The topological differences between visitation and pollen transport networks: a comparison in species rich communities of the Himalaya–Hengduan Mountains

Pollination networks are usually constructed and assessed by direct field observations which commonly assume that all flower visitors are true pollinators. However, this assumption is often invalid and the use of data based on mere visitors to flowers may lead to a misunderstanding of intrinsic pollination networks. Here, using a large dataset by both sampling floral visitors and analyzing their pollen loads, we constructed 32 networks pairs (visitation versus pollen transport) across one flowering season at four elevation sites in the Himalaya–Hengduan Mountains region. Pollen analysis was conducted to determine which flower visitors acted as potential pollinators (pollen vectors) or as cheaters (those not carrying pollen of the visited plants). We tested whether there were topological differences between visitation and pollen transport networks and whether different taxonomic groups of insect visitors differed in their ability to carry pollen of the visited plants. Our results indicated that there was a significantly higher degree of specialization at both the network and species levels in the pollen transport networks in contrast to the visitation networks. Modularity was lower but nestedness was higher in the visitation networks compared to the pollen transport networks. All the cheaters were identified as peripheral species and most of them contributed positively to the nested structure. This may explain in part the differences in modularity and nestedness between the two network types. Bees carried the highest proportion of pollen of the visited plants. This was followed by Coleoptera, other Hymenoptera and Diptera. Lepidoptera carried the lowest proportion of pollen of the visited plants. Our study shows that the construction of pollen transport networks could provide a more in‐depth understanding of plant–pollinator interactions. Moreover, it suggests that detecting and removing cheater interactions when studying the topology of other mutualistic networks might be also important.     

Associations of physical activity with gut microbiota in pre-adolescent children

[Purpose] To determine whether physical activity (PA), primarily the recommended 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous PA, is associated with gut bacterial microbiota in 10-year-old children.[Methods] The Block Physical Activity Screener, which provides minutes/day PA variables, was used to determine whether the child met the PA recommendations. 16S rRNA sequencing was performed on stool samples from the children to profile the composition of their gut bacterial microbiota. Differences in alpha diversity metrics (richness, Pielou’s evenness, and Faith’s phylogenetic diversity) by PA were determined using linear regression, whereas beta diversity (unweighted and weighted UniFrac) relationships were assessed using PERMANOVA. Taxon relative abundance differentials were determined using DESeq2.[Results] The analytic sample included 321 children with both PA and 16S rRNA sequencing data (mean age [SD] =10.2 [0.8] years; 54.2% male; 62.9% African American), where 189 (58.9%) met the PA recommendations. After adjusting for covariates, meeting the PA recommendations as well as minutes/day PA variables were not significantly associated with gut richness, evenness, or diversity (p ≥ 0.19). However, meeting the PA recommendations (weighted UniFrac R² = 0.014, p = 0.001) was significantly associated with distinct gut bacterial composition. These compositional differences were partly characterized by increased abundance of Megamonas and Anaerovorax as well as specific Christensenellaceae_R-7_group taxa in children with higher PA.[Conclusion] Children who met the recommendations of PA had altered gut microbiota compositions. Whether this translates to a reduced risk of obesity or associated metabolic diseases is still unclear.     

Cloning and nucleotide sequence determination of the isopenicillin N synthetase gene from Streptomyces clavuligerus

The isopenicillin N synthetase (IPNS) gene from Streptomyces clavuligerus was isolated from an Escherichia coli plasmid library of S. clavuligerus genomic DNA fragments using a 44-mer mixed oligodeoxynucleotide probe. The nucleotide sequence of a 3-kb region of the cloned fragment from the plasmid, pBL1, was determined and analysis of the sequence showed an open reading frame that could encode a protein of 329 amino acids with an Mr of 36,917. When the S. clavuligerus DNA from pBL1 was introduced into an IPNS-deficient mutant of S. clavuligerus on the Streptomyces vector pIJ941, the recombinant plasmid was able to complement the mutation and restore IPNS activity. The protein coding region of the S. clavuligerus IPNS gene shows about 63% and 62% similarity to the Cephalosporium acremonium and Penicillium chrysogenum IPNS nucleotide sequences, respectively, and the predicted amino acid sequence of the encoded protein showed about 56% similarity to both fungal sequences.     

Hydroxylamine reductase activity of the hybrid cluster protein from Escherichia coli

The hybrid cluster protein (HCP; formerly termed the prismane protein) has been extensively studied due to its unique spectroscopic properties. Although the structural and spectroscopic characteristics are well defined, its enzymatic function, up to this point, has remained unidentified. While it was proposed that HCP acts in some step of nitrogen metabolism, a specific role for this enzyme remained unknown. Recent studies of HCP purified from Escherichia coli have identified a novel hydroxylamine reductase activity. These data reveal the ability of HCP to reduce hydroxylamine in vitro to form NH(3) and H(2)O. Further biochemical analyses were completed in order to determine the effects of various electron donors, different pH levels, and the presence of CN(-) on in vitro hydroxylamine reduction.     

G1 arrest and the division/conjugation decision in Tetrahymena.

