The distribution of coastal fish eDNA sequences in the Anthropocene

Aim

Coastal fishes have a fundamental role in marine ecosystem functioning and contributions to people, but face increasing threats due to climate change, habitat degradation and overexploitation. The extent to which human pressures are impacting coastal fish biodiversity in comparison with geographic and environmental factors at large spatial scale is still under scrutiny. Here, we took advantage of environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding to investigate the relationship between fish biodiversity, including taxonomic and genetic components, and environmental but also socio-economic factors.

Location

Tropical, temperate and polar coastal areas.

Time period

Present day.

Major taxa studied

Marine fishes.

Methods

We analysed fish eDNA in 263 stations (samples) in 68 sites distributed across polar, temperate and tropical regions. We modelled the effect of environmental, geographic and socio-economic factors on α- and β-diversity. We then computed the partial effect of each factor on several fish biodiversity components using taxonomic molecular units (MOTU) and genetic sequences. We also investigated the relationship between fish genetic α- and β-diversity measured from our barcodes, and phylogenetic but also functional diversity.

Results

We show that fish eDNA MOTU and sequence α- and β-diversity have the strongest correlation with environmental factors on coastal ecosystems worldwide. However, our models also reveal a negative correlation between biodiversity and human dependence on marine ecosystems. In areas with high dependence, diversity of all fish, cryptobenthic fish and large fish MOTUs declined steeply. Finally, we show that a sequence diversity index, accounting for genetic distance between pairs of MOTUs, within and between communities, is a reliable proxy of phylogenetic and functional diversity.

Main conclusions

Together, our results demonstrate that short eDNA sequences can be used to assess climate and direct human impacts on marine biodiversity at large scale in the Anthropocene and can further be extended to investigate biodiversity in its phylogenetic and functional dimensions.     

2-Hydroxypyridine Metabolism and Pigment Formation in Three Arthrobacter Species

Three species of the genus Arthrobacter, A. crystallopoietes, A. pyridinolis, and A. viridescens, have the capabilities to utilize 2-hydroxypyridine (2-HP) as the sole source of carbon and nitrogen for growth and to produce an extracellular crystalline pigment from this substrate. Degradation of 2-HP by cell-free extracts requires the presence of both reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide and molecular oxygen and is stimulated by flavin mononucleotide, suggesting the presence of a monooxygenase activity in the extract. Loss of the ability to produce pigment at a high spontaneous frequency, 0.26% loss per generation, is observed only with A. crystallopoietes and can be visualized by the presence of sectored and fully nonpigmented colonies on solid media containing 2-HP. Concomitant with the loss of pigment-producing character are both loss of ability to utilize 2-HP for growth and oxidation of 2-HP by cell-free extracts. These three 2-HP-associated characteristics also are lost simultaneously by treating cultures of A. crystallopoietes with curing agents, such as acridine orange and mitomycin C, but are not curable in A. pyridinolis or A. viridescens. All nonpigmented strains of A. crystallopoietes are nonrevertible for these properties. These data suggest that 2-HP-related characteristics are plasmid determined in A. crystallopoietes but not in A. pyridinolis and A. viridescens. A survey for the presence of plasmids in these three species and two physiologically unrelated species, A. globiformis and A. atrocyaneus, revealed plasmid material only in A. globiformis and A. crystallopoietes.     

Nuclear acceptor sites for androgen-receptor complexes in seminal-vesicle epithelium.

An assay method in vitro was developed and applied to quantify acceptor binding of steroid-receptor complexes in nuclei from isolated epithelium of guinea-pig seminal vesicle. Steroid-receptor complex prepared from 1-day-castrated animals was incubated with purified nuclei from 1-28 day-castrated animals in a medium containing 0.15 M-KCl. Free and bound steroid-receptor complexes were measured and the data were submitted to Scatchard analysis. With nuclei from 1-day-castrated animals the Kd for binding of cytosolic [3H]dihydrotestosterone-receptor complexes was found to be 0.83 X 10(-10) M and the capacity for binding was 0.35 pmol/mg of nuclear DNA. Scatchard analysis consistently disclosed only a single line of constant slope and gave the same kinetic constants for nuclei obtained from animals castrated up to 28 days before assay. Administration of 2 mg of dihydrotestosterone, 3 alpha-androstanediol or androsterone or 100 microgram of oestradiol-17 beta 1 h before killing of the 1-day-castrated animals that provided the nuclei resulted in a significant decrease in nuclear acceptor binding of the steroid-receptor complex compared with untreated animals. Thus our assay method disclosed nuclear acceptor sites that may be involved in responses to androgens (and oestrogens) in vivo. We conclude that there is a class of nuclear accept or sites of high affinity and limited capacity that may be occupied by steroid-receptor complexes in vivo.     

Upper airway anesthesia delays arousal from airway occlusion induced during human NREM sleep.

