Pyrenoid

Pyrenoids are sub-cellular micro-compartments found in chloroplasts of many algae, and in a single group of land plants, the hornworts. Pyrenoids are associated with the operation of a carbon-concentrating mechanism (CCM). Their main function is to act as centres of carbon dioxide (CO2) fixation, by generating and maintaining a CO2 rich environment around the photosynthetic enzyme ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RuBisCO). Pyrenoids therefore seem to have a role analogous to that of carboxysomes in cyanobacteria.
Algae are restricted to aqueous environments, even in aquatic habitats, and this has implications for their ability to access CO2 for photosynthesis. CO2 diffuses 10,000 times slower in water than in air, and is also slow to equilibrate. The result of this is that water, as a medium, is often easily depleted of CO2 and is slow to gain CO2 from the air. Finally, CO2 equilibrates with bicarbonate (HCO3−) when dissolved in water, and does so on a pH-dependent basis. In sea water for example, the pH is such that dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) is mainly found in the form of HCO3−. The net result of this is a low concentration of free CO2 that is barely sufficient for an algal RuBisCO to run at a quarter of its maximum velocity, and thus, CO2 availability may sometimes represent a major limitation of algal photosynthesis.
Discovery.
Pyrenoids were first described in 1803 by Vaucher (cited in Brown et al.). The term was first coined by Schmitz who also observed how algal chloroplasts formed de novo during cell division, leading Schimper to propose that chloroplasts were autonomous, and to surmise that all green plants had originated through the “unification of a colourless organism with one uniformly tinged with chlorophyll". From these pioneering observations, Mereschkowski eventually proposed, in the early 20th century, the symbiogenetic theory and the genetic independence of chloroplasts.
In the following half-century, phycologists often used the pyrenoid as a taxonomic marker, but physiologists long failed to appreciate the importance of pyrenoids in aquatic photosynthesis. The classical paradigm, which prevailed until the early 1980s, was that the pyrenoid was the site of starch synthesis. Microscopic observations were easily misleading as a starch sheath often encloses pyrenoids. The discovery of pyrenoid deficient mutants with normal starch grains in the green alga "Chlamydomonas reinhardtii", as well as starchless mutants with perfectly formed pyrenoids, eventually discredited this hypothesis.
It was not before the early 1970s that the proteinaceous nature of the pyrenoid was elucidated, when pyrenoids were successfully isolated from a green alga, and showed that up to 90% of it was composed of biochemically active RuBisCO. In the following decade, more and more evidence emerged that algae were capable of accumulating intracellular pools of DIC, and converting these to CO2, in concentrations far exceeding that of the surrounding medium. Badger and Price first suggested the function of the pyrenoid to be analogous to that of the carboxysome in cyanobacteria, in being associated with CCM activity. CCM activity in algal and cyanobacterial photobionts of lichen associations was also identified using gas exchange and carbon isotope isotopes and associated with the pyrenoid by Palmqvist and Badger et al. The Hornwort CCM was later characterized by Smith and Griffiths.
From there on, the pyrenoid was studied in the wider context of carbon acquisition in algae, but has yet to be given a precise molecular definition.
Structure.
There is substantial diversity in pyrenoid morphology and ultrastructure between algal species. The common feature of all pyrenoids is a spheroidal matrix, composed primarily of RuBisCO. In most pyrenoid-containing organisms, the pyrenoid matrix is traversed by thylakoid membranes, which are in continuity with stromal thylakoids. In the unicellular red alga "Porphyridium purpureum", individual thylakoid membranes appear to traverse the pyrenoid; in the green alga "Chlamydomonas reinhardtii", multiple thylakoids merge at the periphery of the pyrenoid to form larger tubules that traverse the matrix. Unlike carboxysomes, pyrenoids are not delineated by a protein shell (or membrane). A starch sheath is often formed or deposited at the periphery of pyrenoids, even when that starch is synthesised in the cytosol rather than in the chloroplast.
When examined with transmission electron microscopy, the pyrenoid matrix appears as a roughly circular electron dense granular structure within the chloroplast. Early studies suggested that RuBisCO is arranged in crystalline arrays in the pyrenoids of the diatom "Achnanthes brevipes" and the dinoflagellate "Prorocentrum micans". However, recent work has shown that RuBisCO in the pyrenoid matrix of the green alga "Chlamydomonas" is not in a crystalline lattice and instead the matrix behaves as a phase-separated, liquid-like organelle.
Mutagenic work on "Chlamydomonas" has shown that the RuBisCO small subunit is important for pyrenoid matrix assembly, and that two solvent exposed alpha-helices of the RuBisCO small subunit are key to the process. Assembly of RuBisCO into a pyrenoid was shown to require the intrinsically disordered RuBisCO-binding repeat protein EPYC1, which was proposed to "link" multiple RuBisCO holoenzymes together to form the pyrenoid matrix. EPYC1 and Rubisco together were shown to be sufficient to reconstitute phase-separated droplets that show similar properties to "C. reinhardtii" pyrenoids in vivo, further supporting a "linker" role for EPYC1.
The proteome of the "Chlamydomonas" pyrenoid has been characterized, and the localizations and protein-protein interactions of dozens of pyrenoid-associated proteins were systematically determined. Proteins localized to the pyrenoid include RuBisCO activase, nitrate reductase and nitrite reductase.
In "Chlamydomonas", a high-molecular weight complex of two proteins (LCIB/LCIC) forms an additional concentric layer around the pyrenoid, outside the starch sheath, and this is currently hypothesised to act as a barrier to CO2-leakage or to recapture CO2 that escapes from the pyrenoid.
In "Porphyridium" and in "Chlamydomonas", there is a single highly conspicuous pyrenoid in a single chloroplast, visible using light microscopy. By contrast, in diatoms and dinoflagellates, there can be multiple pyrenoids. The "Chlamydomonas" pyrenoid has been observed to divide by fission during chloroplast division. In rare cases where fission did not occur, a pyrenoid appeared to form de novo. Pyrenoids partially dissolved into the chloroplast stroma during every cell division, and this pool of dissolved components may condense into a new pyrenoid in cases where one is not inherited by fission.
Role of Pyrenoids in the CCM.
The confinement of the CO2-fixing enzyme into a subcellular micro-compartment, in association with a mechanism to deliver CO2 to that site, is believed to enhance the efficacy of photosynthesis in an aqueous environment. Having a CCM favours carboxylation over wasteful oxygenation by RuBisCO. The molecular basis of the pyrenoid and the CCM have been characterised to some detail in the model green alga "Chlamydomonas reinhardtii".
The current model of the biophysical CCM reliant upon a pyrenoid considers active transport of bicarbonate from the extracellular environment to the vicinity of RuBisCO, via transporters at the plasma membrane, the chloroplast membrane, and thylakoid membranes. Carbonic anhydrases in the periplasm and also in the cytoplasm and chloroplast stroma are thought to contribute to maintaining an intracellular pool of dissolved inorganic carbon, mainly in the form of bicarbonate. This bicarbonate is then thought to be pumped into the lumen of transpyrenoidal thylakoids, where a resident carbonic anhydrase is hypothesised to convert bicarbonate to CO2, and saturate RuBisCO with carboxylating substrate. It is likely that different algal groups evolved different types of CCMs, but it is generally taken that the algal CCM is articulated around a combination of carbonic anhydrases, inorganic carbon transporters, and some compartment to package RuBisCO.
Pyrenoids are highly plastic structures and the degree of RuBisCO packaging correlates with the state of induction of the CCM. In "Chlamydomonas", when the CCM is repressed, for example when cells are maintained in a CO2-rich environment, the pyrenoid is small and the matrix is unstructured. In the dinoflagellate "Gonyaulax", the localisation of RuBisCO to the pyrenoid is under circadian control: when cells are photosynthetically active during the day, RuBisCO assembles into multiple chloroplasts at the centre of the cells; at night, these structures disappear.
Physiology and regulation of the CCM.
The algal CCM is inducible, and induction of the CCM is generally the result of low CO2 conditions. Induction and regulation of the "Chlamydomonas" CCM was recently studied by transcriptomic analysis, revealing that one out of three genes are up- or down-regulated in response to changed levels of CO2 in the environment. Sensing of CO2 in "Chlamydomonas" involves a “master switch”, which was co-discovered by two laboratories. This gene, Cia5/Ccm1, affects over 1,000 CO2-responsive genes and also conditions the degree of packing of RuBisCO into the pyrenoid.
Origin.
The CCM is only induced during periods of low CO2 levels, and it was the existence of these trigger levels of CO2 below which CCMs are induced that led researchers to speculate on the likely timing of origin of mechanisms like the pyrenoid.
There are several hypotheses as to the origin of pyrenoids. With the rise of large terrestrial based flora following the colonisation of land by ancestors of Charophyte algae, CO2 levels dropped dramatically, with a concomitant increase in O2 atmospheric concentration. It has been suggested that this sharp fall in CO2 levels acted as an evolutionary driver of CCM development, and thus gave rise to pyrenoids in doing so ensuring that rate of supply of CO2 did not become a limiting factor for photosynthesis in the face of declining atmospheric CO2 levels.
However, alternative hypotheses have been proposed. Predictions of past CO2 levels suggest that they may have previously dropped as precipitously low as that seen during the expansion of land plants: approximately 300 MYA, during the Proterozoic Era. This being the case, there might have been a similar evolutionary pressure that resulted in the development of the pyrenoid, though in this case, a pyrenoid or pyrenoid-like structure could have developed, and have been lost as CO2 levels then rose, only to be gained or developed again during the period of land colonisation by plants. Evidence of multiple gains and losses of pyrenoids over relatively short geological time spans was found in hornworts.
Diversity.
Pyrenoids are found in algal lineages, irrespective of whether the chloroplast was inherited from a single endosymbiotic event (e.g. green and red algae, but not in glaucophytes) or multiple endosymbiotic events (diatoms, dinoflagellates, coccolithophores, cryptophytes, chlorarachniophytes, and euglenozoa. Some algal groups, however, lack pyrenoids altogether: "higher" red algae and extremophile red algae, the green alga genus "Chloromonas", and "golden algae". Pyrenoids are usually considered to be poor taxonomic markers and may have evolved independently many times.


