Composition and stability of the vervet monkey milk microbiome

The human milk microbiome is vertically transmitted to offspring during the postnatal period and has emerged as a critical driver of infant immune and metabolic development. Despite this importance in humans, the milk microbiome of nonhuman primates remains largely unexplored. This dearth of comparative work precludes our ability to understand how species‐specific differences in the milk microbiome may differentially drive maternal effects and limits how translational models can be used to understand the role of vertically transmitted milk microbes in human development. Here, we present the first culture‐independent data on the milk microbiome of a nonhuman primate. We collected milk and matched fecal microbiome samples at early and late lactation from a cohort of captive lactating vervet monkeys (N = 15). We found that, similar to humans, the vervet monkey milk microbiome comprises a shared community of taxa that are universally present across individuals. However, unlike in humans, this shared community is dominated by the genera Lactobacillus, Bacteroides, and Prevotella. We also found that, in contrast to previous culture‐dependent studies in humans, the vervet milk microbiome exhibits greater alpha‐diversity than the gut microbiome across lactation. Finally, we did not find support for the translocation of microbes from the gut to the mammary gland within females (i.e., “entero‐mammary pathway”). Taken together, our results show that the vervet monkey milk microbiome is taxonomically diverse, distinct from the gut microbiome, and largely stable. These findings demonstrate that the milk microbiome is a unique substrate that may selectively favor the establishment and persistence of particular microbes across lactation and highlights the need for future experimental studies on the origin of microbes in milk.     

Comparative mineral and hormonal analyses of wild type and TLS somaclonal variant derived from oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq. var. tenera) tissue culture

Comparative mineral and hormonal analyses were made on tissue culture derived truncated leaf syndrome and wild type oil palm seedlings. Mineral analysis confirmed that Boron, Zinc and chlorophyll levels were significantly lower in truncated leaf syndrome leaves than those of wild type. Hormonal analysis also revealed various cytokinin derivatives such as trans-zeatin, trans-zeatin riboside, trans-zeatin O-glucoside and trans-zeatin riboside 5??mono phosphate were significantly higher in truncated leaf syndrome leaves compared to wild type leaves. Brassinolide level was also significantly higher in truncated leaf syndrome leaves than those of the wild type. These observations suggest that the truncated leaf syndrome abnormality could be associated to high cytokinin and brassinosteroid production which affects the uptake of Boron and Zinc.     

Behavioural modification of a social spider by a parasitoid wasp

1. Manipulation of host behaviour by parasitoids has long captured the imagination of ecologists. Parasitoid wasps in the Polysphincta group of genera develop as external parasitoids of spiders. 2. In the present study, the previously undescribed interaction between a Zatypota sp. wasp (Ichneumonidae) and a social spider Anelosimus eximius (Theridiidae) is described. The larva of this Zatypota wasp is found to induce its host to disperse from their communal web and build an entirely enclosed web consisting of densely spun silk. 3. The wasp is observed to target primarily immature A. eximius individuals, with 37.5–44% of nests in a given area being parasitised. Of those nests, approximately 1.3–2.0% of individuals are hosts to the parasitoid larvae. Larger spider colonies had a significantly higher probability of harbouring parasitoids. 4. This interaction results in unusual behaviours for A. eximius induced by the parasitoid: (i) leaving the protection of the social nest and (ii) building a unique, altered web that it would not otherwise build. It is suggested that the wasp may be tapping into ancestral dispersal behaviours in its host and that a social species provides this wasp an evolutionary advantage by allowing a stable host source.     

Advances in the systematics and evolution of western Mediterranean representative species of the Pentanema conyzae clade through genetic fingerprinting

Forty-five populations of Pentanema corresponding to seven species included in the Pentanema conyzae clade have been studied using AFLP fingerprinting. The results show that allopolyploidization could have been involved in the diversification of this group, specifically in species P. langeanum and P. maletii. Molecular data confirm the presence of P. britannicum in the Iberian Peninsula and key steps are provided to identify the species that are morphologically the most challenging.     

