Diversity and evolution of a trait mediating ant–plant interactions: insights from extrafloral nectaries in Senna (Leguminosae)

Background and Aims

Plants display a wide range of traits that allow them to use animals for vital tasks. To attract and reward aggressive ants that protect developing leaves and flowers from consumers, many plants bear extrafloral nectaries (EFNs). EFNs are exceptionally diverse in morphology and locations on a plant. In this study the evolution of EFN diversity is explored by focusing on the legume genus Senna, in which EFNs underwent remarkable morphological diversification and occur in over 80 % of the approx. 350 species.

Methods

EFN diversity in location, morphology and plant ontogeny was characterized in wild and cultivated plants, using scanning electron microscopy and microtome sectioning. From these data EFN evolution was reconstructed in a phylogenetic framework comprising 83 Senna species.

Key Results

Two distinct kinds of EFNs exist in two unrelated clades within Senna. ‘Individualized’ EFNs (iEFNs), located on the compound leaves and sometimes at the base of pedicels, display a conspicuous, gland-like nectary structure, are highly diverse in shape and characterize the species-rich EFN clade. Previously overlooked ‘non-individualized’ EFNs (non-iEFNs) embedded within stipules, bracts, and sepals are cryptic and may represent a new synapomorphy for clade II. Leaves bear EFNs consistently throughout plant ontogeny. In one species, however, early seedlings develop iEFNs between the first pair of leaflets, but later leaves produce them at the leaf base. This ontogenetic shift reflects our inferred diversification history of iEFN location: ancestral leaves bore EFNs between the first pair of leaflets, while leaves derived from them bore EFNs either between multiple pairs of leaflets or at the leaf base.

Conclusions

EFNs are more diverse than previously thought. EFN-bearing plant parts provide different opportunities for EFN presentation (i.e. location) and individualization (i.e. morphology), with implications for EFN morphological evolution, EFN–ant protective mutualisms and the evolutionary role of EFNs in plant diversification.     

Intraspecific genetic diversity of Pyrenophora tritici-repentis (Died.) Drechs. (Drechslera tritici-repentis[Died.] Shoem.) detected by random amplified polymorphic DNA assays

Abstract

Random amplified polymorphic DNAs (RAPDs) were used to study the genetic variation of Pyrenophora tritici-repentis isolates causing wheat tan spot. Two independent experiments were conducted in 2002 – 2003. In 2002, 40 isolates collected in Russia (Krasnodar region, Bashkiria), Germany, and the Czech Republic were studied and 35 unique RAPD genotypes were identified. Most of the genetic variation (72%) was observed within populations and 28% between them. In 2003, 69 new isolates from Russia (Dagestan, North Osetia, Bashkiria), Germany, and the Czech Republic were studied and 47 unique RAPD genotypes were identified. As in 2002, most of the genetic variation (75%) was observed within populations and 25% between them. Total gene diversity in each group ranged from 0.67 – 1.00 for 2002 and was 1.00 for 2003. The average gene diversity was estimated between 0.13 and 0.20 in 2002 and between 0.07 and 0.18 in 2003. A dendrogramme based on genetic distances between isolates illustrates that the variation is distributed on a small scale (0.3 – 4.0%). Estimated F_ST values and clustering of isolates on dendrogrammes suggest that groups of isolates from Bashkiria and groups of isolates from Dagestan and North Osetia are separated from others and may be considered as different geographical populations. No clear differentiation between isolates from other sites was revealed.     

GABAA Receptors of Cerebellar Granule Cells in Culture: Interaction with Benzodiazepines

GABA_A receptor mediated inhibition plays an important role in modulating the input/output dynamics of cerebellum. A characteristic of cerebellar GABA_A receptors is the presence in cerebellar granule cells of subunits such as α6 and δ which give insensitivity to classical benzodiazepines. In fact, cerebellar GABA_A receptors have generally been considered a poor model for testing drugs which potentially are active at the benzodiazepine site. In this overview we show how rat cerebellar granule cells in culture may be a useful model for studying new benzodiazepine site agonists. This is based on the pharmacological separation of diazepam-sensitive α1 β2/3 γ2 receptors from those which are diazepam-insensitive and contain the α6 subunit. This is achieved by utilizing furosemide/Zn²⁺ which block α6 containing and incomplete receptors.     

