Laying low: Rugged lowland rainforest preferred by feral cats in the Australian Wet Tropics

Invasive mesopredators are responsible for the decline of many species of native mammals worldwide. Feral cats have been causally linked to multiple extinctions of Australian mammals since European colonization. While feral cats are found throughout Australia, most research has been undertaken in arid habitats, thus there is a limited understanding of feral cat distribution, abundance, and ecology in Australian tropical rainforests. We carried out camera‐trapping surveys at 108 locations across seven study sites, spanning 200 km in the Australian Wet Tropics. Single‐species occupancy analysis was implemented to investigate how environmental factors influence feral cat distribution. Feral cats were detected at a rate of 5.09 photographs/100 days, 11 times higher than previously recorded in the Australian Wet Tropics. The main environmental factors influencing feral cat occupancy were a positive association with terrain ruggedness, a negative association with elevation, and a higher affinity for rainforest than eucalypt forest. These findings were consistent with other studies on feral cat ecology but differed from similar surveys in Australia. Increasingly harsh and consistently wet weather conditions at higher elevations, and improved shelter in topographically complex habitats may drive cat preference for lowland rainforest. Feral cats were positively associated with roads, supporting the theory that roads facilitate access and colonization of feral cats within more remote parts of the rainforest. Higher elevation rainforests with no roads could act as refugia for native prey species within the critical weight range. Regular monitoring of existing roads should be implemented to monitor feral cats, and new linear infrastructure should be limited to prevent encroachment into these areas. This is pertinent as climate change modeling suggests that habitats at higher elevations will become similar to lower elevations, potentially making the environment more suitable for feral cat populations.     

Division of labor within the DNA damage tolerance system reveals non-epistatic and clinically actionable targets for precision cancer medicine

Crosslink repair depends on the Fanconi anemia pathway and translesion synthesis polymerases that replicate over unhooked crosslinks. Translesion synthesis is regulated via ubiquitination of PCNA, and independently via translesion synthesis polymerase REV1. The division of labor between PCNA-ubiquitination and REV1 in interstrand crosslink repair is unclear. Inhibition of either of these pathways has been proposed as a strategy to increase cytotoxicity of platinating agents in cancer treatment. Here, we defined the importance of PCNA-ubiquitination and REV1 for DNA in mammalian ICL repair. In mice, loss of PCNA-ubiquitination, but not REV1, resulted in germ cell defects and hypersensitivity to cisplatin. Loss of PCNA-ubiquitination, but not REV1 sensitized mammalian cancer cell lines to cisplatin. We identify polymerase Kappa as essential in tolerating DNA damage-induced lesions, in particular cisplatin lesions. Polk-deficient tumors were controlled by cisplatin treatment and it significantly delayed tumor outgrowth and increased overall survival of tumor bearing mice. Our results indicate that PCNA-ubiquitination and REV1 play distinct roles in DNA damage tolerance. Moreover, our results highlight POLK as a critical TLS polymerase in tolerating multiple genotoxic lesions, including cisplatin lesions. The relative frequent loss of Polk in cancers indicates an exploitable vulnerability for precision cancer medicine.     

Ellagic acid regulates hyperglycemic state through modulation of pancreatic IL-6 and TNF- α immunoexpression

BackgroundType 2 diabetes (T2DM) is a chronic metabolic disorder. Although therapeutic pharmaceutical agents continue to advance, herbal medicines are potential complementary treatments for the promotion of glucose homeostasis, with minimal adverse effects. Conventionally, ellagic acid (EA) has been utilized for the therapy of a range of pathologies owing to its anti-inflammatory and anti-diabetic actions.ObjectiveThe aim of this study is to determine the activity of EA on serum α-amylase and lipase titers, and on pancreatic tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) concentrations using the streptozocin-induced T2DM rodent model.MethodsEA extract synthesized from fresh strawberry fruit was employed for therapy. 50 adults male Wistar rats were randomized into either control, EA, diabetic, co-treated or post- treated cohorts.ResultsEA diminished fasting blood glucose levels, altered lipase, amylase, IL-6, PCNA and TNF- α expression and enhanced islet cell renewal, insulin, and immunoreactivities.ConclusionInflammatory indicators are elevated in the presence of T2DM. Extract of EA has overall tissue reparative and safeguarding properties, as indicated by the augmented β- cell population and enhanced glucose homeostasis. Thus, EA may be an innovative treatment approach for the maintenance of normoglycemia in individuals with T2DM.     

