Spatiotemporal smoothing of water quality in a complex riverine system with physical barriers.

Freshwater ecosystems offer a variety of ecosystem services, and water quality is essential information for understanding their environment, biodiversity, and functioning. Interpolation by smoothing methods is a widely used approach to obtain temporal and/or spatial patterns of water quality from sampled data. However, when these methods are applied to freshwater systems, ignoring terrestrial areas that act as physical barriers may affect the structure of spatial autocorrelation and introduce bias into the estimates. In this study, we applied stochastic partial differential equation (SPDE) smoothing methods with barriers to spatial interpolation and spatiotemporal interpolation on water quality indices (chemical oxygen demand, phosphate phosphorus, and nitrite nitrogen) in a freshwater system in Japan. Then, we compared the estimation bias and accuracy with those of conventional non-barrier models. The results showed that the estimation bias of spatial interpolations of snapshot data was improved by considering physical barriers (5.8 % for (chemical oxygen demand, 22.5 % for phosphate phosphorus, and 21.6 % for nitrite nitrogen). The prediction accuracy was comparable to that of the non-barrier model. These were consistent with the expectation that accounting for physical barriers would capture realistic spatial correlations and reduce estimation bias, but would increase the variance of the estimates due to the limited information that can be gained from the neighbourhood. On the other hand, for spatiotemporal smoothing, the barrier model was comparable to the non-barrier model in terms of both estimation bias and prediction accuracy. This may be due to the availability of information in the time direction for interpolation. These results demonstrate the advantage of considering barriers when the available data are limited, such as snapshot data. SPDE smoothing methods can be widely applied to interpolation of various environmental and biological indices in river systems and are expected to be powerful tools for studying freshwater systems spatially and temporally.

Spatial optimization of invasive species control informed by management practices.

Optimization of spatial resource allocation is crucial for the successful control of invasive species under a limited budget but requires labor-intensive surveys to estimate population parameters. In this study, we devised a novel framework for the spatially explicit optimization of capture effort allocation using state-space population models from past capture records. We applied it to a control program for invasive snapping turtles to determine effort allocation strategies that minimize the population density over the whole area. We found that spatially heterogeneous density dependence and capture pressure limit the abundance of snapping turtles. Optimal effort allocation effectively improved the control effect, but the degree of improvement varied substantially depending on the total effort. The degree of improvement by the spatial optimization of allocation effort was only 3.21% when the total effort was maintained at the 2016 level. However, when the total effort was increased by two, four, and eight times, spatial optimization resulted in improvements of 4.65%, 8.33%, and 20.35%, respectively. To achieve the management goal for snapping turtles in our study area, increasing the current total effort by more than four times was necessary, in addition to optimizing the spatial effort. The snapping turtle population is expected to reach the target density one year after the optimal management strategy is implemented, and this rapid response can be explained by high population growth rate coupled with density-dependent feedback regulation. Our results demonstrated that combining a state-space model with optimization makes it possible to adaptively improve the management of invasive species and decision-making. The method used in this study, based on removal records from an invasive management program, can be easily applied to monitoring data for wildlife and pest control management using traps in a variety of ecosystems.

Possible role of inter-domain salt bridges in oligopeptidase B from Trypanosoma brucei: critical role of Glu172 of non-catalytic ß-propeller domain in catalytic activity and Glu490 of catalytic domain in stability of OPB.

Oligopeptidase B (OPB) is a member of the prolyl oligopeptidase (POP) family of serine proteases. OPB in trypanosomes is an important virulence factor and potential pharmaceutical target. Characteristic structural features of POP family members include lack of a propeptide and presence of a ß-propeller domain (PD), although the role of the ß-PD has yet to be fully understood. In this work, residues Glu(172), Glu(490), Glu(524) and Arg(689) in Trypanosoma brucei OPB (Tb OPB), which are predicted to form inter-domain salt bridges, were substituted for Gln and Ala, respectively. These mutants were evaluated in terms of catalytic properties and stability. A negative effect on kcat/Km was obtained following mutation of Glu(172) or Arg(689). In contrast, the E490Q mutant exhibited markedly decreased thermal stability, although this mutation had less effect on catalytic properties compared to the E172Q and R689A mutants. Trypsin digestion showed that the boundary regions between the ß-PD and catalytic domains (CDs) of the E490Q mutant are unfolded with heat treatment. These results indicated that Glu(490) in the CD plays a role in stabilization of Tb OPB, whereas Glu(172) in the ß-PD is critical for the catalytic activity of Tb OPB.

Pressure study on symmetric and asymmetric phospholipid bilayers: effect of vesicle size on Prodan fluorescence.

The bilayer phase behavior of symmetric and asymmetric phosphatidylcholines (PCs), 1,2-diheptadecanoyl-PC (C17PC), 1-palmitoyl-2-stearoyl-PC (PSPC), and 1-stearoyl-2-palmitoyl-PC (SPPC), with different vesicle sizes were investigated by a high-pressure fluorescence method using the polarity-sensitive fluorescent probe Prodan. The second derivative of fluorescence spectra for all the PCs of small-sized vesicle showed four minima characteristic of four membrane states on the spectra irrespective of the acyl-chain symmetry, whereas those of large-sized vesicle had one more minimum originating from the most hydrophilic site at the membrane surface. These findings indicate that Prodan molecules can distribute into multiple sites in the bilayer and move around the head-group region depending on the vesicle size. The behavior of the spectra in the SPPC bilayer suggested that the interdigitated gel phase had a less polar "pocket" formed by a space between uneven terminal methyl ends of the sn-1 and sn-2 chains. It turned out that the curvature of vesicles affects the distribution of the Prodan molecules in all phases, more particularly in the interdigitated gel phase.

