Widely distributed native and alien plant species differ in arbuscular mycorrhizal associations and related functional trait interactions

It is debated whether alien plants in new environments benefit from being mycorrhizal and whether widely distributed natives and aliens differ in their associations with mycorrhizal fungi. Here, we compared whether species differing in their origin status, i.e. natives, archaeophytes (alien species introduced before the year 1500) and neophytes (introduced after the year 1500), and arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) status (obligate, facultative, non‐mycorrhizal) differ in their area of occupancy in Germany (i.e. number of occupied grid cells, each ~130 km²). We used generalized linear models, incorporating main effects and up to three‐way interactions combining AM status, origin status and plant functional traits. The latter were chosen to describe the possible trade‐off in carbon allocation either towards the symbiosis or to other plant structures, such as storage organs (significant interactions involving traits were assumed to indicate the existence of such trade‐offs). AM status significantly explained the area of occupancy of natives and neophytes – with facultative mycorrhizal species occupying the largest area in both groups – but was less pronounced among archaeophytes. Archaeophytes may have reduced dependency on AM fungi, as they are generally agricultural weeds and the symbiosis potentially becomes obsolete for plants growing in habitats providing a steady provision of nutrients. Trait interactions between AM status and other functional traits were almost exclusively detected for neophytes. While facultative mycorrhizal neophytes benefit from trade‐offs with other traits related to high C cost in terms of area of occupancy, such trade‐offs were almost absent among natives. This indicates that natives and neophytes benefit differently from the symbiosis and suggests that native AM fungal partners might be less important for neophytic than for native plant species or that more time is required to establish similar relationships between neophytes and native fungal symbionts.     

Hsp105α suppresses Adriamycin-induced cell death via nuclear localization signal-dependent nuclear accumulation

Heat shock protein 105 (Hsp105) is a molecular chaperone, and the isoforms Hsp105α and Hsp105β exhibit distinct functions with different subcellular localizations. Hsp105β localizes in the nucleus and induces the expression of the major heat shock protein Hsp70, whereas cytoplasmic Hsp105α is less effective in inducing Hsp70 expression. Hsp105 shuttles between the cytoplasm and the nucleus; the subcellular localization is governed by the relative activities of the nuclear localization signal (NLS) and nuclear export signal (NES). Here, we show that nuclear accumulation of Hsp105α but not Hsp105β is involved in Adriamycin (ADR) sensitivity. Knockdown of Hsp105α induces cell death at low ADR concentration, at which ADR is less effective in inducing cell death in the presence of Hsp105α. Of note, Hsp105 is localized in the nucleus under these conditions, even though Hsp105β is not expressed, indicating that Hsp105α accumulates in the nucleus in response to ADR treatment. The exogenously expressed Hsp105α but not its NLS mutant localizes in the nucleus of ADR-treated cells. In addition, the expression level of the nuclear export protein chromosomal maintenance 1 (CRM1) was decreased by ADR treatment of cells, and CRM1 knockdown caused nuclear accumulation of Hsp105α both in the presence and absence of ADR. These results indicating that Hsp105α accumulates in the nucleus in a manner dependent on the NLS activity via the suppression of nuclear export. Our findings suggest a role of nuclear Hsp105α in the sensitivity against DNA-damaging agents in tumor cells.     

Widespread positive selection in synonymous sites of mammalian genes

Evolution of protein sequences is largely governed by purifying selection, with a small fraction of proteins evolving under positive selection. The evolution at synonymous positions in protein-coding genes is not nearly as well understood, with the extent and types of selection remaining, largely, unclear. A statistical test to identify purifying and positive selection at synonymous sites in protein-coding genes was developed. The method compares the rate of evolution at synonymous sites (Ks) to that in intron sequences of the same gene after sampling the aligned intron sequences to mimic the statistical properties of coding sequences. We detected purifying selection at synonymous sites in approximately 28% of the 1,562 analyzed orthologous genes from mouse and rat, and positive selection in approximately 12% of the genes. Thus, the fraction of genes with readily detectable positive selection at synonymous sites is much greater than the fraction of genes with comparable positive selection at nonsynonymous sites, i.e., at the level of the protein sequence. Unlike other genes, the genes with positive selection at synonymous sites showed no correlation between Ks and the rate of evolution in nonsynonymous sites (Ka), indicating that evolution of synonymous sites under positive selection is decoupled from protein evolution. The genes with purifying selection at synonymous sites showed significant anticorrelation between Ks and expression level and breadth, indicating that highly expressed genes evolve slowly. The genes with positive selection at synonymous sites showed the opposite trend, i.e., highly expressed genes had, on average, higher Ks. For the genes with positive selection at synonymous sites, a significantly lower mRNA stability is predicted compared to the genes with negative selection. Thus, mRNA destabilization could be an important factor driving positive selection in nonsynonymous sites, probably, through regulation of expression at the level of mRNA degradation and, possibly, also translation rate. So, unexpectedly, we found that positive selection at synonymous sites of mammalian genes is substantially more common than positive selection at the level of protein sequences. Positive selection at synonymous sites might act through mRNA destabilization affecting mRNA levels and translation.     

