Biochemical and structural insights of a recombinant AA16 LPMO from the marine and sponge-symbiont Peniophora sp.

Lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases (LPMOs) are copper-dependent enzymes that oxidize polysaccharides, leading to their cleavage. LPMOs are classified into eight CAZy families (AA9-11, AA13-17), with the functionality of AA16 being poorly characterized. This study presents biochemical and structural data for an AA16 LPMO (PnAA16) from the marine sponge symbiont Peniophora sp.

Global arthropod beta-diversity is spatially and temporally structured by latitude.

Global biodiversity gradients are generally expected to reflect greater species replacement closer to the equator. However, empirical validation of global biodiversity gradients largely relies on vertebrates, plants, and other less diverse taxa. Here we assess the temporal and spatial dynamics of global arthropod biodiversity dynamics using a beta-diversity framework.

BOLD v4: A Centralized Bioinformatics Platform for DNA-Based Biodiversity Data.

BOLD, the Barcode of Life Data System, supports the acquisition, storage, validation, analysis, and publication of DNA barcodes, activities requiring the integration of molecular, morphological, and distributional data. Its pivotal role in curating the reference library of DNA barcodes, coupled with its data management and analysis capabilities, makes it a central resource for biodiversity science. It enables rapid, accurate identification of specimens and also reveals patterns of genetic diversity and evolutionary relationships among taxa.

Reconsidering Luria's speech mediation: Verbalization and haptic picture identification in children with congenital total blindness.

Current accounts of behavioral and neurocognitive correlates of plasticity in blindness are just beginning to incorporate the role of speech and verbal production. We assessed Vygotsky/Luria's speech mediation hypothesis, according to which speech activity can become a mediating tool for perception of complex stimuli, specifically, for encoding tactual/haptic spatial patterns which convey pictorial information (haptic pictures). We compared verbalization in congenitally totally blind (CTB) and age-matched sighted but visually impaired (VI) children during a haptic picture naming task which included two repeated, test-retest, identifications.

Mapping the Initial Stages of a Protective Pathway that Enhances Catalytic Turnover by a Lytic Polysaccharide Monooxygenase.

Oxygenase and peroxygenase enzymes generate intermediates at their active sites which bring about the controlled functionalization of inert C-H bonds in substrates, such as in the enzymatic conversion of methane to methanol. To be viable catalysts, however, these enzymes must also prevent oxidative damage to essential active site residues, which can occur during both coupled and uncoupled turnover. Herein, we use a combination of stopped-flow spectroscopy, targeted mutagenesis, TD-DFT calculations, high-energy resolution fluorescence detection X-ray absorption spectroscopy, and electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy to study two transient intermediates that together form a protective pathway built into the active sites of copper-dependent lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases (LPMOs).

Metabolic, neuroendocrine and behavioral effects of social defeat in male and female mice using the chronic non-discriminatory social defeat stress model.

Stress-related disorders predominately affect females, yet preclinical models of chronic stress exclusively use males especially in models where social stressors are studied. Here, we implemented a 21-day novel social defeat paradigm in which a female and male C57 intruder are simultaneously placed in the cage of a territorial, resident CD-1 male mouse, and the resident proceeds to attack both intruders. Mice were given access to a regular laboratory diet, high in carbohydrates, and a palatable diet, high in fat.

A non-hallucinogenic LSD analog with therapeutic potential for mood disorders.

Hallucinations limit widespread therapeutic use of psychedelics as rapidly acting antidepressants. Here we profiled the non-hallucinogenic lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) analog 2-bromo-LSD (2-Br-LSD) at more than 33 aminergic G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). 2-Br-LSD shows partial agonism at several aminergic GPCRs, including 5-HT, and does not induce the head-twitch response (HTR) in mice, supporting its classification as a non-hallucinogenic 5-HT partial agonist.

Google Images Search Results as a Resource in the Anatomy Laboratory: Rating of Educational Value.

Background: Preclinical medical learners are embedded in technology-rich environments, allowing them rapid access to a large volume of information. The anatomy laboratory is an environment in which faculty can assess the development of professional skills such as information literacy in preclinical medical learners. In the anatomy laboratory, many students use Google Images searches in addition to or in place of other course materials as a resource to locate and identify anatomical structures.

Remembering James Barber (1940-2020).

James Barber, known to colleagues and friends as Jim, passed away in January 2020 after a long battle against cancer. During his long and distinguished career in photosynthesis research, Jim made many outstanding contributions with the pinnacle achieving his dream of determining the first detailed structure of the Mn cluster involved in photosynthetic water oxidation. Here, colleagues and friends remember Jim and reflect upon his scientific career and the impact he had on their lives and the scientific community.

Performing photosynthesis without β-carotene.

Research on mutant tobacco plants shows that a pigment called β-carotene is not necessary for photosynthesis.

A reference library for Canadian invertebrates with 1.5 million barcodes, voucher specimens, and DNA samples.

The reliable taxonomic identification of organisms through DNA sequence data requires a well parameterized library of curated reference sequences. However, it is estimated that just 15% of described animal species are represented in public sequence repositories. To begin to address this deficiency, we provide DNA barcodes for 1,500,003 animal specimens collected from 23 terrestrial and aquatic ecozones at sites across Canada, a nation that comprises 7% of the planet's land surface.

Photochemistry beyond the red limit in chlorophyll f-containing photosystems.

Photosystems I and II convert solar energy into the chemical energy that powers life. Chlorophyll a photochemistry, using red light (680 to 700 nm), is near universal and is considered to define the energy "red limit" of oxygenic photosynthesis. We present biophysical studies on the photosystems from a cyanobacterium grown in far-red light (750 nm).

Lycopene crystalloids exhibit singlet exciton fission in tomatoes.

