Primary production of the kelp Lessonia corrugata varies with season and water motion: Implications for coastal carbon cycling

Kelp forests provide vital ecosystem services such as carbon storage and cycling, and understanding primary production dynamics regarding seasonal and spatial variations is essential. We conducted surveys at three sites in southeast Tasmania, Australia, that had different levels of water motion, across four seasons to determine seasonal primary production and carbon storage as living biomass for kelp beds of Lessonia corrugata (Order Laminariales). We quantified blade growth, erosion rates, and the variation in population density and estimated both the net biomass accumulation (NBA) per square meter and the carbon standing stock. We observed a significant difference in blade growth and erosion rates between seasons and sites. Spring had the highest growth rate (0.02 g C · blade⁻¹ · d⁻¹) and NBA (1.62 g C · m⁻² · d⁻¹), while summer had the highest blade erosion (0.01 g C · blade⁻¹ · d⁻¹), with a negative NBA (−1.18 g C · m⁻² · d⁻¹). Sites exhibiting lower blade erosion rates demonstrated notably greater NBA than sites with elevated erosion rates. The sites with the highest water motion had the slowest erosion rates. Moreover, the most wave-exposed site had the densest populations, resulting in the highest NBA and a greater standing stock. Our results reveal a strong seasonal and water motion influence on carbon dynamics in L. corrugata populations. This knowledge is important for understanding the dynamics of the carbon cycle in coastal regions.     

Isotopic non-stationary 13C gluconate tracer method for accurate determination of the pentose phosphate pathway split-ratio in Penicillium chrysogenum

Current (13)C labeling experiments for metabolic flux analysis (MFA) are mostly limited by either the requirement of isotopic steady state or the extremely high computational effort due to the size and complexity of large metabolic networks. The presented novel approach circumvents these limitations by applying the isotopic non-stationary approach to a local metabolic network. The procedure is demonstrated in a study of the pentose phosphate pathway (PPP) split-ratio of Penicillium chrysogenum in a penicillin-G producing chemostat-culture grown aerobically at a dilution rate of 0.06h(-1) on glucose, using a tracer amount of uniformly labeled [U-(13)C(6)] gluconate. The rate of labeling inflow can be controlled by using different cell densities and/or different fractions of the labeled tracer in the feed. Due to the simplicity of the local metabolic network structure around the 6-phosphogluconate (6pg) node, only three metabolites need to be measured for the pool size and isotopomer distribution. Furthermore, the mathematical modeling of isotopomer distributions for the flux estimation has been reduced from large scale differential equations to algebraic equations. Under the studied cultivation condition, the estimated split-ratio (41.2+/-0.6%) using the novel approach, shows statistically no difference with the split-ratio obtained from the originally proposed isotopic stationary gluconate tracing method.     

Autonomic neuropathy in Fabry disease: a prospective study using the Autonomic Symptom Profile and cardiovascular autonomic function tests

Background  

Fabry patients have symptoms and signs compatible with autonomic dysfunction. These symptoms and signs are considered to be due to impairment of the peripheral nervous system, but findings indicative of autonomic neuropathy in other diseases, such as orthostatic intolerance and male sexual dysfunction, are infrequently reported in Fabry disease. The aim of our study was to investigate autonomic symptoms and cardiovascular autonomic function in a large cohort of male and female Fabry patients.     

Genetic identification of distinct loci controlling mammary tumor multiplicity, latency, and aggressiveness in the rat

The rat is considered an excellent model for studying human breast cancer. Therefore, understanding the genetic basis of susceptibility to mammary cancer in this species is of great interest. Previous studies based on crosses involving the susceptible strain WF (crossed with the resistant strains COP or WKY) and focusing on tumor multiplicity as the susceptibility phenotype led to the identification of several loci that control chemically induced mammary cancer. The present study was aimed to determine whether other loci can be identified by analyzing crosses derived from another susceptible strain on the one hand, and by including phenotypes other than tumor multiplicity on the other hand. A backcross was generated between the susceptible SPRD-Cu3 strain and the resistant WKY strain. Female progeny were genotyped with microsatellite markers covering all rat autosomes, treated with a single dose of DMBA, and phenotyped with respect to tumor latency, tumor multiplicity, and tumor aggressiveness. Seven loci controlling mammary tumor development were detected. Different loci control tumor multiplicity, latency, and aggressiveness. While some of these loci colocalize with loci identified in crosses involving the susceptible strain WF, new loci have been uncovered, indicating that the use of distinct susceptible and resistant strain pairs will help in establishing a comprehensive inventory of mammary cancer susceptibility loci.     

