Indirect benefits for choosy female grasshoppers (Chorthippus biguttulus)?

Since direct benefits are likely to be absent in the grasshopper Chorthippus biguttulus, indirect genetic benefits are a potential explanation for costly female preference. Choosy females may improve their fitness in terms of enhanced attractiveness of sons alone or additionally by improved viability of offspring. We tested the predictions of these two hypotheses by comparing attractiveness-related song traits and viability in offspring of attractive and unattractive grasshopper males. The experiment was conducted with larvae reared under semi natural lab conditions in one year and under natural conditions in the field in the following year. If reared under natural conditions no significant differences in viability and song traits between offspring of attractive and unattractive males could be found. Offspring reared in the lab produced calling songs with a significantly more exact song rhythm when sired by attractive males than offspring of unattractive males. Offspring of attractive males should thus have a theoretical advantage in mate choice, which, however, did not translate into higher attractiveness values in acoustic female choice experiments. Therefore our experiments could not resolve whether female choice in C. biguttulus evolved according to the sexy son hypothesis. Since viability in offspring of attractive males did not differ from offspring of unattractive males, “good genes” seems unlikely to be the underlying mechanism of female choice.     

Clostridium taeniosporum spore ribbon-like appendage structure, composition and genes

Clostridium taeniosporum spores have about 12 large, flat, ribbon-like appendages attached through a common trunk at one spore pole to a previously unknown surface layer outside the coat that is proposed to be called the 'encasement'. Appendages are about 4.5 microm long, 0.5 microm wide and 30 nm thick and taper at the attachment end into a semicircle that is twisted relative to the flat ribbon. Individual fibrils, about 45 nm in length with spherical heads and long thin tails, form a hair-like nap, visible along the appendage edge. Four appendage proteins have been detected: a paralogous pair of 29 kDa (designated P29a and P29b), a glycoprotein of about 37 kDa (designated GP85) and an orthologue of the Bacillus spore morphogenetic protein SpoVM. The P29 proteins consist of duplicated regions and each region includes a domain of unknown function 11. The GP85 glycoprotein contains a collagen-like region. The genes for P29a and b, GP85 and possibly related proteins are closely linked on two small chromosome fragments. Putative sigma(K)-dependent promoters upstream of the P29a and b genes indicate that they likely are expressed late in the mother cell, consistent with their deposition into the layer external to the coat.     

Mosaic cycles in agricultural landscapes of Northwest Europe

Mosaic cycles were originally understood as cyclical regeneration phases in forests. In this review, we shall examine how far the concept can be extended towards cyclical mosaics of habitat quality in patterned landscapes as a special case of ‘dynamic landscapes’. We will concentrate on habitats and plants in European temperate agricultural landscapes and grasslands in particular. Mosaic cycles of habitat quality are characterised by spatiotemporal shifts between disturbance and secondary succession. We found evidence for mosaic cycles in traditional agricultural systems, modern crop farming, and in recent conservation management. The relevant disturbance parameters to describe land-use drivers of mosaic cycles are spatial extent, frequency, and magnitude (biomass loss). Land-use-related drivers are usually regular and deterministic in space and time, with the exception of year-round grazing by free-ranging large herbivores. Fluctuating soil resources such as water and nutrients in interaction with climate variability add a stochastic component to these (land-use-related) drivers. The proportion of deterministic and stochastic components and their autocorrelation in time and space divides purely deterministic mosaic cycles from purely stochastic dynamic landscapes. In a second part, we briefly review plant life-history traits that may facilitate survival of plants in mosaic cycles of habitat quality. Theoretical studies emphasise (i) dispersal functions for extinction and recolonisation processes of metapopulations, (ii) storage effects as a component of buffered population growth in response to temporal fluctuations of habitat quality, and (iii) competitive ability in metacommunities. We propose a simple scheme relating these functions to the temporal and spatial correlation of patterned landscapes. There are only a very limited number of field studies available that give some support for the proposed scheme. We provide perspectives for further research in this field.     

Differential Gene Expression in a Marine Sponge in Relation to Its Symbiotic State

The molecular mechanisms involved in the establishment and maintenance of sponge photosymbiosis, and in particular the association with cyanobacteria, are unknown. In the present study we analyzed gene expression in a common Mediterranean sponge (Petrosia ficiformis) in relation to its symbiotic (with cyanobacteria) or aposymbiotic status. A screening approach was applied to identify genes expressed differentially in symbiotic specimens growing in the light and aposymbiotic specimens growing in a dark cave at a short distance from the illuminated specimens. Out of the various differentially expressed sequences, we isolated two novel genes (here named PfSym1 and PfSym2) that were up-regulated when cyanobacterial symbionts were harbored inside the sponge cells. The sequence of one of these genes (PfSym2) was found to contain a conserved domain: the scavenger receptor cysteine rich (SRCR) domain. This is the first report on the expression of sponge genes in relation to symbiosis and, according to the presence of an SRCR domain, we suggest possible functions for one of the genes found in the sponge-cyanobacteria symbiosis.     

