Lowered sensitivity of bitter taste receptors to β-glucosides in bamboo lemurs: an instance of parallel and adaptive functional decline in TAS2R16?

竹食サル類の苦味感覚の進化を解明 --竹が先か苦味が先か--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2021-04-16.Bitter taste facilitates the detection of potentially harmful substances and is perceived via bitter taste receptors (TAS2Rs) expressed on the tongue and oral cavity in vertebrates. In primates, TAS2R16 specifically recognizes β-glucosides, which are important in cyanogenic plants' use of cyanide as a feeding deterrent. In this study, we performed cell-based functional assays for investigating the sensitivity of TAS2R16 to β-glucosides in three species of bamboo lemurs (Prolemur simus, Hapalemur aureus and H. griseus), which primarily consume high-cyanide bamboo. TAS2R16 receptors from bamboo lemurs had lower sensitivity to β-glucosides, including cyanogenic glucosides, than that of the closely related ring-tailed lemur (Lemur catta). Ancestral reconstructions of TAS2R16 for the bamboo-lemur last common ancestor (LCA) and that of the Hapalemur LCA showed an intermediate sensitivity to β-glucosides between that of the ring-tailed lemurs and bamboo lemurs. Mutagenetic analyses revealed that P. simus and H. griseus had separate species-specific substitutions that led to reduced sensitivity. These results indicate that low sensitivity to β-glucosides at the cellular level-a potentially adaptive trait for feeding on cyanogenic bamboo-evolved independently after the Prolemur-Hapalemur split in each species

Library 2.0: the effectiveness of social media as a marketing tool for libraries in educational institutions

In an attempt to market their services and connect with potential users, and particularly young people, many libraries are opening accounts on social media platforms. Research suggests a contradiction between the advice relating to marketing and that regarding the use of social media in libraries, with the former emphasising the importance of the user at the centre of all considerations and the latter placing library staff as central to decisions. In this work we attempt to re-address this imbalance by surveying the current state of library activity on Twitter and, by means of questionnaires, investigate the experiences and motivations of librarians (n=58) in using social media and whether students (n=498) are willing to engage with the library in this manner and why. Our findings confirm that libraries in the sector are indeed struggling to foster interest in their social media activities and go some way to understanding why this is so, leading to a number of conclusions and recommendations for practitioners

Comparing the use of meat and clay during cutting and projectile research

Diverse disciplines investigate how muscular tissue (i.e. ‘meat’) responds to being cut and deformed, however, large-scale, empirically robust investigations into these matters are often impractical and expensive. Previous research has used clay as an alternative to meat. To establish whether clay is a reliable proxy for meat, we directly compare the two materials via a series of cutting and projectile tests. Results confirm that the two materials display distinct cutting mechanics, resistance to penetration and are not comparable. Under certain conditions clay can be used as an alternative to meat, although distinctions between the two may lead to experimental limitations

The Polycentric State: New Spaces of Empowerment and Engagement?

New Labour claims to have radically reformed territorial governance structures in the UK by devolving political power to the Celtic nations and London, begetting the most enduring legacy of the first Blair government. More recently it has sought to extend its devolution agenda by embracing city-regionalism and the new localism, ostensibly to create new spaces of empowerment and engagement. But devolution is not the whole story of New Labour’s attitude to power. On the contrary, this article argues that New Labour is a modern Janus because its commitment to devolving power, so clear in principle, is more equivocal in practice. Drawing on these three devolution narratives, the article concludes by assessing the implications for the current debate about relational versus territorial readings of place politics

The Role of Neutrophil Proteins on the Amyloid Beta-RAGE Axis

We would like to thank Dr. Arthur Owora, previously a Research Biostatistician of the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, for his assistance on the statistical analysis performed in this study. We thank Dr. Sixia Chen of the Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiogy, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, for his additional input on the statistical analysis. We thank the Laboratory for Molecular Biology and Cytometry Research at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center for the use of the Core Facility which allowed us to perform the MALDI-TOF MS and MS/MS experiments. GM-0111 was provided as a gift by Dr. Justin Savage, GlycoMira Therapeutics, Inc.We previously showed an elevated expression of the neutrophil protein, cationic antimicrobial protein of 37kDa (CAP37), in brains of patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), suggesting that CAP37 could be involved in AD pathogenesis. The first step in determining how CAP37 might contribute to AD pathogenesis was to identify the receptor through which it induces cell responses. To identify a putative receptor, we performed GAMMA analysis to determine genes that positively correlated with CAP37 in terms of expression. Positive correlations with ligands for the receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE) were observed. Additionally, CAP37 expression positively correlated with two other neutrophil proteins, neutrophil elastase and cathepsin G. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) demonstrated an interaction between CAP37, neutrophil elastase, and cathepsin G with RAGE. Amyloid beta 1–42 (Aβ1–42), a known RAGE ligand, accumulates in AD brains and interacts with RAGE, contributing to Aβ1–42 neurotoxicity. We questioned whether the binding of CAP37, neutrophil elastase and/or cathepsin G to RAGE could interfere with Aβ1–42 binding to RAGE. Using ELISAs, we determined that CAP37 and neutrophil elastase inhibited binding of Aβ1–42 to RAGE, and this effect was reversed by protease inhibitors in the case of neutrophil elastase. Since neutrophil elastase and cathepsin G have enzymatic activity, mass spectrometry was performed to determine the proteolytic activity of all three neutrophil proteins on Aβ1–42. All three neutrophil proteins bound to Aβ1–42 with different affinities and cleaved Aβ1–42 with different kinetics and substrate specificities. We posit that these neutrophil proteins could modulate neurotoxicity in AD by cleaving Aβ1–42 and influencing the Aβ1–42 –RAGE interaction. Further studies will be required to determine the biological significance of these effects and their relevance in neurodegenerative diseases such as AD. Our findings identify a novel area of study that underscores the importance of neutrophils and neutrophil proteins in neuroinflammatory diseases such as AD.Yeshttp://www.plosone.org/static/editorial#pee