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1.
The African Black Oystercatcher Haematopus moquini is a charismatic, southern African near-endemic, wader species, that is often seen as a flagship species for coastal bird conservation, as it was recently down-listed regionally to Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. To celebrate this rare conservation success story, BirdLife South Africa named it the 2018 Bird of the Year and ran a year-long programme in collaboration with the Nature’s Valley Trust highlighting aspects of the species’ biology, current threats, and conservation success. We used data collected by the Southern African Bird Atlas Project (SABAP1 and SABAP2) to examine changes in the species’ range and relative abundance, both in the records between the two projects, as well as trends within the SABAP2 sampling period (2008–2017). This case study enabled us to assess whether such metrics can accurately reflect abundance and distributional changes in a species. We found increases in the reported range and the reporting rates between the two Atlas projects, and that the SABAP2 reporting rate was stable. Regionally, across four coastal categories, the reporting rate was lowest in KwaZulu-Natal, though this region also showed an increase in the probability of reporting during the SABAP2 period. While corroborating the recent change in the species’ conservation status, we also provide good evidence that the long-term SABAP data can be used successfully to assess population trends and range changes over time. 相似文献
2.
Little is known about the effect of exercise training on the expression of adiponectin receptor genes in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). In this study, we investigated the effects of aerobic training on the expression of AdipoR1 and AidpoR2 mRNAs in PBMCs, whole body insulin sensitivity, and circulating adiponectins in men. Thirty young men were randomly assigned to either a control (n=15) or an exercise (n=15) group. Subjects assigned to the exercise group underwent a 12-week jogging and/or running programme on a motor-driven treadmill at an intensity of 60%-75% of the age-based maximum heart rate with duration of 40 minutes per session and a frequency of 5 days per week. Two-way mixed ANOVA with repeated measures was used to test any significant time-by-group interaction effects for the measured variables at p=0.05. We found significant time-by-group interaction effects for waist circumference (p=0.001), VO2max (p<0.001), fasting insulin (p=0.016), homeostasis model assessment for insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) (p=0.010), area under the curve (AUC) for insulin response during the 75-g oral glucose tolerance test (p=0.002), high-molecular weight (HMW) adiponectin (p=0.016), and the PBMC mRNA levels of AdipoR1 (p<0.001) and AdipoR2 (p=0.001). The exercise group had significantly increased mRNA levels of AdipoR1 and AdipoR2 in PBMCs, along with increased whole body insulin sensitivity and HMW adiponectin, decreased waist circumference, and increased VO2max compared with the control group. In summary, the current findings suggest that exercise training modulates the expression of AdipoR1 and AdipoR2 mRNAs in PBMCs, implying that manipulation of the expression of these genes could be a potential surrogate for lifestyle intervention-mediated improvements of whole body insulin sensitivity and glucose homeostasis. 相似文献
3.
We have analyzed a total of 12 different global and local multiple
protein-sequence alignment methods. The purpose of this study is to
evaluate each method's ability to correctly identify the ordered series of
motifs found among all members of a given protein family. Four
phylogenetically distributed sets of sequences from the hemoglobin, kinase,
aspartic acid protease, and ribonuclease H protein families were used to
test the methods. The performance of all 12 methods was affected by (1) the
number of sequences in the test sets, (2) the degree of similarity among
the sequences, and (3) the number of indels required to produce a multiple
alignment. Global methods generally performed better than local methods in
the detection of motif patterns.
相似文献
4.
Guillem Chust J. Icarus Allen Laurent Bopp Corinna Schrum Jason Holt Kostas Tsiaras Marco Zavatarelli Marina Chifflet Heather Cannaby Isabelle Dadou Ute Daewel Sarah L. Wakelin Eric Machu Dhanya Pushpadas Momme Butenschon Yuri Artioli George Petihakis Chris Smith Veronique Garçon Katerina Goubanova Briac Le Vu Bettina A. Fach Baris Salihoglu Emanuela Clementi Xabier Irigoien 《Global Change Biology》2014,20(7):2124-2139
Ocean warming can modify the ecophysiology and distribution of marine organisms, and relationships between species, with nonlinear interactions between ecosystem components potentially resulting in trophic amplification. Trophic amplification (or attenuation) describe the propagation of a hydroclimatic signal up the food web, causing magnification (or depression) of biomass values along one or more trophic pathways. We have employed 3‐D coupled physical‐biogeochemical models to explore ecosystem responses to climate change with a focus on trophic amplification. The response of phytoplankton and zooplankton to global climate‐change projections, carried out with the IPSL Earth System Model by the end of the century, is analysed at global and regional basis, including European seas (NE Atlantic, Barents Sea, Baltic Sea, Black Sea, Bay of Biscay, Adriatic Sea, Aegean Sea) and the Eastern Boundary Upwelling System (Benguela). Results indicate that globally and in Atlantic Margin and North Sea, increased ocean stratification causes primary production and zooplankton biomass to decrease in response to a warming climate, whilst in the Barents, Baltic and Black Seas, primary production and zooplankton biomass increase. Projected warming characterized by an increase in sea surface temperature of 2.29 ± 0.05 °C leads to a reduction in zooplankton and phytoplankton biomasses of 11% and 6%, respectively. This suggests negative amplification of climate driven modifications of trophic level biomass through bottom‐up control, leading to a reduced capacity of oceans to regulate climate through the biological carbon pump. Simulations suggest negative amplification is the dominant response across 47% of the ocean surface and prevails in the tropical oceans; whilst positive trophic amplification prevails in the Arctic and Antarctic oceans. Trophic attenuation is projected in temperate seas. Uncertainties in ocean plankton projections, associated to the use of single global and regional models, imply the need for caution when extending these considerations into higher trophic levels. 相似文献
5.
