Effects of experimental calcium availability,egg parameters and laying order on Great Tit Parus major eggshell pigmentation patterns

Many bird species lay eggs speckled with protoporphyrin‐based spots, however, for most of them the function of eggshell spotting is unknown. A plausible hypothesis is that protoporphyrin might have a structural function in strengthening the eggshell and is therefore deposited when calcium is scarce. In this study, we experimentally provided Great Tit Parus major females with supplemental calcium to examine its effect on the protoporphyrin‐based maculation of their eggs. In addition, we studied variation in eggshell pigmentation patterns in relation to other egg parameters and laying order. Calcium‐supplemented females laid larger eggs but shell thickness was not significantly affected by the treatment. Calcium supplementation may reduce the time and energy females devote to searching for calcium‐rich material, so that they can collect more nutrients and so lay larger eggs. Furthermore, pigment darkness was associated with egg volume and shape, which suggests that female quality and environmental food availability may also influence the shell pigmentation pattern. Within clutches, later‐laid eggs had larger and darker spots that were distributed more unevenly on the shell surface. This within‐clutch pattern could be explained by the increase in egg volume and egg shape and a decline in shell thickness with egg‐laying order, which characteristics were all related to shell‐spotting pattern. Eggs with a coronal ring had thinner shells, but pigment intensity and spot size were not related to shell thickness. Thus, our results suggest that concentrated spotting distribution may have a mechanical function, supporting the structural‐function hypothesis.     

Phenoscope: an automated large‐scale phenotyping platform offering high spatial homogeneity

Increased phenotyping accuracy and throughput are necessary to improve our understanding of quantitative variation and to be able to deconstruct complex traits such as those involved in growth responses to the environment. Still, only a few facilities are known to handle individual plants of small stature for non‐destructive, real‐time phenotype acquisition from plants grown in precisely adjusted and variable experimental conditions. Here, we describe Phenoscope, a high‐throughput phenotyping platform that has the unique feature of continuously rotating 735 individual pots over a table. It automatically adjusts watering and is equipped with a zenithal imaging system to monitor rosette size and expansion rate during the vegetative stage, with automatic image analysis allowing manual correction. When applied to Arabidopsis thaliana, we show that rotating the pots strongly reduced micro‐environmental disparity: heterogeneity in evaporation was cut by a factor of 2.5 and the number of replicates needed to detect a specific mild genotypic effect was reduced by a factor of 3. In addition, by controlling a large proportion of the micro‐environmental variance, other tangible sources of variance become noticeable. Overall, Phenoscope makes it possible to perform large‐scale experiments that would not be possible or reproducible by hand. When applied to a typical quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping experiment, we show that mapping power is more limited by genetic complexity than phenotyping accuracy. This will help to draw a more general picture as to how genetic diversity shapes phenotypic variation.     

Donor specificity and regioselectivity in Lipolase mediated acylations of methyl α-d-glucopyranoside by vinyl esters of phenolic acids and their analogues

Methyl α-d-glucopyranoside as a model acceptor was acylated by several phenolic and non-phenolic vinyl esters using immobilised Lipolase. Donor specificity and regioselectivity of reaction were investigated. Conversion and rate of acylation by structurally varied donors indicates that the synthetic reactivity of Lipolase corresponds to the hydrolytic activity of feruloyl esterase type A. Lipolase exhibited remarkable regioselectivity for primary position of methyl α-d-glucopyranoside. The acylation occurred exclusively at 6-O primary position when vinyl esters of phenolic acids (hydroxybenzoates, hydroxyphenylalkanoates and hydroxycinnamates) served as acyl donors (5–77%). In addition to the major 6-O-acyl products (52–79%), 2,6-di-O-acylated derivatives were isolated from reaction mixtures (2–13%) when non-phenolic donors were used (vinyl esters of fully methoxylated derivatives of phenolic acids, along with vinyl benzoates, cinnamates or some heterocyclic analogues).     

