Loxothylacus panopaei

Loxothylacus panopaei is a species of barnacle in the family Sacculinidae. It is native to the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea. It is a parasitic castrator of small mud crabs in the family Panopeidae, mostly in the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Atlantic Ocean.
Taxonomy.
"L. panopaei" was first described by the American zoologist Charles F. Gissler in 1884; it was parasitizing the mud crab "Panopeus lacustris" and was collected at Tampa, Florida. The barnacle infects a number of species of mud crab and it seems likely that it is a species complex. Further taxonomic studies should clarify the position.
Description.
The parasitic adult "L. panopaei" consists of an externa, a yellowish-orange mass of soft tissue, attached by a stalk to a host crab's abdomen; the stalk branches internally into tubes which surround the crab's gut.
Distribution.
"L. panopaei" is native to the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea, the Atlantic coasts from Cape Canaveral to Florida and those of Venezuela. It has increased its range northward, being found for the first time in Chesapeake Bay in 1964. It arrived in the bay because many oysters there were infected by "Haplosporidium nelsoni" and stocks were replenished by importing eastern oysters ("Crassostrea virginica") from the Gulf of Mexico. Accompanying these oysters were some crabs "Eurypanopeus depressus" which were parasitized by "L. panopaei", the parasitic barnacle thus was inadvertently introduced to Chesapeake Bay where it found new species of crab to infect.
Ecology.
The adult barnacle bears no resemblance to an acorn barnacle but the larval development is typical of a barnacle, with four nauplius larval stages and one cyprid larval stage. The female cyprid larva of "L. panopaei" has a spear-like stylet. When it settles on a suitable crab host, it pierces the carapace and develops underneath as an endoparasite for about a month. It then extrudes an externa, or brood sac, beneath the crab's abdomen. This is fertilised by a free-swimming male cyprid larva. When the eggs in the brood sac have matured, the sac releases several thousand nauplius larvae at intervals.
Female crabs care for their eggs by carrying them beneath their abdomen, keeping them well aerated and protecting them. "L. panopaei" manipulates the behaviour of both sexes of the crab on which it settles, so that the host treats the barnacle's brood sac as if it contained the crab's own eggs. In the case of male crabs, the parasite causes the ventral abdominal plate to widen, which makes it more suitable for brooding, and alters the crab's behaviour so that it looks after the brood sac, despite this not being a normal behaviour for a male crab. Reproduction is completely suppressed in both male and female crabs which are effectively castrated. The barnacle seems able to take control of the timing of the crab's moult, extruding its brood sac immediately after ecdysis, when the crab's shell is soft.
Suitable host crabs include the flatback mud crab ("Eurypanopeus depressus"), the Say's mud crab ("Dyspanopeus sayi"), the knotfinger mud crab ("Panopeus lacustris"), P. obessus, the furrowed mud crab ("P. occidentalis"), the oystershell mud crab ("P. simpsoni"), the Harris mud crab (Rhithropanopeus harrisii), "Tetraplax quadridentata", and the inflated mud crab ("Tetraxanthus rathbunae"), all found in the western Atlantic Ocean, as well as the black-clawed crab ("Lophopanopeus bellus") which is found in the eastern Pacific Ocean.


Cuckoo-finch

The cuckoo-finch ("Anomalospiza imberbis"), also known as the parasitic weaver or cuckoo weaver, is a small passerine bird now placed in the family Viduidae with the indigobirds and whydahs. It occurs in grassland in Africa south of the Sahara. The male is mainly yellow and green while the female is buff with dark streaks. The eggs are laid in the nests of other birds.
Taxonomy.
The species was described in 1868 by the German ornithologist Jean Cabanis based on a specimen from East Africa, probably from the coast opposite Zanzibar. It was initially placed in the genus "Crithagra" but later moved to a genus of its own, "Anomalospiza". The name of the genus means "anomalous finch" with "spiza" being a Greek word for finch. The specific name "imberbis" comes from Latin and means "beardless".
Its closest relatives are thought to be the indigobirds and whydahs of the genus "Vidua". These birds are now usually considered to form a family, Viduidae. Previously they were treated as a subfamily, Viduinae, within either the estrildid finch family, Estrildidae, or the weaver family, Ploceidae.
Description.
The cuckoo-finch is a small finch-like bird, about 11–13 cm long. It has a short tail, large legs and feet, and a large, deep, conical bill. The adult male has a black bill and a yellow head and underparts. The upperparts are olive-green with black streaks. The yellow areas become increasingly bright prior to the breeding season as the feathers become worn. The adult female is buff with heavy black streaking above and light streaks on the flanks; its face is largely plain buff and the throat is buff-white.
It has various chattering calls. Displaying males have a nasal song.
Distribution and habitat.
The cuckoo-finch has a scattered distribution across sub-Saharan Africa where it occurs in open or lightly wooded grassland, especially near damp areas.
In West Africa, it occurs in Guinea, Sierra Leone, the Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, eastern Nigeria, and north-west Cameroon with vagrant records from Gambia and Mali. Further east it is found in South Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, southern and eastern parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and locally in the Republic of the Congo. In southern Africa, it occurs in Malawi, Zambia, southern and eastern Angola, north-east Namibia, northern and eastern Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, eastern South Africa, and Swaziland.
It has a large range and an apparently stable population and so is classified as least concern by BirdLife International.
Behaviour.
The cuckoo-finch typically occurs in pairs or small flocks during the breeding season and larger flocks outside the breeding season. It forages on the ground or perched on the flower heads of grasses or herbs. It feeds mainly on grass seeds.
The species is an obligate brood parasite, laying its eggs in the nests of cisticolas and prinias. The eggs are white, pale blue or pink with brown, reddish or violet markings. They are 17–17.3 mm long and 12.5–13 mm wide. The eggs are incubated for 14 days. The young bird fledges after 18 days and remains dependent on its hosts for another 10–40 days. The young of the host bird usually disappear although there have been records of the host's nestlings surviving alongside the young cuckoo-finch. Sometimes two cuckoo-finch chicks have been found in the same nest.


Dictyocephalos

Dictyocephalos is a genus of fungi in the family Phelloriniaceae of the order Agaricales. The genus is monotypic, and contains the single species Dictyocephalos attenuatus, described by the American botanist Lucien Marcus Underwood in 1901 (as "D. curvatus").


Conops vesicularis

Conops vesicularis is a species of fly from the genus "Conops" in the family Conopidae. Their larvae are endoparasites of bees and wasps.


Xenos vesparum

Xenos vesparum is a parasitic insect species of the order Strepsiptera that are endoparasites of paper wasps in the genus Polistes (most commonly "Polistes dominula)" that was first described in 1793. Like other members of this family, "X. vesparum" displays a peculiar lifestyle, and demonstrates extensive sexual dimorphism.
Morphology.
Males and female of this species show remarkable sexual dimorphism according to their mating system. Both develop inside the abdomen, where males pupate and emerge, while females permanently reside inside.
Males.
Adult males are free-living, flying insects, whose extremely short (<5 hours) adult lives are solely dedicated to finding a mate, which they are thought to locate by scent. After locating a mate (who is protruding from the host wasp's abdomen), the male lands on the wasp's abdomen, holding on with its legs and wings, while avoiding the brushing of the wasp's hindlegs, which could potentially dislodge it. The male then inseminates the female by either spreading sperm around the female's genital opening, where it eventually reaches the haemocoel (body cavity), or by directly penetrating the female's cuticle (hypodermic insemination), injecting the sperm directly into the haemocoel. The male then dies several minutes after mating. Their small size coupled with their extremely short lifespan has made male "X. vesparum" very difficult to study.
Males also develop very unusual eyes compared to other insects. The eyes consist of a very small number of ommatidia (around 65, but each eye can vary by 10-15), while most insect eyes have thousands per eye which are closely packed together. The ommatidia are irregularly distributed across the eye and are well separated by cuticle. The function of these eyes is unknown, because mate finding, which is their only purpose as adults, seems to be done by scent and the structure of the eyes indicate that they are modified larval eyes. Interestingly, they are externally quite similar to the eyes of phacopid trilobites.
The forewings of these insects are modified into small, club-like organs called pseudohalteres. These are to help the insect maintain equilibrium in flight, and function similarly to halteres found in Dipterans.
Females.
Female "X. vesparum" are markedly different from their male counterparts. They display a high degree of neoteny, and are permanent endoparasites of their hosts. They reside in the wasp's body cavity and never develop mouthparts, legs, eyes or wings, and their only form of genitalia is the ventral opening where males can inseminate them, as well as being the point of larval escape. Females can often survive overwinter inside hibernating female wasps, which will emerge the following spring with underdeveloped ovaries, and will only be able to serve as vessels to spread the parasite's larvae as they are now effectively castrated.
Life Cycle.
The first life stage of this species are, alongside adult males, the only free living stages of these insects' lives. Called "triungulins", these larvae exit the mother's genital opening via the ability to detect light, and are deposited either in a feeding/mating area for the wasps, or directly into the nest, depending on where the mother's host wasp was when releasing the larvae. In the case of the former, they then must locate a foraging wasp using chemical cues, and then grasp on to it and be carried back to the nest. Once back in the nest, the triungulins seek out an appropriate host, which are immature wasps at various stages of development. This process is known to be nonrandom, because preference for infecting females has been recorded. The penetration of the host's abdomen is done without creating a wound, instead the larva enters the wasp's abdomen via mechanical separation of the host's cuticle. This step is essential in delaying or avoiding the initial immune response that would come with creation of a wound. The triungulin then moults into its second stage without ecdysis, a feature only seen in strepsipterans.The second and third larval stages grow extensively, but slowly, possibly to avoid ill effects to the host, whose survival is paramount to the parasite's survival. During these life stages, "X. vesparum" are able to passively and actively avoid the host's immune system. The exact mechanism for this is unknown, but it is possible that the parasite's surface has chemical properties that allow it to remain concealed from the host immune system, and the ability to moult without ecdysis is likely a method to retain this protection and is a preadaptation for its endoparasitic lifestyle.
The fourth and final life cycle stage is the development to the free living male or neotenic female form, followed by their whole or partial emergence respectively. The male pupates and develops into the final free living form, and his pupae extrudes from the wasp's abdomen, providing an emergence route for the adult male. Conversely, the female develops into the final neotenic form and extrudes from the host abdomen far enough for the genital opening to be reached by a mate, as well as far enough to allow larvae to escape. In both cases, this extrusion of the female parasite or male pupa from the host abdomen is referred to as "stylopization", referring to the family of these insects.
Effects on Host.
Host Manipulation.
Female worker wasps infected with "X. vesparum" appear to have their behaviour modified because they act as if they are future queens and cease working, abandoning the nest before the uninfected future foundresses and males do and form aggregations outside of the nest. When the uninfected future queens leave the nest to go to these mating grounds, it provides an area where uninfected and infected wasps mix, and this is often where release of infective larvae occurs. Because the parasite does not modify male wasp behaviour, it is a "dead end" for female "X. vesparum" as the male wasps do not join in these large aggregations and provide little opportunity for the parasite to receive a mate. Additionally, male wasp dies before winter, eliminating the chance of the larvae spreading in hibernating aggregations. However, if infected with a male parasite, the male wasp is not a "dead end" because the free living male parasite can emerge and fly to a suitable mate within the mating aggregations. This may explain the recorded preference "X. vesparum" larvae have for infecting female wasps.
A trend noted in paper wasps infected by this parasite is that they appear to exhibit a strong preference to congregating on trumpet creeper ("Campsis radicans") bushes. This indicates a likely case of coevolution between parasite and host because the wasps are manipulated to prefer trumpet creeper bushes which provide shelter and excellent nutrition for the wasp, increasing its chance of survival, and by extension, increasing the parasite's chances as well. In addition, the preference towards a specific plant type allows a greater chance of the parasite spreading because many foraging wasps are congregated in one spot, providing a vector for released infective larvae to reach the nest and infect young wasps.
Host Castration.
Parasitized female wasps feature undeveloped ovaries as well as lowered levels of juvenile hormones and they abandon the colony without performing any of their caste's duties, meaning the host is castrated and reproductively "dead", leading some to describe "X. vesparum" a parasitoid as it applies to female wasps. The effects on the male wasp's reproductive health is less understood. It appears that, at least for light to moderate parasite loads, the reproductive health of parasitized male wasps is virtually unaffected, while the effects of highly parasitized individuals (>4 parasites) is unknown.


