两种乳菇菌丝生长的最适培养基与菌根合成

通过测量菌丝直径和干重对松乳菇（rcb-74）和靓丽乳菇（rll-107,rmsh-118）进行最适菌丝生长培养基的筛选。结果表明所有菌株均在改良的biotin-aneurine-folic acid（BAF）培养基上表现出较大的菌丝直径以及最大菌丝干重。用改良的BAF培养基制备乳菇液体菌丝,接种云南松、马尾松和油松,并在13-30d后发现rcb-74与云南松和油松形成菌根,rll-107与马尾松形成菌根,rmsh-118与云南松形成菌根。     

Long‐term changes in bat activity in Quebec suggest climatic responses and summer niche partitioning associated with white‐nose syndrome

In North America, the greatest and most sudden threat to hibernating bats is white‐nose syndrome (WNS), which has caused massive declines in populations since 2006. Other determinants of bat dynamics, such as the climate, and the effect of reduction in the number of individuals sharing foraging space and summer roosting habitat may have an effect on population dynamics. We analyzed transect acoustic bat surveys conducted with ultrasonic detectors in 16 regions in Quebec, Canada, between 2000 and 2015. We used piecewise regression to describe changes in activity over time for each species and a meta‐analytic approach to measure its association with the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). As expected, mouse‐eared bat (Myotis spp.) activity sharply declined after the onset of WNS, down by 79% after 3 years. In contrast, big brown/silver‐haired bat activity increased over the same period, possibly due to a release of competition. Hoary bats and red bats remained present, although their activity did not increase. Myotis activity was positively correlated with a one‐year lag to the NAO index, associated with cold conditions in winter, but warm autumns. Big brown/silver‐haired and hoary bats were also more active during NAO‐positive years but without a lag. We conclude that combinations of threats may create rapid shifts in community compositions and that a more balanced research agenda that integrates a wider range of threats would help better understand and manage those changes.     

Ecological and evolutionary drivers of haemoplasma infection and bacterial genotype sharing in a Neotropical bat community

Most emerging pathogens can infect multiple species, underlining the importance of understanding the ecological and evolutionary factors that allow some hosts to harbour greater infection prevalence and share pathogens with other species. However, our understanding of pathogen jumps is based primarily around viruses, despite bacteria accounting for the greatest proportion of zoonoses. Because bacterial pathogens in bats (order Chiroptera) can have conservation and human health consequences, studies that examine the ecological and evolutionary drivers of bacterial prevalence and barriers to pathogen sharing are crucially needed. Here were studied haemotropic Mycoplasma spp. (i.e., haemoplasmas) across a species‐rich bat community in Belize over two years. Across 469 bats spanning 33 species, half of individuals and two‐thirds of species were haemoplasma positive. Infection prevalence was higher for males and for species with larger body mass and colony sizes. Haemoplasmas displayed high genetic diversity (21 novel genotypes) and strong host specificity. Evolutionary patterns supported codivergence of bats and bacterial genotypes alongside phylogenetically constrained host shifts. Bat species centrality to the network of shared haemoplasma genotypes was phylogenetically clustered and unrelated to prevalence, further suggesting rare—but detectable—bacterial sharing between species. Our study highlights the importance of using fine phylogenetic scales when assessing host specificity and suggests phylogenetic similarity may play a key role in host shifts not only for viruses but also for bacteria. Such work more broadly contributes to increasing efforts to understand cross‐species transmission and the epidemiological consequences of bacterial pathogens.     

How do species barriers decay? Concordance and local introgression in mosaic hybrid zones of mussels

The Mytilus complex of marine mussel species forms a mosaic of hybrid zones, found across temperate regions of the globe. This allows us to study ‘replicated’ instances of secondary contact between closely related species. Previous work on this complex has shown that local introgression is both widespread and highly heterogeneous, and has identified SNPs that are outliers of differentiation between lineages. Here, we developed an ancestry‐informative panel of such SNPs. We then compared their frequencies in newly sampled populations, including samples from within the hybrid zones, and parental populations at different distances from the contact. Results show that close to the hybrid zones, some outlier loci are near to fixation for the heterospecific allele, suggesting enhanced local introgression, or the local sweep of a shared ancestral allele. Conversely, genomic cline analyses, treating local parental populations as the reference, reveal a globally high concordance among loci, albeit with a few signals of asymmetric introgression. Enhanced local introgression at specific loci is consistent with the early transfer of adaptive variants after contact, possibly including asymmetric bi‐stable variants (Dobzhansky‐Muller incompatibilities), or haplotypes loaded with fewer deleterious mutations. Having escaped one barrier, however, these variants can be trapped or delayed at the next barrier, confining the introgression locally. These results shed light on the decay of species barriers during phases of contact.     

