Unusual Life Research Articles

Long time no see – rediscovery of peculiar ephemeral fern Anogramma leptophylla (L.) Link in Croatia

Abstract Anogramma leptophylla is one of the rarest fern species in Balkan Peninsula. In Croatia, several localities were noted prior to this study, when its presence was confirmed with a discovery of a small population on the island of Mljet (Southern Adriatic). This was, after almost 80 years, the first reliable finding of this species along Eastern Adriatic. The establishment of A. leptophylla on the western part of the island of Mljet may be attributable to certain favourable environmental conditions, but essentially to higher air and soil humidity. Its unusual bryophyte-like life strategy, with short-living annual sporophytes, facilitates its survival under Mediterranean climate, generally unfavourable for pteridophytes.

Unusual life cycle and impact on microfibril assembly of ADAMTS17, a secreted metalloprotease mutated in genetic eye disease

Secreted metalloproteases have diverse roles in the formation, remodeling, and the destruction of extracellular matrix. Recessive mutations in the secreted metalloprotease ADAMTS17 cause ectopia lentis and short stature in humans with Weill-Marchesani-like syndrome and primary open angle glaucoma and ectopia lentis in dogs. Little is known about this protease or its connection to fibrillin microfibrils, whose major component, fibrillin-1, is genetically associated with ectopia lentis and alterations in height. Fibrillin microfibrils form the ocular zonule and are present in the drainage apparatus of the eye. We show that recombinant ADAMTS17 has unique characteristics and an unusual life cycle. It undergoes rapid autocatalytic processing in trans after its secretion from cells. Secretion of ADAMTS17 requires O-fucosylation and its autocatalytic activity does not depend on propeptide processing by furin. ADAMTS17 binds recombinant fibrillin-2 but not fibrillin-1 and does not cleave either. It colocalizes to fibrillin-1 containing microfibrils in cultured fibroblasts and suppresses fibrillin-2 (FBN2) incorporation in microfibrils, in part by transcriptional downregulation of Fbn2 mRNA expression. RNA in situ hybridization detected Adamts17 expression in specific structures in the eye, skeleton and other organs, where it may regulate the fibrillin isoform composition of microfibrils.

The maximum growth rate of life on Earth

AbstractLife on Earth spans a range of temperatures and exhibits biological growth rates that are temperature dependent. While the observation that growth rates are temperature dependent is well known, we have recently shown that the statistical distribution of specific growth rates for life on Earth is a function of temperature (Corkreyet al., 2016). The maximum rates of growth of all life have a distinct limit, even when grown under optimal conditions, and which vary predictably with temperature. We term this distribution of growth rates the biokinetic spectrum for temperature (BKST). The BKST possibly arises from a trade-off between catalytic activity and stability of enzymes involved in a rate-limiting Master Reaction System (MRS) within the cell. We develop a method to extrapolate quantile curves for the BKST to obtain the posterior probability of the maximum rate of growth of any form of life on Earth. The maximum rate curve conforms to the observed data except below 0°C and above 100°C where the predicted value may be positively biased. The deviation below 0°C may arise from the bulk properties of water, while the degradation of biomolecules may be important above 100°C. The BKST has potential application in astrobiology by providing an estimate of the maximum possible growth rate attainable by terrestrial life and perhaps life elsewhere. We suggest that the area under the maximum growth rate curve and the peak rate may be useful characteristics in considerations of habitability. The BKST can serve as a diagnostic for unusual life, such as second biogenesis or non-terrestrial life. Since the MRS must have been heavily conserved the BKST may contain evolutionary relics. The BKST can serve as a signature summarizing the nature of life in environments beyond Earth, or to characterize species arising from a second biogenesis on Earth.

Long time no see – rediscovery of peculiar ephemeral fern Anogramma leptophylla (L.) Link in Croatia

Abstract Anogramma leptophylla is one of the rarest fern species in Balkan Peninsula. In Croatia, several localities were noted prior to this study, when its presence was confirmed with a discovery of a small population on the island of Mljet (Southern Adriatic). This was, after almost 80 years, the first reliable finding of this species along Eastern Adriatic. The establishment of A. leptophylla on the western part of the island of Mljet may be attributable to certain favourable environmental conditions, but essentially to higher air and soil humidity. Its unusual bryophyte-like life strategy, with short-living annual sporophytes, facilitates its survival under Mediterranean climate, generally unfavourable for pteridophytes.

