Teladorsagia circumcincta larvae. Reproduced from R.H. Baker, PhD Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2012, with permission. Display omitted
•IgA-reactive proteins from Teladorsagia circumcincta L3s ...were immunoaffinity-enriched.•Previously-infected sheep had higher L3 antigen-specific IgA than naive sheep.•L3 antigen-specific IgA level was negatively correlated with T. circumcincta load.•L3 antigen-specific IgA level was positively correlated with inhibited L4 numbers.
Infection of small ruminants with Teladorsagia circumcincta has, until now, been controlled using a combination of pasture management and frequent anthelmintic treatments. Resistance to the commonly used anthelmintics has driven research into the development of a subunit vaccine, encouraged by the demonstration of development of protective immunity in sheep following exposure to this parasite. Local immune effectors in the abomasum, in particular IgA, are thought to play important roles in naturally- and experimentally-acquired immunity. L3s represent the first contact of this pathogen with the host immune system and, herein, the presence of L3 antigen-specific IgA was demonstrated in abomasal mucus from immune sheep. This antibody source was used to immunoaffinity purify and identify IgA-reactive molecules present in L3s. We identified 155 different proteins in this way, including a number of activation-associated secretory proteins, venom allergen-like-type proteins, detoxifying enzymes, galectins and a suite of other potential vaccine candidate molecules. Levels of immunoaffinity-enriched L3 antigen-specific IgA in gastric lymph from previously-infected sheep were statistically significantly higher (P=0.004) than those measured in helminth-free sheep and a statistically significant negative correlation (P=0.005, rs=−0.565) was identified between immunoaffinity-enriched L3 antigen-specific IgA levels in efferent gastric lymph and total T. circumcincta burden measured at necropsy. In addition, a statistically significant positive correlation (P=0.007, rs=0.534) was measured between immunoaffinity-enriched L3 antigen-specific IgA levels in efferent gastric lymph and the percentage of inhibited L4s enumerated at necropsy. These results indicate that the purified antigens contain components that could be strongly considered as vaccine candidates.
Archaean metabolic evolution of microbial mats Nisbet, E.G.; Fowler, C.M.R.
Proceedings of the Royal Society. B, Biological sciences,
12/1999, Letnik:
266, Številka:
1436
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Microbial mats of coexisting bacteria and archaea date back to the early Archaean: many of the major steps in early evolution probably took place within them. The earliest mats may have formed as ...biofilms of cooperative chemolithotrophs in hyperthermophile settings, with microbial exploitation of diversifying niches. Anoxygenic photosynthesis using bacteriochlorophyll could have allowed mats, including green gliding bacteria, to colonize anaerobic shallow-water mesothermophile habitats. Exploitation of the Calvin-Benson cycle by purple bacteria allowed diversification of microbial mats, with some organisms in more aerobic habitats, while green sulphur bacteria specialized in anaerobic niches. Cyanobacterial evolution led to more complex mats and plankton, allowing widespread colonization of the globe and the creation of further aerobic habitat. Microbial mat structure may reflect this evolutionary development in broad terms, with anaerobic lower levels occupied by archaeal and bacterial respirers, fermenters and green bacteria, while the higher levels contain aerobic purple bacteria and are dominated by cyanobacteria. A possible origin of eukaryotes is from a fusion of symbiotic partners living across a redox boundary in a mat. The geological record of Archaean mats may be present as isotopic fingerprints: with the presence of cyanobacteria, mats may have had a nearly modern structure as early as 3.5 Ga ago (1 Ga=109 years).
Engineered nanoparticles (ENPs) are entering agricultural soils through land application of nanocontaining biosolids and agrochemicals. The potential adverse effects of ENPs have been studied on food ...crops and soil bacterial communities separately; however, how ENPs will affect the interacting plant-soil system remains unknown. To address this, we assessed ENP effects on soil microbial communities in soybean-planted, versus unplanted, mesocosms exposed to different doses of nano-CeO2 (0-1.0 g kg(-1)) or nano-ZnO (0-0.5 g kg(-1)). Nano-CeO2 did not affect soil bacterial communities in unplanted soils, but 0.1 g kg(-1) nano-CeO2 altered soil bacterial communities in planted soils, indicating that plants interactively promote nano-CeO2 effects in soil, possibly due to belowground C shifts since plant growth was impacted. Nano-ZnO at 0.5 g kg(-1) significantly altered soil bacterial communities, increasing some (e.g., Rhizobium and Sphingomonas) but decreasing other (e.g., Ensifer, Rhodospirillaceae, Clostridium, and Azotobacter) operational taxonomic units (OTUs). Fewer OTUs decreased from nano-ZnO exposure in planted (41) versus unplanted (85) soils, suggesting that plants ameliorate nano-ZnO effects. Taken together, plants--potentially through their effects on belowground biogeochemistry--could either promote (i.e., for the 0.1 g kg(-1) nano-CeO2 treatment) or limit (i.e., for the 0.5 g kg(-1) nano-ZnO treatment) ENP effects on soil bacterial communities.
This paper details characterisation of an antigen that shows diagnostic potential for detection of cyathostomin developing larvae (late L3 and developing L4; illustrated below), nematode stages ...currently undetectable by available techniques.