Coral microbial communities, zooxanthellae and mucus along gradients of seawater depth and coastal pollution

The high incidence of coral disease in shallow coastal marine environments suggests seawater depth and coastal pollution have an impact on the microbial communities inhabiting healthy coral tissues. A study was undertaken to determine how bacterial communities inhabiting tissues of the coral Montastraea annularis change at 5 m, 10 m and 20 m water depth in varying proximity to the urban centre and seaport of Willemstad, Cura?ao, Netherlands Antilles. Analyses of terminal restriction fragment length polymorphisms (TRFLP) of 16S rRNA gene sequences show significant differences in bacterial communities of polluted and control localities only at the shallowest seawater depth. Furthermore, distinct differences in bacterial communities were found with increasing water depth. Comparisons of TRFLP peaks with sequenced clone libraries indicate the black band disease cyanobacterium clone CD1C11 is common and most abundant on healthy corals in less than 10 m water depth. Similarly, sequences belonging to a previously unrecognized group of likely phototrophic bacteria, herein referred to as CAB-I, were also more common in shallow water. To assess the influence of environmental and physiologic factors on bacterial community structure, canonical correspondence analysis was performed using explanatory variables associated with: (i) light availability; (ii) seawater pollution; (iii) coral mucus composition; (iv) the community structure of symbiotic algae; and (v) the photosynthetic activity of symbiotic algae. Eleven per cent of the variation in bacterial communities was accounted for by covariation with these variables; the most important being photosynthetically active radiation (sunlight) and the coral uptake of sewage-derived compounds as recorded by the delta(15)N of coral tissue.     

Toxoplasma gondii inhibits Fas/CD95-triggered cell death by inducing aberrant processing and degradation of caspase 8

Ligation of the death receptor Fas/CD95 activates an apoptotic cascade and plays critical roles during infectious diseases. Previous work has established that infection with the intracellular parasite Toxoplasma gondii renders cells resistant to multiple inducers of apoptosis. However, the effect of T. gondii on the death receptor pathway is poorly characterized. Here we have determined the impact of the parasite on apoptosis in type I cells that transduce Fas/CD95 engagement via the death receptor pathway without the need of a mitochondrial amplification loop. The results have shown that T. gondii significantly reduced Fas/CD95-triggered apoptosis by impairing activation of the initiator caspase 8. Parasitic infection diminished the cellular amount of procaspase 8, resulting in its decreased recruitment to the death-inducing signalling complex and the impaired activation of effector caspases. Remarkably, downregulation of caspase 8 protein in T. gondii-infected cells also occurred in the absence of Fas/CD95 engagement and was associated with the appearance of non-canonical caspase 8 cleavage fragments. Distinct parasite proteins were associated with caspase 8 and its proteolytic fragments. These findings indicate that T. gondii aberrantly processes and finally degrades the initiator caspase 8, thereby, blocking Fas/CD95-mediated apoptosis which signals independently of the apoptogenic function of host cell mitochondria.     

Remote control of tumour-targeted Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium by the use of L-arabinose as inducer of bacterial gene expression in vivo

We have used Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium (S. typhimurium) which are able to colonize tumours besides spleen and liver. Bacteria were equipped with constructs encoding green fluorescent protein or luciferase as reporters under control of the promoter PBAD that is inducible with L-arabinose. Reporter genes could be induced in culture but also when the bacteria resided within the mouse macrophages J774A.1. More important, strong expression of reporters by the bacteria could be detected in mice after administration of L-arabinose. This was especially pronounced in bacteria colonizing tumours. Histology demonstrated that the bacteria had accumulated in and close to necrotic areas of tumours. Bacterial gene induction was observed in both regions. PBAD is tightly controlled also in vivo because gene E of bacteriophage PhiX174 could be introduced as inducible suicide gene. The possibility to deliberately induce genes in bacterial carriers within the host should render them extremely powerful tools for tumour therapy.     

Integrated network reconstruction,visualization and analysis using YANAsquare

Background  

Modeling of metabolic networks includes tasks such as network assembly, network overview, calculation of metabolic fluxes and testing the robustness of the network.     

Viral proteomics: global evaluation of viruses and their interaction with the host

Viruses constantly adapt to and modulate the host environment during replication and propagation. Both DNA and RNA viruses encode multifunctional proteins that interact with and modify host cell proteins. While viral genomes were the first complete sequences known, the corresponding proteomes are only now elucidated, with some surprising results. Even more daunting is the task to globally monitor the impact of viral infection on the proteome of the host cell and many technical hurdles must still be overcome in order to facilitate robust and reproducible measurements. Further complicating the picture is the dynamic nature of proteins, including post-translational modifications, enzymatic cleavage and activation or destruction by proteolytic events. Nevertheless, several promising studies have been published using high-throughput methods directly measuring protein abundance. Particularly, quantitative or semiquantitative mass spectrometry-based analysis of viral and cellular proteomes are now being used to characterize viruses and their host interaction. In addition, the full set of interactions between viral and host proteins, the interactome, is beginning to emerge, with often unexpected interactions that need to be carefully validated. In this review, we will discuss two major areas of viral proteomics: first, virion proteomics (such as the protein characterization of viral particles) and second, proteoviromics, including the viral protein interactomics and the quantitative analysis of host cell proteome during viral infection.