| 1. |
- Verschut, Thomas A., et al.
(author)
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Scaling the interactive effects of attractive and repellent odours for insect search behaviour
- 2019
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In: Scientific Reports. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2045-2322. ; 9
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Insects searching for resources are exposed to a complexity of mixed odours, often involving both attractant and repellent substances. Understanding how insects respond to this complexity of cues is crucial for understanding consumer-resource interactions, but also to develop novel tools to control harmful pests. To advance our understanding of insect responses to combinations of attractive and repellent odours, we formulated three qualitative hypotheses; the response-ratio hypothesis, the repellent-threshold hypothesis and the odour-modulation hypothesis. The hypotheses were tested by exposing Drosophila melanogaster in a wind tunnel to combinations of vinegar as attractant and four known repellents; benzaldehyde, 1-octen-3-ol, geosmin and phenol. The responses to benzaldehyde, 1-octen-3-ol and geosmin provided support for the response-ratio hypothesis, which assumes that the behavioural response depends on the ratio between attractants and repellents. The response to phenol, rather supported the repellent-threshold hypothesis, where aversion only occurs above a threshold concentration of the repellent due to overshadowing of the attractant. We hypothesize that the different responses may be connected to the localization of receptors, as receptors detecting phenol are located on the maxillary palps whereas receptors detecting the other odorants are located on the antennae.
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| 2. |
- Verschut, Thomas A., et al.
(author)
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Sensory mutations in Drosophila melanogaster influence associational effects between resources during oviposition
- 2017
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In: Scientific Reports. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2045-2322. ; 7
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Neighboring resources can affect insect oviposition behavior when the complexity of sensory information obscures information about host resource availability in heterogeneous resource patches. These effects are referred to as associational effects and are hypothesized to occur through constraints in the sensory processing of the insect during host search, resulting into suboptimal resource use. Because the possibilities to study these constraints on naturally occurring animals are limited, we instead used sensory mutants of Drosophila melanogaster to determine the importance of sensory information in the occurrence of associational effects. We found that oviposition was mainly governed by non-volatile chemical cues and less by volatile cues. Moreover, the loss of gustatory sensilla resulted in random resource selection and eliminated associational effects. In conclusion, our study shows that associational effects do not necessarily depend on constraints in the sensory evaluation of resource quality, but may instead be a direct consequence of distinctive selection behavior between different resources at small scales.
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| 3. |
- Lum, P Y, et al.
(author)
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Extracting insights from the shape of complex data using topology
- 2013
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In: Scientific Reports. - : Nature Publishing Group. - 2045-2322. ; 3
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This paper applies topological methods to study complex high dimensional data sets by extracting shapes (patterns) and obtaining insights about them. Our method combines the best features of existing standard methodologies such as principal component and cluster analyses to provide a geometric representation of complex data sets. Through this hybrid method, we often find subgroups in data sets that traditional methodologies fail to find. Our method also permits the analysis of individual data sets as well as the analysis of relationships between related data sets. We illustrate the use of our method by applying it to three very different kinds of data, namely gene expression from breast tumors, voting data from the United States House of Representatives and player performance data from the NBA, in each case finding stratifications of the data which are more refined than those produced by standard methods.
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| 4. |
- Svensson, Per-Arne, 1969, et al.
(author)
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Major role of HSP70 as a paracrine inducer of cytokine production in human oxidized LDL treated macrophages.
