Forage quality of consecutive years interact to affect body condition, reproductive rate and rut phenology in Iberian red deer.

Body condition for reproduction in capital breeders such as the red deer (Cervus elaphus) is mostly determined by their stored energy reserves. Thus, environmental conditions and resource availability may affect reproductive performance and breeding success. In warm Mediterranean regions, current climate change is driving to a hotter and drier scenario that is expected to affect the biology and dynamics of many populations. We examined the impact of these local climate variations on red deer body condition and the relationship with female reproductive phenology and breeding success. We used satellite information of landscape vegetation along with a 22-year data series of direct field behavioural observations during the rutting season in Doñana National Park (SW Spain). We analyzed faecal nitrogen content (FN) from faeces collected during the rut. We found that poor vegetation availability in drier years was related to worse body condition of deer (measured by FN) and a delay in the rutting season, which associated with lower reproductive rates (measured by the proportion of females with calves observed the next year). We also evidenced an interesting interaction between environmental conditions in consecutive years on the timing of breeding season, with timing of breeding being more delayed when previous year resource availability was high and many females bred, and the consecutive one was poor, so females hardly recovered condition and the rut occurred later. These findings highlight the carry-over effect of reproduction in capital breeders and the potential impact of climate-change conditions on red deer breeding.

Rainfall decrease and red deer rutting behaviour: Weaker and delayed rutting activity though higher opportunity for sexual selection.

In the last decades, climate change has caused an increase in mean temperatures and a reduction in average rainfall in southern Europe, which is expected to reduce resource availability for herbivores. Resource availability can influence animals' physical condition and population growth. However, much less is known on its effects on reproductive performance and sexual selection. In this study, we assessed the impact of three environmental factors related to climate change (rainfall, temperature and vegetation index) on Iberian red deer Cervus elaphus hispanicus reproductive timing and sexual behaviour, and their effects on the opportunity for sexual selection in the population. We measured rutting phenology as rut peak date, the intensity of male rutting activity as roaring rate, and the opportunity for sexual selection from the distribution of females among harem holding males in Doñana Biological Reserve (Southwest Spain), from data of daily observations collected during the rut over a period of 25 years. For this study period, we found a trend for less raining and hence poorer environmental conditions, which associated with delayed rutting season and decreased rutting intensity, but that appeared to favour a higher degree of polygyny and opportunity for sexual selection, all these relationships being modulated by population density and sex ratio. This study highlights how climate change (mainly rainfall reduction in this area) can alter the conditions for mating and the opportunity for sexual selection in a large terrestrial mammal.

Social environment modulates investment in sex trait versus lifespan: red deer produce bigger antlers when facing more rivalry.

Theory predicts that the plastic expression of sex-traits should be modulated not only by their production costs but also by the benefits derived from the presence of rivals and mates, yet there is a paucity of evidence for an adaptive response of sex-trait expression to social environment. We studied antler size, a costly and plastic sex trait, and tooth wear, a trait related to food intake and longevity, in over 4,000 male Iberian red deer (Cervus elaphus hispanicus) from 56 wild populations characterized by two contrasting management practices that affect male age structure and adult sex-ratio. As a consequence, these populations exhibit high and low levels of male-male competition for mating opportunities. We hypothesized that males under conditions of low intra-sexual competition would develop smaller antlers, after controlling for body size and age, than males under conditions of high intra-sexual competition, thus reducing energy demands (i.e. reducing intake and food comminution), and as a consequence, leading to less tooth wear and a concomitant longer potential lifespan. Our results supported these predictions. To reject possible uncontrolled factors that may have occurred in the wild populations, we carried out an experimental design on red deer in captivity, placing males in separate plots with females or with rival males during the period of antler growth. Males living with rivals grew larger antlers than males living in a female environment, which corroborates the results found in the wild populations. As far as we know, these results show, for the first time, the modulation of a sexual trait and its costs on longevity conditional upon the level of intra-sexual competition.

Engineering Erg10 Thiolase from Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a Synthetic Toolkit for the Production of Branched-Chain Alcohols.

Thiolases catalyze the condensation of acyl-CoA thioesters through the Claisen condensation reaction. The best described enzymes usually yield linear condensation products. Using a combined computational/experimental approach, and guided by structural information, we have studied the potential of thiolases to synthesize branched compounds. We have identified a bulky residue located at the active site that blocks proper accommodation of substrates longer than acetyl-CoA. Amino acid replacements at such a position exert effects on the activity and product selectivity of the enzymes that are highly dependent on a protein scaffold. Among the set of five thiolases studied, Erg10 thiolase from Saccharomyces cerevisiae showed no acetyl-CoA/butyryl-CoA branched condensation activity, but variants at position F293 resulted the most active and selective biocatalysts for this reaction. This is the first time that a thiolase has been engineered to synthesize branched compounds. These novel enzymes enrich the toolbox of combinatorial (bio)chemistry, paving the way for manufacturing a variety of α-substituted synthons. As a proof of concept, we have engineered Clostridium's 1-butanol pathway to obtain 2-ethyl-1-butanol, an alcohol that is interesting as a branched model compound.

Increased production of L-serine in Escherichia coli through Adaptive Laboratory Evolution.

L-serine is a promising building block biochemical with a high theoretical production yield from glucose. Toxicity of L-serine is however prohibitive for high-titer production in E. coli. Here, E. coli lacking L-serine degradation pathways was evolved for improved tolerance by gradually increasing L-serine concentration from 3 to 100g/L using adaptive laboratory evolution (ALE). Genome sequencing of isolated clones revealed multiplication of genetic regions, as well as mutations in thrA, thereby showing a potential mechanism of serine inhibition. Additional mutations were evaluated by MAGE combined with amplicon sequencing, revealing role of rho, lrp, pykF, eno, and rpoB on tolerance and fitness in minimal medium. Production using the tolerant strains resulted in 37g/L of L-serine with a 24% mass yield. The resulting titer is similar to the highest production reported for any organism thereby highlighting the potential of ALE for industrial biotechnology.

Growth dependence of conjugation explains limited plasmid invasion in biofilms: an individual-based modelling study.

Plasmid invasion in biofilms is often surprisingly limited in spite of the close contact of cells in a biofilm. We hypothesized that this poor plasmid spread into deeper biofilm layers is caused by a dependence of conjugation on the growth rate (relative to the maximum growth rate) of the donor. By extending an individual-based model of microbial growth and interactions to include the dynamics of plasmid carriage and transfer by individual cells, we were able to conduct in silico tests of this and other hypotheses on the dynamics of conjugal plasmid transfer in biofilms. For a generic model plasmid, we find that invasion of a resident biofilm is indeed limited when plasmid transfer depends on growth, but not so in the absence of growth dependence. Using sensitivity analysis we also find that parameters related to timing (i.e. a lag before the transconjugant can transfer, transfer proficiency and scan speed) and spatial reach (EPS yield, conjugal pilus length) are more important for successful plasmid invasion than the recipients' growth rate or the probability of segregational loss. While this study identifies one factor that can limit plasmid invasion in biofilms, the new individual-based framework introduced in this work is a powerful tool that enables one to test additional hypotheses on the spread and role of plasmids in microbial biofilms.

Quality of pathology reports for advanced ovarian cancer: are we missing essential information? An audit of 479 pathology reports from the EORTC-GCG 55971/NCIC-CTG OV13 neoadjuvant trial.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the quality of surgical pathology reports of advanced stage ovarian, fallopian tube and primary peritoneal cancer. This quality assurance project was performed within the EORTC-GCG 55971/NCIC-CTG OV13 study comparing primary debulking surgery followed by chemotherapy with neoadjuvant chemotherapy and interval debulking surgery. METHODS: Four hundred and seventy nine pathology reports from 40 institutions in 11 different countries were checked for the following quality indicators: macroscopic description of all specimens, measuring and weighing of major specimens, description of tumour origin and differentiation. RESULTS: All specimens were macroscopically described in 92.3% of the reports. All major samples were measured and weighed in 59.9% of the reports. A description of the origin of the tumour was missing in 20.5% of reports of the primary debulking group and in 23.4% of the interval debulking group. Assessment of tumour differentiation was missing in 10% of the reports after primary debulking and in 20.8% of the reports after interval debulking. Completeness of reports is positively correlated with accrual volume and adversely with hospital volume or type of hospital (academic versus non-academic). Quality of reports differs significantly by country. CONCLUSION: This audit of ovarian cancer pathology reports reveals that in a substantial number of reports basic pathologic data are missing, with possible adverse consequences for the quality of cancer care. Specialisation by pathologists and the use of standardised synoptic reports can lead to improved quality of reporting. Further research is needed to better define pre- and post-operative diagnostic criteria for ovarian cancer treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

Magnetic resonance imaging of primary lymphoma of the cervix.

Although uterus and cervix infiltration is a frequent finding in the later stages of lymphomatous disease, primary lymphoma of the cervix is very uncommon; however, this entity can occasionally be distinguished from cervical carcinoma by means of MRI. This is an important fact as treatment and prognosis differ between these neoplasms. We present a case of primary cervical lymphoma studied with high-field (1.5 T) MRI and we make an extensive review of the literature. The cervical mass was found in a routine pelvic examination in a patient with no previous history of gynecologic disorders. This is an uncommon way of presentation of this disease. T2-weighted turbo spin-echo (TSE) sequences in the axial, sagittal, and coronal planes, and T1-weighted SE pre- and post-contrast images, were obtained. The lack of involvement of the mucosa, as well as sparing of cervical stroma and uterine junctional zone, are the most important findings to differentiate cervical lymphoma from carcinoma, and are best evaluated with T2 TSE sequences. Post-contrast images help to delineate the extent of the disease.