Fungal extracellular enzyme activity

Extracellular enzymes or exoenzymes are synthesized inside the cell and then secreted outside the cell, where their function is to break down complex macromolecules into smaller units to be taken up by the cell for growth and assimilation. These enzymes degrade complex organic matter such as cellulose and hemicellulose into simple sugars that enzyme-producing organisms use as a source of carbon, energy, and nutrients. Grouped as hydrolases, lyases, oxidoreductases and transferases, these extracellular enzymes control soil enzyme activity through efficient degradation of biopolymers.
Plant residues, animals and microorganisms enter the dead organic matter pool upon senescence and become a source of nutrients and energy for other organisms. Extracellular enzymes target macromolecules such as carbohydrates (cellulases), lignin (oxidases), organic phosphates (phosphatases), amino sugar polymers (chitinases) and proteins (proteases) and break them down into soluble sugars that are subsequently transported into cells to support heterotrophic metabolism.
Biopolymers are structurally complex and require the combined actions of a community of diverse microorganisms and their secreted exoenzymes to depolymerize the polysaccharides into easily assimilable monomers. These microbial communities are ubiquitous in nature, inhabiting both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. The cycling of elements from dead organic matter by heterotrophic soil microorganisms is essential for nutrient turnover and energy transfer in terrestrial ecosystems. Exoenzymes also aid digestion in the guts of ruminants, termites, humans and herbivores. By hydrolyzing plant cell wall polymers, microbes release energy that has the potential to be used by humans as biofuel. Other human uses include waste water treatment, composting and bioethanol production.
Factors influencing extracellular enzyme activity.
Extracellular enzyme production supplements the direct uptake of nutrients by microorganisms and is linked to nutrient availability and environmental conditions. The varied chemical structure of organic matter requires a suite of extracellular enzymes to access the carbon and nutrients embedded in detritus. Microorganisms differ in their ability to break down these different substrates and few organisms have the potential to degrade all the available plant cell wall materials. To detect the presence of complex polymers, some exoenzymes are produced constitutively at low levels, and expression is upregulated when the substrate is abundant. This sensitivity to the presence of varying concentrations of substrate allows fungi to respond dynamically to the changing availability of specific resources. Benefits of exoenzyme production can also be lost after secretion because the enzymes are liable to denature, degrade or diffuse away from the producer cell.
Enzyme production and secretion is an energy intensive process and, because it consumes resources otherwise available for reproduction, there is evolutionary pressure to conserve those resources by limiting production. Thus, while most microorganisms can assimilate simple monomers, degradation of polymers is specialized, and few organisms can degrade recalcitrant polymers like cellulose and lignin. Each microbial species carries specific combinations of genes for extracellular enzymes and is adapted to degrade specific substrates. In addition, the expression of genes that encode for enzymes is typically regulated by the availability of a given substrate. For example, presence of a low-molecular weight soluble substrate such as glucose will inhibit enzyme production by repressing the transcription of associated cellulose-degrading enzymes.
Environmental conditions such as soil pH, soil temperature, moisture content, and plant litter type and quality have the potential to alter exoenzyme expression and activity. Variations in seasonal temperatures can shift metabolic needs of microorganisms in synchrony with shifts in plant nutrient requirements. Agricultural practices such as fertilizer amendments and tillage can change the spatial distribution of resources, resulting in altered exoenzyme activity in the soil profile. Introduction of moisture exposes soil organic matter to enzyme catalysis and also increases loss of soluble monomers via diffusion. Additionally, osmotic shock resulting from water potential changes can impact enzyme activities as microbes redirect energy from enzyme production to synthesizing osmolytes to maintain cellular structures.
Extracellular enzyme activity in fungi during plant decomposition.
Most of the extracellular enzymes involved in polymer degradation in leaf litter and soil have been ascribed to fungi. By adapting their metabolism to the availability of varying amounts of carbon and nitrogen in the environment, fungi produce a mixture of oxidative and hydrolytic enzymes to efficiently break down lignocelluloses like wood. During plant litter degradation, cellulose and other labile substrates are degraded first followed by lignin depolymerization with increased oxidative enzyme activity and shifts in microbial community composition.
In plant cell walls, cellulose and hemicellulose is embedded in a pectin scaffold that requires pectin degrading enzymes, such as polygalacturonases and pectin lyases to weaken the plant cell wall and uncover hemicellulose and cellulose to further enzymatic degradation. Degradation of lignin is catalyzed by enzymes that oxidase aromatic compounds, such as phenol oxidases, peroxidases and laccases. Many fungi have multiple genes encoding lignin-degrading exoenzymes.
Most efficient wood degraders are saprotrophic ascomycetes and basidiomycetes. Traditionally, these fungi are classified as brown rot (Ascomycota and Basidiomycota), white rot (Basidiomycota) and soft rot (Ascomycota) based on the appearance of the decaying material. Brown rot fungi preferentially attack cellulose and hemicellulose; while white rot fungi degrade cellulose and lignin. To degrade cellulose, basidiomycetes employ hydrolytic enzymes, such as endoglucanases, cellobiohydrolase and β-glucosidase. Production of endoglucanases is widely distributed among fungi and cellobiohydrolases have been isolated in multiple white-rot fungi and in plant pathogens. β-glucosidases are secreted by many wood-rotting fungi, both white and brown rot fungi, mycorrhizal fungi and in plant pathogens. In addition to cellulose, β-glucosidases can cleave xylose, mannose and galactose.
In white-rot fungi such as "Phanerochaete chrysosporium", expression of manganese-peroxidase is induced by the presence of manganese, hydrogen peroxide and lignin, while laccase is induced by availability of phenolic compounds. Production of lignin-peroxidase and manganese-peroxidase is the hallmark of basidiomycetes and is often used to assess basidiomycete activity, especially in biotechnology applications. Most white-rot species also produce laccase, a copper-containing enzyme that degrades polymeric lignin and humic substances.
Brown-rot basidiomycetes are most commonly found in coniferous forests, and are so named because they degrade wood to leave a brown residue that crumbles easily. Preferentially attacking hemicellulose in wood, followed by cellulose, these fungi leave lignin largely untouched. The decayed wood of soft-rot Ascomycetes is brown and soft. One soft-rot Ascomycete, "Trichoderma reesei", is used extensively in industrial applications as a source for cellulases and hemicellulases. Laccase activity has been documented in "T. reesei", in some species in the Aspergillus genus and in freshwater ascomycetes.
Measuring fungal extracellular enzyme activity in soil, plant litter, and other environmental samples.
Methods for estimating soil enzyme activities involve sample harvesting prior to analysis, mixing of samples with buffers and the use of substrate. Results can be influenced by: sample transport from field-site, storage methods, pH conditions for assay, substrate concentrations, temperature at which the assay is run, sample mixing and preparation.
For hydrolytic enzymes, colorimetric assays are required that use a p-nitrophenol (p-NP)-linked substrate, or fluorometric assays that use a 4-methylumbelliferone (MUF)-linked substrate.
Oxidative enzymes such as phenol oxidase and peroxidase mediate lignin degradation and humification. Phenol oxidase activity is quantified by oxidation of L-3, 4-dihydoxyphenylalanine (L-DOPA), pyrogallol (1, 2, 3-trihydroxybenzene), or ABTS (2, 2’-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid). Peroxidase activity is measured by running the phenol oxidase assay concurrently with another assay with L-DOPA and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) added to every sample. The difference in measurements between the two assays is indicative of peroxidase activity. Enzyme assays typically apply proxies that reveal exo-acting activities of enzymes. Exo-acting enzymes hydrolyze substrates from the terminal position. While activity of endo-acting enzymes which break down polymers midchain need to be represented by other substrate proxies. New enzyme assays aim to capture the diversity of enzymes and assess the potential activity of them in a more clear way.
With newer technologies available, molecular methods to quantify abundance of enzyme-coding genes are used to link enzymes with their producers in soil environments. Transcriptome analyses are now employed to examine genetic controls of enzyme expression, while proteomic methods can reveal the presence of enzymes in the environment and link to the organisms producing them.


