Auchenorrhyncha and Psylloidea collected during the 25th Central European Auchenorrhyncha meeting, Arnhem, The Netherlands (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha and Psylloidea)

Die 25. Mitteleuropäische Zikadentagung fand vom 14.-17. September 2018 in Arnheim in den Niederlanden statt. Da es die erste Tagung in den Niederlanden war, wurden Sammelexkursionen in fünf typische niederländische Landschaften unternommen. Drei der Exkursionsziele befanden sich in neu geschaffenen Schutzgebieten, die sich auf ehemals landwirtschaftlich genutzten Flächen befinden. Die beiden weiteren Exkursionsziele waren alte, geschützte Heideflächen. Insgesamt konnten 117 Zikadenarten und 6 Psylloidea-Arten nachgewiesen werden. Drei Arten waren neu für die Niederlande: Macrosteles spinosus (in dieser Publikation vorgestellt), Kybos abstrusus (monophag an Populus nigra) und Macrosteles sardus (an Epilobium hirsutum). Für einige seltene Arten konnten neue Fundpunkte ermittelt werden: Kelisia monoceros, Aphrophora major, Stroggylocephalus agrestis, Edwardsiana diversa, E. tersa, Fruticidia bisignata, Ophiola russeola und Psammotettix pallidinervis. Durch die drei Neufunde erhöht sich die Anzahl der bislang in den Niederlanden nachgewiesenen Zikadenarten auf 421. Diese Arbeit zeigt zudem, dass selbst in erst seit kurzem bestehenden Schutzgebieten seltene und interessante Arten nachgewiesen werden können. The 25th Central European Auchenorrhyncha meeting took place in Arnhem, The Netherlands on 14-17 September 2018. It was the first time the meeting was held in The Netherlands, and for this reason, excursions were undertaken to five typical Dutch landscapes. Three of the excursions involved newly created nature reserves, located on former agricultural land. The other two were old, protected heathlands. In total, 115 Auchenorrhyncha species, and 6 Psylloidea species were collected. Three species were new for the Netherlands: Macrosteles spinosus (presented in this paper), Kybos abstrusus (monophagous on Populus nigra) and Macrosteles sardus (Epilobium hirsutum). For a number of rare species new occurrences were reported: Kelisia monoceros, Aphrophora major, Stroggylocephalus agrestis, Edwardsiana diversa, E. tersa, Fruticidia bisignata, Ophiola russeola and Psammotettix pallidinervis. Our results show that also in young, newly created nature reserves interesting species can be found.&nbsp

Next generation sequencing analysis of nine Corynebacterium ulcerans isolates reveals zoonotic transmission and a novel putative diphtheria toxin-encoding pathogenicity island

Background: Toxigenic Corynebacterium ulcerans can cause a diphtheria-like illness in humans and have been found in domestic animals, which were suspected to serve as reservoirs for a zoonotic transmission. Additionally, toxigenic C. ulcerans were reported to take over the leading role in causing diphtheria in the last years in many industrialized countries. Methods: To gain deeper insights into the tox gene locus and to understand the transmission pathway in detail, we analyzed nine isolates derived from human patients and their domestic animals applying next generation sequencing and comparative genomics. Results: We provide molecular evidence for zoonotic transmission of C. ulcerans in four cases and demonstrate the superior resolution of next generation sequencing compared to multi-locus sequence typing for epidemiologic research. Additionally, we provide evidence that the virulence of C. ulcerans can change rapidly by acquisition of novel virulence genes. This mechanism is exemplified by an isolate which acquired a prophage not present in the corresponding isolate from the domestic animal. This prophage contains a putative novel virulence factor, which shares high identity with the RhuM virulence factor from Salmonella enterica but which is unknown in Corynebacteria so far. Furthermore, we identified a putative pathogenicity island for C. ulcerans bearing a diphtheria toxin gene. Conclusion: The novel putative diphtheria toxin pathogenicity island could provide a new and alternative pathway for Corynebacteria to acquire a functional diphtheria toxin-encoding gene by horizontal gene transfer, distinct from the previously well characterized phage infection model. The novel transmission pathway might explain the unexpectedly high number of toxigenic C. ulcerans

Wie wird aus einem Start-up ein Scale-up?

Die Studie »Scale-ups in Europe: an untapped potential« ist in Zusammenarbeit der GoetheUniversität mit der Innovationsplattform TechQuartier und der Yi Shi Foundation entstanden. Dr. Thomas Funke, Co-Direktor des TechQuartiers, und Research Manager Dominik Zborek haben die Studie federführend erstellt

In Transit to Constant Time Shortest-Path Queries in Road Networks

When you drive to somewhere ‘far away’, you will leave your current location via one of only a few ‘important’ traffic junctions. Starting from this informal observation, we develop an algorithmic approach—transit node routing— that allows us to reduce quickest-path queries in road networks to a small number of table lookups. We present two implementations of this idea, one based on a simple grid data structure and one based on highway hierarchies. For the road map of the United States, our best query times improve over the best previously published figures by two orders of magnitude. Our results exhibit various trade-offs between average query time (5 µs to 63 µs), preprocessing time (59 min to 1200 min), and storage overhead (21 bytes/node to 244 bytes/node)

