Biology Commons^™

The Sea Lamprey Meiotic Map Improves Resolution Of Ancient Vertebrate Genome Duplications, Jeramiah James Smith, Melissa C. Keinath

Biology Faculty Publications

It is generally accepted that many genes present in vertebrate genomes owe their origin to two whole-genome duplications that occurred deep in the ancestry of the vertebrate lineage. However, details regarding the timing and outcome of these duplications are not well resolved. We present high-density meiotic and comparative genomic maps for the sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus), a representative of an ancient lineage that diverged from all other vertebrates ~550 million years ago. Linkage analyses yielded a total of 95 linkage groups, similar to the estimated number of germline chromosomes (1n ~ 99), spanning a total of 5570.25 cM. …

Reformed Approach To The Interactions Of Science And Religion, Tony N. Jelsma

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"Sometimes, despite our best theological and scientific study, religion and science still seem to be in conflict."

Posting about the interactions between religion and science from In All Things - an online hub committed to the claim that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has implications for the entire world.

http://inallthings.org/a-reformed-approach-to-the-interactions-of-science-and-religion

Spatial Heterogeneity, Host Movement And Mosquito-Borne Disease Transmission, Miguel A. Acevedo, Olivia Prosper, Kenneth Lopiano, Nick Ruktanonchai, T. Trevor Caughlin, Maia Martcheva, Craig W. Osenberg, David L. Smith

Dartmouth Scholarship

Mosquito-borne diseases are a global health priority disproportionately affecting low-income populations in tropical and sub-tropical countries. These pathogens live in mosquitoes and hosts that interact in spatially heterogeneous environments where hosts move between regions of varying transmission intensity. Although there is increasing interest in the implications of spatial processes for mosquito-borne disease dynamics, most of our understanding derives from models that assume spatially homogeneous transmission. Spatial variation in contact rates can influence transmission and the risk of epidemics, yet the interaction between spatial heterogeneity and movement of hosts remains relatively unexplored. Here we explore, analytically and through numerical simulations, how …

Cytoskeletal Dynamics: A View From The Membrane, Magdalena Bezanilla, Amy S. Gladfelter, David R. Kovar, Wei-Lih Lee

Dartmouth Scholarship

Many aspects of cytoskeletal assembly and dynamics can be recapitulated in vitro; yet, how the cytoskeleton integrates signals in vivo across cellular membranes is far less understood. Recent work has demonstrated that the membrane alone, or through membrane-associated proteins, can effect dynamic changes to the cytoskeleton, thereby impacting cell physiology. Having identified mechanistic links between membranes and the actin, microtubule, and septin cytoskeletons, these studies highlight the membrane’s central role in coordinating these cytoskeletal systems to carry out essential processes, such as endocytosis, spindle positioning, and cellular compartmentalization.

Establishing The Dance Floor: Frame Manipulation Experiments, Peter D. Suich

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Past studies of honey bee populations, in both natural and laboratory settings have allowed researchers to elucidate the dance language of honey bees within the hive. While the intent and meaning of the waggle dance is thoroughly understood, the area within the hive on which the bees dance is poorly understood. Several factors that may contribute to waggle dancing were studied: substrate, scent and hive entrance proximity. Two separate honey bee colonies were placed in three-frame observation hives. After establishing the dance floor, new experimental conditions were introduced by changing the position of the frames and watching for three days …

Insects In Fluctuating Thermal Environments., Hervé Colinet, Brent J Sinclair, Philippe Vernon, David Renault

Biology Publications

All climate change scenarios predict an increase in both global temperature means and the magnitude of seasonal and diel temperature variation. The nonlinear relationship between temperature and biological processes means that fluctuating temperatures lead to physiological, life history, and ecological consequences for ectothermic insects that diverge from those predicted from constant temperatures. Fluctuating temperatures that remain within permissive temperature ranges generally improve performance. By contrast, those which extend to stressful temperatures may have either positive impacts, allowing repair of damage accrued during exposure to thermal extremes, or negative impacts from cumulative damage during successive exposures. We discuss the mechanisms underlying …