Biliary Secretion of Quasi-Enveloped Human Hepatitis A Virus.

ABSTRACTHepatitis A virus (HAV) is an unusual picornavirus that is released from cells cloaked in host-derived membranes. These quasi-enveloped virions (eHAV) are the only particle type circulating in blood during infection, whereas only nonenveloped virions are shed in feces. The reason for this is uncertain. Hepatocytes, the only cell type known to support HAV replication in vivo, are highly polarized epithelial cells with basolateral membranes facing onto hepatic (blood) sinusoids and apical membranes abutting biliary canaliculi from which bile is secreted to the gut. To assess whether eHAV and nonenveloped virus egress from cells via vectorially distinct pathways, we studied infected polarized cultures of Caco-2 and HepG2-N6 cells. Most (>99%) progeny virions were released apically from Caco-2 cells, whereas basolateral (64%) versus apical (36%) release was more balanced with HepG2-N6 cells. Both apically and basolaterally released virions were predominantly enveloped, with no suggestion of differential vectorial release of eHAV versus naked virions. Basolateral to apical transcytosis of either particle type was minimal (<0.02%/h) in HepG2-N6 cells, arguing against this as a mechanism for differences in membrane envelopment of serum versus fecal virus. High concentrations of human bile acids converted eHAV to nonenveloped virions, whereas virus present in bile from HAV-infected Ifnar1−/− Ifngr1−/− and Mavs−/− mice banded over a range of densities extending from that of eHAV to that of nonenveloped virions. We conclude that nonenveloped virions shed in feces are derived from eHAV released across the canalicular membrane and stripped of membranes by the detergent action of bile acids within the proximal biliary canaliculus.

Seasonal morphometry of the vomeronasal organ in the marsupial mouse, Antechinus subtropicus.

ABSTRACTThe vomeronasal system consists of a peripheral organ and the connected central neuronal networks. The central connections are sexually dimorphic in rodents, and in some species, parameters of the vomeronasal organ (VNO) vary with sex, hormonal exposure, body size and seasonality. The VNO of the dasyurid marsupial mouse, Antechinus subtropicus is presumed to be functional. The unusual life history (male semelparity) is marked by distinct seasonality with differences in hormonal environments both between males and females, and in males at different time points. Body size parameters (e.g., length, weight) display sexual dimorphism and, in males, a pronounced weight gain before breeding is followed by a rapid decline during the single, short reproductive season. VNO morphometry was investigated in male and female A. subtropicus to identify possible life cycle associated activity. The overall length of the VNO is positively correlated with the size of the animal. The amount of sensory epithelium exhibits a negative correlation, decreasing with increasing size of the animal. The effects of sex and breeding condition are not obvious, although they do suggest that sensory vomeronasal epithelium mass declines in the breeding period. The VNO may be more important in A. subtropicus before breeding when it may participate in synchronising reproduction and in the development of the male stress response. J. Morphol. 277:1517–1530, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Mycamoeba gemmipara nov. gen., nov. sp., the First Cultured Member of the Environmental Dermamoebidae Clade LKM74 and its Unusual Life Cycle.

Since the first environmental DNA surveys, entire groups of sequences called "environmental clades" did not have any cultured representative. LKM74 is an amoebozoan clade affiliated to Dermamoebidae, whose presence is pervasively reported in soil and freshwater. We obtained an isolate from soil that we assigned to LKM74 by molecular phylogeny, close related to freshwater clones. We described Mycamoeba gemmipara based on observations made with light- and transmission electron microscopy. It is an extremely small amoeba with typical lingulate shape. Unlike other Dermamoebidae, it lacked ornamentation on its cell membrane, and condensed chromatin formed characteristic patterns in the nucleus. M.gemmipara displayed a unique life cycle: trophozoites formed walled coccoid stages which grew through successive buddings and developed into branched structures holding cysts. These structures, measuring hundreds of micrometres, are built as the exclusive product of osmotrophic feeding. To demonstrate that M.gemmipara is a genuine soil inhabitant, we screened its presence in an environmental soil DNA diversity survey performed on an experimental setup where pig cadavers were left to decompose in soils to follow changes in eukaryotic communities. Mycamoeba gemmipara was present in all samples, although related reads were uncommon underneath the cadaver.

