New communities of large filamentous sulfur bacteria in the eastern South Pacific.

New complex communities of morphologically diverse and sometimes abundant large, multicellular, filamentous bacteria were discovered in the oxygen-deficient, organically laden, shelf sediments under the oxygen minimum zone off the coast of the eastern Pacific, i.e., off the coasts of central and northern Chile; central and northern Perú; Roca Redonda, Galápagos Archipielago, Ecuador; and off the Pacific coasts of Panamá and Costa Rica. Similar microbial communities were also observed in the reduced layer of a muddy-sand beach adjacent to a mangrove swamp on Coiba Island, Pacific Panamá, and in the organically laden bottom underneath a salmon culture pen in southern Chile (region X). Of varying morphology, the diameters of the bacteria range from 1 to 10 mum, and their lengths from around 10 mum to usually several hundreds but at times several thousands of micrometers. The new filamentous bacterial component is at least one order of magnitude smaller than the also multicellular "megabacteria" Thioploca spp. and Beggiatoa spp., and is collectively referred to as "macrobacteria". A recent review only mentioned a few of these free-living filamentous bacteria, remarking on their scarcity despite the obvious advantages of a large size. This prokaryote size-window has been rarely investigated optically by researchers; thus, assemblages that appear to have had world-wide distribution probably since pre-Cambrian times have been overlooked.     

Phylogenetic structure of the extinction and biotic factors explaining differential survival of terrestrial notosuchians at the Cretaceous–Palaeogene crisis

Although the clade Crocodylomorpha is represented by few extant species (Crocodylia), it has a rich fossil record. Hundreds of species, adapted to terrestrial, semi-aquatic and marine environments, have existed over more than 200 million years. Numerous studies have attempted to characterize the factors driving the diversification and extinction events of Crocodylomorpha, resulting in ambiguous and even contradictory conclusions, which points to the need for phylogenetically and temporally smaller-scaled studies. Here, we focus on differential survival at the Cretaceous–Palaeogene (K–Pg) crisis of Notosuchia, a diverse clade of mostly terrestrial Crocodylomorpha that achieved great diversity during the Cretaceous. More precisely, we tested the effect of body size and palaeotemperatures on notosuchian survival probability during the K–Pg crisis as well as the effect of diet on the evolution of their body size. We find that Notosuchia showed an evolutionary trend towards larger body sizes through time, associated with a shift from an omnivorous to a carnivorous diet. This may explain why sebecids were the only notosuchians to survive the K–Pg crisis. We also corroborate the conclusions of previous studies that detected a Lagerstätten effect occurring in the Adamantina Formation (Upper Cretaceous, Brazil, Bauru Group). This work confirms the value of more finely-scaled macroevolutionary studies for understanding the history of a rich and complex group such as Crocodylomorpha.     

X-ray diffraction characterization of the dense phases formed by nucleosome core particles

Multiple dense phases of nucleosome core particles (NCPs) were formed in controlled ionic conditions (15-160 mM monovalent salt, no divalent ions), under osmotic pressures ranging from 4.7 x 10(5) to 2.35 x 10(6) Pa. We present here the x-ray diffraction analysis of these phases. In the lamello-columnar phase obtained at low salt concentration (<25 mM), NCPs stack into columns that align to form bilayers, kept separated from one another by a layer of solvent. NCPs form a monoclinic lattice in the plane of the bilayer. For high salt concentration (>50 mM), NCPs order into either a two-dimensional columnar hexagonal phase or into three-dimensional orthorhombic (quasi-hexagonal) crystals. The lamellar and hexagonal (or quasi-hexagonal) organizations coexist in the intermediate salt range; their demixing requires a long time. For an applied pressure P = 4.7 10(5) Pa, the calculated NCPs concentration ranges from approximately 280 to 320 mg/ml in the lamello-columnar phase to 495 to 585 mg/ml in the three-dimensional orthorhombic phase. These concentrations cover the concentration of the living cell.     