Finding Our Way Through Phenotypes, Andrew R. Deans, Suzanna E. Lewis, Eva Huala, Salvatore S. Anzaldo, Michael Ashburner, James P. Balhoff, David C. Blackburn, Judith A. Blake, J. Gordon Burleigh, Bruno Chanet, Laurel D. Cooper, Mélanie Courtot, Sándor Csösz, Hong Cui, Wasila Dahdul, Sandip Das, T. Alexander Dececchi, Agnes Dettai, Rui Diogo, Robert E. Druzinsky, Michel Dumontier, Nico M. Franz, Frank Friedrich, George V. Gkoutos, Melissa Haendel, Luke J. Harmon, Terry F Hayamizu, Yongqun He, Heather M. Hines, Nizar Ibrahim, Laura M. Jackson, Pankaj Jaiswal, Christina James-Zorn, Sebastian Köhler, Guillaume Lecointre, Hilmar Lapp, Carolyn J. Lawrence, Nicolas Le Novère, John G. Lundberg, James Macklin, Austin R. Mast, Peter E. Midford, István Mikó, Christopher J. Mungall, Anika Oellrich, David Osumi-Sutherland, Helen Parkinson, Martín J. Ramírez, Stefan Richter, Peter N. Robinson, Alan Ruttenberg, Katja S. Schulz, Erik Segerdell, Katja C. Seltmann, Michael Sharkey, Aaron D. Smith, Barry Smith, Chelsea D. Specht, R. Burke Squires, Robert W. Thacker, Anne Thessen, Jose Fernandez-Triana, Mauno Vihinen, Peter D. Vize, Lars Vogt, Christine E. Wall, Ramona L. Walls, Monte Westerfeld, Robert A. Wharton, Christian S. Wirkner, James B. Woolley, Matthew J. Yoder, Aaron M. Zorn, Paula Mabee

Entomology Faculty Publications

Despite a large and multifaceted effort to understand the vast landscape of phenotypic data, their current form inhibits productive data analysis. The lack of a community-wide, consensus-based, human- and machine-interpretable language for describing phenotypes and their genomic and environmental contexts is perhaps the most pressing scientific bottleneck to integration across many key fields in biology, including genomics, systems biology, development, medicine, evolution, ecology, and systematics. Here we survey the current phenomics landscape, including data resources and handling, and the progress that has been made to accurately capture relevant data descriptions for phenotypes. We present an example of the kind of …

Transcriptional Pathways Associated With Skeletal Muscle Changes After Spinal Cord Injury And Treadmill Locomotor Training., Celine Baligand, Yi-Wen Chen, Fan Ye, Sachchida Nand Pandey, San-Huei Lai, Min Liu, Krista Vandenborne

Genomics and Precision Medicine Faculty Publications

The genetic and molecular events associated with changes in muscle mass and function after SCI and after the implementation of candidate therapeutic approaches are still not completely known. The overall objective of this study was to identify key molecular pathways activated with muscle remodeling after SCI and locomotor training. We implemented treadmill training in a well-characterized rat model of moderate SCI and performed genome wide expression profiling on soleus muscles at multiple time points: 3, 8, and 14 days after SCI. We found that the activity of the protein ubiquitination and mitochondrial function related pathways was altered with SCI and …

Collapse Of An Ecological Network In Ancient Egypt, Justin Yeakel, Mathias Pires, Lars Rudolf, Nathaniel Dominy

Dartmouth Scholarship

The dynamics of ecosystem collapse are fundamental to determining how and why biological communities change through time, as well as the potential effects of extinctions on ecosystems. Here, we integrate depictions of mammals from Egyptian antiquity with direct lines of paleontological and archeological evidence to infer local extinctions and community dynamics over a 6,000-y span. The unprecedented temporal resolution of this dataset enables examination of how the tandem effects of human population growth and climate change can disrupt mammalian communities. We show that the extinctions of mammals in Egypt were nonrandom and that destabilizing changes in community composition coincided with …

Natural Selection On Thermal Performance In A Novel Thermal Environment, Michael L. Logan, Robert M. Cox, Ryan Calsbeek

Dartmouth Scholarship

Tropical ectotherms are thought to be especially vulnerable to climate change because they are adapted to relatively stable temperature regimes, such that even small increases in environmental temperature may lead to large decreases in physiological performance. One way in which tropical organisms may mitigate the detrimental effects of warming is through evolutionary change in thermal physiology. The speed and magnitude of this response depend, in part, on the strength of climate-driven selection. However, many ectotherms use behavioral adjustments to maintain preferred body temperatures in the face of environmental variation. These behaviors may shelter individuals from natural selection, preventing evolutionary adaptation …

Olanzapine-Induced Methylation Alters Cadherin Gene Families And Associated Pathways Implicated In Psychosis, Melkaye G. Melka, Christina A Castellani, Nagalingam Rajakumar, Richard O'Reilly, Shiva M Singh

