Living quarters of a living fossil—Uncovering the current distribution pattern of the rediscovered Hula painted frog (Latonia nigriventer) using environmental DNA

One of the greatest challenges of effective conservation measures is the correct identification of sites where rare and elusive organisms reside. The recently rediscovered Hula painted frog (Latonia nigriventer) has not been seen for many decades and was therefore categorized extinct. Since its rediscovery in 2011, individuals from the critically endangered species have been found, with great effort, only in four restricted sites. We applied the environmental DNA (eDNA) approach to search for new populations of the Hula painted frog in suitable aquatic habitats. We further used the eDNA data to classify the landscape factors associated with the species distribution and to predict its suitable habitats. We sampled 52 aquatic sites in the Hula Valley during the spring of 2015 and 2016 and amplified the samples with a species‐specific qPCR assay. DNA of the Hula painted frog was detected in 22 of the sites, all of which clustered within three main areas. A boosting classification model showed that soil type, vegetation cover and the current and former habitats are all key predictors of the frog's current distribution. Intriguingly, the habitat suitability models reveal a high affinity of the species to its long‐lost habitat of the historical wetlands. Our findings encourage a series of informed searches for new populations of this threatened frog and provide guidance for future conservation management programmes. In the era of global conservation crisis of amphibians, developing the eDNA approach, a reliable detection method for many critically endangered and elusive amphibians, is of particular importance.     

Substituted hippurates and hippurate analogs as substrates and inhibitors of peptidylglycine alpha-hydroxylating monooxygenase (PHM)

Peptidyl alpha-hydroxylating monooxygenase (PHM) functions in vivo towards the biosynthesis of alpha-amidated peptide hormones in mammals and insects. PHM is a potential target for the development of inhibitors as drugs for the treatment of human disease and as insecticides for the management of insect pests. We show here that relatively simple ground state analogs of the PHM substrate hippuric acid (C(6)H(5)-CO-NH-CH(2)-COOH) inhibit the enzyme with K(i) values as low as 0.5microM. Substitution of sulfur atom(s) into the hippuric acid analog increases the affinity of PHM for the inhibitor. Replacement of the acetylglycine moiety, -CO-NH-CH(2)-COOH with an S-(thioacetyl)thioglycolic acid moiety, -CS-S-CH(2)-COOH, yields compounds with the highest PHM affinity. Both S-(2-phenylthioacetyl)thioglycolate and S-(4-ethylthiobenzoyl)thioglycolic acid inhibit the proliferation of cultured human prostate cancer cells at concentrations >100-fold excess of their respective K(i) values. Comparison of K(i) values between mammalian PHM and insect PHM shows differences in potency suggesting that a PHM-based insecticide with limited human toxicity can be developed.     

Recombinant antibodies with MHC-restricted, peptide-specific, T-cell receptor-like specificity: new tools to study antigen presentation and TCR-peptide-MHC interactions

The advent in recent years of the application of tetrameric arrays of class I peptide-MHC complexes now enables us to detect and study rare populations of antigen-specific CD8+ T cells. However, available methods cannot visualize or determine the number and distribution of these TCR ligands on individual cells or detect antigen-presenting cells (APCs) in tissues. Here we describe a new approach that enables study of human class I peptide-MHC ligand-presentation as well as TCR-peptide-MHC interactions. Such studies are facilitated by applying novel tools in the form of peptide-specific, HLA-A2-restricted human recombinant antibodies directed toward a large variety of tumor-associated as well as viral T-cell epitope peptides. Using a large human antibody phage display library, a large panel of recombinant antibodies that are specific for a particular peptide-MHC class I complex in a peptide-dependent, MHC-restricted manner was isolated. These antibodies were used to directly visualize the specific MHC-peptide complex on tumor cells, antigen-presenting cells or virus-infected cells by flow cytometry. They enabled direct quantitation of the number of MHC-peptide complexes as well as in situ detection of the complex on the surface of APCs after naturally occurring active intracellular processing of the cognate antigen. These studies will enable also the development of a new class of targeting molecules to deliver drugs or toxins to tumor or virus-infected cells. Thus, we demonstrate our ability to transform the unique fine specificity but low intrinsic affinity of TCRs into high-affinity soluble antibody molecules endowed with a TCR-like specificity toward human tumor or viral epitopes. These molecules may prove to be crucial useful tools for studying MHC class I antigen presentation in health and disease as well as for therapeutic purposes in cancer, infectious diseases and autoimmune disorders.     