Revisiting of Carex sect. Confertiflorae s.l. (Cyperaceae): New data from molecular and morphological evidence and first insights on Carex biogeography in East Asia

Carex sect. Confertiflorae s.l. is a medium-sized species group (ca. 40 species) with its center of diversity in E Asia (China and Japan). According to morphological traits, the section has been proposed to split into two sections (sects. Confertiflorae sensu Ohwi and Molliculae Ohwi) up to five different ones (sects. Confertiflorae s.s., Molliculae, Dispalatae Ohwi, Ischnostachyae Ohwi, and Alliiformes Akiyama). Recent phylogenetic reconstructions showed Confertiflorae s.l. not to be monophyletic, as species traditionally considered part of it were found to belong to other clades, whereas species traditionally ascribed to other sections were nested within it. In this study, we investigated the phylogenetic structure, morphological affinities, and biogeographic history of sect. Confertiflorae s.l. We employed a taxon-based approach to explore the morphological affinities of the species considered in sect. Confertiflorae and compared the micromorphology of the nutlets of almost all the taxa using SEM. We included 40 samples representing 31 species/subspecies of sect. Confertiflorae s.l. and used two nuclear (ETS and ITS) and three plastid (trnL-F, matK, and rpl32-trnL ^UAG) molecular markers to reconstruct the phylogeny of the group. The phylogenetic analyses confirmed the polyphyly of sect. Confertiflorae s.l., whose representatives were found within five distinct clades. From these, two clades, sect. Confertiflorae and sect. Molliculae, were found to be closely related and contained the majority of the species. The composition of the two clades agreed with the morphological structure of the group, and we confirmed an exclusive combination of features (namely color of basal sheaths, presence of bract sheath, peduncle of lowest spike, inflorescence sex distribution, shape of pistillate glume apex, and color and veins of utricle, among others) characterizing each of the two clades. The origin of the two clades was found to be in the early Pliocene; however, the majority of the diversification events within each clade took place during the Pleistocene. This illustrates that although Asia has been regarded as having little potential ecological space for Carex to diversify due to its climate stability, groups of sedges sub-endemic from that area may have a fairly recent origin related to glaciations. We proposed the rearrangement of sect. Confertiflorae as previously conceived as three independent sections: the monotypic Alliiformes, sect. Molliculae, and sect. Paludosae.     

Anti-cariogenic and anti-biofilms activity of Tunisian propolis extract and its potential protective effect against cancer cells proliferation

Propolis is a multifunctional substance used by bees to maintain the safety of their hives. It is worldwide used for its potential therapeutic effects. In this study, Tunisian propolis ethanol extract (EEP) was tested for their anti-cariogenic, anti-biofilms and antiproliferative effects of many cell lines. The Tunisian EEP was evaluated in vitro against 33 oral pathogens including streptococci and enterococci using broth microdilution method. The anti-biofilms activity of EEP was assessed via Crystal Violet staining and MTT assays. The Tunisian EEP antiproliferative effect was evaluated on normal (MRC-5) and cancer cell lines (HT-29, A549, Hep-2, raw 264.7, Vero) by the ability of the cells to metabolically reduce MTT to a formazan dye. Our results revealed that Tunisian EEP possessed excellent protective effects against cariogenic and biofilms activity of oral streptococci. Furthermore, EEP showed a strong antiproliferative potencies against all studied cancer cell lines as judged by IC50 and its value ranges from 15.7 ± 3.4 to 200 ± 22.2 μg mL?1. These results suggest that EEP is able to inhibit cancer cell proliferation, cariogenic bacteria and oral biofilms formation. It could have a promising role in the future medicine and nutrition when used as antibiotic or food additive.