@article{NagelKirschbaumEngelmannetal.2018, author = {Nagel, Rebecca and Kirschbaum, Frank and Engelmann, Jacob and Hofmann, Volker and Pawelzik, Felix and Tiedemann, Ralph}, title = {Male-mediated species recognition among African weakly electric fishes}, series = {Royal Society Open Science}, volume = {5}, journal = {Royal Society Open Science}, number = {2}, publisher = {Royal Society}, address = {London}, issn = {2054-5703}, doi = {10.1098/rsos.170443}, pages = {8}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Effective communication among sympatric species is often instrumental for behavioural isolation, where the failure to successfully discriminate between potential mates could lead to less fit hybrid offspring. Discrimination between con- and heterospecifics tends to occur more often in the sex that invests more in offspring production, i.e. females, but males may also mediate reproductive isolation. In this study, we show that among two Campylomormyrus Africanweakly electric fish species, males preferentially associate with conspecific females during choice tests using live fish as stimuli, i.e. when all sensory modalities potentially used for communication were present. We then conducted playback experiments to determine whether the species-specific electric organ discharge (EOD) used for electrocommunication serves as the cue for this conspecific association preference. Interestingly, only C. compressirostris males associated significantly more with the conspecific EOD waveform when playback stimuli were provided, while no such association preference was observed in C. tamandua males. Given our results, the EOD appears to serve, in part, as a male-mediated pre-zygotic isolation mechanism among sympatric species. However, the failure of C. tamandua males to discriminate between con- and heterospecific playback discharges suggests that multiple modalities may be necessary for species recognition in some African weakly electric fish species.}, language = {en} } @article{MareljaLeimkuehlerMissirlis2018, author = {Marelja, Zvonimir and Leimk{\"u}hler, Silke and Missirlis, Fanis}, title = {Iron sulfur and molybdenum cofactor enzymes regulate the drosophila life cycle by controlling cell metabolism}, series = {Frontiers in physiology}, volume = {9}, journal = {Frontiers in physiology}, publisher = {Frontiers Research Foundation}, address = {Lausanne}, issn = {1664-042X}, doi = {10.3389/fphys.2018.00050}, pages = {31}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Iron sulfur (Fe-S) clusters and the molybdenum cofactor (Moco) are present at enzyme sites, where the active metal facilitates electron transfer. Such enzyme systems are soluble in the mitochondrial matrix, cytosol and nucleus, or embedded in the inner mitochondrial membrane, but virtually absent from the cell secretory pathway. They are of ancient evolutionary origin supporting respiration, DNA replication, transcription, translation, the biosynthesis of steroids, heme, catabolism of purines, hydroxylation of xenobiotics, and cellular sulfur metabolism. Here, Fe-S cluster and Moco biosynthesis in Drosophila melanogaster is reviewed and the multiple biochemical and physiological functions of known Fe-S and Moco enzymes are described. We show that RNA interference of Mocs3 disrupts Moco biosynthesis and the circadian clock. Fe-S-dependent mitochondrial respiration is discussed in the context of germ line and somatic development, stem cell differentiation and aging. The subcellular compartmentalization of the Fe-S and Moco assembly machinery components and their connections to iron sensing mechanisms and intermediary metabolism are emphasized. A biochemically active Fe-S core complex of heterologously expressed fly Nfs1, Isd11, IscU, and human frataxin is presented. Based on the recent demonstration that copper displaces the Fe-S cluster of yeast and human ferredoxin, an explanation for why high dietary copper leads to cytoplasmic iron deficiency in flies is proposed. Another proposal that exosomes contribute to the transport of xanthine dehydrogenase from peripheral tissues to the eye pigment cells is put forward, where the Vps16a subunit of the HOPS complex may have a specialized role in concentrating this enzyme within pigment granules. Finally, we formulate a hypothesis that (i) mitochondrial superoxide mobilizes iron from the Fe-S clusters in aconitase and succinate dehydrogenase; (ii) increased iron transiently displaces manganese on superoxide dismutase, which may function as a mitochondrial iron sensor since it is inactivated by iron; (iii) with the Krebs cycle thus disrupted, citrate is exported to the cytosol for fatty acid synthesis, while succinyl-CoA and the iron are used for heme biosynthesis; (iv) as iron is used for heme biosynthesis its concentration in the matrix drops allowing for manganese to reactivate superoxide dismutase and Fe-S cluster biosynthesis to reestablish the Krebs cycle.