Doklady Biological Sciences : Proceedings of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Biological Sciences Sections

The pool of free amino acids (AAs) in the blood serum was studied in two European migratory bat species, Vespertilio murinus and Pipistrellus nathusii, of the Urals. Bats from this year's bloods were examined, and significant differences were observed in main metabolic groups of free AAs, including glycogenic (GGAAs), nonessential (NEAAs), essential (EAAs), and sulfur-containing (SCAAs) AAs (p < 0.05). Based on the percent content of the metabolic groups in the total AA pool, GGAAs (79.7%) and EAAs (49.4%) were found to predominate in P...

A rat biological model of septoplasty was used to study the effect of surgery on passive avoidance conditioning (PAC). Septoplasty was shown to increase anxiety and to reduce exploratory activity in rodents during PAC. A neurochemical analysis of the hypothalamus was carried out immediately after the end of the experiment and showed an increase in norepinephrine (NE) metabolism after septoplasty. The finding was tentatively associated with activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis.

The Cuban macaw Ara tricolor (Bechstein, 1811) is an extinct species of large parrots. Its historical distribution and ecology are poorly understood. To date, only three late Quaternary paleontological and one archeozoological (17th-18th centuries) finds of the species have been described from central Cuba. A new (fourth) fossil find of the Cuban macaw is described and is a fragmentary carpometacarpus from Upper Pleistocene layers of the El Abrón Cave in the Pinar del Río province. The find provides the first documented evidence of the species from the western part of Cuba...

The structure and phylogeny of the Solanum tuberosum L. phytoene synthase genes StPSY1, StPSY2, and StPSY3 were characterized. Their expression was studied in potato seedlings exposed to cold stress in the dark phase of the diurnal cycle to simulate night cooling. All of the three genes were activated as the temperature decreased, and the greatest response was observed for StPSY1. StPSY3 was for the first time shown to respond to cold stress and photoperiod. A search for cis-regulatory elements was carried out in the promoter regions and 5'-UTRs of the StPSY genes, and the regulation of all three genes proved associated with the response to light...

Delivery of ribonucleoprotein complexes of Cas9 nuclease and guide RNA into target cells with virus-like particles (VLP) is one of the novel methods of genome editing and is suitable for gene therapy of human diseases in the future. The efficiency of genome editing with VLPs depends on the Cas9 packaging into VLPs, the process mediated by the viral Gag protein. To improve the packaging of Cas9 into NanoMEDIC VLPs, plasmid constructs for Cas9 and Gag expression were modified by adding the HIV Rev response element (RRE), which was expected to increase the nuclear export of RRE-containing transcripts into the cytosol via the Rev accessory protein, as described for a Vpr-Cas9-based VLP system...

The effect of recombinant spidroin (RS) hydrogel (HG) on anterior epithelial cells and keratocytes of the human cornea was studied in vitro. Corneal injuries are highly prevalent in developing countries according to the World Health Organization. Various technologies have recently been proposed to restore the damaged surface of the cornea. Use of biodegradable silk-based materials, including recombinant analogs of the spider silk protein spidroin, is an important avenue of research in the field of wound healing and corneal regeneration...

Ultrastructural studies on the sensory apparatus of male Tantulocarida (Crustacea) have been conducted for the first time. Comparative morphological analysis with the specialized sensory structures of Thecostraca, known as lattice organs, has allowed for conclusions about possible homologies and further clarification of the phylogenetic position of Tantulocarida.

Worm-like endosymbionts were found in the hepatic region of the digestive tract of the deep-sea acorn worm Quatuoralisia malakhovi Ezhova et Lukinykh, 2022 (family Torquaratoridae) from the Bering Sea. The symbionts were assigned to the taxon Nemertodermatida on the basis of histological examination. Torquaratoridae are similar in feeding type to holothuroids, which have also been found to have Xenacoelomorpha endosymbionts.

During a study of morphological variations in bent-wing bats (Miniopterus), we found that specimens originating from the Cao Bang province of Vietnam, identified as M. fuliginosus, were closer in size to the larger species, M. magnater. Mitochondrial gene analysis clearly places these specimens in the former species. At the same time, morphometric analysis of 21 cranial measurements definitely puts these specimens closer to M. magnater and shows their differences from M. fuliginosus samples from different parts of the species range...

A spore and pollen research was performed for the first time to study the contents of the gastrointestinal tracts (GITs) and sediments containing frozen mummies of the fossil Don hare from the Upper Pleistocene ice complex of the Verkhoyansk district of Yakutia. Radiocarbon dating (C14 ) revealed that the hares lived during the Karginian Interstadial of the Late Pleistocene, 32.5 thousand years ago (calibrated date). The results expanded the understanding of the ecology of extinct Lepus tanaiticus. The species was assumed to live in cold steppes dominated by xerophytic communities, as well as in grass-forb and sedge-forb meadows...