Aureoumbra

Aureoumbra is a genus of algae belonging to the family Sarcinochrysidaceae.
Species:


Tunavirus

Tunavirus (synonyms "T1-like phages", "T1-like viruses", "Tunalikevirus") is a genus of viruses in the order "Caudovirales", in the family "Drexlerviridae". Bacteria serve as natural hosts. There are currently 14 species in this genus, including the type species "Escherichia virus T1".
Taxonomy.
The following species are recognized:
Structure.
Tunaviruses are nonenveloped, with a head and tail. The head is about 60 nm in diameter. The tail is about 151 nm long, 8 nm wide. It's non-contractile, flexible, and has four short, kinked terminal fibers.
Genome.
Genomes are circular, around 50kb in length. The type species, "Escherichia virus T1", and five other species have been fully sequenced. They range between 45-51k nucleotides, with 45-87 proteins. The complete genomes, as well as two other similar, unclassified genomes are available here.
Life cycle.
Viral replication is cytoplasmic. The virus attaches to the host cell's adhesion receptor FhuA using its terminal fibers, and ejects the viral DNA into the host cytoplasm via long flexible tail ejection system. Replication follows the replicative transposition model. DNA-templated transcription is the method of transcription. Once the viral genes have been replicated, the procapsid is assembled and packed. The tail is then assembled and the mature virions are released via lysis, and holin/endolysin/spanin proteins. Bacteria serve as the natural host. Transmission routes are passive diffusion.
History.
According to ICTV's 1996 report, the genus "Tunalikevirus" was first accepted under the name "T1-like phages", assigned only to family "Siphoviridae". The whole family was moved to order "Caudovirales" in 1998, and the genus was renamed to "T1-like viruses" in ICTV's 7th Report in 1999. In 2012, it was renamed again to "Tunalikevirus". The genus was later renamed to Tunavirus and placed in the newly established family "Drexlerviridae".


Anaerobic organism

An anaerobic organism or anaerobe is any organism that does not require molecular oxygen for growth. It may react negatively or even die if free oxygen is present. In contrast, an aerobic organism (aerobe) is an organism that requires an oxygenated environment. Anaerobes may be unicellular (e.g. protozoans, bacteria) or multicellular.
Most fungi are obligate aerobes, requiring oxygen to survive. However, some species, such as the Chytridiomycota that reside in the rumen of cattle, are obligate anaerobes; for these species, anaerobic respiration is used because oxygen will disrupt their metabolism or kill them. Deep waters of the ocean are a common anoxic environment.
First observation.
In his letter of 14 June 1680 to The Royal Society, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek described an experiment he carried out by filling two identical glass tubes about halfway with crushed pepper powder, to which some clean rain water was added. Van Leeuwenhoek sealed one of the glass tubes using a flame and left the other glass tube open. Several days later, he discovered in the open glass tube 'a great many very little animalcules, of divers sort having its own particular motion.' Not expecting to see any life in the sealed glass tube, Van Leeuwenhoek saw to his surprise 'a kind of living animalcules that were round and bigger than the biggest sort that I have said were in the other water.' The conditions in the sealed tube had become quite anaerobic due to consumption of oxygen by aerobic microorganisms.
In 1913 Martinus Beijerinck repeated Van Leeuwenhoek's experiment and identified "Clostridium butyricum" as a prominent anaerobic bacterium in the sealed pepper infusion tube liquid. Beijerinck commented: 'We thus come to the remarkable conclusion that, beyond doubt, Van Leeuwenhoek in his experiment with the fully closed tube had cultivated and seen genuine anaerobic bacteria, which would happen again only after 200 years, namely about 1862 by Pasteur. That Leeuwenhoek, one hundred years before the discovery of oxygen and the composition of air, was not aware of the meaning of his observations is understandable. But the fact that in the closed tube he observed an increased gas pressure caused by fermentative bacteria and in addition saw the bacteria, prove in any case that he not only was a good observer, but also was able to design an experiment from which a
conclusion could be drawn.'
Classification.
For practical purposes, there are three categories of anaerobe:
However, this classification has been questioned after recent research showed that human "obligate anaerobes" (such as "Finegoldia magna" or the methanogenic archaea "Methanobrevibacter smithii") can be grown in aerobic atmosphere if the culture medium is supplemented with antioxidants such as ascorbic acid, glutathione and uric acid.
Energy metabolism.
Some obligate anaerobes use fermentation, while others use anaerobic respiration. Aerotolerant organisms are strictly fermentative. In the presence of oxygen, facultative anaerobes use aerobic respiration; without oxygen, some of them ferment; some use anaerobic respiration.
Fermentation.
There are many anaerobic fermentative reactions.
Fermentative anaerobic organisms mostly use the lactic acid fermentation pathway:
The energy released in this reaction (without ADP and phosphate) is approximately 150 kJ per mol, which is conserved in generating two ATP from ADP per glucose. This is only 5% of the energy per sugar molecule that the typical aerobic reaction generates taking advantage of the high energy of O2.
Plants and fungi (e.g., yeasts) in general use alcohol (ethanol) fermentation when oxygen becomes limiting:
The energy released is about 180 kJ per mol, which is conserved in generating two ATP from ADP per glucose.
Anaerobic bacteria and archaea use these and many other fermentative pathways, e.g., propionic acid fermentation, butyric acid fermentation, solvent fermentation, mixed acid fermentation, butanediol fermentation, Stickland fermentation, acetogenesis, or methanogenesis.
Culturing anaerobes.
Since normal microbial culturing occurs in atmospheric air, which is an aerobic environment, the culturing of anaerobes poses a problem. Therefore, a number of techniques are employed by microbiologists when culturing anaerobic organisms, for example, handling the bacteria in a glovebox filled with nitrogen or the use of other specially sealed containers, or techniques such as injection of the bacteria into a dicot plant, which is an environment with limited oxygen. The GasPak System is an isolated container that achieves an anaerobic environment by the reaction of water with sodium borohydride and sodium bicarbonate tablets to produce hydrogen gas and carbon dioxide. Hydrogen then reacts with oxygen gas on a palladium catalyst to produce more water, thereby removing oxygen gas. The issue with the GasPak method is that an adverse reaction can take place where the bacteria may die, which is why a thioglycollate medium should be used. The thioglycollate supplies a medium mimicking that of a dicot, thus providing not only an anaerobic environment but all the nutrients needed for the bacteria to thrive.
Recently, a French team evidenced a link between redox and gut anaerobes based on clinical studies of severe acute malnutrition. These findings led to the development of aerobic culture of "anaerobes" by the addition of antioxidants in the culture medium.
Multicellularity.
Few multicellular life forms are anaerobic, since only O2 with its weak double bond can provide enough energy for complex metabolism. Exceptions include three species of Loricifera (< 1 mm in size) and the 10-cell "Henneguya zschokkei".
In 2010 three species of anaerobic loricifera were discovered in the hypersaline anoxic L'Atalante basin at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea. They lack mitochondria which contain the oxidative phosphorylation pathway, which in all other animals combines oxygen with glucose to produce metabolic energy, and thus they consume no oxygen. Instead these loricifera derive their energy from hydrogen using hydrogenosomes.


Acaulospora laevis

Acaulospora laevis is a species of fungi in the family Acaulosporaceae. It forms arbuscular mycorrhiza and vesicles in roots.


Pleurotus tuber-regium

Pleurotus tuber-regium, the king tuber mushroom, is an edible gilled fungus native to the tropics, including Africa, Asia, and Australasia. It has been shown to be a distinct species incapable of cross-breeding and phylogenetically removed from other species of "Pleurotus".
"P. tuber-regium" is a saprotroph found on dead wood, including "Daniellia" trees in Africa. As the fungus consumes the wood, it produces a sclerotium, or storage tuber, either within the decaying wood or in the underlying soil. These sclerotia are round, dark brown with white interiors, and up to 30 cm wide. The fruiting bodies then emerge from the sclerotium. Both the sclerotium and the fruiting bodies are edible.
In addition to being saprotrophic, "P. tuber-regium" is also nematophagous, catching nematodes by paralyzing them with a toxin.
"P. tuber-regium" has a history of economic importance in Africa as food and as a medicinal mushroom. Industrial cultivation is not yet common, but studies have shown "P. tuber-regium" can be grown on organic wastes such as corn, sawdust, cardboard. Mycelial growth occurs between 15 °C and 40 °C, with an optimum growth rate at 35 °C. A recent study demonstrated that polysaccharides of "P. tuber-regium" are able to delay the progression of diabetes and associated complications in rats with insulin resistance [7].
P. tuber-regium can degrade polyethylene film.
References.
7. Huang H.Y., Mallikarjuna Korivi, Chaing Y.Y., Chien T.Y., and Tsai Y.C. (2012). "Pleurotus tuber-regium" polysaccharides attenuate hyperglycemia and oxidative stress in experimental diabetic rats. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2012, doi:10.1155/2012/856381. http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ecam/2012/856381/


Long Point Group

The Long Point Group is a geologic group in Newfoundland and Labrador. It preserves fossils dating back to the Ediacaran period.


Mycobacterium montefiorense

Mycobacterium montefiorense is a species of bacteria which cause granulomatous skin disease of moray eels. Sequence analysis, of the 16S rRNA gene reveals "M. montefiorense" is most closely related to "Mycobacterium triplex", an opportunistic pathogen of humans.
M. montefiorense was named after the Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, N.Y., the medical institution where it was isolated.
Description.
"M. montefiorense" are acid-fast rods which grow on Middlebrook 7H10 media at 25 °C to form small, transparent, slow-growing colonies.
"M. montefiorense" do not grow at temperatures above 30 °C.
The strain ATCC BAA-256 = CCUG 51898 = DSM 44602.
Pathogenesis.
M. montefiorense has been demonstrated to cause granulomatous skin disease of moray eels.


Dermatophyte test medium

Dermatophyte test medium (DTM) is a specialized agar used in medical mycology. It is based on Sabouraud's dextrose agar with added cycloheximide to inhibit saprotrophic growth, antibiotic to inhibit bacterial growth, and phenol red a pH indicator. The pH indicator is useful in distinguishing a dermatophyte fungus, which utilizes nitrogenous material for preferred metabolism, producing alkaline by-products, imparting a red color change to the medium. Typical saprotrophic fungi utilize carbohydrates in the medium producing acidic by-products and no red color change.


Astraeus morganii

Astraeus morganii is a species of false earthstar in the family Diplocystaceae. The fungus is found in the central to southern United States, extending southwards to Mexico. It is closely related to "Astraeus pteridis", but has smaller fruit bodies and larger spores. The specific epithet honors American botanist Andrew Price Morgan.


