A new genus and species of Eusiridae (Crustacea, Amphipoda, Amphilochidea) from bathyal sediments off the southwestern Gulf of Mexico.

A new monotypic genus of eusirid amphipod, Pseudorhachotropis gen. nov., is described and illustrated from a male specimen collected from bathyal soft bottoms (2321 m depth) in the southern Gulf of Mexico.

A new bathyal species of Pardaliscoides (Amphipoda, Amphilochidea, Pardaliscidae) from off the southwestern Gulf of Mexico.

A new species of pardaliscid amphipod is described and illustrated from a single male specimen collected from bathyal sediments (2125 m depth) in the southern Gulf of Mexico. The new species is morphologically closest to Pardaliscoides fictotelson Barnard, 1966, previously documented from Southern California, at 218 m depth. The new pardaliscid differs from other species in the genus in having antenna 1 with a 10-articulate accessory flagellum; maxilliped palp very long; pereopods 5-7 elongate, slender; basis pereopod 7 expanded; telson with a short U-shaped cleft and pointed lobes; uropods 1-2 outer ramus curved, peduncle flat, longer than rami; uropod 3 rami flat, fleshy-lined, with marginal distal short robust setae.

A new deep-sea species of Vemana J.L. Barnard, 1964 (Amphipoda, Amphilochidea, Vemanidae) from off southern Gulf of Mexico.

Vemanidae Lowry & Myers, 2017, is an amphipod family restricted to the world's deep waters, with four benthic species inhabiting both bathyal and abyssal zones from the Caribbean Sea, South California, and the Mozambique Channel. During an oceanographic campaign carried out in the southern Gulf of Mexico, a single male specimen of a new species of Vemana J.L.

Selective activation of Gαob by an adenosine A receptor agonist elicits analgesia without cardiorespiratory depression.

The development of therapeutic agonists for G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) is hampered by the propensity of GPCRs to couple to multiple intracellular signalling pathways. This promiscuous coupling leads to numerous downstream cellular effects, some of which are therapeutically undesirable. This is especially the case for adenosine A receptors (ARs) whose clinical potential is undermined by the sedation and cardiorespiratory depression caused by conventional agonists.

Can size distributions of European lake fish communities be predicted by trophic positions of their fish species?

An organism's body size plays an important role in ecological interactions such as predator-prey relationships. As predators are typically larger than their prey, this often leads to a strong positive relationship between body size and trophic position in aquatic ecosystems. The distribution of body sizes in a community can thus be an indicator of the strengths of predator-prey interactions.

The Role of ICL1 and H8 in Class B1 GPCRs; Implications for Receptor Activation.

The first intracellular loop (ICL1) of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) has received little attention, although there is evidence that, with the 8 helix (H8), it is involved in early conformational changes following receptor activation as well as contacting the G protein β subunit. In class B1 GPCRs, the distal part of ICL1 contains a conserved RKLRCxR motif that extends into the base of the second transmembrane helix; this is weakly conserved as a [R/H]KL[R/H] motif in class A GPCRs. In the current study, the role of ICL1 and H8 in signaling through cAMP, Ca and ERK1/2 has been examined in two class B1 GPCRs, using mutagenesis and molecular dynamics.

Rapid adaptation through genomic and epigenomic responses following translocations in an endangered salmonid.

Identifying the molecular mechanisms facilitating adaptation to new environments is a key question in evolutionary biology, especially in the face of current rapid and human-induced changes. Translocations have become an important tool for species conservation, but the attendant small population sizes and new ecological pressures might affect phenotypic and genotypic variation and trajectories dramatically and in unknown ways. In Scotland, the European whitefish () is native to only two lakes and vulnerable to extirpation.

Complex and divergent histories gave rise to genome-wide divergence patterns amongst European whitefish (Coregonus lavaretus).

Pleistocene glaciations dramatically affected species distribution in regions that were impacted by ice cover and subsequent postglacial range expansion impacted contemporary biodiversity in complex ways. The European whitefish, Coregonus lavaretus, is a widely distributed salmonid fish species on mainland Europe, but in Britain it has only seven native populations, all of which are found on the western extremes of the island. The origins and colonization routes of the species into Britain are unknown but likely contributed to contemporary genetic patterns and regional uniqueness.

Structure-based identification of dual ligands at the AR and PDE10A with anti-proliferative effects in lung cancer cell-lines.

Enhanced/prolonged cAMP signalling has been suggested as a suppressor of cancer proliferation. Interestingly, two key modulators that elevate cAMP, the A receptor (AR) and phosphodiesterase 10A (PDE10A), are differentially co-expressed in various types of non-small lung cancer (NSCLC) cell-lines. Thus, finding dual-target compounds, which are simultaneously agonists at the AR whilst also inhibiting PDE10A, could be a novel anti-proliferative approach.

A new deep-sea species of Epimeria Costa in Hope, 1851 (Amphipoda, Amphilochidea, Epimeriidae) from off southwestern Mexico.

A single ovigerous female specimen of a new species of Epimeria Costa in Hope, 1851 was collected from deep sea, off southwestern Mexico, in the eastern Pacific. Epimeria karamani sp. nov.

Validation of Shoemakerella fissipro Ortiz, Capetillo amp; Winfield, from the Gulf of California, northeastern Pacific Ocean (Amphipoda: Amphilochidea: Lysianassidae).

