Assembly principle of a membrane-anchored nuclear pore basket scaffold.

Nuclear pore complexes (NPCs) are membrane-embedded gatekeepers of traffic between the nucleus and cytoplasm. Key features of the NPC symmetric core have been elucidated, but little is known about the NPC basket, a prominent structure with numerous roles in gene expression. Studying the basket was hampered by its instability and connection to the inner nuclear membrane (INM). Here, we reveal the assembly principle of the yeast NPC basket by reconstituting a recombinant Nup60-Mlp1-Nup2 scaffold on a synthetic membrane. Nup60 serves as the basket's flexible suspension cable, harboring an array of short linear motifs (SLiMs). These bind multivalently to the INM, the coiled-coil protein Mlp1, the FG-nucleoporin Nup2, and the NPC core. We suggest that SLiMs, embedded in disordered regions, allow the basket to adapt its structure in response to bulky cargo and changes in gene expression. Our study opens avenues for the higher-order reconstitution of basket-anchored NPC assemblies on membranes.

Endoparasitic fauna of red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) and golden jackals (Canis aureus) in Serbia.

Wild canides have a high epizootiological - epidemiological significance, considering that they are hosts for some parasites which spread vector born diseases. Increased frequency of certain interactions between domestic and wild canides increases the risk of occurrence, spreading and maintaining the infection of parasitic etiology in domestic canides. The research was conducted in 232 wild canides (172 red foxes and 60 golden jackals). The examined material was sampled from foxes and jackals, which were hunted down between 2010 and 2014, from 8 epizootiological areas of Serbia (North-Backa, West-Backa, Southern-Banat, Moravicki, Zlatiborski, Raski, Rasinski and Zajecarski district). On completing the parasitological dissection and the coprological diagnostics, in wild canides protozoa from the genus Isospora were identified, 3 species of trematoda (Alaria alata, Pseudamphistomum truncatum and Metagonimus yokogawai), cestods from the genus Taenia and 5 species of nematodes (Toxocara canis, Ancylostomatidae, Trichuris vulpis and Capillaria aerophila). The finding of M. yokogawai in golden jackals were, to the best of our knowledge, one of the first diagnosed cases of metagonimosis in golden jackals in Serbia. The continued monitoring of the parasitic fauna of wild canides is needed to establish the widespread of the zoonoses in different regions of Serbia, because they present the reservoirs and/or sources of these infections.

Comparison of selected haematological and biochemical indices and behaviour patterns of pheasant hens kept in different housing systems during the laying period.

Selected haematological and biochemical indices and behaviour patterns were monitored in cage-housed pheasant hens during the peak-of-lay egg laying period. Lower counts of monocytes (p = 0.035) and concentrations of plasma biopterin (p = 0.020) and higher concentrations of plasma neopterin (p = 0.005) and plasma phosphorus (p = 0.025) were found in spectacles-fitted pheasant hens kept in conventional cages compared to non-spectacled hens kept in enriched cages. Even more pronounced effects of the housing system were revealed by analysis of the behaviour of pheasant hens: spectacles-fitted pheasant hens kept in conventional cages exhibited higher occurrences of movement (p = 0.045), stereotyped behaviour (p = 0.039), and aggression (p = 0.004), and lower rates of feeding (p = 0.009), drinking (p < 0.001), defecation (p = 0.038), preening (p = 0.013), and feather pecking (p < 0.001). Our results show that the relatively easy and inexpensive enrichment of the cage environment (two perches, a simple hideout) where breeding groups of common pheasants are housed during the laying period can significantly contribute to the health and welfare (including the ability to express natural behaviour patterns) of pheasants kept in commercial cage systems.

Buxtonellosis and coccidiosis of cattles in Northern Serbia.

The study presents the results of a two-year research of protozoan infections of cattles from the Northern-Backa district (Voјvodina, Serbia). The research was conducted on cow-farms and in private cattle-breeding households, with variuos levels of hygenie. The study included 224 specimens (71 calves, 48 hifers and 105 cows). 22.91% of examined heifers and 15.23% of cows were infected with the ciliate Buxtonella sulcata. The presence of coccidiosis was detected in 45.07% of the calves, 14.58% of the heifers and 6.67% of the cows. The clinical signs of diarrhoea were established in all of the specimens which had more than 1,500 cysts of B.sulcata in 1g of faeces. In the examined calves the number of oocysts was less than 1500 in 1g of faeces, so the coccidiosis did not influence the incidence of the diarrhoea. The results show the first diagnostic record of the ciliate B.sulcata of bovines in Serbia, and this finding contributes to the existing knowledge about the etiopathogenesis of protozoan disease of cattle in this area.