Neuropeptides and protein hormones are ancient molecules that mediate cell-to-cell communication. The whole genome sequence from the red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum, along with those from other insect species, provides an opportunity to study the evolution of the genes encoding neuropeptide and protein hormones. We identified 41 of these genes in the Tribolium genome by using a combination of bioinformatic and peptidomic approaches. These genes encode >80 mature neuropeptides and protein hormones, 49 peptides of which were experimentally identified by peptidomics of the central nervous system and other neuroendocrine organs. Twenty-three genes have orthologs in Drosophila melanogaster: Sixteen genes in five different groups are likely the result of recent gene expansions during beetle evolution. These five groups contain peptides related to antidiuretic factor-b (ADF-b), CRF-like diuretic hormone (DH37 and DH47 of Tribolium), adipokinetic hormone (AKH), eclosion hormone, and insulin-like peptide. In addition, we found a gene encoding an arginine-vasopressin-like (AVPL) peptide and one for its receptor. Both genes occur only in Tribolium and not in other holometabolous insects with a sequenced genome. The presence of many additional osmoregulatory peptides in Tribolium agrees well with its ability to live in very dry surroundings. In contrast to these extra genes, there are at least nine neuropeptide genes missing in Tribolium, including the genes encoding the prepropeptides for corazonin, kinin, and allatostatin-A. The cognate receptor genes for these three peptides also appear to be absent in the Tribolium genome. Our analysis of Tribolium indicates that, during insect evolution, genes for neuropeptides and protein hormones are often duplicated or lost.

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Genomics, transcriptomics, and peptidomics of neuropeptides and protein hormones in the red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum

Citrullinated proteins are the products of a posttranslational process in which arginine residues undergo modification into citrulline residues when catalyzed by peptidylarginine deiminases (PADs) in a calcium ion-dependent manner. In our previous report, PAD2 expressed mainly in the rat cerebrum became activated early in the neurodegenerative process. To elucidate the involvement of protein citrullination in human neuronal degeneration, we examined whether citrullinated proteins are produced during Alzheimer's disease (AD). By Western blot analysis with antimodified citrulline antibody, citrullinated proteins of varied molecular weights were detected in hippocampal tissues from patients with AD but not normal humans. Two of the citrullinated proteins were identified as vimentin and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) by using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. Interestingly, PAD2 was detected in hippocampal extracts from AD and normal brains, but the amount of PAD2 in the AD tissue was markedly greater. Histochemical analysis revealed citrullinated proteins throughout the hippocampus, especially in the dentate gyrus and stratum radiatum of CA1 and CA2 areas. However, no citrullinated proteins were detected in the normal hippocampus. PAD2 immunoreactivity was also ubiquitous throughout both the AD and the normal hippocampal areas. PAD2 enrichment coincided well with citrullinated protein positivity. Double immunofluorescence staining revealed that citrullinated protein- and PAD2-positive cells also coincided with GFAP-positive cells, but not all GFAP-positive cells were positive for PAD2. As with GFAP, which is an astrocyte-specific marker protein, PAD2 is distributed mainly in astrocytes. These collective results, the abnormal accumulation of citrullinated proteins and abnormal activation of PAD2 in hippocampi of patients with AD, strongly suggest that PAD has an important role in the onset and progression of AD and that citrullinated proteins may become a useful marker for human neurodegenerative diseases.

Abnormal accumulation of citrullinated proteins catalyzed by peptidylarginine deiminase in hippocampal extracts from patients with Alzheimer's disease

The aim of this study was to explore the occurrence of bullying in the restaurant sector and its potential consequences The sample consisted of 207 superiors and employees in 70 restaurants The findings indicated that bullying prevails in the restaurant industry, with apprentices as a risk group Bullying was negatively related to job satisfaction, commitment, employees' perceptions of creative behavior, and external evaluations of restaurant creativity level, and positively related to burnout and intention to leave the job Some support was found for a mediation hypothesis, where bullying was the predictor, job satisfaction, commitment and burnout were mediators, and intention to leave was dependent variable One implication of this study is that there is a need to challenge the attitude, common in this sector, that aggression and bullying is a natural and even necessary part of the work environment

The occurrences and correlates of bullying and harassment in the restaurant sector.

The Open Access Bibliography: Liberating Scholarly Literature with E-Prints and Open Access Journals provides an overview of open access concepts, and it presents over 1,300 selected English-language books, conference papers (including some digital video presentations), debates, editorials, e-prints, journal and magazine articles, news articles, technical reports, and other printed and electronic sources that are useful in understanding the open access movement's efforts to provide free access to and unfettered use of scholarly literature. Most sources have been published between 1999 and August 31, 2004; however, a limited number of key sources published prior to 1999 are also included. Where possible, links are provided to sources that are freely available on the Internet (approximately 78 percent of the bibliography's references have such links). The 129-page bibliography has been published in print and PDF formats by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL). The print version is available from ARL. The book is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License.

/pdf/open-access-bibliography-liberating-scholarly-literature-17suw3ipm3.pdf

Open Access Bibliography: Liberating Scholarly Literature with E-Prints and Open Access Journals

Insect molting and metamorphosis are induced by steroid hormones named ecdysteroids, whose production is regulated by various neuropeptides. We cloned the gene and analyzed the expression of the prothoracicostatic peptide, a unique neuropeptide shown to suppress the production of ecdysteroids in the prothoracic gland of the silkworm, Bombyx mori. We also characterized a Bombyx G protein-coupled receptor, which has previously been identified as an ortholog of the Drosophila sex peptide receptor, as a functional prothoracicostatic peptide receptor. This receptor responded specifically to the prothoracicostatic peptides when examined using a heterologous expression system. The receptor was highly expressed in the prothoracic gland on the day before each larval and pupal ecdysis, when prothoracicostatic peptides are synthesized at a high level in the epiproctodeal glands. These results suggest that the sex peptide receptor functions as a prothoracicostatic peptide receptor in Bombyx and that the peripheral neurosecretory cells as well as the central neuroendocrine system play stage-specific roles in regulating ecdysteroidogenesis.

Bombyx prothoracicostatic peptides activate the sex peptide receptor to regulate ecdysteroid biosynthesis.

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When the temperatures rise, our heat-sensitive tissues would be at serious risk if it were not for a suite of stress responses that protect us. One of the main hormones that regulates these protective responses is corticotropin, which in turn stimulates the adrenal gland to

If you can't stand the heat...

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Scampering up rough surfaces is fairly straightforward if you can get a grip, but staying attached to smooth surfaces is much trickier. Some creatures ooze a sticky goo from pads on their feet to adhere themselves to walls and ceilings. Other animals have opted for a drier

Spiders get attached

While high altitude mountain climbers know that the human brain can eventually adjust to low oxygen levels, sadly the same is not true in the clinical setting. Within minutes of a stroke or heart failure, delicate neural tissue is already beginning to shut down as the processes that initially

The hypoxic brain

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High blood pressure is a silent killer, with no known cause in 90% of sufferers! As humans are the only mammals known to naturally suffer this disease, it's proved difficult to track down the causes. But Ken Olson has found that despite the differences between man and trout, the

Trout with tone

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Watching a pack of racehorses thundering towards a finishing line, you're probably concentrating on which animal gets its nose across the line first. But the real action is going on closer to the turf. As the horse's hoof hits the ground and transfers the weight onto the leg, it

Kathryn Phillips

Papers

If you can't stand the heat...

Spiders get attached

The hypoxic brain

Trout with tone

Horse's leg set to spring