- 2006
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In: Atherosclerosis. - : Elsevier BV. - 0021-9150. ; 185:1, s. 32-8
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Lipid accumulation and inflammation are key hallmarks of the atherosclerotic plaque and macrophage uptake of oxidized low-density lipoprotein (oxLDL) is believed to drive these processes. Initial experiments show that supernatants from oxLDL treated macrophages could induce IL-1beta production in naïve macrophages. To search for potential paracrine mediators that could mediate this effect a DNA microarray scan of oxLDL treated human macrophages was performed. This analysis revealed that oxLDL induced activation of heat shock protein (HSP) expression. HSPs have been implicated in the development of atherosclerosis, but the exact mechanisms for this is unclear. Extracellular heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) has been shown to elicit a pro-inflammatory cytokine response in monocytes and could therefore be a potential paracrine pro-inflammatory mediator. After 24 h of oxLDL treatment there was a significant increase of HSP70 concentrations in supernatants from oxLDL treated macrophages (oxLDLsup) compared to untreated controls (P<0.05). OxLDLsup could induce both interleukin (IL)-1beta and IL-12 secretion in naïve macrophages. We also demonstrate that the effect of oxLDLsup on cytokine production and release could be blocked by inhibition of HSP70 transcription or secretion or by the use of HSP70 neutralizing antibodies. This suggests that extracellular HSP70 can mediate pro-inflammatory changes in macrophages in response to oxLDL.
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| 5. |
- Söderberg, Jeannette A. E., et al.
(author)
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Insulin-producing cells in the Drosophila brain also express satiety-inducing cholecystokinin-like peptide, drosulfakinin
- 2012
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In: Frontiers in Endocrinology. - : Frontiers Media SA. - 1664-2392. ; 3
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Regulation of meal size and assessing the nutritional value of food are two important aspects of feeding behavior. The mechanisms that regulate these two aspects have not been fully elucidated in Drosophila. Diminished signaling with insulin-like peptides Drosophila insulin-like peptides (DILPs) affects food intake in flies, but it is not clear what signal(s) mediates satiety. Here we investigate the role of DILPs and drosulfakinins (DSKs), cholecystokinin-like peptides, as satiety signals in Drosophila. We show that DSKs and DILPs are co-expressed in insulin-producing cells (IPCs) of the brain. Next we analyzed the effects of diminishing DSKs or DILPs employing the Gal4-UAS system by (1) diminishing DSK-levels without directly affecting DILP levels by targeted Dsk-RNAi, either in all DSK-producing cells (DPCs) or only in the IPCs or (2) expressing a hyperpolarizing potassium channel to inactivate either all the DPCs or only the IPCs, affecting release of both peptides. The transgenic flies were assayed for feeding and food choice, resistance to starvation, and for levels of Dilp and Dsk transcripts in brains of fed and starved animals. Diminishment of DSK in the IPCs alone is sufficient to cause defective regulation of food intake and food choice, indicating that DSK functions as a hormonal satiety signal in Drosophila. Quantification of Dsk and Dilp transcript levels reveals that knockdown of either peptide type affects the transcript levels of the other, suggesting a possible feedback regulation between the two signaling pathways. In summary, DSK and DILPs released from the IPCs regulate feeding, food choice and metabolic homeostasis in Drosophila in a coordinated fashion.
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| 6. |
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| 7. |
- Van Dijk, Laura J. A., et al.
(author)
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Experience-dependent mushroom body plasticity in butterflies : consequences of search complexity and host range
- 2017
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In: Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Biological Sciences. - : The Royal Society. - 0962-8452 .- 1471-2954. ; 284:1866
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- An ovipositing insect experiences many sensory challenges during her search for a suitable host plant. These sensory challenges become exceedingly pronounced when host range increases, as larger varieties of sensory inputs have to be perceived and processed in the brain. Neural capacities can be exceeded upon information overload, inflicting costs on oviposition accuracy. One presumed generalist strategy to diminish information overload is the acquisition of a focused search during its lifetime based on experiences within the current environment, a strategy opposed to a more genetically determined focus expected to be seen in relative specialists. We hypothesized that a broader host range is positively correlated with mushroom body (MB) plasticity, a brain structure related to learning and memory. To test this hypothesis, butterflies with diverging host ranges (Polygonia c-album, Aglais io and Aglais urticae) were subjected to differential environmental complexities for oviposition, after which ontogenetic MB calyx volume differences were compared among species. We found that the relative generalist species exhibited remarkable plasticity in ontogenetic MB volumes; MB growth was differentially stimulated based on the complexity of the experienced environment. For relative specialists, MB volume was more canalized. All in all, this study strongly suggests an impact of host range on brain plasticity in Nymphalid butterflies.
