Elucidating the diel and seasonal calling behaviour of Elachistocleis matogrosso (Anura: Microhylidae)

ABSTRACT

Acoustic monitoring provides the opportunity to study ecological processes that are difficult to assess with traditional surveys. Elachistocleis matogrosso is an anuran species, described in 2010, for which limited biological information is available. This study investigated the calling activity of the species in the north-eastern portion of the Pantanal, Brazil, a wetland area with marked seasonality between the dry and wet seasons. The calling activity of E. matogrosso was monitored using automated digital recorders in combination with automated signal recognition software over two different annual cycles. The species was vocally active only during the wet season (October – April), with a peak in November-December during the 2013–2014 annual cycle and in February-March during the 2015–2016 annual cycle. The peak calling activity occurred at dusk. This species has nocturnal habits and an explosive breeding activity. The detection of the species was intermittent, which suggests that environmental predictors or site-specific conditions might play an important role in species detection. Moreover, this intermittent occupancy indicated that surveys that employ traditional field techniques would likely fail to detect this species. We describe an effective protocol for detecting E. matogrosso with acoustic monitoring, which requires recording during 20 days in February from 17:01 to 05:00. Our procedure would be easy to adapt to other anuran species, and it could be used for investigating new localities and assessing population changes over time.     

The enteric nervous system in gastrointestinal disease etiology

A highly conserved but convoluted network of neurons and glial cells, the enteric nervous system (ENS), is positioned along the wall of the gut to coordinate digestive processes and gastrointestinal homeostasis. Because ENS components are in charge of the autonomous regulation of gut function, it is inevitable that their dysfunction is central to the pathophysiology and symptom generation of gastrointestinal disease. While for neurodevelopmental disorders such as Hirschsprung, ENS pathogenesis appears to be clear-cut, the role for impaired ENS activity in the etiology of other gastrointestinal disorders is less established and is often deemed secondary to other insults like intestinal inflammation. However, mounting experimental evidence in recent years indicates that gastrointestinal homeostasis hinges on multifaceted connections between the ENS, and other cellular networks such as the intestinal epithelium, the immune system, and the intestinal microbiome. Derangement of these interactions could underlie gastrointestinal disease onset and elicit variable degrees of abnormal gut function, pinpointing, perhaps unexpectedly, the ENS as a diligent participant in idiopathic but also in inflammatory and cancerous diseases of the gut. In this review, we discuss the latest evidence on the role of the ENS in the pathogenesis of enteric neuropathies, disorders of gut–brain interaction, inflammatory bowel diseases, and colorectal cancer.

     

Notes on types of Australian Chartocerus Motschulsky (Hymenoptera: Signiphoridae)

ABSTRACT

Type specimens of 11 species of Chartocerus (Hymenoptera: Signiphoridae) from Australia described by A.A. Girault, in the collection of the Queensland Museum, and one species described by W.H. Ashmead, in the United States Museum of Natural History, are redescribed and illustrated. Lectotypes are designated for Chartocerus australiensis (Girault) and Chartocerus hebes (Girault).     

Activation of stress signalling pathways enhances tolerance of fungi to chemical fungicides and antifungal proteins

Fungal disease is an increasing problem in both agriculture and human health. Treatment of human fungal disease involves the use of chemical fungicides, which generally target the integrity of the fungal plasma membrane or cell wall. Chemical fungicides used for the treatment of plant disease, have more diverse mechanisms of action including inhibition of sterol biosynthesis, microtubule assembly and the mitochondrial respiratory chain. However, these treatments have limitations, including toxicity and the emergence of resistance. This has led to increased interest in the use of antimicrobial peptides for the treatment of fungal disease in both plants and humans. Antimicrobial peptides are a diverse group of molecules with differing mechanisms of action, many of which remain poorly understood. Furthermore, it is becoming increasingly apparent that stress response pathways are involved in the tolerance of fungi to both chemical fungicides and antimicrobial peptides. These signalling pathways such as the cell wall integrity and high-osmolarity glycerol pathway are triggered by stimuli, such as cell wall instability, changes in osmolarity and production of reactive oxygen species. Here we review stress signalling induced by treatment of fungi with chemical fungicides and antifungal peptides. Study of these pathways gives insight into how these molecules exert their antifungal effect and also into the mechanisms used by fungi to tolerate sub-lethal treatment by these molecules. Inactivation of stress response pathways represents a potential method of increasing the efficacy of antifungal molecules.     

