Estimating population size of the cave shrimp Troglocaris anophthalmus (Crustacea, Decapoda, Caridea) using mark–release–recapture data

Estimación del tamaño de la población del camarón cavernícola Troglocaris anophthalmus (Crustacea, Decapoda, Caridea) mediante la utilización de datos de marcaje, liberación y recaptura Se desconoce el tamaño de la población de numerosos invertebrados acuáticos cavernícolas que son vulnerables a la contaminación de las aguas subterráneas provocada por las actividades antropogénicas. En este estudio estimamos el tamaño de la población del camarón de agua dulce Troglocaris anophthalmus sontica (Crustacea, Decapoda, Caridea) mediante las técnicas de marcaje, liberación y recaptura. La subespecie se estudió en la Vipavaska jama (cueva de Vipava), en Eslovenia, y se calcularon la proporción de sexos y la distribución por edad. Incluso tras considerar el límite inferior de los intervalos de confianza, se halló un gran abundancia de camarones. No obstante, no se encontraron indicios de que haya diferencias en cuanto a la abundancia de camarón entre verano e invierno. La población estaba formada predominantemente por hembras. La facilidad de la captura y las elevadas cifras de población indican que estos camarones podrían utilizarse como bioindicadores en los ecosistemas cavernícolas.Population size estimates are lacking for many small cave–dwelling aquatic invertebrates that are vulnerable to groundwater contamination from anthropogenic activities. Here we estimated the population size of freshwater shrimp Troglocaris anophthalmus sontica (Crustacea, Decapoda, Caridea) based on mark–release–recapture techniques. The subspecies was investigated in Vipavska jama (Vipava cave), Slovenia, with estimates of sex ratio and age distribution. A high abundance of shrimps was found even after considering the lower limit of the confidence intervals. However, we found no evidence of differences in shrimp abundances between summer and winter. The population was dominated by females. Ease of capture and abundant population numbers indicate that these cave shrimps may be useful as a bioindicator in cave ecosystems.Estimación del tamaño de la población del camarón cavernícola Troglocaris anophthalmus (Crustacea, Decapoda, Caridea) mediante la utilización de datos de marcaje, liberación y recaptura Se desconoce el tamaño de la población de numerosos invertebrados acuáticos cavernícolas que son vulnerables a la contaminación de las aguas subterráneas provocada por las actividades antropogénicas. En este estudio estimamos el tamaño de la población del camarón de agua dulce Troglocaris anophthalmus sontica (Crustacea, Decapoda, Caridea) mediante las técnicas de marcaje, liberación y recaptura. La subespecie se estudió en la Vipavaska jama (cueva de Vipava), en Eslovenia, y se calcularon la proporción de sexos y la distribución por edad. Incluso tras considerar el límite inferior de los intervalos de confianza, se halló un gran abundancia de camarones. No obstante, no se encontraron indicios de que haya diferencias en cuanto a la abundancia de camarón entre verano e invierno. La población estaba formada predominantemente por hembras. La facilidad de la captura y las elevadas cifras de población indican que estos camarones podrían utilizarse como bioindicadores en los ecosistemas cavernícolas

The role of semi–natural grasslands and livestock in sustaining dung beetle communities (Coleoptera, Scarabaeoidea) in sub–Mediterranean areas of Slovenia

We studied the richness and structure of the coprophagous Scarabaeoidea community in two pastures (Hrastovlje and Zazid) in sub–Mediterranean Slovenia. In each pasture, we examined three habitat patches characterised by different levels of grazing (S1, the active part of the pasture; S2, the overgrown part of the pasture, mainly spiny shrubs; S3, a meadow with some overgrown patches of shrubs outside the fenced pasture). The main results were as follows: (1) 29 species were sampled, corresponding to about three quarters of the species presumably present at the two study sites; (2) species richness and abundance in Zazid are were similar in all three patches; (3) the species richness and abundance in Hrastovlje (in total, and separately for dwellers and tunnelers) were highest in S2. In Hrastovlje, dwellers were most abundant in S1. As the two different habitat patches were shown to positively influence the dung beetle community, we recommend maintaining a traditionally–managed mosaic landscape

Antioksidativna aktivnost hidrolizata belanceta i njegovih frakcija dobijenih membranskom ultrafiltraciom

