Mandatory " enriched" housing of laboratory animals: the need for evidence-based evaluation

Environmental enrichment for laboratory animals has come to be viewed as a potential method for improving animal well-being in addition to its original sense as a paradigm for learning how experience molds the brain. It is suggested that the term housing supplementation better describes the wide range of alterations to laboratory animal housing that has been proposed or investigated. Changes in the environments of animals have important effects on brain structure, physiology, and behavior--including recovery from illness and injury--and on which genes are expressed in various organs. Studies are reviewed that show how the brain and other organs respond to environmental change. These data warrant caution that minor cage supplementation intended for improvement of animal well-being may alter important aspects of an animal's physiology and development in a manner not easily predicted from available research. Thus, various forms of housing supplementation, although utilized or even preferred by the animals, may not enhance laboratory animal well-being and may be detrimental to the research for which the laboratory animals are used.     

Animal-microbial symbioses in changing environments

The environments in which animals have evolved and live have profound effects on all aspects of their biology. Predictable rhythmic changes in the physical environment are arguably among the most important forces shaping the evolution of behavior and physiology of animals, and to anticipate and prepare for these predictable changes, animals have evolved biological clocks. Unpredictable changes in the physical environment have important impacts on animal biology as well. The ability of animals to cope with and survive unpredictable perturbations depends on phenotypic plasticity and/or microevolution. From the time metazoans first evolved from their protistan ancestors they have lived in close association with a diverse array of microbes that have influenced, in some way, all aspects of the evolution of animal structure, function and behavior. Yet, few studies have addressed whether daily or seasonal rhythms may affect, or be affected by, an animal’s microbial symbionts. This survey highlights how biologists interested in the ecological and evolutionary physiology of animals whose lifestyles are influenced by environmental cycles may benefit from considering whether symbiotic microbes have shaped the features they study.     

Summary and perspective on evolutionary ecology of fishes

This special issue of Evolutionary Ecology provides ten papers that have been presented at a conference on Evolutionary Ecology of Fishes in 2009. In addition to briefly summarizing the main content of the papers which is related to adaptive radiations, processes of ecological divergence, and fisheries-induced evolution, we review and synthesize in short the recent advance in studies on evolutionary ecology of fishes. We conclude that fishes are excellent model systems to study evolutionary ecology of animals, and suggest three promising new research avenues; (1) the contribution of behavioural processes to evolution, in particular the consideration of animal personalities and predator–prey interactions, (2) metabolic physiology and parasite-host interactions as new niche dimensions to be considered for adaptive diversification, and (3) the opportunities for mechanistic understanding of adaptation and speciation emerging from new genetic tools.     

食草动物与植物的相互关系

动植物相互作用是决定动植物群落结构的重要因素[50 ] 。动物从多方面和多层次影响植物 ,最后都反映到植物群落结构的变化。而变化的植物群落又从各方面影响动物的生理、行为、种群特征、分布、种间关系等方面 ,最终反映到动物群落水平层次的改变 ,所以对动物群落与植物群落关系及机理的研究是个内容十分丰富的重要领域。1　食草动物的牧食作用对植物的影响食草动物的牧食作用 ,常使植物形态和结构发生变化 ,如导致植株的“矮化”或“匍匐化”,增加剌结构和机械结构 ,以抵御进一步被牧食[42 ] 。一定强度的牧食会加速植物光合作用强度 ,从而…     

G蛋白及其偶联信号传导途径的研究进展

G蛋白偶联信号传导系统是一类重要的细胞跨膜信号传导途径之一。在有关生化及药理的医学研究中发现许多药剂都是通过G蛋白偶联信号传导途径对动物起作用的。对G蛋白结构与功能的系统研究是新型药剂研制与开发的基础。G蛋白在物种进化过程中具有高度保守性,植物和昆虫中的G蛋白及其偶联组份研究将有助于明确作物抗病虫机理以及昆虫毒理。     

New challenges in the study of the evolution of wild animals and their gut microbiome

In this viewpoint, by reviewing the recent findings on wild animals and their gut microbiomes, we found some potential new insights and challenges in the study of the evolution of wild animals and their gut microbiome. We suggested that wild animal gut microbiomes may come from microbiomes in the animals'' living habitats along with animals'' special behavior, and that the study of long‐term changes in gut microbiomes should consider both habitat and special behaviors. Also, host behavior would facilitate the gut microbiome transmission between individuals. We suggested that research should integrate the evolutionary history and physiological systems of wild animals to understand the evolution of animals and their gut microbiomes. Finally, we proposed the Noncultured‐Cultured‐Fermentation‐Model Animal pipeline to determine the function (diet digestion, physiology, and behavior) of these target strains in the wild animal gut.     