6.
Out of Africa and back again: nested cladistic analysis of human Y chromosome variation 总被引:18,自引:3,他引:15
Hammer MF; Karafet T; Rasanayagam A; Wood ET; Altheide TK; Jenkins T; Griffiths RC; Templeton AR; Zegura SL 《Molecular biology and evolution》1998,15(4):427-441
We surveyed nine diallelic polymorphic sites on the Y chromosomes of 1,544
individuals from Africa, Asia, Europe, Oceania, and the New World.
Phylogenetic analyses of these nine sites resulted in a tree for 10
distinct Y haplotypes with a coalescence time of approximately 150,000
years. The 10 haplotypes were unevenly distributed among human populations:
5 were restricted to a particular continent, 2 were shared between Africa
and Europe, 1 was present only in the Old World, and 2 were found in all
geographic regions surveyed. The ancestral haplotype was limited to African
populations. Random permutation procedures revealed statistically
significant patterns of geographical structuring of this paternal genetic
variation. The results of a nested cladistic analysis indicated that these
geographical associations arose through a combination of processes,
including restricted, recurrent gene flow (isolation by distance) and range
expansions. We inferred that one of the oldest events in the nested
cladistic analysis was a range expansion out of Africa which resulted in
the complete replacement of Y chromosomes throughout the Old World, a
finding consistent with many versions of the Out of Africa Replacement
Model. A second and more recent range expansion brought Asian Y chromosomes
back to Africa without replacing the indigenous African male gene pool.
Thus, the previously observed high levels of Y chromosomal genetic
diversity in Africa may be due in part to bidirectional population
movements. Finally, a comparison of our results with those from nested
cladistic analyses of human mtDNA and beta-globin data revealed different
patterns of inferences for males and females concerning the relative roles
of population history (range expansions) and population structure
(recurrent gene flow), thereby adding a new sex-specific component to
models of human evolution.
相似文献
7.
Leishmania donovani causes human visceral leishmaniasis. The parasite infectious cycle comprises extracellular flagellated promastigotes that proliferate inside the insect vector, and intracellular nonmotile amastigotes that multiply within infected host cells. Using primary macrophages infected with virulent metacyclic promastigotes and high spatiotemporal resolution microscopy, we dissect the dynamics of the early infection process. We find that motile promastigotes enter macrophages in a polarized manner through their flagellar tip and are engulfed into host lysosomal compartments. Persistent intracellular flagellar activity leads to reorientation of the parasite flagellum toward the host cell periphery and results in oscillatory parasite movement. The latter is associated with local lysosomal exocytosis and host cell plasma membrane wounding. These findings implicate lysosome recruitment followed by lysosome exocytosis, consistent with parasite-driven host cell injury, as key cellular events in Leishmania host cell infection. This work highlights the role of promastigote polarity and motility during parasite entry. 相似文献
8.
The lipid requirements of the Torpedo californica nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) were assessed by reconstituting purified receptors into lipid vesicles of defined composition and by using photolabeling with 3-trifluoromethyl-3-(m-[125I]iodophenyl)diazirine ([125I]TID) to determine functionality. Earlier studies demonstrated that nAChRs reconstituted into membranes containing phosphatidylcholine (PC), the anionic lipid phosphatidic acid (PA), and cholesterol (CH) are particularly effective at stabilizing the nAChR in the resting (closed) state that is capable of undergoing agonist-induced conformational transitions (i.e., functionality). The present studies demonstrate that (1) there is no obligatory requirement for PC, (2) increasing the CH content serves to increase the degree to which nAChRs are stabilized in the resting state, and this effect saturates at approximately 35 mol % (molar lipid percentage), and (3) the effect of increasing levels of PA saturates at approximately 12 mol % and in the absence of PA nAChRs are stabilized in the desensitized state (i.e., nonfunctional). Native Torpedo membranes contain approximately 35 mol % CH but less than 1 mol % PA, suggesting that other anionic lipids may substitute for PA. We report that (1) phosphatidylserine (PS) and phosphatidylinositol (PI), anionic lipids that are abundant in native Torpedo membranes, also stabilize the receptor in the resting state although with reduced efficacy (approximately 50-60%) compared to PA, and (2) for nAChRs reconstituted into PA/CH membranes at different lipid-protein molar ratios, receptor functionality decreases rapidly below approximately 65 lipids per receptor. Collectively, these results are consistent with a functional requirement of a single shell of lipids surrounding the nAChR and specific anionic lipid- and sterol (CH)-protein interactions. 相似文献
9.
