VIRUS INDUCED BEHAVIOR CHANGE!!!

Infection with a plant virus modifies vector feeding behavior.

Stafford CA, Walker GP, Ullman DE.

Vector infection by some animal-infecting parasites results in altered feeding that enhances transmission. Modification of vector behavior is of broad adaptive significance, as parasite fitness relies on passage to a new host, and vector feeding is nearly always essential for transmission. Although several plant viruses infect their insect vectors, we have shown that vector infection by a plant virus alters feeding behavior. Here we show that infection with Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV), type member of the only plant-infecting genus in the Bunyaviridae, alters the feeding behavior of its thrips vector, Frankliniella occidentalis (Pergande). Male thrips infected with TSWV fed more than uninfected males, with the frequency of all feeding behaviors increasing by up to threefold, thus increasing the probability of virus inoculation. Importantly, infected males made almost three times more noningestion probes (probes in which they salivate, but leave cells largely undamaged) compared with uninfected males. A functional cell is requisite for TSWV infection and cell-to-cell movement; thus, this behavior is most likely to establish virus infection. Some animal-infecting members of the Bunyaviridae (La Crosse virus and Rift Valley fever virus) also cause increased biting rates in infected vectors. Concomitantly, these data support the hypothesis that capacity to modify vector feeding behavior is a conserved trait among plant- and animal-infecting members of the Bunyaviridae that evolved as a mechanism to enhance virus transmission. Our results underscore the evolutionary importance of vector behavioral modification to diverse parasites with host ranges spanning both plant and animal kingdoms.

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2011 Jun 7;108(23):9350-5. Epub 2011 May 23.

Why is this cool?

 First of all, what is it? Something that I didn't know for awhile was that "vector" does not just mean a line with a direction, it also means something that carries disease from to the host. An example is that fleas were vectors for bubonic plague during the Black Death time. Today's paper is about how how a plant virus (Tomato spotted wilt virus) infects thrips (Frankliniella occidentalis) and how the thrip infects tomato plants.

 What they found was that after being infected, thrips  increase their feeding three-fold when compared to uninfected thrips. They also found that infected thrips had increased probing tendencies also about three-fold increased. Looking at it in broad terms, a virus changed the behavior of an organism. Wow! Like Super Wow. World of Warcraft WoW!!

 There are times that I look in the mirror and I see myself as a person with interests and a history and beliefs about many things, but, sometimes, I see something different. My eyes wander over my nose, glasses, and mouth, only to see a biological machine. If a computer could see itself in a mirror, it would see itself as I sometimes see myself. 

The biological machine is the execution of timeless genetic material and it subject to further programming. I would like to believe that I am some biologically-independent personality, but after reading about how my personality can change with insufficient HP and how a blow to the head can make me mind dead, I am positive that it is not the case. This thing I call "me" exists in a precarious state of well-fed (possibly over-fed) and disease-free. If one of those things should change, so would my personality.

 Strange, I say "my personality" as if it were a thing like a messenger bag that I carry all my things in. Am I the collection of my personality, history, and biological disposition? What is this thing called "me"?

HIGH GRAVITY LIFE!!!

Microbial growth at hyperaccelerations up to 403,627 x g.

Deguchi S, Shimoshige H, Tsudome M, Mukai SA, Corkery RW, Ito S, Horikoshi K.

It is well known that prokaryotic life can withstand extremes of temperature, pH, pressure, and radiation. Little is known about the proliferation of prokaryotic life under conditions of hyperacceleration attributable to extreme gravity, however. We found that living organisms can be surprisingly proliferative during hyperacceleration. In tests reported here, a variety of microorganisms, including Gram-negative Escherichia coli, Paracoccus denitrificans, and Shewanella amazonensis; Gram-positive Lactobacillus delbrueckii; and eukaryotic Saccharomyces cerevisiae, were cultured while being subjected to hyperaccelerative conditions. We observed and quantified robust cellular growth in these cultures across a wide range of hyperacceleration values. Most notably, the organisms P. denitrificans and E. coli were able to proliferate even at 403,627 × g. Analysis shows that the small size of prokaryotic cells is essential for their proliferation under conditions of hyperacceleration. Our results indicate that microorganisms cannot only survive during hyperacceleration but can display such robust proliferative behavior that the habitability of extraterrestrial environments must not be limited by gravity.

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2011 Apr 25. [Epub ahead of print]

Why is this cool?

 Are we alone in the universe? Is there others out there sharing this thing called life? I am pretty sure bad ass aliens like Squeed roam the universe looking for a place to shoot their whatever guns and drink their madness juices.

From TURF By Jonathan Ross and Tommy Lee Edwards from Image

 Today's paper is not about aliens, it is about bland microbes, but those microbes demonstrate something that we have always known, NOTHING CAN STOP LIFE!! Well, more like nothing can stop bacteria (and yeast) from growing anywhere. Anyway, the researchers took some microbes and spun them around to simulate an increase in gravity. They maxed out at 403,627 times Earth gravity!
To put that into context, if you weighed 100 lbs on Earth, you would weight 2700 lbs on the sun and that is only 28 times Earth gravity. Now, imagine 403,627 times Earth gravity! It would be kind of like being on the surface of a white dwarf!

Enter the White, Hot Room

 Since we are on the topic of aliens, What do you think will happen in that movie Super 8? Without a doubt, it is the only movie that looks interesting this summer.

GIANT SQUIDS!!!!

First-ever observations of a live giant squid in the wild.

Kubodera T, Mori K.

The giant squid, Architeuthis, is renowned as the largest invertebrate in the world and has featured as an ominous sea monster in novels and movies. Considerable efforts to view this elusive creature in its deep-sea habitat have been singularly unsuccessful. Our digital camera and depth recorder system recently photographed an Architeuthis attacking bait at 900 m off Ogasawara Islands in the North Pacific. Here, we show the first wild images of a giant squid in its natural environment. Recovery of a severed tentacle confirmed both identification and scale of the squid (greater than 8 m). Architeuthis appears to be a much more active predator than previously suspected, using its elongate feeding tentacles to strike and tangle prey.

Proc Biol Sci. 2005 Dec 22;272(1581):2583-6.

NOTHING IS COOLER THAN THIS!!

 My heart is a big place where I keep feelings for my parents and brothers with the VIP room reserved for my wife. Secretly, I keep a second VIP room that holds my feelings for things like giant squids. Deep down, I know that if I dove into the ocean and swam around, a giant squid would show up and tell me the profound secrets of the deep. I would grab its tentacle and it would take me to a magical world where human fingers are used as currency and the Void calls to us all.

 As you can read from the abstract, the researchers were able to record a giant squid hunting and that is really cool. The particular squid that they observed was about 8 m long! To put that into real numbers, you would need 4.2 John Waynes to get the same length as the giant squid!

 When I think of giant sea creatures, I am reminded of the most devastating creatures ever:

STARRO!!!

 Starro is a gigantic starfish thing that floats in space until it reaches an inhabited planet. When it gets to the planet it releases tons of little Starros that begin feeding on the population to create more gigantic Starros.

Recently, Starro was revealed to be controlled by an alien that had subjugated the Starro queen, but I will not show it because it does not have the visual appeal of a gigantic starfish.

EPIC BIRTH CONTROL REVOLUTION!!!!

Effectiveness of an oral contraceptive; effects of a progestin-estrogen combination upon fertility, menstrual phenomena, and health. 

PINCUS G, GARCIA CR, ROCK J, PANIAGUA M, PENDLETON A, LARAQUE F, NICOLAS R, BORNO R, PEAN V.

Science. 1959 Jul 10;130(3367):81-3.

Why is this beyond cool? Possibly awesome?

 Revolution is a word that I throw around when I read some of the older papers, because so many of them had a gigantic effect on all of us. It is surprising to me that I neglected to think of birth control. The invention of the birth control pill is one of the biggest most mind blowingly EPIC inventions ever! Consider that before the pill, women had many crude ways to prevent pregnancy and even cruder ways to abort them. Being yoked with carrying the next generation meant that women were seen as not able to hold important jobs because they could leave at any moment to create babies.

 The pill changed everything. Now, sexy, young women could do important work on par with that of a man and not have to worry about stopping because of accidental pregnancy (unless she was not consistent in taking the pill). Women were suddenly able to attend colleges in larger numbers because they didn't fear getting pregnant and having to drop out.

 If you want to take enslaved peoples, I can think of none more enslaved than women. Slaves to biology and the, now fading, social pressure to be mothers. If you look at any important woman, outside of the extremely religious, it is pretty much a given that she has taken the pill for at least several years of her life. Not months, but YEARS!!

 Most of your mothers take the pill....unless you come from a non-western country. If you ask around, you will find that most of the women you interact with take the pill. It is like in the new Star Trek movie when Spock was talking to the crew of the Enterprise about how the Romulans went back and time a changed history and every crew member took a moment to absorb the fact that their lives were vastly different because of the those EVIL, FUTURE ROMULANS!!

REVIEW: Evolution of supercolonies: The Argentine ants of southern Europe

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2002 Apr 30;99(9):6075-9. Epub 2002 Apr 16.

 As that clip illustrates, ants are serious stuff. People are suffering all over the world and sadly, Macgyver cannot be there for everyone. Those ants are such devastating monsters that corn-fed Americans all over the 50's feared THEM!!!

 Well, today's paper is all about normal sized ants, but Macgyver sized colonies. As many of you know, Linepithema humile (hereafter called ants) was transported from Argentina to southern Europe, as many ecological disasters are, on the back of trade (think rats, plague, kudzu, and Europeans).The interesting thing about ants that were transported to southern Europe is that instead of forming colonies that are hostile to one another, they formed a supercolony where no hostility exists and workers from one nest can move freely in other nests.

Robots represent the major ant supercolony in southern Europe.

  The question is: how did this supercolony form and what is the genetic basis of it? It was previously suggested that all variation associated with recognition was lost due to the bottleneck of being moved to Europe. This means that the initial recognition signal in ants moved to Europe became fixed and all subsequent ants from that colony could recognize one another no matter what. Genetically, this means that ants introduced to Europe are much less genetically diverse and if one compared the sequences of the DNA associated with recognition, they would find that across large distances there is very little genetic diversity. The investigators in this study decided to test two things:

1. Loss of genetic diversity of ant nests across large geographic distances.

2. Aggression of ant nests to colony members across large geographic distances.

 First, they collected 5,000 workers from 33 nests across the major supercolony territory and some in the minor supercolony called the Catalonian supercolony. With all these ants, they did the one thing that all young children love to do, they made them fight. Or rather they gave them a confined space and hoped they would fight. What they found was that ants within a nest did not fight each other. Ants from within the same supercolony did not fight each other. When ants from the Catalonian supercolony and the major supercolony were put together they fought. To the death and then some. From the intersupercolony cage battles, death was the result 98% of the time. So don't ever throw down with an ant.

 The ant fights really suggest that the antagonism between supercolonies might be genetic, so they picked 32 individuals from each sample site and extracted their genomic DNA and then sequenced several genes for comparison. The original idea was that there was a bottleneck of ants introduced into Europe and that is why variation at DNA sequences associated with recognition would be very low, but these researchers found something different. Their data suggests that there was a genetic bottleneck, but it was not severe enough to give the observed results.

 What could possibly explain these results if a genetic bottleneck is not the cause? They propose that there was a genetic cleansing of recognition sequences. This means that there was selection against different recognition sequences. They believe this to be the case because of several interesting pieces of evidence:
1. There was genetic difference at many sites between nests within a supercolony, but no antagonism between them.
2. Ants in Europe have a higher density of nests than in Argentina.
3. Non -aggressive, neighboring nests attained a higher number of workers.
 This evidence suggests that upon introduction into Europe the ants developed nests very close to one another and from constant contact with one another, there was positive selection for a loss of diversity at recognition sequences. THIS LEADS TO THE SUPERCOLONY!!!

 As the supercolony develops maybe the increased aggression between supecolonies will be selective for new strategies and tactics!! The battle would be waged using our fields and farms as the battle grounds!! Would it push for new ant classes? Poisonous ants? Permanent flying ants? Larger ants?

 What if the supercolonies learn commerce? They would team up and begin their destruction of humanity!! What if the ants enslaved other species?! Roaches and earthworms not harvested for food or labor, but for strategy against our infastructure!

 How could we defeat the ant menace? Constant pesticide? Viruses? Other invasive species? Just imagine the outback of Australia, but instead of rabbits there are ants.

SOURCE OF BALDNESS FOUND!!!

Male-pattern baldness susceptibility locus at 20p11.

Richards JB, Yuan X, Geller F, Waterworth D, Bataille V, Glass D, Song K, Waeber G, Vollenweider P, Aben KK, Kiemeney LA, Walters B, Soranzo N, Thorsteinsdottir U, Kong A, Rafnar T, Deloukas P, Sulem P, Stefansson H, Stefansson K, Spector TD, Mooser V.

We conducted a genome-wide association study for androgenic alopecia in 1,125 men and identified a newly associated locus at chromosome 20p11.22, confirmed in three independent cohorts (n = 1,650; OR = 1.60, P = 1.1 x 10(-14) for rs1160312). The one man in seven who harbors risk alleles at both 20p11.22 and AR (encoding the androgen receptor) has a sevenfold-increased odds of androgenic alopecia (OR = 7.12, P = 3.7 x 10(-15)).