Transient absorption studies conducted on in vitro lycopene aggregates, as well as on lycopene crystalloids inside tomato chromoplasts, reveal the appearance of a long-lived excited state, which we unambiguously identified as lycopene triplet. These triplet states must be generated by singlet exciton fission, which occurs from the lycopene 2Ag state. This is the first time the singlet fission process has ever been shown to occur in a biological material.

The versatility of the Karapandzic flap: A review of 65 cases with patient-reported outcomes.

Objective: The Karapandzic flap is an established technique for reconstruction of large lip defects and in our experience is particularly valuable in repair of the upper lateral lip and the commissures as well. We present our experience in a case series of 65 patients under one consultant.

Method: This is a retrospective study of patients who underwent Karapandzic flap repair for lip defects following cancer resection from 2007 to 2014 in North Yorkshire.

Counting animal species with DNA barcodes: Canadian insects.

Recent estimates suggest that the global insect fauna includes fewer than six million species, but this projection is very uncertain because taxonomic work has been limited on some highly diverse groups. Validation of current estimates minimally requires the investigation of all lineages that are diverse enough to have a substantial impact on the final species count. This study represents a first step in this direction; it employs DNA barcoding to evaluate patterns of species richness in 27 orders of Canadian insects.

Biodiversity inventories in high gear: DNA barcoding facilitates a rapid biotic survey of a temperate nature reserve.

Background: Comprehensive biotic surveys, or 'all taxon biodiversity inventories' (ATBI), have traditionally been limited in scale or scope due to the complications surrounding specimen sorting and species identification. To circumvent these issues, several ATBI projects have successfully integrated DNA barcoding into their identification procedures and witnessed acceleration in their surveys and subsequent increase in project scope and scale. The Biodiversity Institute of Ontario partnered with the rare Charitable Research Reserve and delegates of the 6th International Barcode of Life Conference to complete its own rapid, barcode-assisted ATBI of an established land trust in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada.

Untangling taxonomy: a DNA barcode reference library for Canadian spiders.

Approximately 1460 species of spiders have been reported from Canada, 3% of the global fauna. This study provides a DNA barcode reference library for 1018 of these species based upon the analysis of more than 30,000 specimens. The sequence results show a clear barcode gap in most cases with a mean intraspecific divergence of 0.

Streamlining the use of BOLD specimen data to record species distributions: a case study with ten Nearctic species of Microgastrinae (Hymenoptera: Braconidae).

The Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD) is designed to support the generation and application of DNA barcode data, but it also provides a unique source of data with potential for many research uses. This paper explores the streamlining of BOLD specimen data to record species distributions - and its fast publication using the Biodiversity Data Journal (BDJ), and its authoring platform, the Pensoft Writing Tool (PWT). We selected a sample of 630 specimens and 10 species of a highly diverse group of parasitoid wasps (Hymenoptera: Braconidae, Microgastrinae) from the Nearctic region and used the information in BOLD to uncover a significant number of new records (of locality, provinces, territories and states).

Dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) time-resolved magnetic resonance (MR) imaging is a technique whereby the passage of an intravenous contrast bolus can be tracked through the pulmonary vascular system. The aim of this study was to investigate the prognostic significance of DCE-MR pulmonary blood transit times in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Seventy-nine patients diagnosed with PAH underwent pulmonary DCE imaging at 1.

Singlet oxygen production by PSII under light stress: mechanism, detection and the protective role of β-carotene.

In this review, I outline the indirect evidence for the formation of singlet oxygen ((1)O(2)) obtained from experiments with the isolated PSII reaction center complex. I also review the methods we used to measure singlet oxygen directly, including luminescence at 1,270 nm, both steady state and time resolved. Other methods we used were histidine-catalyzed molecular oxygen uptake (enabling (1)O(2) yield measurements), and dye bleaching and difference absorption spectroscopy to identify where quenchers of (1)O(2) can access this toxic species.

Mechanisms underlying carotenoid absorption in oxygenic photosynthetic proteins.

The electronic properties of carotenoid molecules underlie their multiple functions throughout biology, and tuning of these properties by their in vivo locus is of vital importance in a number of cases. This is exemplified by photosynthetic carotenoids, which perform both light-harvesting and photoprotective roles essential to the photosynthetic process. However, despite a large number of scientific studies performed in this field, the mechanism(s) used to modulate the electronic properties of carotenoids remain elusive.

Responses of Eastern red-backed salamanders (Plethodon cinereus) to chemical cues of prey presented in soluble and volatile forms.

Terrestrial salamanders are able to detect prey items using chemical cues, but the nature of the cues involved is uncertain. This study aimed to tease apart the roles of the soluble and volatile components of prey cues detected by Eastern red-backed salamanders (Plethodon cinereus), assuming the likelihood that these different components are respectively detected by the vomeronasal (accessory) and main olfactory organs. Wild-caught salamanders were exposed to control or soluble and volatile cricket cues in two different behavioural assays conducted in the laboratory.

3D contrast-enhanced lung perfusion MRI is an effective screening tool for chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension: results from the ASPIRE Registry.

Background: Chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) is a complication of pulmonary embolism potentially curable by surgery. Perfusion scintigraphy is currently advocated as the imaging modality of choice to exclude CTEPH due to its high sensitivity. We have evaluated the diagnostic utility of lung perfusion MRI.

Lung morphology assessment with balanced steady-state free precession MR imaging compared with CT.

Purpose: To evaluate the utility of 1.5-T noncontrast magnetic resonance (MR) imaging of the lung parenchyma and to compare it with computed tomography (CT) in the assessment of interstitial lung disease and other morphologic lung abnormalities.

Materials And Methods: Institutional review board approval was obtained for retrospective image analysis.