Effects of Different Rearing Strategies and Ages on Levels of Natural Antibodies in Saliva of the Philippine Crocodile

The endemic Philippine crocodile(Crocodylus mindorensis) is a relatively small, critically endangered freshwater crocodile. In a head start program, crocodile hatchlings are caught in the wild, reared in captivity, and released back into the wild after two years. The current study aimed to determine optimal rearing strategies of Philippine crocodile hatchlings, including identification of possible diseases during rearing, and studying the effect of ages on natural antibody(NAb) levels. Thirty Philippine crocodiles were divided into two groups, half were reared with a hiding board, and half without the hiding board. Both groups received three different kinds of diets: meat, shrimp, or a combination of both. Saliva samples of the crocodiles were taken three times over a period of three months to test for NAb levels. Saliva samples were also taken from older crocodiles and crocodiles from different locations. NAb titres were compared to sheep red blood cells. Each time saliva samples were taken, a health check was done. The results showed that crocodiles would prefer the hiding board, and neither housing nor diet could affect the level of NAb titres in saliva. A positive correlation was found between NAb titres and body size, weight and age. Wild hatchlings had higher NAb titres than the hatchlings born in captivity, but the difference diminished with ageing. Five different diseases were found.     

Drosophila Dyrk2 Plays a Role in the Development of the Visual System

The DYRKs (dual-specificity tyrosine phosphorylation-regulated kinases) are a conserved family of protein kinases that are associated with a number of neurological disorders, but whose biological targets are poorly understood. Drosophila encodes three Dyrks: minibrain/Dyrk1A, DmDyrk2, and DmDyrk3. Here we describe the creation and characterization of a DmDyrk2 null allele, DmDyrk2^1w17. We provide evidence that the smell impaired allele smi35A¹, is likely to encode DmDyrk2. We also demonstrate that DmDyrk2 is expressed late in the developing third antennal segment, an anatomical structure associated with smell. In addition, we find that DmDyrk2 is expressed in the morphogenetic furrow of the developing eye, that loss of DmDyrk2 in the eye produced a subtle but measurable defect, and that ectopic DmDyrk2 expression in the eye produced a strong rough eye phenotype characterized by increased secondary, tertiary and bristle interommatidial cells. This phenotype was dependent on DmDyrk2 kinase activity and was only manifest when expressed in post-mitotic non-neuronal progenitors. Together, these data indicate that DmDyrk2 is expressed in developing sensory systems, that it is required for the development of the visual system, and that the eye is a good model to identify DmDyrk2 targets.     

Dolphin Bait‐Balling Behaviors in Relation to Prey Ball Escape Behaviors

Delphinids frequently coordinate behaviors to contain or capture schooling fishes, but we know little about how these behaviors relate to prey escape behaviors, and corresponding costs and benefits. In this study, we described prey ball escape behaviors and investigated how prey ball behaviors related to dusky dolphin, Lagenorhynchus obscurus, prey herding and capturing behaviors using above‐water and underwater video methods. Prey balls exhibited horizontal and vertical movements, both of which would have increased feeding costs for dolphins compared with feeding on stationary prey at the surface. The only prey ball behavior that we observed to precede escape was ‘funneling’ or the brief formation of a prey ball shape where the height was at least twice the width. Funneling was observed most often for large prey balls, immediately before they descended. When prey balls ascended, there was an insignificant trend for dolphins to do a greater proportion of herding passes that did not include a prey capture (p = 0.094), and dolphins did a larger proportion of prey‐capture attempts on the sides of prey balls (p = 0.017) and a smaller proportion through the edges of prey balls (p = 0.037). When prey balls ascended, dolphins also did a smaller proportion of attempts with a dorsal body orientation (p = 0.037); there were insignificant trends for them to do a smaller proportion with a side orientation (p = 0.100) but a larger proportion with a ventral body orientation (p = 0.081). Thus, funneling is an effective behavior by which large prey balls are able to vertically escape, and dolphins may counter vertical prey escape behaviors by doing herding passes that do not include a prey‐attempt, and changing location or body orientation of prey‐capture behaviors.     

Design and regioselective synthesis of a new generation of targeted therapeutics. Part 3: Folate conjugates of aminopterin hydrazide for the treatment of inflammation

Efficient syntheses of folate receptor (FR) targeting conjugates of the anti-inflammatory, aminopterin hydrazide, are described. 2-{4-Benzoylamino}-5-oxo-5-{N′-[2-(pyridin-2-yldisulfanyl)-ethoxycarbonyl]-hydrazino}-pentanoic acid is synthesized from commercially available 4-[(2-amino-4-imino-3,4-dihydro-pteridin-6-yl-methyl)-amino]-benzoic acid. Conjugation of this novel, activated aminopterin hydrazide to folic acid through cysteine-terminating (C-terminus), peptide/carbohydrate spacers results in highly water soluble conjugates which allow for the release of free aminopterin hydrazide within the endosomes of targeted cells.     

