Scabies Mite Peritrophins Are Potential Targets of Human Host Innate Immunity

The gut of most invertebrates is lined by a protective layer of chitin and glycoproteins, often designated as a peritrophic matrix. Previous research suggests that it forms a barrier that may protect the midgut epithelium from abrasive food particles and pathogens. Parasitic invertebrates ingesting vertebrate plasma have evolved additional strategies to protect themselves from hazardous host molecules consumed during feeding. An important part of the immediate defense in vertebrate plasma is complement-mediated killing. The Complement system is a complex network of more than 35 proteins present in human plasma that results in killing of foreign cells including the gut epithelial cells of a feeding parasite. Recently we found that scabies mites, who feed on skin containing plasma, produce several proteins that inhibit human complement within the mite gut. The mites excrete these molecules into the upper epidermis where they presumably also inhibit complement activity. Mite gut antigens that initially trigger the complement cascade have not been identified previously. Obvious possible targets of complement attack within the mite gut could be peritrophins. Our study describes the first peritrophin identified in scabies mites and indicates a possible role in complement activation

University of Montana Environmental Studies Alumni Panel: Celebration of the EVST 50th Anniversary

Environmental Studies alums Mary Anne Hitt (2002), Sierra Club; Souta Calling Last (2007) Indigenous Vision; Betsy Gaines Quammen (1996) Author, American Zion; and David Strohmaier (1999) Missoula County Commissioner discuss the current state of the Environmental Movement as part of the celebration of the Environmental Studies Program\u27s 50th Anniversary in May 2020. Panelist bios: Mary Anne Hitt is director of the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign, working to eliminate coal pollution, stop climate disruption, and repower the nation with clean energy. She previously served as executive director of Appalachian Voices and other grassroots organizations. In 2015, Hitt was named to the POLITICO 50 list of “thinkers, doers, and visionaries transforming American politics.” In 2013, the Washingtonian named her one of “The New Guard: People Who Are Shaping Washington” during Obama’s second term, and SNL Energy named her one of the ten most influential people of the year. She and the Beyond Coal Campaign were featured in the Emmy-winning Showtime climate series, “Years of Living Dangerously.” Souta Calling Last (Blackfeet/Blood) is the Founder and Executive Director of Indigenous Vision, a national educational nonprofit founded in 2015. Her work on land and water protection started in childhood cleaning beaver ponds. She continued volunteering with streamside clean-ups, restorations, and community water education while obtaining a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Montana in Environmental Studies. She later gained experience with her tribe as a Water Resource Specialist and Drinking Water Operator while obtaining her Master’s degree in Innovative Leadership and Change Management from the University of Phoenix. Before founding Indigenous Vision, Souta served as an Environmental Specialist in a National Tribal Drinking Water Program while she continued to organize lake shore clean-ups at drinking water reservoirs in the Phoenix area. Souta believes the land is a storybook of information filled with ecological and climate knowledge and that honoring ancestral observation will protect the land and water and will promote ideal human health and wellness. Betsy Gaines Quammen is a historian, conservationist, and author of American Zion: Cliven Bundy, God and Public Lands in the West. She received her MS from the Environmental Studies program at University of Montana and a doctorate in Environmental History from Montana State University. Betsy has studied various religious traditions over the years, with particular attention to how cultures view landscape and wildlife. The rural American West, pastoral communities of northern Mongolia, and the grasslands of East Africa have been her main areas of interest. Betsy lives in Bozeman, Montana, with her husband, writer David Quammen, two huge dogs, an overweight cat, and a pretty big python named Boots. Dave Strohmaier chairs the Missoula Board of County Commissioners and also serves as chairman of the Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority. He also holds an undergraduate degree from Seattle Pacific University and an MAR in philosophy of religion from Yale Divinity School. He later attended the EVST where he focused on fire ecology and environmental writing, receiving an MS in 1999. Dave worked for 18 years with the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service followed by 13 years in the private sector as a historian with Historical Research Associates where he specialized in environmental and Native American history. He has published two books with the University of Nevada Press—The Seasons of Fire: Reflections on Fire in the West; and Drift Smoke: Loss and Renewal in a Land of Fire. From 2006 to 2014, Dave represented Ward 1 on the Missoula City Council and from 2017 until the present he has served as a Missoula County commissioner. He currently chairs the Metropolitan Planning Organization’s Transportation Policy Coordinating Committee. Use the following links to view the panelists\u27 theses: Betsy Gaines Quamman\u27s UM thesis Dave Strohmaier\u27s UM thesi

2004: Species interaction strength: testing model predictions along an upwelling gradient