A functional recombinant single-chain T cell receptor fragment capable of selectively targeting antigen-presenting cells

Specificity in the immune system is dictated and regulated by specific recognition of peptide/major histocompatibility complexes (MHC) by the T cell receptor (TCR). Such peptide/MHC complexes are a desirable target for novel approaches in immunotherapy because of their highly restricted fine specificity. Recently a potent anti-human p53 CD8(+) cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) response has been developed in HLA-A2 transgenic mice after immunization with peptides corresponding to HLA-A2 motifs from human p53. An alpha/beta T-cell receptor was cloned from such CTL which exhibited a moderately high affinity to the human p53(149-157) peptide. In this report, we investigated the possibility of using a recombinant tumor-specific TCR for antigen-specific elimination of cells that express the specific MHC-peptide complex. To this end, we constructed a functional single-chain Fv fragment from the cloned TCR and fused it to a very potent cytotoxic molecule, a truncated form of Pseudomonas exotoxin A (PE38). The p53 TCR scFv-P38 fusion protein was generated by in vitro refolding from bacterially-expressed inclusion bodies, and was found to be functional by its ability to bind antigen-presenting cells (APC) which express the specific p53-derived peptide. Moreover, we have shown that the p53-specific TCR scFv-PE38 molecule specifically kills APC in a peptide-dependent manner. These results represent the first time that a TCR-derived recombinant single-chain Fv fragment has been used as a targeting moiety to deliver a cytotoxic effector molecule to cells and has been able to mediate the efficient killing of the particular cell population that expresses the specific MHC/peptide complex. Similarly to antibody-based targeting approaches, TCR with tumor cell specificity represent attractive candidates for generating new, very specific targeting moieties for various modes of cancer immunotherapy.     

Involvement of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway in LH- and meiosis-activating sterol (MAS)-induced maturation in rat and mouse oocytes

Gonadotropic stimulation of meiotic resumption in mice is dependent upon mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) activation in the somatic compartment of the follicle. By contrast, spontaneous resumption of meiosis is independent of MAPK activation. In view of the suggested role of meiosis-activating sterol (MAS) in oocyte maturation we have (i) compared MAPK activation in rat preovulatory follicles stimulated by LH or by accumulation of endogenous MAS by using an inhibitor of MAS conversion, AY9944; (ii) examined whether stimulation of meiosis by MAS is dependent upon MAPK activation using denuded oocytes (DO) of Mos- null mice (hereafter Mos(-/-)) with oocytes unable to activate MAPK. Rat preovulatory follicles responded to LH or AY9944 stimulation by MAPK activation. Inhibition of MAPK phosphorylation blocked both LH- and AY9944 triggered resumption of meiosis. In mouse cumulus-enclosed oocytes (CEOs) and DOs AY9944 stimulated GVB in wild-type and Mos(-/-) mouse CEOs cultured with hypoxanthine (Hx). Addition of MAS or AY9944 to mouse DOs cultured with Hx induced resumption of meiosis only in wild-type and Mos(+/-) oocytes, but they were ineffective in Mos(-/-) oocytes. The observed sluggish activation of MAPK induced by AY9944 in rat follicle-enclosed oocytes (FEO) may cause the delay in meiotic resumption in response to MAS and AY9944 stimulation. Further, it is incompatible with the suggested role of MAS as an obligatory mediator of LH in the induction of meiotic maturation. MAPK/MOS activation, whether in the somatic compartment or in denuded oocytes, is required for MAS- like LH-, FSH-, or EGF-induced resumption of meiosis.     