Law and Human Suffering: A Slice of Life in Vichy France

This essay discusses three diaries from the Vichy era, the period of the Nazi Occupation of France: Jean Guehenno’s Journal des annees noires 1940-1944, Helene Berr’s Journal, and Jacqueline Mesnil-Amar’s Ceux qui ne dormaient pas. Guehenno was an educator and writer who entered the Resistance in 1940. His diary offers deep moral reflection as well as accounts of the dishonorable peace Vichy imposed and the ignoble servitude to which the new collaborationist French State and the Nazi occupier subjected France. In the final pages, as Leclerc’s army marches into Paris, with a victory he understands to be thanks to the help of the Allied forces, Guehenno dares to rekindle his former faith in humankind. Berr was a young university student born into a wealthy old French Jewish family, the daughter of a famous scientist. Sensitive and generous-spirited, she lived an unusual life inasmuch as her family seemed to suffer no material hardship throughout the years that culminated in their deportation in the spring of 1944. Among the memorable events of her diary is her experience of the first day she was forced to wear the yellow star. Finally, Mesnil-Amar’s diary spans just one month at the end of the war in France, the month in which her husband has been detained and is about to be deported on the last train to leave Paris. The diary evokes her embracing of Jewish identity as a result of being identified as Jewish by anti-Semites. The lyricism of her writing approaches poetry in a work that is both a retrospective and a love letter to her husband. These diaries show us a slice of life of the times, but they also spur us to reflection on law and humanity, their limitations, potentials and fluctuations.

Sexual versus Asexual Reproduction: Distinct Outcomes in Relative Abundance of Parthenogenetic Mealybugs following Recent Colonization.

Asexual reproduction, including parthenogenesis in which embryos develop within a female without fertilization, is assumed to confer advantages over sexual reproduction, which includes a “cost of males.” Sexual reproduction largely predominates in animals, however, indicating that this cost is outweighed by the genetic and/or ecological benefits of sexuality, including the acquisition of advantageous mutations occurring in different individuals and the elimination of deleterious mutations. But the evolution of sexual reproduction remains unclear, because we have limited examples that demonstrate the relative success of sexual lineages in the face of competition from asexual lineages in the same environment. Here we investigated a sympatric occurrence of sexual and asexual reproduction in the pineapple mealybug, Dysmicoccus brevipes. This pest invaded southwestern Japan, including Okinawa and Ishigaki Islands, in the 1930s in association with imported pineapple plants. Our recent censuses demonstrated that on Okinawa sexually reproducing individuals can coexist with and even dominate asexual individuals in the presence of habitat and resource competition, which is considered to be severe for this nearly immobile insect. Molecular phylogeny based on partial DNA sequences in the mitochondrial and nuclear genomes, as well as the endosymbiotic bacterial genome, revealed that the asexual lineage diverged from a common sexual ancestor in the relatively recent past. In contrast, only the asexual lineage exhibiting obligate apomictic thelytoky was discovered on Ishigaki. Co-existence of the two lineages cannot be explained by the results of laboratory experiments, which showed that the intrinsic rate of increase in the sexual lineage was not obviously superior to that of the asexual lineage. Differences in biotic and/or abiotic selective forces operating on the two islands might be the cause of this discrepancy. This biological system offers a unique opportunity to assess the relative success of sexual versus asexual lineages with an unusual morphology and life cycle.

Zachsia zenkewitschi (Teredinidae), a Rare and Unusual Seagrass Boring Bivalve Revisited and Redescribed

The sea-grass borer Zachsia zenkewitschi belongs to a group of economically and ecologically important bivalves, commonly referred to as shipworms. The sole recognized representative of the genus Zachsia, this species displays an unusual life history and reproductive strategy that is now understood to include: environmental sex determination of free swimming larvae, extreme sexual and size dimorphism between males and females, internal fertilization, maintenance of often large harems of male dwarfs within a specialized cavity of the female mantle, and complex maternal care of larvae in specialized brood pouches within the gill. It is also the only shipworm species known to burrow in sea grass rhizomes rather than terrestrial wood. Although Z. zenkewitschi is rare and little studied, understanding of its biology and anatomy has evolved substantially, rendering some aspects of its original description inaccurate. Moreover, no existing type specimens are known for this species. In light of these facts, we designate a neotype from among specimens recently collected at the type location, and undertake a re-description of this species, accounting for recent reinterpretation of its life history and functional anatomy.