Design and evaluation of analogues of the bacterial cell-wall peptidoglycan motif L-Lys-D-Ala-D-Ala for use in a vancomycin biosensor

Four small molecular receptors of vancomycin have been designed to make part of a novel biosensor device based on the FTIR-ATR detection: N-Boc (2a) or N-Ac (2b)-6-aminocaproyl-D-Ala-D-Ala and N-Boc (3a) or N-Ac (3b)-6-aminocaproyl-D-Ala-d-Ser. Using an original microbiological approach to assess the competition of compounds with the natural target of vancomycin in bacteria, EC(50) values of 6.3-8.0 x 10(-5)M (2a-b) and 7.1-9.3 x 10(-4)M (3a-b) were determined. Vancomycin:2b complex was characterized by MS.     

Mikroskopische Studien zur Innervation des Magen-Darmkanales V.

Zusammenfassung Die interstitielle Zelle läßt sich vielleicht als die kleinste Form einer vegetativen Ganglienzelle betrachten.Im Auerbachschen Plexus des menschlichen Colons kommen Zellen vom Typus 1 und 2 nach Dogiel und viele kleine und mittelgroße, der Form nach sehr mannigfache Gnanglienzellan vor.Der Auerbachsche Plexus zeigt eine Gliederung in ein Primär-, Sekundär- und Tertiärgeflecht. Der mit dem Auerbachschen Plexus kontinuierlich zusammenhängende Plexus muscularis profundus besitzt in verhältnismäßig spärlicher, aber gleichmäßiger Verteilung Ganglienzellen.Die großen Ganglienzellen des Meissnerschen Plexus gehören vorwiegend dem Typus 2 nach Dogiel an; daneben gibt es noch eine Fülle kleiner, teils multipolarer, teils der Form nach schwer bestimmbarer Ganglienzellen.Die an die Muscularis mucosae grenzenden Maschen des Meissnerschen Plexus sind von außerordentlicher Feinheit und enthalten auch interstitielle Zellen.Der Meissnersche Plexus geht mit feinsten, netzartigen Faserzügen ohne scharfe Grenze in den in der Schleimhaut ausgebreiteten Plexus mucosus über. Letzterer enthält zwar in seinem an die Submucosa grenzenden Gebiet noch vereinzelte kleine multipolare Ganglienzellen, weist jedoch in seinen übrigen, dem Epithel genäherten Lagen nur noch interstitielle Zellen auf.Der Plexus mucosus besitzt die Form des Terminalretikulums, den Charakter einer netzartigen Endformation des vegetativen Nervensystems, das hier afferente, efferente und (Sekretorische Nervenelemente in einer gemeinsamen plasmodialen Leitbahn beherbergt.In der Schleimhaut des Processus vermiformis entwickelt der dort ausgebreitete Plexus mucosus eine außerordentliche Zartheit und Reichhaltigkeit seiner nervösen Elemente.In einem Falle von rein neurogener Appandizitis kommen im Plexus mucosus des menschlichen Processus vermiformis bei sonst intakter Schleimhaut neuromatöse Gewebsneubildungen vor, die als das Resultat eines im Terminalretikulum zutage tretenden Wucherungsprozesses gedeutet werden können.In einem Falle von Megacolon werden schwere pathologische Veränderungen, vor allem an den Zellen und Fasern des Auerbachschen Plexus und des Plexus muscularis profundus beschrieben.     

Identification of a novel coronavirus from a beluga whale by using a panviral microarray

The emergence of viruses such as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus and Nipah virus has underscored the role of animal reservoirs in human disease and the need for reservoir surveillance. Here, we used a panviral DNA microarray to investigate the death of a captive beluga whale in an aquatic park. A highly divergent coronavirus, tentatively named coronavirus SW1, was identified in liver tissue from the deceased whale. Subsequently, the entire genome of SW1 was sequenced, yielding a genome of 31,686 nucleotides. Phylogenetic analysis revealed SW1 to be a novel virus distantly related to but most similar to group III coronaviruses.