The Role of the Proteinase Inhibitor Ovorubin in Apple Snail Eggs Resembles Plant Embryo Defense against Predation

BACKGROUND: Fieldwork has thoroughly established that most eggs are intensely predated. Among the few exceptions are the aerial egg clutches from the aquatic snail Pomacea canaliculata which have virtually no predators. Its defenses are advertised by the pigmented ovorubin perivitellin providing a conspicuous reddish coloration. The nature of the defense however, was not clear, except for a screening for defenses that identified a neurotoxic perivitellin with lethal effect on rodents. Ovorubin is a proteinase inhibitor (PI) whose role to protect against pathogens was taken for granted, according to the prevailing assumption. Through biochemical, biophysical and feeding experiments we studied the proteinase inhibitor function of ovorubin in egg defenses. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Mass spectrometry sequencing indicated ovorubin belongs to the Kunitz-type serine proteinase inhibitor family. It specifically binds trypsin as determined by small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and cross-linking studies but, in contrast to the classical assumption, it does not prevent bacterial growth. Ovorubin was found extremely resistant to in vitro gastrointestinal proteolysis. Moreover feeding studies showed that ovorubin ingestion diminishes growth rate in rats indicating that this highly stable PI is capable of surviving passage through the gastrointestinal tract in a biologically active form. CONCLUSIONS: To our knowledge, this is the first direct evidence of the interaction of an egg PI with a digestive protease of potential predators, limiting predator's ability to digest egg nutrients. This role has not been reported in the animal kingdom but it is similar to plant defenses against herbivory. Further, this would be the only defense model with no trade-offs between conspicuousness and noxiousness by encoding into the same molecule both the aposematic warning signal and an antinutritive/antidigestive defense. These defenses, combined with a neurotoxin and probably unpalatable factors would explain the near absence of predators, opening new perspectives in the study of the evolution and ecology of egg defensive strategies

A922 Sequential measurement of 1 hour creatinine clearance (1-CRCL) in critically ill patients at risk of acute kidney injury (AKI)

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Conservation and ecology of African Raptors

Africa supports breeding populations of over 20% of all raptor species globally and over 20 regular Palearctic migratory raptors. Here, we discuss the importance of Africa in terms of the diversity of both resident and migrant species, the ecosystem services they provide, and the threats they face. We examine the state of knowledge of African raptors, including monitoring to determine trends, and describe ongoing research. African raptors provide important ecosystem services, by bringing in tourism revenues, functioning as bio-indicator species, and controlling the spread of pathogens and pest species. Many species are under pressure from growing human populations and associated habitat loss, persecution, and pollution. Most are declining, with some exceptions, some catastrophically so, such as vultures. Of 66 African species, 26% are currently on the IUCN Red List. For many species, there is a need for their conservation status to be re-evaluated, but rigorous monitoring for most of Africa is generally lacking. A systematic literature review showed considerable variation in the number of studies per species, 36% of 67 species having been relatively “well-studied” (12 or more studies), but 64% with less than 10 studies. There has been a general and consistent increase in the numbers of studies on African raptors, the majority from Southern Africa (n = 466, 62%). We found most studies focused on feeding ecology (n= 247) and distribution and abundance, with the least number of studies on behaviour and movement ecology. We list some ongoing studies and conclude that developing future leadership in research and conservation will be critical for successful raptor conservation in Africa

Effects of the treatment with oak chips on color-related phenolics, volatile composition, and sensory profile of red wines: the case of Aglianico and Montepulciano

The effects of the treatment of two important Italian wines, Aglianico and Montepulciano, with French oak chips were analyzed. The study was focused on the changes of color-related compounds such as anthocyanins and tannins, and of volatile and sensory profiles. An overall characterization of the wines was also performed. With reference to the phenolic profile, the behaviors of the two wines were different due to their different initial phenolic composition. The oak-chip treatments favored the polymerization of anthocyanins and tannins, whose concentrations in the oak-treated Aglianico samples were lower than in the controls (anthocyanins, â\u88\u9284 %; tannins, â\u88\u9271 %), while in the oak-treated Montepulciano wine the decrease concerned only anthocyanins (â\u88\u9257 %). The concentrations of polymeric phenols increased with aging in all the samples and, after 12 months, were higher in oak-treated wines than in the controls (+43 % in Aglianico, +39 % in Montepulciano). After 12 months of aging, the volatile profile of Aglianico oak-treated wines highlighted the highest acid (+68 %), terpene (+371 %), and lactone (+60 %) concentrations, while the oak-treated Montepulciano wine showed higher acid (+15 %), alcohol (+5 %), and lactone (+50 %) concentrations than the control wine. The sensory profile of the treated wines was characterized by high scores assigned to astringency and appearance of the typical oak aromas (woody, vanilla, and spicy notes) and the attenuation of floral and fruity attributes. These changes were responsible for the increase in intensity of the tannic character in Aglianico wine and the improvement of the Montepulciano wine aroma with respect to the corresponding untreated wines