Long Chain Fatty Acids of Diet as Factors Influencing Reproduction in Cattle

Cattle are fed moderate amounts of long chain fatty acids (FA) with the objective to enhance lactation and growth; however, recent interest on lipid feeding to cows has focused on reproduction, immunity and health. Increasing the caloric density of the ration by fat feeding has generally improved measures of cow reproduction, but when milk yield and body weight losses were increased by fat supplementation, positive effects on reproduction were not always observed. Feeding fat has influenced reproduction by altering the size of the dominant follicle, hastening the interval to first postpartum ovulation in beef cows, increasing progesterone concentrations during the luteal phase of the oestrous cycle, modulating uterine prostaglandin (PG) synthesis, and improving oocyte and embryo quality and developmental competence. Some of these effects were altered by the type of FA fed. The polyunsaturated FA of the n-6 and n-3 families seem to have the most remarkable effects on reproductive responses of cattle, but it is not completely clear whether these effects are mediated only by them or by other potential intermediates produced during rumen biohydrogenation. Generally, feeding fat sources rich in n-6 FA during late gestation and early lactation enhanced follicle growth, uterine PG secretion, embryo quality and pregnancy in cows. Similarly, feeding n-3 FA during lactation suppressed uterine PG release, and improved embryo quality and maintenance of pregnancy. Future research ought to focus on methods to improve the delivery of specific FA and adequately powered studies should be designed to critically evaluate their effects on establishment and maintenance of pregnancy in cattle.     

Structural biology. The ribosome is a ribozyme

Ribosomes, the cellular factories that manufacture proteins, contain both RNA and protein, but exactly how all of the different ribosomal components contribute to protein synthesis is still not clear. Now, as Thomas Cech explains in his Perspective, atomic resolution of the structure of the large ribosomal subunit reveals that, as predicted by those convinced of a prebiotic RNA world, RNA is the catalytic component with proteins being the structural units that support and stabilize it (Ban et al., Nissen et al., Muth et al.).     

A new technique of feeding, repeated sampling of blood and continuous collection of urine in white sturgeon

A new technique combining oesophageal intubation, dorsal aorta cannulation, and urinary catheterization was developed to monitor concentration of nutrients in the blood circulation and their metabolites in the urine of 1–2 kg white sturgeon, Acipenser transmontanus. Three experiments were conducted to assess the technique based on: (1) quantitative delivery of nutrients; (2) stress levels post-operation; and (3) monitoring of nutrients in the blood and metabolites in the urine. In Experiment 1, recovery of intubated Cr₂O₃ was 105±5% (mean ± SEM, n=3) 3 h after intubation. In Experiment 2, plasma cortisol and glucose concentrations returned to respective basal levels of 8.2±1.8 ng ml^–1 and 74± mg dl^–1 (n=9) 48 h post-operation. In Experiment 3, sturgeon intubated with 1 g kg^–1 body weight of glucose or dextrin at 48 h post-operation showed a significantly different (p<0.05) peak plasma glucose level of 139±4 and 100±5 mg dl^–1 (n=5), respectively, at 4 h. Urinary glucose excretion was 1.8±0.9 mg kg^–1 h^–1 (n=5) 4–8 h after intubation with glucose. Our results show that the new technique allows quantitative delivery of nutrients, repeated sampling of blood, and continuous collection of urine in white sturgeon with minimum stress.     

Pot1, the putative telomere end-binding protein in fission yeast and humans

Telomere proteins from ciliated protozoa bind to the single-stranded G-rich DNA extensions at the ends of macronuclear chromosomes. We have now identified homologous proteins in fission yeast and in humans. These Pot1 (protection of telomeres) proteins each bind the G-rich strand of their own telomeric repeat sequence, consistent with a direct role in protecting chromosome ends. Deletion of the fission yeast pot1+ gene has an immediate effect on chromosome stability, causing rapid loss of telomeric DNA and chromosome circularization. It now appears that the protein that caps the ends of chromosomes is widely dispersed throughout the eukaryotic kingdom.     

The evolution of agriculture in ants

Cultivation of fungi for food by fungus-growing ants (Attini: Formicidae) originated about 50 million years ago. The subsequent evolutionary history of this agricultural symbiosis was inferred from phylogenetic and population-genetic patterns of 553 cultivars isolated from gardens of "primitive" fungus-growing ants. These patterns indicate that fungus-growing ants succeeded at domesticating multiple cultivars, that the ants are capable of switching to novel cultivars, that single ant species farm a diversity of cultivars, and that cultivars are shared occasionally between distantly related ant species, probably by lateral transfer between ant colonies.