Arboreality predicts Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis infection level in tropical direct-developing frogs

Pathogen-mediated changes in host behaviour can result from hosts altering their habitat preferences. Although infection risk with pathogenic fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis in amphibians is associated with environments favouring its growth, the relationship with microhabitat use has not been examined. Here, we aim to determine if microhabitats used by frogs during their nocturnal activity predict B. dendrobatidis prevalence and infection intensity. Our focal host, Eleutherodactylus coqui, is a habitat generalist that uses multiple habitats from the forest floor to the canopy. We analysed data on B. dendrobatidis occurrence in 157 adults and 122 juveniles at El Yunque National forest in Puerto Rico. We categorized each individual’s nocturnal microhabitat as forest floor, curled palm fronds in the floor, arboreal bromeliads and foliage or tree trunks 50 cm to 2.5 m above ground. We found that frogs on the forest floor had the greatest B. dendrobatidis prevalence (73%), compared with those active in vegetation above ground (55%). Overall, the probability of B. dendrobatidis infection in frogs using microhabitats on the forest floor was twice as great as for those on arboreal substrates. Differences in B. dendrobatidis prevalence and intensity in E. coqui may be explained by specific abiotic conditions of microenvironments (temperature and humidity) affecting both pathogen and host, and by the age-specific ecological requirements of hosts. Adults were found to be most active in microhabitats where individuals had lower infection burdens, suggesting pathogen-modulated habitat choice. This work has important implications for the evolutionary dynamics of enzootic diseases and provides data that may inform potential mitigation strategies against a generalist amphibian pathogen.     

Nest architecture in polydomous grass-cutting ants (Acromyrmex balzani)

Acromyrmex balzani is a grass-cutting ant species frequently found in Cerrado areas. However, little is known about the architecture of the polydomous nests of this ant. Fifteen A. balzani nests located in a cerrado region in Botucatu, São Paulo, Brazil, were studied. The polydomous nests were studied in three ways. First, we investigated the architecture in nests moulded with cement and without moulding. Second, we performed an aggressiveness test among workers in different subnests and nests. Third, we excavated the nest and collected the colony to measure the population, verifying the existence or not of a queen in all nests. A cement mould was made of seven nests to permit better visualization of internal structures such as chambers and tunnels. Eight nests were excavated without moulding and white neutral talc was used to highlight the parts of the nests. After excavation, the depth and dimensions (length, width and height) of the chambers were measured. The results showed that the nests had a single entrance hole whose structure consisted of straw and other plant residues in winter. Mounds of loose soil, if present, were found 6–48 cm from the hole. The number of chambers containing fungus ranged from one to five, with the first being found a few centimetres beneath the ground surface (4 cm) and the last up to a maximum depth of 160 cm. The length of the tunnels ranged from 12 to 28 cm. These tunnels were built in a vertical or inclined position, leading to the chambers. No waste chambers were found, with the waste being deposited externally. Additionally, the polydomous nests contained one to eight subnests. In the aggressiveness test, when concolonial workers were confronted, no aggressiveness was observed. In contrast, when allocolonial workers were confronted, there was a high incidence of aggression among them. Excavation of polydomous nests showed only one queen for each polydomous nest, i.e. subnests with a single queen. Our study contributes to a better understanding of the so far unknown nest architecture of the polydomous grass-cutting ant A. balzani.     

Extensive characterization of sphere models established from colorectal cancer cell lines

Links between cancer and stem cells have been proposed for many years. As the cancer stem cell (CSC) theory became widely studied, new methods were developed to culture and expand cancer cells with conserved determinants of “stemness”. These cells show increased ability to grow in suspension as spheres in serum-free medium supplemented with growth factors and chemicals. The physiological relevance of this phenomenon in established cancer cell lines remains unclear. Cell lines have traditionally been used to explore tumor biology and serve as preclinical models for the screening of potential therapeutic agents. Here, we grew cell-forming spheres (CFS) from 25 established colorectal cancer cell lines. The molecular and cellular characteristics of CFS were compared to the bulk of tumor cells. CFS could be isolated from 72 % of the cell lines. Both CFS and their parental CRC cell lines were highly tumorigenic. Compared to their parental cells, they showed similar expression of putative CSC markers. The ability of CRC cells to grow as CFS was greatly enhanced by prior treatment with 5-fluorouracil. At the molecular level, CFS and parental CRC cells showed identical gene mutations and very similar genomic profiles, although microarray analysis revealed changes in CFS gene expression that were independent of DNA copy-number. We identified a CFS gene expression signature common to CFS from all CRC cell lines, which was predictive of disease relapse in CRC patients. In conclusion, CFS models derived from CRC cell lines possess interesting phenotypic features that may have clinical relevance for drug resistance and disease relapse.     

The LRRK2 G2019S mutant exacerbates basal autophagy through activation of the MEK/ERK pathway

Mutations in leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) are a major cause of familial Parkinsonism, and the G2019S mutation of LRRK2 is one of the most prevalent mutations. The deregulation of autophagic processes in nerve cells is thought to be a possible cause of Parkinson’s disease (PD). In this study, we observed that G2019S mutant fibroblasts exhibited higher autophagic activity levels than control fibroblasts. Elevated levels of autophagic activity can trigger cell death, and in our study, G2019S mutant cells exhibited increased apoptosis hallmarks compared to control cells. LRRK2 is able to induce the phosphorylation of MAPK/ERK kinases (MEK). The use of 1,4-diamino-2,3-dicyano-1,4-bis[2-aminophenylthio]butadiene (U0126), a highly selective inhibitor of MEK1/2, reduced the enhanced autophagy and sensibility observed in G2019S LRRK2 mutation cells. These data suggest that the G2019S mutation induces autophagy via MEK/ERK pathway and that the inhibition of this exacerbated autophagy reduces the sensitivity observed in G2019S mutant cells.