}, language = {en} } @article{NizardoSchanzenbachSchoenemannetal.2018, author = {Nizardo, Noverra M. and Schanzenbach, Dirk and Sch{\"o}nemann, Eric and Laschewsky, Andre}, title = {Exploring poly(ethylene glycol)-polyzwitterion diblock copolymers as biocompatible smart macrosurfactants featuring UCST-phase behavior in normal saline solution}, series = {Polymers}, volume = {10}, journal = {Polymers}, number = {3}, publisher = {MDPI}, address = {Basel}, issn = {2073-4360}, doi = {10.3390/polym10030325}, pages = {22}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Nonionic-zwitterionic diblock copolymers are designed to feature a coil-to-globule collapse transition with an upper critical solution temperature (UCST) in aqueous media, including physiological saline solution. The block copolymers that combine presumably highly biocompatible blocks are synthesized by chain extension of a poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) macroinitiator via atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) of sulfobetaine and sulfabetaine methacrylates. Their thermoresponsive behavior is studied by variable temperature turbidimetry and H-1 NMR spectroscopy. While the polymers with polysulfobetaine blocks exhibit phase transitions in the physiologically interesting window of 30-50 degrees C only in pure aqueous solution, the polymers bearing polysulfabetaine blocks enabled phase transitions only in physiological saline solution. By copolymerizing a pair of structurally closely related sulfo-and sulfabetaine monomers, thermoresponsive behavior can be implemented in aqueous solutions of both low and high salinity. Surprisingly, the presence of the PEG blocks can affect the UCST-transitions of the polyzwitterions notably. In specific cases, this results in "schizophrenic" thermoresponsive behavior displaying simultaneously an UCST and an LCST (lower critical solution temperature) transition. Exploratory experiments on the UCST-transition triggered the encapsulation and release of various solvatochromic fluorescent dyes as model "cargos" failed, apparently due to the poor affinity even of charged organic compounds to the collapsed state of the polyzwitterions.}, language = {en} } @article{TopcuFruehwirthMoseretal.2018, author = {Top{\c{c}}u, {\c{C}}ağda{\c{s}} and Fr{\"u}hwirth, Matthias and Moser, Maximilian and Rosenblum, Michael and Pikovskij, Arkadij}, title = {Disentangling respiratory sinus arrhythmia in heart rate variability records}, series = {Physiological Measurement}, volume = {39}, journal = {Physiological Measurement}, number = {5}, publisher = {IOP Publ. Ltd.}, address = {Bristol}, issn = {0967-3334}, doi = {10.1088/1361-6579/aabea4}, pages = {12}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Objective: Several different measures of heart rate variability, and particularly of respiratory sinus arrhythmia, are widely used in research and clinical applications. For many purposes it is important to know which features of heart rate variability are directly related to respiration and which are caused by other aspects of cardiac dynamics. Approach: Inspired by ideas from the theory of coupled oscillators, we use simultaneous measurements of respiratory and cardiac activity to perform a nonlinear disentanglement of the heart rate variability into the respiratory-related component and the rest. Main results: The theoretical consideration is illustrated by the analysis of 25 data sets from healthy subjects. In all cases we show how the disentanglement is manifested in the different measures of heart rate variability. Significance: The suggested technique can be exploited as a universal preprocessing tool, both for the analysis of respiratory influence on the heart rate and in cases when effects of other factors on the heart rate variability are in focus.