Héctor Ruiz-Villar;Cecilia Montauban;Ana Pino-Blanco;Elena Tena; 《Ecology and evolution》2024,14(6):e11474

The intricate interplay between predators and prey has long fascinated ecologists, with bats and their diverse prey offering insight into co-evolutionary dynamics. While bats have evolved sophisticated strategies for prey capture, they also face predation pressure. Among their predators, spiders stand out for their diversity of predatory tactics, ranging from hunting assaults and web ensnarement to the deployment of venom. Yet, bat predation records by spiders are mostly from tropical regions, and cases remain notably scarce in temperate regions. Here, we report four new incidences of bat predation and mortality by spiders and their webs in Europe. Our observations include detailed photograph and video documentation of the first record of a spider capturing and consuming a bat pup in Spain, as well as accounts of bats entangled in spider webs on a building and inside bat boxes in the United Kingdom. These findings shed light on understudied predator–prey dynamics, offering valuable insights into spider predation on bats in European ecosystems. Our study emphasises the importance of continued research to improve our understanding of ecological interactions between these elusive and primarily nocturnal taxa.  相似文献   

    

Lukas Habernig  Filomena Broeskamp  Andreas Aufschnaiter  Jutta Diessl  Carlotta Peselj  Elisabeth Urbauer  Tobias Eisenberg  Ana de Ory  Sabrina Büttner 《PLoS genetics》2021,17(11)

The capacity of a cell to maintain proteostasis progressively declines during aging. Virtually all age-associated neurodegenerative disorders associated with aggregation of neurotoxic proteins are linked to defects in the cellular proteostasis network, including insufficient lysosomal hydrolysis. Here, we report that proteotoxicity in yeast and Drosophila models for Parkinson’s disease can be prevented by increasing the bioavailability of Ca²⁺, which adjusts intracellular Ca²⁺ handling and boosts lysosomal proteolysis. Heterologous expression of human α-synuclein (αSyn), a protein critically linked to Parkinson’s disease, selectively increases total cellular Ca²⁺ content, while the levels of manganese and iron remain unchanged. Disrupted Ca²⁺ homeostasis results in inhibition of the lysosomal protease cathepsin D and triggers premature cellular and organismal death. External administration of Ca²⁺ reduces αSyn oligomerization, stimulates cathepsin D activity and in consequence restores survival, which critically depends on the Ca²⁺/calmodulin-dependent phosphatase calcineurin. In flies, increasing the availability of Ca²⁺ discloses a neuroprotective role of αSyn upon manganese overload. In sum, we establish a molecular interplay between cathepsin D and calcineurin that can be activated by Ca²⁺ administration to counteract αSyn proteotoxicity.  相似文献   

    

Carla Palacios-Gorba  Alexandra Moura  Jesús Gomis  Alexandre Leclercq  Ángel Gómez-Martín  Hélène Bracq-Dieye  María L. Mocé  Nathalie Tessaud-Rita  Estrella Jiménez-Trigos  Guillaume Vales  Ángel García-Muñoz  Pierre Thouvenot  Empar García-Roselló  Marc Lecuit  Juan J. Quereda 《Environmental microbiology》2021,23(12):7617-7631

Studies have shown that ruminants constitute reservoirs of Listeria monocytogenes, but little is known about the epidemiology and genetic diversity of this pathogen within farms. Here we conducted a large-scale longitudinal study to monitor Listeria spp. in 19 dairy farms during three consecutive seasons (N = 3251 samples). L. innocua was the most prevalent species, followed by L. monocytogenes. Listeria monocytogenes was detected in 52.6% of farms and more frequently in cattle (4.1%) and sheep (4.5%) than in goat farms (0.2%). Lineage I accounted for 69% of L. monocytogenes isolates. Among animal samples, the most prevalent sublineages (SL) and clonal complexes (CC) were SL1/CC1, SL219/CC4, SL26/CC26 and SL87/CC87, whereas SL666/CC666 was most prevalent in environmental samples. Sixty-one different L. monocytogenes cgMLST types were found, 28% common to different animals and/or surfaces within the same farm and 21% previously reported elsewhere in the context of food and human surveillance. Listeria monocytogenes prevalence was not affected by farm hygiene but by season: higher prevalence was observed during winter in cattle, and during winter and spring in sheep farms. Cows in their second lactation had a higher probability of L. monocytogenes faecal shedding. This study highlights dairy farms as a reservoir for hypervirulent L. monocytogenes.  相似文献   

