Cribrilinids (Bryozoa, Cheilostomata) associated with deep-water coral habitats at the Great Bahama Bank slope (NW Atlantic), with description of new taxa.

Four cribrilinid bryozoans associated with deep-water corals (578-682 m depth) from the Great Bahama Bank slope, are described, two of them are new. The generic allocation of some species prompted us to raise the subgenera Puellina, Cribrilaria, and Glabrilaria to genus rank. The new combination Cribrilaria saginata (Winston, 2005) n. comb. is proposed. Genus Glabrilaria is reported from the NW Atlantic for the first time based on the description of Glabrilaria hirsuta Rosso n. sp. and Glabrilaria polita Rosso n. sp. The new genus Teresaspis Rosso n. gen. is erected, and Teresaspis lineata (Canu Bassler, 1928) n. comb. is proposed as its type species. The new genus Harmelinius Rosso n. gen. is erected for Cribrilina uniserialis (Harmelin, 1978). Both genera have uniserial colonies formed by slightly caudate zooids with extensive gymnocyst and a frontal shield of flattened costae. Teresaspis lineata n. comb., however, has costae with pelmatidia that are connected by few intercostal bridges and separated by intercostal spaces, four orificial costa-like processes with the proximal pair arching above the orifice, hyperstomial acleithral ovicells with a pseudoporous ooecium formed by the distal zooid or a kenozooid, two types of kenozooids (large with costate frontal shield and small with smooth shield and central opesia), and an ancestrula with costate frontal shield. Avicularia are apparently absent in this species. In contrast, the type species of Harmelinius Rosso n. gen. has costae lacking pelmatidia and which are separated by slit-like intercostal spaces. The hyperstomial cleithral ovicells have smooth ooecia with a median suture and without pseudopores, and are formed by a distal kenozooid associated with a small avicularium. Additional paired oral avicularia are occasionally present, as are large kenozooids with a central opesia. Oral spines or spine-like processes are absent. Taxonomy of the above reported cribrilinid genera is discussed in detail together with the geographic distribution of all mentioned taxa.

Amorfrutin B is an efficient natural peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) agonist with potent glucose-lowering properties.

AIMS/HYPOTHESIS: The nuclear receptor peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) is an important gene regulator in glucose and lipid metabolism. Unfortunately, PPARγ-activating drugs of the thiazolidinedione class provoke adverse side effects. As recently shown, amorfrutin A1 is a natural glucose-lowering compound that selectively modulates PPARγ. In this study we aimed to characterise, in vitro, a large spectrum of the amorfrutins and similar molecules, which we isolated from various plants. We further studied in vivo the glucose-lowering effects of the so far undescribed amorfrutin B, which featured the most striking PPARγ-binding and pharmacological properties of this family of plant metabolites. METHODS: Amorfrutins were investigated in vitro by binding and cofactor recruitment assays and by transcriptional activation assays in primary human adipocytes and murine preosteoblasts, as well as in vivo using insulin-resistant high-fat-diet-fed C57BL/6 mice treated for 27 days with 100 mg kg(-1) day(-1) amorfrutin B. RESULTS: Amorfrutin B showed low nanomolar binding affinity to PPARγ, and micromolar binding to the isotypes PPARα and PPARß/δ. Amorfrutin B selectively modulated PPARγ activity at low nanomolar concentrations. In insulin-resistant mice, amorfrutin B considerably improved insulin sensitivity, glucose tolerance and blood lipid variables after several days of treatment. Amorfrutin B treatment did not induce weight gain and furthermore showed liver-protecting properties. Additionally, amorfrutins had no adverse effects on osteoblastogenesis and fluid retention. CONCLUSIONS/INTERPRETATION: The application of plant-derived amorfrutins or synthetic analogues thereof constitutes a promising approach to prevent or treat complex metabolic diseases such as insulin resistance or type 2 diabetes.

Temperate bioerosion: ichnodiversity and biodiversity from intertidal to bathyal depths (Azores).

In the temperate Azores carbonate factory, a substantial fraction of the calcareous skeletal components is recycled by a remarkable biodiversity of biota producing bioerosion traces (incipient trace fossils). To study this biodiversity, experimental carbonate substrates were exposed to colonisation by epilithic and endolithic organisms along a bathymetrical gradient from 0 to 500 m depth, during 1 and 2 years of exposure. The overall bioerosion ichnodiversity is very high and comprises 56 ichnotaxa and ichnoforms attributed to cyanobacteria, chlorophytes, fungi, other micro-chemotrophs, macroborers, grazers and epilithic attachment scars. In the intertidal, hydrodynamic force, partial emersion and strong temperature fluctuations lead to the lowest ichnospecies richness. This contrasts with the highest ichnodiversity found at 15 m under the most favourable environmental conditions. Towards aphotic depths, a gradual depletion in ichnodiversity is observed, most probably because of the restricted light availability and a slowdown in ichnocoenosis development. Analysis of similarity (ANOSIM), in combination with non-metrical multidimensional scaling (NMDS), was used to highlight variability in the relative abundance of traces among depths, substrate orientations and exposure times. Ichnodiversity and abundance of traces decrease significantly with depth and are higher on up-facing versus down-facing substrates, whereas differences between years were not as pronounced. This study demonstrates that statistical methods of biodiversity analysis are not per se restricted to biotaxa but may well be applied also to ichnotaxa. In the analysis of trace fossil assemblages, this approach supports the recognition of diversity patterns and their relation to environmental gradients.