}, language = {en} } @article{NiebuurPuchmayrHeroldetal.2018, author = {Niebuur, Bart-Jan and Puchmayr, Jonas and Herold, Christian and Kreuzer, Lucas and Hildebrand, Viet and M{\"u}ller-Buschbaum, Peter and Laschewsky, Andre and Papadakis, Christine M.}, title = {Polysulfobetaines in aqueous solution and in thin film geometry}, series = {Materials}, volume = {11}, journal = {Materials}, number = {5}, publisher = {MDPI}, address = {Basel}, issn = {1996-1944}, doi = {10.3390/ma11050850}, pages = {11}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Polysulfobetaines in aqueous solution show upper critical solution temperature (UCST) behavior. We investigate here the representative of this class of materials, poly (N,N-dimethyl-N-(3-methacrylamidopropyl) ammonio propane sulfonate) (PSPP), with respect to: (i) the dynamics in aqueous solution above the cloud point as function of NaBr concentration; and (ii) the swelling behavior of thin films in water vapor as function of the initial film thickness. For PSPP solutions with a concentration of 5 wt.\%, the temperature dependence of the intensity autocorrelation functions is measured with dynamic light scattering as function of molar mass and NaBr concentration (0-8 mM). We found a scaling of behavior for the scattered intensity and dynamic correlation length. The resulting spinodal temperatures showed a maximum at a certain (small) NaBr concentration, which is similar to the behavior of the cloud points measured previously by turbidimetry. The critical exponent of susceptibility depends on NaBr concentration, with a minimum value where the spinodal temperature is maximum and a trend towards the mean-field value of unity with increasing NaBr concentration. In contrast, the critical exponent of the correlation length does not depend on NaBr concentration and is lower than the value of 0.5 predicted by mean-field theory. For PSPP thin films, the swelling behavior was found to depend on film thickness. A film thickness of about 100 nm turns out to be the optimum thickness needed to obtain fast hydration with H2O.}, language = {en} } @article{IjiriInagakiKuboetal.2018, author = {Ijiri, Akira and Inagaki, Fumio and Kubo, Yusuke and Adhikari, Rishi Ram and Hattori, Shohei and Hoshino, Tatsuhiko and Imachi, Hiroyuki and Kawagucci, Shinsuke and Morono, Yuki and Ohtomo, Yoko and Ono, Shuhei and Sakai, Sanae and Takai, Ken and Toki, Tomohiro and Wang, David T. and Yoshinaga, Marcos Y. and Arnold, Gail L. and Ashi, Juichiro and Case, David H. and Feseker, Tomas and Hinrichs, Kai-Uwe and Ikegawa, Yojiro and Ikehara, Minoru and Kallmeyer, Jens and Kumagai, Hidenori and Lever, Mark Alexander and Morita, Sumito and Nakamura, Ko-ichi and Nakamura, Yuki and Nishizawa, Manabu and Orphan, Victoria J. and Roy, Hans and Schmidt, Frauke and Tani, Atsushi and Tanikawa, Wataru and Terada, Takeshi and Tomaru, Hitoshi and Tsuji, Takeshi and Tsunogai, Urumu and Yamaguchi, Yasuhiko T. and Yoshida, Naohiro}, title = {Deep-biosphere methane production stimulated by geofluids in the Nankai accretionary complex}, series = {Science Advances}, volume = {4}, journal = {Science Advances}, number = {6}, publisher = {American Assoc. for the Advancement of Science}, address = {Washington}, issn = {2375-2548}, doi = {10.1126/sciadv.aao4631}, pages = {15}, year = {2018}, language = {en} } @article{FabianZlatanovicMutzetal.2018, author = {Fabian, Jenny and Zlatanovic, Sanja and Mutz, Michael and Grossart, Hans-Peter and van Geldern, Robert and Ulrich, Andreas and Gleixner, Gerd and Premke, Katrin}, title = {Environmental control on microbial turnover of leaf carbon in streams}, series = {Frontiers in microbiology}, volume = {9}, journal = {Frontiers in microbiology}, publisher = {Frontiers Research Foundation}, address = {Lausanne}, issn = {1664-302X}, doi = {10.3389/fmicb.2018.01044}, pages = {16}, year = {2018}, abstract = {In aquatic ecosystems, light availability can significantly influence microbial turnover of terrestrial organic matter through associated metabolic interactions between phototrophic and heterotrophic communities. However, particularly in streams, microbial functions vary significantly with the structure of the streambed, that is the distribution and spatial arrangement of sediment grains in the streambed. It is therefore essential to elucidate how environmental factors synergistically define the microbial turnover of