View allAll Photos Tagged MITOCHONDRIA
"Butterbutt biology: warblers, migration and mitochondria
A non-migratory population of songbirds appears to have acquired mitochondria from their close relatives that are migratory, potentially allowing these birds to migrate better
A non-migratory population of songbirds appears to have acquired mitochondria from their close relatives that are migratory, potentially allowing these birds to migrate better, according to a newly-published study by a group of researchers based at Canada's University of British Columbia. Mitochondria synthesise the biochemical energy that powers living cells. The team studied a population of neotropical warblers living in the transition zone between the northern (seasonally migratory) form and the southern (resident) form. Using a variety of novel approaches, they compared mitochondrial genetics and function, and migratory behaviour. The researchers found that mitochondria in flight muscles of the migratory birds may be more metabolically efficient, thus capable of powering the energetic demands of migration over longer distances.
..."Our findings suggest that over generations, the Audubon's warbler may have co-opted the myrtle's mitochondria to better power its own travels", said Mr Toews.
Yellow-rumped warblers are not the only known example of mitochondrial borrowing: last year, Mr Toews and a colleague, Alan Brelsford, identified more than 100 such cases in animals."
theguardian.com
Dolphin calf with Mother
Created with Midjourney engine.
PP work in Adobe PS Elements 2024 Raw filters.
Dolphin calf with microscopic cell patterns in glowing mitochondria floating upward
--chaos 10
--ar 9:16 --style raw --v 7 --stylize 600
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Created for AIA GROUP Deep Blue Sea May 2025
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What are mitochondria?
Medically reviewed by Daniel Murrell, M.D. — Written by Tim Newman — Updated on June 14, 2023
Mitochondria are often referred to as the powerhouses of the cell. Their main function is to generate the energy necessary to power cells. But, there is more to mitochondria than energy production.
Present in nearly all types of human cell, mitochondria are vital to our survival. They generate the majority of our adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the energy currency of the cell.
Mitochondria are also involved in other tasks, such as signaling between cells and cell death, otherwise known as apoptosis.
In this article, we will look at how mitochondria work, what they look like, and explain what happens when they stop doing their job correctly.
The structure of mitochondria
A basic diagram of a mitochondrion
Mitochondria are small, often between 0.75 and 3 micrometers and are not visible under the microscope unless they are stained.
Unlike other organelles (miniature organs within the cell), they have two membranes, an outer one and an inner one. Each membrane has different functions.
Mitochondria are split into different compartments or regions, each of which carries out distinct roles.
Some of the major regions include the:
Outer membrane: Small molecules can pass freely through the outer membrane. This outer portion includes proteins called porins, which form channels that allow proteins to cross. The outer membrane also hosts a number of enzymes with a wide variety of functions.
Intermembrane space: This is the area between the inner and outer membranes.
Inner membrane: This membrane holds proteins that have several roles. Because there are no porins in the inner membrane, it is impermeable to most molecules. Molecules can only cross the inner membrane in special membrane transporters. The inner membrane is where most ATP is created.
Cristae: These are the folds of the inner membrane. They increase the surface area of the membrane, therefore increasing the space available for chemical reactions.
Matrix: This is the space within the inner membrane. Containing hundreds of enzymes, it is important in the production of ATP. Mitochondrial DNA is housed here (see below).
Different cell types have different numbers of mitochondria. For instance, mature red blood cells have none at all, whereas liver cells can have more than 2,000. Cells with a high demand for energy tend to have greater numbers of mitochondria. Around 40 percent of the cytoplasm in heart muscle cells is taken up by mitochondria.
Although mitochondria are often drawn as oval-shaped organelles, they are constantly dividing (fission) and bonding together (fusion). So, in reality, these organelles are linked together in ever-changing networks.
Also, in sperm cells, the mitochondria are spiraled in the midpiece and provide energy for tail motion.
