Telomere length reveals cumulative individual and transgenerational inbreeding effects in a passerine bird

Inbreeding results in more homozygous offspring that should suffer reduced fitness, but it can be difficult to quantify these costs for several reasons. First, inbreeding depression may vary with ecological or physiological stress and only be detectable over long time periods. Second, parental homozygosity may indirectly affect offspring fitness, thus confounding analyses that consider offspring homozygosity alone. Finally, measurement of inbreeding coefficients, survival and reproductive success may often be too crude to detect inbreeding costs in wild populations. Telomere length provides a more precise measure of somatic costs, predicts survival in many species and should reflect differences in somatic condition that result from varying ability to cope with environmental stressors. We studied relative telomere length in a wild population of Seychelles warblers (Acrocephalus sechellensis) to assess the lifelong relationship between individual homozygosity, which reflects genome‐wide inbreeding in this species, and telomere length. In juveniles, individual homozygosity was negatively associated with telomere length in poor seasons. In adults, individual homozygosity was consistently negatively related to telomere length, suggesting the accumulation of inbreeding depression during life. Maternal homozygosity also negatively predicted offspring telomere length. Our results show that somatic inbreeding costs are environmentally dependent at certain life stages but may accumulate throughout life.     

In Vitro and Sensory Evaluation of Capsaicin-Loaded Nanoformulations

Capsaicin has known health beneficial and therapeutic properties. It is also able to enhance the permeability of drugs across epithelial tissues. Unfortunately, due to its pungency the oral administration of capsaicin is limited. To this end, we assessed the effect of nanoencapsulation of capsaicin, under the hypothesis that this would reduce its pungency. Core-shell nanocapsules with an oily core and stabilized with phospholipids were used. This system was used with or without chitosan coating. In this work, we investigated the in vitro release behavior of capsaicin-loaded formulations in different physiological media (including simulated saliva fluid). We also evaluated the influence of encapsulation of capsaicin on the cell viability of buccal cells (TR146). To study the changes in pungency after encapsulation we carried out a sensory analysis with a trained panel of 24 students. The in vitro release study showed that the systems discharged capsaicin slowly in a monotonic manner and that the chitosan coating had an effect on the release profile. The cytotoxic response of TR146 cells to capsaicin at a concentration of 500 μM, which was evident for the free compound, was reduced following its encapsulation. The sensory study revealed that a chitosan coating results in a lower threshold of perception of the formulation. The nanoencapsulation of capsaicin resulted in attenuation of the sensation of pungency significantly. However, the presence of a chitosan shell around the nanoformulations did not mask the pungency, when compared with uncoated systems.     

Why is Madagascar special? The extraordinarily slow evolution of pelican spiders (Araneae,Archaeidae)

Although Madagascar is an ancient fragment of Gondwana, the majority of taxa studied thus far appear to have reached the island through dispersal from Cenozoic times. Ancient lineages may have experienced a different history compared to more recent Cenozoic arrivals, as such lineages would have encountered geoclimatic shifts over an extended time period. The motivation for this study was to unravel the signature of diversification in an ancient lineage by comparing an area known for major geoclimatic upheavals (Madagascar) versus other areas where the environment has been relatively stable. Archaeid spiders are an ancient paleoendemic group with unusual predatory behaviors and spectacular trophic morphology that likely have been on Madagascar since its isolation. We examined disparities between Madagascan archaeids and their non‐Madagascan relatives regarding timing of divergence, rates of trait evolution, and distribution patterns. Results reveal an increased rate of adaptive trait diversification in Madagascan archaeids. Furthermore, geoclimatic events in Madagascar over long periods of time may have facilitated high species richness due to montane refugia and stability, rainforest refugia, and also ecogeographic shifts, allowing for the accumulation of adaptive traits. This research suggests that time alone, coupled with more ancient geoclimatic events allowed for the different patterns in Madagascar.     

Chromosomal instability and delayed apoptosis in long-term T-lymphocyte cultures irradiated with carbon ions and x rays

In this study, we examined genomic instability induced by 250 kV X rays and 100 MeV/nucleon carbon ions in long-term lymphocyte cultures from two healthy donors. Two biological end points, delayed apoptosis and chromosomal instability, were studied in descendants of cells irradiated with three different doses of the particular radiation up to 22 population doublings. The delayed apoptosis showed no clear dependence on radiation dose, culture time or radiation quality. A persistent significant increase in the rate of apoptosis up to 36 days after X irradiation was observed for a dose of 4 Gy in donor 1 only. For both donors and radiations, de novo aberration yields were significantly increased in comparison to control values up to day 36. For both radiations, chromosome-type aberrations were seen more frequently than chromatid-type aberrations in both donors up to 22 days postirradiation. In both donors, carbon ions were more effective than X rays with respect to the induction of chromosome instability. A dose of 0.25 Gy of carbon ions corresponding to 1.4 ion traversals per cell nucleus was effective in the induction of instability in our cell system.     