Biology Publications

BACKGROUND: The complex aetiology of most mental disorders involves gene-environment interactions that may operate using epigenetic mechanisms particularly DNA methylation. It may explain many of the features seen in mental disorders including transmission, expression and antipsychotic treatment responses. This report deals with the assessment of DNA methylation in response to an antipsychotic drug (olanzapine) on brain (cerebellum and hippocampus), and liver as a non-neural reference in a rat model. The study focuses on the Cadherin/protocadherins encoded by a multi-gene family that serve as adhesion molecules and are involved in cell-cell communication in the mammalian brain. A number of these molecules …

Recent Shifts In The Occurrence, Cause, And Magnitude Of Animal Mass Mortality Events, Samuel B. Fey, Adam M. Siepielski, Sébastien Nusslé, Kristina Cervantes-Yoshida, Jason L. Hwan, Eric R. Huber, Maxfield J. Fey, Alessandro Catenazzi, Stephanie M. Carlson

Dartmouth Scholarship

Mass mortality events (MMEs) are rapidly occurring catastrophic demographic events that punctuate background mortality levels. Individual MMEs are staggering in their observed magnitude: re- moving more than 90% of a population, resulting in the death of more than a billion individuals, or producing 700 million tons of dead biomass in a single event. Despite extensive documentation of individual MMEs, we have no understanding of the major features characterizing the occurrence and magnitude of MMEs, their causes, or trends through time. Thus, no framework exists for contextualizing MMEs in the wake of ongoing global and regional perturbations to natural systems. Here …

Rapidly Self-Renewing Human Multipotent Marrow Stromal Cells (Hmsc) Express Sialyl Lewis X And Actively Adhere To Arterial Endothelium In A Chick Embryo Model System, Harris E. Mcferrin, Scott D. Olson, Miriam V. Gutschow, Julie A. Semon, Deborah E. Sullivan, Darwin J. Prockop

Biological Sciences Faculty Research & Creative Works

Background: There have been conflicting observations regarding the receptors utilized by human multipotent mesenchymal bone marrow stromal cells (hMSC) to adhere to endothelial cells (EC). To address the discrepancies, we performed experiments with cells prepared with a standardized, low-density protocol preserving a sub-population of small cells that are rapidly self-renewing.

Methods: Sialyl Lewis X (SLeX) and α4 integrin expression were determined by flow cytometry. Fucosyltransferase expression was determined by quantitative realtime RT-PCR. Cell adhesion assays were carried out with a panel of endothelial cells from arteries, veins and the microvasculature in vitro. In Vivo experiments were performed to determine …

The Overwintering Biology Of The Acorn Weevil, Curculio Glandium In Southwestern Ontario., Hiroko Udaka, Brent J Sinclair

Biology Publications

The acorn weevil, Curculio glandium, is a widespread predator of acorns in eastern North America that overwinters in the soil as a larva. It is possible that low temperatures limit its northern geographic range, so we determined the cold tolerance strategy, seasonal variation in cold tolerance, and explored the physiological plasticity of overwintering larvae. Weevil larvae were collected from acorns of red and bur oak from Pelee Island, southwestern Ontario in fall 2010 and 2011. C. glandium larvae are freeze avoidant and larvae collected from bur oak acorns had lower supercooling points (SCPs: -7.6±0.36°C, LT50: -7.2°C) than those collected from …

Redox Proteomic Identification Of Hne-Bound Mitochondrial Proteins In Cardiac Tissues Reveals A Systemic Effect On Energy Metabolism After Doxorubicin Treatment, Y. Zhao, Sumitra Miriyala, L. Miao, Mihail I. Mitov, David M. Schnell, Sanjit Kumar Dhar, J. Cai, J. B. Klein, Rukhsana Sultana, D. Allan Butterfield, Mary Vore, I. Batinic-Haberle, Subbarao Bondada, Daret K. St. Clair

Toxicology and Cancer Biology Faculty Publications

Doxorubicin (DOX), one of the most effective anticancer drugs, is known to generate progressive cardiac damage, which is due, in part, to DOX-induced reactive oxygen species (ROS). The elevated ROS often induce oxidative protein modifications that result in alteration of protein functions. This study demonstrates that the level of proteins adducted by 4-hydroxy-2-nonenal (HNE), a lipid peroxidation product, is significantly increased in mouse heart mitochondria after DOX treatment. A redox proteomics method involving two-dimensional electrophoresis followed by mass spectrometry and investigation of protein databases identified several HNE-modified mitochondrial proteins, which were verified by HNE-specific immunoprecipitation in cardiac mitochondria from the …