Abstract. A recent model predicts that species interactions in benthic marine communities vary predictably with upwelling regimes. To test this model, we studied the Pisaster-Mytilus interaction at 14 rocky intertidal sites distributed among three oceanographic regions along a 1300-km stretch of the U.S. West Coast. Regions included an intermittentupwelling region (northern), a persistent-upwelling region (central), and a region of weak and infrequent upwelling (southern). We quantified predation rates by the sea star Pisaster ochraceus on its main prey Mytilus californianus by transplanting mussels into the sea star's low-zone foraging range and comparing the rate of mussel loss in ϩPisaster plots to those in ϪPisaster plots. To evaluate the relation between predation rates and key ecological processes and conditions, we quantified phytoplankton concentration and rates of mussel recruitment, mussel growth, mussel abundance, and sea star abundance. Predictions of the model are expressed as responses of predator and prey abundance, and species interaction strength (per capita and per population or total impact at the population level). As predicted by theory, per capita predation rates were independent of upwelling regime, with no variation with region. Contrary to expectation however, perpopulation predation rates were similar between intermittent-and persistent-upwelling regions but were greater under strong upwelling than under weak upwelling conditions. The greatest variation in per-population predation rates was at the level of site within region. Also contrary to theory, average abundances of prey (mussel cover) and predators (sea stars) were similar among oceanographic regions and varied mostly at the site level. As expected from theory, predation rate was high where sea star density was high, a condition that often coincided with a high food supply (phytoplankton) for filter feeders, including larvae, and high recruitment. With the exception of two sites having dense sea star populations and thus high predation, low values of either or both were associated with low predation, suggesting that the supply of prey often depended on conditions that favored subsidies of both phytoplankton and new larvae to prey populations. The occurrence of high predator density and high predation at sites of low inputs of particulate food and propagules suggests that understanding sea star life history is a key to a fuller understanding of variation in predation on a coastal scale. Evidence suggests that often sporadic recruitment of sea stars along the coast is balanced by great longevity, which tends to even out predation impact on coastal intertidal communities

Quality of a fished resource: Assessing spatial and temporal dynamics.

Understanding spatio-temporal variability in the demography of harvested species is essential to improve sustainability, especially if there is large geographic variation in demography. Reproductive patterns commonly vary spatially, which is particularly important for management of "roe"-based fisheries, since profits depend on both the number and reproductive condition of individuals. The red sea urchin, Mesocentrotus franciscanus, is harvested in California for its roe (gonad), which is sold to domestic and international sushi markets. The primary driver of price within this multi-million-dollar industry is gonad quality. A relatively simple measure of the fraction of the body mass that is gonad, the gonadosomatic index (GSI), provides important insight into the ecological and environmental factors associated with variability in reproductive quality, and hence value within the industry. We identified the seasonality of the reproductive cycle and determined whether it varied within a heavily fished region. We found that fishermen were predictable both temporally and spatially in collecting urchins according to the reproductive dynamics of urchins. We demonstrated the use of red sea urchin GSI as a simple, quantitative tool to predict quality, effort, landings, price, and value of the fishery. We found that current management is not effectively realizing some objectives for the southern California fishery, since the reproductive cycle does not match the cycle in northern California, where these management guidelines were originally shaped. Although regulations may not be meeting initial management goals, the scheme may in fact provide conservation benefits by curtailing effort during part of the high-quality fishing season right before spawning

Quality of a fished resource: Assessing spatial and temporal dynamics

<div><p>Understanding spatio-temporal variability in the demography of harvested species is essential to improve sustainability, especially if there is large geographic variation in demography. Reproductive patterns commonly vary spatially, which is particularly important for management of “roe”-based fisheries, since profits depend on both the number and reproductive condition of individuals. The red sea urchin, <i>Mesocentrotus franciscanus</i>, is harvested in California for its roe (gonad), which is sold to domestic and international sushi markets. The primary driver of price within this multi-million-dollar industry is gonad quality. A relatively simple measure of the fraction of the body mass that is gonad, the gonadosomatic index (GSI), provides important insight into the ecological and environmental factors associated with variability in reproductive quality, and hence value within the industry. We identified the seasonality of the reproductive cycle and determined whether it varied within a heavily fished region. We found that fishermen were predictable both temporally and spatially in collecting urchins according to the reproductive dynamics of urchins. We demonstrated the use of red sea urchin GSI as a simple, quantitative tool to predict quality, effort, landings, price, and value of the fishery. We found that current management is not effectively realizing some objectives for the southern California fishery, since the reproductive cycle does not match the cycle in northern California, where these management guidelines were originally shaped. Although regulations may not be meeting initial management goals, the scheme may in fact provide conservation benefits by curtailing effort during part of the high-quality fishing season right before spawning.</p></div

Predicting red sea urchin fishing from gonadosomatic index.

<p>Mean port-sampling gonadosomatic index (GSI) predicting average monthly California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) data for 2009–2011 and for 1978–2008 in (a, e) effort (number of receipts), (b, f) total landings (millions of kg), (c, g) mean price per kg (USD), (d, h) total value (millions of USD) within the <i>west</i> subregion (see <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0196864#pone.0196864.g001" target="_blank">Fig 1</a>). Error bars show one standard error (note: many error bars are smaller than marker size).</p