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| 8. |
- Verschut, Thomas A., 1988-, et al.
(author)
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Aggregation pheromones have a non-linear effect on oviposition behavior in Drosophila melanogaster
- 2023
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In: Nature Communications. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2041-1723. ; 14
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Female fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) oviposit at communal sites where the larvae may cooperate or compete for resources depending on group size. This offers a model system to determine how females assess quantitative social information. We show that the concentration of pheromones found on a substrate increases linearly with the number of adult flies that have visited that site. Females prefer oviposition sites with pheromone concentrations corresponding to an intermediate number of previous visitors, whereas sites with low or high concentrations are unattractive. This dose-dependent decision is based on a blend of 11-cis-Vaccenyl Acetate (cVA) indicating the number of previous visitors and heptanal (a novel pheromone deriving from the oxidation of 7-Tricosene), which acts as a dose-independent co-factor. This response is mediated by detection of cVA by odorant receptor neurons Or67d and Or65a, and at least five different odorant receptor neurons for heptanal. Our results identify a mechanism allowing individuals to transform a linear increase of pheromones into a non-linear behavioral response.
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| 9. |
- Verschut, Thomas A., et al.
(author)
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Behavioral and Physiological Evidence for Palp Detection of the Male-Specific Attractant Cuelure in the Queensland Fruit Fly (Bactrocera tryoni)
- 2018
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In: Frontiers in Physiology. - : Frontiers Media SA. - 1664-042X. ; 9
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The Queensland fruit fly, Bactrocera tryoni, is considered one of the worst horticultural pests in Australia attacking a large variety of fruit crops. To defeat pest insects, olfactory attractants have been developed and widely used in lure and kill strategies. Male B. tryoni are strongly attracted to the compound raspberry ketone and its synthetic analog, cuelure. Despite the strong behavioral response, a recent study failed to show any activation of antennal receptors to cuelure. Therefore, we hypothesized that cuelure may be detected by an accessory olfactory organ, the maxillary palp. Combining behavioral and physiological experiments we clearly demonstrate that male flies, but not female flies, primarily use the maxillary palps and not the antennae to detect and respond to cuelure. Furthermore, regardless of satiety status, male flies always preferred cuelure over a sugar rich source, unless the maxillary palps were excised.
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| 10. |
- Amrein, Beat A., et al.
(author)
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Expanding the catalytic triad in epoxide hydrolases and related enzymes
- 2015
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In: ACS Catalysis. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 2155-5435. ; 5:10, s. 5702-5713
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Potato epoxide hydrolase 1 exhibits rich enantio- and regioselectivity in the hydrolysis of a broadrange of substrates. The enzyme can be engineered to increase the yield of optically pureproducts, as a result of changes in both enantio- and regioselectivity. It is thus highly attractive inbiocatalysis, particularly for the generation of enantiopure fine chemicals and pharmaceuticals.The present work aims to establish the principles underlying the activity and selectivity of theenzyme through a combined computational, structural, and kinetic study, using the substratetrans-stilbene oxide as a model system. Extensive empirical valence bond simulations have beenperformed on the wild-type enzyme together with several experimentally characterized mutants.We are able to computationally reproduce the differences in activities between differentstereoisomers of the substrate, and the effects of mutations in several active-site residues. Inaddition, our results indicate the involvement of a previously neglected residue, H104, which iselectrostatically linked to the general base, H300. We find that this residue, which is highlyconserved in epoxide hydrolases and related hydrolytic enzymes, needs to be in its protonatedform in order to provide charge balance in an otherwise negatively-charged active site. Our datashow that unless the active-site charge balance is correctly treated in simulations, it is notpossible to generate a physically meaningful model for the enzyme that can accurately reproduceactivity and selectivity trends. We also expand our understanding of other catalytic residues,demonstrating in particular the role of a non-canonical residue, E35, as a “backup-base” in theabsence of H300. Our results provide a detailed view of the main factors driving catalysis andregioselectivity in this enzyme, and identify targets for subsequent enzyme design efforts.
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