Transcriptome Of The Female Synganglion Of The Black-Legged Tick Ixodes Scapularis (Acari: Ixodidae) With Comparison Between Illumina And 454 Systems, Noble Egekwu, Daniel E. Sonenshine, Brooke W. Bissinger, R. Michael Roe

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Illumina and 454 pyrosequencing were used to characterize genes from the synganglion of female Ixodes scapularis. GO term searching success for biological processes was similar for samples sequenced by both methods. However, for molecular processes, it was more successful for the Illumina samples than for 454 samples. Functional assignments of transcripts predicting neuropeptides, neuropeptide receptors, neurotransmitter receptors and other genes of interest was done, supported by strong e-values (<-6), and high consensus sequence alignments. Transcripts predicting 15 putative neuropeptide prepropeptides ((allatostatin, allatotropin, bursicon α, corticotropin releasing factor (CRF), CRF-binding protein, eclosion hormone, FMRFamide, glycoprotein A, insulin-like peptide, ion transport peptide, myoinhibitory peptide, inotocin ( = neurophysin-oxytocin), Neuropeptide F, sulfakinin and SIFamide)) and transcripts predicting receptors for 14 neuropeptides (allatostatin, calcitonin, cardioacceleratory peptide, corazonin, CRF, eclosion hormone, gonadotropin-releasing hormone/AKH-like, insulin-like peptide, neuropeptide F, proctolin, pyrokinin, SIFamide, sulfakinin and tachykinin) are reported. Similar to Dermacentor variabilis, we found transcripts matching pro-protein convertase, essential for converting neuropeptide hormones to their mature form. Additionally, transcripts predicting 6 neurotransmitter/neuromodulator receptors (acetylcholine, GABA, dopamine, glutamate, octopamine and …

Metabolic Suppression In Mammalian Hibernation: The Role Of Mitochondria., James F Staples

Biology Publications

Hibernation evolved in some small mammals that live in cold environments, presumably to conserve energy when food supplies are low. Throughout the winter, hibernators cycle spontaneously between torpor, with low metabolism and near-freezing body temperatures, and euthermia, with high metabolism and body temperatures near 37°C. Understanding the mechanisms underlying this natural model of extreme metabolic plasticity is important for fundamental and applied science. During entrance into torpor, reductions in metabolic rate begin before body temperatures fall, even when thermogenesis is not active, suggesting active mechanisms of metabolic suppression, rather than passive thermal effects. Mitochondrial respiration is suppressed during torpor, especially …

Divergent Transcriptional Responses To Low Temperature Among Populations Of Alpine And Lowland Species Of New Zealand Stick Insects (Micrarchus)., Luke T Dunning, Alice B Dennis, Brent J Sinclair, Richard D Newcomb, Thomas R Buckley

Biology Publications

In widespread and genetically structured populations, temperature variation may lead to among-population differentiation of thermal biology. The New Zealand stick insect genus Micrarchus contains four species that inhabit different thermal environments, two of which are geographically widespread. RNA-Seq and quantitative PCR were used to investigate the transcriptional responses to cold shock among lowland and alpine species to identify cold-responsive transcripts that differ between the species and to determine whether there is intraspecific geographical variation in gene expression. We also used mitochondrial DNA, nuclear 28S ribosomal DNA and transcriptome-wide SNPs to determine phylogeographic structure and the potential for differences in genetic …

Sexual Dimorphism Of Staminate- And Pistillate-Phase Flowers Of Saponaria Officinalis (Bouncing Bet) Affects Pollinator Behavior And Seed Set, Sandra L. Davis, Dana A. Dudle, Jenna R. Nawrocki, Leah M. Freestone, Peter Konieczny, Michael B. Tobin, Michael M. Britton

Biology Faculty publications

The sequential separation of male and female function in flowers of dichogamous species allows for the evolution of differing morphologies that maximize fitness through seed siring and seed set. We examined staminate- and pistillate-phase flowers of protandrous Saponaria officinalis for dimorphism in floral traits and their effects on pollinator attraction and seed set. Pistillate-phase flowers have larger petals, greater mass, and are pinker in color, but due to a shape change, pistillate-phase flowers have smaller corolla diameters than staminate-phase flowers. There was no difference in nectar volume or sugar content one day after anthesis, and minimal evidence for UV nectar …

