Fasciola hepatica calcium-binding protein FhCaBP2: structure of the dynein light chain-like domain

The common liver fluke Fasciola hepatica causes an increasing burden on human and animal health, partly because of the spread of drug-resistant isolates. As a consequence, there is considerable interest in developing new drugs to combat liver fluke infections. A group of potential targets is a family of calcium-binding proteins which combine an N-terminal domain with two EF-hand motifs and a C-terminal domain with predicted similarity to dynein light chains (DLC-like domain)

Anxiety and Depression in Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are thought to be at disproportionate risk of developing mental health comorbidities, with anxiety and depression being considered most prominent amongst these. Yet, no systematic review has been carried out to date to examine rates of both anxiety and depression focusing specifically on adults with ASD. This systematic review and meta-analysis examined the rates of anxiety and depression in adults with ASD and the impact of factors such as assessment methods and presence of comorbid intellectual disability (ID) diagnosis on estimated prevalence rates. Electronic database searches for studies published between January 2000 and September 2017 identified a total of 35 studies, including 30 studies measuring anxiety (n = 26 070; mean age = 30.9, s.d. = 6.2 years) and 29 studies measuring depression (n = 26 117; mean age = 31.1, s.d. = 6.8 years). The pooled estimation of current and lifetime prevalence for adults with ASD were 27% and 42% for any anxiety disorder, and 23% and 37% for depressive disorder. Further analyses revealed that the use of questionnaire measures and the presence of ID may significantly influence estimates of prevalence. The current literature suffers from a high degree of heterogeneity in study method and an overreliance on clinical samples. These results highlight the importance of community-based studies and the identification and inclusion of well-characterized samples to reduce heterogeneity and bias in estimates of prevalence for comorbidity in adults with ASD and other populations with complex psychiatric presentations

Demonstration of different patterns of microtubule organization in Physarum polycephalum myxamoebae and plasmodia using immunofluorescence microscopy.

We have used anti-tubulin antibodies and immunofluorescence microscopy to determine the overall distribution of microtubules during interphase and mitosis in both the myxamoebae and plasmodia of the slime mold Physarum polycephalum. We have paralleled these observations with electron microscopy of the same stages. The myxamoebae possess a network of cytoplasmic microtubules whilst the coenocytic plasmodium does not possess any cytoplasmic microtubules--at either interphase or mitosis. In plasmodia microtubules are, however, elaborated by an intranuclear microtubule organizing centre (MTOC) during prophase of mitosis and these microtubules proceed to form part of the mitotic spindle. There is little difference in the overall distribution and arrangement of microtubules during division of either the myxamoebal or plasmodial nuclei. These findings are discussed in relation to the synthesis of tubulin during the plasmodial cell cycle and the rearrangements of the nuclear envelope during mitosis

Microtubule nucleation by the isolated microtubule-organizing centre of Physarum polycephalum myxamoebae.

The nucleus--centrosome complex from Physarum polycephalum myxamoebae has been purified. The complex contained the centriole pair and pericentriolar material in association with the nucleus. Apart from some unusually stable microtubules, which appeared to be involved in maintaining the nucleus-centrosome association, endogenous microtubule arrays had been stripped from the complex during isolation. When the nucleus--centrosome complex was incubated with purified brain or myxamoebal tubulins the growth of 45-70 microtubules was initiated onto the pericentriolar material. The number and length of the nucleated microtubules was proportional to the tubulin concentration. Pretreatment of the nucleus--centrosome complex with DNase 1, RNase A, antitubulin antibody and anticentriolar antibody did not affect pericentriolar nucleation capacity, although pretreatment with DNase 1 did expose perinuclear nucleation sites that had a much lower minimal tubulin concentration for assembly than the pericentriolar site. After pretreatment with trypsin pericentriolar material and nucleation were destroyed, and microtubule elongation occurred directly onto the centriole microtubules

Binding of parbendazole to tubulin and its influence on microtubules in tissue-culture cells as revealed by immunofluorescence microscopy.

We have shown that the benzimidazole carbamate, parbendazole, is a potent inhibitor of microtubule assembly in vitro and in vivo. Radiolabelled parbendazole was shown to bind to purified tubulin. Immunofluorescence studies using antitubulin antibody showed that parbendazole effectively depolymerizes cytoplasmic microtubules in animal cells leaving only one or two microtubules associated with one centriole. The usefulness of parbendazole and other benzimidazole carbamates as inhibitors of microtubule functions is discussed