A Transcriptional “Scream” Early Response of E. coli Prey to Predatory Invasion by Bdellovibrio

We have transcriptionally profiled the genes differentially expressed in E. coli prey cells when predatorily attacked by Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus just prior to prey cell killing. This is a brief, approximately 20–25 min period when the prey cell is still alive but contains a Bdellovibrio cell in its periplasm or attached to and penetrating its outer membrane. Total RNA was harvested and labelled 15 min after initiating a semi-synchronous infection with an excess of Bdellovibrio preying upon E. coli and hybridised to a macroarray spotted with all predicted ORFs of E. coli. SAM analysis and t-tests were performed on the resulting data and 126 E. coli genes were found to be significantly differentially regulated by the prey upon attack by Bdellovibrio. The results were confirmed by QRT-PCR. Amongst the prey genes upregulated were a variety of general stress response genes, potentially “selfish” genes within or near prophages and transposable elements, and genes responding to damage in the periplasm and osmotic stress. Essentially, the presence of the invading Bdellovibrio and the resulting damage to the prey cell elicited a small “transcriptional scream”, but seemingly no specific defensive mechanism with which to counter the Bdellovibrio attack. This supports other studies which do not find Bdellovibrio resistance responses in prey, and bodes well for its use as a “living antibiotic”

Bats Avoid Radar Installations: Could Electromagnetic Fields Deter Bats from Colliding with Wind Turbines?

Large numbers of bats are killed by collisions with wind turbines, and there is at present no direct method of reducing or preventing this mortality. We therefore determine whether the electromagnetic radiation associated with radar installations can elicit an aversive behavioural response in foraging bats. Four civil air traffic control (ATC) radar stations, three military ATC radars and three weather radars were selected, each surrounded by heterogeneous habitat. Three sampling points matched for habitat type and structure, dominant vegetation species, altitude and surrounding land class were located at increasing distances from each station. A portable electromagnetic field meter measured the field strength of the radar at three distances from the source: in close proximity (<200 m) with a high electromagnetic field (EMF) strength >2 volts/metre, an intermediate point within line of sight of the radar (200–400 m) and with an EMF strength <2 v/m, and a control site out of sight of the radar (>400 m) and registering an EMF of zero v/m. At each radar station bat activity was recorded three times with three independent sampling points monitored on each occasion, resulting in a total of 90 samples, 30 of which were obtained within each field strength category. At these sampling points, bat activity was recorded using an automatic bat recording station, operated from sunset to sunrise. Bat activity was significantly reduced in habitats exposed to an EMF strength of greater than 2 v/m when compared to matched sites registering EMF levels of zero. The reduction in bat activity was not significantly different at lower levels of EMF strength within 400 m of the radar. We predict that the reduction in bat activity within habitats exposed to electromagnetic radiation may be a result of thermal induction and an increased risk of hyperthermia

Stringent response of Escherichia coli: revisiting the bibliome using literature mining

Understanding the mechanisms responsible for cellular responses depends on the systematic collection and analysis of information on the main biological concepts involved. Indeed, the identification of biologically relevant concepts in free text, namely genes, tRNAs, mRNAs, gene products and small molecules, is crucial to capture the structure and functioning of different responses. Results In this work, we review literature reports on the study of the stringent response in Escherichia coli. Rather than undertaking the development of a highly specialised literature mining approach, we investigate the suitability of concept recognition and statistical analysis of concept occurrence as means to highlight the concepts that are most likely to be biologically engaged during this response. The co-occurrence analysis of core concepts in this stringent response, i.e. the (p)ppGpp nucleotides with gene products was also inspected and suggest that besides the enzymes RelA and SpoT that control the basal levels of (p)ppGpp nucleotides, many other proteins have a key role in this response. Functional enrichment analysis revealed that basic cellular processes such as metabolism, transcriptional and translational regulation are central, but other stress-associated responses might be elicited during the stringent response. In addition, the identification of less annotated concepts revealed that some (p)ppGpp-induced functional activities are still overlooked in most reviews. Conclusions In this paper we applied a literature mining approach that offers a more comprehensive analysis of the stringent response in E. coli. The compilation of relevant biological entities to this stress response and the assessment of their functional roles provided a more systematic understanding of this cellular response. Overlooked regulatory entities, such as transcriptional regulators, were found to play a role in this stress response. Moreover, the involvement of other stress-associated concepts demonstrates the complexity of this cellular response

Investigating the use of sensor-based IoET to facilitate learning for children in rural Thailand

A novel sensor-based Internet of Educational Things (IoET) platform named OBSY was iteratively designed, developed and evaluated to support education in rural regions in Thailand. To assess the effectiveness of this platform, a study was carried out at four primary schools located near the Thai northern border with 244 students and 8 teachers. Participants were asked to carry out three science-based learning activities and were measured for improvements in learning outcome and learning engagement. Overall, the results showed that students in the IoET group who had used OBSY to learn showed significantly higher learning outcome and had better learning engagement than those in the control condition. In addition, for those in the IoET group, there was no significant effect regarding gender, home location (Urban or Rural), age, prior experience with technology and ethnicity on learning outcome. For learning engagement, only age was found to influence interest/enjoyment. The study demonstrated the potential of IoET technologies in underprivileged area, through a co-design approach with teachers and students, taking into account the local contexts