Three littoral Athetini (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae) species new to Korea

Three littoral Athetini species –Adota magnipennis (Bernhauer), Atheta ririkoae Sawada and Atheta tokiokai (Sawada) – are reported for the first time in Korea. Diagnoses, illustrations of the habitus and line drawings of diagnostic characters are provided.     

Two pselaphine species (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae) new to Korea

Two pselaphine staphylinid species –Stipesa rudis Sharp and Tainochus nitidus Nomura – are identified for the first time in the Korean peninsula.     

Double intratibial injection of human tonsil-derived mesenchymal stromal cells recovers postmenopausal osteoporotic bone mass

Background and aims

Osteoporosis, which is a disease characterized by weakening of the bone, affects a large portion of the senior population. The current therapeutic options for osteoporosis have side effects, and there is no effective treatment for severe osteoporosis. Thus, we urgently need new treatment strategies, such as topical therapies and/or safe and effective stem cell therapies.

Two coastal Athetini (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae) species new to Korea

Two coastal species in the tribe Athetini, Osakatheta yasukoae Maruyama, Klimaszewski and Gusarov, and Psammostiba hilleri (Weise), are newly discovered from the Korean fauna. Diagnoses, habitus photographs and line drawings of median lobe are provided.     

Phylogeny of the intertidal aleocharine tribe Liparocephalini (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae)

The tribe Liparocephalini (genera Liparocephalus Mäklin, 1853;Diaulota Casey, 1893 [ = Genoplectes Sawada, 1955];Paramblopusa Ahn & Ashe, Amblopusa Casey, 1893;Salinamexus Moore & Legner, 1977 [ = Biophytosus Moore & Legner, 1977]), all of which are exclusively restricted to the Pacific coasts of the Holarctic Region, is hypothesized to be a monophyletic group based on the following synapomorphies: seta v absent (inferred to be lost) from mentum (reversed one time in the Liparocephalus lineage), setae distributed only on mesal surface of galea and apex with setae, one medial seta present on prementum, and contiguous mesocoxal cavities. Natural history and history of the classification of the Liparocephalini are discussed. Phylogenetic analyses of the species of the Liparocephalini are presented based on larval (21 characters, 57 states), adult (49 characters, 115 states), and a combination of larval and adult characters (70 characters, 172 states). Analysis of the combined larval and adult data sets with successive approximation resulted in a single most parsimonious tree (length = 937, CI = 0.885, RI = 0.930) with the following patterns of generic relationships (outgroup (Salinamexus + Biophytosus (Amblopusa (Paramblopusa (Diaulota + Genoplectes, Liparocephalus))))).     

Phytochelatin–metal(loid) transport into vacuoles shows different substrate preferences in barley and Arabidopsis

Cadmium (Cd) and arsenic (As) are toxic to all living organisms, including plants and humans. In plants, Cd and As are detoxified by phytochelatins (PCs) and metal(loid)‐chelating peptides and by sequestering PC–metal(loid) complexes in vacuoles. Consistent differences have been observed between As and Cd detoxification. Whereas chelation of Cd by PCs is largely sufficient to detoxify Cd, As–PC complexes must be sequestered into vacuoles to be fully detoxified. It is not clear whether this difference in detoxification pathways is ubiquitous among plants or varies across species. Here, we have conducted a PC transport study using vacuoles isolated from Arabidopsis and barley. Arabidopsis vacuoles accumulated low levels of PC₂–Cd, and vesicles from yeast cells expressing either AtABCC1 or AtABCC2 exhibited negligible PC₂–Cd transport activity compared with PC₂–As. In contrast, barley vacuoles readily accumulated comparable levels of PC₂–Cd and PC₂–As. PC transport in barley vacuoles was inhibited by vanadate, but not by ammonium, suggesting the involvement of ABC‐type transporters. Interestingly, barley vacuoles exhibited enhanced PC₂ transport activity when essential metal ions, such as Zn(II), Cu(II) and Mn(II), were added to the transport assay, suggesting that PCs might contribute to the homeostasis of essential metals and detoxification of non‐essential toxic metal(loid)s.