Posts tagged: signaling molecules

See: Science journalists or paid propagandists? (2)
See also from the first blog post in this series: Science journalists or paid propagandists?
Differential Expression of Putative Pheromone-detecting Cells and Receptors in the Olfactory Epithelium of an African Cichlid Fish
The link from sunlight and chirality to nutrient energy-dependent reproduction is not addressed in the presentationss from SICB 2017
There is nothing in a search for chirality
At the 2016 meeting, Epigenetic regulation of Toll-like Receptor 4 expression as a facilitator of invasiveness in Kenyan house sparrows (Passer domesticus) seemed to suggest that epigenetic regulation automagically occurred.
There is one abstract fron 2017 that links sunlight to chirality without reporting on chirality, but at least they report on autophagy.
Disease Resistant Corals Activate Autophagy over Apoptosis after an Immune Challenge 

…disease resistant corals upregulated pathways involved in autophagy, indicating attempts at adapting to changing conditions. These data show how cell survival pathways contribute to the immune response and subsequent patterns of disease resistance on coral reefs. Understanding these mechanisms will help inform trajectories of reefs under continuous climate and disease pressure.

There is one 2017 abstract that links chirality and autophagy to energy-dependent RNA-mediated amino acid substitutions.
ATP Production Increases with Addition of Varying Concentrations of Vespa Amino Acid Mixture (VAAM)

…our previous work suggests VAAM affects the electron transport chain and ATP synthase activity. While increased exercise capacity shortly after VAAM exposure has been observed in multiple species, the relationship between VAAM and ATP production has been assumed without supporting data, until now.

They haven’t decided whether or not RNA-mediated DNA repair is a good thing.
See also: Molecular organization of Octopus brains: Insight into unique memory center signaling

We identified 16,194 transcripts in the VL and found ~25.5% appear to be cephalopod-specific. Next we used targeted and unbiased computational predictions and manual annotation to identify putative signaling molecules form the VL transcriptomes. We have cloned and localized 11 neuropeptides (NP) to components of the VL circuit. NPX3 is abundantly expressed in the cell bodies of the SFL, where the VL circuit originates and NPX1 & 2 localize to the AM cell bodies of each VL gyrus. Among the 7 NPs that localize to the VL LE neurons, 2 unique cephalopod NPs, NPX4 & 5, are abundant in Octopus, but absent in the ancestrally branching Nautilus (which lacks a VL). This expansion of signaling molecules in the VL circuit may be a key feature of unique memory systems of cephalopods, implying extensive parallel evolution of cephalopod brains and memory circuits.

The expansion of the signaling molecules is nutrient energy-dependent and the increasing organismal complexity is pheromone-controlled via the physiology of reproduction in species from microbes to humans.
Conservation, convergence, and novelty in Octopus bimaculoides embryogenesis

To shed light on the gene networks important in this highly derived developmental program, we sequenced and analyzed transcriptomes from five stages spanning embryogenesis in the California two-spot octopus, Octopus bimaculoides. Genome analysis has shown that the core developmental gene repertoire of the octopus is broadly similar to that found in typical invertebrate bilaterians (Albertin et al. 2015). We detect transcripts for these developmental transcription factors and signaling ligands primarily during the middle stages that coincide with the emergence of the body plan, but not before. Bioinformatics-based differential expression analysis identified suites of genes that show dynamic changes, including stage-specific expression profiles. Notably, many of the differentially expressed genes in the early transcriptomes are not found in the genomes of other sequenced animals. These results indicate that the fish-like early stages of cephalopod development deploy cephalopod-specific genes, and suggest a major role for taxonomically restricted genes in the evolution of cephalopod developmental mechanisms.

They fail to link the sun’s anti-entropic virucidal energy to the light they try to shed on gene networks that automagically “…coincide with the emergence of the body plan, but not before.” The coincidental emergence fails to link Dobzhansky’s (1973) “light of evolution” to deferentially expressed genes that are not found in the early transcriptomes or organized genomes of other sequenced animals.
Behavioral Dynamics of Niche Partitioning between Two Octopus Species in a Shallow Coastal Environment

O. vulgaris uses parachute attack and spends more time foraging on rock and rubble, mostly nocturnally. This study identifies ecological and behavioral components that facilitate coexistence of sympatric species, provides insight into cephalopod ecology and baseline conservation requirements for unique sand-dwelling organisms.

They link nutrient energy-dependent changes in niche construction from ecological variation to ecological adaptation and the coexistence of sympatric species via foraging behaviors, foraging times and diet, but fail to link the foraging and diet to the pheromone-controlled physiology of reproduction and transgenerational epigenetic inheritance of morphological and behavioral phenotypes in all living genera via conserved molecular mechanisms of biologically-based cause and effect..
Feeding on the Unseen: Ingestion and Assimilation of Bacteriophages by Brachionus plicatilis (Rotifera)

… bacteriophages (< 0.05 μm) are abundant in seawater (to 108/mL) and represent a potential food source for rotifers and other planktonic invertebrates.