Catabolite regulation of antibiotic biosynthesis

Conclusion In view of the possible mediation of carbon catabolite repression of antibiotic biosynthesis by phosphorylated substances, the concept of the role of phosphorus in the regulation of secondary metabolism should be re-evaluated. Many conclusions are based on an analogy with the effect of phosphorus in animal or plant cells (for review cf. Martin 1977). However, in contrast with plant and animal physiology, the production physiology of actinomycetes, typical soil microorganisms, was studied under nonphysiological conditions of nutrient over-supply in a submerged culture. This is analogous e.g. to space biology which studies the physiology of organisms in the state of weightlessness. Both disciplines have an extremely high significance but the elucidation of basic biological regularities is to be carried out back on Earth. In conclusion we may state that a critical evaluation of our contemporary knowledge seem to support the hypothesis that the antibiotic biosynthesis in actinomycetes, as well as the spore formation in bacilli — both regulated by the mechanism of catabolite repression — has its ecological significance, i.e. makes it possible for the organism to survive under conditions when vegetative growth is limited. For this reason this aotivity was preserved in the course of evolution as a protective mechanism of microbial populations and remained a part of the genome of many species.     

Curt Richter and regulatory physiology

Curt Richter made seminal contributions to our understanding of a number of issues regarding the relationships between physiology and behavior. He was the first to conceptualize behavior as an aspect of regulatory physiology. These ideas developed from his work on behavioral responses to a variety of physiological perturbations. The classic example is Richter's demonstration of the development of avid sodium ingestion in response to urinary sodium loss after adrenalectomy. Some of Richter's ideas on the nature and underlying physiology of specific appetites maintain their influence and continue to stimulate active investigation. Others, focused on abilities to self-select balanced diets, have not borne the test of time or experimental challenge. As current research takes a more molecular focus, Richter's ideas on behavior in the service of the internal milieu maintain their currency, and the search for the molecular bases for these relationships should serve as a research focus.     

Hydraulics of Asteroxylon mackei, an early Devonian vascular plant, and the early evolution of water transport tissue in terrestrial plants

The core of plant physiology is a set of functional solutions to a tradeoff between CO(2) acquisition and water loss. To provide an important evolutionary perspective on how the earliest land plants met this tradeoff, we constructed a mathematical model (constrained geometrically with measurements of fossils) of the hydraulic resistance of Asteroxylon, an Early Devonian plant. The model results illuminate the water transport physiology of one of the earliest vascular plants. Results show that Asteroxylon's vascular system contains cells with low hydraulic resistances; these resistances are low because cells were covered by scalariform pits, elliptical structures that permit individual cells to have large areas for water to pass from one cell to another. Asteroxylon could move a large amount of water quickly given its large pit areas; however, this would have left these plants particularly vulnerable to damage from excessive evapotranspiration. These results highlight a repeated pattern in plant evolution, wherein the evolution of highly conductive vascular tissue precedes the appearance of adaptations to increase water transport safety. Quantitative insight into the vascular transport of Asteroxylon also allows us to reflect on the quality of CO(2) proxy estimates based on early land plant fossils. Because Asteroxylon's vascular tissue lacked any safety features to prevent permanent damage, it probably used stomatal abundance and behavior to prevent desiccation. If correct, low stomatal frequencies in Asteroxylon reflect the need to limit evapotranspiration, rather than adaptation to high CO(2) concentrations in the atmosphere. More broadly, methods to reveal and understand water transport in extinct plants have a clear use in testing and bolstering fossil plant-based paleoclimate proxies.     

Sewall Wright and quantitative genetics

Some aspects of Wright's great contribution to quantitative genetics and animal breeding are reviewed in relation to current research and practice. Particular aspects discussed are as follows: the utility of his definition of inbreeding coefficient in terms of the correlation of uniting gametes; the maintenance of genetic variation in the optimum model; the inter-relations between past and present animal-breeding practice and the shifting-balance theory of evolution.     

Comparative Approach of the de novo Fatty Acid Synthesis (Lipogenesis) between Ruminant and Non Ruminant Mammalian Species: From Biochemical Level to the Main Regulatory Lipogenic Genes

Over the second half of 20(th) century much research on lipogenesis has been conducted, especially focused on increasing the production efficiency and improving the quality of animal derived products. However, many diferences are observed in the physiology of lipogenesis between species. Recently, many studies have also elucidated the involvement of numerous genes in this procedure, highlighting diferences not only at physiology but also at the molecular level. The main scope of this review is to point out the major differences between ruminant and non ruminant species, that are observed in key regulatory genes involved in lipogenesis. Human is used as a central reference and according to the findinggs, main differences are analysed. These findings could serve not only as basis for understanding the main physiology of lipogenesis and further basic research, but also as a basis for any animal scientist to develop new concepts and methods for use in improving animal production and modern genetic improvement.     

