DILP‐producing median neurosecretory cells in the Drosophila brain mediate the response of lifespan to nutrition

Dietary restriction extends lifespan in diverse organisms, but the gene regulatory mechanisms and tissues mediating the increased survival are still unclear. Studies in worms and flies have revealed a number of candidate mechanisms, including the target of rapamycin and insulin/IGF‐like signalling (IIS) pathways and suggested a specific role for the nervous system in mediating the response. A pair of sensory neurons in Caenorhabditis elegans has been found to specifically mediate DR lifespan extension, but a neuronal focus in the Drosophila nervous system has not yet been identified. We have previously shown that reducing IIS via the partial ablation of median neurosecretory cells in the Drosophila adult brain, which produce three of the seven fly insulin‐like peptides, extends lifespan. Here, we show that these cells are required to mediate the response of lifespan to full feeding in a yeast dilution DR regime and that they appear to do so by mechanisms that involve both altered IIS and other endocrine effects. We also present evidence of an interaction between these mNSCs, nutrition and sleep, further emphasising the functional homology between the DILP‐producing neurosecretory cells in the Drosophila brain and the hypothalamus of mammals in their roles as integration sites of many inputs for the control of lifespan and behaviour.     

Diversity of bees and their floral resources at altitudinal areas in the Southern Espinhaço Range, Minas Gerais, Brazil

The Southern Espinha?o Range consists of large areas covered by quartzitic or metaliferous tropical altitudinal fields. The Espinha?o Range ecosystems are endangered by anthropic high impacts, particularly due to mining and urbanization. We conducted a one-year inventory of the bee flora and fauna at the quartzitic Ouro Branco Mountains and a two-year survey of the metaliferous Ouro Preto fields. The samples were collected twice a month, from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm. The bees (677) belonged to 91 species, five families. The family Apidae was the richest and most abundant, followed by the Halictidae and Megachilidae. The bees visited 46 flowering plant species; the most visited plants were the Asteraceae (n = 220), the Malpighiaceae (n = 95), the Melastomataceae (n = 94), the Fabaceae (n = 78), and the Solanaceae (n = 63). Diversity was higher in Ouro Branco (H = 1.47) than in Ouro Preto (H = 1.17). The low richness and abundance of bees in our research site when compared to other Brazilian "Cerrado" areas can be due to the high altitude, low temperature, and low availability of flowers we found. "Canga" and rupestrian areas house fauna and flora species that are rare and threatened by extinction. The southern Espinha?o areas can, therefore, be given the status of permanent biodiversity preservation area.     

Lithium induces clearance of protease resistant prion protein in prion-infected cells by induction of autophagy

Lithium is used for several decades to treat manic-depressive illness (bipolar affective disorder). Recently, it was found that lithium induces autophagy, thereby promoting the clearance of mutant huntingtin and α-synucleins in experimental systems. We show here for the first time that lithium significantly reduces the amount of pathological prion protein (PrP^Sc) in prion-infected neuronal and non-neuronal cultured cells by inducing autophagy. Treatment of prion-infected cells with 3-methyladenine, a potent inhibitor of autophagy, counteracted the anti-prion effect of lithium, demonstrating that induction of autophagy mediates degradation of PrP^Sc. Co-treatment with lithium and rapamycin, a drug widely used to induce autophagy, had an additive effect on PrP^Sc clearance compared to treatment with either drug alone. In addition, we provide evidence that the ability to reduce PrP^Sc and to induce autophagy is common for diverse lithium compounds, not only for the drug lithium chloride, usually administered in clinical therapy. Furthermore, we show here that besides reduction of PrP^Sc-aggregates, lithium-induced autophagy also slightly reduces the levels of cellular prion protein. Limiting the substrate available for conversion of cellular prion protein into PrP^Sc may provide an additional mechanism for reduction of PrP^Sc by lithium-induced autophagy.     

Descriptive ecology of bat flies (Diptera: Hippoboscoidea) associated with vampire bats (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae) in the cerrado of Central Brazil

We studied the ectoparasitic bat flies of three phyllostomid vampire bat species. Bats were collected monthly from April 2004-March 2005 in caves within the Cafuringa Environmental Protection Area in the Federal District of Brazil. A total of 1,259 specimens from six species in the Streblidae family were collected from 332 bats. High host affinity from the sampled bat fly species and high prevalence of bat flies confirms the primary fly-host associations (Strebla wiedemanni, Trichobius parasiticus and Trichobius furmani with Desmodus, Trichobius diaemi and Strebla diaemi with Diaemus and T. furmani with Diphylla). Male flies outnumbered females in several associations. Some of the observed associations (e.g., Strebla mirabilis with Desmodus and S. mirabilis, Trichobius uniformis and S. wiedemanni with Diphylla) were inconclusive and the causes of the associations were unclear. There are several explanations for these associations, including (i) accidental contamination during sampling, (ii) simultaneous capture of several host species in the same net or (iii) genuine, but rare, ecological associations. Although various species of vampire bats share roosts, have similar feeding habits and are close phylogenetic relatives, they generally do not share ectoparasitic streblid bat flies. T. diaemi and S. diaemi associations with Diaemus youngi have not been previously reported in this region.     