Bioactive peptides with different biological properties can be obtained by egg white proteins hydrolysis. In this study we used the high intensity ultrasound pretreatment of the egg white proteins that were then hydrolyzed by different types of proteases in the one-step and two-step procedure. Membrane ultrafiltration into molecular size of 1 kDa, 10 kDa and 30 kDa was used to separated the obtained hydrolzyates and antioxidative activities of obtain fractions were studied. Between fractions less than 1 kDa, containing bioactive peptides, the ultrasound pretreated hydrolyzate obtained by using alcalaseflevorzyme in a two-stage procedure has shown the highest antioxidant activity.Hidrolizom proteina belanceta dobijaju se bioaktivni peptidi koji imaju različita biološka svojstva. U ovom radu korišćena je tehnologija ultrazvuka visokog intenziteta kao pretretman pripreme proteina belanceta koji su zatim hidrolizovani različitim vrstama proteaza u jednostepenom i dvostepenom postupku. Dobijeni hidrolizati su razdvojeni korišćenjem ultrafiltracionih membrana promera 1, 10 i 30 kDa i dobijenim frakcijama je ispitana antioksidativna aktivnost. Među frakcijama veličine manje od 1 kDa koje sadrže bioaktivne peptide, najveću antioksidativnu aktivnost je pokazao ultrazvučno pretretiran hidrolizat nastao delovanjem alkalaza-flevorzima u dvostepenom enzimskom postupku

Empirijski kinetički model hidrolize proteina belanceta pretretiranih ultrazvučnim talasima visoke frekvencije

The subject of this paper was the examination of the influence of enzyme and substrate concentrations and temperature on the initial reaction rate of hydrolysis of the egg white catalyzed with Alcalase 2.4 L (Protease from Bacillus licheniformis). The main objective of this paper was investigating the effect of the ultrasound on the reaction rate of hydrolysis and modeling of enzymatic process of hydrolysis of the egg white protein in order to develop the process and design the enzyme reactor. The substrate in this reaction was 10 % w/w solution of egg white pretreated with ultrasound waves the frequency of 35 kHz during 30 min. Proper kinetic model with substrate inhibition and the enzyme inactivation were applied to the results and good congruence between model and experimental data was achieved. The calculated kinetic constants indicate that the ultrasonic pretreatment causes an increase in the degree of hydrolysis of the enzyme reaction.U ovom radu ispitivan je uticaj koncentacije enzima, supstrata i temperature na početnu brzinu reakcije hidrolize proteina belanceta katalizovane Alkalazom 2,4 L (proteaza iz Bacillus licheniformis). Glavni cilj ovog istraživanja bio je ispitivanje uticaja ultrazvučnih talasa na brzinu reakcije hidrolize, kao i modelovanje enzimskog procesa hidrolize proteina belanceta u cilju dobijanja projektnih jednačina neophodnih za projektovanje i dizajn enzimskog reaktora. Kao supstrat korišćen je 10 % w/w rastvor belanceta prethodno tretiran ultrazvučnim talasima frekvencije 35 kHz u toku 30 minuta. Dobijeni eksperimentalni rezultati modelovani su kinetičkim modelom koji uzima u obzir inhibiciju supstratom i deaktivaciju enzima. Predloženi kinetički model dao je dobro slaganje sa dobijenim eksperimentalnim rezultatima. Izračunate kinetičke konstante ukazuju da pretretman ultrazvučnim talasima dovodi do povećanja stepena hidrolize

Fundamental research questions in subterranean biology

Five decades ago, a landmark paper inSciencetitledThe Cave Environmentheralded caves as ideal natural experimental laboratories in which to develop and address general questions in geology, ecology, biogeography, and evolutionary biology. Although the 'caves as laboratory' paradigm has since been advocated by subterranean biologists, there are few examples of studies that successfully translated their results into general principles. The contemporary era of big data, modelling tools, and revolutionary advances in genetics and (meta)genomics provides an opportunity to revisit unresolved questions and challenges, as well as examine promising new avenues of research in subterranean biology. Accordingly, we have developed a roadmap to guide future research endeavours in subterranean biology by adapting a well-established methodology of 'horizon scanning' to identify the highest priority research questions across six subject areas. Based on the expert opinion of 30 scientists from around the globe with complementary expertise and of different academic ages, we assembled an initial list of 258 fundamental questions concentrating on macroecology and microbial ecology, adaptation, evolution, and conservation. Subsequently, through online surveys, 130 subterranean biologists with various backgrounds assisted us in reducing our list to 50 top-priority questions. These research questions are broad in scope and ready to be addressed in the next decade. We believe this exercise will stimulate research towards a deeper understanding of subterranean biology and foster hypothesis-driven studies likely to resonate broadly from the traditional boundaries of this field.Peer reviewe

An integrated ontology resource to explore and study host-virus relationships.