Mitochondrial DNA
Although most of our DNA is kept in the nucleus of each cell, mitochondria have their own set of DNA. Interestingly, mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is more similar to bacterial DNA.
The mtDNA holds the instructions for a number of proteinsTrusted Source and other cellular support equipment across 37 genes.
The human genome stored in the nuclei of our cells contains around 3.3 billion base pairs, whereas mtDNA consists of less than 17,000Trusted Source.
During reproduction, half of a child’s DNA comes from their father and half from their mother. However, the child always receives their mtDNA from their mother. Because of this, mtDNA has proven very useful for tracing genetic lines.
For instance, mtDNA analyses have concluded that humans may have originated in Africa relatively recently, around 200,000 years ago, descended from a common ancestor, known as mitochondrial EveTrusted Source.
Mitochondria are important in a number of processes.
Although the best-known role of mitochondria is energy production, they carry out other important tasks as well.
In fact, only about 3 percent of the genes needed to make a mitochondrion go into its energy production equipment. The vast majority are involved in other jobs that are specific to the cell type where they are found.
Below, we cover a few of the roles of the mitochondria:
Producing energy
ATP, a complex organic chemical found in all forms of life, is often referred to as the molecular unit of currency because it powers metabolic processes. Most ATP is produced in mitochondria through a series of reactions, known as the citric acid cycle or the Krebs cycle.
Energy production mostly takes place on the folds or cristae of the inner membrane.
Mitochondria convert chemical energy from the food we eat into an energy form that the cell can use. This process is called oxidative phosphorylation.
The Krebs cycle produces a chemical called NADH. NADH is used by enzymes embedded in the cristae to produce ATP. In molecules of ATP, energy is stored in the form of chemical bonds. When these chemical bonds are broken, the energy can be used.
Cell death
Cell death, also called apoptosis, is an essential part of life. As cells become old or broken, they are cleared away and destroyed. Mitochondria help decide which cells are destroyed.
Mitochondria release cytochrome C, which activates caspase, one of the chief enzymes involved in destroying cells during apoptosis.
Because certain diseases, such as cancer, involve a breakdown in normal apoptosis, mitochondria are thought to play a role in the disease.
Storing calcium
Calcium is vital for a number of cellular processes. For instance, releasing calcium back into a cell can initiate the release of a neurotransmitter from a nerve cell or hormones from endocrine cells. Calcium is also necessary for muscle function, fertilization, and blood clotting, among other things.
Because calcium is so critical, the cell regulates it tightly. Mitochondria play a part in this by quickly absorbing calcium ions and holding them until they are needed.
Other roles for calcium in the cell include regulating cellular metabolism, steroid synthesis, and hormone signalingTrusted Source.
Heat production
When we are cold, we shiver to keep warm. But the body can also generate heat in other ways, one of which is by using a tissue called brown fat.
During a process called proton leakTrusted Source, mitochondria can generate heat. This is known as non-shivering thermogenesis. Brown fat is found at its highest levels in babies, when we are more susceptible to cold, and slowly levels reduce as we age.
Mitochondrial disease
If mitochondria do not function correctly, it can cause a range of medical problems.
The DNA within mitochondria is more susceptible to damage than the rest of the genome.
This is because free radicals, which can cause damage to DNA, are produced during ATP synthesis.
Also, mitochondria lack the same protective mechanisms found in the nucleus of the cell.
However, the majority of mitochondrial diseases are due to mutations in nuclear DNA that affect products that end up in the mitochondria. These mutations can either be inherited or spontaneous.
When mitochondria stop functioning, the cell they are in is starved of energy. So, depending on the type of cell, symptoms can vary widely. As a general rule, cells that need the largest amounts of energy, such as heart muscle cells and nerves, are affected the most by faulty mitochondria.
The following passage comes from the United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation:
“Because mitochondria perform so many different functions in different tissues, there are literally hundreds of different mitochondrial diseases. […] Because of the complex interplay between the hundreds of genes and cells that must cooperate to keep our metabolic machinery running smoothly, it is a hallmark of mitochondrial diseases that identical mtDNA mutations may not produce identical diseases.”
