The role of glacier mice in the invertebrate colonisation of glacial surfaces: the moss balls of the Falljökull, Iceland

Glacier surfaces have a surprisingly complex ecology. Cryoconite holes contain diverse invertebrate communities while other invertebrates, such as Collembola often graze on algae and windblown dead organic on the glacier surface. Glacier mice (ovoid unattached moss balls) occur on some glaciers worldwide. Studies of these glacier mice have concentrated on their occurrence and mode of formation. There are no reports of the invertebrate communities. But, such glacier mice may provide a suitable favourable habitat and refuge for a variety of invertebrate groups to colonise the glacier surface. Here we describe the invertebrate fauna of the glacier mice (moss balls) of the Falljökull, Iceland. The glacier mice were composed of Racomitrium sp. and varied in size from 8.0 to 10.0 cm in length. All glacier mice studied contained invertebrates. Two species of Collembola were present. Pseudisotoma sensibilis (Tullberg, 1876) was numerically dominant with between 12 and 73 individuals per glacier mouse while Desoria olivacea (Tullberg, 1871) occurred but in far lower numbers. Tardigrada and Nematoda had mean densities of approximately 200 and 1,000 respectively. No Acari, Arachnida or Enchytraeidae were observed which may be related to the difficulty these groups have in colonizing the glacier mice. We suggest that glacier mice provide an unusual environmentally ameliorated microhabitat for an invertebrate community dwelling on a glacial surface. The glacier mice thereby enable an invertebrate fauna to colonise an otherwise largely inhospitable location with implications for carbon flow in the system

Evaluation of the kinase domain of c-KIT in canine cutaneous mast cell tumors

BACKGROUND: Mutations in the c-KIT proto-oncogene have been implicated in the progression of several neoplastic diseases, including gastrointestinal stromal tumors and mastocytosis in humans, and cutaneous mast cell tumors (MCTs) in canines. Mutations in human mastocytosis patients primarily occur in c-KIT exon 17, which encodes a portion of its kinase domain. In contrast, deletions and internal tandem duplication (ITD) mutations are found in the juxtamembrane domain of c-KIT in approximately 15% of canine MCTs. In addition, ITD c-KIT mutations are significantly associated with aberrant KIT protein localization in canine MCTs. However, some canine MCTs have aberrant KIT localization but lack ITD c-KIT mutations, suggesting that other mutations or other factors may be responsible for aberrant KIT localization in these tumors. METHODS: In order to characterize the prevalence of mutations in the phospho-transferase portion of c-KIT's kinase domain in canine MCTs exons 16–20 of 33 canine MCTs from 33 dogs were amplified and sequenced. Additionally, in order to determine if mutations in c-KIT exon 17 are responsible for aberrant KIT localization in MCTs that lack juxtamembrane domain c-KIT mutations, c-KIT exon 17 was amplified and sequenced from 18 canine MCTs that showed an aberrant KIT localization pattern but did not have ITD c-KIT mutations. RESULTS: No mutations or polymorphisms were identified in exons 16–20 of any of the MCTs examined. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, mutations in the phospho-transferase portion of c-KIT's kinase domain do not play an important role in the progression of canine cutaneous MCTs, or in the aberrant localization of KIT in canine MCTs

Preliminary description of tardigrade species diversity and distribution pattern around coastal Syowa Station and inland Sør Rondane Mountains, Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica.

Tardigrades are important members of the simple terrestrial ecosystems in the extreme environments in Antarctica. This study provides a baseline description of tardigrade species diversity and distribution pattern within the terrestrial and lake environments of the coastal regions around Syowa Station and the neighbouring inland Sør Rondane Mountains, Dronning Maud Land. We combined data obtained from new and previously described collections and updated data available in the existing literature. We recorded five tardigrade species, three of which (Echiniscus pseudowendti Dastych 1984, Hebesuncus ryani Dastych and Harris 1994, Pseudechiniscus sp.) have not previously been reported from the area, increasing the total recorded tardigrade diversity for this region of continental Antarctica to ten species. The results of our study indicate that tardigrades have been and are major components of the lake environment community in continental Antarctica, with Acutuncus antarcticus (Richters 1904) the most common and dominant species. Our data confirm that the tardigrade species diversity in the vicinity of Syowa Station is very low and suggest potential relationships between individual tardigrade species and terrestrial moss species and depth in freshwater ecosystems

Synthesis and characterization of new imidophosphanes and phosphine oxides containing 3,3,4,4-tetramethylsuccinimidyl group

A series of new imidophosphanes and phosphine oxides containing 3,3,4,4-tetramethylsuccinimidyl group were synthesized and characterized by 1H, 13C{1H} and 31P NMR spectroscopy, IR and MS. PhmPCln (m = 3 n, n = 3, 2, 1) reacted with 3,3,4,4-tetramethylsuccinimide (TH) and potassium 3,3,4,4-tetra methylsuccinimidate 1 to give corresponding PhmPTn. Molecular structures of products were established by single-crystal X-ray diffraction experiments. Attempts to prepare new imidophosphoranes by reactions of 1 with PhmPCln (m = 5 n, n = 4, 3, 2) resulted in phosphine oxides. In these reactions the phosphoryl group was formed and we characterized a by-product of this type of reaction