Bacillus

Bacillus (Latin "stick") is a genus of Gram-positive, rod-shaped bacteria, a member of the phylum "Firmicutes", with 266 named species. The term is also used to describe the shape (rod) of certain bacteria; and the plural "Bacilli" is the name of the class of bacteria to which this genus belongs. "Bacillus" species can be either obligate aerobes: oxygen dependent; or facultative anaerobes: having the ability to continue living in the absence of oxygen. Cultured "Bacillus" species test positive for the enzyme catalase if oxygen has been used or is present.
"Bacillus" can reduce themselves to oval endospores and can remain in this dormant state for years. The endospore of one species from Morocco is reported to have survived being heated to 420 °C. Endospore formation is usually triggered by a lack of nutrients: the bacterium divides within its cell wall, and one side then engulfs the other. They are not true spores (i.e., not an offspring). Endospore formation originally defined the genus, but not all such species are closely related, and many species have been moved to other genera of the "Firmicutes". Only one endospore is formed per cell. The spores are resistant to heat, cold, radiation, desiccation, and disinfectants. "Bacillus anthracis" needs oxygen to sporulate; this constraint has important consequences for epidemiology and control. In vivo, "B. anthracis" produces a polypeptide (polyglutamic acid) capsule that kills it from phagocytosis. The genera "Bacillus" and "Clostridium" constitute the family "Bacillaceae". Species are identified by using morphologic and biochemical criteria. Because the spores of many "Bacillus" species are resistant to heat, radiation, disinfectants, and desiccation, they are difficult to eliminate from medical and pharmaceutical materials and are a frequent cause of contamination. Not only they are they resistant to heat, radiation, etc., but they are also resistant to chemicals such as antibiotics. This resistance allows them to survive for many years and especially in a controlled environment. "Bacillus" species are well known in the food industries as troublesome spoilage organisms.
Ubiquitous in nature, "Bacillus" includes both free-living (nonparasitic) species, and two parasitic pathogenic species. These two "Bacillus" species are medically significant: "B. anthracis" causes anthrax; and "B. cereus" causes food poisoning.
Many species of "Bacillus" can produce copious amounts of enzymes, which are used in various industries, such as in the production of alpha amylase used in starch hydrolysis and the protease subtilisin used in detergents. "B. subtilis" is a valuable model for bacterial research.
Some "Bacillus" species can synthesize and secrete lipopeptides, in particular surfactins and mycosubtilins.
Structure.
Cell wall.
The cell wall of "Bacillus" is a structure on the outside of the cell that forms the second barrier between the bacterium and the environment, and at the same time maintains the rod shape and withstands the pressure generated by the cell's turgor. The cell wall is made of teichoic and teichuronic acids. "B. subtilis" is the first bacterium for which the role of an actin-like cytoskeleton in cell shape determination and peptidoglycan synthesis was identified and for which the entire set of peptidoglycan-synthesizing enzymes was localized. The role of the cytoskeleton in shape generation and maintenance is important.
"Bacillus" species are rod-shaped, endospore-forming aerobic or facultatively anaerobic, Gram-positive bacteria; in some species cultures may turn Gram-negative with age. The many species of the genus exhibit a wide range of physiologic abilities that allow them to live in every natural environment. Only one endospore is formed per cell. The spores are resistant to heat, cold, radiation, desiccation, and disinfectants.
Origin of name.
The genus "Bacillus" was named in 1835 by Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg, to contain rod-shaped (bacillus) bacteria. He had seven years earlier named the genus "Bacterium". "Bacillus" was later amended by Ferdinand Cohn to further describe them as spore-forming, Gram-positive, aerobic or facultatively anaerobic bacteria. Like other genera associated with the early history of microbiology, such as "Pseudomonas" and "Vibrio", the 266 species of "Bacillus" are ubiquitous. The genus has a very large ribosomal 16S diversity.
Isolation and identification.
An easy way to isolate "Bacillus" species is by placing nonsterile soil in a test tube with water, shaking, placing in melted mannitol salt agar, and incubating at room temperature for at least a day. Cultured colonies are usually large, spreading, and irregularly shaped.
Under the microscope, the "Bacillus" cells appear as rods, and a substantial portion of the cells usually contain oval endospores at one end, making them bulge.
Phylogeny.
Three proposals have been presented as representing the phylogeny of the genus "Bacillus". The first proposal, presented in 2003, is a "Bacillus"-specific study, with the most diversity covered using 16S and the ITS regions. It divides the genus into 10 groups. This includes the nested genera "Paenibacillus, Brevibacillus, Geobacillus, Marinibacillus" and "Virgibacillus".
The second proposal, presented in 2008, constructed a 16S (and 23S if available) tree of all validated species. The genus "Bacillus" contains a very large number of nested taxa and majorly in both 16S and 23S. It is paraphyletic to the Lactobacillales ("Lactobacillus, Streptococcus, Staphylococcus, Listeria", etc.), due to "Bacillus coahuilensis" and others.
A third proposal, presented in 2010, was a gene concatenation study, and found results similar to the 2008 proposal, but with a much more limited number of species in terms of groups. (This scheme used "Listeria" as an outgroup, so in light of the ARB tree, it may be "inside-out").
One clade, formed by "Bacillus anthracis", "Bacillus cereus", "Bacillus mycoides", "Bacillus pseudomycoides", "Bacillus thuringiensis", and "Bacillus weihenstephanensis" under the 2011 classification standards, should be a single species (within 97% 16S identity), but due to medical reasons, they are considered separate species (an issue also present for four species of "Shigella" and "Escherichia coli").
Ecological and clinical significance.
"Bacillus" species are ubiquitous in nature, e.g. in soil. They can occur in extreme environments such as high pH ("B. alcalophilus"), high temperature ("B. thermophilus"), and high salt concentrations ("B. halodurans"). "B. thuringiensis" produces a toxin that can kill insects and thus has been used as insecticide. "B. siamensis" has antimicrobial compounds that inhibit plant pathogens, such as the fungi "Rhizoctonia solani" and "Botrytis cinerea", and they promote plant growth by volatile emissions. Some species of "Bacillus" are naturally competent for DNA uptake by transformation.
Industrial significance.
Many "Bacillus" species are able to secrete large quantities of enzymes. "Bacillus amyloliquefaciens" is the source of a natural antibiotic protein barnase (a ribonuclease), alpha amylase used in starch hydrolysis, the protease subtilisin used with detergents, and the BamH1 restriction enzyme used in DNA research.
A portion of the "Bacillus thuringiensis" genome was incorporated into corn (and cotton) crops. The resulting GMOs are resistant to some insect pests. "Bacillus" species continue to be dominant bacterial workhorses in microbial fermentations. "Bacillus subtilis" (natto) is the key microbial participant in the ongoing production of the soya-based traditional natto fermentation, and some "Bacillus" species are on the Food and Drug Administration's GRAS (generally regarded as safe) list. The capacity of selected "Bacillus" strains to produce and secrete large quantities (20-25 g/L) of extracellular enzymes has placed them among the most important industrial enzyme producers. The ability of different species to ferment in the acid, neutral, and alkaline pH ranges, combined with the presence of thermophiles in the genus, has led to the development of a variety of new commercial enzyme products with the desired temperature, pH activity, and stability properties to address a variety of specific applications. Classical mutation and (or) selection techniques, together with advanced cloning and protein engineering strategies, have been exploited to develop these products. Efforts to produce and secrete high yields of foreign recombinant proteins in "Bacillus" hosts initially appeared to be hampered by the degradation of the products by the host proteases. Recent studies have revealed that the slow folding of heterologous proteins at the membrane-cell wall interface of Gram-positive bacteria renders them vulnerable to attack by wall-associated proteases. In addition, the presence of thiol-disulphide oxidoreductases in "B. subtilis" may be beneficial in the secretion of disulphide-bond-containing proteins. Such developments from our understanding of the complex protein translocation machinery of Gram-positive bacteria should allow the resolution of current secretion challenges and make "Bacillus" species preeminent hosts for heterologous protein production. "Bacillus" strains have also been developed and engineered as industrial producers of nucleotides, the vitamin riboflavin, the flavor agent ribose, and the supplement poly-gamma-glutamic acid. With the recent characterization of the genome of "B. subtilis" 168 and of some related strains, "Bacillus" species are poised to become the preferred hosts for the production of many new and improved products as we move through the genomic and proteomic era.
Use as model organism.
"Bacillus subtilis" is one of the best understood prokaryotes, in terms of molecular and cellular biology. Its superb genetic amenability and relatively large size have provided the powerful tools required to investigate a bacterium from all possible aspects. Recent improvements in fluorescent microscopy techniques have provided novel insight into the dynamic structure of a single cell organism. Research on "B. subtilis" has been at the forefront of bacterial molecular biology and cytology, and the organism is a model for differentiation, gene/protein regulation, and cell cycle events in bacteria.


Chlorobotrys

Chlorobotrys is a genus of algae belonging to the family Chlorobothryaceae.
The species of this genus are found in Europe.
Species:


Elaphidion irroratum

Elaphidion irroratum is a species of beetle in the family Cerambycidae. It was described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1767 12th edition of "Systema Naturae".
Description.
Head very dark brown, almost black; front dappled with cream colour. Antennae dark brown, and about the length of the insect; having spines at each joint, except that next the head. Thorax spineless, brownish black, with white patches on its sides; and, when viewed through a microscope, punctured. Scutellum very small, and nearly triangular. Elytra brownish black, margined at the sides and suture, with whitish patches thereon, punctured; having two spines at the extremity of each. Abdomen and breast black, and covered with short grey hairs like pile. Legs reddish brown, with a small spine at the tip of each of the femora (except the fore ones), and another at the tips of the tibiae. Length of body inch (19 mm).


Steirastoma pustulata

Steirastoma pustulata is a species of beetle in the family Cerambycidae. It was described by Dru Drury in 1773 from Jamaica.
Description.
General colour grey brown. Head furnished with strong mandibles. Antennae (with the basal joint very thick) much longer than the insect. Thorax rough, gibbous, and full of small pustules, two of which form an obtuse spine on the sides. Scutellum small and triangular. Elytra margined, and full of small pustules, having two spines fixed at their extremity, near the suture. Forelegs long. Tibiae with a single spur. Femora clavate. Body length about 1 inch (25 mm).