Six healthy subjects (5 males and 1 female, 26-40 yr old) were studied during non-rapid-eye-movement (NREM) sleep to assess the role of upper airway (UA) afferents in the arousal response to induced airway occlusion. Subjects wore an airtight face mask attached to a low-resistance one-way valve. A valve in the inspiratory circuit allowed instantaneous inspiratory airway occlusion and release; the expiratory circuit remained unoccluded at all times. Each subject was studied during two nights. On one night, occlusions were created during stable stage 2 NREM sleep before and after application of 4% lidocaine to the oral and nasal mucosa. On the other night, the protocol was duplicated with saline ("sham anesthesia") rather than lidocaine. The order of nights was randomized. Occlusions were sustained until electroencephalographic arousal. Three to 12 occlusions were performed in each subject for each of the four parts of the protocol (pre- and post-lidocaine, pre- and post-saline). The auditory threshold for arousal (1,500-Hz tone beginning at 30 dB) was also tested before and after UA lidocaine. For the group, arousal time after UA anesthesia was prolonged compared with preanesthesia arousal time (P less than 0.001); arousal time after sham anesthesia did not significantly increase from before sham anesthesia (P = 0.9). The increase in arousal time with UA anesthesia was greater than the increase with sham anesthesia (P less than 0.001). The auditory arousal threshold did not increase after UA anesthesia. Inspiratory mask pressure, arterial O2 saturation of hemoglobin, and end-tidal PCO2 during occlusions were similar before and after UA anesthesia.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

A unique binding cavity for divalent cations in the DNA-metal-chromomycin A3 complex

Binding of chromomycin A3 (CRA) to calf thymus DNA was investigated in the presence of divalent cations using visible absorption and 1H-nmr spectroscopies. An apparent equilibrium binding constant (approximately 10(11) M-1) was obtained from metal competition experiments using EDTA to remove the metal cation from the DNA-M-CRA (M: metal) complex. The large binding constant of the drug to DNA enabled us to obtain essentially complete complexation of CRA to the short homogeneous d(ATGCAT)2 duplex using stoichiometric amounts of the metal cation. Large induced chemical shifts were observed in the 1H-nmr spectrum of the above complex using the paramagnetic Co2+ cation, indicating that the metal occupies a unique binding site. Since no induced 1H-nmr chemical shifts were observed for the drug-Co2+ mixture, it was concluded that no metal-drug complex is formed. In addition, it was found that bound CRA is negatively charged at physiological pH and binding to the DNA could be affected only by using metal cations whose ionic radius size (less than 0.85 A) and charge (2+) were simultaneously satisfied. Stringent metal cation selectivity for the DNA-M-CRA complex may be intimately connected with the antitumor selectivity of CRA, since different types of cells generally possess widely differing molar concentrations of metal cations.     

Ovarian substance induces steroid production in cultured granulosa cells

Summary The rat ovary produces an apparently low molecular weight substance that mimics the action of follitropin (FSH) on ovarian granulosa cells in culture. Similar to FSH action, the ovarian substance (OS) induces temporal cell rounding and, later on, intensive progestin production. However, unlike FSH, OS does not induce accumulation of cyclic AMP (cAMP) in the granulosa cells. The ovarian factor cannot be cAMP as its action is not abolished by phosphodiesterase (PDE) treatment. Neither is it a possible PDE inhibitor, as it does not augment cAMP accumulation in granulosa cells or Friend erythroleukemic cells induced by FSH or PGE₁, respectively. The factor is still active after heating for 20 min at 90° C but is rapidly inactivated by alkali treatment. In addition, treatment with various proteases did not abolish the steroidogenic activity. These findings suggest a possible novel intraovarian regulator of the granulosa cell function. Presented in the symposium on Plant and Animal Physiology in Vitro at the 33rd Annual Meeting of the Tissue Culture Association, San Diego, California, June 6–10, 1982. This work was supported by the United States-Israel Binational Science Foundation, Grant 2656/81. This symposium was supported in part by the following organizations: Bellco Glass, Inc., California Branch of the Tissue Culture Association, Collaborative Research, Hana Media, Hybridtech, K C Biological, Inc., and Millipore Corporation.     

The role of auditory stimuli in the courtship of Drosophila melanogaster

Simulated courtship song of male Drosophila melanogaster was played to males or females of this species. Upon receiving the song males increase their locomotor activity and start courting each other, whereas females reduce their locomotor activity. In wingless males the locomotor activity difference between the silent control and the experimental sound situation is much larger than in winged males, due to the inactivity of wingless males in the control situation. Males which had been kept singly up to the time of the experiment exhibit higher locomotor and sexual activity than group housed males. A second component of the male courtship song ‘sine song’ is described, together with experiments which investigate the sensory basis of the effect male courtship song has on males.