Extensive spatial impacts of oyster reefs on an intertidal mudflat community via predator facilitation.

Habitat engineers make strong and far-reaching imprints on ecosystem processes. In intertidal mudflats, the dominant primary producer, microphytobenthos (MPB), often forms high biomass patches around oyster reefs. We evaluate multiple hypotheses linking MPB with oyster reefs, including oyster biodeposition, meiofaunal grazing, and abiotic factors, aiming to help predict effects of reef removal or proliferation.

Realistic environmental exposure to microplastics does not induce biological effects in the Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas.

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the presence and potential toxic effects of plastic fragments (<400 μm) of polyethylene and polypropylene on the Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas. Oysters were exposed to environmentally relevant concentrations (0, 0.008, 10, 100 μg of particles/L) during 10 days, followed by a depuration period of 10 days in clean seawater.

The dark side of soft tissues: Unexpected inorganic carbonate in the invasive slipper limpet Crepidula fornicata and its implications for stable isotope interpretations.

Rationale: Stable isotopic analysis is extensively used in trophic ecology. Inorganic carbonates, usually originating from shell fragments, are routinely removed from samples using an acid treatment because they affect δ C values. However, acid treatment can also change δ N values.

Cerebellar synapse properties and cerebellum-dependent motor and non-motor performance in -null mice.

Recent emphasis has been placed on the role that cerebellar dysfunctions could have in the genesis of cognitive deficits in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). However, relevant genotype-phenotype analyses are missing to define whether cerebellar defects underlie the severe cases of intellectual deficiency that have been associated with genetic loss of the smallest product of the gene, the Dp71 dystrophin. To determine for the first time whether Dp71 loss could affect cerebellar physiology and functions, we have used patch-clamp electrophysiological recordings in acute cerebellar slices and a cerebellum-dependent behavioral test battery addressing cerebellum-dependent motor and non-motor functions in null transgenic mice.

Native metabotropic glutamate receptor 4 depresses synaptic transmission through an unusual Gα transduction pathway.

In cerebellar cortex, mGlu receptors located on parallel fibers play an essential role in normal motor function, but the molecular mechanisms involved are not yet completely understood. Using a strategy combining biochemical and electrophysiological approaches in the rodent cerebellum, we demonstrate that presynaptic mGlu receptors control synaptic transmission through an atypical activation of Gα proteins. First, the Gα subunit, PLC and PKC signaling proteins present in cerebellar extracts are retained on affinity chromatography columns grafted with different sequences of the cytoplasmic domain of mGlu receptor.