Energy metabolism and evaporative water loss in the European free-tailed bat and Hemprich's long-eared bat (Microchiroptera): species sympatric in the Negev Desert

We compared the thermoregulatory abilities of two insectivorous bat species, Tadarida teniotis (mean body mass 32 g) and Otonycteris hemprichii (mean body mass 25 g), that are of different phylogenetic origins and zoogeographic distributions but are sympatric in the Negev Desert. At night, both were normothermic. By day, both were torpid when exposed to ambient temperatures (T(a)) below 25 degrees Celsius, with concomitant adjustments in metabolic rate (MR). Otonycteris hemprichii entered torpor at higher T(a) than T. teniotis, and, when torpid, their body temperatures (T(b)) were 1 degrees -2 degrees Celsius and 5 degrees -8 degrees Celsius above T(a), respectively; MR was correspondingly reduced. At night, the lower critical temperature of T. teniotis was 31.5 degrees Celsius, and that of O. hemprichii was 33 degrees Celsius. Mean nocturnal thermoneutral MR of T. teniotis was 37% greater than that of O. hemprichii. At high T(a), evaporative water loss (EWL) increased markedly in both species, but it was significantly higher in T. teniotis above 38 degrees Celsius. In both species, the dry heat transfer coefficient (thermal conductance) followed the expected pattern for small mammals, by day and by night. Total EWL was notably low in normothermic and torpid animals of both species, much lower than values reported for other bats, indicating efficient water conservation mechanisms in the study species. Comparing thermoregulatory abilities suggests that O. hemprichii is better adapted to hot, arid environments than T. teniotis, which may explain its wider desert distribution. By both standard and phylogenetically informed ANCOVA, we found no differences in basal metabolic rate (BMR) between desert and nondesert species of insectivorous bats, substantiating previous studies suggesting that low BMR is a characteristic common to insectivorous bats in general.     

AMP-deaminase from normal and cirrhotic human liver: A comparative study

AMP-deaminase (EC 3.5.4.6) is an enzyme of nucleotide breakdown involved in regulation of adenine nucleotide pool in mammalian cells. Reaction catalysed by AMP-deaminase constitutes a rate-limiting step in adenine nucleotide catabolism in liver. In this study kinetic and regulatory properties of AMP-deaminase purified from normal and cirrhotic human liver were investigated. In comparison to AMP-deaminase extracted from the normal human liver, AMP-deaminase extracted from the cirrhotic liver was less sensitive towards substrate analogues, and only a very limited response towards pH and adenylate energy charge changes tested for enzyme isolated from this tissue source had been observed. At physiological pH 7.0, in the absence and in the presence of important allosteric effectors (ATP, ADP, GTP and orthophosphate), AMP-deaminases from the two sources studied manifested different regulatory profiles, with half-saturation constant (S0.5) values being distinctly higher for the enzyme extracted from the pathological organ. In contrast to AMP-deaminase isolated from the normal, healthy liver, where presence of relatively large (68 kDa) protein fragment was also detected, only smaller protein fragments were identified, while SDS-PAG electrophoresis of AMP-deaminase isolated from the cirrhotic liver was performed. The obtained results indicate clearly that advanced proteolytic processes occurring in the cirrhotic liver may affect structural integrity of AMP-deaminase studied, making enzyme less active and less sensitive to regulatory action of important allosteric effectors.     

Heavy metal ions inhibition of jack bean urease: potential for rapid contaminant probing