Zhang R Wen X Militante J Hester B Rhubottom HE Sun H Leidenheimer NJ Yan D White MM Machu TK 《Biochemistry》2007,46(5):1194-1204
The competitive antagonist d-tubocurarine (curare) has greater potency at mouse than at human 5-hydroxytryptamine 3A (5-HT3A) receptors, despite 84% amino acid sequence identity between the receptors. Within the ligand binding domain of this receptor are six loops (A-F). A previous report demonstrated that loop C of the 5-HT3A receptor contributed to differential potency between the receptors [Hope, A. G. et al. (1999) Mol. Pharmacol. 55, 1037-1043]. The present study tested the hypothesis that loop F plays a significant role in conferring interspecies curare potency differences. Wild-type, chimeric, and point mutant 5-HT3A receptors were expressed in Xenopus oocytes, and two-electrode voltage clamp electrophysiological recordings were performed. Our data suggest that loops C and F contribute to curare potency, given that the curare IC50's (concentration of drug that produces 50% inhibition of the response) for chimeric human receptors with substitutions of mouse residues in loop C (40.07 +/- 2.52 nM) or loop F (131.8 +/- 5.95 nM) were intermediate between those for the mouse (12.99 +/- 0.77 nM) and human (1817 +/- 92.36 nM) wild-type receptors. Two human point mutant receptors containing mouse receptor substitutions in loop F (H-K195E or H-V202I) had significantly lower curare IC50's than that of the human receptor. The human double mutant receptor, H-K195E,V202I, had the same curare IC50 (133.8 +/- 6.38 nM) as that of the human receptor containing all six loop F mouse substitutions. These results demonstrate that two loop F residues make a significant contribution in determining curare potency at the 5-HT3A receptor. 相似文献
10.
Allison A. Welder Tina Machu Steven W. Leslie Richard E. Wilcox June Bradlaw Daniel Acosta 《In vitro cellular & developmental biology. Plant》1988,24(8):771-777
Summary Primary mycolardial cell cultures and freshly isolated cardiac cells in suspension resprensent two isolated, whole cell models
for investigating cellular transsarcolemmal45Ca++ exchange in response to a receptor-coupled stimulus. Studies were performed to characterize beta-adrenergic receptor binding,
beta-adrenergic receptor mediated cellular calcium (45Ca++) exchange, and viability in purified primary myocardial cell cultures and freshly isolated cardiac cells in suspension obtained
from 3-to 3-d-old Sprague-Dawley rats. In addition, beta-adrenergic receptor binding was characterized in whole-heart crude
membrane preparations. All three preparations had saturable beta-adrenergic binding sites with the antagonist [125I]iodopindolol ([125I]IPIN). The suspensions had a significantly lower B
max
(42±6 fmol/mg protein) than the membranes and cultures (77±8 and 95±10 fmol/mg protein, respectively). The K
D
of the cultures (218±2.0 pM) was significantly higher than that for the suspensions (107 ±1.3 pM) and membranes (93±1.3 pM). Viability was significantly lower in the suspensions (57%) when compared to 94% viability in myocardial cell cultures after
3 h of incubation in Kreb's Henseleit buffer. Incubation of the cultures with 5.0×10−7
M isoproterenol resulted in a significant increase in45Ca++ exchange as early as 15 s. In contrast,45Ca++ exchange into the suspensions was not increased. Although both primary cell cultures and cardiac cells in suspension possess
saturable beta-adrenergic receptors, only the monolayer cultures exhibited functional beta-adrenergic receptor-mediated45Ca++ exchange. Of the two intact cell models investigated, these data suggest that primary myocardial cell cultures are more suitable
than cell suspensions for investigating beta-adrenergic receptor binding and functions in the postnatal rat heart.
This research was supported by The University of Texas Research Institute, a grant from the Texas Advanced Research Technology
Program awarded to S. W. Leslie and R. E. Wilcox, and contract 223-86-2109 from the Food and Drug Administration. 相似文献