Heterotrophic Foraminifera Capable of Inorganic Nitrogen Assimilation

Nitrogen availability often limits biological productivity in marine systems, where inorganic nitrogen such as ammonium is assimilated into the food web by bacteria and photoautotrophic eukaryotes. Recently, ammonium assimilation was observed in kleptoplast-containing protists of the phylum foraminifera, possibly via the glutamine synthetase/glutamate synthase (GS/GOGAT) assimilation pathway imported with the kleptoplasts. However, it is not known if the ubiquitous and diverse heterotrophic protists have an innate ability for ammonium assimilation. Using stable isotope incubations (15N-ammonium and 13C-bicarbonate) and combining transmission electron microscopy (TEM) with quantitative nanoscale secondary ion mass spectrometry (NanoSIMS) imaging, we investigated the uptake and assimilation of dissolved inorganic ammonium by two heterotrophic foraminifera; a non-kleptoplastic benthic species, Ammonia sp., and a planktonic species, Globigerina bulloides. These species are heterotrophic and not capable of photosynthesis. Accordingly, they did not assimilate 13C-bicarbonate. However, both species assimilated dissolved 15N-ammonium and incorporated it into organelles of direct importance for ontogenetic growth and development of the cell. These observations demonstrate that at least some heterotrophic protists have an innate cellular mechanism for inorganic ammonium assimilation, highlighting a newly discovered pathway for dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) assimilation within the marine microbial loop

Imidazol-1-ylethylindazole Voltage-Gated Sodium Channel Ligands Are Neuroprotective during Optic Neuritis in a Mouse Model of Multiple Sclerosis

[Image: see text] A series of imidazol-1-ylethylindazole sodium channel ligands were developed and optimized for sodium channel inhibition and in vitro neuroprotective activity. The molecules exhibited displacement of a radiolabeled sodium channel ligand and selectivity for blockade of the inactivated state of cloned neuronal Na(v) channels. Metabolically stable analogue 6 was able to protect retinal ganglion cells during optic neuritis in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis

Enrichment of intracellular sulphur cycle –associated bacteria in intertidal benthic foraminifera revealed by 16S and aprA gene analysis

Benthic foraminifera are known to play an important role in marine carbon and nitrogen cycles. Here, we report an enrichment of sulphur cycle -associated bacteria inside intertidal benthic foraminifera (Ammonia sp. (T6), Haynesina sp. (S16) and Elphidium sp. (S5)), using a meta barcoding approach targeting the 16S rRNA and aprA -genes. The most abundant intracellular bacterial groups included the genus Sulfurovum and the order Desulfobacterales. The bacterial 16S OTUs are likely to originate from the sediment bacterial communities, as the taxa found inside the foraminifera were also present in the sediment. The fact that 16S rRNA and aprA -gene derived intracellular bacterial OTUs were species-specific and significantly different from the ambient sediment community implies that bacterivory is an unlikely scenario, as benthic foraminifera are known to digest bacteria only randomly. Furthermore, these foraminiferal species are known to prefer other food sources than bacteria. The detection of sulphur-cycle related bacterial genes in this study suggests a putative role for these bacteria in the metabolism of the foraminiferal host. Future investigation into environmental conditions under which transcription of S-cycle genes are activated would enable assessment of their role and the potential foraminiferal/endobiont contribution to the sulphur-cycle.Peer reviewe

Photosynthesis in the kleptoplastidic foraminiferal species "Haynesina germanica"

Poste

NanoSIMS data, 13C assimilation in the symbiotic dinoflagellates and their foraminiferal host (Orbulina universa)

Here we performed pulse-chase experiments with 13C-enriched dissolved inorganic carbon, followed by TEM and quantitative NanoSIMS isotopic imaging to visualize photosynthetic C assimilation by individual symbiotic dinoflagellates and subsequent translocation to their Orbulina universa host. NanoSIMS image processing was carried out as described in LeKieffre et al. (2017) and Nomaki et al. (2018). Briefly, TEM images were aligned with corresponding NanoSIMS 12C14N- images (Online Resource 1) using the software Look@NanoSIMS (Polerecky et al. 2012), which allows a user to hand-draw regions of interest (ROIs) corresponding to different organelles (e.g., dinoflagellate starch grains, foraminiferal lipid droplets, and fibrillar bodies). For each type of organelle and each time point, the average 13C-enrichment and its standard deviation were calculated based on 3 replicate foraminifera (except for the 6 h and 30 h time points, where only 2 replicates were available). The ROIs drawn on TEM images were also used to assess the relative abundance (in %) of lipid droplets in the foraminiferal endoplasm and starch grains in the dinoflagellate cytoplasm, respectively. Lipid droplet abundance was determined as the number of pixels occupied by lipid droplets divided by the total number of pixels of foraminiferal endoplasm. Starch grain abundance was determined as the number of pixels of occupied by starch grains divided by the total number of pixels covering dinoflagellate cytoplasm

Increased neurosteroids synthesis after brain and spinal cord injury in rats

We studied the effect of brain and spinal cord injury induced by fluid-percussion on the local synthesis of neurosteroids as measured by a gas-chromatographic/mass-spectrometric method. In the nervous system of sham operated rats i.v. infusion of pregnenolone (PREGN)-sulfate results in a 2-4 fold increase in PREGN, progesterone (PROG), 5alpha-dehydroprogesterone (5 alpha-DHP) and 3alpha-hydroxy-5alpha-pregnan-20-one (3 alpha 5 alpha-THP, allopregnanolone) concentrations, as compared to vehicle treated rats. When PREGN-sulfate was infused 1,3 or 7 days after brain or spinal cord injury it was observed a large time-dependent increase of FROG, 5 alpha-DHP and 3 alpha 5 alpha-THP levels in the peri-focal but not in the focal site. This increase in neurosteroids content may be due essentially to the glial cells hyperplasia in the peri-focal area and to an activation of the pathways involved in the metabolism of PREGN-sulfate to FROG, 5 alpha-DHP and 3 alpha 5 alpha-THP. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved