The role of chick Ebf genes in the mediolateral patterning of the somites

This study was conducted to check whether the three chick Early B‐cell Factor (Ebf) genes, particularly cEbf1, would be targets for Shh and Bmp signals during somites mediolateral (ML) patterning. Tissue manipulations and gain and loss of function experiments for Shh and Bmp4 were performed and the results revealed that cEbf1 expression was initiated in the cranial presomitic mesoderm by low dose of Bmp4 from the lateral mesoderm and maintained in the ventromedial part of the epithelial somite and the medial sclerotome by Shh from the notochord; while cEbf2/3 expression was induced and maintained by Bmp4 and inhibited by high dose of Shh. To determine whether Ebf1 plays a role in somite patterning, transfection of a dominant‐negative construct was carried out; this showed suppression of cPax1 expression in the medial sclerotome and upregulation and medial expansion of cEbf3 and cPax3 expression in sclerotome and dermomyotome, respectively, suggesting that Ebf1 is important for ML patterning. Thus, it is possible that low doses of Bmp4 set up Ebf1 expression which, together with Shh from the notochord, leads to establishment of the medial sclerotome and suppression of lateral identities. These data also conclude that Bmp4 is required in both the medial and lateral domain of the somitic mesoderm to keep the ML identity of the sclerotome through maintenance of cEbf gene expression. These striking findings are novel and give a new insight on the role of Bmp4 on mediolateral patterning of somites.     

Plant–microbe networks in soil are weakened by century-long use of inorganic fertilizers

Understanding the changes in plant–microbe interactions is critically important for predicting ecosystem functioning in response to human-induced environmental changes such as nitrogen (N) addition. In this study, the effects of a century-long fertilization treatment (> 150 years) on the networks between plants and soil microbial functional communities, detected by GeoChip, in grassland were determined in the Park Grass Experiment at Rothamsted Research, UK. Our results showed that plants and soil microbes have a consistent response to long-term fertilization—both richness and diversity of plants and soil microbes are significantly decreased, as well as microbial functional genes involved in soil carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) cycling. The network-based analyses showed that long-term fertilization decreased the complexity of networks between plant and microbial functional communities in terms of node numbers, connectivity, network density and the clustering coefficient. Similarly, within the soil microbial community, the strength of microbial associations was also weakened in response to long-term fertilization. Mantel path analysis showed that soil C and N contents were the main factors affecting the network between plants and microbes. Our results indicate that century-long fertilization weakens the plant–microbe networks, which is important in improving our understanding of grassland ecosystem functions and stability under long-term agriculture management.     

Wildfire refugia in forests: Severe fire weather and drought mute the influence of topography and fuel age

Wildfire refugia (unburnt patches within large wildfires) are important for the persistence of fire‐sensitive species across forested landscapes globally. A key challenge is to identify the factors that determine the distribution of fire refugia across space and time. In particular, determining the relative influence of climatic and landscape factors is important in order to understand likely changes in the distribution of wildfire refugia under future climates. Here, we examine the relative effect of weather (i.e. fire weather, drought severity) and landscape features (i.e. topography, fuel age, vegetation type) on the occurrence of fire refugia across 26 large wildfires in south‐eastern Australia. Fire weather and drought severity were the primary drivers of the occurrence of fire refugia, moderating the effect of landscape attributes. Unburnt patches rarely occurred under ‘severe’ fire weather, irrespective of drought severity, topography, fuels or vegetation community. The influence of drought severity and landscape factors played out most strongly under ‘moderate’ fire weather. In mesic forests, fire refugia were linked to variables that affect fuel moisture, whereby the occurrence of unburnt patches decreased with increasing drought conditions and were associated with more mesic topographic locations (i.e. gullies, pole‐facing aspects) and vegetation communities (i.e. closed‐forest). In dry forest, the occurrence of refugia was responsive to fuel age, being associated with recently burnt areas (<5 years since fire). Overall, these results show that increased severity of fire weather and increased drought conditions, both predicted under future climate scenarios, are likely to lead to a reduction of wildfire refugia across forests of southern Australia. Protection of topographic areas able to provide long‐term fire refugia will be an important step towards maintaining the ecological integrity of forests under future climate change.     

A Centipede Toxin Family Defines an Ancient Class of CSαβ Defensins

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Population biology of a selfish sex ratio distorting element in a booklouse (Psocodea: Liposcelis)

Arthropods harbour a variety of selfish genetic elements that manipulate reproduction to be preferentially transmitted to future generations. A major ongoing question is to understand how these elements persist in nature. In this study, we examine the population dynamics of an unusual selfish sex ratio distorter in a recently discovered species of booklouse, Liposcelis sp. (Psocodea: Liposcelididae) to gain a better understanding of some of the factors that may affect the persistence of this element. Females that carry the selfish genetic element only ever produce daughters, although they are obligately sexual. These females also only transmit the maternal half of their genome. We performed a replicated population cage experiment, varying the initial frequency of females that harbour the selfish element, and following female frequencies for 20 months. The selfish genetic element persisted in all cages, often reaching very high (and thus severely female‐biased) frequencies. Surprisingly, we also found that females that carry the selfish genetic element had much lower fitness than their nondistorter counterparts, with lower lifetime fecundity, slower development and a shorter egg‐laying period. We suggest that differential fitness plays a role in the maintenance of the selfish genetic element in this species. We believe that the genetic system in this species, paternal genome elimination, which allows maternal control of offspring sex ratio, may also be important in the persistence of the selfish genetic element, highlighting the need to consider species with diverse ecologies and genetic systems when investigating the effects of sex ratio manipulators on host populations.     