From Clinging to Digging: The Postembryonic Skeletal Ontogeny of the Indian Purple Frog, Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis (Anura: Nasikabatrachidae).

The Indian Purple frog, Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis, occupies a basal phylogenetic position among neobatrachian anurans and has a very unusual life history. Tadpoles have a large ventral oral sucker, which they use to cling to rocks in torrents, whereas metamorphs possess adaptations for life underground. The developmental changes that underlie these shifts in habits and habitats, and especially the internal remodeling of the cranial and postcranial skeleton, are unknown. Using a nearly complete metamorphic series from free-living larva to metamorph, we describe the postembryonic skeletal ontogeny of this ancient and unique monotypic lineage. The torrent-dwelling larva possesses a dorsoventrally flattened body and a head with tiny dorsal eyes, robust lower and upper jaw cartilages, well-developed trabecular horns, and a definable gap between the trabecular horns and the tip of the snout. Unlike tadpoles of many other frogs, those of Nasikabatrachus retain larval mouthparts into late metamorphic stages. This unusual feature enables the larvae to maintain their clinging habit until near the end of metamorphosis. The subsequent ontogenetic shift from clinging to digging is correlated with rapid morphological changes and behavioral modifications. Metamorphs are equipped with a shortened tibiafibula and ossified prehallical elements, which likely facilitate initial digging using the hind limbs. Subsequently, the frogs may shift to headfirst burrowing by using the wedge-shaped skull, anteriorly positioned pectoral girdle, well-developed humeral crests and spatula-shaped forelimbs. The transition from an aquatic life in torrents to a terrestrial life underground entails dramatic changes in skeletal morphology and function that represent an extreme in metamorphic remodeling. Our analysis enhances the scope for detailed comparative studies across anurans, a group renowned for the diversity of its life history strategies.

Jill Lepore, The Secret History of Wonder Woman

Jill Lepore's The Secret History of Wonder Woman reads like a historical detective story. The story of the creation of Wonder Woman is really three intersecting stories about the origins of feminism and the birth control movement, and the unusual life of Wonder Woman's creator, William Moulton Marston. Lepore, who teaches history at Harvard and is a staff writer at The New Yorker, reaches beyond history and popular culture to reveal a treasure chest of secrets about Wonder Woman's creator and his uncommon and historically significant family. Lepore's wise, lucid and deeply researched book is a rewarding blend of cultural history, psychology and sociology, told with zest and a novelist’s command of narrative.

Babesia divergens builds a complex population structure composed of specific ratios of infected cells to ensure a prompt response to changing environmental conditions.

Babesia parasites cause a malaria-like febrile illness by infection of red blood cells (RBCs). Despite the growing importance of this tick-borne infection, its basic biology has been neglected. Using novel synchronization tools, the sequence of intra-erythrocytic events was followed from invasion through development and differentiation to egress. The dynamics of the parasite population were studied in culture, revealing for the first time, the complete array of morphological forms in a precursor-product relationship. Important chronological constants including Babesia's highly unusual variable intra-erythrocytic life cycle, the life span of each population of infected cells and the time required for the genesis of the different parasite stages were elucidated. Importantly, the maintenance of specific ratios of the infected RBC populations was shown to be responsible for the parasites' choice of developmental pathways, enabling swift responses to changing environmental conditions like availability of RBCs and nutrition. These results could impact the control of parasite proliferation and therefore disease.