A new insight into subinteractomes of functional antagonists: Thromboxane (CYP5A1) and prostacyclin (CYP8A1) synthases

The current article aims to summarize all possible spectrum of protein–protein interactions for thromboxane A synthase (CYP5A1) and prostacyclin synthase (CYP8A1). These enzymes metabolize the same substrate (prostaglandin H₂) and can participate in cardiovascular, inflammatory, immune processes, and apoptosis modulation, as well as significantly influence the risk of cancers. Binary protein–protein and multiprotein complexes are of great importance in enzyme-regulating and signal-transduction pathways. However, protein partners of CYP5A1 and CYP8A1 are not yet fully identified, although both synthases are considered as prospective drug targets. At least 36 novel protein partners of CYP5A1 and CYP8A1 were revealed from different tissue types using an approach based on affinity isolation and mass spectrometry. Enrichment analysis showed that these proteins have different molecular functions: folding (refolding), unfolded protein and chaperon binding, protein transport (export/import), posttranslational modification, protein domain-specific binding, antioxidant activity, and glutathione homeostasis. A significant part of them, belonging to molecular chaperones, were common partners for CYP5A1 and CYP8A1, while other proteins were unique with the tissue-dependent distribution. New aspects of CYP5A1 and CYP8A1 interactomics and hetero-complex formation with different protein partners, including cytochrome P450s are discussed.     

Comparing the Quality of Crowdsourced Data Contributed by Expert and Non-Experts

There is currently a lack of in-situ environmental data for the calibration and validation of remotely sensed products and for the development and verification of models. Crowdsourcing is increasingly being seen as one potentially powerful way of increasing the supply of in-situ data but there are a number of concerns over the subsequent use of the data, in particular over data quality. This paper examined crowdsourced data from the Geo-Wiki crowdsourcing tool for land cover validation to determine whether there were significant differences in quality between the answers provided by experts and non-experts in the domain of remote sensing and therefore the extent to which crowdsourced data describing human impact and land cover can be used in further scientific research. The results showed that there was little difference between experts and non-experts in identifying human impact although results varied by land cover while experts were better than non-experts in identifying the land cover type. This suggests the need to create training materials with more examples in those areas where difficulties in identification were encountered, and to offer some method for contributors to reflect on the information they contribute, perhaps by feeding back the evaluations of their contributed data or by making additional training materials available. Accuracies were also found to be higher when the volunteers were more consistent in their responses at a given location and when they indicated higher confidence, which suggests that these additional pieces of information could be used in the development of robust measures of quality in the future.     

The Pattern of Complaints about Australian Wind Farms Does Not Match the Establishment and Distribution of Turbines: Support for the Psychogenic, ‘Communicated Disease’ Hypothesis

Background and Objectives

With often florid allegations about health problems arising from wind turbine exposure now widespread, nocebo effects potentially confound any future investigation of turbine health impact. Historical audits of health complaints are therefore important. We test 4 hypotheses relevant to psychogenic explanations of the variable timing and distribution of health and noise complaints about wind farms in Australia.

Setting

All Australian wind farms (51 with 1634 turbines) operating 1993–2012.

Methods

Records of complaints about noise or health from residents living near 51 Australian wind farms were obtained from all wind farm companies, and corroborated with complaints in submissions to 3 government public enquiries and news media records and court affidavits. These are expressed as proportions of estimated populations residing within 5 km of wind farms.

Results

There are large historical and geographical variations in wind farm complaints. 33/51 (64.7%) of Australian wind farms including 18/34 (52.9%) with turbine size >1 MW have never been subject to noise or health complaints. These 33 farms have an estimated 21,633 residents within 5 km and have operated complaint-free for a cumulative 267 years. Western Australia and Tasmania have seen no complaints. 129 individuals across Australia (1 in 254 residents) appear to have ever complained, with 94 (73%) being residents near 6 wind farms targeted by anti wind farm groups. The large majority 116/129(90%) of complainants made their first complaint after 2009 when anti wind farm groups began to add health concerns to their wider opposition. In the preceding years, health or noise complaints were rare despite large and small-turbine wind farms having operated for many years.

