Does geographic variation in thermal tolerance in Daphnia represent trade-offs or conditional neutrality?

Geographic variation in thermal tolerance in Daphnia seems to represent genetic load at the loci specifically responsible for heat tolerance resulting from conditional neutrality. We see no evidence of trade-offs between fitness-related traits at 25 °C vs. 10 °C or between two algal diets across Daphnia magna clones from a variety of locations representing the opposite ends of the distribution of long-term heat tolerance.

Breaking free from thermodynamic constraints: thermal acclimation and metabolic compensation in a freshwater zooplankton species.

Respiration rates of ectothermic organisms are affected by environmental temperatures, and sustainable metabolism at high temperatures sometimes limits heat tolerance. Organisms are hypothesized to exhibit acclimatory metabolic compensation effects, decelerating their metabolic processes below Arrhenius expectations based on temperature alone. We tested the hypothesis that either heritable or plastic heat tolerance differences can be explained by metabolic compensation in the eurythermal freshwater zooplankton crustacean We measured respiration rates in a ramp-up experiment over a range of assay temperatures (5-37°C) in eight genotypes of representing a range of previously reported acute heat tolerances and, at a narrower range of temperatures (10-35°C), in with different acclimation history (either 10 or 25°C).

Rearing Temperature and Fatty Acid Supplementation Jointly Affect Lipid Fluorescence Polarization and Heat Tolerance in .

The homeoviscous adaptation hypothesis states that the relative abundance of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) in membrane phospholipids of ectothermic organisms decreases with increasing temperatures to maintain vital membrane properties. We reared at 15°, 20°, and 25°C and increasing dietary concentrations of the long-chain PUFA eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) to test the hypothesis that the well-documented increase in heat tolerance of high-temperature-reared is due to a reduction in body PUFA concentrations. Heat tolerance was assessed by measuring the time to immobility at a lethally high temperature ( at 37°C), and whole body lipid fluorescence polarization (FP) was used as an estimate of membrane fluidity.

Antioxidant capacity, lipid peroxidation, and lipid composition changes during long-term and short-term thermal acclimation in Daphnia.

Examples of phenotypic plasticity-the ability of organisms of identical genotypes to produce different phenotypes in response to the environment-are abundant, but often lack data on the causative physiology and biochemistry. Phenotypes associated with increased protection against or reduced damage from harmful environments may, in fact, be downstream effects of hidden adaptive responses that remain elusive to experimental measurement or be obscured by homeostatic or over-compensatory effects. The freshwater zooplankton crustacean Daphnia drastically increases its heat tolerance as the result of acclimation to high temperatures, an effect often assumed to be based on plastic responses allowing better protection against oxidative stress.

Unbiased measurements of reconstruction fidelity of sparsely sampled magnetic resonance spectra.

The application of sparse-sampling techniques to NMR data acquisition would benefit from reliable quality measurements for reconstructed spectra. We introduce a pair of noise-normalized measurements, and , for differentiating inadequate modelling from overfitting. While and can be used jointly for methods that do not enforce exact agreement between the back-calculated time domain and the original sparse data, the cross-validation measure is applicable to all reconstruction algorithms.

3D TOCSY-HSQC NMR for Metabolic Flux Analysis Using Non-Uniform Sampling.

(13)C-Metabolic Flux Analysis ((13)C-MFA) is rapidly being recognized as the authoritative method for determining fluxes through metabolic networks. Site-specific (13)C enrichment information obtained using NMR spectroscopy is a valuable input for (13)C-MFA experiments. Chemical shift overlaps in the 1D or 2D NMR experiments typically used for (13)C-MFA frequently hinder assignment and quantitation of site-specific (13)C enrichment.

Rapid protein global fold determination using ultrasparse sampling, high-dynamic range artifact suppression, and time-shared NOESY.

In structural studies of large proteins by NMR, global fold determination plays an increasingly important role in providing a first look at a target's topology and reducing assignment ambiguity in NOESY spectra of fully protonated samples. In this work, we demonstrate the use of ultrasparse sampling, a new data processing algorithm, and a 4-D time-shared NOESY experiment (1) to collect all NOEs in (2)H/(13)C/(15)N-labeled protein samples with selectively protonated amide and ILV methyl groups at high resolution in only four days, and (2) to calculate global folds from this data using fully automated resonance assignment. The new algorithm, SCRUB, incorporates the CLEAN method for iterative artifact removal but applies an additional level of iteration, permitting real signals to be distinguished from noise and allowing nearly all artifacts generated by real signals to be eliminated.

Fast acquisition of high resolution 4-D amide-amide NOESY with diagonal suppression, sparse sampling and FFT-CLEAN.

Amide-amide NOESY provides important distance constraints for calculating global folds of large proteins, especially integral membrane proteins with beta-barrel folds. Here, we describe a diagonal-suppressed 4-D NH-NH TROSY-NOESY-TROSY (ds-TNT) experiment for NMR studies of large proteins. The ds-TNT experiment employs a spin state selective transfer scheme that suppresses diagonal signals while providing TROSY optimization in all four dimensions.

High resolution 4-D spectroscopy with sparse concentric shell sampling and FFT-CLEAN.

Recent efforts to reduce the measurement time for multidimensional NMR experiments have fostered the development of a variety of new procedures for sampling and data processing. We recently described concentric ring sampling for 3-D NMR experiments, which is superior to radial sampling as input for processing by a multidimensional discrete Fourier transform. Here, we report the extension of this approach to 4-D spectroscopy as Randomized Concentric Shell Sampling (RCSS), where sampling points for the indirect dimensions are positioned on concentric shells, and where random rotations in the angular space are used to avoid coherent artifacts.

Sampling of the NMR time domain along concentric rings.