Proverbes Dramatiques by Madame de Maintenon

Reviewed by: Proverbes Dramatiques by Madame de Maintenon Cathleen M. Bauschatz Madame de Maintenon. Proverbes Dramatiques. Eds. Perry Gethner & Theresa Varney Kennedy. Paris : Classiques Garnier, 2014. Pp 343. ISBN 978-2-8124-3233-0. 49 € (Paper). Françoise d’Aubigné, Marquise de Maintenon (1635—1719), has become increasingly well known in the past thirty years, due to the growing interest in women writers of the “Ancien Régime,” as well as in women’s earlier roles in politics and in education. Many biographies and novels about Madame de [End Page 150] Maintenon have been published in both French and English, based on her unusual life as grand-daughter of Huguenot poet Agrippa d’Aubigné, wife of burlesque satirist Paul Scarron, secret wife of Louis XIV after the death of Queen Marie Thérèse, and founder of a girls’ school, Saint Cyr in 1686, for which playwright Jean Racine wrote his two late Biblical tragedies, Esther and Athalie. Her writings are less known, not even mentioned in such earlier reference works as the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica. In fact, Madame de Maintenon wrote voluminous letters, “Conversations” in the style of Mlle. de Scudéry, lectures on girls’ education, and the “Proverbes Dramatiques,” which have recently been re-published by Perry Gethner and Theresa Varney Kennedy. The editors have added an informative introduction on Maintenon’s life, writings, the proverb genre, themes and ideology of these works, and their dramaturgy. It is also useful to read Prof. Kennedy’s recent article in Women in French Studies (2014 Special Issue on Women and Theater), “Staging the Impossible Femme Forte in Madame de Maintenon’s Dramatic Conversations.” This article on the Conversations explains some of the theoretical issues which also will arise in the Proverbes, a second set of dramatic scenes involving decisions confronting young girls from poor noble families, as they leave school at about twenty. These Proverbes were not published until the mid-nineteenth century, and Gethner and Kennedy’s edition is the first since then. The Proverbes Dramatiques vary in length, but generally present a group of characters faced with a decision: whom to marry? whether to go into the army? whether to move from Paris to the provinces? At the end of each scene, a well-known proverb is enunciated, which states the (usually pessimistic) view of human nature illustrated by the previous scene or scenes. Spectators were expected to guess the proverb, in a typical “salon” game of the seventeenth century. The wit and intelligence required to guess which proverb a scene illustrates is sometimes at odds with the ponderous moral of many of them, as Kennedy has explained in her article. Most characters seem to be presented as “good” or “bad,” but sometimes the “bad” characters are more attractive, and the final proverbs occasionally appear to bear this impression out. It is hard to give a complete idea of the Proverbes Dramatiques in a short review. In the order chosen by the editors, the scenes increase in length and complexity as we move through the book. Most characters are women, typically mothers and daughters, but male characters such as husbands, brothers, and suitors also appear (and must have been played by girls at Saint Cyr, an intriguing paradox in itself). Many interesting aspects of seventeenth-century life are revealed, such as relationships with servants, the prevalence of lawsuits, distaste for country life, the cost of entering the army, superficiality of court life, etc. Despite the urban setting of most scenes, the proverbs themselves recall the rural context of the oral tradition: “Bon cheval de trompette ne s’effraye point du bruit;” “Il se souvient toujours à Robin de ses flûtes;” “A brebis tondue Dieu mesure le vent;” “Si chacun faisait son métier, les vaches seraient mieux gardées;” “Où la chèvre est liée, il faut qu’elle broute.” [End Page 151] The Proverbes Dramatiques could be read and performed in intermediate or advanced French classes, since the vocabulary is not difficult, except for some earlier usages explained in notes by Gethner and Kennedy. Students will find shocking the submissive role outlined for women in marriage, but that fact should certainly provide much material for discussion...

Stephen C. Stearns and Ruslan Medzhitov, Evolutionary Medicine.