Conclusions

The reported historical and geographical variations in complaints are consistent with psychogenic hypotheses that expressed health problems are “communicated diseases” with nocebo effects likely to play an important role in the aetiology of complaints.     

The Tuberculosis Vaccine Candidate Bacillus Calmette-Guérin ΔureC::hly Coexpressing Human Interleukin-7 or -18 Enhances Antigen-Specific T Cell Responses in Mice

Bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG), the only approved tuberculosis vaccine, provides only limited protection. Previously, we generated a recombinant derivative (BCG ΔureC::hly), which secretes the pore-forming toxin listeriolysin O (LLO) of Listeria monocytogenes. This vaccine shows superior protection against tuberculosis in preclinical models and is safe in humans. Here we describe two new vaccine strains which express human interleukin-7 (hIL)-7 or hIL-18 in the genetic background of BCG ΔureC::hly to modulate specific T cell immunity. Both strains exhibited an uncompromised in vitro growth pattern, while inducing a proinflammatory cytokine profile in human dendritic cells (DCs). Human DCs harbouring either strain efficiently promoted secretion of IL-2 by autologous T cells in a coculture system, suggesting superior immunogenicity. BALB/c mice vaccinated with BCG ΔureC::hly, BCG ΔureC::hly_hIL7 or BCG ΔureC::hly_hIL18 developed a more robust Th1 response than after vaccination with parental BCG. Both strains provided significantly better protection than BCG in a murine Mycobacterium tuberculosis challenge model but efficacy remained comparable to that afforded by BCG ΔureC::hly. We conclude that expression of hIL-7 or hIL-18 enhanced specific T cell responses but failed to improve protection over BCG ΔureC::hly in mice.     

Thermal threshold and sensitivity of the only symbiotic Mediterranean gorgonian Eunicella singularis by morphometric and genotypic analyses

The only symbiotic Mediterranean gorgonian, Eunicella singularis, has faced several mortality events connected to abnormal high temperatures. Since thermotolerance data remain scarce, heat-induced necrosis was monitored in aquarium by morphometric analysis. Gorgonian tips were sampled at two sites: Medes (Spain) and Riou (France) Islands, and at two depths: –15 m and–35 m. Although coming from contrasting thermal regimes, seawater above 28 °C led to rapid and complete tissue necrosis for all four populations. However, at 27 °C, the time length leading to 50% tissue necrosis allowed us to classify samples within three classes of thermal sensitivity. Irrespectively of the depth, Medes specimens were either very sensitive or resistant, while Riou fragments presented a medium sensitivity. Microsatellite analysis revealed that host and symbiont were genetically differentiated between sites, but not between depths. Finally, these genetic differentiations were not directly correlated to a specific thermal sensitivity whose molecular bases remain to be discovered.     

Poor Adherence to National and International Breastfeeding Duration Targets in an Australian Longitudinal Cohort

Objectives

To report on the proportion and characteristics of Australian infants who are fed, and mothers who feed, in accordance with the national and international breastfeeding duration targets of six, 12 and 24 months. Furthermore, to examine the longitudinal breastfeeding duration patterns for women with more than one child.

Methods

Breastfeeding duration data for 9773 children have been self-reported by a national sample of 5091 mothers aged 30–36 years in 2009, participating in the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health.

Results

Only 60% of infants received the minimum recommended 6 months of breast milk, irrespective of breastfeeding exclusivity. Less than 30% of infants received any breast milk at 12 months, and less than 3% were breastfed to the international target of 24 months. Young, less educated, unmarried or low-income women were at an increased risk of premature breastfeeding cessation. For women with three or more children, nearly 75% of women who breastfed their first child for at least six months reached this breastfeeding duration target for their next two children.

Conclusion

While national breastfeeding rates are typically evaluated in relation to the infant, a novel component of our study is that we have assessed maternal adherence to breastfeeding duration targets and the longitudinal feeding practices of women with more than one child. Separate evaluations of maternal and infant breastfeeding rates are important as they differ in their implications for public health policy and practice.