terrestrial organic matter in order to better understand the ecological role of photoheterotrophic interactions in stream ecosystem processes. In outdoor experimental streams, we examined how the structure of streambeds modifies the influence of light availability on microbial turnover of leaf carbon (C). Furthermore, we investigated whether the studied relationships of microbial leaf C turnover to environmental conditions are affected by flow intermittency commonly occurring in streams. We applied leaves enriched with a C-13-stable isotope tracer and combined quantitative and isotope analyses. We thereby elucidated whether treatment induced changes in C turnover were associated with altered use of leaf C within the microbial food web. Moreover, isotope analyses were combined with measurements of microbial community composition to determine whether changes in community function were associated with a change in community composition. In this study, we present evidence, that environmental factors interactively determine how phototrophs and heterotrophs contribute to leaf C turnover. Light availability promoted the utilization of leaf C within the microbial food web, which was likely associated with a promoted availability of highly bioavailable metabolites of phototrophic origin. However, our results additionally confirm that the structure of the streambed modifies light-related changes in microbial C turnover. From our observations, we conclude that the streambed structure influences the strength of photo-heterotrophic interactions by defining the spatial availability of algal metabolites in the streambed and the composition of microbial communities. Collectively, our multifactorial approach provides valuable insights into environmental controls on the functioning of stream ecosystems.}, language = {en} } @article{StoesselStellmannWillingetal.2018, author = {Stoessel, Daniel and Stellmann, Jan-Patrick and Willing, Anne and Behrens, Birte and Rosenkranz, Sina C. and Hodecker, Sibylle C. and Stuerner, Klarissa H. and Reinhardt, Stefanie and Fleischer, Sabine and Deuschle, Christian and Maetzler, Walter and Berg, Daniela and Heesen, Christoph and Walther, Dirk and Schauer, Nicolas and Friese, Manuel A. and Pless, Ole}, title = {Metabolomic Profiles for Primary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis Stratification and Disease Course Monitoring}, series = {Frontiers in human neuroscienc}, volume = {12}, journal = {Frontiers in human neuroscienc}, publisher = {Frontiers Research Foundation}, address = {Lausanne}, issn = {1662-5161}, doi = {10.3389/fnhum.2018.00226}, pages = {13}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS) shows a highly variable disease progression with poor prognosis and a characteristic accumulation of disabilities in patients. These hallmarks of PPMS make it difficult to diagnose and currently impossible to efficiently treat. This study aimed to identify plasma metabolite profiles that allow diagnosis of PPMS and its differentiation from the relapsing remitting subtype (RRMS), primary neurodegenerative disease (Parkinson's disease, PD), and healthy controls (HCs) and that significantly change during the disease course and could serve as surrogate markers of multiple sclerosis (MS)-associated neurodegeneration over time. We applied untargeted high-resolution metabolomics to plasma samples to identify PPMS-specific signatures, validated our findings in independent sex- and age-matched PPMS and HC cohorts and built discriminatory models by partial least square discriminant analysis (PLS-DA). This signature was compared to sex- and age-matched RRMS patients, to patients with PD and HC. Finally, we investigated these metabolites in a longitudinal cohort of PPMS patients over a 24-month period. PLS-DA yielded predictive models for classification along with a set of 20 PPMS-specific informative metabolite markers. These metabolites suggest disease-specific alterations in glycerophospholipid and linoleic acid pathways. Notably, the glycerophospholipid LysoPC(20:0) significantly decreased during the observation period. These findings show potential for diagnosis and disease course monitoring, and might serve as biomarkers to assess treatment efficacy in future clinical trials for neuroprotective MS therapies.