Bdelloid rotifers (Rotifera: Bdelloidea) inhabiting larval black flies (Diptera: Simuliidae) and their effect on trichomycete (Zygomycota) fungal abundance

Volume: 105Start Page: 794End Page: 79

Blow Flies Visiting Decaying Alligators: Is Succession Synchronous or Asynchronous?

Succession patterns of adult blow flies (Diptera: Calliphoridae) on decaying alligators were investigated in Mobile (Ala, USA) during August 2002. The most abundant blow fly species visiting the carcasses were Chrysomya rufifacies (Macquart), Cochliomyia macellaria (Fabricus), Chrysomya megacephala (Fabricus), Phormia regina (Meigen), and Lucilia coeruleiviridis (Macquart). Lucilia coeruleiviridis was collected more often during the early stages of decomposition, followed by Chrysomya spp., Cochliomyia macellaria, and Phormia regina in the later stages. Lucilia coeruleiviridis was the only synchronous blow fly on the three carcasses; other blow fly species exhibited only site-specific synchrony. Using dichotomous correlations and analyses of variance, we demonstrated that blow fly-community succession was asynchronous among three alligators; however, Monte Carlo simulations indicate that there was some degree of synchrony between the carcasses

Fleas of the genus Ceratophyllus (Siphonaptera: Ceratophyllidae) in the southeastern United States

Volume: 107Start Page: 471End Page: 47

Krüppel-like family of transcription factors: an emerging new frontier in fat biology

<p>In mammals, adipose tissue stores energy in the form of fat. The ability to regulate fat storage is essential for the growth, development and reproduction of most animals, thus any abnormalities caused by excess fat accumulation can result in pathological conditions which are linked to several interrelated diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and obesity. In recent years significant effort has been applied to understand basic mechanism of fat accumulation in mammalian system. Work in mouse has shown that the family of Kr&#252;ppel-like factors (KLFs), a conserved and important class of transcription factors, regulates adipocyte differentiation in mammals. However, how fat storage is coordinated in response to positive and negative feedback signals is still poorly understood. To address mechanisms underlying fat storage we have studied two <i>Caenorhabditis elegans</i> KLFs and demonstrate that both worm<i> klfs </i>are key regulators of fat metabolism in <i>C. elegans</i>. These results provide the first <i>in vivo</i> evidence supporting essential regulatory roles for KLFs in fat metabolism in <i>C. elegans</i> and shed light on the human counterpart in disease-gene association. This finding allows us to pursue a more comprehensive approach to understand fat biology and provides an opportunity to learn about the cascade of events that regulate KLF activation, repression and interaction with other factors in exerting its biological function at an organismal level. In this review, we provide an overview of the most current information on the key regulatory components in fat biology, synthesize the diverse literature, pose new questions, and propose a new model organism for understanding fat biology using KLFs as the central theme.</p