Spontaneous Formation of a Mannitol-Producing Variant of Leuconostoc pseudomesenteroides Grown in the Presence of Fructose

We report the spontaneous formation of a stable mannitol-producing variant of Leuconostoc pseudomesenteroides. The mannitol-producing variant showed mannitol dehydrogenase activity which was absent in the parental strain. It was also able to use fructose and glucose simultaneously, whereas the parental strain showed diauxic growth with these sugars. A possible explanation of these observations is discussed.     

Cloning and sequencing of the porcine complement factor B

A genomic clone, SSBf1, containing the complement factor B (BF), a major histocompatibility class III antigen, has been isolated from a porcine genomic library. Partial sequencing and comparison with a human BF gene has identified seven exons coding for amino acids of Ba and Bb, the two subunits of BF. The protein sequence similarity with the human BF is on the average 87%. Southern blot analysis confirmed the existence of only one BF gene per haploid genome. Restriction fragment length polymorphism typing with Taq I showed that there are at least three different porcine BF-haplotypes. Address correspondence and offprint requests to: Luc J. Peelman.     

The human gut symbiont Ruminococcus gnavus shows specificity to blood group A antigen during mucin glycan foraging: Implication for niche colonisation in the gastrointestinal tract

The human gut symbiont Ruminococcus gnavus displays strain-specific repertoires of glycoside hydrolases (GHs) contributing to its spatial location in the gut. Sequence similarity network analysis identified strain-specific differences in blood-group endo-β-1,4-galactosidase belonging to the GH98 family. We determined the substrate and linkage specificities of GH98 from R. gnavus ATCC 29149, RgGH98, against a range of defined oligosaccharides and glycoconjugates including mucin. We showed by HPAEC-PAD and LC-FD-MS/MS that RgGH98 is specific for blood group A tetrasaccharide type II (BgA II). Isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) and saturation transfer difference (STD) NMR confirmed RgGH98 affinity for blood group A over blood group B and H antigens. The molecular basis of RgGH98 strict specificity was further investigated using a combination of glycan microarrays, site-directed mutagenesis, and X-ray crystallography. The crystal structures of RgGH98 in complex with BgA trisaccharide (BgAtri) and of RgGH98 E411A with BgA II revealed a dedicated hydrogen network of residues, which were shown by site-directed mutagenesis to be critical to the recognition of the BgA epitope. We demonstrated experimentally that RgGH98 is part of an operon of 10 genes that is overexpresssed in vitro when R. gnavus ATCC 29149 is grown on mucin as sole carbon source as shown by RNAseq analysis and RT-qPCR confirmed RgGH98 expression on BgA II growth. Using MALDI-ToF MS, we showed that RgGH98 releases BgAtri from mucin and that pretreatment of mucin with RgGH98 confered R. gnavus E1 the ability to grow, by enabling the E1 strain to metabolise BgAtri and access the underlying mucin glycan chain. These data further support that the GH repertoire of R. gnavus strains enable them to colonise different nutritional niches in the human gut and has potential applications in diagnostic and therapeutics against infection.

Ruminococcus gnavus is a human gut symbiont that displays strain-specific repertoires of glycoside hydrolases (GH). This study finds that the R. gnavus enzyme GH98 is specific for blood group A (BgA) tetrasaccharide type II, and that it can release BgA trisaccharide from mucins, showing that the GH repertoire of R. gnavus strains enables them to colonise different nutritional niches in the human gut.