Nocturne for an unknown pollinator: first description of a night‐flowering orchid (Bulbophyllum nocturnum)

Bulbophyllum nocturnum , a species of section Epicrianthes from New Britain, is described and illustrated. It is the first known example of an orchid species in which the flowers open after dark and close in the morning. The poorly understood pollination biology of section Epicrianthes, a clade with highly unusual flowers, is discussed. Attention is drawn to the close resemblance between the petal appendages of some species and the fruiting bodies of certain Myxogastria. © 2011 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2011, 167 , 344–350.     

Polysaccharide and glycoprotein distribution in the epidermis of cotton ovules during early fiber initiation and growth

The cotton fiber is a model system to study cell wall biosynthesis because the fiber cell elongates (∼3 cm in ∼20 days) without mitosis. In this study, developing cotton ovules, examined from 1 day before anthesis (DBA) to 2 days post-anthesis (DPA), that would be difficult to investigate via classical carbohydrate biochemistry were probed using a battery of antibodies that recognize a large number of different wall components. In addition, ovules from these same stages were investigated in three fiberless lines. Most antibodies reacted with at least some component of the ovule, and several of the antibodies reacted specifically with the epidermal layer of cells that may give clues as to the nature of the development of the fibers and the neighboring, nonfiber atrichoblasts. Arabinogalactan proteins (AGPs) labeled the epidermal layers more strongly than other ovular tissue, even at 1 DBA. One of the AGP antibodies, CCRC-M7, which recognizes a 1➔6 galactan epitope of AGPs, is lost from the fiber cells by 2 DPA, although labeling in the atrichoblasts remained strong. In contrast, LM5 that recognizes a 1➔4 galactan RGI side chain is unreactive with sections until the fibers are produced and only the fibers are reactive. Dramatic changes also occur in the homogalacturonans (HGs). JIM5, which recognizes highly de-esterified HGs, only weakly labels epidermal cells of 1 DBA and 0 DPA ovules, but labeling increases in fibers cells, where a pectinaceous sheath is produced around the fiber cell and stronger reaction in the internal and external walls of the atrichoblast. In contrast, JIM7-reactive, highly esterifed HGs are present at high levels in the epidermal cells throughout development. Fiberless lines displayed similar patterns of labeling to the fibered lines, except that all of the cells had the labeling pattern of atrichoblasts. That is, CCRC-M7 labeled all cells of the fiberless lines, and LM5 labeled no cells at 2 DPA. These data indicate that a number of polysaccharides are unique in quantity or presence in the epidermal cell layers, and some of these might be critical participants in the early stages of initiation and elongation of cotton fibers.     

Interactions between immunity,proliferation and molecular subtype in breast cancer prognosis

Background

Gene expression signatures indicative of tumor proliferative capacity and tumor-immune cell interactions have emerged as principal biology-driven predictors of breast cancer outcomes. How these signatures relate to one another in biological and prognostic contexts remains to be clarified.

Results

To investigate the relationship between proliferation and immune gene signatures, we analyzed an integrated dataset of 1,954 clinically annotated breast tumor expression profiles randomized into training and test sets to allow two-way discovery and validation of gene-survival associations. Hierarchical clustering revealed a large cluster of distant metastasis-free survival-associated genes with known immunological functions that further partitioned into three distinct immune metagenes likely reflecting B cells and/or plasma cells; T cells and natural killer cells; and monocytes and/or dendritic cells. A proliferation metagene allowed stratification of cases into proliferation tertiles. The prognostic strength of these metagenes was largely restricted to tumors within the highest proliferation tertile, though intrinsic subtype-specific differences were observed in the intermediate and low proliferation tertiles. In highly proliferative tumors, high tertile immune metagene expression equated with markedly reduced risk of metastasis whereas tumors with low tertile expression of any one of the three immune metagenes were associated with poor outcome despite higher expression of the other two metagenes.

Conclusions

These findings suggest that a productive interplay among multiple immune cell types at the tumor site promotes long-term anti-metastatic immunity in a proliferation-dependent manner. The emergence of a subset of effective immune responders among highly proliferative tumors has novel prognostic ramifications.