This book is a gem of a textbook about the principles of evolutionary thinking and the relevance of evolutionary biology to clinical medicine. The authors draw upon decades of experience teaching medical students at Yale, with interesting examples, including experimental observations in other species. Their format with a detailed table of contents and cogent summaries within each chapter is helpful. Every trait/every organism has a history. A transposon insertion enabled the emergence of the vertebrate adaptive immune system with antibody diversity. Invasive placentas carry the tradeoff risk of metastasis by cancers of glandular tissues. Some genetic variations are associated with specific infectious disease risks. In pharmacogenomics, copy number variants of CYP drug metabolizing genes guide drug developers to design drugs around such highly variable human traits. Mismatches of species inheritance and modern environments test ‘reaction norms’ and lead to risks of metabolic syndrome and related disorders, though the relevance of sterotyped ‘paleodiets’ is challenged in the closing chapter. Allocation of energy probably explains tradeoffs of number of offspring versus survival of individuals. Early chapters draw the interest of students/readers with the themes ‘What is a patient?’ and ‘What is a disease?’ Humans have an unusual life history in several traits with medical significance. Our infants are large, fat and relatively underdeveloped at birth, compared with chimps, with brain size increasing for 7 years and large adolescent growth spurts, three years earlier in girls than in boys. Chimps do not have menopause. The authors seem dubious about the ‘thrifty genotype’ and ‘thrifty phenotype’ hypotheses. They note associations with reported changes in microbiomes, including autoimmune disorders. Patients are mosaics of traits of different evolutionary ages and bundles of tradeoffs with plastic responses to their current environments. In classifying diseases, they properly emphasize genotype × environment and gene × gene × environment interactions. They recognize the complexities of diseases that are by-products of defense systems or homeostasis or maternal-paternal conflicts. An overarching principle is that most diseases have both mechanistic and evolutionary explanations. Such an analysis enriches our thinking about disease and disease prevention, with inflammatory bowel disease and the vulnerability of neurons, myocardium, and kidney as terrific examples. The characteristics and costs of our evolved defenses constitute a particularly intriguing chapter, embracing the interrelations of homeostasis, maintenance and constitutive and inducible defense mechanisms of many types. The examples are current, including proteosomal, lysosomal and autophagocytic removal of damaged proteins and lipids; degradation in these mechanisms is associated with various processes of aging. Of course, the evolutionary logic of a particular cost-benefit ratio for a defense mechanism may now be obscure because it was determined long ago for environmental exposures and physiological priorities of that era, as illustrated with starvation, dehydration, extreme heat and cold, predators and pathogens. Subsequent chapters address pathogen and symbiont exposure, cancers (we should always use the plural), reproductive medicine and mismatches, and mental disorders and drug addiction (important but poorly characterized phenotypes). The closing chapters are particularly useful in stimulating deeper consideration of the need to understand cross-consequences of interventions for individual health and population health, and by raising ‘open questions’ that should help readers and observant clinicians to expand the applications of evolutionary medicine, thereby enhancing medicine and public health. For example, in the important context of bacterial resistance, they highlight the potential usefulness of bacteriophage therapy, of siderophore quenching and quorum sensing (recently published mechanisms which have received international awards in the past 2 years from EMPH and from Shaw Prize of Hong Kong), and of late-acting insecticides (which might be applicable to Aedes mosquitoes in the current outbreak of Dikavirus in Brazil and to malaria more broadly). Referring to the flipped classroom and active learning, Stearns and Medzhitov have made You Tube and iTunesU presentations for student on-line access under ‘Stearns Evolutionary Medicine’, currently 65 videos, aimed at stimulating classroom discussion and exploration of the cited literature and other sources. General readers will find this book quite stimulating, too.

Laboratory Rearing of Thitarodes armoricanus and Thitarodes jianchuanensis (Lepidoptera: Hepialidae), Hosts of the Chinese Medicinal Fungus Ophiocordyceps sinensis (Hypocreales: Ophiocordycipitaceae).

Ophiocordyceps sinensis (Ophiocordycipitaceae) is an entomopathogenic fungus endemic to the Tibetan Plateau, at elevations ranging between 3,000 and 5,000 m. The fungus-insect complex is useful in healthcare but limited in the field, so there is an urgent need to develop an artificial rearing system of both the fungus and its insect hosts. Large-scale artificial rearing of the Thitarodes insect hosts is crucial. This paper reports results of the artificial cultivation and complete life tables of two host species of O. sinensis, Thitarodes armoricanus and Thitarodes jianchuanensis (Lepidoptera: Hepialidae), under low-altitude laboratory conditions. The larvae were reared on carrots in plastic containers at 9–13°C and 50–80% RH. Both experimental insect species had long and unusual life cycle; it took 263–494 and 443–780 d for T. jianchuanensis and T. armoricanus, respectively, to complete a developmental cycle, including egg, larval instars L1-L9, pupa, and adult. The larvae did develop into pupae from the L7, L8, or L9 instar larvae. Although the total survival rates of both insect species were low (12.0% for T. jianchuanensis and 1.6% for T. armoricanus), the experimental populations successfully developed into the next generation owing to high egg production by fertilized females (averages of 703 and 355 eggs per female in the Yunnan and Sichuan species, respectively). Successful artificial rearing of host insect species for O. sinensis under low temperature conditions will allow the cultivation of this important fungus-insect complex to ensure its protection as a bio-resource and for commercial supply.