    

Veera Tuovinen  Ana Maria Millanes  Sandra Freire-Rallo  Anna Rosling  Mats Wedin 《Environmental microbiology》2021,23(5):2484-2498

Dimorphism is a widespread feature of tremellalean fungi in general, but a little-studied aspect of the biology of lichen-associated Tremella. We show that Tremella macrobasidiata and Tremella variae have an abundant and widespread yeast stage in their life cycles that occurs in Lecanora lichens. Their sexual filamentous stage is restricted to a specific lichen: T. macrobasidiata only forms basidiomata on Lecanora chlarotera hymenia and T. variae only on Lecanora varia thalli. However, the yeast stage of T. macrobasidiata is less specific and can occur in L. varia lichens, whilst all life stages of T. variae may be specific to L. varia. Contrary to the hyphal stages, the yeasts are distributed across the thalli and hymenia of Lecanora lichens, and not limited to specimens with basidiomata. Tremella macrobasidiata was present in all studied L. chlarotera, and in 59% of L. varia specimens. Only in 8% of the L. varia thalli could none of the two Tremella species be detected. Our results indicate that lichen-associated Tremella may be much more abundant and widespread than previously assumed leading to skewed estimations about their distribution ranges and lichen specificity, and raise new questions about their biology, ecology and function in the symbiosis.  相似文献   

    

Ana María Soler  Bruna Facanali Piellusch  Lorena da Silveira  Gisele Audrei Pedroso  Pablo Lpez  Enrique Savio  María de Fatima Sonati  Julio da Luz 《Genetics and molecular biology》2021,44(2)

Alpha thalassemia is the most common genetic disorder across the world, being the α-^3.7 deletion the most frequent mutation. In order to analyze the spectrum and origin of alpha thalassemia mutations in Uruguay, we obtained a sample of 168 unrelated outpatients with normal hemoglobin levels with microcytosis and hypochromia from two cities: Montevideo and Salto. The presence of α-thalassemia mutations was investigated by gap-PCR, restriction endonucleases analysis and HBA2 and HBA1 genes sequencing, whereas the alpha-MRE haplotypes were investigated by sequencing. We found 55 individuals (32.7%) with α-thalassemia mutations, 51(30.4%) carrying the -α^3.7 deletion, one with the -α^4.2 deletion and three having the rare punctual mutation HBA2:c.-59C>T. Regarding alpha-MRE analysis, we observed a significant higher frequency of haplotype D, characteristic of African populations, in the sample with the -α^3.7 deletion. These results show that α-thalassemia mutations are an important determinant of microcytosis and hypochromia in Uruguayan patients with microcytosis and hypochromia without anemia, mainly due to the -α^3.7 deletion. The alpha-MRE haplotypes and the α-thalassemia mutations spectrum suggest a predominant, but not exclusive, African origin of these mutations in Uruguay.  相似文献   

    

Maria Isabel Mendona  Eva Henriques  Sofia Borges  Ana Clia Sousa  Andreia Pereira  Marina Santos  Margarida Temtem  Snia Freitas  Joel Monteiro  Joo Adriano Sousa  Ricardo Rodrigues  Graa Guerra  Roberto Palma dos Reis 《Genetics and molecular biology》2021,44(2)

