By hook or by crook? Morphometry, competition and cooperation in rodent sperm

Background Sperm design varies enormously across species and sperm competition is thought to be a major factor influencing this variation. However, the functional significance of many sperm traits is still poorly understood. The sperm of most murid rodents are characterised by an apical hook of the sperm head that varies markedly in extent across species. In the European woodmouse Apodemus sylvaticus (Muridae), the highly reflected apical hook of sperm is used to form sperm groups, or “trains,” which exhibited increased swimming velocity and thrusting force compared to individual sperm. Methodology/Principal Findings Here we use a comparative study of murine rodent sperm and demonstrate that the apical hook and sperm cooperation are likely to be general adaptations to sperm competition in rodents. We found that species with relatively larger testes, and therefore more intense sperm competition, have a longer, more reflected apical sperm hook. In addition, we show that sperm groups also occur in rodents other than the European woodmouse. Conclusions Our results suggest that in rodents sperm cooperation is more widespread than assumed so far and highlight the importance of diploid versus haploid selection in the evolution of sperm design and function

Automated Counting of Bacterial Colony Forming Units on Agar Plates

Manual counting of bacterial colony forming units (CFUs) on agar plates is laborious and error-prone. We therefore implemented a colony counting system with a novel segmentation algorithm to discriminate bacterial colonies from blood and other agar plates

Kinetic-dependent Killing of Oral Pathogens with Nitric Oxide

Nitric oxide (NO)–releasing silica nanoparticles were synthesized via the co-condensation of tetramethyl orthosilicate with aminosilanes and subsequent conversion of secondary amines to N-diazeniumdiolate NO donors. A series of ~150 nm NO-releasing particles with different NO totals and release kinetics (i.e., half-lives) were achieved by altering both the identity and mol% composition of the aminosilane precursors. Independent of identical 2 h NO-release totals, enhanced antibacterial action was observed against the periodontopathogens Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans and Porphyromonas gingivalis with extended NO-release kinetics at pH 7.4. Negligible bactericidal effect was observed against cariogenic Streptococcus mutans at pH 7.4, even when using NO-releasing silica particles with greater NO-release totals. However, antibacterial activity was observed against S. mutans at lower pH (6.4). This result was attributed to more rapid proton-initiated decomposition of the N-diazeniumdiolate NO donors and greater NO-release payloads. The data suggest a differential sensitivity to NO between cariogenic and periodontopathogenic bacteria with implications for the future development of NO-releasing oral care therapeutics

Assessing performance of Bayesian state-space models fit to Argos Satellite telemetry locations processed with Kalman Filtering

Argos recently implemented a new algorithm to calculate locations of satellite-tracked animals that uses a Kalman filter (KF). The KF algorithm is reported to increase the number and accuracy of estimated positions over the traditional Least Squares (LS) algorithm, with potential advantages to the application of state-space methods to model animal movement data. We tested the performance of two Bayesian state-space models (SSMs) fitted to satellite tracking data processed with KF algorithm. Tracks from 7 harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) tagged with ARGOS satellite transmitters equipped with Fastloc GPS loggers were used to calculate the error of locations estimated from SSMs fitted to KF and LS data, by comparing those to “true” GPS locations. Data on 6 fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus) were used to investigate consistency in movement parameters, location and behavioural states estimated by switching state-space models (SSSM) fitted to data derived from KF and LS methods. The model fit to KF locations improved the accuracy of seal trips by 27% over the LS model. 82% of locations predicted from the KF model and 73% of locations from the LS model were <5 km from the corresponding interpolated GPS position. Uncertainty in KF model estimates (5.6±5.6 km) was nearly half that of LS estimates (11.6±8.4 km). Accuracy of KF and LS modelled locations was sensitive to precision but not to observation frequency or temporal resolution of raw Argos data. On average, 88% of whale locations estimated by KF models fell within the 95% probability ellipse of paired locations from LS models. Precision of KF locations for whales was generally higher. Whales’ behavioural mode inferred by KF models matched the classification from LS models in 94% of the cases. State-space models fit to KF data can improve spatial accuracy of location estimates over LS models and produce equally reliable behavioural estimates.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe