Linking the community structure of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and plants: a story of interdependence?

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are crucial to plants and vice versa, but little is known about the factors linking the community structure of the two groups. We investigated the association between AMF and the plant community structure in the nearest neighborhood of Festuca brevipila in a semiarid grassland with steep environmental gradients, using high-throughput sequencing of the Glomeromycotina (former Glomeromycota). We focused on the Passenger, Driver and Habitat hypotheses: (i) plant communities drive AMF (passenger); (ii) AMF communities drive the plants (driver); (iii) the environment shapes both communities causing covariation. The null hypothesis is that the two assemblages are independent and this study offers a spatially explicit novel test of it in the field at multiple, small scales. The AMF community consisted of 71 operational taxonomic units, the plant community of 47 species. Spatial distance and spatial variation in the environment were the main determinants of the AMF community. The structure of the plant community around the focal plant was a poor predictor of AMF communities, also in terms of phylogenetic community structure. Some evidence supports the passenger hypothesis, but the relative roles of the factors structuring the two groups clearly differed, leading to an apparent decoupling of the two assemblages at the relatively small scale of this study. Community phylogenetic structure in AMF suggests an important role of within-assemblage interactions

Body fluid markers of cartilage changes in osteoarthritis

Various markers of the metabolism of articular cartilage have been identified in synovial fluid, blood, and urine of patients with osteoarthritis (OA). The joint fluid level of a cartilage-derived molecule, or its fragment, can be used as a marker of the synthesis or catabolism of that molecule in the articular surfaces within that joint. In blood and urine, on the other hand, the level of a marker is useful in assessing systemic changes affecting the metabolism of a molecule in all the cartilages in the body. Quantification of specific markers in body fluids already has proved useful in identifying increased catabolic as well as anabolic activities in articular cartilage during preradiologic as well as later stages of OA. The markers also can be sued for monitoring the effect of drugs on cartilage matrix molecules and in differentiating among different subtypes of osteoarthritis. Markers should prove most useful in prospective studies aimed at identifying early changes in cartilage metabolism in humans at high risk for developing OA

Age Related Changes in the Concentration of Serum Keratan Sulphate in Children

Peer Reviewe

Rapid and sustained rise in the serum level of hyaluronan after anterior cruciate ligament transection in the dog knee joint.

OBJECTIVE. To monitor changes in serum levels of hyaluronan (HA) in experimental canine osteoarthritis (OA), and to relate these changes to the level of HA in synovial fluid (SF) and/or to the rate of HA synthesis by synovium. METHODS. OA was induced in 16 dogs by anterior cruciate ligament transection; 7 dogs were sham operated. An immunoassay was used to measure HA levels in serum at various times postsurgery and in SF from OA knees at sacrifice (Week 13 postsurgery). The rate of HA synthesis by synovium from both knees of 9 OA dogs and 5 sham operated dogs was measured at 13 weeks. RESULTS. The serum level of HA showed a minor transient rise postsurgery in sham operated dogs. In all OA dogs, this rise was marked and sustained and correlated with the SF level of HA. Further, in OA dogs, the rate of HA synthesis by synovium was elevated in both the operated OA knee and the nonoperated knee. CONCLUSION. The sustained rise in the serum level of HA in OA dogs appears to be the result of increases in the rate of HA synthesis by synovium in both the operated and nonoperated knees, and possibly in other synovial joints

Proteoglycans contain a 4.6 A repeat in muscular dystrophy corneas: x-ray diffraction evidence.

Synchrotron x-ray diffraction patterns from macular corneal dystrophy (MCD) corneas contain an unusual reflection that arises because of an undefined ultrastructure with a periodic repeat in the region of 4.6 A. In this study, we compared with wide-angle x-ray diffraction patterns obtained from four normal human corneas and four MCD corneas. Moreover, portions of two of the MCD corneas were pretreated with a specific glycosidase to shed light on the origin of the 4.6 A reflection. None of the normal corneas produced an x-ray reflection in the region of 4.6 A, whereas all four of the MCD corneas did (MCD type I at 4.65 A and 4.63 A, MCD type II at 4.63 A and 4.67 A). This reflection was diminished after incubation of the MCD tissues with either chondroitinase ABC or N-glycanase. The findings indicate that glycosaminoglycans or proteoglycans contribute to the unusual MCD x-ray reflection and hence most likely contain a periodic 4.6 A ultrastructure. Furthermore, the results imply that periodic 4.6 A MCD ultrastructures reside in either intact, unsulfated lumican molecules and regions of the CS/DS-containing molecules or in a region of a hybrid macromolecular aggregate formed by the interaction of the two molecules

Biosynthesis of O-linked oligosaccharides on proteoglycans by chondrocytes from the swarm rat chondrosarcoma

The core protein of proteoglycans from cartilage is substituted with glycosaminoglycans as well as N- and O-glycosidically linked oligosaccharides. We have taken advantage of the long intracellular half-life of the core protein precursor to the rat chondrosarcma proteoglycan to study the temporal relationship between the addition of the chondroitin sulfate chains and the O-linked oligosaccharides onto the core protein during the formation of the completed proteoglycan molecule. Chondrocyte cultures were pulsed on day 2 with [6-3H]glucosamine for times ranging from 30-420 min. Media and corresponding 4% zwittergent, 4 M guanidine HCl extracts were then pooled and subjected to dissociative density gradient ultracentrifugation to yield purified proteoglycan monomers which were then subjected to alkaline borohydride treatment. The released chondroitin sulfate chains were then purified by precipitation with 50% (v/v) ethanol. The O-linked oligosaccharide-alditols in the supernatant fractions were purified by molecular sieve chromatography on Bio-Gel P-6, and analyzed after digestion with α-neuraminidase and subsequent chromatography on Bio-Gel P-2. The different O-linked oligosaccharide-alditols were identified from their hexosamine and hexosaminitol contents. The kinetics of entry of 3H label into N-acetylgalactosamine of chondroitin sulfate was indistinguishable from that into either N-acetylglucosamine or N-acetylgalactosaminitol residues of the oligosaccharide-alditols, with half-times to linear incorporation of 10-17 min. These results show that initiation as well as completion of the O-linked oligosaccharides on the core protein occurs essentially at the same time that chondroitin sulfate chains are added. The results suggest that these biosynthetic processes occur in the Golgi apparatus during the last few minutes of the total intracellular dwell time (half-time of about 90 min) of the core protein acceptor