Identification of Peptides Implicated in Antibacterial Activity of Snow Crab Hepatopancreas Hydrolysates by a Bioassay-Guided Fractionation Approach Combined with Mass Spectrometry

Snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio) by-products are a rich source of biomolecules, such as lipids, proteins, and chitin, which have not been extensively investigated. This study aims to identify antibacterial peptides to enhance the value of C. opilio by-products. After hydrolysis of different component parts using Protamex®, and concentration by solid-phase extraction, the resulting fractions were tested for antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli, Listeria innocua, and Vibrio parahaemolyticus. Hepatopancreas was the only tissue to display antibacterial activity detected using this protocol. Four fractions obtained with and without enzymatic hydrolysis of hepatopancreas followed by SPE C18 fractionation and elution with 50 and 80% acetonitrile demonstrated bacteriostatic activity against L. innocua HPB13, from concentrations of 0.30 to 43.05 mg/mL of peptides/proteins. Eleven peptides sharing at least 80% amino acid homology with four antimicrobial peptides were identified by mass spectrometry. Two peptides had homology to crustin-like and yellowfin tuna GAPDH antimicrobial peptides belonging to the marine organisms Penaeus monodon and Thunnus albacares, respectively. Other peptide sequence homologies were also identified: Odorranain-C7 from the frog Odorrana grahami and a predicted antibacterial peptide in the Asian ladybeetle Harmonia axyridis. These active peptides may represent a novel group of bioactive peptides deserving further investigation as food preservatives.

     

Pesticide exposure affects flight dynamics and reduces flight endurance in bumblebees

The emergence of agricultural land use change creates a number of challenges that insect pollinators, such as eusocial bees, must overcome. Resultant fragmentation and loss of suitable foraging habitats, combined with pesticide exposure, may increase demands on foraging, specifically the ability to collect or reach sufficient resources under such stress. Understanding effects that pesticides have on flight performance is therefore vital if we are to assess colony success in these changing landscapes. Neonicotinoids are one of the most widely used classes of pesticide across the globe, and exposure to bees has been associated with reduced foraging efficiency and homing ability. One explanation for these effects could be that elements of flight are being affected, but apart from a couple of studies on the honeybee (Apis mellifera), this has scarcely been tested. Here, we used flight mills to investigate how exposure to a field realistic (10 ppb) acute dose of imidacloprid affected flight performance of a wild insect pollinator—the bumblebee, Bombus terrestris audax. Intriguingly, observations showed exposed workers flew at a significantly higher velocity over the first ¾ km of flight. This apparent hyperactivity, however, may have a cost because exposed workers showed reduced flight distance and duration to around a third of what control workers were capable of achieving. Given that bumblebees are central place foragers, impairment to flight endurance could translate to a decline in potential forage area, decreasing the abundance, diversity, and nutritional quality of available food, while potentially diminishing pollination service capabilities.     

Carbanilation of cereal beta-glucans for molecular weight determination and conformational studies

Cereal beta-glucans can form aggregates in aqueous solution. The presence of aggregates in cereal beta-glucan solutions led to inaccurate determination of molecular weights and it was believed that intermolecular hydrogen bonding caused the aggregation. To eliminate aggregates, a carbanilation method for molecular weight determination of cereal beta-glucans was developed. Wheat beta-glucan samples were selected for investigation. The carbanilation method can prevent intermolecular hydrogen bonding by blocking hydroxyl groups with phenyl carbamate groups. The carbanilates of cereal beta-glucans were prepared by the reaction of cereal beta-glucans with phenylisocyanate catalyzed by DMSO and pyridine. To avoid degradation during the carbanilation reaction, relatively mild conditions were used, which led to incomplete substitution (DS: approximately 2). However, after the carbanilation reaction, the carbanilates dissolved completely in 1,4-dioxane solution without any detectable aggregates, which allowed accurate molecular weight determination. The degree of substitution (DS) of carbanilates was determined by both a nitrogen content method and an FT-IR method. The FT-IR method proved to be the more effective for DS estimation. Using this method, the converted molecular weights of cereal beta-glucans were in good agreement with the results measured in 0.5M NaOH solution, which previously was shown to be a good solvent for cereal beta-glucans. After the carbanilation reaction, conformational changes of carbanilates were studied by static and dynamic light scattering techniques. The fractal dimension (d(f)=2.27) and the structure sensitive parameters (rho >2) suggested a porous globular structure for partially carbanilated beta-glucans.