Parasitic nematodes of the group Cyathostominae are an important cause of disease in horses. This group consists of approximately 50 species, all of which have similar life cycles that involve encystment of larval stages in the large intestinal wall. Encysted larvae can persist for months to years and, occasionally, large numbers can accumulate and emerge synchronously to cause severe pathology, resulting in diarrhoea, weight loss, colic and/or oedema. This syndrome, known as larval cyathostominosis, can be fatal in up to 50% of cases, despite treatment. There is no diagnostic method that enables detection of the encysted larval burden. Previously, we identified two native antigen complexes that showed utility as diagnostic markers for the estimation of cyathostomin encysted larval burdens. This paper reports the identification of a likely protein component of one of these antigen complexes. The protein, designated cyathostomin gut-associated larval antigen-1 (Cy-GALA-1), was isolated by immunoscreening a cyathostomin mixed-species, larval complementary DNA library using sera from experimentally-infected horses. The resultant recombinant protein, rCy-GALA-1, was expressed in
Escherichia coli and shown to be a target of serum IgG(T) responses in experimentally- and naturally- infected horse populations. Transcription of
Cy-gala-1 was restricted to cyathostomin encysted larvae and the presence of native protein was limited to developing larval stages. Importantly, rCy-GALA-1 exhibited no reactivity to serum from horses mono-specifically infected with other helminth species, nor did antisera, raised to the recombinant protein, bind to adult stage extracts of heterologous species. Immunohistochemical experiments located Cy-GALA-1 to the nematode gut. A region of the gene encoding orthologous GALA sequences was isolated from 10 separate cyathostomin species, indicating the ubiquity of the protein in this nematode group.
Methane emissions from geological reservoirs may have played a major role in the sudden events terminating glaciation, both at the start of the Bølling/Allerød and also at the end of the Younger ...Dryas. These reservoirs include Arctic methane hydrates and also methane hydrate stored in offshore marine sediments in tropical and temperate latitudes. Emissions from hydrate stores may have resonated with tropical wetland emissions, each reinforcing the other. Because methane is such a powerful greenhouse gas, much smaller emissions of methane, compared with carbon dioxide, are required in order to have the same short-term impact by climate forcing. The methane-linked hypothesis has much geological support from sea-floor evidence of emission. However, Greenland ice-core records have been interpreted as showing methane as a consequential factor, rather than the leader, of change. This interpretation can be challenged on the grounds that temperature gradients in Greenland ice record local changes and local timing of a step-like shift in weather fronts, while methane concentrations record changes on a hemispheric and global scale. There are large remaining hydrate reservoirs in the Arctic and in shelf sediments globally, and there is substantial risk of further emissions.
Methane emissions from Lompolojänkkä, a Finnish aapa mire within the Arctic Circle, were studied by non-intrusive Keeling plot methods, to place better constraints on the seasonal variations in ...isotopic signature of methane (δ
13
C
CH4
) emitted from Arctic wetland. Air samples were collected in Tedlar bags over the wetland at heights of 42 and 280 cm between May and October 2009 and in August 2008. The mixing ratio and δ
13
C of the methane in the samples were incorporated into Keeling plot analyses to derive bulk δ
13
C
CH4
signatures for the methane inputs to the air above the wetland. The results show an unexpected consistence in δ
13
C
CH4
from early to late summer, clustered around −68.5±0.7‰, but during spring thaw and autumnal freezing, δ
13
C
CH4
is enriched by approximately 2 and 4‰, respectively. The techniques reported in this paper are simple and economical to employ, and give a bulk source signature for the methane inputs to the air above the entire wetland that can be extrapolated to a larger regional area.
Sulphur and carbon isotopic analyses on small samples of kerogens and sulphide minerals from biogenic and non-biogenic sediments of the 2.7 × 109 years(Ga)-old Belingwe Greenstone Belt (Zimbabwe) ...imply that a complex biological sulphur cycle was in operation. Sulphur isotopic compositions display a wider range of biological fractionation than hitherto reported from the Archaean. Carbon isotopic values in kerogen record fractionations characteristic of rubisco activity, methanogenesis and methylotrophy, and possibly anoxygenic photosynthesis. Carbon and sulphur isotopic fractionations have been interpreted in terms of metabolic processes in 2.7Ga prokaryote mat communities, and indicate the operation of a diverse array of metabolic processes. The results are consistent with models of early molecular evolution derived from ribosomal RNA.
This work reassesses the global atmospheric budget of H2 with the TM5 model. The recent adjustment of the calibration scale for H2 translates into a change in the tropospheric burden. Furthermore, ...the ECMWF Reanalysis‐Interim (ERA‐Interim) data from the European Centre for Medium‐Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) used in this study show slower vertical transport than the operational data used before. Consequently, more H2 is removed by deposition. The deposition parametrization is updated because significant deposition fluxes for snow, water, and vegetation surfaces were calculated in our previous study. Timescales of 1–2 h are asserted for the transport of H2 through the canopies of densely vegetated regions. The global scale variability of H2 and δDH2 is well represented by the updated model. H2 is slightly overestimated in the Southern Hemisphere because too little H2 is removed by dry deposition to rainforests and savannahs. The variability in H2 over Europe is further investigated using a high‐resolution model subdomain. It is shown that discrepancies between the model and the observations are mainly caused by the finite model resolution. The tropospheric burden is estimated at 165±8 Tg H2. The removal rates of H2 by deposition and photochemical oxidation are estimated at 53±4 and 23±2 Tg H2/yr, resulting in a tropospheric lifetime of 2.2±0.2 year.
Key PointsGlobal and regional model validation for H2Re‐evaluation global budget of H2Relevance of using common calibration scale
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