On the Heat Stability of Amyloid-Based Biological Activity: Insights from Thermal Degradation of Insulin Fibrils

Formation of amyloid fibrils in vivo has been linked to disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease and prion-associated transmissible spongiform encephalopathies. One of the characteristic features of amyloid fibrils is the high thermodynamic stability relative both to native and disordered states which is also thought to underlie the perplexingly remarkable heat resistance of prion infectivity. Here, we are comparing high-temperature degradation of native and fibrillar forms of human insulin. Decomposition of insulin amyloid has been studied under helium atmosphere and in the temperature range from ambient conditions to 750°C using thermogravimetry and differential scanning calorimetry coupled to mass spectrometry. While converting native insulin into amyloid does upshift onset of thermal decomposition by ca. 75°C, fibrils remain vulnerable to covalent degradation at temperatures below 300°C, as reflected by mass spectra of gases released upon heating of amyloid samples, as well as morphology and infrared spectra of fibrils subjected to incubation at 250°C. Mass spectra profiles of released gases indicate that degradation of fibrils is much more cooperative than degradation of native insulin. The data show no evidence of water of crystallization trapped within insulin fibrils. We have also compared untreated and heated amyloid samples in terms of capacity to seed daughter fibrils. Kinetic traces of seed-induced insulin fibrillation have shown that the seeding potency of amyloid samples decreases significantly already after exposure to 200°C, even though corresponding electron micrographs indicated persisting fibrillar morphology. Our results suggest that amyloid-based biological activity may not survive extremely high temperature treatments, at least in the absence of other stabilizing factors.     

Fish as Reservoirs and Vectors of Vibrio cholerae

Vibrio cholerae, the etiologic agent of cholera, is autochthonous to various aquatic environments, but despite intensive efforts its ecology remains an enigma. Recently, it was suggested that copepods and chironomids, both considered as natural reservoirs of V. cholerae, are dispersed by migratory waterbirds, thus possibly distributing the bacteria between water bodies within and between continents. Although fish have been implicated in the scientific literature with cholera cases, as far as we know, no study actually surveyed the presence of the bacteria in the fish. Here we show for the first time that fish of various species and habitats contain V. cholerae in their digestive tract. Fish (n = 110) were randomly sampled from freshwater and marine habitats in Israel. Ten different fish species sampled from freshwater habitats (lake, rivers and fish ponds), and one marine species, were found to carry V. cholerae. The fish intestine of Sarotherodon galilaeus harboured ca. 5×10³ V. cholerae cfu per 1 gr intestine content—high rates compared with known V. cholerae cfu numbers in the bacteria''s natural reservoirs. Our results, combined with evidence from the literature, suggest that fish are reservoirs of V. cholerae. As fish carrying the bacteria swim from one location to another (some fish species move from rivers to lakes or sea and vice versa), they serve as vectors on a small scale. Nevertheless, fish are consumed by waterbirds, which disseminate the bacteria on a global scale. Moreover, V. cholerae isolates had the ability to degrade chitin, indicating a commensal relationship between V. cholerae and fish. Better understanding of V. cholerae ecology can help reduce the times that human beings come into contact with this pathogen and thus minimize the health risk this poses.     

Multivariate survival analysis for case-control family data

Multivariate survival data arise from case-control family studies in which the ages at disease onset for family members may be correlated. In this paper, we consider a multivariate survival model with the marginal hazard function following the proportional hazards model. We use a frailty-based approach in the spirit of Glidden and Self (1999) to account for the correlation of ages at onset among family members. Specifically, we first estimate the baseline hazard function nonparametrically by the innovation theorem, and then obtain maximum pseudolikelihood estimators for the regression and correlation parameters plugging in the baseline hazard function estimator. We establish a connection with a previously proposed generalized estimating equation-based approach. Simulation studies and an analysis of case-control family data of breast cancer illustrate the methodology's practical utility.