James Hoch

James A. Hoch is a microbiologist who is the head of the Division of Cellular Biology in the Department of Molecular and Experimental Medicine at the Scripps Research Institute. In the last 40 years his work has focused on dissecting the signal transduction mechanism that controls sporulation in "Bacillus subtilis". He introduced the widely used phrase 'phosphorelay' to describe the transfer of phosphoryl groups between the two proteins involved in bacterial signal transduction that comprise the so-called two-component system.


Acaulospora appendicula

Acaulospora appendicula is a species of fungus in the family Acaulosporaceae. It forms arbuscular mycorrhiza and vesicles in roots. Found in Colombia, the species was described as new to science in 1984.


Basidiobolus ranarum

Basidiobolus ranarum is a filamentous fungus with worldwide distribution. The fungus was first isolated by Eidam in 1886. It can saprophytically live in the intestines of mainly cold-blooded vertebrates and on decaying fruits and soil. The fungus prefers glucose as a carbon source and grows rapidly at room temperature. "Basidiobolus ranarum" is also known as a cause of subcutaneous zygomycosis, usually causing granulomatous infections on a host's limbs. Infections are generally geographically limited to tropical and subtropical regions such as East and West Africa. Subcutaneous zygomycosis caused by "B. ranarum" is a rare disease and predominantly affects children and males. Common subcutaneous zygomycosis shows characteristic features and is relatively easy to be diagnosed; while, certain rare cases might show non-specific clinical features that might pose a difficulty on its identification. Although disease caused by this fungus is known to resolve spontaneously on its own although there are a number of treatments available.
History.
In 1886, the fungus was first isolated from the dung and intestinal contents of frogs by Eidam. In 1927, it was found in the intestines of toads, slowworms, and salamanders by Levisohn. In 1956, Joe et al. reported and described the first four cases of zygomycosis in Indonesia. Since then, hundreds of the cases of this infection have been reported. In 1955, Drechsler isolated it from decaying plants material in North America. In 1971, it was first isolated by Nickerson and Hutchison from aquatic animals, suggesting that "B. ranarum" can survive in a wild range of ecological situations.
Physiology.
At room temperature (25–30 °C), colonies of "B. ranarum" show very rapid growth and are able to reach a diameter of 75–80 mm in a week on suitable growth media. The favored carbohydrate source of this fungus is glucose that can stimulate the growth of its mycelium. Generally, asexual reproduction is favored by glucose and sexual reproduction is favored by acid amines. Primary asexual spores are singly formed on the apices of unbranched hyphae and will then be discharged to form ballistic spores. Secondary asexual spores are singly developed from a hypha that was generated from a geminated ballistic spore. Also, sporangiospores can be generated by internal cleave of the cytoplasm and can then be dispersed when the sporangial wall is dissolved. As a result, the ejected asexual spores can form satellite colonies in a distance. After around 10 days of growth, sexual spores, zygospores with 20–50 μm diameters can also be produced. This fungus is believed to have significant protease and lipase activity. Its lipase has a maximum activity at 35 °C and pH 6.0 while its protease has maximum activity at 30 °C and pH 5.5. Both enzymes might be involved in pathogenesis. Light does not affect hyphal growth light but may influence certain aspects of physiology. First, light may stimulate the production of the asexual spores, and certain blue lights (wavelengths 440 nm and 480 nm) may further stimulate the discharge of the those spores. Second, light may also stimulate the induction of aerial hyphae and favor the unicellular configuration of the hyphae while darkness may favor their bicellular configuration.
Morphology.
Colonies of "B. ranarum" are round, flat, waxy, glabrous and radially folded. And, their color is in a range of yellowish-grey to whitish-grey. A one week-old colony can reach 75–80 mm in diameter. A white bloom, consisting of mycelia and sporangiospores, covers the colonies. Under microscope, younger hyphae are wide and have few septa. Older cultures have colorless zygospores (20–50 μm) with smooth, thick walls and abundant large, spherical, darkly coloured chlamydospores. The colonies commonly produce a strong Streptomyces-like or benzene hexachloride-like odour.
Habitat and ecology.
"Basidiobolus ranarum" has a worldwide distribution and is capable of living saprotrophically in a broad range of ecological situations, indicating its great ecological and physiological tolerance as well as its ubiquity. "Basidiobolus ranarum" was widely reported from all parts of the world, especially Asia and Africa. It can saprophytically live in the intestines of vertebrates including amphibians (e.g. frogs, lizards, toads, turtles, salamanders), reptiles (e.g. chameleons, wall geckoes, snakes), and fishes (e.g. sturgeon, mudpuppy). In addition, studies also reported occasional presence of "B. ranarum" in the intestinal contents of mammals such as one bat in India and the kangaroos in Australia. Moreover, other habitats including compost heaps, decaying plant material and soil can also be their place to live. However, the habitat for "B. ranarum" is not fixed and a life-cycle illustration of it might provide a better idea of the variation of its habitats. First, insects might eat feces and decaying plant materials in which "B. ranarum" might be present, or insects might have physical contact with the strains so that the strains can attach to the insects externally. Then, those insects might be devoured by predators, such as frogs. Next, the fungi will travel through the predator’s gastrointestinal tract and might either stay a little bit longer (as long as 18 days) at or leave from the intestine along with the feces. Eventually, the strains in those feces will end up in the soil and some of them will be further transported to decaying plant materials or other organic contents. Also, the tissues that the pathogenic strains of "B. ranarum" infect can also be considered as its habitats, "B. ranarum" can also live in both human and non-human animal (e.g. horses, frogs) tissues. However, instead of a worldwide distribution, the pathogenic lifestyle of "B. ranarum" only exists in tropical and subtropical regions.
Pathology.
Subcutaneous zygomycosis (also known as "entomophthoromycosis basidiobolae""," subcutaneous phycomycosis, and basidiobolomycosis) is a both human and non-human animal disease or lesion caused by the granulomatous infection of subcutaneous tissue by "B. ranarum". Several enzymes produced by "B. ranarum", including lipase and protease, might hydrolyze and utilize the fatty tissues of the host and contribute to the pathogenesis of the infection.
Prevalence, mode of transmission.
Considering the broad-range distribution of "B. ranarum" and its high ubiquity, subcutaneous zygomycosis is not really prevalent. In addition, the fact that infections were only reported at tropical and subtropical regions further limits its prevalence. Currently, the reason why the infections were limited to those regions is not fully understood. However, the low prevalence might be explained by the speculations that the widespread immunity of other species was developed against its infection or the number of the "B. ranarum" strains with pathogenic characteristics is much lower than the saprophytic strains. Its transmission mode has not been fully understood though certain general ideas about its transmission are widely accepted. Ingestion of "B. ranarum" is thought to help disperse the agent through the deposition of feces at a distant place where human and other non-human animals might be exposed. As well, the agent may transmit through traumas or insect bites on skin.
Vulnerable groups.
Most of the reported cases were from Nigeria and Uganda in Africa as well as Indonesia and thus the residents there might be considered as one of the vulnerable groups. Over 90% of the reported infections occurred on the people under 20 years old; thus the young are thought to be a particularly vulnerable group for this agent. Based on the skewed male to female ratio of infection reported in Nigeria (3:1) and Uganda (3:2), males are substantially more vulnerable to infection. One explanation that has been offered for this observation suggests that male children in endemic regions areas were likely to use decayed leaves which might be associated with pathogenic "B. ranarum" strains as toilet paper following defecation. Although rarely, the agent can cause gastrointestinal disease which does not show specific vulnerable groups or risk factors.
Clinical features and diagnosis.
In general, the clinical presentation of subcutaneous zygomycosis is quite identifiable and characteristic and the diagnosis is fairly easy. Human infection is characterized by the single formation of enlarging, painless and firm swelling in soft tissues on extremities e.g. buttocks, thighs, perineum, trunk. However, as the infection worsens, symptoms such a burning sensation or itchiness may develop in the swollen region. In addition to general severe symptoms, one unusual case reported that the severe perineal infection of a led to acute large intestinal obstruction. Moreover, other rare cases also reported the infections happened on other anatomical regions such as the colon in the case of gastrointestinal basidiobolomycosis. Infections may be associated with a diffusive bluish pigmentation generally associated with swelling. Joint function is often not affected; however, a few other cases reported the subcutaneous infection transfect local muscle tissues and lymph nodes.
Definitive diagnosis requires laboratory effort. Culture, histopathology and immunology can be used to for the diagnosis. First, a portion of the infected tissue will be surgically removed and used for a biopsy. Since the fungus can not tolerate refrigeration, the biopsied material needs to be incubated immediately once it is collected. Then, the examination will investigate the presence of thin-walled, wide, hyaline, coenocytic hyphae and internal cleavage for the production of the sporangiospores in H&E (Haemotoxylin and Eosin) stained sections. Other characteristics of its appearance mentioned in the morphology section might also be used to identify the species. Moreover, the histopathology test will expect a granuloma consisting of a variety of immune cells in which hypha or hyphal fragments (4–10 μm diameter) often stain bright pink in H&E sections. When biopsy is not available, immunofluorescent test can also be used to identify "B. ranarum" strains. Five specific antigens have been identified that can be used measured in the sera of the infected patients using antibodies conjugated to fluorescein dye. The diagnosis of the rare cases, such as gastrointestinal basidiobolomycosis, is challenging given the nonspecific clinical presentation as well as the need for surgical biopsy.
Treatment.
Many cases are thought to resolve spontaneously, although surgical intervention may be help to debulk the infected tissue. The most common treatment is taking potassium iodide (KI) on a daily basis for a half of a year to one-year period. For the patients who can not response to KI, some successful cases with other treatments also reported that medications including cotrimoxazole, amphotericin B, itraconazole, and ketoconazole might also show beneficial effects. In addition, given the fact that "Conidiobolus coronatus" infection causes a similar disease as "B. ranarum" infection does, coupled with the fact that fluconazole shows great effects on treating "C. coronatus" infection, there might be a possibility that fluconazole will also be effective in treating "B. ranarum" infection.


