scholarly journals Interspecies Comparison of the Bacterial Response to Allicin Reveals Species‐Specific Defense Strategies

PROTEOMICS ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (24) ◽  
pp. 1900064 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominik Wüllner ◽  
Annika Haupt ◽  
Pascal Prochnow ◽  
Roman Leontiev ◽  
Alan J. Slusarenko ◽  
...  
2019 ◽  
Vol 107 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sofia Cividini ◽  
Spyros Sfenthourakis ◽  
Giuseppe Montesanto

AbstractThe capability of producing sounds and vibrations is well known in insects and is thought to be a form of intra- and interspecific communication. Sounds and vibrations are used and modulated for several aims such as interacting with conspecifics, getting information from the environment, and defending against predators. This phenomenon is less known but also present in other arthropods, including a few roller-type terrestrial isopods. In this study, we used a Y-shape test apparatus to investigate the behavior of adult individuals of Armadillo officinalis Duméril, 1816 (Crustacea: Isopoda: Oniscidea) when exposed to two particular vibrational stimuli, namely species-specific stridulations and non-specific substrate-borne vibrations. Our results showed that adults of A. officinalis significantly react to the presence of both types of vibrational stimuli, by moving away from the vibrational source as if they experienced these vibrations as a sign of danger or disturbance. A. officinalis can produce stridulations only when it rolls into a ball during the so-called conglobation, a possible defense mechanism against predators. Stridulation might thus be a secondary form of defense used during conglobation to deter a predator following contact with it and might be experienced as an alert by conspecifics nearby. The high sensitivity to non-specific substrate-borne vibrations might provide A. officinalis with the possibility to anticipate dangers and adverse conditions, giving it a better chance of survival.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (7A) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jo Purves ◽  
Louise Corscadden ◽  
Lillie Purser ◽  
Liza Selley ◽  
Paul Monks ◽  
...  

Air pollution is a major global health problem, with around 91% of the world’s population living in areas that exceed the WHO air pollution guidelines. This complex mix of pollutants almost always includes particulate matter (PM), and this has the greatest impact on human health. PM exposure contributes to a range of diseases such as COPD, heart disease and respiratory infections. Our recent publication was the first to document that as well as damaging the host, PM has a direct impact on bacteria that can cause respiratory infections. We showed that Black Carbon (BC) exposure results in species-specific alterations in biofilm structure in both Streptococcus pneumoniae and Staphylococcus aureus, altered biofilm protectivity against antibiotic exposure, and S. pneumoniae bacterial colonisation in vivo. Following on from this ground-breaking work, our current data show that the bacterial response to BC occurs at the genetic level, altering the transcription of key genes involved in biofilm formation, colonisation and virulence. Bacterial adhesion to and invasion of human epithelial cells is significantly increased when S. aureus are pre-exposed to BC prior to infection compared to naïve S. aureus cells. In a murine respiratory colonisation model, both S. aureus co-infected alongside BC, and crucially S. aureus pre-exposed to BC, show increased colonisation of the nasopharynx and lungs. These data suggest that the bacteria are responding and adapting to exposure to air pollution, and this has an impact on how the bacteria infect the host.


Author(s):  
Linda Sicko-Goad

Although the use of electron microscopy and its varied methodologies is not usually associated with ecological studies, the types of species specific information that can be generated by these techniques are often quite useful in predicting long-term ecosystem effects. The utility of these techniques is especially apparent when one considers both the size range of particles found in the aquatic environment and the complexity of the phytoplankton assemblages.The size range and character of organisms found in the aquatic environment are dependent upon a variety of physical parameters that include sampling depth, location, and time of year. In the winter months, all the Laurentian Great Lakes are uniformly mixed and homothermous in the range of 1.1 to 1.7°C. During this time phytoplankton productivity is quite low.


2005 ◽  
Vol 173 (4S) ◽  
pp. 18-18
Author(s):  
Joseph C. Liao ◽  
Mitra Mastali ◽  
David A. Haake ◽  
Bernard M. Churchill

1960 ◽  
Vol 15 (10) ◽  
pp. 665-665
Author(s):  
George S. Grosser
Keyword(s):  

1996 ◽  
Vol 76 (06) ◽  
pp. 1090-1095 ◽  
Author(s):  
C Ravanat ◽  
M Freund ◽  
S Schuhler ◽  
P Grunert ◽  
L Meyer ◽  
...  

SummaryThe purpose of this study was to develop specific and sensitive immunoassays to detect early indices of hypercoagulability in the rat. Rat platelet factor 4 (rPF4) and rat fibrinopeptide A (rFPA) assays, tools for the detection of activation of platelets and coagulation respectively, were designed using antibodies raised against purified rPF4 and against synthetic rFPA. The relevance of these new assays and of the commercially available ELISA kit for thrombin-antithrombin III (TAT) complexes was demonstrated in a rat model of a prethrombotic state induced by intravenous infusion of varying doses of thromboplastin (90 to 2400 μl/kg/h). In this model, the immunoassays allowed simultaneous detection of low levels of rFPA and rPF4 which were correlated with fibrinogen and platelet consumption and TAT generation and further proved to be of higher sensitivity than the classical methods of platelet count or measurement of fibrinogen levels. Plasma concentrations of rFPA, rPF4 and TAT were dependent on infusion time and thromboplastin dose, while hirudin (1 mg/kg) prevented their appearance. Thus the new specific immunoassays for rPF4 and rFPA and the commercial human TAT assay represent useful tools for pathophysiological studies or the screening of antithrombotic drugs in rats.


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