TY - JOUR A1 - Böhm, Jennifer A1 - Scherzer, Sönke A1 - Krol, Elzbieta A1 - Kreuzer, Ines A1 - von Meyer, Katharina A1 - Lorey, Christian A1 - Mueller, Thomas D. A1 - Shabala, Lana A1 - Monte, Isabel A1 - Solano, Roberto A1 - Al-Rasheid, Khaled A. S. A1 - Rennenberg, Heinz A1 - Shabala, Sergey A1 - Neher, Erwin A1 - Hedrich, Rainer T1 - The Venus flytrap Dionaea muscipula counts prey-induced action potentials to induce sodium uptake JF - Current Biology N2 - Carnivorous plants, such as the Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula), depend on an animal diet when grown in nutrient-poor soils. When an insect visits the trap and tilts the mechanosensors on the inner surface, action potentials (APs) are fired. After a moving object elicits two APs, the trap snaps shut, encaging the victim. Panicking preys repeatedly touch the trigger hairs over the subsequent hours, leading to a hermetically closed trap, which via the gland-based endocrine system is flooded by a prey-decomposing acidic enzyme cocktail. Here, we asked the question as to how many times trigger hairs have to be stimulated (e.g., now many APs are required) for the flytrap to recognize an encaged object as potential food, thus making it worthwhile activating the glands. By applying a series of trigger-hair stimulations, we found that the touch hormone jasmonic acid (JA) signaling pathway is activated after the second stimulus, while more than three APs are required to trigger an expression of genes encoding prey-degrading hydrolases, and that this expression is proportional to the number of mechanical stimulations. A decomposing animal contains a sodium load, and we have found that these sodium ions enter the capture organ via glands. We identified a flytrap sodium channel DmHKT1 as responsible for this sodium acquisition, with the number of transcripts expressed being dependent on the number of mechano-electric stimulations. Hence, the number of APs a victim triggers while trying to break out of the trap identifies the moving prey as a struggling Na\(^+\)-rich animal and nutrition for the plant. KW - jasmonic acid biosynthesis KW - gene expression KW - signal transduction KW - transporters KW - Arabidopsis Y1 - 2016 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-190870 VL - 26 IS - 3 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Krauss, Jochen A1 - Vikuk, Veronika A1 - Young, Carolyn A. A1 - Krischke, Markus A1 - Mueller, Martin J. A1 - Baerenfaller, Katja T1 - Correction: Krauss, J., et al. Epichloë endophyte infection rates and alkaloid content in commercially available grass seed mixtures in Europe. Microorganisms 2020, 8, 498 JF - Microorganisms N2 - No abstract available. KW - Epichloë KW - endophyte Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-216254 SN - 2076-2607 VL - 8 IS - 10 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Boschert, V. A1 - Frisch, C. A1 - Back, J. W. A1 - van Pee,, K. A1 - Weidauer, S. E. A1 - Muth, E.-M. A1 - Schmieder, P. A1 - Beerbaum, M. A1 - Knappik, A. A1 - Timmerman, P. A1 - Mueller, T. D. T1 - The sclerostin-neutralizing antibody AbD09097 recognizes an epitope adjacent to sclerostin's binding site for the Wnt co-receptor LRP6 JF - Open Biology N2 - The glycoprotein sclerostin has been identified as a negative regulator of bone growth. It exerts its function by interacting with the Wnt co-receptor LRP5/6, blocks the binding of Wnt factors and thereby inhibits Wnt signalling. Neutralizing anti-sclerostin antibodies are able to restore Wnt activity and enhance bone growth thereby presenting a new osteoanabolic therapy approach for diseases such as osteoporosis. We have generated various Fab antibodies against human and murine sclerostin using a phage display set-up. Biochemical analyses have identified one Fab developed against murine sclerostin, AbD09097 that efficiently neutralizes sclerostin's Wnt inhibitory activity. In vitro interaction analysis using sclerostin variants revealed that this neutralizing Fab binds to sclerostin's flexible second loop, which has been shown to harbour the LRP5/6 binding motif. Affinity maturation was then applied to AbD09097, providing a set of improved neutralizing Fab antibodies which particularly bind human sclerostin with enhanced affinity. Determining the crystal structure of AbD09097 provides first insights into how this antibody might recognize and neutralize sclerostin. Together with the structure–function relationship derived from affinity maturation these new data will foster the rational design of new and highly efficient anti-sclerostin antibodies for the therapy of bone loss diseases such as osteoporosis. KW - phage display KW - Wnt signalling KW - sclerostin KW - neutralizing antibody KW - osteoporosis Y1 - 2016 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-177925 VL - 6 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Grund-Mueller, Nils A1 - Ruedenauer, Fabian A. A1 - Spaethe, Johannes A1 - Leonhardt, Sara D. T1 - Adding amino acids to a sucrose diet is not sufficient to support longevity of adult bumble bees JF - Insects N2 - Dietary macro-nutrients (i.e., carbohydrates, protein, and fat) are important for bee larval development and, thus, colony health and fitness. To which extent different diets (varying in macro-nutrient composition) affect adult bees and whether they can thrive on nectar as the sole amino acid source has, however, been little investigated. We investigated how