Diseases that generate different symptoms but are due to the same mutation are referred to as genocopies.
Conversely, diseases that have the same symptoms but are caused by mutations in different genes are called phenocopies. An example of a phenocopy is Leigh syndrome, which can be caused by several different mutations.
Although symptoms of a mitochondrial disease vary greatly, they might include:
loss of muscle coordination and weakness
problems with vision or hearing
learning disabilities
heart, liver, or kidney disease
gastrointestinal problems
neurological problems, including dementia
Other conditions that are thought to involve some level of mitochondrial dysfunction, include:
Parkinson’s disease
Alzheimer’s disease
bipolar disorder
schizophrenia
chronic fatigue syndrome
Huntington’s disease
diabetes
autism
Mitochondria and aging
Over recent years, researchers have investigated a link between mitochondria dysfunction and aging. There are a number of theories surrounding aging, and the mitochondrial free radical theory of aging has become popular over the last decade or so.
The theory is that reactive oxygen species (ROS) are produced in mitochondria, as a byproduct of energy production. These highly charged particles damage DNA, fats, and proteins.
Because of the damage caused by ROS, the functional parts of mitochondria are damaged. When the mitochondria can no longer function so well, more ROS are produced, worsening the damage further.
Although correlations between mitochondrial activity and aging have been found, not all scientists have reached the same conclusions. Their exact role in the aging process is still unknown.
In a nutshell
Mitochondria are, quite possibly, the best-known organelle. And, although they are popularly referred to as the powerhouse of the cell, they carry out a wide range of actions that are much less known about. From calcium storage to heat generation, mitochondria are hugely important to our cells’ everyday functions.
Last medically reviewed on February 8, 2018
Biology / Biochemistry
How we reviewed this article:
SOURCES
© Leanne Boulton, All Rights Reserved
Street photography from Glasgow, Scotland.
A previously unpublished shot from the early days of my street photography. Captured in March 2014 with my old Canon 400D and trusty Sigma 17-50mm lens.
I was clearly spotting interesting juxtapositions even then with the coffee and fatigue combination here. Sadly there are millions of people now suffering clinical fatigue as a result of Covid and repeated Covid infections. Amongst many terrible, permanent and debilitating things that Covid does to the body, one of them is to damage the mitochondria in our cells, the structures that are the powerhouses of cellular function. Another is to damage oxygen delivery to cells through vascular damage. Covid-19 is primarily a vascular and immunodeficiency disease.
Millions of people have had their health permanently deteriorated and each reinfection is cumulative. Please do all you can to avoid infection.
Take care my Flickr friends. I am off to get some more coffee for my far less infectious lack of sleep induced fatigue. Enjoy!
Puget Sound safety barrier raft found under the east edge of Pier 65. These always remind me of mitochondria, . . .
I don't think you will find this bird illustrated in any field guide and I failed to find any photographs of it anywhere on the internet. It is a hybrid between two closely related species; Black-browed Bushtit (Aegithalos bonvaloti) and Sooty Bushtit (Aegithalos fuliginosus). Photographs on Flickr of either of the parent species aren't exactly commonplace as I typed in the scientific names and only found 9 photographs of bonvaloti and just 4 of fuliginosus, which included one of my own. But the reason I am surprised that no photographs of hybrids exist is because a scientific paper in Frontiers in Zoology in 2014 by Wang et al ( doi.org/10.1186/1742-9994-11-40 ) concluded that past hybridisation had occurred between these two species because there is an extremely low differentiation in mitochondrial DNA between the two species. Mitochondria provide energy for cell function and contain their own DNA, and is reproduced and passed on in egg cells, but not in sperms, so Mitochondrial DNA passes unchanged down the female line. The paper concludes that "ongoing hybridization between the two species might be very limited, but further studies with more samples from the contact zone are needed to test this conclusion". I don't know how common hybrids currently are but this individual shows a perfect mix of both species.