Peptidase activities of the 20/26S proteasome and a novel protease in human brain

Many neurodegenerative diseases are characterized by ubiquitin-positive protein aggregates or inclusion bodies. Ubiquitin-conjugated proteins are degraded by the 20/26S proteasome, and reduced proteasome peptidase activities in brain homogenates have been reported in pathologic lesions of Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases. However, it is unknown whether crude extracts of human brain contain other proteases having peptidase activities. We found a novel protease of molecular weight of approximately 105 kDa in normal human brain, which exhibited trypsin-like (T-L) and chymotrypsin-like (ChT-L) activities (corresponding to 52% and 21% of the total activities in crude extracts) but not peptidyl glutamyl peptide hydrolase activity. Both T-L and ChT-L activities of this protease were partially inhibited by proteasome inhibitors (MG132, lactacystin) and, in contrast to those of the proteasome, also by sodium dodecyl sulfate. A simple method to obtain a brain fraction specific to the 20/26S proteasome was developed. Our human brain data suggest that T-L and ChT-L activity levels of the proteasome reported previously may include those of the 105 kDa protease, an enzyme of as yet unknown biological significance, and that it is necessary to separate the proteasome from this protease to evaluate the actual status of the ubiquitin-proteasome system in neurodegenerative disorders.     

Untargeted metabolomics reveals differences between commercial and non-commercial Camellia sinensis cultivars used in black tea production

Journal of Plant Biochemistry and Biotechnology - Tea (Camellia sinensis) has enthralled both consumers and researchers, due to its taste, aroma and its medicinal attributes. Tea consumers concern...     

Spermidine induces autophagy by inhibiting the acetyltransferase EP300

Several natural compounds found in health-related food items can inhibit acetyltransferases as they induce autophagy. Here we show that this applies to anacardic acid, curcumin, garcinol and spermidine, all of which reduce the acetylation level of cultured human cells as they induce signs of increased autophagic flux (such as the formation of green fluorescent protein-microtubule-associated protein 1A/1B-light chain 3 (GFP-LC3) puncta and the depletion of sequestosome-1, p62/SQSTM1) coupled to the inhibition of the mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1). We performed a screen to identify the acetyltransferases whose depletion would activate autophagy and simultaneously inhibit mTORC1. The knockdown of only two acetyltransferases (among 43 candidates) had such effects: EP300 (E1A-binding protein p300), which is a lysine acetyltranferase, and NAA20 (N(α)-acetyltransferase 20, also known as NAT5), which catalyzes the N-terminal acetylation of methionine residues. Subsequent studies validated the capacity of a pharmacological EP300 inhibitor, C646, to induce autophagy in both normal and enucleated cells (cytoplasts), underscoring the capacity of EP300 to repress autophagy by cytoplasmic (non-nuclear) effects. Notably, anacardic acid, curcumin, garcinol and spermidine all inhibited the acetyltransferase activity of recombinant EP300 protein in vitro. Altogether, these results support the idea that EP300 acts as an endogenous repressor of autophagy and that potent autophagy inducers including spermidine de facto act as EP300 inhibitors.Macroautophagy (herein referred to as ‘autophagy'') consist in the sequestration of cytoplasmic material in autophagosomes, followed by their fusion with lysosomes for the bulk degradation of autophagic cargo by lysosomal hydrolases.¹ This phenomenon can be measured by following the redistribution of green fluorescent protein-microtubule-associated protein 1A/1B-light chain 3 (GFP-LC3) fusion proteins from a diffuse location to autophagosomes (that results in the formation of the so-called GFP-LC3 ‘puncta''), the diminution of the overall abundance of autophagic substrates (such as sequestosome-1, p62/SQSTM1), and the stereotyped activation of proautophagic signals (such as the inhibition of the mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1, mTORC1).²There is growing consensus that the induction of autophagy by nutritional, pharmacological or genetic interventions can reduce age-related pathologies (such as neurodegenerative diseases or type 2 diabetes) and/or extend longevity.^{3, 4, 5, 6} This applies to caloric restriction or intermediate fasting,⁷ continuous or intermittent medication of rapamycin,^{8, 9, 10} administration of the sirtuin 1-activator resveratrol,^{11, 12} external supply of the polyamine spermidine,¹³ or genetic ablation of p53.¹⁴ In all these cases, inhibition of autophagy by deleting or silencing relevant genes abolishes the extension of health span and/or lifespan.^{13, 14, 15, 16, 17} Moreover, direct induction of autophagy by transgenic expression of autophagy-relevant genes such as ATG5 in mice is sufficient to increase lifespan.¹⁸Recently, acetyltransferases have emerged as a potential target for the pharmaceutical induction of autophagy. Thus, depletion of the sole donor of acetyl groups, acetyl-coenzyme A (acetyl-CoA), is sufficient to reduce the acetylation of cytoplasmic and nuclear proteins coupled to the induction of autophagy.^{19, 20, 21, 22} Culture of mammalian cells in nutrient-free (NF) conditions or starvation of mice for 24 h reduced the intracellular nucleocytosolic concentrations of acetyl-CoA at the same time as autophagy was induced, and replenishment of acetyl-CoA by external sources (for instance, by providing a membrane-permeant precursor of α-ketoglutarate for anaplerotic reactions or by microinjection of acetyl-CoA) was sufficient to inhibit starvation-induced autophagy.^{19, 20, 21, 22} Beyond the inhibition of acetyltransferases by acetyl-CoA depletion, direct pharmacological inhibition of acetyltransferases might also contribute to the induction of autophagy. A close correlation between autophagy induction and deacetylation of cytoplasmic proteins was observed in a screen conceived to identify autophagy-stimulating polyphenols²³ as well as in in vivo experiments designed to explore the health-improving effects of coffee.²⁴ Spermidine turned out to be an efficient inhibitor of histone acetyltransferases in vitro¹³ and reduced the global protein acetylation levels in cultured cells.^{25, 26}Driven by these premises, we investigated the hypothesis that several health-related compounds including anacardic acid, curcumin, garcinol and spermidine might induce autophagy by inhibition of acetyltranferases. Here we report results supporting this hypothesis. Moreover, we demonstrate that one particular acetyltransferase, EP300 (E1A-binding protein p300), negatively controls autophagy and that anacardic acid, curcumin, garcinol and spermidine may induce autophagy by directly inhibiting EP300.     

