1,628 research outputs found
Are there phylogenetic differences in salivary tannin-binding proteins between browsers and grazers, and ruminants and hindgut fermenters?
While feeding, mammalian browsers (primarily eat woody plants) encounter secondary
metabolites such as tannins. Browsers may bind these tannins using salivary proteins,
whereas mammalian grazers (primarily eat grasses that generally lack tannins)
likely would not. Ruminant browsers rechew their food (ruminate) to increase the
effectiveness of digestion, which may make them more effective at binding tannins
than nonruminants. Few studies have included a sufficient number of species to consider
possible scaling with body mass or phylogenetic effects on salivary proteins.
Controlling for phylogeny, we ran inhibition radial diffusion assays of the saliva of
28 species of African herbivores that varied in size, feeding strategy, and digestive
system. We could not detect the presence of salivary proline-rich proteins that bind
tannins in any of these species. However, using the inhibition radial diffusion assay,
we found considerable abilities to cope with tannins in all species, albeit to varying
degrees. We found no differences between browsers and grazers in the effectiveness
of their salivary proteins to bind to and precipitate tannins, nor between ruminants
and nonruminants, or scaling with body mass. Three species bound all tannins,
but their feeding niches included one browser (gray duiker), one mixed feeder (bush
pig), and one grazer (red hartebeest). Five closely related species of small ruminant
browsers were very effective in binding tannins. Megaherbivores, considered generalists
on account of their large body size, were capable of binding tannins. However the grazing white rhinoceros was almost as effective at binding tannins as the megaherbivore
browsers. We conclude, contrary to earlier predictions, that there were
no differences in the relative salivary tannin-binding capability that was related to
common ancestry (phylogeny) or to differences in body size.The National Research Foundation of South Africa, the Gay Langmuir Bursary from the University of KwaZulu-Natal and the
Herrick Trust of Kent State University.http://www.ecolevol.orgam2020Mammal Research InstituteZoology and Entomolog
CD20-targeting immunotherapy promotes cellular senescence in B-cell lymphoma
The CD20-targeting monoclonal antibody Rituximab is an established component of immunochemotherapeutic regimens against B-cell lymphomas, where its co-administration with conventional anti-cancer agents has significantly improved long-term outcome. However, the cellular mechanisms by which Rituximab exerts its anti-lymphoma activity are only partially understood. We show here that Rituximab induces typical features of cellular senescence, a long-term growth arrest of viable cells with distinct biological properties, in established B-cell lymphoma cell lines as well as primary transformed B-cells. In addition, Rituximab-based immunotherapy sensitized lymphoma cells to senescence induction by the chemotherapeutic compound Adriamycin (a.k.a. Doxorubicin), and, to a lesser extent, by the antimicrotubule agent Vincristine. Anti-CD20 treatment further enhanced secretion of senescence-associated cytokines, and augmented the DNA damage response (DDR) signaling cascade triggered by Adriamycin. As the underlying pro-senescence mechanism, we found intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels to be elevated in response to Rituximab, and, in turn, the ROS scavenger N-acetylcysteine (NAC) to largely abrogate Rituximab-mediated senescence. Our results, further supported by gene set enrichment analyses in a clinical data set of chronic lymphocytic leukemia patient samples exposed to a Rituximab-containing treatment regimen, provide important mechanistic insights into the biological complexity of anti-CD20-evoked tumor responses, and unveil cellular senescence as a hitherto unrecognized effector principle of the antibody component in lymphoma immunochemotherapy
Multifractal stationary random measures and multifractal random walks with log-infinitely divisible scaling laws
We define a large class of continuous time multifractal random measures and
processes with arbitrary log-infinitely divisible exact or asymptotic scaling
law. These processes generalize within a unified framework both the recently
defined log-normal Multifractal Random Walk (MRW) [Bacry-Delour-Muzy] and the
log-Poisson "product of cynlindrical pulses" [Barral-Mandelbrot]. Our
construction is based on some ``continuous stochastic multiplication'' from
coarse to fine scales that can be seen as a continuous interpolation of
discrete multiplicative cascades. We prove the stochastic convergence of the
defined processes and study their main statistical properties. The question of
genericity (universality) of limit multifractal processes is addressed within
this new framework. We finally provide some methods for numerical simulations
and discuss some specific examples.Comment: 24 pages, 4 figure
Induction of somatic embryogenesis as an example of stress-related plant reactions
In this review, we address the role of stress as one of the principal
causes for a cell or tissue to change its pre-existing somatic program,
reprogramming itself to express the embryogenic pathway. The focus of
this paper is the effect of different stress conditions on the
induction phase of plant somatic embryogenesis, as well as the
development of embryogenic competence as a result of the applied
stresses. We also present a variety of data that link plant somatic
embryogenesis, DNA methylation and oxidative stress response
Plant volatiles are a salient cue for foraging mammals : elephants target preferred plants despite background plant odour
To forage nonrandomly, animals must discriminate among food items. Foods differ in look, smell and taste, providing cues for foragers with appropriate senses. Irrespective of the sensory modality, however, foragers can only use cues effectively if they can detect sensory signals above background noise. Recent evidence shows that foraging mammalian herbivores can detect plant odours, but their capacity to select preferred plants in a noisy olfactory background is unknown. Using choice trials, we tested whether the African elephant, Loxodonta africana, uses plant odour as a salient cue despite increasingly complex and challenging background odours. We first established their preference for familiar plant species. We then tested their capacity to discriminate and select preferred plants based on odour alone. We found that elephants successfully chose preferred species even when presented with complex background odours from nonpreferred plants mimicking multispecies vegetation patches. Elephants also succeeded despite our attempt to mask distinguishing odours with large amounts of a synthetic green leaf volatile. GC–MS analysis confirmed that volatile organic compound profiles differed between plant species. In demonstrating that elephants exploit plant odours even when the signal from preferred plants is embedded in sensory noise of background odours, we provide crucial behavioural evidence that olfaction provides an efficient mechanism for selective, nonrandom foraging. Whether mammalian herbivores recognize novel odours, for example from newly invading plant species, or when air pollution degrades odours of familiar plants, needs investigating. Accounting for the capacity of mammalian herbivores to use plant odour cues will improve models of both their foraging behaviour and the ecosystem impacts of their foraging.A.S. and M.H.S. were supported by the South African National Research Foundation (Grants #: 90691, 90448 & 97262).http://www.elsevier.com/locate/anbehav2020-09-01hj2019Mammal Research InstituteZoology and Entomolog
Hopf algebras and Markov chains: Two examples and a theory
The operation of squaring (coproduct followed by product) in a combinatorial
Hopf algebra is shown to induce a Markov chain in natural bases. Chains
constructed in this way include widely studied methods of card shuffling, a
natural "rock-breaking" process, and Markov chains on simplicial complexes.
Many of these chains can be explictly diagonalized using the primitive elements
of the algebra and the combinatorics of the free Lie algebra. For card
shuffling, this gives an explicit description of the eigenvectors. For
rock-breaking, an explicit description of the quasi-stationary distribution and
sharp rates to absorption follow.Comment: 51 pages, 17 figures. (Typographical errors corrected. Further fixes
will only appear on the version on Amy Pang's website, the arXiv version will
not be updated.