Candidatus Procabacter


Endogonopsis

Endogonopsis is a poorly known fungal genus, provisionally placed in the Diplocystaceae family. A monotypic genus, it contains the single species Endogonopsis sacramentarium, known from southern Asia. It was originally described by French mycologist Roger Heim in 1966.


Santa Claus, Georgia

Santa Claus is a city in Toombs County, Georgia, United States. The population was 165 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Vidalia Micropolitan Statistical Area.
The city has several Christmas-themed street names: Candy Cane Road, December Drive, Rudolph Way, Dancer Street, Prancer Street, and Sleigh Street.
History.
A local entrepreneur named the community after Santa Claus, the Christmas character, with the aim of attracting tourists to his pecan business and adjacent motel. Santa Claus was incorporated as a city in 1941.
Geography.
Santa Claus is located at (32.170863, -82.331129). It is just off U.S. Route 1.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 0.2 square mile (0.5 km), all land.
Demographics.
As of the census of 2000, there were 250 people, 92 households, and 66 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,297.2 people per square mile (600/km). There were 102 housing units at an average density of 487.1 per square mile (190.9/km). The racial makeup of the city was 82.28% White, 1.69% African American, 16.03% from other races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 24.89% of the population.
There were 79 households, out of which 31.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.1% were married couples living together, 12.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.9% were non-families. 21.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 1.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.00 and the average family size was 3.06.
In the city, the population was spread out, with 22.4% under the age of 18, 17.7% from 18 to 24, 28.7% from 25 to 44, 24.9% from 45 to 64, and 6.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 30 years. For every 100 females, there were 119.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 109.1 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $28,750, and the median income for a family was $32,857. Males had a median income of $27,250 versus $15,750 for females. The per capita income for the city was $13,669. About 13.2% of families and 20.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 22.5% of those under the age of eighteen and 58.3% of those 65 or over.


Journal of Evolutionary Biology

The Journal of Evolutionary Biology is a bimonthly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering the field of evolutionary biology. It is published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the European Society for Evolutionary Biology. The founding editor-in-chief was Stephen C. Stearns. He was succeeded by Pierre-Henri Gouyon (1992–1995), Rolf Hoekstra (1996–1999), Peter van Tienderen (2000–2003), Juha Merilä (2004–2007), Allen Moore (2007–2010), and Michael G. Ritchie (2011-2017). The current editor is Wolf U. Blanckenhorn (University of Zurich).
Initially published by Birkhäuser, the journal switched to Blackwell Science in 1998. According to Stearns, this "happened because Birkhäuser, which had been acquired by Springer-Verlag, withheld information on its costs and profits. Revenue was not being shared as we thought we had agreed, and we had poor market penetration in North American and the UK. The change to Blackwell Science brought with it many more library subscriptions and a dramatic increase in revenue to the Society."


Infundibulicybe mediterranea

Infundibulicybe mediterranea is a species of agaric fungus in the family Tricholomataceae. Found in Mediterranean Europe, it was described as new to science in 2011. It is closely related to "Infundibulicybe gibba", but can be distinguished from that species by its darker colored fruitbody and smaller spores, which measure 4.5–6 to 3–4 µm. The fungus is edible. It fruits singly in groups, or occasionally in rings under oaks, such as "Quercus suber" and "Quercus ilex".


Ornithinibacter aureus

Ornithinibacter aureus is a species of Gram positive, nonmotile, non-sporeforming bacteria. The bacteria are aerobic and mesophilic, and the cells are irregular rods that form branching hyphae. The species was first described in 2011, and it was originally isolated from surface seawater collected from the South China Sea. The species name is derived from Latin "aureus" (golden), referring to the yellow-pigmented colonies that form on R2A agar. "O. aureus" is the type species of genus "Ornithinibacter", and is currently the only species in the genus.
The optimum growth temperature for "O. aureus" is 34 °C and can grow in the 4-45 °C range. The optimum pH is 7.2, and can grow in pH 5.0-10.2. and the species can tolerate NaCl salt concentrations of up to 5%. Cells form yellow-pigmented colonies on agar.


Clostridium ragsdalei

Clostridium ragsdalei is an anaerobic, motile, gram-positive bacterium.


Pheasant cuckoo

The pheasant cuckoo ("Dromococcyx phasianellus") is a species of neotropical cuckoo in the subfamily Neomorphinae of the family Cuculidae. It is native to Central and South America where it occurs in lowland tropical forest.
Description.
The pheasant cuckoo is a large cuckoo with a short crest tipped with rusty brown. The bird's upper parts are dark sooty-brown and the underparts are pale buff with small black streaks on the breast. The feathers of the large tail are of varying lengths, with the central ones being the longest. The call consists of two short whistles, the second being of higher pitch, followed by a trill "whee! whee! wheerr-rr". It can be sung from low, medium, or high perches or from the ground.
Behaviour.
Breeding.
The breeding season in Mexico appears to be March through August when the males sing. In Oaxaca breeding is from April to June while in Panama calling most frequent from mid-April to July, i.e. from the onset of wet season. There is little information about territorial behaviour. Males respond to singing males with counter-singing or by a strutting display involving head and crest raised, breast feathers puffed out and wings partially extended to show white spots with tail coverts arched. This display can be performed while voicing low grunts and guttural clicks or silently.
The pheasant cuckoo is one of three New World members of the Cuculidae which is brood parasitic. The precise details of its breeding biology are little known except for a list of known host species including tyrant flycatchers in the genus "Myiozetetes", yellow-olive flatbill, eye-ringed flatbill, pied water tyrant and barred antshrike, all of which are sub-oscine passerines. As with other parasitic cuckoos, parental care of eggs and young is provided by the host species.
Feeding.
This is an insectivorous species and its food includes grasshoppers, cicadas and beetles; occasionally also small lizards and nestlings. It has a stylized terrestrial foraging behaviour which includes rattling sounds made by vibrating its plumage and bill clapping while the bird stands with body, wing and tail bobbing before lunging forward with several short steps, before pecking in the leaf litter for potential prey.
Distribution and habitat.
The bird's natural habitat is the understorey of tropical lowland evergreen forest, riverine forest, and tropical deciduous forest, from the sea level up to 1600 m. It is found in Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela.


Macrofungi of Guatemala

Guatemala is one of the richest biodiversity hotspots in the world. This is due to the variety of its territory and ecosystems that occur from sea level up to more than 4,000 meters above sea level. Ecological niches include (but are not limited to) subtropical and tropical rain forests, wetlands, dry forests, scrublands, cloud forests, pine-fir forests in the highlands. Despite this wealth, however, our knowledge on the mycobiota of the country is very poor. There are several reasons for this, primarily the prolonged Guatemalan civil war (1960–1996) and related political and social instability that have severely hampered field work in the country. The lack of trained local mycologists has certainly also delayed the detailed investigation of the rich mycota inhabiting the highly diversified Guatemalan biotopes.
Diversity of Guatemala macrofungi.
Larger fungi (usually referred to as macrofungi or macromycetes) are of particular interest because of their importance as food resources and as a component of traditional culture in many places in the world. Moreover, many basidiomycetes and ascomycetes with conspicuous sporocarps often play an important role as ectomycorrhizal mycobionts of trees and shrubs of boreal forests in the northern hemisphere and are important elements in many areas of the southern hemisphere. Although Guatemalan macrofungi have not been as yet extensively surveyed, a preliminary checklist encompasses some 350 species of macromycetes (31 ascomycetes and 319 basidiomycetes) occurring in 163 genera and 20 ascomycetous and basidiomycetous orders. Recently, 12 species of Ascomycetes where cited, with the new records, there are now 44 ascomycete species known from Guatemala Most available observations pertain to the highlands, in the departments of Alta Verapaz, Baja Verapaz, Chimaltenango, Guatemala, El Quiché, Huehuetenango, and Quetzaltenango, while the wide lowland Petén region has been scantly explored, despite the fact that it accounts for about one third of Guatemala's area and, together with adjacent areas of Belize and southern Mexico, comprise the largest unbroken tract of tropical forest north of the Brazilian Amazon. At the order level, "Agaricales" was found to host the larger number of species (almost one third of the entire set), followed by "Polyporales" and "Boletales". The most represented genera are "Amanita", "Russula", "Lactarius", "Laccaria", "Suillus". Intriguingly, all these genera are ectomycorrhizal with the several "Pinus" and "Quercus" species that form extensive pine and mixed forests of the highlands, and/or with the endangered "Abies guatemalensis" (pinabete), most abundant between 2800–3200 m elevation on the Sierra de los Cuchumatanes in western Guatemala.
Traditional knowledge and use.
“The Mesoamerican tradition of eating wild edible fungi continues from Mexico to west Guatemala then is absent from much of Honduras and Nicaragua, even though both contain forest areas that in theory support production of edible fungi,” remarked Eric Boa in his reference volume on worldwide wild edible fungi.
Indeed, the deep mycophily of Guatemalan indigenous people is apparent. Ethnomycological surveys conducted in the highlands, mainly through visits to local markets and interviews with vendors, revealed that some 130 species were identified as edible species, most of which actually sold in markets or along roadsides. Species of edible mushrooms belonging to different genera (e.g., "Amanita", "Lactarius", "Helvella") are often offered mixed together, and sold in form of ‘medida’, i.e. a fixed amount, which equals the content of a small basket. However, the more popular and valuable species are usually sold separately. "Lactarius deliciosus" and "L. indigo" – known as ‘Shara’ (or ‘Xara’) ‘amarilla’ and ‘Shara’ (or ‘Xara’) ‘azul’, respectively, or ‘Cabeza de Xara’ in local Spanish (Sharas, also known as ‘urracas’, are birds, variously coloured, living in different parts of the country) – "Amanita caesarea" complex (hongo de San Juan), and "Cantharellus cibarius" (anacate), are among the most appreciated edible mushrooms among Guatemalan Maya people. "Daldinia fissa" is recorded as a common edible ascomycete from the municipality of Tecpán, Department of Chimaltenango. The mushroom is named as “tzan tz’i” in Kaqchikel dialect, that means “dog nose ” or “chucho nose” because of ascostroma shape. Many, but by no means all, edible species are identified through common vernacular names that have been sometimes recorded in several Maya languages. Generally, mushrooms are gathered and sold by women, often in family groups spanning three generations. Localities with more traditional knowledge, based on the number of
species are used, were Tecpán (Chimaltenango) with 31 species, followed by San Juan Comalapa (Chimaltenango)and Totonicapán city (Totonicapán), with 22 species each. The collection of wild edible fungi is done throughout the year and the main forms used for marketing were the "medida", "unidad", "Libra" and "manojo", being subject to their species or group of species in question use. The use of macrofungi in Guatemala other than for human consumption is limited to a few instances, such as for wound healing and for preventing infections (spores and dried mycelia of "Calvatia" "lilacina" and "C. cyathiformis"), cicatrizing substances to treat burns in children (sporocarps of "Geastrum" and "Lycoperdon"), to heal and disinfect wounds and to treat bee stings (dried specimens of "Lycoperdon marginatum").
IWEMM-7 in Guatemala.
Guatemala hosted the 7th International Workshop on Edible Ectomycorrhizal Mushrooms (IWEMM-7). Held in the colonial city of Antigua, from July 29 to August 3, 2013, the congress convened researchers from worldwide institutions to discuss the most recent information about diversity, cultivation and production of wild edible mycorrhizal mushrooms. Several talks also dealt with the current status of knowledge on macrofungi in Guatemala and their traditional use.


