Functional Morphology of the Introvert and Digestive System of Myzostoma cirriferum (Myzostomida)

Myzostoma cirriferum feeds by diverting food particles carried by the ambulacral grooves of its comatulid host Antedon bifida. When searching for food, the myzostome uses its protrusible introvert to fulfil two major functions: sensory perception and the capture of food particles. The digestive system is composed of four parts, viz. a pharynx, that is contained within the introvert, a stomach, a series of paired caeca and an intestine that lie in the myzostome's trunk. The pharynx is supplied with a thick muscle which, thanks to peristaltic movements, carries food particles from the mouth to the stomach. Both stomach and caecal cells are able to absorb dissolved nutriments and to store lipids, whereas intestinal cells are only capable of absorption. Due to the beating of their cilia, stomach cells also carry food particles into the caecal lumen, where they are subjected to endocytosis and intracellular digestion by caecal cells. Undigested food fragments eventually gather in a very large, apical vacuole, and the cell apices containing vacuoles are eliminated into the caecal lumen by an apocrinal process. Detached cell apices reach the stomach, where they are embedded in a matrix, together forming a spindle-shaped faecal mass that is expelled through the postero-ventral anus. The observed digestive process—entailing the regular elimination of the apical part of the caecal digestive cells—appears to be unique among the Spiralia.     

Stabilization of the ternary complex EF-Tu.GTP.valyl-tRNA by ammonium salts

In a search for crystallizing conditions for the ternary complex EF-Tu.GTP.valyl-tRNA^val, the influence of various salts on its stability has been examined by measuring the rate of deacylation of the aminoacyl-tRNA in the complex. The most striking result is the general higher stability in solutions of ammonium salts and, in particular, the enhancement of this effect by sulphate and citrate. Thus sodium sulphate and citrate lead to destabilization of the complex, as expected from conventional considerations of adding salt, whereas the corresponding ammonium salts stabilize the complex as shown, for example, by an increase in the half-life of the valyl-tRNA^val in the complex from about 20 hours to at least 300 hours in the presence of 1.2 M ammonium sulphate. These results suggest that ammonium sulphate and ammonium citrate might be very suitable precipitants for crystallization studies of the ternary complex.     

Conformational properties of the N-terminal residues of S-peptide. I. The ribonuclease S′ system

The contribution of the 1–6 N-terminal sequence to the conformational properties of the S-peptide (the 1–20 sequence of ribonuclease A) was assessed by determining in the ribonuclease S′ system the helical content and the binding capability of synthetic [Orn¹⁰]-S-peptide analogs, in which lysine¹, glutamic² and threonine³ were progressively deleted, alanine⁴ and alanine⁵were alternatively replaced by serine, and alanine⁶ was substituted by serine or proline. Both the deletion of the three N-terminal residues and the alanine⁶/proline replacement produces the loss of the helical structure up to lysine⁷. No or minor effects are found in all other cases. From the comparison of the binding data, the energy for the conformational stabilization of the N-terminal region was calculated to amount to 1.4 kcal/mol. The results are discussed in comparison with the known x-ray data of the enzyme, with some predictive rules of secondary structure which were applied to this region and with the known phylogenetic variance of the residues in this region.     

Repeated truncation of a modular antimicrobial peptide gene for neural context

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are host-encoded antibiotics that combat invading pathogens. These genes commonly encode multiple products as post-translationally cleaved polypeptides. Recent studies have highlighted roles for AMPs in neurological contexts suggesting functions for these defence molecules beyond infection. During our immune study characterizing the antimicrobial peptide gene Baramicin, we recovered multiple Baramicin paralogs in Drosophila melanogaster and other species, united by their N-terminal IM24 domain. Not all paralogs were immune-induced. Here, through careful dissection of the Baramicin family’s evolutionary history, we find that paralogs lacking immune induction result from repeated events of duplication and subsequent truncation of the coding sequence from an immune-inducible ancestor. These truncations leave only the IM24 domain as the prominent gene product. Surprisingly, using mutation and targeted gene silencing we demonstrate that two such genes are adapted for function in neural contexts in D. melanogaster. We also show enrichment in the head for independent Baramicin genes in other species. The Baramicin evolutionary history reveals that the IM24 Baramicin domain is not strictly useful in an immune context. We thus provide a case study for how an AMP-encoding gene might play dual roles in both immune and non-immune processes via its multiple peptide products. As many AMP genes encode polypeptides, a full understanding of how immune effectors interact with the nervous system will require consideration of all their peptide products.     

The enterotoxin gene (cpe) of Clostridium perfringens can be chromosomal or plasmid-borne

The location of the cpe gene, encoding the enterotoxin responsible for food poisoning in humans, has been studied in a series of enterotoxigenic Ciostridium perfringens strains by means of pulsed field gel electrophoresis of genomic DNA. The cpe gene was found at the same chromosomal locus in strains associated with food poisoning in humans and was shown to be linked to a repetitive sequence, the Hin dlll repeat, and an open reading frame, ORF3, that may be part of an insertion sequence. In contrast, when the strains originated from domesticated livestock cpe was located on a large episome where it was often close to a copy of the transposable element IS 1151. In these cases, the Hin dlll repeat was not linked to the cpe gene although this was generally preceded by ORF3.     

Ants impact the composition of the aquatic macroinvertebrate communities of a myrmecophytic tank bromeliad

In an inundated Mexican forest, 89 out of 92 myrmecophytic tank bromeliads (Aechmea bracteata) housed an associated ant colony: 13 sheltered Azteca serica, 43 Dolichoderus bispinosus, and 33 Neoponera villosa. Ant presence has a positive impact on the diversity of the aquatic macroinvertebrate communities (n = 30 bromeliads studied). A Principal Component Analysis (PCA) showed that the presence and the species of ant are not correlated to bromeliad size, quantity of water, number of wells, filtered organic matter or incident radiation. The PCA and a generalized linear model showed that the presence of Azteca serica differed from the presence of the other two ant species or no ants in its effects on the aquatic invertebrate community (more predators). Therefore, both ant presence and species of ant affect the composition of the aquatic macroinvertebrate communities in the tanks of A. bracteata, likely due to ant deposition of feces and other waste in these tanks.     

Cell motility measurements with an automated microscope system

The motility of 3T3 cells has been studied using a newly developed automated microscope system which is capable of recognizing live unstained cells growing in tissue culture. A large number of individual cells can be rapidly identified and characterized and their precise positions recorded. All cells can be revisited automatically every few minutes, and the new cell positions can be determined. Quantitative data from up to 1 000 cells can then be obtained, and cell movement parameters like cell speed, distance travelled, direction of movement, etc., can be measured for individual cells and for the whole cell population. In addition, for any number of chosen cells, high-resolution digitized images can be taken for further morphological studies, including acquisition of images of individual cells.