Sorangium cellulosum

Sorangium cellulosum is a soil-dwelling Gram-negative bacterium of the group myxobacteria. It is motile and shows gliding motility. Under stressful conditions this motility, as in other myxobacteria, the cells congregate to form fruiting bodies and differentiate into myxospores. These congregating cells make isolation of pure culture and colony counts on agar medium difficult as the bacterium spread and colonies merge. It has an unusually-large genome of 13,033,779 base pairs, making it the largest bacterial genome sequenced to date by roughly 4 Mb.
Ecology.
S. cellulosum is found in soils, animal feces, and tree bark. The bacterium is a saprophyte deriving its nutrition from cellulose aerobically. It is a prolific producer of secondary fungicides and bactericides that reduce competition in soil environments. In lab samples, S. cellulosum grows on agar medium only when certain cell densities are plated. Quorum-sensing allows Sorangium to grow in communities sufficiently large to metabolize cellulose.
Secondary compounds.
"Sorangium" produces 50% of all known metabolites produced by myxobacteria. These include compounds that are antifungal, antibacterial, antibiotic resistant, or can even disable mammalian cells. These many compounds have sparked intense mining of its extensive genome in exploration of possible industrial and medical applications. Some of these secondary compounds include:
Industrial fermentation and genetic manipulation of "S. cellulosum" is challenging. Plasmids have been found to not function in "S. cellulosum" cells. Reproducible genetic alterations must be made directly into the single circular chromosome.
Clinical use.
Metabolites secreted by "Sorangium cellulosum" known as epothilones have been noted to have antineoplastic activity. This has led to the development of analogs which mimic its activity. One such analog, known as ixabepilone is a U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved chemotherapy agent for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer.


Rescue at Midnight Castle

Rescue at Midnight Castle, also known as Escape from Midnight Castle, Rescue from Midnight Castle or just My Little Pony, and released later as Firefly's Adventure, My Little Pony in Dreamland and My Little Pony: Rescue at Midnight Castle is a 1984 animated television special based on the Hasbro toy line, My Little Pony. It was released as a pilot of the proposed television series, and featured the voices of Sandy Duncan and Tony Randall. A second special was produced in 1985, "Escape from Catrina".
Production.
Plot.
The story begins as the peaceful ponies of Dream Valley are attacked by monsters, led by Scorpan, who kidnap several ponies and take them away to Midnight Castle. Enraged, Firefly, a Pegasus pony, takes to the skies to try to find someone who can help them defeat Tirac, a centaur-like demon whose plan is to use these ponies to pull his Chariot of Darkness. On her way, she crashes into 12-year-old Megan's well and asks her for her help. Megan is at first reluctant to go but after being confronted by the monsters, she sets out with the ponies to rescue them.
At Midnight Castle, Tirac has the smallest pony, Ember, taken to the dungeons, and uses the Rainbow of Darkness to turn the other three ponies Scorpan captured into dragons. He tells Scorpan to bring him a fourth pony by midnight, threatening to behead his friend, the baby dragon Spike.
Megan, Firefly, and the ponies Applejack, Twilight, and Bow Tie go to see the Moochick, who has magic powers and might know how to defeat Tirac. On the way, Applejack falls off a bridge into the river and Megan jumps after her, from which they are rescued by the Sea Ponies, who tell them to call on them if they need help again. Megan and the ponies find the Moochick, who says that to defeat Tirac they must take away his Rainbow of Darkness, which gives him his power. He also gives them the Rainbow of Light, which can help defeat Tirac.
Arriving at Midnight Castle, Megan and the ponies cross the moat of raging water with help from the Sea Ponies. Meanwhile, Scorpan fails to get a fourth pony for Tirac, who threatens Spike again. Scorpan releases Spike and Ember from the dungeons. Applejack is captured by Tirac, who turns her into a dragon. Scorpan enters, attacks Tirac's guards, and runs outside with Megan and the ponies. With four corrupted ponies, Tirac rides his Chariot of Darkness. Tirac defeats Scorpan, nearly killing him, while Megan rides Firefly and knocks the Rainbow of Darkness out of Tirac's hand. The ponies fight Tirac's guards over the Rainbow of Darkness, but in the end, Tirac gets it back. Megan unleashes the Rainbow of Light, which does nothing at first. Tirac uses the Rainbow of Darkness on the Rainbow of Light, which fights back, overpowers the Rainbow of Darkness, and destroys Tirac. Everything Tirac transformed with the Rainbow of Darkness is restored to its original state, including the ponies and Scorpan, whose original form is a prince. Spike, however, has always been a baby dragon.
As the credits roll, Spike chooses to stay with the ponies while Firefly carries Megan back home.
Impact.
"My Little Pony 'n Friends" airing.
The 1984 stand alone TV special, "Rescue from Midnight Castle", was edited into a two part episode of "My Little Pony 'n Friends" television series and re-titled "Escape from Midnight Castle". The opening animated sequence with narrated voice-actor credits, as well as its end credits, were removed and replaced with the standard 1986 TV series opening/closing. Also omitted is the two and a half minute animated musical number "Little Piece of Rainbow", sung by Tony Randall. The episode aired at the end of the TV show's first season, in November 1986. A similar edit was done to the follow up 1985 TV special, "Escape from Catrina", which aired at the end of the second season as "Escape from Katrina".
Inspiration for "Friendship Is Magic".
Lauren Faust got much inspiration for "" from the special, "My Little Pony: Rescue From Midnight Castle" (1984), and the 1986 television series. She gave similar personalities to the new generation of ponies from the older series and specials, making them live on for a new generation. Tirac, renamed as Tirek, also appears in the series as a major antagonist, introduced in the two-part season 4 finale "Twilight's Kingdom" with a cameo appearance by Scorpan in the flashback sequence.


Mortierellaceae

The Mortierellaceae are a family of fungi in the order Mortierellales. The family contains six genera and 93 species.
Taxonomic history.
Many genera have been included in this family. According to Fitzpatrick, the family contained "Mortierella", "Herpocladium", "Dissophora", and "Haplosporangium". Later, "Herpocladium" was removed and "Aquamortierella" added. Another genus, "Echinosporangium", was later added. Currently, the family contains "Mortierella", which may be paraphyletic compared to other genera, the bitypic (containing only two species) "Dissophora" and "Modicella", and the monotypic (containing only one species) genera "Aquamortirella", "Lobosporangium", and "Gamsiella". A new genus, "Echinochlamydosporium", was described in 2011.
Morphology.
Members of this family have coenocytic hyphae. Colonies tend to be white or off-white and are characterized by zonate growth—that is, growing in rings—and an onion or garlic smell. Single or multiple columellate sporangia are born on aerial sporangiophores. Their distinctive zygospores may be enveloped by hyphae. They may be smooth or dimples but nearly all have apposed suspensors. This family also produces chlamydospores, which may be spiny or rough and thick-walled.
"Mortierella".
"Mortierella" is the most commonly encountered and well studied of the genera. Members of this genus typically are saprobes in soil, dung, and reproductive bodies of higher fungi, but there are facultative parasites. Isolates of "Mortierella" can be readily obtained from forest soils on Czapek agar, hay agar, or water agar. Members of this genus are thought to play significant roles in temperate forest ecosystems, though many are psychrophiles (requiring cold temperatures for growth) and are likely overlooked in soil samples incubated at room temperature.


Brevibacterium

Brevibacterium is a genus of bacteria of the order Actinomycetales.
They are Gram-positive soil organisms. It is the sole genus in the family "Brevibacteriaceae".
Further reading.
Mimura, Haruo (September 2014). "Growth Enhancement of the Halotolerant "Brevibacterium" sp JCM 6894 by Methionine Externally Added to a Chemically Defined Medium". Biocontrol Science 19 (3): 151–155.


Calvatia oblongispora

Calvatia oblongispora is a species of puffball from the genus "Calvatia". Found in Brazil, it was described as new to science in 2009. The fruitbody is spherical or nearly so, measuring about in diameter. The thin, fragile peridium is readily detachable from the internal gleba. It is light beige and wrinkled, with a small, short, thin mycelium cord up to 5 mm long. The spores are cylindrical to ellipsoid in shape, hyaline (translucent), and measure 5.4–7.5 by 3.6–4.3 µm. They are covered in small spiny protrusions and have a single oil droplet within.


Zoopagomycotina

The Zoopagomycotina are a subdivision ("incertae sedis") of the fungal division Zygomycota "sensu lato". It contains 5 families and 20 genera. Relationships among and within subphyla of Zygomycota are poorly understood, and their monophyly remains in question, so they are sometimes referred to by the informal name zygomycetes.
Zoopagomycotina are microscopic and are typically obligate parasites of other zygomycete fungi and of microscopic soil animals such as nematodes, rotifers and amoebae.<ref name="[tolweb.org/Zygomycota]"> url=http://www.tolweb.org/Zygomycota</ref> Some species are endoparasites that live mostly within the bodies of their hosts and only exit the host when they are producing spores. Other species are ectoparasites (e.g. "Syncephalis", "Piptocephalis") that live outside of the host body but produce specialized organs called haustoria that penetrate inside of the host body to capture host nutrients. Similar haustoria are found in biotrophic plant, animal and fungal pathogens in several other major fungal lineages.
Like most other zygomycete fungi, the Zoopagomycotina have cell walls containing chitin and have coenocytic (nonseptate) hyphae. Their vegetative body consists of a simple, branched or unbranched thallus. Asexual reproduction is by arthrospores (in "Helicocephalum"), chlamydospores, uni- or multi-spored sporganiola; sporangiospores of multi-spored formed in simple or branched chains (merosporangia), usually from a vesicle or stalk. Many produce haustoria. Where observed, the sexual spores (zygospores) are globose and unornamented. The hyphae used during sexual outcrossing is similar to vegetative hyphae or in some cases may be slightly enlarged.
Etymology.
The word Zoopagomycotina comes from the Greek roots "zoo" meaning "animal" and "pag" meaning "rock" or "ice/frost".
Evolutionary relationships.
Although great strides have been made in resolving the evolutionary relationships among many lineages of fungi, it has been challenging to resolve relationships within and among zygomycetes. For example, the uncertain grouping of "Zoophagus insidians" with the Kickxellomycotina.
Resolving a well-supported monophyly of the Zoopagomycotina has been particularly challenging for several main reasons:


Vision Serpent

The Vision Serpent is an important creature in Pre-Columbian Maya mythology, although the term itself is now slowly becoming outdated.
The serpent was a very important social and religious symbol, revered by the Maya. Maya mythology describes serpents as being the vehicles by which celestial bodies, such as the sun and stars, cross the heavens. The shedding of their skin made them a symbol of rebirth and renewal.
They were so revered, that one of the main Mesoamerican deities, Quetzalcoatl, was represented as a feathered serpent. The name means "beautiful serpent" (from Nahuatl, "quetzalli" means beautiful and "coatl" meaning snake or serpent.).
The Vision Serpent is thought to be the most important of the Maya serpents. "It was usually bearded and had a rounded snout. It was also often depicted as having two heads or with the spirit of a god or ancestor emerging from its jaws." During Maya bloodletting rituals, participants would experience visions in which they communicated with the ancestors or gods. These visions took the form of a giant serpent "which served as a gateway to the spirit realm." The ancestor or god who was being contacted was depicted as emerging from the serpent's mouth. The vision serpent thus came to be the method in which ancestors or gods manifested themselves to the Maya. Thus for them, the Vision Serpent was a direct link between the spirit realm of the gods and the physical world.
The Vision Serpent goes back to earlier Maya conceptions and lies at the center of the world as they conceived it. "It is in the center axis atop the World Tree. Essentially the World Tree and the Vision Serpent, representing the king, created the center axis which communicates between the spiritual and the earthly worlds or planes. It is through ritual that the king could bring the center axis into existence in the temples and create a doorway to the spiritual world, and with it power."
The Vision Serpent is prevalent in bloodletting ceremonies, in Maya religious practices, Maya jewelry, pottery and their architecture.
Bloodletting rituals.
Many have attempted to explain the manifestation of the Vision Serpent in association with Maya bloodletting. One conclusion is "that massive blood loss causes the brain to release an abundance of natural endorphins, which are chemically related to opiates. As the body goes into shock, a hallucinatory vision occurs." Once the actual bloodletting was over, the blood soaked ceremonial papers were burned, releasing a column of smoke. The smoke provided the perfect medium for the Vision Serpent to appear. Every major political or religious event involved bloodletting because it provided a medium by which the gods could be called upon to witness and actually participate in the ceremony. Sometimes the spirits of ancestors were also called upon to give guidance. The Hauberg Stela (A. D. 199) from the Maya Lowlands "is one of the first dated monuments that depict the Vision Serpent's connection to bloodletting".
Lintel 25 depicts one of the bloodletting rituals. "One of Shield Jaguar's wives, is seen gazing up towards an enormous bicephalous Vision Serpent. In her left hand, she holds a bowl containing a stingray spine, an obsidian lancet, and papers spattered with blood. The Vision Serpent appears to be emanating from the bowl. From the jaws of the Vision Serpent, spews forth an ancestral Tlaloc warrior complete with spear and shield".
Lintel 17 refers to "Bird Jaguars as Blood Lord of Yaxchilan" and shows him preparing to draw blood from his penis with a stingray spine. Opposite Bird Jaguar is Lady Balam-Ix, who proceeds to pass coarse rope through a gouge in her tongue. The blood is being collected in the vessel near Bird Jaguar's feet. The Vision Serpent's mouth is green and, the trickles of blood characteristic of bloodletting are red".
Lintel 15 depicts the appearance of this Vision Serpent. "The serpent can be seen rising out of the bowl with trickles of blood along a column of blood scrolls. This lintel shows the queen of Yaxchilan involved in a visionary experience following an elaborate bloodletting ceremony. She holds the ritual paraphernalia in her arms while the vision serpent rises from a bowl of blood stained paper."
Maya religious rites.
There was a Vision Serpent named Och-Kan, lord of Kalak'mul.
One of the most common rituals associated with the Vision serpent involved invoking ancestral spirits. Especially during coronation rites, the kings would contact the spirits for guidance and blessings. It is the Vision Serpent who provides the medium for contacting these deities.
It is believed that Lord Pakal's sarcophagus lid, which was located at Palenque, is probably “the single most comprehensive image which relates the Vision Serpent to Maya religion.” It depicts the death of Pakal and his descent into the Underworld. “The bicepalous serpent bar is placed horizontally on the World Tree and is the conduit for this transition. In the same way that the Vision Serpent represents a conduit between the physical world and the spirit realm of the ancestors, this bicephalous serpent bar represents a conduit between the realm of the living and the realm of the dead.”
Maya jewelry and pottery.
A piece of Maya jewelry depicts an “anthropomorphic, bicephalous serpent.” It is believed to have been worn during a bloodletting ceremony. It clearly shows the arrival of an ancestor from the spirit realm.
The portrayal of the Vision Serpent was very prevalent in Maya pottery. Vessels used during bloodletting ceremonies, depict the Vision serpent. The vessels below are excellent examples. They are carved in stone and are “some of the earliest depiction of Vision Serpent iconography. Blood spews forth from the open jaws of the front head. Although the rear is not physically attached, it sits just above the serpent's tail and also represents blood”.
Maya architectural motifs.
The Vision Serpent also finds a place in Maya architecture and is especially prominent in the decoration of pillars on the interior and exterior of Maya temples.
”In the palace at Labna, serpents adorn the corners of the principle facade. Characteristic of the Vision Serpent, there appears to be either an anthropomorphic deity or the spirit of an ancestor emanating from the gaping jaws of the serpent's mouth”.
Contemporary observances.
Remnants of the Vision Serpent have survived until modern times. Around 1930, J.E.S. Thompson noted in San Antonio, Belize, that the Q'eqchi' Maya still performed a ritual very similar to the vision quest of the classic Maya, although in a different context. The ritual marked the initiation of a new shaman for the village. The participant came into direct contact with a giant serpent, Ochan (Och-Kan). It was through this experience that he completed his initiation rites and gained the knowledge that is needed to become a powerful shaman.


Candidatus Caballeronia hispidae

""Candidatus" Caballeronia hispidae" is a bacterium from the genus "Caballeronia" and the family Burkholderiaceae.>


Aquabirnavirus

Aquabirnavirus is a genus of viruses, in the family "Birnaviridae". Salmonid fish serve as natural hosts. There are currently three species in this genus including the type species Infectious pancreatic necrosis virus. Diseases associated with this genus include: IPNV:infectious pancreatic necrosis in salmonid fish, causes significant losses to the aquaculture industry. chronic infection in adult, and acute viral disease in young salmonid fish.
Taxonomy.
Group: dsRNA
Structure.
Viruses in "Aquabirnavirus" are non-enveloped, with icosahedral and Single-shelled geometries, and T=13 symmetry. The diameter is around 70 nm. Genomes are linear and segmented, around 2.7-3kb in length. The genome codes for 5 proteins.
Life cycle.
Viral replication is cytoplasmic. Entry into the host cell is achieved by penetration into the host cell. Replication follows the double-stranded RNA virus replication model. Double-stranded rna virus transcription is the method of transcription. Salmonid fish serve as the natural host. Transmission routes are contact.


Basidiobolomycetes

Basidiobolomycetes is one of the currently recognized classes within the kingdom Fungi.
Taxonomy.
Based on the work of Philippe Silar and "The Mycota: A Comprehensive Treatise on Fungi as Experimental Systems for Basic and Applied Research" and synonyms from "Part 1- Virae, Prokarya, Protists, Fungi".


Fuxianospira gyrata

Fuxianospira gyrata is a Cambrian macroalgae found in the Chengjiang lagerstatte. Preserved in clustered, helicoid groups, the filaments are threadlike, plain and without branches. Brown and smooth in appearance, these structural characteristics display a resemblance to modern brown algae. A limited amount of algae species have been discovered in the Chengjiang biota, suggesting that diversity within the general algae population may have been sparse. It is thought that the macroalgae could be the most basic component of the Chengjiang biota food chain.
It is also theorised that "Fuxianospira gyrata", among other Chengjiang algae, is actually a coprolite.


Entosis

Entosis (from Greek ἐντός "entos", "within" and -ωσις "-osis", "disease") is the invasion of a living cell into another cell's cytoplasm. The process was discovered by Overholtzer "et al". as reported in "Cell".
Entotic cells, also referred to as cell-in-cell structures, are triggered by loss of attachment to the extracellular matrix (ECM). This internalization of one cell by another is dependent on adherens junctions, and is driven by a Rho-dependent process, involving actin polymerization and myosin II activity in the internalized cell. Adherens junctions bind cells together by linking cadherin transmembrane protein complexes of adjacent cells to the cytoskeleton. When certain cell types are detached from the ECM and have lost adhesion, the compaction force between neighboring cells can cause them to push into their neighbors, forming the trademark cell-in-cell structures. Though cell-in-cell structures commonly refer to the interaction between two neighboring cells, entosis has been observed involving more than two cells. In the case of an entotic structure formed between three cells, the middle cell acts as both an internalizing and an outer host cell simultaneously.
Aneuploidy, a condition in which nondisjunction gives rise to gametes with an abnormal number of chromosomes, is one of the most prevalent phenotypes of human tumors. The underlying cause of aneuploidy remains highly debated; however, entosis is shown to perturb cytokinesis (cytoplasmic division) and trigger the formation of aneuploid cells. This would be in line with past research, as cell-in-cell structures have been widely observed in the focused study of many human tumors, including lung, breast, and endometrial stromal carcinomas.
A cell trapped by entosis is initially alive and can divide inside the cell that has enveloped it. On occasion, the entotic cell will be released by the host cell, but most internalized cells are eventually killed. Normal cells can kill themselves via apoptosis, which is followed by the programmed engulfment and phagocytic ingestion of the cell's remain by another. Entosis differs greatly from apoptosis in that the entotic process exhibits behavior closely resembling cellular invasion rather than cellular engulfment. Cancer cells adaptively avoid apoptosis, allowing them to live and multiply indefinitely, making it difficult to design drugs that effectively kill tumors. Therefore, entosis acts as a nonapoptotic cell death mechanism, and could possibly be a new way in which cancer cells can be killed.
General mechanism.
The mechanism of entotic cell cannibalism is a complex cell biology process. The process is initiated when epithelial cells form adherens junctions , this is followed by the generation og actomyosin-contractility. The combination of this processes drives cell engulfment by neighbor cell. After internalization, the inner cell is usually killed and digested by the outer cell. This process involves non-canonical autophagy, formation of lysosomes and nutrient recovery. In general, entosis greatly depends on cytoeskeletal structure changes and biophysical forces during the creation of cell-in-cell structures . Novel degradation and signaling pathways are employed during the inner cell killing and digestion process.
Entosis in cancer.
Entosis has been found to be a different mechanism for cancer cells to form cell-in-cell structures at tumor sites. The entosis process in cancer cells is mediated via E-cadherin and P-cadherin. Since cadherins usually create homolytic cell to cell junctions, it is believed that the process mainly occurs between homologous cells. After cell-cell adhesions are mediated, the engulfed cells promote their own uptake into the neighbor cell. Additionally, they promote the ingestion process through actin polymerization and myosin contraction. The invading cell (outer cell) actomysin contraction is regulated by controllers or cell tension such as RhoA, furthermore they accumulate actin and myosin at the cell cortex which generates the mechanical tension that generates the cell-in-cell invasion mechanism. The entosis mechanism can potentially have substantial energetic implication in cancer cells compared to other mechanisms of cell death and engulfment. A crucial part of the process is the active involvement of invading cells, which does not happen in other forms of cell engulfment. This allows the mechanism to selectively target living cells, excluding dead cells or non-living material such as cell debris. After internalization, engulfed cells are killed by the host cell following the maturation of the entotic vacuole that encapsulates the entotic cell. The maturation of the entotic vacuole involves modification by autophagy pathway proteins, followed by lysosome fusion and inner cell dead and degradation inside the host cell. In this mechanism, autophagy pathway proteins play an important role by scavenging extracellular nutrients derived from the inner cell death. Internalized cells can also undergo alternative fates such as apoptosis or unharmed escape from host cell. In clinical cancer specimens, evidence of DNA fragmentation has been found suggesting that non-apoptotic cell death may be a common fate for entotic cells in human cancers.