Cyphelloid fungi

The cyphelloid fungi are a group of fungi in the Basidiomycota that have disc-, tube-, or cup-shaped basidiocarps (fruit bodies), resembling species of discomycetes (or "cup fungi") in the Ascomycota. They were originally referred to the genus "Cyphella" ("cyphelloid" means "Cyphella"-like) and subsequently to the family Cyphellaceae, but are now known to be much more diverse and are spread through several different genera and families. Since they are often studied as a group, it is convenient to call them by the informal (non-taxonomic) name of "cyphelloid fungi". Better known cyphelloid genera include "Calyptella", with stalked, cup- or bell-like fruit bodies; "Lachnella", with conspicuous, hairy-margined, disc-like fruit bodies; "Flagelloscypha" with smaller, but equally hairy, cup-like fruit bodies; "Henningsomyces" with tube-like fruit bodies; and "Merismodes" with clustered, hairy, cup-like fruit bodies.
History.
The genus "Cyphella" was original described by Fries in 1822. Subsequent authors gradually added over 300 species to the genus. By the close of the nineteenth century, however, it was already clear that "Cyphella" contained a miscellany of species — some, for example, having hyaline spores, whilst others had brown spores. Segregate genera were accordingly proposed to accommodate cyphelloid fungi that were not closely related to the type, and this process continued throughout the twentieth century. The group was covered in a monograph by William Bridge Cooke in 1961, with additional papers by Donk, Reid, and Agerer. As a result of these critical revisions, only one species is still accepted in "Cyphella", namely the type "Cyphella digitalis".
The family name Cyphellaceae was used to keep most (but not all) of these segregate genera together. It became equally clear, however, that it too was heterogeneous, Donk noting that it was "nothing but a handy bin from which part of the contents has already been taken out and disposed of by scattering it over various groups."
DNA sequencing confirms this diversity, showing that cyphelloid fungi have independently evolved at least eight times within the Basidiomycota. Genera are currently placed in the Cyphellaceae (in a restricted sense), Inocybaceae, Marasmiaceae, Niaceae, and Tricholomataceae. It had previously been suggested that most cyphelloid fungi were related to gilled agarics (mushrooms and toadstools) and they have sometimes been referred to as "reduced agarics". DNA sequencing shows that this is indeed true for many of the genera sampled, almost all being placed within the order Agaricales.
Description and genera.
Fruit bodies of the cyphelloid fungi are typically small (under 10 mm across), disc-shaped, cup-shaped, or tube-like, with or without a stem. The spore-bearing surface is smooth and formed on the surface of the disc, or inside the cup or tube. The sterile outer surface is smooth or often hairy, the hairs sometimes forming a conspicuous margin to discs. Fruit bodies typically occur in troops or swarms, sometimes packed closely together.
Better known cyphelloid genera include "Calyptella", with stalked, cup- or bell-like fruit bodies; "Lachnella", with conspicuous, hairy-margined, disc-like fruit bodies; "Flagelloscypha" with smaller, but equally hairy, cup-like fruit bodies; "Henningsomyces" with tube-like fruit bodies; and "Merismodes" with clustered, hairy, cup-like fruit bodies.
Habitat and distribution.
Most cyphelloid species are wood-rotting fungi, growing on dead attached branches, on old bark of living trees, or on fallen wood. Some are found on dead or decaying herbaceous stems or on ferns. Two species are marine fungi, the salt-tolerant "Calathella mangrovei" and "Halocyphina villosa" occurring on mangroves.
As a group, the cyphelloid fungi are cosmopolitan, though (as with most fungi) better studied and better known in north temperate regions.


Journal of Biological Sciences

The Journal of Biological Sciences is a peer-reviewed open-access scientific journal covering research relating to general biology, biochemistry, genetics, and biotechnology. It was established in 2001 and is published by Science Alert on behalf of the Asian Network for Scientific Information. The publisher Science Alert has been designated as predatory by Jeffrey Beall. The editor-in-chief is Mehmet Ozaslan (Gaziantep University).
Abstracting and indexing.
The journal is abstracted and indexed in Chemical Abstracts Service and in Scopus from 2006 until it was dropped in 2018.


Lepista sordida

Lepista sordida is a species of blewit mushroom found across the Northern Hemisphere. It is known to form fairy rings.


Mesnidovirineae

Mesnidovirineae is a suborder of viruses in the order "Nidovirales".


Debaryomyces

Debaryomyces is a genus of yeasts in the family Saccharomycetaceae.


Haemophilus pittmaniae

Haemophilus pittmaniae is a Gram-negative species of bacterium of the family Pasteurellaceae. Strains of this species were originally isolated from humans. The species may be associated with respiratory infections in individuals with lung disease.


Moorella thermoautotrophica

Moorella thermoautotrophica, previously known as "Clostridium thermoautotrophicum", is a rod-shaped, endospore-forming bacterium belonging to the phylum Firmicutes. It is thermophilic, strictly anaerobic and acetogenic, and was isolated from a hot spring in Yellowstone National Park USA.


Acanthoecida

Acanthoecida is an order of algae belonging to the class Choanoflagellatea.
Families:


Felix Semon

Sir Felix Semon (8 December 18491 March 1921) was a German-British pioneer in neurobiology and a prominent laryngologist in the United Kingdom. He is responsible for Semon's law.
Semon was born in Danzig, Prussia, the son of S. J. Semon, a Berlin stockbroker, and Henriette Aschenheim of Elbing. In 1868, he began his medical studies in Heidelberg and served as a volunteer during the Franco-Prussian War. Following the war, he resumed his studies in Berlin and took his medical degree in 1873. He studied in Vienna and Paris, specialising in diseases of the throat and nose.
He moved to England because of the need for a laryngologist, joining the Throat Hospital in Golden Square, Westminster. He was a member of the Royal College of Physicians in 1876 and a fellow in 1885. He joined St Thomas' Hospital in 1882 and six years later the National Hospital for Epilepsy and Paralysis in Bloomsbury. In 1894, he was elected president of the Laryngological Society. He was knighted in 1897, and appointed a Commander in the Royal Victorian Order in 1902.
In 1901, he was appointed Physician Extraordinary to King Edward VII, and was knighted KCVO in 1905.
He retired from his practice in 1911 and died a decade later in Great Missenden.


Emesvirus

Emesvirus is a genus of positive-strand RNA viruses, in the family "Fiersviridae". Enterobacteria serve as natural hosts. There are three species in this genus. In 2020, the genus was renamed from "Levivirus" to its current name.
Structure.
Viruses in "Emesvirus" are non-enveloped, with icosahedral and Spherical geometries, and T=3 symmetry. The capsid diameter is around 26 nm.
Genome.
Emesviruses have a positive-sense, single-stranded RNA genome. The genome is linear and non-segmented and around 3.5kb in length. The genome codes for four proteins, which are the coat, replicase, maturation, and lysis protein.
Life cycle.
Entry into the host cell is achieved by adsorption into the host cell. Replication follows the positive-strand RNA virus replication model. Positive-strand RNA virus transcription is the method of transcription. Translation takes place by suppression of termination. The virus exits the host cell by bacteria lysis. Enterobacteria serve as the natural host.
Taxonomy.
The genus "Emesvirus" has the following two species:


Bacterial senescence

Bacterial senescence or bacterial aging refers to the gradual decrease in cellular function in individual bacterium as they increase in age. Indicators of senescence include a decelerated division rate and an increase likelihood of death.
The fundamental cause of aging in bacteria is thought to be the accumulation of deleterious components (aging factors). Asymmetrically dividing bacteria, such as "Caulobacter crescentus", show signs of replicative aging. The results for symmetrically dividing bacteria are more nuanced. For example, "Escherichia coli", under certain experimental conditions, may exhibit signs of replicative aging caused by subtle asymmetries in its division.
Factors contributing to aging.
Aging factors can be defined as irreparable damages to cellular components which ultimately contribute to the decreased fitness of the individual harbouring them. Putative aging factors include damaged DNA strands, old cell-surface material, and mis-folded or aggregated protein. The cell poles of replicating "E. coli" are often used as a proxy for aging factors as each bacterium inherits an old cell-pole (mother's pole) and a newly synthesized new cell-pole. Inclusion bodies, masses of aggregated damaged or mis-folded proteins, have recently been shown to contribute to the aging of cellular organisms .
Senescence in single celled organisms is thought to arise via the asymmetric partitioning of aging factors between daughter cells. It has long been argued that, on theoretical grounds, the preferential segregation of damage in unicellular organisms would contribute to the fitness of the overall population. The single celled eukaryotic organism, "Saccharomyces cerevisiae", retains deleterious aging factors in the mother cell leading to rejuvenation of the daughter.
Aging in Asymmetrically dividing Bacteria.
 A well established example of bacterial aging is "Caulobacter crescentus". This bacteria begins its life as a motile swarmer cell. Once it has found a suitable substrate, the swarmer cell will differentiate into a non-motile stalked cell. The stalked cell then becomes reproductively active and gives rise to new swarmer cells. The number of progeny produced per hour by individual swarmer cells was shown to decrease with age. This was the first evidence of bacterial aging.
Aging in Symmetrically dividing Bacteria.
Organisms which replicate via symmetric division, such as "E. coli", are thought to be immortal. However, by tracking the inheritance of both the new and old cell pole, evidence of aging was found in "E. coli". A cell which has consecutively inherited the old cell pole has been shown to exhibit a significantly decreased growth rate. The decline in growth rate in Stewart et al. appears to be at least partially attributed to the preferential localization of inclusion bodies near the old cell wall. This localization is thought to be the passive result of the slow diffusion of the large aggregate, and the exclusion of the aggregate by the nucleoid. A similar mechanism of aging has been found to occur in "Schizosaccharomyces pombe", which divides via symmetrical binary fission.
However, the original findings of "E. coli" aging have been partially refuted by more recent microfluidics-based studies, in which individual "E. coli" showed a constant growth rate for hundreds of consecutive cell divisions, although the death rate increased in each cell division. This discrepancy may be due to the different culturing methods used in the two studies, i.e., growth on agar pads vs. in a microfludic device.


Micrarchaeum acidiphilum


Abelspora

Abelspora is a genus of microsporidian parasites. The genus is monotypic, and contains the single species Abelspora portucalensis. The species parasitizes the shore crab, "Carcinus maenas", within which it infects the hepatopancreas. The genus was first described in 1987.


Mycobacterium haemophilum

Mycobacterium haemophilum is a species of the phylum Actinobacteria (Gram-positive bacteria with high guanine and cytosine content, one of the dominant phyla of all bacteria), belonging to the genus "Mycobacterium".
Description.
Short, occasionally curved, gram-positive, nonmotile and strongly acid-fast rods.
Colony characteristics
Physiology
Differential characteristics
Distribution.
Type strain.
First isolated in Israel from a subcutaneous granuloma from a patient with Hodgkin's disease. An environmental reservoir is presumed.
Strain ATCC 29548 = CCUG 47452 = CIP 105049 = DSM 44634 = NCTC 11185.


Alicyclobacillus ferrooxydans

Alicyclobacillus ferrooxydans is a species of Gram positive, strictly aerobic, bacterium. The bacteria are acidophilic and produced endospores. It was first isolated from solfataric soil. The species was first described in 2008, and the name refers to its ability to oxidize iron.
Other "Alicyclobacillus" species that are able to oxidize iron include "A. disulfidooxidans", "A. pohliae", and "A. tolerans".
The optimum growth temperature for "A. ferrooxydans" is 28 °C, and can grow in the 17-40 °C range. The optimum pH is 3.0, and can grow in pH 2.0-6.0.
"A. ferrooxydans" was found to be able to produce high amounts of biosurfactants that interacted with pyrite, and was able to change surface properties of pyrite.


Libertiella

Libertiella is a genus of fungi belonging to the family Pilocarpaceae.
The species of this genus are found in Europe.
Species:


Clostridium straminisolvens

Clostridium straminisolvens is a moderately thermophilic, aerotolerant and cellulolytic bacterium. It is non-motile, spore-forming, straight or slightly curved rod, with type strain CSK1T (=DSM 16021T =IAM 15070T). Its genome has been sequenced.


Synchromophyceae

Synchromophyceae is a class of photosynthetic heterokonts. The chloroplast of the Synchromophyceae are surrounded by two membranes and arranged in a way where they share the outer pair of membranes. The entire chloroplast complex is surrounded by an additional two outer membranes.


Ochrocladosporium

Ochrocladosporium is a genus of fungi belonging to the family Coniothyriaceae.
The species of this genus are found in Europe and Northern America.
Species:


Kate Wilson (scientist)

Katherine Wilson is a Molecular Biologist and a Marine Scientist. She is also the executive director of the science division at the Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH), New South Wales. Wilson is responsible for the delivery of OEH's science program, which provides technical analysis, expert advice and research to support the NSW government's policy and program objectives in environmental management. As a member of the OEH Executive, Wilson guides delivery of services ranging from energy efficiency programs to management of national parks. Wilson is also a Board Member of the Low Carbon Living Cooperative Research Centre and Chair of the External Advisory Committee, Australian Rivers and Wetlands Centre, University of New South Wales.
Career.
Wilson's research interests began in molecular biology and application to aquaculture and agricultural problems in rhizobial ecology. Prior to joining the Office of Environment and Heritage, Wilson was Director of the Wealth from Oceans Flagship at the CSIRO. In this position Wilson was leading and managing Australia's largest marine research portfolio, driving research from coastal to deep-sea ecosystems and from marine ecology to offshore industries. She was co-founder of the Centre for the Application of Molecular Biology to International Agriculture (Canberra), and research leader in tropical aquaculture at the Australian Institute of Marine Science, Townsville.
Wilson has held previous board positions for the Marine and Coastal Committee (a COAG subcommittee); Western Australian Marine Science Institution; CRC Torres Strait; the Centre for the Application of Molecular Biology to International Agriculture and was an editorial board member for the Marine Biotechnology journal, published by Springer-Verlag.
Wilson was previously Chair of the Research and Development Working Group for the Marine and Coastal Committee and the governing council of the Australian-New Zealand Consortium for the International Ocean Drilling Program. Wilson has held an Adjunct Senior Lecturer position at the School of Life Science, University of Queensland, the School of Biomedical and Molecular Science, James Cook University and the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Australian National University.
Wilson studied gus-a-bearing plasmids in plants.
Education.
Wilson completed her doctorate in Molecular Genetics at Harvard University and holds a Bachelor of Arts with First Class Honours from Cambridge University. Wilson was born in a small village in the United Kingdom called Shipton (or Shipton-by-Beningbrough) just outside York.


Candidatus Bartonella monaxi

""Candidatus" Bartonella monaxi" is a candidatus bacteria from the genus of "Bartonella" which was isolated from groundhogs ("Marmota monax")


Scleroderma (fungus)

Scleroderma is a genus of fungi, commonly known as earth balls, now known to belong to the Boletales order, in suborder Sclerodermatineae. The best known species are "S. citrinum" and "S. verrucosum". They are found worldwide.
Various members of this genus are used as inoculation symbionts to colonize and promote the growth of tree seedlings in nurseries. They are not edible.
The name comes from the Greek "sclera" meaning "hard" and "derma" meaning "skin".
Description.
The peridium (outer wall), which may be smooth or warted, is very thick and tough. At maturity it splits irregularly over the upper part of the basidiocarp to reveal the dark gleba underneath. Spores are produced in small brownish-purple, pea-like bodies called peridioles that initially are outlined by wall-like aggregations of white hyphae. These peridioles disintegrate as the fruit body matures, and by the time the peridium splits open, only a powdery mass of dark spores is visible. Spores are roughly spherical in shape with warts or reticulate ornamentation, thick-walled, and brown. Species in "Scleroderma" are ectomycorrhizal with shrubs and trees, and have a worldwide distribution.


Candidatus Bartonella antechini

""Candidatus" Bartonella antechini" is a candidatus bacteria from the genus of "Bartonella" which was isolated from the mouse "Antechinus flavipes".
References.


Dumedivirus


Mycobacterium nebraskense

Mycobacterium nebraskense is a slow growing, yellow, pigmented mycobacterium that was first isolated from human sputum at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, in Omaha, Nebraska, USA. Mycobacterium species are common causes of pulmonary infections in both humans and animals.


Piscanivirinae

Piscanivirinae is a virus subfamily of the family "Tobaniviridae" within the order "Nidovirales" which comprises different fish viruses. The virions have a viral envelope and a positive-sense single-stranded RNA genome which is linear and unsegmented.
The subfamily is hitherto bigeneric with the two genera "Bafinivirus" and "Oncotshavirus". Both genera comprise rod shaped (bacilliform) viruses with relatively large genoms like they mostly occur in the nidoviruses. Occasionally, also strongly pleomorphic (e.g. spheric) virions were observed.
The name is a siglum typical for virus taxonomy which here supposedly refers to the host animals fishes (Latin "pisces"), the host species "Blicca bjoerkna" of the virus species "White bream virus", and the overarching order of the nidoviruses.
Taxonomy.
The subfamily contains the following genera, subgenera, and species:


Heterosigma akashiwo

Heterosigma akashiwo is a species of microscopic algae of the class Raphidophyceae. It is a swimming marine alga that episodically forms toxic surface aggregations known as harmful algal bloom. The species name "akashiwo" is from the Japanese for "red tide".
Synonyms include "Olisthodiscus luteus" (Hulburt 1965), and "Entomosigma akashiwo" (Hada 1967). "H. akashiwo" and "H. inlandica" have been recognized as two species of "Heterosigma". However, Hara and Chihara (1987) described both specimens as one species, validly describing them as "H. akashiwo".
Description.
"H. akashiwo" cells are relatively small, ranging in size from 18 to 34 μm in diameter. They appear golden brown, and appear in clusters. Morphology is highly variable, but does not appear to vary significantly between locations. One culture may contain flat or round individual cells. Molecular techniques for identification (including quantitative PCR) are preferred over traditional microscope fixing, which may lyse the cells.
Distribution.
"Heterosigma akashiwo" has been identified off the coasts of the United States, Canada, Chile, the Netherlands, Scotland, Ireland, Sweden, Norway, Japan, S.Korea, Hong Kong, Australia, and New Zealand. Most of the literature suggests "H. akashiwo" is associated with shallow water within 10 m of the surface, but this is not a universal rule.
Physiology.
"Heterosigma akashiwo" is a mixotrophic alga, supplementing nutrient uptake and photosynthesis with ingestion of bacteria. Each cell may contain 18-27 chloroplasts. These cells have been observed to glide and twirl under microscopic examination, but nonmotile cells have been associated with toxic blooms. Blooms are clearly visible by air, appearing as a red area in otherwise blue water. Optimal growth occurs at 25 °C and 100 μE m−2s−1, conditions which are associated with very low toxicity. Maximum toxicity occurs (and relatively slow growth) occurs at 20 °C and 200 μE m−2s−1. "H. akashiwo" reproduces asexually by binary fission.
"Heterosigma akashiwo" produces cysts as a resting stage. The germination of these cysts leads to large-scale blooms, which can be laterally transferred by tides and currents. These blooms are neither caused nor exasperated by fish farming. Bottom water temperature must reach at least 15 °C for germination to occur. Blooms are most often associated with summer months, and some areas may see two blooms within one year. Blooms are known to be lethal once concentrations of cells reach 3x105 to 7 x 105 cells/L. Viruses may act as a natural control on bloom populations, as "H. akashiwo" viruses (HaV) have been shown to only leave resistant alga alive. Similarly, certain bacteria may also reduce "H. akashiwo" populations.
The exact mode of bloom toxicity is currently unknown, but gill damage leading to hypoxia is the proposed cause for fish death. "H. akashiwo" may produce brevetoxins, but others suggest the concentrations of these toxins are too low to account for such a large effect on fish populations. Some have argued the production of reactive oxygen species like hydrogen peroxide may be responsible for gill damage. However, research suggests hydrogen peroxide concentrations are far too low to have significant effects on fish. Mucus production is another proposed, but poorly supported, mechanism for fish mortality. The effective toxin possibly is chemically unstable, and therefore difficult to detect. Sablefish appear to be unaffected by "H. akashiwo" blooms, while many other marine fish are decimated.
Genetics.
Genetic sequences are highly conserved between Pacific and Atlantic populations. Relevant probe sequences for small subunit RNA can be found.
Economic impact.
"Heterosigma" forms massive golden tides that impact the survival of organisms at every trophic level. This alga has been shown to kill finfish, compromise fish and sea urchin egg development, and impact copepods, as well as oyster survival. Further ecological impacts to plankton, invertebrates, and wild fish are likely, but unknown. The 1997 "H. akashiwo" bloom in British Columbia, for example, coincided with a dramatic increase in mortality of captive salmon. "H. akashiwo" contributed to the loss of over 1,000 tons of Atlantic salmon in 2001. A bloom in Puget Sound in 2006 led to the loss of $2 million of farmed salmon. In 2014, a bloom near Port Hardy, British Columbia, killed nearly 280,000 Atlantic salmon. In 2018, a bloom near British Columbia killed near 250,000 Atlantic salmon at two seafood farms. A 1995 article noted that the global distribution of "H. akashiwo" is increasing, as is the frequency of "H. akashiwo" HAB formation.


Yersiniaceae

The Yersiniaceae are a family of Gram-negative bacteria that includes some familiar pathogens. For example, the type genus "Yersinia" includes "Yersinia pestis", the causative agent of plague. This family is a member of the order Enterobacterales in the class Gammaproteobacteria of the phylum Proteobacteria. Other genera in this family include "Chania, Chimaeribacter, Ewingella, Nissabacter, Rahnella, Rouxiella, Samsonia, Serratia," and ""Candidatus" Fukatsuia".


Tapinella atrotomentosa

Tapinella atrotomentosa, commonly known as the velvet roll-rim or velvet-footed pax, is a species of fungus in the family Tapinellaceae. Although it has gills, it is a member of the pored mushroom order Boletales. August Batsch described the species in 1783. It has been recorded from Asia, Central America, Europe and North America. Tough and inedible, it grows on tree stumps of conifers. The mushroom contains several compounds that act as deterrents of feeding by insects.
Taxonomy.
"Tapinella atrotomentosa" was originally described as "Agaricus atrotomentosus" by German naturalist August Batsch in his 1783 work "Elenchus Fungorum", and given its current name by Josef Šutara in 1992. It is commonly known as the "velvet-footed pax", and the "velvet rollrim". Historical synonyms include "Paxillus atrotomentosus" by Elias Magnus Fries (1833), "Rhymovis atrotomentosa" by Gottlob Ludwig Rabenhorst (1844), and "Sarcopaxillus atrotomentosus" by Ivan Zmitrovich (2004). The variety "bambusinus" was described from Trinidad in 1951 by British mycologists Richard Eric Defoe Baker and William Thomas Dale.
The species name is derived from the Latin words "atrotomentosus", meaning "black-haired". It is still commonly seen under its old name "Paxillus atrotomentosus" in guidebooks. "Tapinella atrotomentosa" and its relative "T. panuoides" were placed in a separate genus "Tapinella" on account of their habit of growing on (and rotting) wood, and microscopic differences including much smaller spore size, lack of cystidia, and differing basidia. Their off-centre stipe also distinguished them from other members of the genus "Paxillus", and genetic analysis confirmed them as only distantly related.
Description.
The fruit body is squat mushroom with a cap up to across, sepia- or walnut brown in colour with a rolled rim and depressed centre. The stem is covered with dark brown or black velvety fur. The gills are cream-yellow and forked, while the thick stipe is dark brown and juts out sidewards from the mushroom. The flesh has been described as appetising in appearance, and is little affected by insects. The spore print is yellow and the spores are round to oval and measure 5-6 μm long.
Distribution and habitat.
It is a saprobic fungus found growing on tree stumps of conifers in North America, Europe, Central America (Costa Rica), east into Asia where it has been recorded from Pakistan and China. The fruit bodies appear in summer and autumn, even in drier spells when other mushrooms are not evident.
Toxicity.
The species contains toxins which may cause gastrointestinal upset. There have been cases of poisoning reported in European literature.
Although "Tapinella atrotomentosa" mushrooms are not generally considered edible, they have been used as a food source in parts of eastern Europe. Tests on the chemical composition and free amino acid levels of the mushroom suggest that they are not considerably different from other edible gilled mushrooms such as "Armillaria mellea". Linus Zeitlmayr reports that young mushrooms are edible, but warns than older ones have a foul bitter or inky flavour and are possibly poisonous. The bitter flavour is allegedly improved by boiling the mushrooms and discarding the water, but is indigestible to many.
Chemistry.
"Tapinella atrotomentosa" has a wound-activated defence mechanism whereby injured fruit bodies convert chemicals known as leucomentins into atromentin, butenolide, and the feeding deterrent osmundalactone. Atromentin had previously been identified as the pigment producing the brown colour of the cap, but was not characterized as a chemical defence compound until 1989. Other compounds produced by the fungus include the orange-yellow flavomentins and violet spiromentin pigments. A novel dimeric lactone, bis-osumundalactone, was isolated from the variety "bambusinus".
Several phytoecdysteroids (compounds related to the insect moulting hormone ecdysteroid) have been identified from the fungus, including paxillosterone, 20,22-"p"-hydroxybenzylidene acetal, atrotosterones A, B, and C, and 25-hydroxyatrotosterones A and B.


Barbara Tudek

Barbara Tudek (1952 – March 1, 2019) was a Polish biologist who served as president of the Polish section of the European Environmental Mutagenesis and Genomics Society (EEMGS). In 2019, Tudek was a recipient of the Frits Sobels Award.
Early life and education.
Barbara Tudek was born in 1952. On April 27, 1983, she obtained a doctorate from the Medical University of Warsaw with the dissertation, "Badania właściwości mutagennych ropy naftowej i rozpuszczalników stosowanych w przemyśle petrochemicznym jako ocena zagrożenia środowiska naturalnego człowieka" ("Research on the mutagenic properties of crude oil and solvents used in the petrochemical industry as an assessment of the threat to the human environment"). Afterwards, she affiliated with Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Toronto, Canada, receiving a postdoctoral degree on June 5, 2001, on the basis of the dissertation entitled "Utlenianie i alkilacja zasad DNA - rola pierwotnych i wtórnych uszkodzeń w replikacji i mutagenezie" ("Oxidation and alkylation of DNA bases - the role of primary and secondary damage in replication and mutagenesis"). After this, she went to the Institut Gustave Roussy, Villejuif, France.
Career.
On June 8, 2006, she received the academic title of professor in biological sciences. She worked as a full professor at the Institute of Genetics and Biotechnology at the Faculty of Biology at the University of Warsaw and at the Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics of the Polish Academy of Sciences. She was an active member of the EEMGS)for almost four decades and served as president of the Polish EEMGS section during the period 2002–12.
Tudek died March 1, 2019.


Phycomycetaceae

The Phycomycetaceae are a family of fungi in the order Mucorales. Species in this family are widespread, but more common in temperate areas. The family was circumscribed in 1982 by J. Arx.
Description.
Members of this family have large, unbranched sporangiophores and zygospores with coiled tong-like suspensors bearing branched appendages.