Charles Lyell –"the father of geology"– as a forerunner of modern ecology

In 1830, Charles Lyell published the first volume of his influential book, "The principles of geology". Young Charles Darwin took the book on board the "Beagle" and, upon his return, acknowledged the contribution it made to his own research. Lyell did not believe in transmutation and evolution, and explained the differences in the fossil fauna between different geological formations by the accumulated environmental changes over a very long geological time. He describes ecological interactions of organisms with their biotic and abiotic environment in a language similar to current ecological concepts. Lyell may be seen as one of the forerunners of modern ecology.     

Amphibians as animal models for laboratory research in physiology

The concept of animal models is well honored, and amphibians have played a prominent part in the success of using key species to discover new information about all animals. As animal models, amphibians offer several advantages that include a well-understood basic physiology, a taxonomic diversity well suited to comparative studies, tolerance to temperature and oxygen variation, and a greater similarity to humans than many other currently popular animal models. Amphibians now account for approximately 1/4 to 1/3 of lower vertebrate and invertebrate research, and this proportion is especially true in physiological research, as evident from the high profile of amphibians as animal models in Nobel Prize research. Currently, amphibians play prominent roles in research in the physiology of musculoskeletal, cardiovascular, renal, respiratory, reproductive, and sensory systems. Amphibians are also used extensively in physiological studies aimed at generating new insights in evolutionary biology, especially in the investigation of the evolution of air breathing and terrestriality. Environmental physiology also utilizes amphibians, ranging from studies of cryoprotectants for tissue preservation to physiological reactions to hypergravity and space exploration. Amphibians are also playing a key role in studies of environmental endocrine disruptors that are having disproportionately large effects on amphibian populations and where specific species can serve as sentinel species for environmental pollution. Finally, amphibian genera such as Xenopus, a genus relatively well understood metabolically and physiologically, will continue to contribute increasingly in this new era of systems biology and "X-omics."     

Influence of group rearing on sexual behavior of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Drosophila melanogaster</Emphasis> males

Social interactions are able to strongly influence animal physiology and behavior. As is known, social experience can lead to changes in sexual and aggressive behavior, circadian rhythms and composition of cuticular hydrocarbons in Drosophila. Previously, we have shown that housing Drosophila males in monosexual groups of 20 individuals for 3 days after eclosion leads to a strong and long-term suppression of locomotor activity as revealed at individual testing, in contrast to males kept separately. The present research addressed courtship behavior, and specifically song production, in Drosophila males reared under similar conditions. It was found that rearing males in monosexual groups leads to a suppression of courtship and song production as well as to a simultaneous increase in locomotor activity when tested with a moving female. The latter effect was due to the strong urge of males to avoid interindividual contacts that prevented triggering the courtship ritual. It was suggested that intermale aggression caused by group rearing generates a state similar to conditioned fear.     

Physiology in the oeuvre of a prominent Hungarian medical scientist--Endre H"ogyes.

Endre Hógyes, one of the most prominent and internationally-renown leaders in the field of medical research, especially the treatment of rabies, was born one hundred and fifty years ago in Hungary. E. Hógyes had started his medical and research carrier in 1870. In 1889 he had become vice-president of the Royal Hungarian Society of Natural Sciences and was elected as a member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA) and that member of the National Council of Public Health. Scientific carrier of E. Hógyes has always been closely linked to physiological sciences. E Hógyes made a significant contribution to different areas of physiological sciences; his most important scientific publications in this field deal with renal physiology, respitary mechanics, cerebellar function, and associated eye movement. Endre Hógyes was the first to organize Hungarian physiologists into a community. The "Special Physiological Conferences" were initiated within the Hungarian Royal Society of Natural Sciences in 1891. As a token of appretiation, Hungarian physiologists and other medical professionals have announced the year of 1997 as a memorial year of Dr. Endre Hógyes.     

An "enactive" approach to integrative and comparative biology: thoughts on the table

We discuss the concept of Enaction as originally proposed by Varela. We attempt to exemplify through two specific topics, sensory ecology and behavior, as well as physiological and behavioral ecology, on which the enactive approach is based. We argue that sensory physiology allows us to explore the biological and cognitive meaning of animal 'private' sensory channels, beyond the scope of our own sensory capacity. Furthermore, after analyzing the interplay between factors that may impose limits upon an animal's use of time and energy, we call for a program of research in integrative and comparative biology that simultaneously considers evolutionary ecology (including physiological and behavioral ecology) and neurobiology (including cognitive mechanisms as well structural design). We believe that this approach represents a shift in scientific attitude among biologists concerning the place of biological and ecological topics in studies of integrative and comparative biology and biological diversity and vice versa.     

