Lytic to temperate switching of viral communities.

Microbial viruses can control host abundances via density-dependent lytic predator-prey dynamics. Less clear is how temperate viruses, which coexist and replicate with their host, influence microbial communities. Here we show that virus-like particles are relatively less abundant at high host densities. This suggests suppressed lysis where established models predict lytic dynamics are favoured. Meta-analysis of published viral and microbial densities showed that this trend was widespread in diverse ecosystems ranging from soil to freshwater to human lungs. Experimental manipulations showed viral densities more consistent with temperate than lytic life cycles at increasing microbial abundance. An analysis of 24 coral reef viromes showed a relative increase in the abundance of hallmark genes encoded by temperate viruses with increased microbial abundance. Based on these four lines of evidence, we propose the Piggyback-the-Winner model wherein temperate dynamics become increasingly important in ecosystems with high microbial densities; thus 'more microbes, fewer viruses'.

Lack of oscillations in cyclic AMP, cAMP-protein kinase and glycogen phosphorylase during the cardiac cycle in perfused rat hearts.

It is unclear whether reported fluctuations in the level of adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (cAMP) during a single cardiac cycle in ventricular muscle are associated with distal changes in cAMP-dependent processes. The degree of cAMP variation and its effect, if any, on biochemical sequelae during the cardiac cycle, were investigated by determining the level of cAMP and the activity ratios of cAMP-dependent protein kinase and glycogen phosphorylase in the rat ventricular myocardium. Isolated perfused hearts contracting at 240 beats/min and free of exogenously administered catecholamines were freeze-clamped, utilizing an automated clamping device capable of freezing the entire heart in less than 50 ms. The cardiac cycle was segmented into phases utilizing three different segmentation schemes. No significant difference was detected between phases regardless of the method of segmentation for cAMP, cAMP-dependent protein kinase, or glycogen phosphorylase levels. These results suggest that the levels of cAMP and the activities of cAMP-dependent protein kinase and glycogen phosphorylase do not vary significantly during a single cardiac cycle in the mammalian myocardium.

Adenosine and acetylcholine reduce isoproterenol-induced protein phosphorylation of rat myocytes.

Adenosinergic and muscarinic agents have been shown to attenuate the catecholamine-induced augmentation of both protein phosphorylation and contractile state in perfused hearts. The attenuation by phenylisopropyl-adenosine (PIA) and carbamylcholine chloride (CARB) of the isoproterenol (ISO)-induced incorporation of 32P into protein substrates was examined in isolated rat ventricular myocytes. 32P-labelled myocytes exposed to ISO (0.1 microM, 30 s) demonstrated up to an eight-fold increase of 32P incorporation into three protein substrates (155, 31, 6 kD). When myocytes were pre-incubated with either PIA or CARB for 60 s, the ISO-induced 32P incorporation in the 31 kD and the 155 kD substrates was attenuated 37% and 25%, respectively by 1 microM PIA and only 23% and 11%, by 10 microM PIA. A concentration of 1 microM CARB produced a 24% and 17% reduction in these same substrates while 10 microM CARB produced a 44% and 50% reduction. The effects of ISO were antagonized by 10 microM propanolol. The inhibitory effects of PIA were antagonized by the theophylline, sulfophenyltheophylline and dipropylcyclopentylxanthine, whereas atropine antagonized the inhibitory effects of CARB. The 32P incorporation elicited by 1 microM forskolin was reduced more by CARB than PIA. Additionally, while PIA and CARB reduced the ISO-induced increase in cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA) activity by 48% and 41% respectively, only CARB attenuated the ISO-elicited increase in cAMP levels, attenuating this response by 58%. The results indicate that PIA was less effective in attenuating ISO-induced 32P incorporation at higher concentrations than at lower concentrations. Moreover, this compound was less potent than CARB at attenuating the effects of ISO. It is conceivable that this difference could be related to activation of stimulatory adenosine receptors (A2) and/or a greater density of muscarinic receptors including multiple inhibitory muscarinic pathways.