We present a novel approach to sampling the NMR time domain, whereby the sampling points are aligned on concentric rings, which we term concentric ring sampling (CRS). Radial sampling constitutes a special case of CRS where each ring has the same number of points and the same relative orientation. We derive theoretically that the most efficient CRS approach is to place progressively more points on rings of larger radius, with the number of points growing linearly with the radius, a method that we call linearly increasing CRS (LCRS).

Polar Fourier transforms of radially sampled NMR data.

Radial sampling of the NMR time domain has recently been introduced to speed up data collection significantly. Here, we show that radially sampled data can be processed directly using Fourier transforms in polar coordinates. We present a comprehensive theoretical analysis of the discrete polar Fourier transform, and derive the consequences of its application to radially sampled data using linear response theory.

PR-CALC: a program for the reconstruction of NMR spectra from projections.

Projection-reconstruction NMR (PR-NMR) has attracted growing attention as a method for collecting multidimensional NMR data rapidly. The PR-NMR procedure involves measuring lower-dimensional projections of a higher-dimensional spectrum, which are then used for the mathematical reconstruction of the full spectrum. We describe here the program PR-CALC, for the reconstruction of NMR spectra from projection data.

Filtered backprojection for the reconstruction of a high-resolution (4,2)D CH3-NH NOESY spectrum on a 29 kDa protein.

Projection-reconstruction (PR) NMR enables rapid collection of multidimensional NMR data. NOESY represents a particularly difficult challenge for currently existing reconstruction algorithms, as it requires the quantitative reconstruction of an unknown number of peaks, at full sensitivity. We have demonstrated the successful application of PR-NMR to NOESY by determining the 4D methyl/amide NOESY spectrum of a 29 kDa protein, human carbonic anhydrase II, from 2D projections, using filtered backprojection for reconstruction.

(4,2)D Projection--reconstruction experiments for protein backbone assignment: application to human carbonic anhydrase II and calbindin D(28K).

Projection-reconstruction NMR experiments have been shown to significantly reduce the acquisition time required to obtain protein backbone assignment data. To date, this concept has only been applied to smaller (15)N/(13)C-labeled proteins. Here, we show that projection-reconstruction NMR techniques can be extended to larger protonated and perdeuterated proteins.

Rapid assignment of protein side chain resonances using projection-reconstruction of (4,3)D HC(CCO)NH and intra-HC(C)NH experiments.

The reconstruction of higher-dimensional NMR spectra from projections can provide significant savings in instrument time. Here, we demonstrate its application to the (4,3)D HC(CCO)NH and intra-HC(C)NH experiments. The latter experiment contains a novel intra-residue filter element, which selectively correlates the side chain resonances with the corresponding intra-residue amide resonances.

Refined solution structure of the LpxC-TU-514 complex and pKa analysis of an active site histidine: insights into the mechanism and inhibitor design.

Lipopolysaccharide, the major constituent of the outer monolayer of the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria, is anchored into the membrane through the hydrophobic moiety lipid A, a hexaacylated disaccharide. The zinc-dependent metalloamidase UDP-3-O-acyl-N-acetylglucosamine deacetylase (LpxC) catalyzes the second and committed step in the biosynthesis of lipid A. LpxC shows no homology to mammalian metalloamidases and is essential for cell viability, making it an important target for the development of novel antibacterial compounds.

Generalized reconstruction of n-D NMR spectra from multiple projections: application to the 5-D HACACONH spectrum of protein G B1 domain.

Reconstructing multidimensional NMR spectra from 2-D projections significantly reduces the time needed for data collection over conventional methodology. Here, we provide a generalization of the projection-reconstruction process to spectra of arbitrary dimensionality, using a concept of coordinate rotation to produce explicit expressions for reconstruction. These expressions allow one to reconstruct subsets of the higher dimensionality space without producing the full spectrum, permitting convenient analysis of the data.

Structure of the LpxC deacetylase with a bound substrate-analog inhibitor.

The zinc-dependent UDP-3-O-acyl-N-acetylglucosamine deacetylase (LpxC) catalyzes the first committed step in the biosynthesis of lipid A, the hydrophobic anchor of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) that constitutes the outermost monolayer of Gram-negative bacteria. As LpxC is crucial for the survival of Gram-negative organisms and has no sequence homology to known mammalian deacetylases or amidases, it is an excellent target for the design of new antibiotics. The solution structure of LpxC from Aquifex aeolicus in complex with a substrate-analog inhibitor, TU-514, reveals a novel alpha/beta fold, a unique zinc-binding motif and a hydrophobic passage that captures the acyl chain of the inhibitor.

PACES: Protein sequential assignment by computer-assisted exhaustive search.

A crucial step in determining solution structures of proteins using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is the process of sequential assignment, which correlates backbone resonances to corresponding residues in the primary sequence of a protein, today, typically using data from triple-resonance NMR experiments. Although the development of automated approaches for sequential assignment has greatly facilitated this process, the performance of these programs is usually less satisfactory for large proteins, especially in the cases of missing connectivity or severe chemical shift degeneracy. Here, we report the development of a novel computer-assisted method for sequential assignment, using an algorithm that conducts an exhaustive search of all spin systems both for establishing sequential connectivities and then for assignment.

The family physician - anesthetist: a review of two training programs.

A considerable proportion of anesthetic services in Canada is provided by family-physician anesthetists, particularly in community hospitals and rural areas not served or not fully served by specialist anesthetists. In the 1970s, the Departments of Anesthesia of the Universities of Toronto and Western Ontario established short training programs to meet the needs of these physicians and communities. In 1983, both universities surveyed the physicians who had completed the programs to assess the characteristics of the practices of these physicians and to further discussion about the appropriate training for such settings.