The kinetics of heavy metal ions inhibition of jack bean urease was studied by progress curve analysis in a reaction system without enzyme-inhibitor preincubation. The inhibition was found to be biphasic with an initial, small inhibitory phase changing over the time course of 5-10 min into a final linear steady state with a lower velocity. This time-dependent pattern was best described by mechanism B of slow-binding inhibition, involving the rapid formation of an EI complex that subsequently undergoes slow conversion to a more stable EI* complex. The kinetic parameters of the process, the inhibition constants Ki and Ki* and the forward k5 and reverse k6 rate constants for the conversion, were evaluated from the reaction progress curves by nonlinear regression treatment. Based on the values of the overall inhibition constant Ki*, the heavy metal ions were found to inhibit urease in the following decreasing order: Hg2+ > Cu2+ > Zn2+ > Cd2+ > Ni2+ > Pb2+ > Co2+ > Fe3+ > As3+. With the Ki* values as low as 1.9 nM for Hg2+ and 7.1 nM for Cu2+, 100-1000 times lower than those of the other ions, urease may be utilized as a bioindicator of the trace levels of these ions in environmental monitoring, bioprocess control or pharmaceutical analysis.     

Evaluation of different methods for detection of Clostridium difficile toxins in Poland

The aim of this study was to compare different methods for C. difficile toxins detection. Fifty three stool samples taken from patients with antibiotic-associated diarrhoea were studied. TCD toxin A EIA (Becton Dickinson, USA), Tox A/B ELISA test (TechLab, USA), cytotoxicity and neutralization assay on McCoy cells and PCR for detection of both toxin A and B genes were performed in vivo (in stool samples) and in vitro (in isolated strains). Reference toxigenic and nontoxigenic and two Japanese toxin A-negative and toxin B-positive C. difficile strains were used as a controls. TCD toxin A EIA detected in vivo only 19 positive samples. Tox A/B test detected 52 positive samples out of 53 studied. All 53 stool samples were C. difficile culture positive (53 strains were cultured). Toxin B was detected in 52 strain-supernatants and in all controls (except the nontoxigenic one). Both toxin A and B genes were detected by PCR in all 53 isolated strains, Japanese and reference strain (except the nontoxigenic one). In vitro toxin A was detected by TCD toxin A EIA in 42 strains. These results were compared with those obtained in Tox A/B ELISA test. We observed 52 positive strains. Toxigenic reference strain and two Japanese toxA(-)/toxB(+) strains were also positive. Only 2 negative results were obtained with the nontoxigenic reference strain and unique nontoxigenic isolated strain. Tox A/B ELISA test seems to be the best for detection of C. difficile toxins in vivo and in vitro. Test avoids the false-negative results in the case of presence of toxin A-negative and toxin B-positive strain.     

Cd - tolerance of maize, rye and wheat seedlings

The effect of cadmium on growth parameters of seedlings of maize, rye and wheat as well as the role of phytochelatins in Cd detoxication in these species were studied. Cadmium was found to inhibit root growth and decrease fresh weight and water content in roots and shoots of the studied plants. Although a considerably lower Cd accumulation was shown in maize seedlings than in other species, they were characterized by the highest sensitivity to cadmium. Among γ-Glu-Cys peptides synthetized by plant species, phytochelatins — glutathione derivatives predominated. In maize they were synthetized in amounts sufficient for binding the total pool of the metal taken up, and the detoxication mechanism was localized in their roots. Larger amounts of cadmium were accumulated in roots of wheat and rye, but the quantity of the formed γ-Glu-Cys peptides seems insufficient for detoxication of the metal.     

Fish hatching strategies: a review

The paper presents differences in the distribution of hatching gland cells, and the location of egg envelope digestion, the significance of hatching movements, and the ways larvae escape from egg envelopes. A review of the literature on the hatching orientation of 34 fish species is compared. No correlation was seen between hatching orientation and egg diameter or newly hatched larva length, nor newly hatched larvae length ratio to egg diameter. Photographs of twelve freshwater species present the moment of hatching either head first or tail first. Some differences were shown in swelling between eggs incubated in commercial hatchery and developed in natural conditions, as well as possible effect of these differences on hatching.     