Effect of a web-based audit and feedback intervention with outreach visits on the clinical performance of multidisciplinary teams: a cluster-randomized trial in cardiac rehabilitation

Background

The objective of this study was to assess the effect of a web-based audit and feedback (A&F) intervention with outreach visits to support decision-making by multidisciplinary teams.

Methods

We performed a multicentre cluster-randomized trial within the field of comprehensive cardiac rehabilitation (CR) in the Netherlands. Our participants were multidisciplinary teams in Dutch CR centres who were enrolled in the study between July 2012 and December 2013 and received the intervention for at least 1 year. The intervention included web-based A&F with feedback on clinical performance, facilities for goal setting and action planning, and educational outreach visits. Teams were randomized either to receive feedback that was limited to psychosocial rehabilitation (study group A) or to physical rehabilitation (study group B). The main outcome measure was the difference in performance between study groups in 11 care processes and six patient outcomes, measured at patient level. Secondary outcomes included effects on guideline concordance for the four main CR therapies.

Results

Data from 18 centres (14,847 patients) were analysed, of which 12 centres (9353 patients) were assigned to group A and six (5494 patients) to group B. During the intervention, a total of 233 quality improvement goals was identified by participating teams, of which 49 (21%) were achieved during the study period. Except for a modest improvement in data completeness (4.5% improvement per year; 95% CI 0.65 to 8.36), we found no effect of our intervention on any of our primary or secondary outcome measures.

Conclusions

Within a multidisciplinary setting, our web-based A&F intervention engaged teams to define local performance improvement goals but failed to support them in actually completing the improvement actions that were needed to achieve those goals. Future research should focus on improving the actionability of feedback on clinical performance and on addressing the socio-technical perspective of the implementation process.

Trial registration

NTR3251

     

Early life of fathers affects offspring fitness in a wild rodent

Intergenerational fitness effects on offspring due to the early life of the parent are well studied from the standpoint of the maternal environment, but intergenerational effects owing to the paternal early life environment are often overlooked. Nonetheless, recent laboratory studies in mammals and ecologically relevant studies in invertebrates predict that paternal effects can have a major impact on the offspring's phenotype. These nongenetic, environment‐dependent paternal effects provide a mechanism for fathers to transmit environmental information to their offspring and could allow rapid adaptation. We used the bank vole Myodes glareolus, a wild rodent species with no paternal care, to test the hypothesis that a high population density environment in the early life of fathers can affect traits associated with offspring fitness. We show that the protein content in the diet and/or social environment experienced during the father's early life (prenatal and weaning) influence the phenotype and survival of his offspring and may indicate adaptation to density‐dependent costs. Furthermore, we show that experiencing multiple environmental factors during the paternal early life can lead to a different outcome on the offspring phenotype than stimulated by experience of a single environmental factor, highlighting the need to study developmental experiences in tandem rather than independent of each other.     

Plants protect their roots by alerting the enemies of grubs

Plant roots in the soil are under attack from many soil organisms. Although many ecologists are aware of the presence and importance of natural enemies in the soil that protect the plants from herbivores, the existence and nature of tritrophic interactions are poorly understood. So far, attention has focused on how plants protect their above-ground parts against herbivorous arthropods, either directly or indirectly (i.e. by getting help from the herbivore's enemies). This article is the first in showing that indirect plant defences also operate underground. We show that the roots of a coniferous plant ( Thuja occidentalis ) release chemicals upon attack by weevil larvae ( Otiorhynchus sulcatus ) and that these chemicals thereby attract parasitic nematodes ( Heterorhabditis megidis ).