Knoellia remsis

Knoellia remsis (formerly "Tetrasphaera remsis") a species of Gram positive, nonmotile, non-sporeforming bacteria. The bacteria are aerobic and mesophilic, and the cells are coccoid that group in pairs, tetrads, or clusters. It was originally isolated from an air sample from the Regenerative Enclosed Life Support Module Simulator, which was a system designed to simulate life aboard the International Space Station. The species is named after REMS, the acronym for the Regenerative Enclosed Life Support Module Simulator. The species was originally classified as "Tetrasphaera remsis" in 2007, but was reclassified into the genus "Knoellia" in 2018.
The optimum growth temperature for "K. remsis" is 25 °C and can grow in the 10-45 °C range. The optimum pH is 7.0, and can grow in pH 6.0-9.0.


Endomycetaceae

The Endomycetaceae are a family of yeasts in the order Saccharomycetales. According to the 2007 Outline of Ascomycota, the family contains three genera; however, the placement of the genus "Phialoascus" is uncertain. Species in this poorly understood family have cosmopolitan distributions, and typically grow in association with other fungi, perhaps parasitically.


Lactarius zonarius

Lactarius zonarius is a member of the large milk-cap genus "Lactarius" in the order Russulales. It was first described in 1783, under the basionym "Agaricus zonarius". A rare, poisonous fungus, it can be found in Europe and North America.
Description.
The mushroom cap has a cream-yellow to cream-orange color, and measures from 4 to 16 cm. The mushroom's insides are white and fleshy, and produce a white latex when cut. The stem measures 2 to 5 centimeters in length, and between 1 and 2 cm in diameter.


Mallomonas sorohexareticulata

Mallomonas sorohexareticulata is a species of heterokont algae. It is a tiny free-living cell, about the width of a human hair. It has ornate scales and bristles, as well as long spines. It is a relatively common part of lake or pond plankton. It differs from its cogenerates by the number, distribution, and size of its base plate pores, the secondary structures on the scale surfaces, together with characteristics of its bristles.


Dendrite (non-neuronal)

A dendrite is a branching projection of the cytoplasm of a cell. While the term is most commonly used to refer to the branching projections of neurons, it can also be used to refer to features of other types of cells that, while having a similar appearance, are actually quite distinct structures.
Non-neuronal cells that have dendrites:


List of Mallomonas species

The algae genus Mallomonas contains the following species, forms, and varieties:


Massospora cicadina

Massospora cicadina is a fungal pathogen that infects only 13 and 17 year periodical cicadas. Infection results in a "plug" of spores that replaces the end of the cicada's abdomen while it is still alive, leading to infertility, disease transmission, and eventual death of the cicada.
Systematics.
"M. cicadina" belongs to the phylum Zoopagomycota, subphylum Entomophthoromycota, and order Entomophthorales. About a dozen other species of "Massospora" are known, each of which attacks a specific species of cicada.
Discovery.
"M. cicadina" was first observed by Leidy in 1850 but was not described until 1879 by Charles Horton Peck. Peck placed the fungus among the class Coniomycetes, but in 1888 Thaxter and Forbes placed it instead in Entomophthoraceae. It wasn't until 1921 that the pathogen's microscopic characteristics were thoroughly studied by Speare, who found that conidia germinate quickly when placed in a nutrient substance.
Hosts.
"M. cicadina" infects "Magicicada" species, which are 13 and 17-year periodical cicadas. "Magicicada" species spend most of their lives underground as nymphs, feeding on xylem fluids of tree roots. They dig upwards through the soil to molt into adults and emerge above ground after 13 or 17 years. Adult periodical cicadas live only for 4 to 6 weeks, to mate and deposit their eggs. Females attract males for mating by flicking their wings, while males produce a mating call. After mating, female cicadas deposit up to 600 or more eggs in V-shaped cuts on tree roots (usually 20 eggs at a time in each cut).
Life cycle.
Spores of "M. cicadina" are capable of germinating and infecting cicadas at as little as one year but may remain dormant for either 13 or 17 years before becoming active. This synchronous cycle corresponds with local periods of cicada emergence. "M. cicadina" is thought to be the only pathogen that coincides with its host's 17-year life cycle; because of this it is considered to have the longest life cycle of any fungus. "M. cicadina" resting spores do not require a dormant period: They are capable of germinating and infecting periodical cicadas after less than a year from their introduction into soil. Cicadas are believed to become infected by fungal spores as the nymphs dig tunnels to the soil surface days before their emergence as adults.
Infection.
Stage I infection.
Initial infection takes place while cicada nymphs dig their way to the surface of the soil before emerging as adults. It is presumed that the emerging cicadas are infected by resting spores they encounter in the soil. In early stages of infection, hyphal bodies of the fungus are found in the host tissues. Later, Stage I infected adult cicadas produce haploid conidia, forming the asexual stage of the fungus. Conidia produced by Stage I infected cicadas are capable of infecting other adult cicadas. There is no difference between the proportion of male to female nymphs being infected by spores in this stage. In the early stages of Stage I infection, the infection is completely concealed inside the abdomen of the cicada. Some time before the death of the host, the rear segments of the abdomen fall off, revealing a white, chalky mass or "plug" of the fungus, which produces spores. Because of this method of spreading of Stage I spores, cicadas infected with "M. cicadina" have been referred to as "flying salt shakers of death". Infected cicadas are infertile.
Stage I infected cicadas are observed to spend more time walking around and dragging their abdomen, which may aid in spreading conidia that infect other cicadas. This behavioral change is thought to be the result of a fungal extended phenotype, the physical afflictions of the infected cicadas, or the general phenology of cicada life cycles. Progression in male and female cicadas is similar, including the time elapsed before the abdominal segments fall off. Stage I infected males respond to mating calls of both males and females and attract healthy males through flicking their wings, a behavior only observed in healthy females. This altered behavior aids in infection of healthy cicadas. Stage I infected males also tolerate mounting from courting males, suggesting that "M. cicadina" alters insect sexual behavior to increase infection rates.
The fruiting bodies of "M. cicadina" on Stage I infected adult cicadas, are observed to possess a substituted amphetamine alkaloid, cathinone.
Stage II infection.
Cicadas that come into contact with conidia from an infected adult cicada contract Stage II infection. During Stage II infection, the fungus produces a different kind of spore: resting spores that have thick walls and are not directly infectious to adult cicadas. Instead, the resting spores lie dormant in soil and will infect the next generation of cicadas during their next 13 or 17 year emergence from the soil.
The fungus renders both males and females sterile, though the insect may remain alive and mobile while discharging spores. Infected cicadas display some normal behavior such as sexual responsiveness, and even copulation between infected and healthy cicadas has been observed. As cicada males form large chorus centers during mating, the infection rate of males with the resting spore stage is typically higher than infected females at this stage. Conidia that fill the abdomens of infected males at this stage also alter the pitch of their mating call, resulting in them sounding smaller than they actually are to females, which may also contribute to the prevalence of higher infection rates in males than in females.
Habitat.
Species of the genus "Massospora" are found in the same habitats as their host cicadas, which includes large temperate ranges in the Southern and Northern hemispheres.
Potential applications.
The density of cicadas over one 17-year cicada emergence period was found in one study to have dropped by one half due to infections from the fungus, while the number of infected cicadas producing resting spores increased by 9-fold. This suggests the fungus can be utilized as a control agent in decreasing the significant damage cicadas impose on tree roots on which they lay their eggs. Studies of "M. cicadina" and its hosts can also provide insights into biological clocks and environmental signaling due to their long, synchronous life cycles.
Similar host–parasite systems.
Another parasite that hijacks host sexual behavior is Massospora levispora, a pathogen of the annual cicada "Okanagana rimosa".'


Umbilicate lichen

An umbilicate lichen is a lichen that is only attached to its substrate at a single point. An example is "Lasallia papulosa".


Lobobunaea phaedusa

Lobobunaea phaedusa is a species of very large moths in the family Saturniidae. It is found in much of sub-saharan Africa, where its host plants include African custard-apple ("Annona senegalensis"), crown-berry ("Crossopteryx febrifuga"), and "Aframomum" spp.
Description.
Dorsal surface.
Antennae broad in the middle and strongly pectinated, terminating in a point both at the base and extremity, the latter being like a thread. Head dark brown. The neck surrounded with a white collar. Thorax and abdomen greyish clay-coloured. Anterior wings the same, but towards their extremities becoming darker; the tips are angulated, and the edges a little scolloped; a dark line rises near the tips, which running across the wings ends near the middle of the posterior edges, but is there much fainter than at the tips. A small triangular transparent spot is situate near the centre of these wings, about three-eighths of an inch from the anterior edges. Posterior wings a little scolloped, being the same colour with the anterior next the abdomen, but darker towards the external edges. In the middle of these wings is a large eye, the pupil being black like velvet, surrounded with a narrow circle of a dark orange, round which is another cream-coloured circle, and this likewise is surrounded by a large border of a fine red-brown.
Ventral surface.
Thighs of the fore legs dark brown, the other legs lighter. Breast and abdomen light clay-coloured. Anterior wings the same, being next the body paler than towards the extremities; along the external edges is a pale indented border, running from the tips to the lower corners. Two dark brown spots are placed next the transparent one mentioned in the preceding description, and the dark line there mentioned is conspicuous on this side. Posterior wings coloured as the anterior, becoming darker towards the external edges. A pale indented border runs along the external edges, similar to that on the anterior wings. On the middle of these wings are four dark brown spots, two small and two large, being placed opposite to the eyes observed on the upper side; and just below them a dark line runs across from the upper corners to the middle of the abdominal edges. Wing-span 7¾ inches (195 mm).


Devosia submarina

Devosia submarina is a Gram-negative, aerobic, motile bacteria from the genus of Devosia which was isolated from the Sea of Japan.