Seven New Complete Plastome Sequences Reveal Rampant Independent Loss of the ndh Gene Family across Orchids and Associated Instability of the Inverted Repeat/Small Single-Copy Region Boundaries.

Earlier research has revealed that the ndh loci have been pseudogenized, truncated, or deleted from most orchid plastomes sequenced to date, including in all available plastomes of the two most species-rich subfamilies, Orchidoideae and Epidendroideae. This study sought to resolve deeper-level phylogenetic relationships among major orchid groups and to refine the history of gene loss in the ndh loci across orchids. The complete plastomes of seven orchids, Oncidium sphacelatum (Epidendroideae), Masdevallia coccinea (Epidendroideae), Sobralia callosa (Epidendroideae), Sobralia aff. bouchei (Epidendroideae), Elleanthus sodiroi (Epidendroideae), Paphiopedilum armeniacum (Cypripedioideae), and Phragmipedium longifolium (Cypripedioideae) were sequenced and analyzed in conjunction with all other available orchid and monocot plastomes. Most ndh loci were found to be pseudogenized or lost in Oncidium, Paphiopedilum and Phragmipedium, but surprisingly, all ndh loci were found to retain full, intact reading frames in Sobralia, Elleanthus and Masdevallia. Character mapping suggests that the ndh genes were present in the common ancestor of orchids but have experienced independent, significant losses at least eight times across four subfamilies. In addition, ndhF gene loss was correlated with shifts in the position of the junction of the inverted repeat (IR) and small single-copy (SSC) regions. The Orchidaceae have unprecedented levels of homoplasy in ndh gene presence/absence, which may be correlated in part with the unusual life history of orchids. These results also suggest that ndhF plays a role in IR/SSC junction stability.

Free-living stage of the unicellular algae Coccomyxa sp. parasite of the blue mussel (Mytilus edulis): Low-light adaptation, capacity for growth at a very wide salinity range and tolerance to low pH

Coccomyxa parasitica and similar, unidentified Coccomyxa species infect the soft tissues of many bivalve species, giving them a conspicuous green coloration and leading to mantle and shell deformities. Very little information exists regarding the ecophysiology of parasitic Coccomyxa sp. and this limits our ability to understand how it can achieve its unusual life history. In the present study, the growth of Coccomyxa sp. Metis-sur-mer (KJ372210) in liquid culture was investigated. Coccomyxa sp. maximum growth rate was 0.75day−1 (equivalent to a doubling time of 22h), growth saturated at ∼100μmol quanta m−2s−1 and was still ∼20% of maximum at 13μmol quanta m−2s−1, the lowest photosynthetically available radiation (PAR) intensity tested. Coccomyxa sp. showed a very wide tolerance to salinity, with growth rate practically invariable over the salinity range 15–35. Even in natural spring water enriched with f/2 media, the growth rate was nearly half of maximum. Unlike the closely related acid-tolerant Coccomyxa sp. CPCC 508, Coccomyxa sp. Metis-sur-mer could not grow in acidic waters. Considering the ability of Coccomyxa sp. to achieve a high growth rate at low irradiance and its relative insensitivity to the prevailing salinity, it is somewhat surprising it has not yet infected bivalves at a larger scale worldwide.

Phylogeny and feeding trait evolution of the mega‐diverse Gelechioidea (Lepidoptera: Obtectomera): new insight from 19 nuclear genes