Divergent evolutionary processes associated with colonization of offshore islands

Oceanic islands have been a test ground for evolutionary theory, but here, we focus on the possibilities for evolutionary study created by offshore islands. These can be colonized through various means and by a wide range of species, including those with low dispersal capabilities. We use morphology, modern and ancient sequences of cytochrome b (cytb) and microsatellite genotypes to examine colonization history and evolutionary change associated with occupation of the Orkney archipelago by the common vole (Microtus arvalis), a species found in continental Europe but not in Britain. Among possible colonization scenarios, our results are most consistent with human introduction at least 5100 bp (confirmed by radiocarbon dating). We used approximate Bayesian computation of population history to infer the coast of Belgium as the possible source and estimated the evolutionary timescale using a Bayesian coalescent approach. We showed substantial morphological divergence of the island populations, including a size increase presumably driven by selection and reduced microsatellite variation likely reflecting founder events and genetic drift. More surprisingly, our results suggest that a recent and widespread cytb replacement event in the continental source area purged cytb variation there, whereas the ancestral diversity is largely retained in the colonized islands as a genetic ‘ark’. The replacement event in the continental M. arvalis was probably triggered by anthropogenic causes (land‐use change). Our studies illustrate that small offshore islands can act as field laboratories for studying various evolutionary processes over relatively short timescales, informing about the mainland source area as well as the island.     

Evaluation of adamantane hydroxamates as botulinum neurotoxin inhibitors: Synthesis,crystallography, modeling,kinetic and cellular based studies

Botulinum neurotoxins (BoNTs) are the most lethal biotoxins known to mankind and are responsible for the neuroparalytic disease botulism. Current treatments for botulinum poisoning are all protein based and thus have a limited window of treatment opportunity. Inhibition of the BoNT light chain protease (LC) has emerged as a therapeutic strategy for the treatment of botulism as it may provide an effective post exposure remedy. Using a combination of crystallographic and modeling studies a series of hydroxamates derived from 1-adamantylacetohydroxamic acid (3a) were prepared. From this group of compounds, an improved potency of about 17-fold was observed for two derivatives. Detailed mechanistic studies on these structures revealed a competitive inhibition model, with a K_i = 27 nM, which makes these compounds some of the most potent small molecule, non-peptidic BoNT/A LC inhibitors reported to date.     

Development of small-molecule P-gp inhibitors of the N-benzyl 1,4-dihydropyridine type: Novel aspects in SAR and bioanalytical evaluation of multidrug resistance (MDR) reversal properties

Novel series of N-benzyl 1,4-dihydropyridines have been prepared by facile syntheses. All relevant substituents of the molecular scaffold have been varied. The resulting compounds were biologically evaluated as P-glycoprotein (P-gp) inhibitors. Substitutions of the N-benzyl residue favour biological activity beside respective 3-ester functions. Most active compounds were further evaluated as multidrug resistance (MDR) modulators to restore the cytotoxic properties of varying daunorubicin applications.     

Synthesis and pharmacological investigation of new N-hydroxyalkyl-2-aminophenothiazines exhibiting marked MDR inhibitory effect

Novel N-hydroxyalkyl-2-aminophenothiazines implying a tetrazole moiety at the alkyl chain have been synthesized by hydroboration–oxidation of dienes followed by Buchwald–Hartwig cross-coupling reaction. Also, some sulfoxide and sulfone derivatives have been prepared by selective oxidations. MDR inhibition studies on rat hepatocyte cell culture revealed that some derivatives exhibit marked biological efficacy exceeding that of the standard verapamil (e.g., 3h, 4h, 16). Selected derivatives were subjected to chemical resolution to provide both enantiomers which were shown of similar activity on P-gp interaction measurements. The new compounds exhibited no toxicity.     

Facile synthesis and characterization of novel pyrazole-sulfonamides and their inhibition effects on human carbonic anhydrase isoenzymes

In the current study, a series of pyrazole-sulfonamide derivatives (2–14) were synthesized, characterized, and the inhibition effects of the derivatives on human carbonic anhydrases (hCA I and hCA II) were investigated as in vitro. Structures of these sulfonamides were confirmed by FT-IR, ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR and LC–MS analysis. ¹H NMR and ¹³C NMR revealed the tautomeric structures. hCA I and hCA II isozymes were purified from human erythrocytes and inhibitory effects of newly synthesized sulfonamides on esterase activities of these isoenzymes have been studied. The K_i values of compounds were 0.062–1.278 μM for hCA I and 0.012–0.379 μM for hCA II. The inhibition effects of 7 for hCA I and 4 for hCA II isozymes were almost in nanomolar concentration range.