}, language = {en} } @article{MerksSwinarskiMeyeretal.2018, author = {Merks, Anne Margarete and Swinarski, Marie and Meyer, Alexander Matthias and M{\"u}ller, Nicola Victoria and {\"O}zcan, Ismail and Donat, Stefan and Burger, Alexa and Gilbert, Stephen and Mosimann, Christian and Abdelilah-Seyfried, Salim and Panakova, Daniela}, title = {Planar cell polarity signalling coordinates heart tube remodelling through tissue-scale polarisation of actomyosin activity}, series = {Nature Communications}, volume = {9}, journal = {Nature Communications}, publisher = {Nature Publ. Group}, address = {London}, issn = {2041-1723}, doi = {10.1038/s41467-018-04566-1}, pages = {15}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Development of a multiple-chambered heart from the linear heart tube is inherently linked to cardiac looping. Although many molecular factors regulating the process of cardiac chamber ballooning have been identified, the cellular mechanisms underlying the chamber formation remain unclear. Here, we demonstrate that cardiac chambers remodel by cell neighbour exchange of cardiomyocytes guided by the planar cell polarity (PCP) pathway triggered by two non-canonical Wnt ligands, Wnt5b and Wnt11. We find that PCP signalling coordinates the localisation of actomyosin activity, and thus the efficiency of cell neighbour exchange. On a tissue-scale, PCP signalling planar-polarises tissue tension by restricting the actomyosin contractility to the apical membranes of outflow tract cells. The tissue-scale polarisation of actomyosin contractility is required for cardiac looping that occurs concurrently with chamber ballooning. Taken together, our data reveal that instructive PCP signals couple cardiac chamber expansion with cardiac looping through the organ-scale polarisation of actomyosin-based tissue tension.}, language = {en} } @article{SchleglDittmerHoffmannetal.2018, author = {Schlegl, Sandra and Dittmer, Nina and Hoffmann, Svenja and Voderholzer, Ulrich}, title = {Self-reported quantity, compulsiveness and motives of exercise in patients with eating disorders and healthy controls}, series = {Journal of eating disorders}, volume = {6}, journal = {Journal of eating disorders}, publisher = {BMC}, address = {London}, issn = {2050-2974}, doi = {10.1186/s40337-018-0202-6}, pages = {10}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Background: Compulsive exercise (CE) is a frequent symptom in patients with eating disorders (EDs). It includes, in addition to quantitatively excessive exercise behaviour, a driven aspect and specific motives of exercise. CE is generally associated with worse therapy outcomes. The aims of the study were to compare self-reported quantity of exercise, compulsiveness of exercise as well as motives for exercise between patients with anorexia nervosa (AN), bulimia nervosa (BN) and healthy controls (HC). Additionally, we wanted to explore predictors of compulsive exercise (CE) in each group. Methods: We investigated 335 female participants (n = 226 inpatients, n = 109 HC) and assessed self-reported quantity of exercise, compulsiveness of exercise (Compulsive Exercise Test), motives for exercise (Exercise Motivations Inventory-2), ED symptoms (Eating Disorder Inventory-2), obsessive-compulsiveness (Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory-Revised), general psychopathology (Brief Symptom Inventory-18) and depression (Beck Depression Inventory-2). Results: Both patients with AN and BN exercised significantly more hours per week and showed significantly higher CE than HC; no differences were found between patients with AN and BN. Patients with EDs and HC also partly varied in motives for exercise. Specific motives were enjoyment, challenge, recognition and weight management in patients with EDs in contrast to ill-health avoidance and affiliation in HC. Patients with AN and BN only differed in regard to exercise for appearance reasons in which patients with BN scored higher. The most relevant predictor of CE across groups was exercise for weight and shape reasons. Conclusions: Exercise behaviours and motives differ between patients with EDs and HC. CE was pronounced in both patients with AN and BN. Therefore, future research should focus not only on CE in patients with AN, but also on CE in patients with BN. Similarities in CE in patients with AN and BN support a transdiagnostic approach during the development of interventions specifically targeting CE in patients with EDs.}, language = {en} }