Ortiz et al. (2018) described a new species of lysianassid amphipod, Shoemakerella fissipro, from Gulf of California, northeastern Pacific Ocean. Although the description and figures presented by Ortiz et al.

Updated checklist and identification key of benthic tanaidaceans (Crustacea: Peracarida) of the sublittoral zone of the northern Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico.

A taxonomic checklist of sublittoral tanaidaceans from the north coast of the Yucatan Peninsula, southern Gulf of Mexico, is presented in this study; it includes notes on geographic distribution, habitat, and an identification key. The genus Cacoheterotanais and the species Cacoheterotanais rogerbamberi, Mesokalliapseudes macsweenyi, Pagurotanais largoensis, Parakonarus juliae, and Psammokalliapseudes granulosus have their known distribution range within the Gulf of Mexico expanded, and are considered new records; this increases the number of tanaidacean species to 23 for the southeastern Gulf, and to 87 for the entire Gulf of Mexico.

Elevated intracellular cAMP concentration mediates growth suppression in glioma cells.

Supressed levels of intracellular cAMP have been associated with malignancy. Thus, elevating cAMP through activation of adenylyl cyclase (AC) or by inhibition of phosphodiesterase (PDE) may be therapeutically beneficial. Here, we demonstrate that elevated cAMP levels suppress growth in C6 cells (a model of glioma) through treatment with forskolin, an AC activator, or a range of small molecule PDE inhibitors with differing selectivity profiles.

Invasive non-native species likely to threaten biodiversity and ecosystems in the Antarctic Peninsula region.

The Antarctic is considered to be a pristine environment relative to other regions of the Earth, but it is increasingly vulnerable to invasions by marine, freshwater and terrestrial non-native species. The Antarctic Peninsula region (APR), which encompasses the Antarctic Peninsula, South Shetland Islands and South Orkney Islands, is by far the most invaded part of the Antarctica continent. The risk of introduction of invasive non-native species to the APR is likely to increase with predicted increases in the intensity, diversity and distribution of human activities.

Effects of size- and sex-selective harvesting: An integral projection model approach.

Harvesting is often size-selective, and in species with sexual size dimorphism, it may also be sex-selective. A powerful approach to investigate potential consequences of size- and/or sex-selective harvesting is to simulate it in a demographic population model. We developed a population-based integral projection model for a size- and sex-structured species, the commonly exploited pike ().

Interactions between RAMP2 and CRF receptors: The effect of receptor subtypes, splice variants and cell context.

Corticotrophin releasing factor (CRF) acts via two family B G-protein-coupled receptors, CRFR1 and CRFR2. Additional subtypes exist due to alternative splicing. CRFR1α is the most widely expressed subtype and lacks a 29-residue insert in the first intracellular loop that is present in CRFR1β.

Modelling and simulation of biased agonism dynamics at a G protein-coupled receptor.

Theoretical models of G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) concentration-response relationships often assume an agonist producing a single functional response via a single active state of the receptor. These models have largely been analysed assuming steady-state conditions. There is now much experimental evidence to suggest that many GPCRs can exist in multiple receptor conformations and elicit numerous functional responses, with ligands having the potential to activate different signalling pathways to varying extents-a concept referred to as biased agonism, functional selectivity or pluri-dimensional efficacy.

Assessing the role of bed sediments in the persistence of red mud pollution in a shallow lake (Kinghorn Loch, UK).

Red mud is a by-product of alumina production. Little is known about the long-term fate of red mud constituents in fresh waters or of the processes regulating recovery of fresh waters following pollution control. In 1983, red mud leachate was diverted away from Kinghorn Loch, UK, after many years of polluting this shallow and monomictic lake.

Receptor Activity-modifying Protein-directed G Protein Signaling Specificity for the Calcitonin Gene-related Peptide Family of Receptors.

The calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) family of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) is formed through the association of the calcitonin receptor-like receptor (CLR) and one of three receptor activity-modifying proteins (RAMPs). Binding of one of the three peptide ligands, CGRP, adrenomedullin (AM), and intermedin/adrenomedullin 2 (AM2), is well known to result in a Gα-mediated increase in cAMP. Here we used modified yeast strains that couple receptor activation to cell growth, via chimeric yeast/Gα subunits, and HEK-293 cells to characterize the effect of different RAMP and ligand combinations on this pathway.

A new species of the genus Melita (Amphipoda, Hadzioidea, Melitidae) from anchialine pool on the Cozumel Island, NE Caribbean Sea.

A new species of genus Melita collected from anchialine pool (Cenote Aerolito) on Cozumel Island is described.  Distinctive characters of male of the new species include an accessory flagellum 4-articulate; palm of gnathopod 2 with long setae; urosomite 2 with two robust setae on right side, and one on left. Female of the new species differs by coxa 6 without lateral ridge at base of hook, and anteroventral angle without stridulating ridges on anteroventral process; gnathopods 1-2 covered with long setae on articles 5-6.

Phenological sensitivity to climate across taxa and trophic levels.

Differences in phenological responses to climate change among species can desynchronise ecological interactions and thereby threaten ecosystem function. To assess these threats, we must quantify the relative impact of climate change on species at different trophic levels. Here, we apply a Climate Sensitivity Profile approach to 10,003 terrestrial and aquatic phenological data sets, spatially matched to temperature and precipitation data, to quantify variation in climate sensitivity.