The biology of Bracon celer as a parasitoid of the olive fruit fly

A series of laboratory experiments was conducted on a colony of Bracon celer Szépligeti (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) reared on the olive fly, Bactrocera oleae (Rossi) (Diptera: Tephritidae). Female B. celer preferentially probe and oviposit into olives containing late third-instar fly larvae. The parasitoid develops as a solitary, ectoparasitic idiobiont. Mean development time (oviposition to adult eclosion) at 22 °C was, for females, 36±1 (SE) days, and for males, 34±1 days. The mean longevity of adult female wasps when provided honey and water was significantly greater than when they were provided water alone, or nothing. The females produced an average of 9.7±7.2 progeny during their lifetimes, but production levels in the insectary colony suggested that this level of fecundity was artificially low and could be improved. The discrepancy may be a consequence of constraints on oviposition behavior imposed by the experimental design. The results are discussed with respect to insectary production methods and the potential use of B. celer as a biological control agent for olive fly in California.     

Fluid shear stress‐induced JNK activity leads to actin remodeling for cell alignment

Fluid shear stress (FSS) exerted on endothelial cell (EC) surfaces induces actin cytoskeleton remodeling through mechanotransduction. This study was designed to determine whether FSS activates Jun N‐terminal kinase (JNK), to examine the spatial and temporal distribution of active JNK relative to the actin cytoskeleton in ECs exposed to different FSS conditions, and to evaluate the effects of active JNK on actin realignment. Exposure to 15 and 20 dyn/cm² FSS induced higher activity levels of JNK than the lower 2 and 4 dyn/cm² flow conditions. At the higher FSS treatments, JNK activity increased with increasing exposure time, peaking 30 min after flow onset with an eightfold activity increase compared to cells in static culture. FSS‐induced phospho‐JNK co‐localized with actin filaments at cell peripheries, as well as with stress fibers. Pharmacologically blocking JNK activity altered FSS‐induced actin structure and distribution as a response to FSS. Our results indicate that FSS‐induced actin remodeling occurs in three phases, and that JNK plays a role in at least one, suggesting that this kinase activity is involved in mechanotransduction from the apical surface to the actin cytoskeleton in ECs. J. Cell. Physiol. 226: 110–121, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Electron microscopy visualization of DNA-protein complexes formed by Ku and DNA ligase IV

The repair of DNA double-stranded breaks (DSBs) is essential for cell viability and genome stability. Aberrant repair of DSBs has been linked with cancer predisposition and aging. During the repair of DSBs by non-homologous end joining (NHEJ), DNA ends are brought together, processed and then joined. In eukaryotes, this repair pathway is initiated by the binding of the ring-shaped Ku heterodimer and completed by DNA ligase IV. The DNA ligase IV complex, DNA ligase IV/XRRC4 in humans and Dnl4/Lif1 in yeast, is recruited to DNA ends in vitro and in vivo by an interaction with Ku and, in yeast, Dnl4/Lif1 stabilizes the binding of yKu to in vivo DSBs. Here we have analyzed the interactions of these functionally conserved eukaryotic NHEJ factors with DNA by electron microscopy. As expected, the ring-shaped Ku complex bound stably and specifically to DNA ends at physiological salt concentrations. At a ratio of 1 Ku molecule per DNA end, the majority of DNA ends were occupied by a single Ku complex with no significant formation of linear DNA multimers or circular loops. Both Dnl4/Lif1 and DNA ligase IV/XRCC4 formed complexes with Ku-bound DNA ends, resulting in intra- and intermolecular DNA end bridging, even with non-ligatable DNA ends. Together, these studies, which provide the first visualization of the conserved complex formed by Ku and DNA ligase IV at juxtaposed DNA ends by electron microscopy, suggest that the DNA ligase IV complex mediates end-bridging by engaging two Ku-bound DNA ends.     

Nitrogen fixation and diversity of benthic cyanobacterial mats on coral reefs in Curaçao

Coral Reefs - Benthic cyanobacterial mats (BCMs) have increased in abundance on coral reefs worldwide. However, their species diversity and role in nitrogen fixation are poorly understood. We...     

Munc13-4 is essential for cytolytic granules fusion and is mutated in a form of familial hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (FHL3)

Secretion of cytolytic granules content at the immunological synapse is a highly regulated process essential for lymphocyte cytotoxicity. This process requires the rapid transfer of perforin containing lytic granules to the target cell interface, followed by their docking and fusion with the plasma membrane. Defective cytotoxicity characterizes a genetically heterogeneous condition named familial hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (FHL), which can be associated with perforin deficiency. The locus of a perforin (+) FHL subtype (FHL3), observed in 10 patients, was mapped to 17q25. This region contains hMunc13-4, a member of the Munc13 family of proteins involved in vesicle priming function. HMunc13-4 mutations were shown to cause FHL3. HMunc13-4 deficiency results in defective cytolytic granule exocytosis, despite polarization of the secretory granules and docking with the plasma membrane. Expressed tagged hMunc13-4 localizes with cytotoxic granules at the immunological synapse. HMunc13-4 is therefore essential for the priming step of cytolytic granules secretion preceding vesicle membrane fusion.