Reductive activation of the coenzyme A/acetyl-CoA isotopic exchange reaction catalyzed by carbon monoxide dehydrogenase from Clostridium thermoaceticum and its inhibition by nitrous oxide and carbon monoxide

The final steps in the synthesis of acetyl-CoA by CO dehydrogenase (CODH) have been studied by following the exchange reaction between CoA and the CoA moiety of acetyl-CoA. This reaction had been studied earlier (Pezacka, E., and Wood, H. G. (1986) J. Biol. Chem. 261, 1609-1615 and Ramer, W. E., Raybuck, S. A., Orme-Johnson, W. H., and Walsh, C. T. (1989) Biochemistry 28, 4675-4680). The CoA/acetyl-CoA exchange activity was determined at various controlled redox potentials and was found to be activated by a one-electron reduction with half-maximum activity occurring at -486 mV. There is approximately 2000-fold stimulation of the exchange by performing the reaction at -575 mV relative to the rate at -80 mV. Binding of CoA to CODH is not sensitive to the redox potential; therefore, the reductive activation affects some step other than association/dissociation of CoA. We propose that a metal center on CODH with a midpoint reduction potential of less than or equal to -486 mV is activated by a one-electron reduction to cleave the carbonyl-sulfur bond and/or bind the acetyl group of acetyl-CoA. Based on a comparison of the redox dependence of this reaction with that for methylation of CODH (Lu, W-P., Harder, S. R., and Ragsdale, S. W. (1990) J. Biol. Chem. 265, 3124-3133) and CO2 reduction and formation of the Ni-Fe-C EPR signal (Lindahl, P. A., Münck, E., and Ragsdale, S. W. (1990) J. Biol. Chem. 265, 3873-3879), we propose that the assembly of the acetyl group of acetyl-CoA, i.e. binding the methyl group of the methylated corrinoid/iron-sulfur protein, binding CO, and methyl migration to form the acetyl-CODH intermediate, occur at the novel Ni-Fe3-4-containing site in CODH. CO has two effects on the CoA/acetyl-CoA exchange: it activates the reaction due to its reductive capacity and its acts as a noncompetitive inhibitor. We also discovered that the CoA/acetyl-CoA exchange was inhibited by nitrous oxide via an oxidative mechanism. In the presence of a low-potential electron donor, CODH becomes a nitrous oxide reductase which catalytically converts N2O to N2. This study combined with earlier results (Lu, W-P., Harder, S. R., and Ragsdale, S. W. (1990) J. Biol. Chem. 265, 3124-3133) establishes that the two-subunit form of CODH is completely active in all reactions known to be catalyzed by CODH.     

Familial breast/ovarian cancer and BRCA1/2 genetic screening: the role of immunohistochemistry as an additional method in the selection of patients.

Only 20-25% of families screened for BRCA1/2 mutations are found positive. Because only a positive result is informative, we studied the role of BRCA1/2 immunohistochemistry as an additional method for patient selection. From 53 high-risk-affected probands, 18 (34%) had available paraffin blocks of their tumors and were selected for this study. Mutation screening was done by conformation-sensitive gel electrophoresis and multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification. For immunohistochemistry, 21 neoplastic specimens (15 breast carcinomas, 5 ovary neoplasms, and 1 rectal adenocarcinoma) were analyzed with BRCA1 (monoclonal antibody, Ab-1, oncogene) and BRCA2 (polyclonal antibody, Ab-2, oncogene) antibodies. Absence of the BRCA1 protein was confirmed in negative tumors by Western blotting. Seven patients were positive for BRCA1/2 mutations: 5 for BRCA1 and 2 for BRCA2. Four out of five positive patients had tumors negative for BRCA1 immunostaining, and the remaining 13 BRCA1-negative patients had positive BRCA1 immunostaining in all tumor samples. Sensitivity to predict for BRCA1 mutation carriers was 80%, and specificity was 100%, with a positive predictive value of 100% and a negative predictive value of 93%. This correlation was statistically significant (p=0.001). No correlation was observed for BRCA2. If larger studies confirm these results, high-risk patients with BRCA1-negative tumors should be screened first for this gene.