Discrimination of sunflower volatiles by the red sunflower seed weevil

Five principle monoterpenoid and other constituent volatile chemicals of sunflower heads were combined to resemble two lines of sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.): one U.S.D.A. standard line and one French line which was poorly visited by insects (Etievant et al., 1984). Field trials of attraction to red sunflower seed weevils (Smicronyx fulvus Le Conte, Coleoptera: Curculionidae) showed that one was clearly preferred over the other. The more attractive mixture contained -pinene, -pinene, limonene, camphene and bornyl acetate in a ratio resembling that of Flath et al. (1985) rather than that described by Etievant et al. (1984). One or two volatiles were deleted from the optimal blend but only mixtures of five volatiles showed the highest attraction. Substitution of sabinene, another volatile prominent in sunflower, for one of the five in the optimal blend also decreased attraction of seed weevils. When the monoterpenoid components and green leaf volatiles in the traps resembled the ratios of most of the prominent volatiles of sunflower, attraction was significantly greater than controls.     

Effects of exposure to pile-driving sounds on the lake sturgeon,Nile tilapia and hogchoker

Pile-driving and other impulsive sound sources have the potential to injure or kill fishes. One mechanism that produces injuries is the rapid motion of the walls of the swim bladder as it repeatedly contacts nearby tissues. To further understand the involvement of the swim bladder in tissue damage, a specially designed wave tube was used to expose three species to pile-driving sounds. Species included lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens)—with an open (physostomous) swim bladder, Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus)—with a closed (physoclistous) swim bladder and the hogchoker (Trinectes maculatus)—a flatfish without a swim bladder. There were no visible injuries in any of the exposed hogchokers, whereas a variety of injuries were observed in the lake sturgeon and Nile tilapia. At the loudest cumulative and single-strike sound exposure levels (SEL_cum and SEL_ss respectively), the Nile tilapia had the highest total injuries and the most severe injuries per fish. As exposure levels decreased, the number and severity of injuries were more similar between the two species. These results suggest that the presence and type of swim bladder correlated with injury at higher sound levels, while the extent of injury at lower sound levels was similar for both kinds of swim bladders.     

Synthetic lethality of PARP inhibition in BRCA-network disrupted tumor cells is associated with interferon pathway activation and enhanced by interferon-γ

Tumor suppressor genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 function in a complex gene network that regulates homologous recombination and DNA double-strand break repair. Disruption of the BRCA-network through gene mutation, deletion, or RNAi-mediated silencing can sensitize cells to small molecule inhibitors of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARPi). Here, we demonstrate that BRCA-network disruption in the presence of PARPi leads to the selective induction and enhancement of interferon pathway and apoptotic gene expression in cultured tumor cells. In addition, we report PARPi cytotoxicity in BRCA1-deficient tumor cells is enhanced >10-fold when combined with interferon-γ. These findings establish a link between synthetic lethality of PARPi in BRCA-network disrupted cells and interferon pathway activation triggered by genetic instability.     

Structure of a classical MHC class I molecule that binds "non-classical" ligands

Chicken YF1 genes share a close sequence relationship with classical MHC class I loci but map outside of the core MHC region. To obtain insights into their function, we determined the structure of the YF1*7.1/β₂-microgloblin complex by X-ray crystallography at 1.3 Å resolution. It exhibits the architecture typical of classical MHC class I molecules but possesses a hydrophobic binding groove that contains a non-peptidic ligand. This finding prompted us to reconstitute YF1*7.1 also with various self-lipids. Seven additional YF1*7.1 structures were solved, but only polyethyleneglycol molecules could be modeled into the electron density within the binding groove. However, an assessment of YF1*7.1 by native isoelectric focusing indicated that the molecules were also able to bind nonself-lipids. The ability of YF1*7.1 to interact with hydrophobic ligands is unprecedented among classical MHC class I proteins and might aid the chicken immune system to recognize a diverse ligand repertoire with a minimal number of MHC class I molecules.     

Effects of elevated temperature and nickel pollution on the immune status of Japanese medaka

