Glob Chang Biol
September 2023
For more than three decades, major efforts in sampling and analyzing tree diversity in South America have focused almost exclusively on trees with stems of at least 10 and 2.5 cm diameter, showing highest species diversity in the wetter western and northern Amazon forests. By contrast, little attention has been paid to patterns and drivers of diversity in the largest canopy and emergent trees, which is surprising given these have dominant ecological functions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLipid peroxidation is promoted by the quasi-lipoxygenase (QL) activity of heme proteins and enhanced by the presence of free calcium. Unlike mammalian plasma, the hemolymph of Rhodnius prolixus, a vector of Chagas disease, contains both a free heme-binding protein (RHBP) and circulating lipoproteins. RHBP binds and prevents the heme groups of the proteins from participating in lipid peroxidation reactions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAn investigation into the effects of irradiation and of the storage time on aging and quality are a relevant issue to ensure the safety and the efficiency of irradiation in the prevention of transfusion-associated graft-versus-host disease (TA-GVHD). In this work, the biochemical properties and alterations presented by erythrocyte membranes, up to 28-days post-irradiation, with a dose of 25 Gy, were studied as a function of storage and post-irradiation time. There was a considerable variation in the total of phospholipid content, when comparing the control and irradiated samples, mostly from the third day onwards; and at the same time, the effect occurred as a function on the storage time of blood bags.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn this study, we describe the fate of fatty acids that are incorporated from the lumen by the posterior midgut epithelium of Rhodnius prolixus and the biosynthesis of lipids. We also demonstrate that neutral lipids (NL) are transferred to the haemolymphatic lipophorin (Lp) and that phospholipids remain in the tissue in which they are organised into perimicrovillar membranes (PMMs). 3H-palmitic acid added at the luminal side of isolated midguts of R.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Rhodnius prolixus is a blood-sucking bug vector of Trypanosoma cruzi and T. rangeli. T.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFVitellin (VT) is a phospholipoglycoprotein that is the main component of arthropod egg yolk. Phosphorylation is a recurrent feature of every VT molecule described so far. However, the role played by such post-translational modification during egg development is not yet clear.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAcid phosphatase activity, previously identified in Rhodnius prolixus oocytes, was studied during egg development. Fertilized eggs exhibited a five fold increase of total acid phosphatase activity during the first days of development. In contrast non-fertilized oviposited eggs showed no activation of this enzyme.
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