AbstractThe Gelechioidea (&gt;18 000 species), one of the largest superfamilies of Lepidoptera, are a major element of terrestrial ecosystems and include important pests and biological model species. Despite much recent progress, our understanding of the classification, phylogeny and evolution of Gelechioidea remains limited. Building on recent molecular studies of this superfamily and a recently revised family/subfamily classification, we provide an independent estimate of among‐family relationships, with little overlap in gene sample. We analysed up to five nuclear genes, totalling 6633 bp, for each of 77 gelechioids, plus up to 14 additional genes, for a total of 14 826 bp, in 45 of those taxa and all 19 outgroup taxa. Our maximum‐likelihood (ML) analyses, like those of previous authors, strongly support monophyly for most multiply‐sampled families and subfamilies, but very weakly support most relationships above the family level. Our tree looks superficially divergent from that of the most recent molecular study of gelechioids, but when the previous tree is re‐rooted to accord maximally with ours, the two phylogenies agree entirely on the deepest‐level divergences in Gelechioidea, and strongly though incompletely on among‐family relationships within the major groups. This concordance between independent studies is evidence that the groupings (or at least the unrooted branching order) are probably accurate, despite the low bootstrap values. After re‐rooting, both trees divide the families into three monophyletic groups: a ‘Gelechiid Assemblage,’ consisting of Gelechiidae and Cosmopterigidae; a ‘Scythridid Assemblage,’ consisting of Stathmopodidae, Scythrididae, Blastobasidae, Elachistidae, Momphidae, Coleophoridae and Batrachedridae; and a ‘Depressariid Assemblage,’ consisting of Autostichidae, Xyloryctidae, Lecithoceridae, Oecophoridae, Depressariidae and Lypusidae. Within the largest family, Gelechiidae, our results strongly support the pairing of Anomologinae with Gelechiinae, in accordance with a recent study of this family. Relationships among the other subfamilies, however, conflict moderately to strongly between studies, leaving the intrafamily phylogeny unsettled. Within the ‘Scythridid Assemblage,’ both trees support an ‘SSB clade’ consisting of Blastobasidae + (Scythrididae + Stathmopodidae), strongly resolved only in our results. Coleophoridae + Batrachedridae is supported, albeit weakly, in both trees, and only Momphidae differ in position between studies. Within the ‘Depressariid Assemblage,’ both trees support an ‘AXLO’ clade consisting of Autostichidae, Xyloryctidae, Lecithoceridae and Oecophoridae. The monophyly of this clade and relationships therein are supported weakly in previous results but strongly in ours. The recently re‐defined family Depressariidae is paraphyletic in our tree, but the evidence against depressariid monophyly is very weak. There is moderate support for a core group of Depressariidae consisting, among the seven subfamilies we sampled, of Depressariinae, Aeolanthinae and Hypertrophinae. We show that gelechioids have a higher total number and percentage of species that are saprophagous as larvae than any other apoditrysian superfamily, that saprophagy is concentrated primarily in the ‘AXLO clade,’ and that the ancestral gelechioid condition was probably feeding on live plants. Among the living‐plant feeders, concealed external feeding was probably the ancestral state. The multiple origins of internal feeding of various kinds, including leaf mining (otherwise almost unknown in Apoditrysia), are restricted mostly to the Scythridid and Gelechiid Assemblages. The traits that predispose or permit lineages to adopt these unusual life histories are worthy of study.

Analysis of virus genomes from glacial environments reveals novel virus groups with unusual host interactions.

Microbial communities in glacial ecosystems are diverse, active, and subjected to strong viral pressures and infection rates. In this study we analyse putative virus genomes assembled from three dsDNA viromes from cryoconite hole ecosystems of Svalbard and the Greenland Ice Sheet to assess the potential hosts and functional role viruses play in these habitats. We assembled 208 million reads from the virus-size fraction and developed a procedure to select genuine virus scaffolds from cellular contamination. Our curated virus library contained 546 scaffolds up to 230 Kb in length, 54 of which were circular virus consensus genomes. Analysis of virus marker genes revealed a wide range of viruses had been assembled, including bacteriophages, cyanophages, nucleocytoplasmic large DNA viruses and a virophage, with putative hosts identified as Cyanobacteria, Alphaproteobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Firmicutes, eukaryotic algae and amoebae. Whole genome comparisons revealed the majority of circular genome scaffolds (CGS) formed 12 novel groups, two of which contained multiple phage members with plasmid-like properties, including a group of phage-plasmids possessing plasmid-like partition genes and toxin-antitoxin addiction modules to ensure their replication and a satellite phage-plasmid group. Surprisingly we also assembled a phage that not only encoded plasmid partition genes, but a clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR)/Cas adaptive bacterial immune system. One of the spacers was an exact match for another phage in our virome, indicating that in a novel use of the system, the lysogen was potentially capable of conferring immunity on its bacterial host against other phage. Together these results suggest that highly novel and diverse groups of viruses are present in glacial environments, some of which utilize very unusual life strategies and genes to control their replication and maintain a long-term relationship with their hosts.