diets varying in protein concentration and overall nutrient composition affected consumption, longevity, and breeding behavior of the buff-tailed bumble bee, Bombus terrestris (Hymenoptera: Apidae). Queenless micro-colonies were fed either natural nutrient sources (pollen), nearly pure protein (i.e., the milk protein casein), or sucrose solutions with low and with high essential amino acid content in concentrations as can be found in nectar. We observed micro-colonies for 110 days. We found that longevity was highest for pure pollen and lowest for pure sucrose solution and sucrose solution supplemented with amino acids in concentrations as found in the nectar of several plant species. Adding higher concentrations of amino acids to sucrose solution did only slightly increase longevity compared to sucrose alone. Consequently, sucrose solution with the applied concentrations and proportions of amino acids or other protein sources (e.g., casein) alone did not meet the nutritional needs of healthy adult bumble bees. In fact, longevity was highest and reproduction only successful in micro-colonies fed pollen. These results indicate that, in addition to carbohydrates and protein, adult bumble bees, like larvae, need further nutrients (e.g., lipids and micro-nutrients) for their well-being. An appropriate nutritional composition seemed to be best provided by floral pollen, suggesting that pollen is an essential dietary component not only for larvae but also for adult bees. KW - nutrition KW - nutrients KW - foraging KW - pollen KW - resources KW - adult bees Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-203866 SN - 2075-4450 VL - 11 IS - 4 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schatton, Tobias A1 - Yang, Jun A1 - Kleffel, Sonja A1 - Uehara, Mayuko A1 - Barthel, Steven R. A1 - Schlapbach, Christoph A1 - Zhan, Qian A1 - Dudeney, Stephen A1 - Mueller, Hansgeorg A1 - Lee, Nayoung A1 - de Vries, Juliane C. A1 - Meier, Barbara A1 - Beken, Seppe Vander A1 - Kluth, Mark A. A1 - Ganss, Christoph A1 - Sharpe, Arlene H. A1 - Waaga-Gasser, Ana Maria A1 - Sayegh, Mohamed H. A1 - Abdi, Reza A1 - Scharffetter-Kochanek, Karin A1 - Murphy, George F. A1 - Kupper, Thomas S. A1 - Frank, Natasha Y. A1 - Frank, Markus H. T1 - ABCB5 Identifies Immunoregulatory Dermal Cells JF - Cell Reports N2 - Cell-based strategies represent a new frontier in the treatment of immune-mediated disorders. However, the paucity of markers for isolation of molecularly defined immunomodulatory cell populations poses a barrier to this field. Here, we show that ATP-binding cassette member B5 (ABCB5) identifies dermal immunoregulatory cells (DIRCs) capable of exerting therapeutic immunoregulatory functions through engagement of programmed cell death 1 (PD-1). Purified Abcb5\(^+\) DIRCs suppressed T cell proliferation, evaded immune rejection, homed to recipient immune tissues, and induced Tregs in vivo. In fully major-histocompatibility-complex-mismatched cardiac allotransplantation models, allogeneic DIRCs significantly prolonged allograft survival. Blockade of DIRC-expressed PD-1 reversed the inhibitory effects of DIRCs on T cell activation, inhibited DIRC-dependent Treg induction, and attenuated DIRC-induced prolongation of cardiac allograft survival, indicating that DIRC immunoregulatory function is mediated, at least in part, through PD-1. Our results identify ABCB5\(^+\) DIRCs as a distinct immunoregulatory cell population and suggest promising roles of this expandable cell subset in cellular immunotherapy. KW - mesenchymal stem cells KW - P-glycoprotein KW - regulatory T cells KW - maintain immune homeostasis KW - malignant melanoma KW - in vivo KW - skin KW - generation KW - transplant KW - tolerance Y1 - 2015 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-149989 VL - 12 SP - 1564 EP - 1574 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ruedenauer, Fabian A. A1 - Raubenheimer, David A1 - Kessner-Beierlein, Daniela A1 - Grund-Mueller, Nils A1 - Noack, Lisa A1 - Spaethe, Johannes A1 - Leonhardt, Sara D. T1 - Best be(e) on low fat: linking nutrient perception, regulation and fitness JF - Ecology Letters N2 - Preventing malnutrition through consuming nutritionally appropriate resources represents a challenge for foraging animals. This is due to often high variation in the nutritional quality of available resources. Foragers consequently need to evaluate different food sources. However, even the same food source can provide a plethora of nutritional and non‐nutritional cues, which could serve for quality assessment. We show that bumblebees, Bombus terrestris , overcome this challenge by relying on lipids as nutritional cue when selecting pollen. The bees ‘prioritised’ lipid perception in learning experiments and avoided lipid consumption in feeding experiments, which supported survival and reproduction. In contrast, survival and reproduction were severely reduced by increased lipid contents. Our study highlights the importance of fat regulation for pollen foraging bumblebees. It also reveals that nutrient perception, nutrient regulation and reproductive fitness can be linked, which represents an effective strategy enabling quick foraging decisions that prevent malnutrition and maximise fitness. KW - bee decline KW - foraging KW - nutrition KW - plant-insect interactions KW - pollen quality KW - PER KW - resource use Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-208709 VL - 23 IS - 3 ER -