They linked the ingestion of viruses from metabolic networks to genetic networks via dichlorotriazinylamino fluorescein (DTAF)-labeled bacteriophages and found that the fluorescence of rotifers was greater in the DTAF-bacteriophage treatments, which led to the hypothesis that viuses in seawater may be a food source for planktonic invertebrates and their larvae.
See for comparison: Viral and cellular messenger RNA targets of viral microRNAs appear to link the nutrient energy-dependent physiology of pheromone-controlled reproduction to protection from virus-driven energy theft and genomic entropy via virally encoded microRNAs. The virus-driven energy theft benefits the viruses. Nutrient energy-dependent metabolic and genetic networks link hydrogen-atom transfer in DNA base pairs in solution form energy-dependent microRNA flanking sequences to viral latency (prevention of viral replication cycles) in the context of energy-dependent autophagy.
Abstract excerpt:

Emerging data suggest that viral miRNAs may be particularly important for regulating the transition from latent to lytic replication and for attenuating potentially inhibitory host antiviral immune responses.

It is time to link the emerging data to energy-dependent healthy longevity and virus-driven energy theft to all pathology, instead of playing word games. See for example: Epigenetics and Genetics of Viral Latency

… viral latency is responsible for life-long pathogenesis and mortality risk…

See also: Virus-mediated archaeal hecatomb in the deep seafloor

We show here for the first time the crucial role of viruses in controlling archaeal dynamics and therefore the functioning of deep-sea ecosystems, and suggest that virus-archaea interactions play a central role in global biogeochemical cycles.

They insult the intelligence of any serious scientist who has ever linked energy-dependent changes from angstroms to ecosystems and all healthy longevity and all serious scientists who have linked virus-driven energy theft to all pathology via the transgenerational epigenetic inhertance that links the virus-mediated archaeal hecatomb to Zika virus-damaged DNA in human infants.
See also from the 2017 SICB annual meeting
Pheromone-mediated Communication in a Bird Ectoparasite

Pheromone-mediated communication governs many aspects of insect behavior, population dynamics, and community ecology.

We are currently working to determine the structures of volatile compounds produced by lice and to identify their use in pheromonal communication.

Someone is paying them to do that.
Evolutionary Mechanisms that Inhibit Interspecies Mating in Drosophila

Given that the sensory pathway for inhibiting inter-species mating is conserved, we are using modern genetic tools to understand how the neural circuits underlying mate choice have evolved in disparate fly species. We generated novel transgenic lines in D. melanogaster and other fly species to determine whether Gr32a functions in an analogous manner across species. These studies involve examining the control of Gr32a expression and its function in different species. Taken together, my studies will lead to a better understanding of how behavioral reproductive isolation has evolved.

Reproductive isolation did not evolve. Thomas Hunt Morgan won the 1933 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his works on chromosomal inheritance and Schrodinger/Dirac won the Prize
Flight Stability and Olfactory Navigation is Supported by Multisensory Antennal Inputs in the Moth Manduca sexta 

To characterize the effects of different environments on plume tracking, we challenged males with only one odor-detecting antenna to track a plume in an either turbulent or laminar air flow.

Be ready to compare the reports from science journalists to what was known about moth pheromones in 1959 and energy-dependent RNA synthesis in 1964.
Pheromones: a new term for a class of biologically active substances
DEPENDENCE OF RNA SYNTHESIS IN ISOLATED THYMUS NUCLEI ON GLYCOLYSIS, OXIDATIVE CARBOHYDRATE CATABOLISM AND A TYPE OF “OXIDATIVE PHOSPHORYLATION”
Then, prepare to die from virus-driven energy theft if you allow theorists to continue touting their pseudoscientific nonsense or allow science journalist to continue reporting it.
Obama Advisers Urge Action Against CRISPR Bioterror Threat

For the past two decades, the government has focused its biodefense efforts on a list of known pathogens—such as anthrax, smallpox, and Ebola—declared by the Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Agriculture to have the “potential to pose a severe threat to public health and safety.” Government-funded research on these pathogens receives special scrutiny, and the National Institutes of Health limits researchers from conducting experiments that could make certain germs, like influenza, more dangerous.

See also: CRYPTOCHROME mediates behavioral executive choice in response to UV light
Conclusion:

Opsin-based light sensing is clearly critical for behavioral light responses… CRY is a major modulator of a wide range of fly behavioral responses to UV light.

This may be your last chance.