Consequences of ants and extrafloral nectar for a pollinating seed‐consuming mutualism: ant satiation,floral distraction or plant defense?

Non‐pollinating consumers of floral resources, especially ants, can disrupt pollination and plant reproductive processes. As an alternative food resource to flowers, extrafloral nectar (EFN) may distract and satiate ants from flowers, thereby reducing their antagonistic effects on plants. Yet, EFN may actually attract and increase ant density on plants, thus increasing the disruption of pollination and/or their defense of plants. In this study, we tested the effects of ants and EFN on pollinating seed‐consuming interactions between senita cacti and senita moths in the Sonoran Desert. Prior study of senita showed that EFN can distract ants from flowers, but consequences for plant–pollinator interactions remain unstudied. In our current study, ant exclusion had no effect on pollination or oviposition when moths were abundant (>85% flower visitation). Yet, in an ant by EFN factorial experiment under lower moth abundance (<40% visitation), there was a significant effect of ant exclusion (but not EFN or an ant × EFN) on pollination and oviposition. In contrast with our predictions, ant presence increased rather than decreased pollination (and oviposition) by moths, indicating a beneficial effect of ants on plant reproduction. While ant density on plants showed a saturating response to continuous experimental variation in EFN, in support of ant satiation and distraction, the probability of pollination and oviposition increased and saturated with ant density, again showing a beneficial effect of ants on plant reproduction. Ants showed no significant effect on fruit set, fruit survival, or fruit production of oviposited flowers in the ant exclusion experiment. Ants did not affect the survival of moth larvae, but there was a marginally significant effect of ants in reducing wasp parasitism of moths. We suggest that EFN may not only distract ants from disrupting plant–pollinator interactions, but they may also enhance plant–pollinator interactions by increasing pollination and reducing wasp parasitism. Though often considered dichotomous hypotheses, ant distraction and plant defense may be synergistic, though the mechanism(s) for such positive ant effects on plant–pollinator interactions needs further study.     

Optimization of α-ketoamide based p38 inhibitors through modifications to the region that binds to the allosteric site

We have optimized a novel series of potent p38 MAP kinase inhibitors based on an α-ketoamide scaffold through structure based design that due to their extended molecular architecture bind, in addition to the ATP site, to an allosteric pocket. In vitro ADME, in vivo PK and efficacy studies show these compounds to have drug-like characteristics and have resulted in the nomination of a development candidate which is currently in phase II clinical trials for the oral treatment of inflammatory conditions.     

The effect of past changes in inter‐annual temperature variability on tree distribution limits

Aim The northern limits of temperate broadleaved species in Fennoscanndia are controlled by their requirements for summer warmth for successful regeneration and growth as well as by the detrimental effects of winter cold on plant tissue. However, occurrences of meteorological conditions with detrimental effects on individual species are rare events rather than a reflection of average conditions. We explore the effect of changes in inter‐annual temperature variability on the abundances of the tree species Tilia cordata, Quercus robur and Ulmus glabra near their distribution limits using a process‐based model of ecosystem dynamics. Location A site in central Sweden and a site in southern Finland were used as examples for the ecotone between boreal and temperate forests in Fennoscandia. The Finnish site was selected because of the availability of varve‐thickness data. Methods The dynamic vegetation model LPJ‐GUESS was run with four scenarios of inter‐annual temperature forcing for the last 10,000 years. In one scenario the variability in the thickness of summer and winter varves from the annually laminated lake in Finland was used as a proxy for past inter‐annual temperature variability. Two scenarios were devised to explore systematically the effect of stepwise changes in the variance and shape parameter of a probability distribution. All variability scenarios were run both with and without the long‐term trend in Holocene temperature change predicted by an atmospheric general circulation model. Results Directional changes in inter‐annual temperature variability have significant effects on simulated tree distribution limits through time. Variations in inter‐annual temperature variability alone are shown to alter vegetation composition by magnitudes similar to the magnitude of changes driven by variation in mean temperatures. Main conclusions The varve data indicate that inter‐annual climate variability has changed in the past. The model results show that past changes in species abundance can be explained by changes in the inter‐annual variability of climate parameters as well as by mean climate. Because inter‐annual climatic variability is predicted to change in the future, this component of climate change should be taken into account both when making projections of future plant distributions and when interpreting vegetation history.     