Candidatus Bartonella bandicootii

""Candidatus" Bartonella bandicootii" is a candidatus bacteria from the genus of "Bartonella" which was isolated from fleas ("Pygiopsylla tunneyi").


Microdiplodia

Microdiplodia is a genus of fungi belonging to the family Botryosphaeriaceae.
The genus has almost cosmopolitan distribution.
Species.
Species:


Mawsonites

Mawsonites is a fossil genus dating to the Ediacaran Period from 630 – 542 million years ago during the Precambrian era. The fossils consist of a rounded diamond shape, made up from lobes radiating out from a central circle roughly 12 cm in diameter. There are about 19 radiations from the central circle.
The type species is Mawsonites spriggi, named after Douglas Mawson, and Reg Sprigg.
It was named by Martin Glaessner and Mary Wade in 1966.
Its biological affinities were called into question amidst suggestions that it might represent a mud volcano or other sedimentary structure, but further research showed that these structures could not satisfactorily account for its complexity.
The fossil has been theorized to represent algae holdfasts, jellyfish (although this is considered unlikely), a filter feeder, a burrow, a microbial colony or invertebrate tracks. Several of these possibilities would indicate that "Mawsonites" represents a trace fossil, not an organism.


Vermitechnology

Vermitechnology is an overarching term for the following subtopics:
Vermitechnology includes the study and commercial application of technologies that utilise earthworms for degrading waste organic materials for sanitation and agricultural re-use. Organic wastes degraded and stabilised by earthworms include those suspended or dissolved in water and also solid organic material.


Mesoxantha

Mesoxantha is a genus of nymphalid butterflies. It is monotypic, containing only Mesoxantha ethosea, the Drury's delight. It is found in Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, the Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, Uganda, Tanzania and Mozambique. The habitat consists of lowland forests, including secondary forests.
The larvae feed on "Tragia brevipes" and "Malacantha alnifolia".
Description.
Upperside: Antennae black. Thorax, abdomen, and wings deep brown, almost black; the disk of the anterior being white, and extending to the shoulders, all the middle part of the posterior being white likewise.
Underside: Palpi grey. Breast and abdomen brown. Anterior wings next the body yellowish brown, but towards the tips inclining to grey; nerves black; the disk white, with a round black spot near the body, and another of a smaller size below it. The middle of the posterior wings is white, surrounded with brown, that part along the lower edges being darkest; next the body are five distinct black round spots, and an irregular shaped one at the middle of the upper edge; along the lower edges are a number of small triangular white spots. Margins of the posterior wings slightly dentated. Wingspan inches (57 mm).


Conidiobolus incongruus

Conidiobolus incongruus is a species of "Conidiobolus".
It is associated with conidiobolomycosis.


Gymnosoma clavatum

Gymnosoma clavatum is a species of tachinid flies in the genus "Gymnosoma" of the family Tachinidae.
Distribution.
This species can be found in most of Europe, up to Central Asia and the Middle East. It is not present in the United Kingdom.
Description.
"Gymnosoma clavatum" can reach a length of . These flies have a black thorax, but males have a mesonotum with golden pruinosity up to the transverse suture. Scutellum is black with two pairs of marginal setae and a quite characteristic red sub-globular abdomen, without setae but with large black markings in the middle. In the females thorax before the scutellum has three spots of dusting. Abdominal tergites are completely fused. The compound eyes are red. Antennae are black. Wings are slightly darkened, with yellow basicostae. Femora and tibiae are black.
Biology.
Adults can be found from May to October. These flies are endoparasites of various Pentatomidae species, on which the females lay their eggs. Larvae will develop inside them. Known larval hosts of these parasitic flies are "Ancyrosoma leucogrammes", "Carpocoris pudicus", "Cydnus aterrimus", "Dolycoris baccarum", "Eurygaster integriceps", "Nezara viridula", "Palomena prasina", "Piezodorus lituratus".


Norstictic acid

Norstictic acid is a depsidone produced as a secondary metabolites in lichens.


De novo synthesis

"De novo" synthesis refers to the synthesis of complex molecules from simple molecules such as sugars or amino acids, as opposed to recycling after partial degradation. For example, nucleotides are not needed in the diet as they can be constructed from small precursor molecules such as formate and aspartate. Methionine, on the other hand, is needed in the diet because while it can be degraded to and then regenerated from homocysteine, it cannot be synthesized "de novo".
"De novo" is a Latin phrase, literally translating to "from the new", but implying "anew", "from scratch", or "from the beginning."
Nucleotide.
"De novo" pathways of nucleotides do not use free bases: adenine (abbreviated as A), guanine (G), cytosine (C), thymine (T), or uracil (U). The purine ring is built up one atom or a few atoms at a time and attached to ribose throughout the process. Pyrimidine ring is synthesized as orotate and attached to ribose phosphate and later converted to common pyrimidine nucleotides.
Cholesterol.
Cholesterol is an essential structural component of animal cell membranes. Cholesterol also serves as a precursor for the biosynthesis of steroid hormones, bile acid and vitamin D. In mammals cholesterol is either absorbed from dietary sources or is synthesized "de novo". Up to 70-80% of "de novo" cholesterol synthesis occurs in the liver, and about 10% of "de novo" cholesterol synthesis occurs in the small intestine. Cancer cells require cholesterol for cell membranes, so cancer cells contain many enzymes for "de novo" cholesterol synthesis from acetyl-CoA.
Fatty-acid ("de novo" lipogenesis).
"De novo" lipogenesis (DNL) is the process by which carbohydrates (primarily, especially after a high-carbohydrate meal) from the circulation are converted into fatty acids, which can by further converted into triglycerides or other lipids. Acetate and some amino acids (notably leucine and isoleucine) can also be carbon sources for DNL.
Normally, "de novo" lipogenesis occurs primarily in adipose tissue. But in conditions of obesity, insulin resistance, or type 2 diabetes "de novo" lipogenesis is reduced in adipose tissue (where carbohydrate-responsive element-binding protein (ChREBP) is the major transcription factor) and is increased in the liver (where sterol regulatory element-binding protein 1 (SREBP-1c) is the major transcription factor). ChREBP is normally activated in the liver by glucose (independent of insulin). Obesity and high-fat diets cause levels of carbohydrate-responsive element-binding protein in adipose tissue to be reduced. By contrast, high blood levels of insulin, due to a high carbohydrate meal or insulin resistance, strongly induces SREBP-1c expression in the liver. The reduction of adipose tissue "de novo" lipogenesis, and the increase in liver "de novo" lipogenesis due to obesity and insulin resistance leads to fatty liver disease.
Fructose consumption (in contrast to glucose) activates both SREBP-1c and ChREBP in an insulin independent manner. Although glucose can be converted into glycogen in the liver, fructose invariably increases "de novo" lipogenesis in the liver, elevating plasma triglycerides, more than glucose. Moreover, when equal amounts of glucose or fructose sweetened beverages are consumed, the fructose beverage not only causes a greater increase in plasma triglycerides, but causes a greater increase in abdominal fat.
DNL is elevated in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), and is a hallmark of the disease. Compared with healthy controls, patients with NAFLD have an average 3.5 -fold increase in DNL.
"De novo" fatty-acid synthesis is regulated by two important enzymes, namely acetyl-CoA carboxylase and fatty acid synthase. The enzyme acetyl CoA carboxylase is responsible for introducing a carboxyl group to acetyl CoA, rendering malonyl-CoA. Then, the enzyme fatty-acid synthase is responsible for turning malonlyl-CoA into fatty-acid chain. "De novo" fatty-acid synthesis is mainly not active in human cells, since diet is the major source for it. In mice, FA "de novo" synthesis increases in WAT with the exposure to cold temperatures which might be important for maintenance of circulating TAG levels in the blood stream, and to supply FA for thermogenesis during prolonged cold exposures.
DNA.
"De novo" DNA synthesis refers to the synthetic creation of DNA rather than assembly or modification of natural precursor template DNA sequences. Initial oligonucleotide synthesis is followed by artificial gene synthesis, and finally by a process cloning, error correction, and verification, which often involves cloning the genes into plasmids into Escherichia coli or yeast.
Primase is an RNA polymerase, and it can add a primer to an existing strand awaiting replication. DNA polymerase cannot add primers, and therefore, needs primase to add the primer "de novo".


Rhabdosphaeraceae

Rhabdosphaeraceae is a family of algae belonging to the order Syracosphaerales.
Genera.
Genera:


Tinker Bell and the Legend of the NeverBeast

Tinker Bell and the Legend of the NeverBeast is a 2014 American computer-animated fantasy film directed by Steve Loter. It is the sixth and final installment in the Disneytoon Studios "Tinker Bell" film series, based on the character Tinker Bell from J. M. Barrie's "Peter and Wendy". This was the final feature film to be produced by Disneytoon Studios three years before its closure on June 28, 2018.
Mae Whitman, Lucy Liu, Raven-Symoné, Megan Hilty, Pamela Adlon, and Anjelica Huston reprise their roles of Tinker Bell, Silvermist, Iridessa, Rosetta, Vidia and Queen Clarion. Ginnifer Goodwin joins the cast, replacing Angela Bartys as the voice of Fawn in this film, Rosario Dawson joins the cast as new character Nyx. Singer Mel B also joins the cast as new character Fury in the British release while Danai Gurira voices Fury in the American release.
Plot.
Fawn is reprimanded by Queen Clarion for an incident involving a baby hawk the former kept from everyone. After helping the baby hawk return to its rightful home, Fawn hears an unfamiliar roar and upon investigation, she finds a massive, unusual creature laying in a cave beneath the earth. Fawn tries to help the beast, during which, she discovers that the beast is not vicious and is moving some rocks for building purposes. Fawn stays to observe the beast, which she names Gruff, and helps it build some structures around Pixie Hollow, but has no idea why it was doing so.
Meanwhile, an ambitious scout fairy named Nyx investigates the situation, researching in the library to find out what she's up against. Using some information gathered from several torn pages of an undisclosed animal-book, she discovers that Gruff is a creature that awakens about once every millennia, when he will transform into a terrifying beast that could destroy Pixie Hollow with a mysterious series of events that culminate in a deadly storm.
Fawn reveals Gruff to her friends and explains that he is actually friendly. She wants to show him to Queen Clarion and reveal the truth about him, but after Nyx beats her to the Queen, Fawn decides not to tell her about the beast. Queen Clarion urges both Fawn and Nyx to work together and "do the right thing" regarding the protection of Pixie Hollow. As such, Fawn sets out to relocate and keep Gruff from the Scouts, while Nyx is determined to capture him and prevent the impending storm.
The next day, before Fawn could move him, Gruff disappears and indeed transforms into the monster depicted in the fairy lore, growing wings and horns. Fawn and Tinker Bell set out to find him before the Scouts do. Tinker Bell finds him first but he doesn't seem to recognize her. He turns and accidentally knocks Tinker Bell away, knocking her unconscious. Fawn finds Tinker Bell and lures Gruff to be captured by Nyx and the other Scouts, grieved by the fact that Nyx was right. Tinker Bell wakes up and explains that Gruff saved her from getting crushed by a falling tree. Fawn realizes she misunderstood the whole thing, and sets off to free Gruff with some of their friends.
Tinker Bell, Fawn and their friends successfully free Gruff, and though he is weak from the ordeal of being captured, he and Fawn start the defensive ritual. Gruff redirects and takes in lightning from the crumbling towers, but Nyx destroys the last one before Gruff can get to it. As the incoming lightning strikes ravage Pixie Hollow, Gruff saves Nyx who finally sees the truth about him.
With no time to rebuild the towers, Fawn leads Gruff into the eye of the storm where he absorbs every single lightning strike, ending the storm. Despite the success of the new plan, Fawn is seemingly killed. As Gruff mourns her, the lightning he absorbed makes a spark which revives the fairy.
For the next few days, Gruff helps rebuild Pixie Hollow until the time when he must hibernate arrives. The fairies sadly guide him to his cave in a sendoff ceremony and try to make his slumber as comfortable as possible, while Fawn passes on his legend to future generations of fairies.
Release.
The film was released theatrically in selected markets including the United Kingdom on December 12, 2014. In the United States, it had a limited theatrical release, opening on January 30, 2015 at the El Capitan Theatre for a 13-day engagement, and was released direct-to-video on March 3, 2015.
Box office.
Overseas, the film grossed $31,178,525.
Critical reception.
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 75%, based on 20 reviews, with an average rating of 5.59/10. Metacritic reports a 52 out of 100 rating, based on 5 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
Cancelled sequel.
In addition to "Tinker Bell and the Legend of the NeverBeast", Disney also had plans for a seventh film. In 2014, "The Hollywood Reporter" stated that the seventh film was cancelled . In addition, Disneytoon Studios was closed on June 28, 2018.


Charlie Weasley


Zixibacteria

Zixibacteria is a bacterial phylum with candidate status, meaning it had no cultured representatives. It is a member of the FCB group
Zixibacteria was proposed as a bacterial phylum following the recovery of a genome from representative RBG-1. This genome was recovered using genome-resolved metagenomics from sediment samples of an aquifer adjacent to the Colorado River (CO, USA) and was suggestive of metabolically versatility, which is presumably requisite for life in a rapidly changing environment such as aquifer sediments
Since being proposed as a phylum in 2013, members of the Zixibacteria phylum have been detected in a variety of other environments (sometimes retroactively), including subsurface sediments (WA, USA), estuary water (NC, USA), moonmilk cave deposits (Comblain-au-Pont, Belgium), and deep subsurface fracture fluids from a gold mine (SD, USA)


Bovista plumbea

Bovista plumbea, also referred to as the paltry puffball, is a small puffball mushroom commonly found in Western Europe and California, white when young and greyish in age. Easily confused with immature "Bovista dermoxantha", it is attached to the substrate by a tuft of mycelium.
Description.
The fruiting body of the sporocarp is 1.5–3.5 cm broad, attached to the substrate by a tuft of mycelium, and spherical to slightly compressed. The exoperidium is white, becoming buff to pale-tan and minutely tomentose, and sometimes areolate. It eventually flakes away, or peels off in sheets, the latter occurring at maturation in hot, dry conditions. In contrast, the endoperidium membranes are lead-grey, with or without adhering fragments of exoperidium. They often live in scattered to clustered in disturbed areas, especially in sparse grass. They are edible when young and white, but are often considered too small for eating.
Spores.
Spores are 5.0–6.5 x 4.0–5.5 µm, ovoid, thick-walled, and nearly smooth, with a central oil droplet, and a 7.5–11.5 µm pedicel. The capillitium is composed of individual elements, rather than interwoven, main branches thick-walled, flexuous, rapidly tapering, forking more or less dichotomously, ochre-colored in KOH.
The spores are released via a small apical pore. The gleba is white, turning dingy yellowish, olive-brown, finally dark-brown and firm-textured. However, the subgleba and sterile base are usually absent. Fruiting occurs throughout the mushroom season.
Synonyms.
Obsolete synonyms for "B. plumbea" include:


Osteoporotic Virtual Physiological Human

VPHOP or the Osteoporotic Virtual Physiological Human is a European osteoporosis research project within the framework of the Virtual Physiological Human initiative.
Osteoporotic fractures.
With current technology osteoporotic fractures can be predicted with an accuracy of 60-70% or less (tossing a coin would give 50%). Better ways to prevent osteoporotic fractures are needed.
Fracture predictions.
Current fracture predictions are based on historical, fracture-patient data sets to identify key factors which contribute to the increased probability of an osteoporotic fracture. This approach oversimplifies the mechanisms leading to an osteoporotic fracture and fail to take into account numerous, hierarchical factors which are unique to the individual. These factors span cell-level to body-level functions. Musculoskeletal anatomy and neuromotor control define the daily loading spectrum, including paraphysiological overloading events. Fracture events occur at organ level and are influenced by the elasticity and geometry of bone
Bone elasticity and geometry are determined by tissue morphology. Cell activity changes tissue morphology and composition over time. Constituents of the extracellular matrix are the prime determinants of tissue strength.
Accuracy could be dramatically improved if a more deterministic approach was used which accounts for those factors and their variation between individuals.
Hypermodel.
By creating a patient-specific hypermodel, a model composed by many sub-models, each describing the relevant phenomena taking place at one of the many dimensional scales involved, this incredibly complex problem may be solved.
VPHOP will realize "P2 medicine" for osteoporosis patients. Predictive: multiscale models, representing skeletal mechanobiology, from the whole body down to the molecular constituents, to simulate skeletal loading in various conditions and predict bone failure. Personalised: The multiscale model is personalised using information which is to the patient. The more information which is available the more personalised becomes the model.


Hans G. Boman

Hans Gustaf Boman was a Swedish microbiologist with a special focus on innate immunity. Boman was born August 16, 1924 in Engelbrekt Parish, Stockholm, Sweden, and died December 3, 2008. Boman's pioneering research on insect immunity formed the basis for the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2011.
Biography.
Hans G. Boman graduated from Uppsala University, where he obtained his PhD in biochemistry in 1958 with Professor Arne Tiselius. He completed his post-doctoral studies at the Rockefeller Institute in New York. During his stay in New York, he married Anita Boman, who then became his main research partner. They returned to Sweden and Uppsala University in 1960 where he established a research group at the Department of Biochemistry. In 1966 Boman was appointed professor of microbiology at Umeå University. Between 1966 and 1976 he built up the Department of Microbiology at Umeå University, where his research focused on mechanisms for bacterial antibiotic resistance. Boman combined physiological, molecular, biochemical and genetic methods in a way that was unique at that time. In 1976, Boman became professor of microbiology at Stockholm University where his work in moths identified the first antimicrobial peptides of animals in 1981. He later moved to the Microbiological and Tumor Biology Center at the Karolinska Institute in 1997. At the Karolinska Institute, he identified a disease that occurs in connection with antimicrobial peptides.
Research.
During his time in Umeå, Boman collaborated with Bertil Rasmusson at the Department of Genetics. In a famous back-and-forth exchange, Boman put forth unto Rasmusson: "'Do fruit flies ever get sick?' (Boman). 'Very rarely,' (Rasmuson). 'Then they must have an efficient immune response!' (Boman)." Their work asked how insects can survive infections without having a system of B cells and T cells, at the time thought to be essential for immune defence. They examined the immune system of fruit flies and could show that flies that were once infected with a non-lethal dose of the bacterium "Pseudomonas" survived a second higher dose while flies that received the same high dose for the first time died.
Boman continued to investigate the immune response of insects, focussing on the proteins induced by immune challenge. This posed technical challenges that required a larger insect capable of donating more hemolymph (insect blood). His eventual choice was the Cecropia silk moth ("Hyalophora cecropia").
In 1981, Boman's group published the protein structure of the antimicrobial peptide cecropin, the first animalian antimicrobial peptide described. With techniques for cloning genes, Boman's group was able to continue studies on immune genes in "Cecropia". At the same time, the field of innate immunity rapidly expanded, benefitting from the genetic tools available in "Drosophila" in the search to understand how insect immunity recognizes and signals following infection. From these initial studies, a number of insect antimicrobial peptides and other immune proteins were characterized, and these peptides have been used extensively as readouts of immune challenge. Owing to Boman's discovery, immune-inducible peptides were used to identify competent or deficient immune responses, ultimately leading to the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine being awarded to Jules Hoffmann for his work on insect immune signalling.
Awards and Honors.
Boman was awarded the Fernström Prize for outstanding work in medicine in 2000. The Nordic scientific community mourned his loss in 2008, both with a posthumous acknowledgement of his lifetime's achievements in 2009, and by hosting the “Hans G. Boman” symposium held by Stockholm University on the 10-year anniversary of his death. In 2015, a family of immune-inducible peptides in "Drosophila" was named the "Bomanins" in Boman's honour.


Nitrosopumilus

Nitrosopumilus maritimus is an extremely common archaeon living in seawater. It is the first member of the Group 1a Thaumarchaeota to be isolated in pure culture. Gene sequences suggest that the Group 1a Thaumarchaeota are ubiquitous with the oligotrophic surface ocean and can be found in most non-coastal marine waters around the planet. It is one of the smallest living organisms at 0.2 micrometers in diameter. It lives by oxidizing ammonia to nitrite. "N. maritimus" is capable of oxidizing ammonia at levels as low as 10 nanomolar, near the limit to sustain its life. "N. maritimus" lives in oxygen-depleted habitats. Oxygen needed for ammonia oxidation might be produced by novel pathway which generates oxygen and dinitrogen. "N. maritimus" is thus among organisms which are able to produce oxygen in dark.
This organism was isolated from sediment in a tropical tank at the Seattle Aquarium by a group led by David Stahl (University of Washington).
In taxonomy, ""Candidatus" Nitrosopumilus" is a genus of the Nitrosopumilaceae.
Taxonomy.
Cladogram was taken from Annotree v1.2.0. which uses the GTDB 05-RS95 (Genome Taxonomy Database).