Upon entry the vampire dives into a monologue about red light therapy. "Red light therapy is thought to work by acting on the “power plant” in your body's cells called mitochondria. With more energy, other cells can do their work more efficiently, such as repairing skin, boosting new cell growth and enhancing skin rejuvenation."
This is what happens when a vampire invites YOU inside. Never let a vampire invite you inside.
▰▰▰▰ NOT SPONSORED ▰▰▰▰
▰▰ ᴏʙᴊᴇᴄᴛs ᴡᴏʀɴ ᴏɴ ᴀᴠᴀᴛᴀʀ.▰▰
Face and Head:
CerberusXing - Strigoi's Fangs
maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Cerberus%20Crossing/76/23/...
Raven Bell - Ethiel Hair
maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Neo%20Star/27/223/3502
RichB - Tentacle Septum
maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Baby%20Boom/155/111/27
Body:
CerberusXing - Key of Nines
maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Cerberus%20Crossing/76/23/...
Gabriel - Initials Necklace
maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/GABRIEL/128/126/23
Arms and Hands:
Contraption - Desideratus Rings
maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Contraption/117/67/119
Petrichor - Vaera Claws
maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Lune/129/128/1515
Vae Victus - "Babylon" - Cursed Chalice
maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Eldritch/64/166/1017
ZOOM - Cosai Watch
ZOOM - The Guy Chain Set
maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Serenity%20Island/149/128/22
▰▰ ʙᴏᴍs ᴡᴏʀɴ ᴏɴ ᴀᴠᴀᴛᴀʀ ▰▰
Face and Head:
Izzie's - Face Imperfections - Freckles
Izzie's - Eyebags - Shadows
maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Izzies/115/125/31
Knife Party - Feast
maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Lovely/59/28/2006
Meshmafia - Full Freckles
maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Omerta/31/205/3941
TF - Antikrist - Lip Wound
maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Rivera/94/176/547
Tivoli - Nick Brows
maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Hutter/246/65/3039
Toxxic Kisses - Empathy Scars
marketplace.secondlife.com/stores/251068
xMTSBD.Co - SwaiVBoi - Eyeliner
marketplace.secondlife.com/stores/238479
Body:
Baecraft - Abs
maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Skylight/138/105/1500
HISS - YAO SCAR Fresh
marketplace.secondlife.com/stores/223452
Vermilion / Obsidian - Shattered - Blood
maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Tomoeda/94/36/1502
Arms and Hands:
HISS - YAO SCAR Fresh
marketplace.secondlife.com/stores/223452
HOLD - HAND BRUISE AND BANDAGE
maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Heijenoort/220/203/1001
Hollow - Still Doll - Fingers cuts + blood
maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Tomoeda/94/36/1502
Legs:
Toksik - Leather Leggings
maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20Sign%20IV/128/184/22
▰▰ Other. ▰▰
Legacy - Legacy Body (m) (Not Athletic.)
maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Rivera/94/176/547
Lelutka - Head - lel EvoX LOGAN 3.1
One of two subspecies of Common chameleon in Israel, musae in the Negev, recticrista in the North. Apparently the difference is only in the mitochondria, not in the nuclear DNA, let alone appearance
This was an experiment to demonstrate the transmission of living tissue in a spectral window between approximately 600 and 1,300nm wavelength. This "window of transparency" is bounded at the long wavelengths side by the harmonics of the stretch and bend vibrations within a water molecule and, at shorter wavelengths below 600nm, by the rapidly increasing absorption of blood and, basically, most living tissue including plants.
With the exception of some X-rays and km-length radio waves, this is the only spectral band where light can penetrate deep into components of the biosphere. From a growing number of experimental investigations, it is becoming apparent that light at these wavelengths — coming mostly from the Sun — plays essential roles in maintaining the health of most life on the planet Earth (including us!)