Magnesium movement in hypothyroid sheep.

We described magnesium transport in hypothyroid and normal sheep with an eight-compartment biomodel fitted by a least-squares technique to data from multiple compartments and routes of entry of 28-Mg. Isotopic equilibrium was not attained during this period of observation in hypothyroid or control sheep. Hypothyroidism reduced transfer coefficients for absorption (P less than 0.01) of 28-Mg from the GI tract but did not change the rate coefficient for endogenous 28-Mg losses to feces (P less than 0.05). Nutritional balance data indicated higher absorption and retention of Mg in hypothyroid sheep, and the observed decrease in rate of passage of digestive residues suggested that mean retention time of GI tract contents had a definite effect on the availability of Mg.     

Novel insights into the basis for Escherichia coli superoxide dismutase's metal ion specificity from Mn-substituted FeSOD and its very high E(m).

Fe and Mn are both entrained to the same chemical reaction in apparently superimposable superoxide dismutase (SOD) proteins. However, neither Fe-substituted MnSOD nor Mn-substituted FeSOD is active. We have proposed that the two SOD proteins must apply very different redox tuning to their respective metal ions and that tuning appropriate for one metal ion results in a reduction potential (E(m)) for the other metal ion that is either too low (Fe) or too high (Mn) [Vance and Miller (1998) J. Am. Chem. Soc. 120, 461-467]. We have demonstrated that this is true for Fe-substituted MnSOD from Escherichia coli and that this metal ion-protein combination retains the ability to reduce but not oxidize superoxide. We now demonstrate that the corollary is also true: Mn-substituted FeSOD [Mn(Fe)SOD] has a very high E(m). Specifically, we have measured the E(m) of E. coli MnSOD to be 290 mV vs NHE. We have generated Mn(Fe)SOD and find that Mn is bound in an environment similar to that of the native (Mn)SOD protein. However, the E(m) is greater than 960 mV vs NHE and much higher than MnSOD's E(m) of 290 mV. We propose that the different tuning stems from different hydrogen bonding between the proteins and a molecule of solvent that is coordinated to the metal ion in both cases. Because a proton is taken up by SOD upon reduction, the protein can exert very strong control over the E(m), by modulating the degree to which coordinated solvent is protonated, in both oxidation states. Thus, coordinated solvent molecules may have widespread significance as "adapters" by which proteins can control the reactivity of bound metal ions.     

Interaction of the calcium-sensing receptor and filamin, a potential scaffolding protein

In many cases, the biologic responses of cells to extracellular signals and the specificity of the responses cannot be explained solely on the basis of the interactions of known signaling proteins. Recently, scaffolding and adaptor proteins have been identified that organize signaling proteins in cells and that contribute to the nature and specificity of signaling pathways. In an effort to identify proteins that might organize the signaling system(s) activated by the extracellular Ca(2+) receptor (CaR), we used a bait construct representing the intracellular C terminus of the human CaR and the yeast two hybrid system to screen a human kidney cDNA library. We identified a clone representing the C-terminal 1042 amino acids (aa) of the cytoskeletal protein filamin (ABP-280). Analysis of truncation and deletion constructs of the CaR C terminus and the filamin cDNA clone demonstrated that the CaR and filamin interact via regions containing aa 907-997 of the CaR C terminus and aa 1566-1875 of filamin. Interaction of the two proteins in mammalian HEK-293 cells was demonstrated by co-immunoprecipitation and colocalization of them using immunofluorescence microscopy. The functional importance of their interaction was documented by transiently expressing the CaR in M2 melanoma cells that lack filamin, or in A7 melanoma cells that stably express filamin, and demonstrating that the CaR activated ERK only in the presence of filamin. Co-expression of the CaR with a peptide derived from the region of the CaR C terminus that interacts with filamin reduced the ability of the CaR to activate p42ERK in a dose-dependent manner, but did not inhibit the ability of the ET(A) receptor to activate ERK. The fact that filamin interacts with the CaR and other cell signaling proteins including mitogen-activated protein kinases and small GTPases, indicates that it may act as a scaffolding protein to organize cell signaling systems involving the CaR.