Supercoherent States, Super K\"ahler Geometry and Geometric Quantization
Generalized coherent states provide a means of connecting square integrable
representations of a semi-simple Lie group with the symplectic geometry of some
of its homogeneous spaces. In the first part of the present work this point of
view is extended to the supersymmetric context, through the study of the
OSp(2/2) coherent states. These are explicitly constructed starting from the
known abstract typical and atypical representations of osp(2/2). Their
underlying geometries turn out to be those of supersymplectic OSp(2/2)
homogeneous spaces. Moment maps identifying the latter with coadjoint orbits of
OSp(2/2) are exhibited via Berezin's symbols. When considered within
Rothstein's general paradigm, these results lead to a natural general
definition of a super K\"ahler supermanifold, the supergeometry of which is
determined in terms of the usual geometry of holomorphic Hermitian vector
bundles over K\"ahler manifolds. In particular, the supergeometry of the above
orbits is interpreted in terms of the geometry of Einstein-Hermitian vector
bundles. In the second part, an extension of the full geometric quantization
procedure is applied to the same coadjoint orbits. Thanks to the super K\"ahler
character of the latter, this procedure leads to explicit super unitary
irreducible representations of OSp(2/2) in super Hilbert spaces of
superholomorphic sections of prequantum bundles of the Kostant type. This work
lays the foundations of a program aimed at classifying Lie supergroups'
coadjoint orbits and their associated irreducible representations, ultimately
leading to harmonic superanalysis. For this purpose a set of consistent
conventions is exhibited.Comment: 53 pages, AMS-LaTeX (or LaTeX+AMSfonts
On the 3-particle scattering continuum in quasi one dimensional integer spin Heisenberg magnets
We analyse the three-particle scattering continuum in quasi one dimensional
integer spin Heisenberg antiferromagnets within a low-energy effective field
theory framework. We exactly determine the zero temperature dynamical structure
factor in the O(3) nonlinear sigma model and in Tsvelik's Majorana fermion
theory. We study the effects of interchain coupling in a Random Phase
Approximation. We discuss the application of our results to recent
neutron-scattering experiments on the Haldane-gap material .Comment: 8 pages of revtex, 5 figures, small changes, to appear in PR
Superconductivity in the SU(N) Anderson Lattice at U=\infty
We present a mean-field study of superconductivity in a generalized N-channel
cubic Anderson lattice at U=\infty taking into account the effect of a
nearest-neighbor attraction J. The condition U=\infty is implemented within the
slave-boson formalism considering the slave bosons to be condensed. We consider
the -level occupancy ranging from the mixed valence regime to the Kondo
limit and study the dependence of the critical temperature on the various model
parameters for each of three possible Cooper pairing symmetries (extended s,
d-wave and p-wave pairing) and find interesting crossovers. It is found that
the d- and p- wave order parameters have, in general, very similar critical
temperatures. The extended s-wave pairing seems to be relatively more stable
for electronic densities per channel close to one and for large values of the
superconducting interaction J.Comment: Seven Figures; one appendix. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
Dysfunction of the Heteromeric KV7.3/KV7.5 Potassium Channel is Associated with Autism Spectrum Disorders
Heterozygous mutations in the KCNQ3 gene on chromosome 8q24 encoding the voltage-gated potassium channel KV7.3 subunit have previously been associated with rolandic epilepsy and idiopathic generalized epilepsy (IGE) including benign neonatal convulsions. We identified a de novo t(3;8) (q21;q24) translocation truncating KCNQ3 in a boy with childhood autism. In addition, we identified a c.1720C > T [p.P574S] nucleotide change in three unrelated individuals with childhood autism and no history of convulsions. This nucleotide change was previously reported in patients with rolandic epilepsy or IGE and has now been annotated as a very rare SNP (rs74582884) in dbSNP. The p.P574S KV7.3 variant significantly reduced potassium current amplitude in Xenopus laevis oocytes when co-expressed with KV7.5 but not with KV7.2 or KV7.4. The nucleotide change did not affect trafficking of heteromeric mutant KV7.3/2, KV7.3/4, or KV7.3/5 channels in HEK 293 cells or primary rat hippocampal neurons. Our results suggest that dysfunction of the heteromeric KV7.3/5 channel is implicated in the pathogenesis of some forms of autism spectrum disorders, epilepsy, and possibly other psychiatric disorders and therefore, KCNQ3 and KCNQ5 are suggested as candidate genes for these disorders
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