For close to 3.5 billion years, life on Earth has evolved to exploit light from the Sun to power itself, either directly (cyanobacteria and plants) or by stored food and fossil fuels generated by photosynthesis.
Only in the last few decades have energy-efficient sources of artificial light appeared that produce copious visible light but little or no far-red or near-infrared light within this transparency window. These lights, especially the ubiquitous white LEDs, have broken these billions of years of adaptation of life to 'thermal' light sources (light produced as a result of the hight temperature of the emitter) which are rich in near-infrared light.
Living, as many of us do, under these white LEDs for large fractions of our lives without exposure to sunlight has starved us of this near-infrared light that can penetrate our bodies. This is needed to protect us from such afflictions as type 2 diabetes, obesity and a number of 'diseases of ageing' which result from the diminishing ability of the mitochondria (the energy generators in cells) to produce enough energy as we age.
The image above was obtained using a 'full-spectrum' adapted Sony alpha camera with a filter that passes light above about 750nm. The light source, behind a hand-shaped alu-foil covered cardboard mask, was a "Candeer 54W Red Light Therapy" LED lamp that has diodes emitting 660 and 850nm light. Only the longer wavelength LEDs pass through the filter to produce this image which is the combination of three exposures each separated by 2.5 stops and combined using Photomatix Pro software to result in the high dynamic range.
De-oxygenated haemoglobin has a spectral absorption band around 750nm which results in the veins (but not arteries) being seen as dark in this image. The image shows that this long wavelength light can penetrate deep into our bodies where it appears to perform a number of beneficial functions.
It has been estimated that around 60% of cells in non-obese human bodies are reached by this light where it appears to enhance the efficiency of metabolism by oxidative respiration and produce cellular energy for immediate use before diverting metabolised food to storage as fat.
[Note: bones are relatively transparent to 850nm light, resulting in this looking quite different to an X-ray image of the hand.]
To view more of my images, of Cotswold Wildlife Park & Gardens, please click "here"!
The Bar-Headed Goose (Anser indicus) is a goose that breeds in Central Asia in colonies of thousands near mountain lakes and winters in South Asia, as far south as peninsular India. It lays three to eight eggs at a time in a ground nest. It is known for the extreme altitudes it reaches when migrating across the Himalayas. The grey goose genus Anser has no other member indigenous to the Indian region, nor any at all to the Ethiopian, Australian, or Neotropical regions. Ludwig Reichenbach placed the bar-headed goose in the monotypic genus Eulabeia in 1852, though John Boyd's taxonomy treats both Eulabeia and the genus Chen as subgenera of Anser. The bird is pale grey and is easily distinguished from any of the other grey geese of the genus Anser by the black bars on its head. It is also much paler than the other geese in this genus. In flight, its call is a typical goose honking. A mid-sized goose, it measures 71–76 cm (28–30 in) in total length and weighs 1.87–3.2 kg (4.1–7.1 lb). The summer habitat is high-altitude lakes where the bird grazes on short grass. The species has been reported as migrating south from Tibet, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Russia before crossing the Himalaya. The bird has come to the attention of medical science in recent years as having been an early victim of the H5N1 virus, HPAI (highly pathogenic avian influenza), at Qinghai. It suffers predation from crows, foxes, ravens, sea eagles, gulls and others. The total population may, however, be increasing, but it is complex to assess population trends, as this species occurs over more than 2,500,000 km2 (970,000 sq mi). The bar-headed goose is one of the world's highest-flying birds, having been heard flying across Mount Makalu – the fifth highest mountain on earth at 8,481 m (27,825 ft) – and apparently seen over Mount Everest – 8,848 m (29,029 ft) – although this is a second-hand report with no verification. This demanding migration has long puzzled physiologists and naturalists: "there must be a good explanation for why the birds fly to the extreme altitudes... particularly since there are passes through the Himalaya at lower altitudes, and which are used by other migrating bird species." In fact, bar-headed geese had for a long time not been directly