The inclusion of a genetic risk score (GRS) can modify the risk prediction of coronary artery disease (CAD), providing an advantage over the use of traditional models. The predictive value of the genetic information on the recurrence of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) remains controversial. A total of 33 genetic variants previously associated with CAD were genotyped in 1587 CAD patients from the GENEMACOR study. Of these, 18 variants presented an hazard ratio >1, so they were selected to construct a weighted GRS (wGRS). MACE discrimination and reclassification were evaluated by C-Statistic, Net Reclassification Index and Integrated Discrimination Improvement methodologies. After the addition of wGRS to traditional predictors, the C-index increased from 0.566 to 0.572 (p=0.0003). Subsequently, adding wGRS to traditional plus clinical risk factors, this model slightly improved from 0.620 to 0.622 but with statistical significance (p=0.004). NRI showed that 17.9% of the cohort was better reclassified when the primary model was associated with wGRS. The Kaplan-Meier estimator showed that, at 15-year follow-up, the group with a higher number of risk alleles had a significantly higher MACE occurrence (p=0.011). In CAD patients, wGRS improved MACE risk prediction, discrimination and reclassification over the conventional factors, providing better cost-effective therapeutic strategies.  相似文献   

    

Lohans Pedrera  Rafael A. Espiritu  Uris Ros  Josephine Weber  Anja Schmitt  Jenny Stroh  Stephan Hailfinger  Silvia von Karstedt  Ana J. García-Sez 《Cell death and differentiation》2021,28(5):1644

Ferroptosis is an iron-dependent form of regulated necrosis associated with lipid peroxidation. Despite its key role in the inflammatory outcome of ferroptosis, little is known about the molecular events leading to the disruption of the plasma membrane during this type of cell death. Here we show that a sustained increase in cytosolic Ca²⁺ is a hallmark of ferroptosis that precedes complete bursting of the cell. We report that plasma membrane damage leading to ferroptosis is associated with membrane nanopores of a few nanometers in radius and that ferroptosis, but not lipid peroxidation, can be delayed by osmoprotectants. Importantly, Ca²⁺ fluxes during ferroptosis induce the activation of the ESCRT-III-dependent membrane repair machinery, which counterbalances the kinetics of cell death and modulates the immunological signature of ferroptosis. Our findings with ferroptosis provide a unifying concept that sustained increase of cytosolic Ca²⁺ prior to plasma membrane rupture is a common feature of regulated types of necrosis and position ESCRT-III activation as a general protective mechanism in these lytic cell death pathways.Subject terms: Cell biology, Molecular biology  相似文献   

  总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Tatyana Zamkovaya  Jamie S. Foster  Valrie de Crcy-Lagard  Ana Conesa 《The ISME journal》2021,15(1):228

Microbes compose most of the biomass on the planet, yet the majority of taxa remain uncharacterized. These unknown microbes, often referred to as “microbial dark matter,” represent a major challenge for biology. To understand the ecological contributions of these Unknown taxa, it is essential to first understand the relationship between unknown species, neighboring microbes, and their respective environment. Here, we establish a method to study the ecological significance of “microbial dark matter” by building microbial co-occurrence networks from publicly available 16S rRNA gene sequencing data of four extreme aquatic habitats. For each environment, we constructed networks including and excluding unknown organisms at multiple taxonomic levels and used network centrality measures to quantitatively compare networks. When the Unknown taxa were excluded from the networks, a significant reduction in degree and betweenness was observed for all environments. Strikingly, Unknown taxa occurred as top hubs in all environments, suggesting that “microbial dark matter” play necessary ecological roles within their respective communities. In addition, novel adaptation-related genes were detected after using 16S rRNA gene sequences from top-scoring hub taxa as probes to blast metagenome databases. This work demonstrates the broad applicability of network metrics to identify and prioritize key Unknown taxa and improve understanding of ecosystem structure across diverse habitats.Subject terms: Microbial ecology, Metagenomics  相似文献   

    

Javier Pascual  Kristie Tanner  Cristina Vilanova  Manuel Porcar  Ana Delgado 《Microbial biotechnology》2021,14(5):1878-1880

The Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-sharing ( https://www.cbd.int/abs/ ), primarily designed for vascular plant and animal resources, is also extended to the use of microbial resources, but its application to the microbiological realm has raised many doubts and provoked criticisms. This is because of the particularities of microbial ecology and the technical and legal difficulties encompassed in its application.  相似文献   

    

Ana García-Franco  Patricia Godoy  Jesús de la Torre  Estrella Duque  Juan L. Ramos 《Microbial biotechnology》2021,14(5):1871-1877

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