Acute and chronic effects of ACTH on thermogenesis and brown adipose tissue in the rat

A single injection of ACTH stimulated metabolic rate in the rat, and this effect was enhanced in hyperphagic cafeteria-fed rats. Chronic treatment with ACTH significantly reduced body weight, energy gain and energetic efficiency in stock-fed rats. Thermogenic responses to noradrenaline and a single meal, and purine nucleotide (GDP) binding to brown adipose tissue (BAT) mitochondria were also increased. Cafeteria feeding induced hyperphagia, increases in metabolic rate, acute thermogenic responses and BAT activity, and depressed energetic efficiency. ACTH had no additional effects on energy balance, thermogenic responses or brown fat in cafeteria-fed rats. These data indicate that stimulation of thermogenesis and BAT activity by ACTH resembles that induced by hyperphagia, and this effect may be partly responsible for the changes in energy balance after adrenalectomy seen in previous studies. However, acute and chronic responses to ACTH depend upon the nutritional status of the animal.     

Do G protein subunits associate via a three-stranded coiled coil?

We used a computer-based prediction algorithm to identify probable coiled-coil segments at the N-termini of G protein alpha, beta and gamma subunits. This result indicates that G protein trimers may form via a three-stranded coiled coil. Previous biochemical results had shown that the N-termini of alpha and beta are involved in subunit interactions. Here we present a structural model for the N-terminal domain of beta gamma and a hypothesis for the reversible association of alpha to beta gamma.     

Optimal transportation theory for species interaction networks

1. Observed biotic interactions between species, such as in pollination, predation, and competition, are determined by combinations of population densities, matching in functional traits and phenology among the organisms, and stochastic events (neutral effects).
2. We propose optimal transportation theory as a unified view for modeling species interaction networks with different intensities of interactions. We pose the coupling of two distributions as a constrained optimization problem, maximizing both the system''s average utility and its global entropy, that is, randomness. Our model follows naturally from applying the MaxEnt principle to this problem setting.
3. This approach allows for simulating changes in species relative densities as well as to disentangle the impact of trait matching and neutral forces.
4. We provide a framework for estimating the pairwise species utilities from data. Experimentally, we show how to use this framework to perform trait matching and predict the coupling in pollination and host–parasite networks.

The coupling between species in a species interaction network can be modeled using optimal transportation. As an application of the MaxEnt principle, it jointly maximizes interaction utility and entropy. This allows for anticipating how the interaction coupling can change when species abundances change.