Different patterns of genetic structure of relict and isolated populations of endangered peat-bog pine (Pinus uliginosa Neumann)

Recent changes in environmental conditions in populations of peat-bog pine (Pinus uliginosa Neumann) caused rapid decline or even extinction of the species in several stands in Central Europe. Conservation strategies forP. uliginosa require information about the evolutionary history and genetic structure of its populations. Using isozymes we assessed the genetic structure ofP. uliginosa from four isolated stands in Poland and compared the results to genetic structures of other closely related pine species including eight populations ofPinus mugo, ten ofPinus sylvestris and one ofPinus uncinata. The level of genetic variability ofP. uliginosa measured by the mean number of alleles per locus and average heterozygosity was similar to others related toP. uliginosa taxa from the reference group but it differs among populations. High genetic similarity was found between two populations ofP. uliginosa from Low Silesian Pinewood. The populations were genetically distinct as compared to other populations includinglocus classicus of the species from the peat bog at Batorów Reserve. Very low genetic distance (D_n = 0.002) and small genetic differentiation (GST = 0.003) were found betweenP. uliginosa andP. mugo in the sympatric populations of the species from Zieleniec peat bog suggesting the ongoing natural hybridisation and genetic contamination of peat-bog pine from this area. Some evidence for skew in allele frequency distribution potentially due to recent bottleneck was found in population from Low Silesian Pinewood. The analysed open pollinated progeny derived from twoP. uliginosa stands from Low Silesian Pine-wood showed the excess of homozygotes as compared to the maternal trees indicating high level of inbreeding (F = 0.105,F = 0.081). The results are discussed in the context of evolution ofP. uliginosa populations, taxonomic relationships between the analysed species and conservation strategies for active protection of peat-bog pine.     

Differential expression of Snail1 transcription factor and Snail1-related genes in alveolar and embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma subtypes

Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) represents the most common sarcoma of soft tissue among children. Two main RMS subtypes are alveolar (ARMS) and embryonal (ERMS). The major goal of this study was to find differentially expressed genes between RMS subtypes that could explain higher metastatic potential in ARMS and would be useful for the differential diagnosis. Using RQ-PCR analysis we compared expression of Snail1 and Snail-related genes among 7 ARMS and 8 ERMS patients' samples obtained from the primary tumors and among 2 alveolar and 2 embryonal cell lines. Our results show that Snail1 is highly expressed both in ARMS patients' samples and the alveolar cell lines. We also found that the expression of E-Cadherin was downregulated and the expression of Matrix Metalloproteinases 2 and 9 (MMP-2 and MMP-9) was upregulated in ARMS. We assume that, as in many tumors, also in RMS Snail1 acts as a regulator for pathways known for their role in cells' metastasis and that Snail1 activity results in increased MMPs and decreased E-Cadherin expression. Our findings may explain higher ARMS aggressiveness. Moreover, we suggest that further studies should be performed to verify if Snail1 can be considered as a potential target for ARMS therapy.     

Nest-site re-use: Marsh Tit Poecile palustris decisions in a primeval forest

Capsule Re-use is infrequent although birds reproduce equally well in re-used and new holes.

Aims To describe frequency of hole re-use by Marsh Tits in primeval forest with superabundant holes; to examine how depredation, disturbance, ectoparasites or the low quality of previously used holes influenced birds' decision to switch holes; to assess whether Marsh Tits benefited from re-using holes.

Methods Birds were observed living in undisturbed conditions in a strictly protected part of the Bia?owie?a National Park (Poland) during 13 breeding seasons, hole attributes were measured, and observations made of nest fate and bird survival.

Results Marsh Tits re-occupied 35.5% of available holes used the previous year (n = 214). The holes were most often re-used when both birds survived (42%) or when the surviving female was paired to a new male (35%). Holes were re-used less often after brood failure than after successful breeding (13% versus 39%). Other possible factors (ectoparasite infestation, inferior hole quality or a bird being caught at hole) had no effect on the re-occupation frequency. Birds in the retained and new holes bred at the same time, laid the same number of eggs, and had almost identical nesting success (78% versus 76%).

Conclusion Superabundant holes in the primeval forest allow Marsh Tits to change holes frequently. Similar outcomes of breeding in the re-used and new holes indicate that choices made by the birds are largely neutral, i.e. there is no strong selection pressure for or against hole re-use.