Proteins of Oxygen-Binding and Energy Metabolism in Muscles of Antarctic Fishes: Evolutionary Adjustments to Life at Cold Temperature

The suborder Notothenoidei is the dominant fish group of the Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica, both in terms of number of species and biomass. For about fourteen million years, these highly successful fish evolved under stable thermal conditions that result in body temperatures of about zero degrees centigrade throughout their life histories. Evolution this cold environment has led to unusual physiological and biochemical characteristics. In some cases, the characteristics contribute to overcoming constraints of cold temperature on biological processes. In other instances, mutations that probably would have been lethal in warmer, less oxygen-rich environments than the Southern Ocean have been retained in Antarctic fishes. This research project focuses on three major objectives that exploit these unusual conditions to identify mechanisms compatible with normal cellular function at cold temperature and to gain unique insights into the physiological roles of key intracellular proteins. The three lines of study proposed are the molecular basis for the failure of the myoglobin encoding gene to be expressed in certain Antarctic notothenioid fishes, the basis of the substrate specificity of the enzyme fatty acyl-CoA synthetase that is involved in the catabolism of fatty acids, and the functional roles played by different isoforms of creatine phosphokinase in locomotory muscle of Antarctic fish. Results from this study will not only provide insight into the evolutionary biology of the Antarctic notothenioid fishes, but will elucidate important general principles that are applicable to widely different taxa beyond the Antarctic

Herbicide-Resistant Soybeans in Arkansas: Lessons Learned and Future Direction

In Arkansas Delta soybean production, glyphosate resistant (GR) Palmer amaranth has significantly impacted weed management. The incidence of herbicide resistant (HR) weeds has farreaching crop science, economic, and communications implications, which have been explored by the corresponding expertise of our research team members to form a comprehensive literature review. The review was used to develop policy recommendations to address current and future HR genetically modified (GM) crop use and the associated issues. The review of crop science research indicated an overall increase in herbicide application, as well as an increase in weed management programs focused around glyphosate rather than the application of multiple herbicides. The review also revealed some management methods have potential to resolve the problem, including alternating herbicide application, avoiding sub-lethal rates, using “burn down” herbicides prior to planting, crop rotation, tillage, and zero tolerance weed policies. The use of fewer herbicides rather than multiple types creates a monopolistic edge for the companies producing those few herbicides, allowing greater market control. Crisis communication methods, including developing internal readiness, conducting needs assessments, developing a relevant message, and conveying the message through appropriate channels, can be used to develop a response to the issue that will best communicate necessary information to the target audience. The team used these findings to formulate policy recommendations, which include management, economic, and communication plans that may provide a starting point to address the issue

Genetically Modified Food: What Are Mainers Thinking?

Whether to allow genetically modified (GM) foods in Maine, and if so, under what circumstances, has been hotly debated in recent years. The authors explore one aspect of the issue—Mainers’ attitudes about the labeling of GM foods. They point out that labeling GM foods is more complex than simply whether to label. Policy decisions need to be made about whether labeling should be mandatory, what pieces of information should be on the label, who should be in charge of monitoring compliance, and even what foods should be labeled. The authors discuss the potential benefits of GM food labeling, and conclude that simply labeling foods as “genetically modified” would be of relatively little use since there would not be enough information for consumers to make informed decisions about what they buy

NSF Graduate Teaching Fellows in K-12 Education at the University of Maine

The program for Graduate Teaching Fellows in K-12 Education at the University of Maine is consistent with the State\u27s legislatively mandated goals for education in Science and Technology. Twelve Fellows are working in four local school districts through this program, which engages colleagues at the University and K-12 schools in transfer of knowledge and curriculum development with respect to topics such as Classifying Living Things, Forestry & Pulp and Paper Studies, and The Hydrological Cycle. The project is providing K-12 students and teachers with access to curriculum development, field trips, technology, and equipment that local school budgets had not provided. A summer science camp is being used in the training program to establish the teaching teams (university faculty and K-12 teachers) that mentor Fellows. The program provides SMET fellowships for the University, professional development for K-12 teachers, important role models and knowledge to K-12 students, and a strong bond between the science faculty of the University and K-12 teachers

GK-12: NSF Graduate Teaching Fellows in K-12 Education at the University of Maine

