microPublication biology最新文献

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.17912/micropub.biology.001406.].

Bacteriophage Powelldog, assigned to cluster AW, was isolated from dog park soil in Charlotte, NC, using the bacterial host Arthobacter globiformis NRRL B-2880. The genome is 55541 bps, containing 91 putative protein-coding genes. All genes are transcribed unidirectionally and the genome, interestingly, encodes a putative major capsid protease fusion protein.

The cell in multicellular organisms are capable of sensing and responding to various types of extracellular stimuli. Recent studies have highlighted the importance of not only biochemical stimuli but also mechanical stimuli in modulating cellular behavior. Mechanical stimuli include substrate stiffness, shear stress, tensile force, and compressive strain, all of which have been implicated in the regulation of gene expression, proliferation, and differentiation. In this study, we investigated the impact of compressive strain by cell seeding density on gene expression in Neuro2A cells, a mouse neuroblastoma-derived neuronal cell line. Specifically, we focused on the expression of Cyclin D1, a well-established proliferation marker, and GAP43, a marker associated with neuronal differentiation. By culturing Neuro2A cells at different cell densities, we found that high cell density upregulated the GAP43 gene but not the Cyclin D1 gene. This result suggests that cell density affects neuronal differentiation through GAP43 gene expression.

In Chlamydomonas , the central pair (CP) and radial spoke (RS) complexes in the axoneme are key regulators of ciliary motility. Radial spoke protein 3 (RSP3) is an A-kinase anchoring protein (AKAP), and mutation of the RII-binding domain ( 388 ) results in specific ciliary motility defects. When combined with ida1 , a mutant defective in the 1α-dynein heavy chain required for assembly of the I1 dynein complex, the phenotype of the resulting 388; ida1 double mutant is ida1 -like, not 388 -like; thus, ida1 is epistatic to 388 . These results support I1 dynein being downstream of the RSP3 RII-binding domain function in a signaling pathway that regulates Chlamydomonas ciliary motility.

The impact of intestinal gases, including gasotransmitters, on antibiotic efficacy is severely understudied. This study assessed the effects of low-dose CO (85 µg/g) on the efficacy of various antibiotics in low oxygen conditions using the Kirby-Bauer method against E. coli BW20767/pRL27. Preliminary results showed that exposure to CO exerts variable effects on antibiotic efficacy. This indicates that CO exerts its effects not only through modulation of E. coli 's respiratory chain, but may also involve additional, as-yet unidentified targets independent of terminal oxidase binding. We also observed that E. coli endogenously produces CO as it switches to anaerobic metabolism.

Hemp ( Cannabis sativa ) is a dioecious species whose glandular trichomes, found predominantly on female flowers, produce a variety of phytocannabinoids. Determining plant sex during the vegetative stage is not feasible, as only flowering plants allow accurate distinction. To efficiently utilize cultivation space and prevent unwanted pollination, it is therefore essential to reliably identify male hemp plants at an early developmental stage. Although numerous methods for sex identification in hemp have been reported, most rely on multi-step DNA extraction workflows and require costly equipment and consumables. Here, we present CRISP (Cannabis Rapid Identification of Sex by PCR), a simple, rapid, and cost-effective high-throughput approach. CRISP combines a simplified genomic DNA extraction via high-temperature chemical lysis with PCR detection of the male hemp marker SCAR323 in a 96-well format. We identified male seedlings from two cultivars with 100% accuracy, demonstrating the suitability of CRISP for large-scale sex identification in a highly cost-efficient manner.

In C. elegans hermaphrodites, the distal tip cells (DTCs) capping the gonad arms provide a Notch ligand, the niche signal that maintains germline stem cell pools. Using fixed germlines, it was recently shown that the transcription of a Notch target gene decreased relatively early-on during adulthood. Here, we used the genetically encoded Notch Sensor Able to detect Lateral Signaling Activity (SALSA) to examine the pattern of GLP-1/Notch activity across the aging distal gonad in vivo . Interestingly, we find that the robust and progressively decreasing distal-proximal Notch activation gradient that is observed in young adults gets largely lost during aging.

We observed the aggregation of starved C. elegans into web-like patterns scaffolded by an unknown chemoattractive extracellular substance that is protein-rich, mucoid, water-insoluble, elastic, and likely to be both secreted and consumed by C. elegans . Under time-lapse imaging, we observed the formation of both the aggregation structures and the proteinaceous substance after populating an NGM plate with 100-200 worms and letting them starve over seven days. We preliminarily characterized the substance using Coomassie, WGA, and DAPI staining. We surmise that the substance may be composed of cuticles, remnants of dead worms, and worm yolk.

Drosophila carrying the Shudderer (Shu) allele of the voltage-gated Na ⁺ gene paralytic display spontaneous convulsions and immobilization phenotypes that are exacerbated by high temperature. To automate identification of these aberrant behaviors in Shu mutants, we trained a machine-learning classifier on a manually annotated dataset. The system reliably classified walking activity and immobilization periods, while uncoordinated movement events were detected with moderate sensitivity and high specificity. We then characterized the behavioral repertoire of Shu mutants and wild-type flies over a temperature-ramp protocol (20 - 40 °C) using the classifier. Our developments facilitate quantitative studies of environmental or genetic factors that alter behaviors characteristic of Drosophila models of neurological disease.

Phages Piku and Utopia were isolated from soil samples in Illinois, USA, on A. globiformis B-2979 and B-2880, respectively. Both phages have genomes encoding 22 genes, including an endolysin. The genomes are highly conserved, differing by only three genes, including genes involved in structural and replication functions, and one of unknown function. Based on gene content, both phages are assigned to cluster FE.