Predicted class-I aminoacyl tRNA synthetase-like proteins in non-ribosomal peptide synthesis

Background  

Recent studies point to a great diversity of non-ribosomal peptide synthesis systems with major roles in amino acid and co-factor biosynthesis, secondary metabolism, and post-translational modifications of proteins by peptide tags. The least studied of these systems are those utilizing tRNAs or aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (AAtRS) in non-ribosomal peptide ligation.     

Effect of the lymphocytosis-stimulating factor from Bordetella pertussis on murine lymphoid and hemopoietic cells

Effect of B. pertussis lymphocytosis-promoting factor (LPF) on the lympho-hematopoietic system of mice was studied. The injection of LPF was shown to sharply enhance endogenous colony formation and to induce a severe depletion of thymus cells, reaching its maximum of day 4. Thymocytes obtained on day 2 or 3 after the injection of LPF produced a suppressive effect on endogenous colony formation. The proliferative activity of hematopoietic stem cells sharply increased under the influence of LPF, though it had no radioprotective action. On the following day after the injection of LPF a steep rise in the number of hematopoietic stem cells was observed in the blood of mice: their content increased 20-fold in comparison with the control level. These data may be important for the evaluation of the side effects of pertussis vaccine on the lympho-hematopoietic system.     

Antibodies against calcium-regulating hormones in infectious-allergic forms of bronchial asthma

Antibodies to calcitonin, parathyroid hormone and cortisol are detected in acute stage of infection-caused bronchial asthma. The appearance of antibodies is paralleled by marked hypercalcaemia. The antibodies may bind excessive hormones in the blood, preventing further hormonal imbalance. Ten-day treatment with glucocorticoids decreased the amount of antibodies possibly due to normalization of hormonal secretion and restoration of their balance. As a result, calcium blood levels returned to normal.     

Lipid content of terrestrial arthropods in relation to body size,phylogeny, ontogeny and sex

Energy storage in arthropods has important implications for survival and reproduction. The lipid content of 276 species of adult arthropods with wet mass in the range 0.2–6.13 g is determined to assess how lipid mass scales with body mass. The relative contribution of lipids to total body mass is investigated with respect to phylogeny, ontogeny and sex. The lipid content of adult insects, arachnids, and arthropods in general shows an isometric scaling relationship with respect to body mass (M) (M_{arthropod lipid} = ?1.09 ×M_dry^1.01 and M_{arthropod lipid} = ?1.00 ×M_lean^0.98). However, lipid allocation varies between arthropod taxa, as well as with sex and developmental stage within arthropod taxa. Female insects and arachnids generally have higher lipid contents than males, and larval holometabolous insects and juvenile arachnids have higher lipid contents than adults.     

Ethoxyformylation of histidine residues in equine growth hormone

Reactivity of histidine residues in equine growth hormone to ethoxyformic anhydride was studied. The existence of two kinetically different sets was demonstrated: one of them including only the slow reacting histidine 169 (k = 0.164 min-1) and the other containing fast reacting histidines 19 and 21 (k = 0.892 min-1). A correlation between the decrease in the capacity to compete with 125I-labeled hormone for rat liver binding sites and the degree of ethoxyformylation of the fast group was found. Circular dichroism studies indicated no significant conformational changes in the protein with all three residues modified. These results fully agree with those obtained for bovine growth hormone which is further evidence supporting the vinculation of histidines 19 and/or 21 with the binding site of these hormones to their specific receptors.     

Interacting forces of predation and fishing affect species’ maturation size

1. Fishing is a strong selective force and is supposed to select for earlier maturation at smaller body size. However, the extent to which fishing‐induced evolution is shaping ecosystems remains debated. This is in part because it is challenging to disentangle fishing from other selective forces (e.g., size‐structured predation and cannibalism) in complex ecosystems undergoing rapid change.
2. Changes in maturation size from fishing and predation have previously been explored with multi‐species physiologically structured models but assumed separation of ecological and evolutionary timescales. To assess the eco‐evolutionary impact of fishing and predation at the same timescale, we developed a stochastic physiologically size‐structured food‐web model, where new phenotypes are introduced randomly through time enabling dynamic simulation of species'' relative maturation sizes under different types of selection pressures.
3. Using the model, we carried out a fully factorial in silico experiment to assess how maturation size would change in the absence and presence of both fishing and predation (including cannibalism). We carried out ten replicate stochastic simulations exposed to all combinations of fishing and predation in a model community of nine interacting fish species ranging in their maximum sizes from 10 g to 100 kg. We visualized and statistically analyzed the results using linear models.
4. The effects of fishing on maturation size depended on whether or not predation was enabled and differed substantially across species. Fishing consistently reduced the maturation sizes of two largest species whether or not predation was enabled and this decrease was seen even at low fishing intensities (F = 0.2 per year). In contrast, the maturation sizes of the three smallest species evolved to become smaller through time but this happened regardless of the levels of predation or fishing. For the four medium‐size species, the effect of fishing was highly variable with more species showing significant and larger fishing effects in the presence of predation.
5. Ultimately our results suggest that the interactive effects of predation and fishing can have marked effects on species'' maturation sizes, but that, at least for the largest species, predation does not counterbalance the evolutionary effect of fishing. Our model also produced relative maturation sizes that are broadly consistent with empirical estimates for many fish species.