Novel splicing dysferlin mutation causing myopathy with intra-familial heterogeneity

Molecular Biology Reports - Dysferlinopathies belong to the heterogeneous group of autosomal recessive muscular disorders, caused by mutations in the dysferlin gene and characterized by a high...     

Aluminum stress response in rice: effects on membrane lipid composition and expression of lipid biosynthesis genes

The presence of aluminum (Al) in acidic soils is a major abiotic stress limiting the production of cultivated plants. Cell membranes are the main targets of environmental stresses and there is growing evidence for the involvement of membrane lipids in plant adaptation. The aim of this study was to evaluate the mid-long effects of Al on membrane lipid content and composition in the roots and shoots of rice plants grown under hydroponic conditions. Four rice cultivars were compared: two acknowledged as Al-resistant (Koshihikari) and Al-sensitive (Kasalath), respectively, and two Vietnamese cultivars, OM6073 and OM1490. Al treatment inhibited root and shoot growth in the sensitive cultivars and the observed changes in root and shoot lipid and fatty acid composition revealed patterns associated with Al sensitivity: larger decreases in lipid content and decreases in fatty acid unsaturation. In the roots, phospholipids, and particularly phosphatidylcholine (PC), decreased dramatically in the susceptible cultivars whereas the amount of lipid classes remained unchanged in the tolerant ones. In the shoots, the glycolipids monogalactosyldiacylglycerol and digalactosyldiacylglycerol as well as PC were mostly affected by Al treatment in the susceptible varieties. mRNA accumulation corresponding to genes coding for galactolipid synthases, enzymes of the PC and phosphatidylethanolamine biosynthetic pathways and fatty acid desaturases correlated well with changes in lipid contents in roots and partly explained lipid changes in leaves. The results suggested that the capacity to maintain the proper functioning of some lipid biosynthetic activities and hence the stability of lipid composition may help the rice plant to withstand Al stress.     

Telling Warlpiri Dog Stories

Ostensibly about dingoes and dogs, this paper explores aspects of the contemporary social world of Warlpiri people in the camps of the central Australian settlement of Yuendumu (Northern Territory) through canines. Analyses of dog socialisation, kinds of domestication, and the roles that camp dogs perform (such as protector, family, and witness) provide insights into Warlpiri notions of moral personhood and are employed to reflect about the ethical foundations of how the oppositional categories of Yapa (self, Indigenous, Black, colonised) and Kardiya (other, non-Indigenous, ‘whitefella’, coloniser) are conceptualised.     

CD8+ T cells are required for primary immunity in C57BL/6 mice following low-dose, intradermal challenge with Leishmania major

Standard murine models of cutaneous leishmaniasis, involving s.c. inoculation of large numbers of Leishmania major promastigotes, have not supported an essential role for CD8(+) T cells in the control of primary infection. Recently, a L. major model combining two main features of natural transmission, low parasite dose and inoculation into a dermal site, has been established in resistant C57BL/6 mice. In the present studies, C57BL/6 mice with CD8(+) T cell deficiencies, including CD8(-/-) and CD8-depleted mice, failed to control the growth of L. major following inoculation of 100 metacyclic promastigotes into the ear dermis. The resulting dermal pathology was minor and delayed. Lesion formation in wild-type mice was coincident with the killing of parasites in the inoculation site. Both events were associated with the accumulation of CD8(+) T lymphocytes in the skin and with the capacity of CD8(+) T cells recovered from draining lymph nodes or infected dermis to release IFN-gamma following coculture with infected dendritic cells. Reconstitution of resistance to L. major in RAG(-/-) mice using T cells from naive donors was optimal when both CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells were transferred. Primed CD8(+) T lymphocytes obtained from C57BL/6 mice during the acute stage of infection were able to mediate both pathology and immunity when transferred alone. The low dose, intradermal challenge model reveals that CD8(+) T cells play an essential role in both pathogenesis of and immunity to primary infection with L. major in the skin.