tracked (using GPS or satellite logging technology) flying higher than 6,540 metres (21,460 ft), and it is now believed that they do take the high passes through the mountains. The challenging northward migration from lowland India to breed in the summer on the Tibetan Plateau is undertaken in stages, with the flight across the Himalaya (from sea-level) being undertaken non-stop in as little as seven hours. Surprisingly, despite predictable tail winds that blow up the Himalayas (in the same direction of travel as the geese), bar-headed geese spurn these winds, waiting for them to die down overnight, when they then undertake the greatest rates of climbing flight ever recorded for a bird, and sustain these climbs rates for hours on end, according to research published in 2011. The 2011 study found the geese peaking at an altitude of around 6,400 m (21,000 ft). In a 2012 study that tagged 91 geese and tracked their migration routes, it was determined that the geese spent 95% of their time below 5,784 m (18,976 ft), choosing to take a longer route through the Himalayas in order to utilize lower-altitude valleys and passes. Only 10 of the tagged geese were ever recorded above this altitude, and only one exceeded 6,500 m (21,300 ft), reaching 7,290 m (23,920 ft). All but one of these high-altitude flights were recorded at night, which along with the early morning, is the most common time of day for geese migration. The colder denser air during these times may be equivalent to an altitude hundreds of meters lower. It is suspected by the authors of these two studies that tales of the geese flying at 8,000 m (26,000 ft) are apocryphal. Bar headed geese have been observed flying at 23,000 ft. The bar-headed goose migrates over the Himalayas to spend the winter in parts of South Asia (from Assam to as far south as Tamil Nadu. The modern winter habitat of the species is cultivated fields, where it feeds on barley, rice and wheat, and may damage crops. Birds from Kyrgyzstan have been seen to stopover in western Tibet and southern Tajikistan for 20 to 30 days before migrating farther south. Some birds may show high wintering site fidelity. With glossy ibis Plegadis falcinellus at Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur, Rajasthan, India. They nest mainly on the Tibetan Plateau. Intraspecific brood parasitism is noticed with lower rank females attempting to lay their eggs in the nests of higher ranking females. The bar-headed goose is often kept in captivity, as it is considered beautiful and breeds readily. Records in Great Britain are frequent, and almost certainly relate to escapes. However, the species has bred on several occasions in recent years, and around five pairs were recorded in 2002, the most recent available report of the Rare Birds Breeding Panel. It is possible that, owing to a combination of frequent migration, accidental escapes and deliberate introduction, the species is becoming gradually more established in Great Britain. The bird is sociable and causes no problems for other birds. The feral population is believed to be declining in Great Britain due to over-hunting. The bar-headed goose has escaped or been deliberately released to Florida, USA, but there is no evidence that the population is breeding and may only persist due to continuing releases or escapes. The main physiological challenge of bar-headed geese is extracting oxygen from hypoxic air and transporting it to aerobic muscle fibres in order to sustain flight at high altitudes. Flight is very metabolically costly at high-altitudes because birds need to flap harder in thin air to generate lift. Studies have found that bar-headed geese breathe more deeply and efficiently under low-oxygen conditions, which serves to increase oxygen uptake from the environment. The haemoglobin of their blood has a higher affinity for oxygen than that of low-altitude geese, which has been attributed to a single amino acid point mutation. This mutation causes a conformational shift in the haemoglobin molecule from the low-oxygen to the high-oxygen affinity form. The left-ventricle of the heart, which is responsible for pumping oxygenated blood to the body via systemic circulation, has significantly more capillaries in bar-headed geese than in lowland birds, maintaining oxygenation of cardiac muscle cells and thereby cardiac output. Compared to lowland birds, mitochondria (the main site of oxygen consumption) in the flight muscle of bar-headed geese are significantly closer to the sarcolemma, decreasing the intracellular diffusion distance of oxygen from the capillaries to the mitochondria.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Pit Vipers!!!
