The onion model, a simple neutral model for the evolution of diversity in bacterial biofilms

Bacterial biofilms are particularly resistant to a wide variety of antimicrobial compounds. Their persistence in the face of antibiotic therapies causes significant problems in the treatment of infectious diseases. Seldom have evolutionary processes like genetic drift and mutation been invoked to explain how resistance to antibiotics emerges in biofilms, and we lack a simple and tractable model for the genetic and phenotypic diversification that occurs in bacterial biofilms. Here, we introduce the 'onion model', a simple neutral evolutionary model for phenotypic diversification in biofilms. We explore its properties and show that the model produces patterns of diversity that are qualitatively similar to observed patterns of phenotypic diversity in biofilms. We suggest that models like our onion model, which explicitly invoke evolutionary process, are key to understanding biofilm resistance to bactericidal and bacteriostatic agents. Elevated phenotypic variance provides an insurance effect that increases the likelihood that some proportion of the population will be resistant to imposed selective agents and may thus enhance persistence of the biofilm. Accounting for evolutionary change in biofilms will improve our ability to understand and counter diseases that are caused by biofilm persistence.     

Characterization of a Cytochalasin D-Resistant Mutant of Entamoeba histolytica

Characterization of a cytochalasin D-resistant mutant of the human parasite Entamoeba histolytica capable of growing at 10 μM cytochalasin is described. The mutant cells also show resistance to 5 mM colchicine and 100 μM cytochalasin B, drugs proved deleterious for wild type trophozoites. The mutants show increased osmotic fragility and electric mobility but reduced phagocytic activity, and agglutination by Concanavalin A. On the other hand pinocytic activity remains unaltered when compared with the wild type cells. Polymerized actin, seen by staining with phalloidin, often appears polarized to one end of the trophozoites and forms few of the endocytic invaginations found in wild type amebas. An altered distribution of part of the actin could explain the differences in surface properties and motility observed in the mutant amebas.     

Is top‐down control by predators driving insect abundance and herbivory rates in fragmented forests?

The effects of forest fragmentation on ecological interactions and particularly on food webs have scarcely been analysed. There is usually less herbivory in forest fragments than in continuous forests. Here we hypothesize that forest fragmentation enhances top‐down control of herbivory through an increase in insectivorous birds and a decrease in herbivorous insects, with a consequent decrease in plant reproductive success in small forest fragments. In the Maulino forest in central Chile, we experimentally excluded birds from Aristotelia chilensis (Elaeocarpaceae) trees in both forest fragments and continuous forest, and analysed herbivore insect abundance, herbivory and plant reproductive success during two consecutive growing seasons. We expected that insect abundance and herbivory would increase, and reproductive success would decrease in A. chilensis from which birds have been excluded, particularly in forest fragments where bird abundance and predation pressure on insects is higher. The abundance of herbivorous insects was lower in the forest fragments than in the continuous forest only in the first season, and herbivory was lower in forest fragments than in the continuous forest throughout the study. Moreover, during the second growing season herbivory was greater in the excluded trees than in the control trees, and as expected, there was a greater difference in the fragments than in the continuous forest, but this was not statistically significant. Exclusion of birds did not affect the reproductive success of A. chilensis. Our results, after 2 years of study, demonstrate that birds affect the levels of herbivory on A. chilensis in the Maulino forest, but do not support our hypothesis of enhanced top‐down control in fragmented forests, as the strength of the effect of excluding birds did not vary with fragmentation.     

Association of the polymorphic markers G(−455)A in the FGB gene and C(−1654)T in the PROC gene with hereditary predisposition to unfavourable outcome in patients with history of acute coronary syndrome

Associations of polymorphisms of genes FGB G(?455)A and PROC C(?1654)T with the frequency of poor outcomes in patients with the history of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) were studied in the Russian population. A total of 1145 patients admitted to cardiological hospitals of Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kazan, Chelyabinsk, Perm, Stavropol, and Rostov-on-Don with ischemic heart disease exacerbation were examined. The mean follow-up time was 1.14 ± 0.33 years, and the maximum follow-up time was 3.2 years. The risk of poor outcome did not depend on the carriership of genotypes of the polymorphic G(?455)A marker in the FGB gene. However, the PROC C(?1654)T polymorphism patients with ACS history and allele T of the PROC gene had a poor outcome more often than patients homozygous for allele C. The survival time to the endpoint for carriers of the TT and CT genotypes of the PROC gene was 2.19 ± 0.18 years vs. 2.46 ± 0.16 years for carriers of the CC genotype. On the base of these results it is suggested that hemostasis-related genes play an important role in early failures in patients with ACS history.     