The transformation from the asexual proliferative stage of Tetrahymena to the sexual stage, during which cells of complementary mating types pair and nuclear fertilization occurs, provides an opportunity to study the relationship between the division cycle and differentiation. Conjugation is induced in cells starved for at least 2 hr by mixing complementary mating types. To determine the effect of starvation on the cell cycle, dividing cells were selected from a log growth culture and stepped down to non-nutrient conditions. The G₁ stage is operationally divisible into two sectors, A and B. In the A stage, cells arrest in nutrient-free medium. In the B stage, they proceed through the division cycle. Arrested G₁A cells may conjugate directly when challenged with similar cells of a complementary mating type. It is thereby demonstrated that Tetrahymena cells in G₁A can be directed to divide (nutrient conditions) or can be directed to differentiate (non-nutrient conditions plus complementary mating type) without an intervening division cycle. This rules out a requirement for reprogramming via chromosomal replication or cell division and suggests that G₁A is a stage during which the division/differentiation decision is made in direct response to ambient conditions.     

Biosynthesis of Prostacyclin in Rat Cerebral Microvessels and the Choroid Plexus

Abstract: Microvessels, predominantly capillaries, were isolated from rat cerebrum by a modification of published procedures. The morphology and purity of the preparations were monitored by light and electron microscopy and by enrichment in alkaline phosphatase, γ-glutamyl transpeptidase, and prostacyclin synthetase. A reversed-phase high-pressure liquid chromatographic method was used in the purification of prostaglandins after extraction from aqueous incubation solutions. Prostacyclin synthesis in brain is localized in cerebral blood vessels and capillaries. The endogenous biosynthetic capacity of the isolated cerebral capillary fractions for prostacyclin, measured as its chemically stable breakdown product, 6-keto-prostaglandin F_1α, was 11 ng/mg protein/10 min. Choroid plexus and intact surface vessels synthesized 6-keto-prostaglandin F_1α at 37 and 35 ng/mg protein/10 min, respectively. The prostacyclin-synthesizing enzyme of the cerebral capillaries also converted the exogenously added prostaglandin endoperoxides to 6-keto-prostaglandin F_1α. Comparison of the synthesis of prostaglandins 6-keto-F_1α, E₂, and F_2α showed that 6-keto-prostaglandin F_1α was the major prostaglandin formed in the microvessels, in the larger surface vessels, and in the choroid plexus. Prostaglandin D₂ was not detected. Prostacyclin synthesis by the cerebral vasculature is similar to that in other blood vessels and cultured human endothelial cells. Possible physiological roles of prostacyclin in the cerebral microvasculature are discussed with special regard to the autoregulation of cerebral blood flow.     

Antituberculous drug resistance in Manitoba from 1980 to 1989.

OBJECTIVES: To estimate the magnitude of antituberculous drug resistance and identify the risk factors for its development in tuberculosis patients in Manitoba over a 10-year period. As well, to examine the clinical course of the patients whose initial or subsequent isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis were resistant to one or more drugs. DESIGN: Comparison of drug-resistant and non-drug-resistant cases of tuberculosis. SETTING: Manitoba. PATIENTS: All people with tuberculosis reported to the Central Tuberculosis Registry of Manitoba between Jan. 1, 1980, and Dec. 31, 1989. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Of 1478 cases of active tuberculosis 1086 were culture positive, and drug susceptibility testing was performed in these cases. The clinical course, including outcome of treatment, of all drug-resistant cases was described. RESULTS: Of 1086 culture-positive cases of tuberculosis 77 (7.1%) were drug resistant. Odds ratios suggested that the risk of drug resistance was significantly higher among the immigrants than among the other Canadians. Compared with the other Canadians the risk of drug resistance was 9.9 times greater among the immigrants in whom tuberculosis developed within the first year after arrival in Canada and 5.4 times greater among the immigrants in whom it developed 2 to 5 years after arrival in Canada. Of the 71 patients with drug-resistant disease whose type of resistance was known 62% had never taken antituberculous drugs before and 38% had. Most (91%) of the 77 cases of drug-resistant disease were resistant to first-line drugs, especially isoniazid and streptomycin. Thirty-two (42%) of the 77 cases were resistant to two or more first-line drugs. Of patients with drug-resistant disease a subgroup of 10 had disease that became resistant to several drugs over the 10-year period. The outcome of treatment in these individuals was poor, and they presented a particular public health problem. CONCLUSION: Resistance to one or more first-line antituberculous drugs continues to complicate the treatment of tuberculosis and may facilitate the spread of the disease.     

Macromolecular solvation energies derived from small molecule crystal morphology.

The morphology of small molecule crystals provides a model for evaluating surface solvation energies in a system with similar packing density to that observed for amino acid residues in proteins. The solvation energies associated with the transfer of methylene and carboxyl groups between vacuum and aqueous phases are estimated to be approx. $40 and -260 cal/A2, respectively, from an analysis of the morphology of succinic acid crystals. These solvation energies predict values for contact angles in reasonable agreement with measurements determined from macroscopic monolayer surfaces. Transfer free energies between vapor and water phases for a series of carboxylic acids are also predicted reasonably well by these solvation energies, provided the surface exposure of different groups is quantitated with the molecular surface area rather than the more traditional accessible surface area. In general, molecular surfaces and molecular surface areas are seen to have important advantages for characterizing the structure and energetics of macromolecular surfaces. Crystal faces of succinic acid with the lowest surface energies in aqueous solution are characteristically smooth. Increasing surface roughness and apolarity are associated with higher surface energies, which suggests an approach for modifying the surface properties of proteins and other macromolecules.