Enzymatic Activity In The Chorion For Hatching In The California Grunion, Emily R. Pierce, Vince V. Quach, Karen L. Martin

Featured Research

Leuresthes tenuis is a small, silverside fish that spawns on the beaches during some of the highest tides of the summer months. Of the many unique traits to the species including that the eggs develop fully out of water to the point of hatching competence but will not hatch until presented with an environmental cue, which causes them to hatch in less than a minute. The purpose of this study is to better understand the role of enzymes called chorionases, which act to break down the chorion (egg membrane). I hypothesize that the chorion begins to weaken in this species …

Increased Abundance Of Frost Mrna During Recovery From Cold Stress Is Not Essential For Cold Tolerance In Adult Drosophila Melanogaster., H Udaka, A Percival-Smith, B J Sinclair

Biology Publications

Frost (Fst) is a candidate gene associated with the response to cold in Drosophila melanogaster because Fst mRNA accumulation increases during recovery from low temperature exposure. We investigated the contribution of Fst expression to chill-coma recovery time, acute cold tolerance and rapid cold hardening (RCH) in adult D. melanogaster by knocking down Fst mRNA expression using GAL4/UAS-mediated RNA interference. In this experiment, four UAS-Fst and one tubulin-GAL4 lines were used. We predicted that if Fst is essential for cold tolerance phenotypes, flies with low Fst mRNA levels should be less cold tolerant than flies with normal levels of cold-induced Fst …

Cross-Tolerance And Cross-Talk In The Cold: Relating Low Temperatures To Desiccation And Immune Stress In Insects., Brent J Sinclair, Laura V Ferguson, Golnaz Salehipour-Shirazi, Heath A Macmillan

Biology Publications

Multiple stressors, both abiotic and biotic, often are experienced simultaneously by organisms in nature. Responses to these stressors may share signaling pathways ("cross-talk") or protective mechanisms ("cross-tolerance"). Temperate and polar insects that must survive the winter experience low temperatures accompanied by additional abiotic stressors, such as low availability of water. Cold and desiccation have many similar effects at a cellular level, and we present evidence that the cellular mechanisms that protect against cold stress also protect against desiccation, and that the responses to cold and dehydration likely evolved as cross-tolerance. By contrast, there are several lines of evidence suggesting that …

Four Decades Of Andean Timberline Migration And Implications For Biodiversity Loss With Climate Change, David A. Lutz, Rebecca L. Powell, Miles R. Silman

Dartmouth Scholarship

Rapid 21st-century climate change may lead to large population decreases and extinction in tropical montane cloud forest species in the Andes. While prior research has focused on species migrations per se, ecotones may respond to different environmental factors than species. Even if species can migrate in response to climate change, if ecotones do not they can function as hard barriers to species migrations, making ecotone migrations central to understanding species persistence under scenarios of climate change. We examined a 42-year span of aerial photographs and high resolution satellite imagery to calculate migration rates of timberline–the grassland-forest ecotone–inside and outside of …

Cold Tolerance Of The Eastern Subterranean Termite, Reticulitermes Flavipes (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae), In Ontario., Matthew W. Clarke, Graham J. Thompson, Brent J Sinclair

Biology Publications

We characterized the cold tolerance of natural populations of the Eastern subterranean termite (Reticulitermes flavipes (Kollar) [Isoptera, Rhinotermitidae]) in southwestern Ontario, Canada. We measured cold tolerance in workers from six colonies of termites established from Pelee Island in Lake Erie, and Point Pelee National Park. The mean critical thermal minimum, at which termites entered chill coma, ranged from 8.1 to 5.7°C. Mean supercooling points (SCP, the temperature at which individuals freeze) ranged from -4 to -4.6°C, and did not differ significantly between colonies, nor was SCP dependent on body size. Individuals survived brief exposure to low temperatures, as long as …

Oxidative Stress Disruption Of Receptor-Mediated Calcium Signaling Mechanisms, Tso-Hao Tang, Chiung-Tan Chang, Hsiu-Jen Wang, Joshua Erickson, Rhett A. Reichard, Alexis Martin, Erica Shannon, Adam L. Martin, Yue-Wern Huang, Robert Aronstam

Biological Sciences Faculty Research & Creative Works

Background: Oxidative stress increases the cytosolic content of calcium in the cytoplasm through a combination of effects on calcium pumps, exchangers, channels and binding proteins. In this study, oxidative stress was produced by exposure to tert-butyl hydroperoxide (tBHP); cell viability was assessed using a dye reduction assay; receptor binding was characterized using [³H]N-methylscopolamine ([³H]MS); and cytosolic and luminal endoplasmic reticulum (ER) calcium concentrations ([Ca²⁺]_i and [Ca²⁺]_L, respectively) were measured by fluorescent imaging.