藏药翁布的酚性成分研究

从藏药翁布(Myricaria germanica)的60％丙酮提取物中进行了进一步研究,从中共分离得到了11个化合物.利用光谱和波谱分析法,分别鉴定为阿魏酸(1),松柏醇(2),阿魏酸葡糖苷(3),异落叶松脂醇(4),咖啡酸(5),对羟基桂皮酸(6),没食子酸(7),3,5-二羟基-4-甲氧基苯甲酸(8),杜鹃醇(9),3-甲氧基-4-羟基-苯甲酸(10)和3,4,5-三羟基肉桂酸(11).化合物1～11均为首次从该植物中分得,其中1～6和8～11为首次从水柏枝属植物中分离得到.     

藏北牧区地表湿润状况对气候变化的响应

利用1961～2006年藏北牧区6个站月平均最高气温、最低气温、降水量、风速、相对湿度、日照时数资料,应用Penman-Monteith模型计算得出潜在蒸散,分析了地表湿润指数的变化趋势、年代际变化特征及季节差异,并讨论了影响地表湿润指数的气象因子.研究表明:近46a藏北牧区年地表湿润指数呈现增大趋势,增幅0.01～0.05/10a;四季地表湿润指数大部分牧区也呈增大趋势,春、秋季增幅明显.近26a(1981～2006年)、季潜在蒸散表现为明显的减少趋势,降水量显现增多趋势,地表湿润指数增大趋势加大,以夏季最为突出.就年平均而言,藏北牧区20世纪60年代初、中期以高湿低温为其主要气候特征;20世纪60年代后期至80年代中期,表现为冷干型的气候特征;90年代初之后,气温持续升高,地表湿润指数显著增加,呈现以暖湿为主的年代际变化特征.湿润指数对降水量、相对湿度和气温日较差的响应最为敏感,而对日照时数和风速的响应也较为明显.     

In Vitro Propagation of the Protozoan Perkinsus Marinus, A Pathogen of the Eastern Oyster, Crassostrea Virginica

ABSTRACT. Perkinsus marinus , a pathogen of eastern oysters ( Crassostrea virginica ), has been successfully propagated in vitro. Cultures of the parasite were initiated from heart fragments of an infected oyster. the cultured protozoan (designated Parkinsus -1) was similar in morphology at both the light and transmission electron microscopy levels to histozoic stages of P. marinus in naturally infected oysters. In addition, cultured cells incubated in fluid thioglycollate medium produced enlarged cells (prezoosporangia) that stained blue-black in Lugol's solution, a response characteristic to Perkinsus spp. and used in routine diagnosis. Polyclonal antibodies raised against P. marinus prezoosporangia reacted positively to Perkinsus -1. Finally, the cultured cells infected susceptible oysters and reisolation of Perkinsus -1 cells was possible from the hearts of experimentally infected oysters. the culture medium contained most of the known constituents of cell-free hemolymph of oysters. the success achieved in culturing P. marinus will allow further investigations aimed at reducing mortalities caused by this important oyster pathogen and at addressing many unanswered questions about its biology and pathobiology.     

Iron limits primary productivity during spring bloom development in the central North Atlantic

We present in situ biophysical measurements and bioassay experiments that demonstrate iron limitation of primary productivity during the spring bloom in the central North Atlantic. Mass balance calculations indicate that nitrate drawdown is iron (Fe)-limited and that aeolian Fe supply to this region cannot support maximal phytoplankton growth during the bloom. Using a simple simulation model, we show that relief of Fe limitation during the spring bloom can increase nitrate drawdown and, hence, new primary production, by 70%. We conclude that the episodic nature of iron supplied by dust deposition is an important factor controlling the dynamics of the spring bloom. From this, we hypothesize that variability in the timing and magnitude of the spring bloom in response to aeolian Fe supply will affect carbon drawdown and food web dynamics in the central North Atlantic.     

Carbon Metabolism of Filamentous Anoxygenic Phototrophic Bacteria of the Family Oscillochloridaceae

The carbon metabolism of representatives of the family Oscillochloridaceae (Oscillochloris trichoides DG6 and the recent isolates Oscillochloris sp. R, KR, and BM) has been studied. Based on data from an inhibitory analysis of autotrophic CO₂ assimilation and measurements of the activities of the enzymes involved in this process, it is concluded that, in all Oscillochloris strains, CO₂ fixation occurs via the operation of the Calvin cycle. Phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP), which is formed in this cycle, can be involved in the metabolism via the following reaction sequence: PEP (+CO₂) å oxalacetate å malate å fumarate å succinate å succinyl-CoA (+CO₂) å 2-oxoglutarate. Acetate, utilized as an additional carbon source, can be carboxylated to pyruvate by pyruvate synthase and further involved in the metabolism via the above reaction sequence. Propionyl-CoA synthase and malonyl-CoA reductase, the key enzymes of the 3-hydroxypropionate cycle, have not been detected in Oscillochloris representatives.__________Translated from Mikrobiologiya, Vol. 74, No. 3, 2005, pp. 305–312.Original Russian Text Copyright © 2005 by Berg, Keppen, Krasil’nikova, Ugol’kova, Ivanovsky.