Positive-strand RNA virus

Positive-strand RNA viruses (+ssRNA viruses) are a group of related viruses that have positive-sense, single-stranded genomes made of ribonucleic acid. The positive-sense genome can act as messenger RNA (mRNA) and can be directly translated into viral proteins by the host cell's ribosomes. Positive-strand RNA viruses encode an RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) which is used during replication of the genome to synthesize a negative-sense antigenome that is then used as a template to create a new positive-sense viral genome.
Positive-strand RNA viruses are divided between the phyla "Kitrinoviricota", "Lenarviricota", and "Pisuviricota" (specifically classes "Pisoniviricetes" and "Stelpavirictes") all of which are in the kingdom "Orthornavirae" and realm "Riboviria". They are monophyletic and descended from a common RNA virus ancestor. In the Baltimore classification system, +ssRNA viruses belong to Group IV.
Positive-sense RNA viruses include pathogens such as the hepacivirus C, West Nile virus, dengue virus, and the MERS, SARS, and SARS-CoV-2 coronaviruses, as well as less clinically serious pathogens such as the coronaviruses and rhinoviruses that cause the common cold.
Genome.
Positive-strand RNA virus genomes usually contain relatively few genes, usually between three and ten, including an RNA-dependent RNA polymerase. Coronaviruses have the largest known RNA genomes, between 27 and 32 kilobases in length, and likely possess replication proofreading mechanisms in the form of an exoribonuclease within nonstructural protein nsp14.
Replication.
Positive-strand RNA viruses have genetic material that can function both as a genome and as messenger RNA; it can be directly translated into protein in the host cell by host ribosomes. The first proteins to be expressed after infection serve genome replication functions; they recruit the positive-strand viral genome to viral replication complexes formed in association with intracellular membranes. These complexes contain proteins of both viral and host cell origin, and may be associated with the membranes of a variety of organelles—often the rough endoplasmic reticulum, but also including membranes derived from mitochondria, vacuoles, the Golgi apparatus, chloroplasts, peroxisomes, plasma membranes, autophagosomal membranes, and novel cytoplasmic compartments.
The replication of the positive-sense RNA genome proceeds through double-stranded RNA intermediates, and the purpose of replication in these membranous invaginations may be the avoidance of cellular response to the presence of dsRNA. In many cases subgenomic RNAs are also created during replication. After infection, the entirety of the host cell's translation machinery may be diverted to the production of viral proteins as a result of the very high affinity for ribosomes by the viral genome's internal ribosome entry site (IRES) elements; in some viruses, such as poliovirus and rhinoviruses, normal protein synthesis is further disrupted by viral proteases degrading components required to initiate translation of cellular mRNA.
All positive-strand RNA virus genomes encode RNA-dependent RNA polymerase a viral protein that synthesizes RNA from an RNA template. Host cell proteins recruited by +ssRNA viruses during replication include RNA-binding proteins, chaperone proteins, and membrane remodeling and lipid synthesis proteins, which collectively participate in exploiting the cell's secretory pathway for viral replication.
Recombination.
Numerous positive-strand RNA viruses can undergo genetic recombination when at least two viral genomes are present in the same host cell. The capability for recombination among +ssRNA virus pathogens of humans is common. RNA recombination appears to be a major driving force in determining genome architecture and the course of viral evolution among "Picornaviridae" (e.g. poliovirus). In the "Retroviridae" (e.g. HIV), genome damage appears to be avoided during reverse transcription by strand switching, a form of recombination. Recombination occurs in the "Coronaviridae" (e.g. SARS). Recombination in RNA viruses appears to be an adaptation for coping with genome damage. Recombination can also occur infrequently between +ssRNA viruses of the same species but of divergent lineages. The resulting recombinant viruses may sometimes cause an outbreak of infection in humans, as in the case of SARS and MERS.
Positive-strand RNA viruses are common in plants. In tombusviruses and carmoviruses, RNA recombination occurs frequently during replication. The ability of the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase of these viruses to switch RNA templates suggests a copy choice model of RNA recombination that may be an adaptive mechanism for coping with damage in the viral genome. Other +ssRNA viruses of plants have also been reported to be capable of recombination, such as Brom mosaic bromovirus and Sindbis virus.
Classification.
Positive-strand RNA viruses are found in three phyla: "Kitrinoviricota", "Lenarviricota", and "Pisuviricota", each of which are assigned to the kingdom "Orthornavirae" in the realm "Riboviria". In the Baltimore classification system, which groups viruses together based on their manner of mRNA synthesis, +ssRNA viruses are group IV.
"Kitrinoviricota".
The first +ssRNA phylum is "Kitrinoviricota". The phylum contains what have been referred to as the "alphavirus supergroup" and "flavivirus supergroup" along with various other short-genome viruses. Four classes in the phylum are recognized: "Alsuviricetes", the alphavirus supergroup, which contains a large number of plant viruses and arthropod viruses; "Flasuviricetes", which contains flaviviruses, "Magsaviricetes", which contains nodaviruses and sinhaliviruses; and "Tolucaviricetes", which primarily contains plant viruses.
"Lenarviricota".
"Lenarviricota" is the second +ssRNA phylum. It contains the family "Leviviridae", which infect prokaryotes, and the apparent descendants of leviviruses, which infect eukaryotes. The phylum is divided into four classes: "Allassoviricetes", which contains leviviruses and their relatives, "Amabiliviricetes", which contains narnaviruses and their relatives, "Howeltoviricetes", which contains mitoviruses and their relatives, and "Miaviricetes", which contains botourmiaviruses and their relatives. Based on phylogenetic analysis of RdRp, all other RNA viruses are considered to comprise a sister clade in relation to "Lenarviricota".
"Pisuviricota".
The third phylum that contains +ssRNA viruses is "Pisuviricota", which has been informally called the "picornavirus supergroup". The phylum contains a large assemblage of eukaryotic viruses known to infect animals, plants, fungi, and protists. The phylum contains three classes, two of which contain only +ssRNA viruses: "Pisoniviricetes", which contains nidoviruses, picornaviruses, and sobeliviruses, and "Stelpaviricetes", which contains potyviruses and astroviruses. The third class is "Duplopiviricetes", whose members are double-stranded RNA viruses that are descended from +ssRNA viruses.


Specific ventilation

In respiratory physiology, specific ventilation is defined as the ratio of the volume of gas entering a region of the lung (ΔV) following an inspiration, divided by the end-expiratory volume (V0) of that same lung region:
SV =
It is a dimensionless quantity. For the whole human lung, given an indicative tidal volume of 0.6 L and a functional residual capacity of 2.5 L, average SV is of the order of 0.24.
The distribution of specific ventilation within the lung can be inferred using Multiple Breath Washout (MBW) experiments or imaging techniques such as Positron Emission Tomography (PET) using 13N, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) using either hyperpolarized gas (3He, 129Xe) or proton MRI (oxygen enhanced imaging).


Cucullanus austropacificus

Cucullanus austropacificus is a species of parasitic nematodes. It is an endoparasite of the fish "Conger cinereus". The species has been described in 2018 by František Moravec & Jean-Lou Justine from material collected off New Caledonia in the South Pacific Ocean.
"Cucullanus austropacificus" was characterized by the following morphological features: presence of cervical alae, ventral sucker, alate spicules 1.30–1.65 mm long, conspicuous outgrowths of the anterior and posterior cloacal lips and elongate-oval eggs measuring 89–108 × 48–57 μm.


Neolecta vitellina

Neolecta vitellina is a species of fungus belonging to the family Neolectaceae.
It has cosmopolitan distribution.


Sphacelariaceae

Sphacelariaceae is a family of algae belonging to the order Sphacelariales.
Genera:


NeXtProt

neXtProt is an on-line knowledge platform on human proteins.
It strives to be a comprehensive resource that provides a variety of
types of information on human proteins, such as their function,
subcellular location, expression, interactions and role in diseases.
The major part of the information in neXtProt
is obtained from the UniProt Swiss-Prot database but it is complemented by data originating from high-throughput studies with an emphasis on proteomics. neXtProt offers also an advanced search capacity based on the SPARQL technology as well as an API that allows to programatically extract the data stored in the resource. It is developed by the CALIPHO group directed by Amos Bairoch and Lydie Lane of the Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics (SIB).


Acaulospora spinosa

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


Plasmogamy

Plasmogamy is a stage in the sexual reproduction of fungi, in which the protoplasm of two parent cells (usually from the mycelia) fuses together without the fusion of nuclei, effectively bringing two haploid nuclei close together in the same cell. This state is followed by karyogamy, where the two nuclei fuse together and then undergo meiosis to produce spores.
The dikaryotic state that comes after plasmogamy will often persist for many generations before the fungi undergoes karyogamy. In lower fungi however, plasmogamy is usually immediately followed by karyogamy. A comparative genomic study indicated the presence of the machinery for plasmogamy, karyogamy and meiosis in the Amoebozoa.


Graphiola

Graphiola is a genus of fungi belonging to the family Graphiolaceae.
The genus has cosmopolitan distribution.
Species.
Species:


WeNMR

WeNMR is a worldwide e-Infrastructure for NMR spectroscopy and structural biology. It is the largest virtual Organization in the life sciences and is supported by EGI.
Goals.
WeNMR aims at bringing together complementary research teams in the structural biology and life science area into a virtual research community at a worldwide level and provide them with a platform integrating and streamlining the computational approaches necessary for NMR and SAXS data analysis and structural modelling. Access to the infrastructure is provided through a portal integrating commonly used software and GRID technology.
Services.
There are about 2 dozen computational NMR services available that can be divided into:
History.
The three-year WeNMR project started in November 2010 as the natural successor of the eNMR project. Financial support was provided by the European Community grants 213010 (eNMR) and 261572 (WeNMR) in the 7th Framework Programme (e-Infrastructure RI-261571).


Sandra Owusu-Gyamfi

Sandra Owusu-Gyamfi is a Ghanaian conservationist and the first woman herpetologist in Ghana. She is currently the Associate Executive Director and the Advocacy and Campaigns Director for SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana. In 2017, she became Manager of Research and Conservation at Ghana Wildlife Society's Science Unit.
Owusu-Gyamfi received her bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology in Ghana. She then went to study at the University of Greenwich in the United Kingdom, where she graduated with a Master’s degree in Environmental Conservation.
She was a member of the team who found a population of the critically endangered Giant Squeaker Frog in 2013. In 2017, Owusu-Gyamfi received a grant from The Pollination Project. The grant was used to fund a day long event aimed at increasing the local communities' knowledge about the importance of frogs and increase awareness about the Togo Slippery Frog ("Conraua derooi") in the Atewa Range Forest Reserve. She was part of Resson Kantai Duff's 2020 Mongabay article, where they addressed racism in conservation science in Africa.


Dimargaritales

Dimargaritales is a monotypic order of fungi in the subdivision Kickxellomycotina.
It is parasitic. But can grow solitary on agar media, thus cold facultative parasite.
Only one family, Dimargaritaceae, exists, containing three genera:


Nitrosotalea devanaterra