Our growing knowledge of viruses reveals how these pathogens manage to evade innate host defenses. A global scheme emerges in which many viruses usurp key cellular defense mechanisms and often inhibit the same components of antiviral signaling. To accurately describe these processes, we have generated a comprehensive dictionary for eukaryotic host-virus interactions. This controlled vocabulary has been detailed in 57 ViralZone resource web pages which contain a global description of all molecular processes. In order to annotate viral gene products with this vocabulary, an ontology has been built in a hierarchy of UniProt Knowledgebase (UniProtKB) keyword terms and corresponding Gene Ontology (GO) terms have been developed in parallel. The results are 65 UniProtKB keywords related to 57 GO terms, which have been used in 14,390 manual annotations; 908,723 automatic annotations and propagated to an estimation of 922,941 GO annotations. ViralZone pages, UniProtKB keywords and GO terms provide complementary tools to users, and the three resources have been linked to each other through host-virus vocabulary

Сетевая система контроля технологического процесса выращивания полупроводниковых кристаллов и тонких пленок

Экспериментальное моделирование аппаратно-программного обеспечения показало достаточную надежность работы системы и значительное уменьшение трудоемкости контроля и управления параметрами технологического процесса

Herpes Virus Fusion and Entry: A Story with Many Characters

Herpesviridae comprise a large family of enveloped DNA viruses all of whom employ orthologs of the same three glycoproteins, gB, gH and gL. Additionally, herpesviruses often employ accessory proteins to bind receptors and/or bind the heterodimer gH/gL or even to determine cell tropism. Sorting out how these proteins function has been resolved to a large extent by structural biology coupled with supporting biochemical and biologic evidence. Together with the G protein of vesicular stomatitis virus, gB is a charter member of the Class III fusion proteins. Unlike VSV G, gB only functions when partnered with gH/gL. However, gH/gL does not resemble any known viral fusion protein and there is evidence that its function is to upregulate the fusogenic activity of gB. In the case of herpes simplex virus, gH/gL itself is upregulated into an active state by the conformational change that occurs when gD, the receptor binding protein, binds one of its receptors. In this review we focus primarily on prototypes of the three subfamilies of herpesviruses. We will present our model for how herpes simplex virus (HSV) regulates fusion in series of highly regulated steps. Our model highlights what is known and also provides a framework to address mechanistic questions about fusion by HSV and herpesviruses in general

Dancing with the enemy: the interplay of herpes simplex virus with dendritic cells

Herpes simplex virus (HSV) represents a smart pathogen, which displays both lytic and latent modes of interaction with its natural human host. In order to be optimally equipped for immune evasion and to reply to any attacks of the host during reactivation, HSV has developed a multitude of cleverly devised defence strategies. Dendritic cells (DC) as antigen-presenting cells located at the border zones of the body and the environment have been shown to play a crucial role as one of the first cells interacting with HSV beside epithelial cells, on one hand, and as important controllers of the viral spreading on the other hand. Here, we provide a research update about the interaction of HSV with DC and summarize the latest proceedings in this field

Ethylene glycol and glycolic acid production by wild-type Escherichia coli

Ethylene glycol and glycolic acid are bulk chemicals with a broad range of applications. The ethylene glycol and glycolic acid biosynthesis pathways have been produced by microorganisms and used as a biological route for their production. Unlike the methods that use xylose or glucose as carbon sources, xylonic acid was used as a carbon source to produce ethylene glycol and glycolic acid in this study. Amounts of 4.2 g/L of ethylene glycol and 0.7 g/L of glycolic acid were produced by a wild‐type Escherichia coli W3110 within 10 H of cultivation with a substrate conversion ratio of 0.5 mol/mol. Furthermore, E. coli strains that produce solely ethylene glycol or glycolic acid were constructed. 10.3 g/L of glycolic acid was produced by E. coli ΔyqhD+aldA, and the achieved conversion ratio was 0.56 mol/mol. Similarly, the E. coli ΔaldA+yqhD produced 8.0 g/L of ethylene glycol with a conversion ratio of 0.71 mol/mol. Ethylene glycol and glycolic acid production by E. coli on xylonic acid as a carbon source provides new information on the biosynthesis pathway of these products and opens a novel way of biomass utilization