A dated molecular phylogeny of mite harvestmen (Arachnida: Opiliones: Cyphophthalmi) elucidates ancient diversification dynamics in the Australian Wet Tropics.

Austropurcellia, a genus of dispersal-limited arachnids endemic to isolated patches of coastal rainforest in Queensland, Australia, has a remarkable biogeographic history. The genus is a member of the family Pettalidae, which has a classical temperate Gondwanan distribution; previous work has suggested that Austropurcellia is an ancient lineage, with an origin that predates Gondwanan rifting. Subsequently, this lineage has persisted through major climatic fluctuations, such as major aridification during the Miocene and contraction and fragmentation of forest habitats during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM).

Improvement in overactive bladder symptoms in patients using functional electrical stimulation of the common peroneal nerve for walking.

Objective: Functional electrical stimulation is used to improve walking speed and reduces falls in people with upper motor neurone foot-drop. Following anecdotal observations of changes in bladder symptoms, an observational study was performed to explore this association further.

Design: A total of 47 consecutive patients attending for setup with functional electrical stimulation during a six-month period were asked to complete a questionnaire assessing bladder symptoms (ICIQ-OAB (International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire Overactive Bladder)) at baseline and three  months during routine appointments.

A revised dated phylogeny of scorpions: Phylogenomic support for ancient divergence of the temperate Gondwanan family Bothriuridae.

The scorpion family Bothriuridae occupies a subset of landmasses formerly constituting East and West temperate Gondwana, but its relationship to other scorpion families is in question. Whereas morphological data have strongly supported a sister group relationship of Bothriuridae and the superfamily Scorpionoidea, a recent phylogenomic analysis recovered a basal placement of bothriurids within Iurida, albeit sampling only a single exemplar. Here we reexamined the phylogenetic placement of the family Bothriuridae, sampling six bothriurid exemplars representing both East and West Gondwana, using transcriptomic data.

Differential membrane binding and diacylglycerol recognition by C1 domains of RasGRPs.

RasGRPs (guanine-nucleotide-releasing proteins) are exchange factors for membrane-bound GTPases. All RasGRP family members contain C1 domains which, in other proteins, bind DAG (diacylglycerol) and thus mediate the proximal signal-transduction events induced by this lipid second messenger. The presence of C1 domains suggests that all RasGRPs could be regulated by membrane translocation driven by C1-DAG interactions.

Lipid-induced conformational switch in the membrane binding domain of CTP:phosphocholine cytidylyltransferase: a circular dichroism study.

CTP:phosphocholine cytidylyltranferase (CCT) regulates phosphatidylcholine (PC) biosynthesis. Its activity is controlled by reversible interactions with membrane lipids, mediated by an internal segment referred to as domain M. Although domain M peptides adopt an amphipathic alpha-helical structure when membrane bound, the structure of this domain in the context of the whole enzyme in the lipid-free and lipid-bound state is unknown.

Both acidic and basic amino acids in an amphitropic enzyme, CTP:phosphocholine cytidylyltransferase, dictate its selectivity for anionic membranes.

Amphitropic proteins are regulated by reversible membrane interaction. Anionic phospholipids generally promote membrane binding of such proteins via electrostatics between the negatively charged lipid headgroups and clusters of basic groups on the proteins. In this study of one amphitropic protein, a cytidylyltransferase (CT) that regulates phosphatidylcholine synthesis, we found that substitution of lysines to glutamine along both interfacial strips of the membrane-binding amphipathic helix eliminated electrostatic binding.