review recent active research and development efforts worldwide, and discuss the most relevant shortcomings of microalgal biofuels. This review goes one step further relative to related studies, because it tackles otherwise scarcely mentioned issues - for example, heterotrophic versus autotrophic metabolism, alkane versus glyceride synthesis, conduction versus bubbling of CO(2), and excretion versus accumulation of lipids. Besides promising solutions that have been hypothesized and arise from multidisciplinary approaches, we also consider less conventional ones. Microalgae and biofuels hold indeed a promising partnership, but a fully competitive technology is not expected to be available before the end of this decade, because the need for one order of magnitude increase in productivity requires development of novel apparatuses and transformed cells.     

Clean technology: industry and environment, a viable partnership?

The industrial sector is becoming increasingly interested in eliminating potential pollution at source and reducing energy use. Biotechnology provides cheaper, cleaner alternatives to a wide range of traditional processes--but its adoption has been slower than expected. If industry is to become truly compatible with the environment, companies and the public will have to be convinced of the ecological and economic value of clean technology.     

How does a parent respond when its mate emphasizes the wrong role? A test using a monogamous fish

The convict cichlid fish, Archocentrus nigrofasciatus, is biparental: the male spends the majority of his time defending the territory and the female spends much of her time close to the offspring. Under natural conditions, this separation into sex-typical roles is somewhat blurred as males do spend some time with the offspring and females do attack intruders. Here we tested whether an individual selects a parental role based on the location (i.e. parental role) of its mate. For example, do females emphasize offspring care because the male is away from the offspring? Will males be more likely to care for the offspring when the female is away from the offspring? We manipulated the location of one parent by placing it in a transparent plastic box, either near the offspring or at the far end of the tank near a clear plastic compartment that held a conspecific male intruder. We tested both male and female parent under the following four conditions: boxed mate near offspring with no intruder present, boxed mate near offspring with intruder present, boxed mate near intruder compartment with no intruder present, and boxed mate near intruder compartment with intruder present. We found that both parents spent more time with the offspring and less time attacking the intruder when the mate was positioned near the offspring and more time away from the offspring and more time attacking the intruder when the mate was near the intruder. Males were more affected by the location of their mates than were females and we concluded that males were attracted both to their mates' location and their offspring while females were mostly attracted to their offspring. Overall, the location of the mate had little effect on the types of aggressive activities used against the intruder. We did find that males increased their aggression towards boxed females when they were positioned far from the offspring, whereas the aggressive behaviour of females towards boxed males when they were positioned near the offspring was ambiguous. We suggest that males in particular enforce the separation of sex-specific parental roles via this aggression.     

Protein kinase C isoforms and lipid second messengers: a critical nuclear partnership?

A growing body of evidence, accumulated over the past 15 years, has highlighted that the protein kinase C family of isozymes is capable of translocating to the nucleus or is resident within the nucleus. The comprehension of protein kinase C isoform regulation within this organelle is under development. At present, it is emerging that lipid second messengers may play at least two roles in the control of nuclear protein kinase C: on one side they serve as chemical attractants, on the other they directly modulate the activity of specific isoforms. One of the best characterized lipid second messenger that could be involved in the regulation of nuclear PKC activity is DAG. The existence of two separate pools of nuclear DAG suggests that this lipid second messenger might be involved in distinct pathways that lead to different cell responses. Nuclear phosphatidylglycerol, D-3 phosphorylated inositol lipids and nuclear fatty acids are involved in a striking variety of critical biological functions which may act by specific PKC activation. The fine tuning of PKC regulation in cells subjected to proliferating or differentiating stimuli, might prove to be of great interest also for cancer therapy, given the fact that PKC-dependent signaling pathways are increasingly being seen as possible pharmacological target in some forms of neoplastic diseases. In this article, we review the current knowledge about lipid second messengers that are involved in regulating the translocation and/or the activity of different protein kinase C isoforms identified at the nuclear level.     

Equithesin: A hibernation-inducing drug?

1. Hibernating insectivore species (hedgehogs) and non-hibernating rodents (guinea pig and rat) were anaesthetized with ‘equithesin’ (a mixture of chloral hydrate, magnesium sulphate, and pentobarbitone sodium).2. The physiological responses shown by the hedgehogs were similar to those observed in hedgehogs during a natural or cold-induced hibernation.3. These responses included a strong reduction in body temperature, heart rate, respiration and oxygen consumption, and brain activity.4. Such responses to equithesin were not observed in the non-hibemating rodent species.5. These results suggest that equithesin is a potential tool for hibernation research.     

Protease inhibitors: A panacea?

With the increasing evidence of protease involvement in several diseases, novel strategies for drug development involve the use of protease inhibitors (PIs). The local balance between protease inhibitors and proteases is an important determinant of the occurrence and progression of a particular disease. Hence, enzymes and their cognate inhibitors are finding their applications as diagnostic and prognostic markers. PIs are widely implicated for their use in host defense against infection, tissue repair and matrix production, blood coagulation, cancer, and they are, therefore, the current focus as therapeutic alternatives for major diseases such as AIDS and Alzheimer's diseases. This review is a brief summary of the varied role of protein protease inhibitors in controlling the activity of aberrant enzymes in several diseases afflicting mankind today. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biochem Mol Toxicol 24:270–277, 2010; View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com . DOI 10.1002/jbt.20335     

Osteoporosis: A neuroskeletal disease?

Osteoporosis is caused by a failure of bone homeostasis, but the precise molecular mechanisms controlling bone homeostasis are largely unknown. Increasing evidence that neurons and neurotransmitters are intimately involved in bone remodelling has shed light on a novel regulatory mechanism for bone homeostasis. Namely, like all other homeostatic functions, bone remodelling is under the control of the hypothalamus, and osteoporosis is considered to be a neuroskeletal disease.     

Consequences of elevating plasma testosterone in females of a socially monogamous songbird: evidence of constraints on male evolution?

To explore whether selection for testosterone-mediated traits in males might be constrained by costs of higher testosterone to females, we examined the effects of experimental elevation of plasma testosterone on physiological, reproductive, and behavioral parameters in a female songbird, the dark-eyed junco (Junco hyemalis). We used subcutaneous implants to elevate testosterone (T) in captive and free-living female juncos. In captive birds, we measured the effects of high T on body mass, feather molt, and brood patch formation. In the field, we monitored its effects on the timing of egg laying, clutch size, egg size, egg steroid levels, incubation, and nest-defense behavior. Females implanted with testosterone (T-females) had significantly higher circulating levels of testosterone than did control females (C-females). Captive T-females had lower body mass, were less likely to develop brood patches, and delayed feather molt relative to C-females. Among free-living females, the interval between nest completion and appearance of the first egg was longer for T-females than for C-females and egg yolk concentrations of testosterone were higher, but there were no significant differences in estradiol levels, clutch size, or egg size. Incubation and nest defense behavior were also similar between T- and C-females. Our results suggest that selection on males for higher testosterone might initially lead to a correlated response in females producing changes in body mass and feather molt, both of which could be detrimental. Other possible female responses would be delayed onset of reproduction, which might reduce reproductive success, and higher yolk testosterone, which might have either positive or negative effects on offspring development. We found no reason to expect reduced parental behavior by females as a negative fitness consequence of selection for higher testosterone in males.