Eight districts in central Maine that comprise the Penobscot River Educational Partnership (PREP); four of them, including Maine Indian Education, partners in a current GK-12 project, have joined with the University of Maine to form Fellow-teacher teams to introduce K-12 students to experiments, field trips, and discussions in areas such as chemistry, climate change, marine sciences, molecular biology, geology, food sciences, and ecology. The program is: a) helping teachers and students reach the State of Maine\u27s legislatively-mandated standards for Science & Technology (the Maine Learning Results), b) strengthening Fellows\u27 communication and teaching skills, c) providing professional development for Teachers, d) enriching science for K-12 students, e) providing young male and female role models of SMET professionals to children in grades 3-11, and f) strengthening contacts between GK-12 science faculty and K-12 districts. The K-12 students are monitoring water chemistry and species diversity and abundance in cooperating federal wildlife refuges in areas near them. These shared monitoring activities link classes throughout the entire scope of the project. The spatially and temporally distributed data enables the teams to introduce interesting analyses and discussions across partner classes interacting through videoconferences. Each Fellow works intensively with two teachers in PREP and with a teacher from eastern Maine (Washington & Hancock Counties), western Maine (Madison), or southern Maine (Damariscotta, site of the University of Maine\u27s marine sciences laboratory). The power of Maine\u27s network of ATM classrooms, is being used to expand the Fellows\u27 role modeling and introduce Fellows to a variety of teaching styles. The broader impacts of the project include strengthened backgrounds in science and attendance at the Maine summer Science Camp for the cooperating teachers. The K-12 districts\u27 benefits include the enriched learning of their students and access to the equipment from microscopes to thermal cyclers that is necessary to meet the goals of the Learning Results, but which many districts lack. The University of Maine is benefiting from K-12 students who come to the University better prepared in science and is fulfilling its mission as a Land Grant/Sea Grant institution to serve both the state of Maine and the nation as a whole

A Role for Transportin in the Nuclear Import of Adenovirus Core Proteins and DNA

Adenoviruses target their double-stranded DNA genome and its associated core proteins to the interphase nucleus; this core structure then enters through the nuclear pore complex. We have used digitonin permeabilized cell import assays to study the cellular import factors involved in nuclear entry of virus DNA and the core proteins, protein V and protein VII. We show that inhibition of transportin results in aberrant localization of protein V and that transportin is necessary for protein V to accumulate in the nucleolus. Furthermore, inhibition of transportin results in inhibition of protein VII and DNA import, whereas disruption of the classical importin α–importin β import pathway has little effect. We show that mature protein VII has different import preferences from the precursor protein, preVII from which it is derived by proteolytic processing. While bacterially expressed glutathione S-transferase (GST)-preVII primarily utilizes the pathway mediated by importin α–importin β, bacterially expressed GST-VII favours the transportin pathway. This is significant because while preVII is important during viral replication and assembly only mature VII is available during viral DNA import to a newly infected cell. Our results implicate transportin as a key import receptor for the nuclear localization of adenovirus core

Cardiovascular Risk Reduction with Icosapent Ethyl for Hypertriglyceridemia

BACKGROUND Patients with elevated triglyceride levels are at increased risk for ischemic events. Icosapent ethyl, a highly purified eicosapentaenoic acid ethyl ester, lowers triglyceride levels, but data are needed to determine its effects on ischemic events. METHODS We performed a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial involving patients with established cardiovascular disease or with diabetes and other risk factors, who had been receiving statin therapy and who had a fasting triglyceride level of 135 to 499 mg per deciliter (1.52 to 5.63 mmol per liter) and a low-density lipoprotein cholesterol level of 41 to 100 mg per deciliter (1.06 to 2.59 mmol per liter). The patients were randomly assigned to receive 2 g of icosapent ethyl twice daily (total daily dose, 4 g) or placebo. The primary end point was a composite of cardiovascular death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, nonfatal stroke, coronary revascularization, or unstable angina. The key secondary end point was a composite of cardiovascular death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, or nonfatal stroke. RESULTS A total of 8179 patients were enrolled (70.7% for secondary prevention of cardiovascular events) and were followed for a median of 4.9 years. A primary end-point event occurred in 17.2% of the patients in the icosapent ethyl group, as compared with 22.0% of the patients in the placebo group (hazard ratio, 0.75; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.68 to 0.83; P<0.001); the corresponding rates of the key secondary end point were 11.2% and 14.8% (hazard ratio, 0.74; 95% CI, 0.65 to 0.83; P<0.001). The rates of additional ischemic end points, as assessed according to a prespecified hierarchical schema, were significantly lower in the icosapent ethyl group than in the placebo group, including the rate of cardiovascular death (4.3% vs. 5.2%; hazard ratio, 0.80; 95% CI, 0.66 to 0.98; P=0.03). A larger percentage of patients in the icosapent ethyl group than in the placebo group were hospitalized for atrial fibrillation or flutter (3.1% vs. 2.1%, P=0.004). Serious bleeding events occurred in 2.7% of the patients in the icosapent ethyl group and in 2.1% in the placebo group (P=0.06). CONCLUSIONS Among patients with elevated triglyceride levels despite the use of statins, the risk of ischemic events, including cardiovascular death, was significantly lower among those who received 2 g of icosapent ethyl twice daily than among those who received placebo. (Funded by Amarin Pharma; REDUCE-IT ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01492361