Changes in a host's environment (i.e. physical or chemical) can alter normal immune function. In aquatic organisms, exposure to stress can result in significant changes in innate immunity. In the natural environment, fish are exposed to multiple stressors simultaneously. Temperature change and/or chemical exposure as individual environmental stressors have been shown in various fish species to alter all aspects of the immune response. These same stressors have also been shown to alter plasma steroid levels in exposed fish. For this study, the effects of elevated temperature and nickel pollution on specific immune parameters of Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes) were determined. Fish were exposed for 1, 7 or 14d to either: waterborne nickel (Ni) at the nominal concentration of 125ppb; a 5 degrees C (+/-0.5 degrees C) rapid increase in water temperature; or, both potential stressors in combination. Medaka maintained at room temperature (25 degrees C+/-1 degrees C) served as the controls. Altered function of the innate and adaptive arms of the immune response was evaluated by assessing kidney macrophage-mediated superoxide (O(2)(-)) production and splenic T-cell proliferation, respectively. Plasma cortisol levels were analysed in the same fish as a marker of the physiological stress response. While kidney cell number was unaffected by exposure of fish to either stressor alone or both factors in combination, spleen cellularity was decreased (compared to control fish) in medaka exposed for 1d to thermal stress in combination with Ni, and to a lesser extent to thermal stress alone. T-lymphocyte proliferation by medaka splenocytes was not affected by any exposure paradigm. Unstimulated intracellular O(2)(-) production by kidney phagocytes was significantly elevated (compared to control) in medaka exposed for 1d to either thermal stress alone or temperature change in combination with Ni; by 7d, only the stressor combination significantly increased baseline O(2)(-) production. Resting levels of extracellular O(2)(-) production was significantly reduced in fish maintained for 1d at the elevated temperature. Effects on phorbol 12-myristate 13 acetate (PMA)-stimulated intracellular and extracellular O(2)(-) production were less dramatic than those observed for resting phagocytes. Exposure of medaka to elevated temperature for 14d tended (p<0.06) to reduce PMA-stimulated intracellular O(2)(-) production (compared to the time-matched control). Although exposure of fish for 14d to elevated temperature only slightly reduced stimulated extracellular O(2)(-) production, exposure for the same duration to Ni alone significantly depressed oxyradical production by kidney phagocytes (compared to the time-matched controls). Decreased plasma cortisol levels were observed in fish exposed for 7d to either an elevated water temperature or Ni (compared to the time-matched control); by 14d of exposure, no significant treatment-induced effects on cortisol levels were observed. These findings add to the growing body of literature seeking to determine what effects, if any, exposure to multiple aquatic pollution-induced effects have upon fish health and the health of impacted ecosystems.     

27-Hydroxyoctacosanoic acid is a major structural fatty acyl component of the lipopolysaccharide of Rhizobium trifolii ANU 843

A new hydroxylated, very long-chain fatty acid has been isolated and characterized from the lipopolysaccharide (LPS) of Rhizobium trifolii ANU 843. The lipid A of the organism was degraded by mild alkali and borohydride and the products methylated, peracetylated, and fractionated on a C18 reverse-phase column. The major lipid fraction was reduced with lithium triethylborohydride, methylated, peracetylated, and subjected to thin layer chromatography. The methylated peracetylated acid and the reduced diacetylated diol (1,27-dihydroxyoctacosane diacetate) were isolated and characterized by mass spectrometry and 1H NMR spectroscopy using homonuclear decoupling. The identity and linkage of the new fatty acid in the lipopolysaccharide was confirmed by 1H NMR spectroscopy of purified lipid A fractions and similar NMR studies of lipid A after acylation by phenylisocyanate. In the native LPS, the 27-hydroxy C-28 fatty acid is acylated at the 27-hydroxy position by other 3-hydroxy fatty acids. About 50% of the total fatty acid content of the LPS of R. trifolii ANU 843 is 27-hydroxyoctacosanoic acid. This oxyacyloxy structure involving 27-hydroxyoctacosanoic appears to be the major structural feature of the lipid A of this organism.     

Distribution,biology and hybridization of Scaphirhynchus albus and S. platorynchus in the Missouri and Mississippi rivers

Synopsis Scaphirhynchus albus and S. platorynchus were studied in Missouri during 1978–1979 to assess their distribution and abundance, to obtain information on their life histories, and to identify existing or potential threats to their survival. S. platorynchus was collected in substantial numbers (4355 specimens) at all 12 sampling stations in the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, while only 11 S. albus were captured from 6 stations. Twelve specimens identified in the field as hybrids between the two species were captured from 4 stations. Morphometric and meristic comparisons of presumed hybrids with the parent species, using cluster and principal components analyses, demonstrated intermediacy of most specimens identified in the field as hybrids. Aquatic insects comprised most of the diet of S. platorynchus and S. albus, but S. albus and the hybrids had consumed considerable quantities of fish. S. albus grew more rapidly than S. platorynchus, while the growth of hybrids was intermediate. Hybridization appears to be a recent phenomenon, resulting from man-caused changes in the big-river environment. Hybridization may be a threat to survival of S. albus in the study streams.     

Analysis of protein fragmentation inhibition by an MMP-inhibitor in an in vivo model of heart failure using automated chromatography

Proteomic strategies have continued to demonstrate value in studying disease by exploiting new technologies that can develop significant numbers of measurements from single samples. However, using complex samples such as tissues or blood has continued to be problematic due to the presence of major interfering substances. In this study, a process is described that uses denaturing peptide extraction from whole tissue and automated chromatography in order to allow subsequent analysis of more than 1000 tissue-derived peptides per sample. The process was employed to identify cardiac proteins that were spared degradation by administration of a heart-protecting matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) inhibitor (compound SC-621) following experimental myocardial infarction (MI). HPLC peptide fingerprints were developed from rat heart left ventricles and the resultant integrated peak data was compared across experimental animals. Surprisingly, although protein fragmentation was generally increased in MI hearts, the effect of the MMP inhibitor was only observed on a few species. The results from this study demonstrated that whole-tissue sample enrichment and peptide analysis using HPLC could be linked in order to study the effects of new compounds on a disease state. The system is flexible and amenable to improvements such as incorporating detection by mass spectrometry.