RSSI-based localization of a wireless sensor node with a flying robot

We consider the problem of navigating a ying robot to a specific sensor node within a wireless sensor network. This target sensor node periodically sends out beacons. The robot is capable of sensing the received signal strength of each received beacon (RSSI measurements). Existing approaches for solving the sensor spotting problem with RSSI measurements do not deal with noisy channel conditions and/or heavily depend on additional hardware capabilities. In this work we reduce RSSI uctuations due to noise by continuously sampling RSSI values and maintaining an exponential moving average (EMA). The EMA values enable us to detect significant decrease of the received signal strength. In this case it is reasoned that the robot is moving away from the sensor. We present two basic variants to decide a new moving direction when the robot moves away from the sensor. Our simulations show that our approaches outperform competing algorithms in terms of success rate and ight time. Infield experiments with real hardware, a ying robocopter successfully and quickly landed near a sensor placed in an outdoor test environment. Traces show robustness to additional environmental factors not accounted for in our simulations

The Chloroplast SRP Systems of Chaetosphaeridium globosum and Physcomitrella patens as Intermediates in the Evolution of SRP-Dependent Protein Transport in Higher Plants.

The bacterial signal recognition particle (SRP) mediates the cotranslational targeting of membrane proteins and is a high affinity complex consisting of a SRP54 protein subunit (Ffh) and an SRP RNA. The chloroplast SRP (cpSRP) pathway has adapted throughout evolution to enable the posttranslational targeting of the light harvesting chlorophyll a/b binding proteins (LHCPs) to the thylakoid membrane. In spermatophytes (seed plants), the cpSRP lacks the SRP RNA and is instead formed by a high affinity interaction of the conserved 54-kD subunit (cpSRP54) with the chloroplast-specific cpSRP43 protein. This heterodimeric cpSRP recognizes LHCP and delivers it to the thylakoid membrane. However, in contrast to spermatophytes, plastid SRP RNAs were identified within all streptophyte lineages and in all chlorophyte branches. Furthermore, it was shown that cpSRP43 does not interact with cpSRP54 in chlorophytes (e.g., Chlamydomonas reinhardtii). In this study, we biochemically characterized the cpSRP system of the charophyte Chaetosphaeridium globosum and the bryophyte Physcomitrella patens. Interaction studies demonstrate low affinity binding of cpSRP54 to cpSRP43 (Kd ~10 μM) in Chaetosphaeridium globosum and Physcomitrella patens as well as relatively low affinity binding of cpSRP54 to cpSRP RNA (Kd ~1 μM) in Physcomitrella patens. CpSRP54/cpSRP43 complex formation in charophytes is supported by the finding that specific alterations in the second chromodomain of cpSRP43, that are conserved within charophytes and absent in land plants, do not interfere with cpSRP54 binding. Furthermore, our data show that the elongated apical loop structure of the Physcomitrella patens cpSRP RNA contributes to the low binding affinity between cpSRP54 and the cpSRP RNA

Brain inflammation triggers macrophage invasion across the blood-brain barrier in Drosophila during pupal stages

International audienceThe nervous system is shielded from circulating immune cells by the blood-brain barrier (BBB). During infections and autoimmune diseases, macrophages can enter the brain where they participate in pathogen elimination but can also cause tissue damage. Here, we establish a Drosophila model to study macrophage invasion into the inflamed brain. We show that the immune deficiency (Imd) pathway, but not the Toll pathway, is responsible for attraction and invasion of hemolymph-borne macrophages across the BBB during pupal stages. Macrophage recruitment is mediated by glial, but not neuronal, induction of the Imd pathway through expression of Pvf2. Within the brain, macrophages can phagocytose synaptic material and reduce locomotor abilities and longevity. Similarly, we show that central nervous system infection by group B Streptococcus elicits macrophage recruitment in an Imd-dependent manner. This suggests that evolutionarily conserved inflammatory responses require a delicate balance between beneficial and detrimental activities

6‑Bromo-8-(4‑[³H]methoxybenzamido)-4-oxo‑4<i>H</i>‑chromene-2-carboxylic Acid: A Powerful Tool for Studying Orphan G Protein-Coupled Receptor GPR35

The potent and selective GPR35 agonist 6-bromo-8-(4-methoxybenzamido)-4-oxo-4<i>H</i>-chromene-2-carboxylic acid (<b>12</b>) was obtained in tritium-labeled form, designated [³H]­PSB-13253, with a specific activity of 36 Ci (1.33 TBq)/mmol. Radiolabeling was achieved by methylation of ethyl 6-bromo-8-(4-((<i>tert</i>-butyldimethylsilyl)­oxy)­benzamido)-4-oxo-4<i>H</i>-chromene-2-carboxylate (<b>19</b>) with [³H]­methyl tosylate followed by ester hydrolysis. The radioligand was characterized by kinetic, saturation, and competition assays at membrane preparations of Chinese hamster ovary cells recombinantly expressing the human GPR35. [³H]<b>12</b> labeled the receptor with high affinity (<i>K</i>_D = 5.27 nM). Binding was saturable (<i>B</i>_max = 12.6 pmol/mg of protein) and reversible. Affinities of selected standard ligands and a library of amidochromen-4-one-2-carboxylates were determined. Binding data mostly correlated with potencies determined in β-arrestin assays. On the basis of the test results, several new fluorine-substituted 6-bromo-8-benzamidochromen-4-one-2-carboxylic acids were obtained, which represent the most potent GPR35 agonists known to date. 6-Bromo-8-(2,6-difluoro-4-methoxybenzamido)-4-oxo-4<i>H</i>-chromene-2-carboxylic acid (<b>83</b>; <i>K</i>_i = 0.589 nM, EC₅₀ = 5.54 nM) showed the highest affinity with a <i>K</i>_i value in the subnanomolar range