Association of the I148M/PNPLA3 variant with elevated alanine transaminase levels in normal-weight and overweight/obese Mexican children

Background and aims

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and elevated alanine transaminase (ALT) levels are common in obese Hispanic adults and children. Recently, a PNPLA3 gene variant (I148M) was strongly associated with NAFLD and higher ALT levels in obese adults, including Hispanics. The aims of this study were to estimate the frequency of elevated ALT levels, and to address the influence of obesity and PNPLA3/I148M on ALT levels in a general population sample of Mexican school-aged children.

Methods

A total of 1037 non-related Mexican children aged 6 to 12 years were genotyped for the I148M variant. Anthropometric, clinical and metabolic parameters were collected from all participants.

Results

Elevated ALT levels (> 35 U/L) were more frequent in obese (26.9%) and overweight (9.3%) than in normal weight children (2.2%). The M148M genotype was significantly associated with elevated ALT levels in this population (OR = 3.7, 95% CI 2.3–5.9; P = 3.7 × 10^− 8), and children carrying the M148M genotype showed significantly lower HDL cholesterol levels and BMI z-core (P = 0.036 and 0.015, respectively). On stratifying by BMI percentile, this genotype conferred a much greater risk of elevated ALT levels in normal weight (OR = 19.9, 95% CI 2.5–157.7; P = 0.005) than overweight and obese children (OR = 3.4, 95% CI 1.3–8.9; P = 0.014 and OR = 3.1, 95% CI 1.7–5.5; P = 1.4 x10^− 4, respectively).

Conclusions

The I148M PNPLA3 variant is strongly associated with elevated ALT levels in normal weight and overweight/obese Mexican children. Thus, the M148M genotype may be considered as an important risk factor for liver damage in this population.     

Regulation of stem cell therapies under attack in Europe: for whom the bell tolls

At the time of writing, the Italian Parliament is debating a new law that would make it legal to practice an unproven stem cell treatment in public hospitals. The treatment, offered by a private non‐medical organization, may not be safe, lacks a rationale, and violates current national laws and European regulations. This case raises multiple concerns, most prominently the urgent need to protect patients who are severely ill, exposed to significant risks, and vulnerable to exploitation. The scientific community must consider the context—social, financial, medical, legal—in which stem cell science is currently situated and the need for stringent regulation. Additional concerns are emerging. These emanate from the novel climate, created within science itself, and stem cell science in particular, by the currently prevailing model of ‘translational medicine’. Only rigorous science and rigorous regulation can ensure translation of science into effective therapies rather than into ineffective market products, and mark, at the same time, the sharp distinction between the striving for new therapies and the deceit of patients.     

Structure of a bacterial type IV secretion core complex at subnanometre resolution

Type IV secretion (T4S) systems are able to transport DNAs and/or proteins through the membranes of bacteria. They form large multiprotein complexes consisting of 12 proteins termed VirB1‐11 and VirD4. VirB7, 9 and 10 assemble into a 1.07 MegaDalton membrane‐spanning core complex (CC), around which all other components assemble. This complex is made of two parts, the O‐layer inserted in the outer membrane and the I‐layer inserted in the inner membrane. While the structure of the O‐layer has been solved by X‐ray crystallography, there is no detailed structural information on the I‐layer. Using high‐resolution cryo‐electron microscopy and molecular modelling combined with biochemical approaches, we determined the I‐layer structure and located its various components in the electron density. Our results provide new structural insights on the CC, from which the essential features of T4S system mechanisms can be derived.     

Delivery and processing of exogenous double-stranded DNA in mouse CD34 + hematopoietic progenitor cells and their cell cycle changes upon combined treatment with cyclophosphamide and double-stranded DNA

We previously reported that fragments of exogenous double-stranded DNA can be internalized by mouse bone marrow cells without any transfection. Our present analysis shows that only 2% of bone marrow cells take up the fragments of extracellular exogenous DNA. Of these, ~ 45% of the cells correspond to CD34 + hematopoietic stem cells. Taking into account that CD34 + stem cells constituted 2.5% of the total cell population in the bone marrow samples analyzed, these data indicate that as much as 40% of CD34 + cells readily internalize fragments of extracellular exogenous DNA. This suggests that internalization of fragmented dsDNA is a general feature of poorly differentiated cells, in particular CD34 + bone marrow cells.