Dioctophymidae eggs in coprolites from Neolithic site of Arbon-Bleiche 3 (Switzerland)

Dioctophymidae eggs were found in human coprolites dated from 3,384 to 3,370 BC from the site Arbon-Bleiche 3, Switzerland. This is the first record of dioctophymiasis in archaeological material. The important percentage of this disease in the studied coprolites raises the question of a higher prevalence during the Neolithic than at present.     

Toxocara canis (Werner, 1782) eggs in the pleistocene site of Menez-Dregan,France (300,000-500,000 years before present)

On the archaeological site of Menez-Dregan in Brittany, France, dated 300,000-500,000 years-old, paleoparasitological analysis of cave deposits led to the detection of well-preserved helminth eggs, which morphology and morphometry pointed to the diagnosis of Toxocara canis eggs, a parasite of carnivore mammals. Paleolithic remains suggested a parasitism of the hyena Crocuta spelaea or other canids that inhabited the region.     

First paleoparasitological study of an embalming rejects jar found in Saqqara,Egypt

For the first time, a jar of embalming rejects was studied in search for helminth parasite eggs. This kind of jar was used to put discarded material by Egyptian embalmers during mummification process. Ascaris lumbricoides and Taenia saginata eggs were found in the linen and strip fragment contents of the jar, dated of 2,715-2,656 years ago.     

Diphyllobothrium: Neolithic parasite?

During paleoparasitological analyses on several Neolithic sites in Switzerland (Arbon-Bleiche 3) and southwestern Germany (Hornstaad-H?rnle I, Torwiesen II, and Seekirch-Stockwiesen), numerous eggs of Diphyllobothrium sp. were recovered. This is one of the earliest occurrences of this parasite during the prehistoric period in the Old World. The prevalence of this helminth in the samples studied raises the question as to how important parasitic diseases were during the Neolithic period and what their actual consequences were.     

Human interleukin-6 is in vivo an autocrine growth factor for human herpesvirus-8-infected malignant B lymphocytes

Human interleukin-6 (hIL-6) acts as a growth factor in several human B lymphoid cancers. As human herpesvirus-8 (HHV-8) encodes for a viral IL-6 (vIL-6), the viral cytokine may be responsible for several manifestations of HHV-8-related disorders. Using an anti-hIL-6 mAb (B-E8) which does not recognize vIL-6, we investigated the involvement of the human cytokine in the proliferation of HHV-8-positive primary effusion lymphoma (PEL) cells. In vitro, 5/5 PEL cell lines produced hIL-6 (4 to 1,200 pg/ml). The EBV- HHV-8+ cell line (BCBL-1) was adapted to grow in SCID mice. hIL-6 was detected in the serum of mice with grafts, as well as human soluble CD138 (sCD138) and human IL-10 (hIL-10). The serum level of these mediators increased with tumor progression. The effect of treatment with the B-E8 mAb on the tumor progression and survival was evaluated. This treatment significantly slowed down the tumor development: on day 54, there were more mice with low levels of sCD138 and hIL-10 in the treated group than in controls (p = 0.03 and 0.02, respectively); treatment also delayed death (median date of death was day 65 for control mice and day 84 for anti-hIL-6 mAb-treated mice; p < 0.02). Thus, hIL-6 is expressed in addition to vIL-6 in HHV-8-positive malignant B lymphocytes, and the viral cytokine does not totally substitute for human IL-6 in promoting tumor progression.     

Genetic and Biochemical Evidence for the Involvement of α-1,4 Glucanotransferases in Amylopectin Synthesis

We describe a novel mutation in the Chlamydomonas reinhardtii STA11 gene, which results in significantly reduced granular starch deposition and major modifications in amylopectin structure and granule shape. This defect simultaneously leads to the accumulation of linear malto-oligosaccharides. The sta11-1 mutation causes the absence of an α-1,4 glucanotransferase known as disproportionating enzyme (D-enzyme). D-enzyme activity was found to be correlated with the amount of wild-type allele doses in gene dosage experiments. All other enzymes involved in starch biosynthesis, including ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase, debranching enzymes, soluble and granule-bound starch synthases, branching enzymes, phosphorylases, α-glucosidases (maltases), and amylases, were unaffected by the mutation. These data indicate that the D-enzyme is required for normal starch granule biogenesis in the monocellular alga C. reinhardtii.     

Starches from A to C. Chlamydomonas reinhardtii as a model microbial system to investigate the biosynthesis of the plant amylopectin crystal.

Wide-angle powder x-ray diffraction analysis was carried out on starch extracted from wild-type and mutant Chlamydomonas reinhardtii cells. Strains containing no defective starch synthases as well as mutants carrying a disrupted granule-bound starch synthase structural gene displayed the A type of diffraction pattern with a high degree of crystallinity. Mutants carrying a defect for the major soluble starch synthase (SSS), SSS II, were characterized by a switch to the B type of diffraction pattern with very low crystallinity. Mutant strains carrying SSS I as the only glucan elongation enzyme regained some of their crystallinity but switched to the C type of diffraction pattern. Differential scanning calorimetry analysis correlated tightly with the x-ray diffraction results. Together with the electron microscopy analyses, these results establish C. reinhardtii as a microbial model system displaying all aspects of cereal starch synthesis and structure. We further show that SSS II is the major enzyme involved in the synthesis of crystalline structures in starch and demonstrate that SSS I alone builds a new type of amylopectin structure.