Inhibition of anti-fluorescent probe monoclonal antibody by long-chain amphiphiles.

Inhibitions of amphiphiles with a long chain (alcohols with carbon number of 10, 12, 14, 16 and the corresponding fatty acids) on the antigen-antibody reaction between fluorescent probe (fluorescein (FL)) and anti-fluorescent probe monoclonal antibody (immunoglobulin G (IgG)-49) were investigated by fluorescence spectroscopy. The resulting inhibition modes were compared with those of specific inhibitors, 5- and 6-aminofluoresceins (5- and 6-FLNH(2)). In the presence of all inhibitors, the fluorescence quenching of FL as the result of inhibitor binding to IgG-49 was hindered in an inhibitor concentration-dependent manner. The values of IC(50) and Hill number for the inhibitors were determined from dose-response curves of the quenching inhibition. The IC(50) values of the alcohols were much more dependent on the chain length than those of the fatty acids although all the values were in orders of microM. The Hill numbers of both kinds of inhibitors became larger values than 1, but they had different values for a series of alcohols and fatty acids, respectively. By contrast, the IC(50) values of 5- and 6-FLNH(2) were in orders of nM and the Hill numbers became smaller values than 1. Since the Lineweaver-Burk plots produced an intersection point on the intercept of the X-axis for the long-chain inhibitors with carbon number of 14 while did that on the intercept of the Y-axis for 6-FLNH(2), respectively, we judged the inhibition modes of the former as non-competitive ones and those of the latter as a competitive one. Further, the effect of pressure on the inhibition by C(14)OH, C(13)COOH and 5-FLNH(2) was examined, and the standard volume changes of IgG-49 for the inhibitor binding were calculated from the Johnson-Eyring plots. The volume change for 5-FLNH(2) was smaller than those for C(14)OH and C(13)COOH although they became all negative. This suggests that the volume of IgG-49 shrinks by the addition of these inhibitors, and IgG-49 is not relevant to a model protein for the molecular mechanism of anesthesia.

Interdigitation and vesicle-to-micelle transformation induced by a local anesthetic tetracaine in phospholipids bilayers.

The phase transitions of distearoyl- (DSPC), dipalmitoyl- (DPPC) and dimyristoyl-phosphatidylcholine (DMPC) bilayer membranes were observed by means of differential scanning calorimetry as a function of the concentration of a local anesthetic tetracaine hydrochloride (TC.HCl). The depression of both temperatures of the main- and pre-transition, which is accompanied by a decrease in enthalpy changes for both transitions, was observed initially by the addition of TC.HCl. Bilayer interdigitation, which is accompanied by an increase in enthalpy change for the main transition from the interdigitated gel phase to the liquid crystalline phase, was followed by disappearance of the pretransition. The TC.HCl concentration necessary for the bilayer interdigitation was found to be 10, 21 and 6 mmol kg(-1) for DSPC, DPPC and DMPC bilayers, respectively, which was not consistent with the order of acyl-chain length of lipids. Biphasic interactions for the interdigitation, that is, repulsive interaction between polar head groups and van der Waals attractive interaction between hydrophobic chains of lipids, were discussed. On the other hand, vesicle-to-micelle transformation, which is accompanied by a cooperative decrease in enthalpy change for the main transition, was observed at higher concentration of TC.HCl and was confirmed by the vesicle size determined by the dynamic light scattering. The longer the acyl-chain length of lipids, the higher the TC.HCl concentration necessary for the vesicle-to-micelle transformation.

Interaction modes of long-chain fatty acids in dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine bilayer membrane: contrast to mode of inhalation anesthetics.

The effects of long-chain fatty acids (four saturated and two unsaturated fatty acids, one derivative) on phase transitions of dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) bilayer membranes were examined in the low concentration region, and the results were compared with those for an inhalation anesthetic. The effects of all fatty acids on the pre- and main-transition temperatures of the DPPC bilayer membrane appeared in the concentration range of microM order while that of the anesthetic appeared in the mM order. The appearance modes of these ligand actions were significantly different from one another. The three differential partition coefficients of the ligands between two phases of the DPPC bilayer membrane were evaluated by applying the thermodynamic equation to the variation of the phase-transition temperatures. The DPPC bilayer membranes showed the different receptivity for the ligands; the saturated fatty acids had an affinity for gel phase whereas unsaturated fatty acids and an anesthetic had an affinity for liquid-crystalline phase to the contrary. In particular, the receptivity for the ligands in the gel phase markedly changed depending on kinds of ligands. The interaction modes between the DPPC and fatty acid molecules in the gel phase were considered from the hexagonal lattice model. The disappearance compositions of the pretransition by the fatty acids coincided with the compositions at which the membrane is all covered by the units in each of which two fatty acids molecules are regularly distributed in the hexagonal lattice in a different way, and the distribution depended on the chain length and existence of a double bond for the fatty acids. The interpretation did not hold for the case of the anesthetic at all, which proved that a number of anesthetic molecules act the surface region of the bilayer membrane nonspecifically. The present study clearly implies that DPPC bilayer membranes have high ability to recognize kinds of ligand molecules and can discriminate among them with specific interaction by the membrane states.