Results: Activation of M3 muscarinic receptors induced a biphasic increase in [Ca²⁺] …

Regulation Of Succinate-Fuelled Mitochondrial Respiration In Liver And Skeletal Muscle Of Hibernating Thirteen-Lined Ground Squirrels., Jason C L Brown, Dillon J Chung, Alex N Cooper, James F Staples

Biology Publications

Hibernating ground squirrels (Ictidomys tridecemlineatus) alternate between two distinct metabolic states throughout winter: torpor, during which metabolic rate (MR) and body temperature (Tb) are considerably suppressed, and interbout euthermia (IBE), during which MR and Tb briefly return to euthermic levels. Previous studies showed suppression of succinate-fuelled respiration during torpor in liver and skeletal muscle mitochondria; however, these studies used only a single, saturating succinate concentration. Therefore, they could not address whether mitochondrial metabolic suppression occurs under physiological substrate concentrations or whether differences in the kinetics of mitochondrial responses to changing substrate concentration might also contribute to mitochondrial metabolic regulation during …

Creation Of A Natural History Information Database With Mobile Device Access For The Pace Campus In Pleasantville, Joshua J. Schwartz, Martina Blackwood

Cornerstone 3 Reports : Interdisciplinary Informatics

No abstract provided.

Ontogenetic Variation In Cold Tolerance Plasticity In Drosophila: Is The Bogert Effect Bogus?, Katherine A Mitchell, Brent J Sinclair, John S Terblanche

Biology Publications

Ontogenetic variation in plasticity is important to understanding mechanisms and patterns of thermal tolerance variation. The Bogert effect postulates that, to compensate for their inability to behaviourally thermoregulate, less-mobile life stages of ectotherms are expected to show greater plasticity of thermal tolerance than more-mobile life stages. We test this general prediction by comparing plasticity of thermal tolerance (rapid cold-hardening, RCH) between mobile adults and less-mobile larvae of 16 Drosophila species. We find an RCH response in adults of 13 species but only in larvae of four species. Thus, the Bogert effect is not as widespread as expected.

Identification Of Cold-Responsive Genes In A New Zealand Alpine Stick Insect Using Rna-Seq., Luke T Dunning, Alice B Dennis, Duckchul Park, Brent J Sinclair, Richard D Newcomb, Thomas R Buckley

Biology Publications

The endemic New Zealand alpine stick insect Micrarchus nov. sp. 2 regularly experiences sub-zero temperatures in the wild. 454-based RNA-Seq was used to generate a de novo transcriptome and differentiate between treatments to investigate the genetic basis of cold tolerance. Non cold-treated individuals were compared to those exposed to 0°C for 1 h followed by a 1 h recovery period at 20°C. We aligned 607,410 Roche 454 reads, generating a transcriptome of 5235 contigs. Differential expression analysis ranked candidate cold responsive genes for qPCR validation by P-value. The top nine up-regulated candidates, together with eight a priori targets identified from …

Honokiol Blocks Store Operated Calcium Entry In Cho Cells Expressing The M3 Muscarinic Receptor: Honokiol And Muscarinic Signaling, Hsiu-Jen Wang, Alexis Martin, Po-Kuan Chao, Rhett A. Reichard, Adam L. Martin, Yue-Wern Huang, Ming-Huan Chan, Robert Aronstam

Biological Sciences Faculty Research & Creative Works

Background: Honokiol, a cell-permeable phenolic compound derived from the bark of magnolia trees and present in Asian herbal teas, has a unique array of pharmacological actions, including the inhibition of multiple autonomic responses. We determined the effects of honokiol on calcium signaling underlying transmission mediated by human M3 muscarinic receptors expressed in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells. Receptor binding was determined in radiolabelled ligand binding assays; changes in intracellular calcium concentrations were determined using a fura-2 ratiometric imaging protocol; cytotoxicity was determined using a dye reduction assay.

Results: Honokiol had a potent (EC50 ≈ 5 μmol/l) inhibitory effect on store …