Additional Records of Acanthocephalan Parasites from Arkansas Fishes, with New Records from Missouri Fishes

Over the last decade, our research consortium has provided information on acanthocephalan parasites of Arkansas vertebrates, including records from some of the state’s fishes. Here, we continue to provide data on new geographic and new host records of acanthocephalans from Arkansas fishes. In addition, for the first time, we report records of acanthocephalans for some Missouri fishes. We document 2 new state records as well as 10 new host records for some fish acanthocephalans

Protein kinase C modulates the activity of a cloned gamma-aminobutyric acid transporter expressed in Xenopus oocytes via regulated subcellular redistribution of the transporter

We report that activators and inhibitors of protein kinase C (PKC) and protein phosphatases regulate the activity of a cloned rat brain gamma- aminobutyric acid (GABA) transporter (GAT1) expressed in Xenopus oocytes. Four compounds known to activate PKC increased GABA uptake 2- 3.5-fold over basal control levels. Inhibition of PKC by bisindolylmaleimide reduced basal GABA uptake 80% and blocked the phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA)-induced stimulation of transport. Okadaic acid, a protein phosphatase inhibitor, stimulated transport 2.5- fold; a 4-fold increase in GABA uptake occurred when oocytes were treated with cyclosporin A, a specific inhibitor of protein phosphatase 2B. Modulation resulted in changes to Vmax but not to Km and was influenced by the functional expression level of the transporter protein; as expression level increased, the ability to up-regulate transporter activity decreased. Down-regulation of transporter activity was independent of expression level. Modulation did not occur through phosphorylation of the three consensus PKC sites predicted by the primary protein sequence since their removal had no effect on the susceptibility of the transporter to modulation by PMA or bisindolylmaleimide. Subcellular fractionation of oocyte membranes demonstrated that under basal level conditions, the majority of GAT1 was targeted to a cytoplasmic compartment corresponding to the trans- Golgi or low density vesicles. Stimulation of PKC with PMA resulted in a translocation of transporters from this compartment to the plasma membrane. At higher expression levels of GAT1 protein, a larger portion of GAT1 was found on the plasma membrane during basal level conditions and treatment with bisindolylmaleimide resulted in removal of these transporters from the plasma membrane. At expression levels demonstrated to be resistant to modulation by PMA, PMA-treatment still resulted in translocation of transporters from the cytoplasm to the plasma membrane. Thus, the inability of PMA to increase uptake at high expression of the GAT1 protein is due to saturation at a step subsequent to translocation. These findings 1) demonstrate the presence of a novel regulated secretory pathway in oocytes and 2) suggest a modulatory mechanism for neurotransmitter transporters that could have significant effects upon synaptic function

Chronic Nicotine Selectively Enhances α4β2* Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors in the Nigrostriatal Dopamine Pathway

These electrophysiological experiments, in slices and intact animals, study the effects of in vivo chronic exposure to nicotine on functional α4β2* nAChRs in the nigrostriatal dopaminergic (DA) pathway. Recordings were made in wild-type and α4 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) subunit knock-out mice. Chronic nicotine enhanced methyllycaconitine citrate hydrate-resistant, dihydro-β-erythroidine hydrobromide-sensitive nicotinic currents elicited by 3–1000 µM ACh in GABAergic neurons of the substantia nigra pars reticulata (SNr), but not in DA neurons of the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc). This enhancement leads to higher firing rates of SNr GABAergic neurons and consequently to increased GABAergic inhibition of the SNc DA neurons. In the dorsal striatum, functional α4* nAChRs were not found on the neuronal somata; however, nicotine acts via α4β2* nAChRs in the DA terminals to modulate glutamate release onto the medium spiny neurons. Chronic nicotine also increased the number and/or function of these α4β2* nAChRs. These data suggest that in nigrostriatal DA pathway, chronic nicotine enhancement of α4β2* nAChRs displays selectivity in cell type and in nAChR subtype as well as in cellular compartment. These selective events augment inhibition of SNc DA neurons by SNr GABAergic neurons and also temper the release of glutamate in the dorsal striatum. The effects may reduce the risk of excitotoxicity in SNc DA neurons and may also counteract the increased effectiveness of corticostriatal glutamatergic inputs during degeneration of the DA system. These processes may contribute to the inverse correlation between tobacco use and Parkinson's disease

A Noninvasive Hair Sampling Technique to Obtain High Quality DNA from Elusive Small Mammals

Noninvasive genetic sampling approaches are becoming increasingly important to study wildlife populations. A number of studies have reported using noninvasive sampling techniques to investigate population genetics and demography of wild populations1. This approach has proven to be especially useful when dealing with rare or elusive species2. While a number of these methods have been developed to sample hair, feces and other biological material from carnivores and medium-sized mammals, they have largely remained untested in elusive small mammals. In this video, we present a novel, inexpensive and noninvasive hair snare targeted at an elusive small mammal, the American pika (Ochotona princeps). We describe the general set-up of the hair snare, which consists of strips of packing tape arranged in a web-like fashion and placed along travelling routes in the pikas’ habitat. We illustrate the efficiency of the snare at collecting a large quantity of hair that can then be collected and brought back to the lab. We then demonstrate the use of the DNA IQ system (Promega) to isolate DNA and showcase the utility of this method to amplify commonly used molecular markers including nuclear microsatellites, amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLPs), mitochondrial sequences (800bp) as well as a molecular sexing marker. Overall, we demonstrate the utility of this novel noninvasive hair snare as a sampling technique for wildlife population biologists. We anticipate that this approach will be applicable to a variety of small mammals, opening up areas of investigation within natural populations, while minimizing impact to study organisms

Quantum states far from the energy eigenstates of any local Hamiltonian

What quantum states are possible energy eigenstates of a many-body Hamiltonian? Suppose the Hamiltonian is non-trivial, i.e., not a multiple of the identity, and L-local, in the sense of containing interaction terms involving at most L bodies, for some fixed L. We construct quantum states \psi which are ``far away'' from all the eigenstates E of any non-trivial L-local Hamiltonian, in the sense that |\psi-E| is greater than some constant lower bound, independent of the form of the Hamiltonian.Comment: 4 page

Identification of a WNT5A-Responsive Degradation Domain in the Kinesin Superfamily Protein KIF26B.

Noncanonical WNT pathways function independently of the β-catenin transcriptional co-activator to regulate diverse morphogenetic and pathogenic processes. Recent studies showed that noncanonical WNTs, such as WNT5A, can signal the degradation of several downstream effectors, thereby modulating these effectors' cellular activities. The protein domain(s) that mediates the WNT5A-dependent degradation response, however, has not been identified. By coupling protein mutagenesis experiments with a flow cytometry-based degradation reporter assay, we have defined a protein domain in the kinesin superfamily protein KIF26B that is essential for WNT5A-dependent degradation. We found that a human disease-causing KIF26B mutation located at a conserved amino acid within this domain compromises the ability of WNT5A to induce KIF26B degradation. Using pharmacological perturbation, we further uncovered a role of glycogen synthase kinase 3 (GSK3) in WNT5A regulation of KIF26B degradation. Lastly, based on the identification of the WNT5A-responsive domain, we developed a new reporter system that allows for efficient profiling of WNT5A-KIF26B signaling activity in both somatic and stem cells. In conclusion, our study identifies a new protein domain that mediates WNT5A-dependent degradation of KIF26B and provides a new tool for functional characterization of noncanonical WNT5A signaling in cells