Nanoscale morphological features of branched processes of glial cells may be of decisive importance for neuron-astrocyte interactions in health and disease. The paper presents the results of a correlation analysis of images of thin processes of astrocytes in nervous tissue of the mouse brain, which were obtained by scanning probe microscopy (SPM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) with high spatial resolution. Samples were prepared and imaged using a unique hardware combination of ultramicrotomy and SPM...

Functional activity of the blood system was studied in two migratory Ural species, Vespertilio murinus Linnaeus, 1758 and Pipistrellus nathusii Keyserling et Blasius, 1839. A multivariate nonparametric ANOVA of red blood parameters showed significant interspecific differences (p < 0.05) between the migrating bats and the resident species pond bat. A certain genetically determined multidirectionality in the mobilization of emergency regulation mechanisms of the lymphoid blood system was observed in bats.

The effect of wheat seed treatment with salicylic acid (SA) on expression of the TaCu/ZnSOD, TaFeSOD, and TaCAT2 genes and activities of the antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) in leaves was studied at optimal contents of zinc (2 µM) and copper (0.3 µM) in the root environment and in zinc and copper deficiencies. Seed treatment with SA was for the first time shown to increase of the amount of transcripts of the above genes as compared with untreated plants, both in optimal conditions and in zinc or copper deficiency...

In Bilateria, the formation of the coelomic mesoderm occurs in various ways and is of great significance for comparative embryology and phylogeny. Several early ontogenetic stages were studied in the brachiopod Coptothyris grayi by scanning electron microscopy and cytochemistry combined with confocal laser microscopy. Two sources of the mesoderm were observed to form simultaneously from the anterior and posterior walls of the archenteron at the gastrula stage. Both anterior and posterior rudiments form enterocoely as unpaired protrusions of the wall of the archenteron and are subsequently separated from it...

Buttonquails (family Turnicidae of the order Charadriiformes) are a morphologically specialized group of small, predominantly tropical birds of open landscapes, which is extremely poorly represented in the fossil record. The article describes a fragmentary humerus of a buttonquail from the Lower Pleistocene of the Taurida Cave in central Crimea. This is the first find of the family Turnicidae in Eurasia in a chronological interval from the Pliocene through the Middle Pleistocene. The find highlights the limited nature of available information on the taxonomic composition of Early Quaternary Eurasian avifaunas, even at the family level, and sheds light on the Late Cenozoic evolutionary history of Turnicidae...

A new in vitro model of Huntington's disease (HD) was developed via a direct reprogramming of dermal fibroblasts from HD patients into striatal neurons. A reprogramming into induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells is obviated in the case of direct reprogramming, which thus yields neurons that preserve the epigenetic information inherent in cells of a particular donor and, consequently, the age-associated disease phenotype. A main histopathological feature of HD was reproduced in the new model; i.e., aggregates of mutant huntingtin accumulated in striatal neurons derived from a patient's fibroblasts...

The 13 C and 15 N isotope contents in collagen were determined in bones of the small cave bear Ursus (Spelaearctos) rossicus Borissiak, 1930 from three regions of Western Siberia. The bones dated back to marine isotope stage (MIS) 3 and belonged to mature males and females. Some of the samples differed only in δ15 N. Bears of all samples were from the same trophic level. Trophic shifts were observed between females and males in one region and between males of two regions. The small cave bear of Western Siberia differed from the small cave bear of the Southern Urals in leading a much more predatory lifestyle...

Activities of enzymes of energy and carbohydrate metabolism in muscles and the liver were studied in Atlantic salmon Salmo salar L. smolts and parr grown under continuous or natural lighting and different feeding regimens in autumn followed by a short photoperiod in winter. Enzyme activities were found to differ between test and control salmon groups and between parr and smolts sampled at the end of the winter period. Smolts grown under continuous lighting and round-the-clock feeding differed from other groups by having higher cytochrome c oxidase (COX) activity and lower aldolase activity in muscles...

Gene editing using the CRISPR/Cas9 system provides new opportunities to treat human diseases. Approaches aimed at increasing the efficiency of genome editing are therefore important to develop. To increase the level of editing of the CXCR4 locus, which is a target for gene therapy of HIV infection, the Cas9 protein was modified by introducing additional NLS signals and ribonucleoprotein complexes of Cas9 and guide RNA were stabilized with poly-L-glutamic acid. The approach allowed a 1.8-fold increase in the level of CXCR4 knockout in the CEM/R5 T cell line and a 2-fold increase in the level of knock-in of the HIV-1 fusion peptide inhibitor MT-C34 in primary CD4+ T lymphocytes...

The 13 C and 15 N isotope contents in bone collagen were analyzed using bones of the small cave bear Ursus (Spelaearctos) rossicus Borissak, 1930 from localities in the Middle and Southern Urals. The bones date from the last interglacial (MIS 5) and glacial (MIS 3) periods. The bones were from males and females aged 3, 4, and >4 years. Sexual, geographical, and chronological differences in 13 C and 15 N contents were studied. Notable gender, geographic, and chronological differences were observed between samples...