Nat Genet. 2008 Nov;40(11):1282-4. Epub 2008 Oct 12.

Why is this cool?

 To me baldness is one of those features of my body that I am constantly aware of. Every time I see a mirror or my reflection, I notice the sparseness of my hair. When engaged in casual conversation, I will touch my scalp and try to quantify how much skin I should feel if I have a full head of hair and then I place myself on a scale ranging from beautiful locks to upside down salad bowl. I usually fall towards salad bowl.

 Today's paper points a stubby finger at a particular locus and screams "PERFIDIOUS!!" What did they do? So, they did a genome wide association of over 1,000 dudes and found locus 20p11.22!! What is a genome wide association? I'm not sure. I need to read the paper to find out. Their big result is "The one man in seven who harbors risk alleles at both 20p11.22 and AR (encoding the androgen receptor) has a sevenfold-increased odds of androgenic alopecia." This means that 14% of men have two copies of both 20p11.22 and AR increasing their risk of male pattern baldness sevenfold. It is interesting is that that abstract does not mention anything about AR prior to the concluding sentence. I wonder what that means.

 Some of you might be wondering why baldness is so important and it is a legitimate question. When you think bald men, immediately you are swamped with Samuel L. Jackson, Patrick Stewart, and Michael Clark Duncan. Men who are badasses in every respect, but there is something more important than making these badass men more badass. We need to cure baldness to prevent serious maniacs from annihilating everything we hold dear. The two most unstoppable bald men every are: DARTH VADER!! AND THE EMPEROR!!

 

 These guys destroy planets and choke people just because they can. Their baldness has driven them to madness and even a son's attempts at reconciliation are cast aside in the epic battle against people with full heads of hear.

 

  Did you ever wonder why they choose Endor to park their huge, anatomically correct bald head? It is because Ewoks are just covered in hair and they represent everything that bald men hate: full heads of hair, happiness, and not wearing pants.

MORPHOLOGICAL EVOLUTION!!!

Industrial melanism in British peppered moths has a singular and recent mutational origin. 

van't Hof AE, Edmonds N, Dalíková M, Marec F, Saccheri IJ.

The rapid spread of a novel black form (known as carbonaria) of the peppered moth Biston betularia in 19th-century Britain is a textbook example of how an altered environment may produce morphological adaptation through genetic change. However, the underlying genetic basis of the difference between the wild-type (light-colored) and carbonaria forms has remained unknown. We have genetically mapped the carbonaria morph to a 200-kilobase region orthologous to a segment of silkworm chromosome 17 and show that there is only one core sequence variant associated with the carbonaria morph, carrying a signature of recent strong selection. The carbonaria region coincides with major wing-patterning loci in other lepidopteran systems, suggesting the existence of basal color-patterning regulators in this region.

Science. 2011 May 20;332(6032):958-60. Epub 2011 Apr 14.

Why is this cool?

 If you ever need an example of evolution, the peppered moth is the best ever. Seriously. The story goes that way back before industrialization the peppered moth inhabited some woods in Britain (I leave it up to you to find the exact details).

 

The peppered moth was black and white (hence the name "peppered") in the same way as the trees of that forest and the moths spent much of their time on the trunks of those trees hiding from predators. Well, Britain wasn't keen on being antiquated, so it became industrialized. No biggie. Turns out that industrialization caused a lot of pollution particularly in the forests frequented by the peppered moth. The end result of the pollution was that the once peppered trees were now much darker and a peppered moth that tried to hide on said trees was instantly spotted and eaten by birds. Luckily, the moths had their friend Natural Selection to back them up. 

Natty Sel worked so that the lightest moths were killed and only the darker ones could descend their modification of darker color. Eventually, the once peppered moth was now an indestructible weapon in one color: black. It is a shame that Natty Sel didn't pick a cooler color like gun metal gray.

 It is a fun story, but no one ever found the exact genetic change that led to the blackness, until today's paper. The researchers "genetically mapped" the black moth to the genome of the silkworm...I don't know exactly what it means to genetically map something. My first thought is that the genome sequence of the black moth is available, but it is not. I need to read the paper to understand that bit. Anyway, from the genetic mapping, they found that there was a 200 kilobase region with recent strong selection in an area predicted to be involved in wing-patterning.

 You may be thinking:

"Hey, why don't they mutate that area associated with wing patterning and show that it IS involved in coloring?"

 Well, it is not easy to just mutate everything all willy nilly. No one intensively studies peppered moths and they are not a model organism, so no one has worked out the genetic procedures for easy mutation.