Pavlov and integrative physiology

Ivan Petrovich Pavlov was the first physiologist to win the Nobel Prize. The Prize was given in 1904 for his research on the neural control of salivary, gastric, and pancreatic secretion. A major reason for the success and novelty of his research was the use of unanesthetized dogs surgically prepared with chronic fistulas or gastric pouches that permitted repeated experiments in the same animal for months. Pavlov invented this chronic method because of the limitations he perceived in the use of acute anesthetized animals for investigating physiological systems. By introducing the chronic method and by showing its experimental advantages, Pavlov founded modern integrative physiology. This paper reviews Pavlov's journey from his birthplace in a provincial village in Russia to Stockholm to receive the Prize. It begins with childhood influences, describes his training and mentors, summarizes the major points of his research by reviewing his book Lectures on the Work of the Digestive Glands, and discusses his views on the relationship between physiology and medicine.     

The never ending story of <Emphasis Type="Italic">rol</Emphasis> genes: a century after

The genes rolA, B, C, and D, derived from Agrobacterium rhizogenes and naturally engineered in plants, are being investigated for a long time about their function, molecular mechanism, origin and evolution and, more recently, the perspectives they offer in plant biotechnology. Evidences point to these genes as important regulators in a wide field of plant endeavors, from hormone control to morphology, from physiological status to defense and from metabolism to signaling. However, in spite of the extant insight on rol genes mechanism and function, a comprehensive picture is still lacking. Recent data suggest that additional research could lead to significant advancement in the knowledge of the role of these genes mainly in plant-bacterium coevolution, and in the development of rol genes—based applications. Through a comprehensive critical review of literature we present a picture of rol genes functions in different plant species, focusing on the relationship between individual genes and plant physiology and metabolism. A possible scenario for their evolution is outlined.     

Structure of a plasma membrane H+-ATPase gene from the plant Arabidopsis thaliana

Physiological and biochemical studies have suggested that the plant plasma membrane H+-ATPase controls many important aspects of plant physiology, including growth, development, nutrient transport, and stomata movements. We have started the genetic analysis of this enzyme by isolating both genomic and cDNA clones of an H+-ATPase gene from Arabidopsis thaliana. The cloned gene is interrupted by 15 introns, and there is partial conservation of exon boundaries with respect to animal (Na+/K+)- and Ca2+-ATPases. In general, the relationship between exons and the predicted secondary and transmembrane structure of different ATPases with phosphorylated intermediate support a somewhat degenerate correspondence between exons and structural modules. The predicted amino acid sequence of the plant H+-ATPase is more closely related to fungal and protozoan H+-ATPases than to bacterial K+-ATPases or to animal (Na+/K+)-, (H+/K+)-, and Ca2+-ATPases. There is evidence for the existence of at least three isoforms of the plant H+-ATPase gene. These results open the way for a molecular approach to the structure and function of the plant proton pump.     

The Roles of Phytoestrogens in Primate Ecology and Evolution

Most primates depend heavily on plant foods; thus their chemical composition is key to understanding primate ecology and evolution. One class of plant compounds of strong current interest are phytoestrogens, which have the potential to alter fertility, fecundity, and survival. These plant compounds mimic the activity of vertebrate estrogens, resulting in altered physiology and behavior. Here, we review what is known about phytoestrogens from an ecological and evolutionary perspective. Much of what is known about the effects of phytoestrogens on the endocrine system comes from research on human foods, especially soybeans (Glycine max). Two opposing perspectives have resulted from this research: 1) phytoestrogens provide health benefits, such as cancer prevention, or 2) phytoestrogens act as endocrine disruptors and threaten reproductive health. Studies of wild primates have only recently begun examining the presence of estrogenic plants in the primate diet and the effects of their consumption. Evidence that a number of primate species eat plants containing phytoestrogens and research documenting behavioral and hormonal effects of estrogenic plant consumption for red colobus monkeys (Procolobus rufomitratus) augment captive and laboratory studies to suggest that these compounds promote differential survival and reproduction. Although much debate is currently taking place over the role of phytoestrogens and other endocrine disruptors in human health issues and in threatening biodiversity, we argue that an ecological and evolutionary approach is needed to reach appropriate conclusions.