A unique group of snakes: the presence of a deep pit, or fossa, in the loreal area between the eye and the nostril on either side of the head. These loreal pits are the external openings to a pair of extremely sensitive infrared detecting organs, which give the snakes a sixth sense that helps them to find and perhaps even judge the size of the small warm-blooded prey on which they feed.
The pit organ is complex in structure and is similar to, but much more highly evolved than the
thermoreceptive labial pits found in boas and pythons. It is deep and located in a maxillary cavity.
The membrane is like an eardrum that divides the pit into two sections of unequal size, with the larger of the two facing forwards and exposed to the environment. The two sections are connected via a narrow tube, or duct, that can be opened or closed by a group of surrounding muscles. By controlling this tube the snake can balance the air pressure on either side of the membrane. The membrane has many nerve endings packed with mitochondria. Succinic dehydrogenase, lactic dehydrogenase, adenosine triphosphate, monoamine oxidase, generalized esterases and
acetylcholine esterase have also been found in it.When prey comes into range, infrared radiation falling onto the membrane allows the snake to determine its direction.Having one of these organs on either side of the head produces a stereo effect that indicates distance as well as direction. Experiments have shown that, when deprived of their senses of sight and smell, these snakes can strike accurately at moving objects that are less than 0.2°C warmer than the background.
It would seem as though the pit organs work like a primitive pair of eyes, although it is not known whether the snake experiences this sense as a visual image or in some other fashion.Regardless, it is clear that these organs are of great value to a predator that hunts at night.
Among vipers, Pit Vipers are also unique in that they have a specialized muscle, called the muscularis pterigoidius glandulae, between the venom gland the head of the ectopterygoid. Contraction of this muscle, together with that of the m. compressor glandulae, forces venom
out of the gland.
If 'm NOT wrong this is a rare species - The Horse-shoe Pit Viper (T. strigatus).
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365|295
"Hold somebody's hand and feel its warmth.
Gram per gram, it converts 10 000 times more energy per second that the sun.
You find this hard to believe?
Here are the numbers: an average human weighs 70 kilograms and consumes about 12 600 kilojoules / day; that makes about 2 millijoules / gram.second, or 2 milliwatts / gram. For the sun it's a miserable 0.2 microjoules / gram.second. Some bacteria, such as the soil bacterium "Azotobacter" convert as much as 10 joules / gram.second, outperforming the sun by a factor 50 million.
I am warm because inside each of my body cells there are dozens, hundreds or even thousands of mitochondria that burn the food I eat."
by Gottfried Schatz
The bar-headed goose (Anser indicus) is a goose that breeds in Central Asia in colonies of thousands near mountain lakes and winters in South Asia, as far south as peninsular India. It lays three to eight eggs at a time in a ground nest. It is known for the extreme altitudes it reaches when migrating across the Himalayas.
The grey goose genus Anser has no other member indigenous to the Indian region, nor any at all to the Ethiopian, Australian, or Neotropical regions. Ludwig Reichenbach placed the bar-headed goose in the monotypic genus Eulabeia in 1852, though John Boyd's taxonomy treats both Eulabeia and the genus Chen as subgenera of Anser.
The bird is pale grey and is easily distinguished from any of the other grey geese of the genus Anser by the black bars on its head. It is also much paler than the other geese in this genus. In flight, its call is a typical goose honking. A mid-sized goose, it measures 71–76 cm (28–30 in) in total length and weighs 1.87–3.2 kg (4.1–7.1 lb).
The summer habitat is high-altitude lakes where the bird grazes on short grass. The species has been reported as migrating south from Tibet, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Russia before crossing the Himalayas. The bird has come to the attention of medical science in recent years as having been an early victim of the H5N1 virus, HPAI (highly pathogenic avian influenza), at Qinghai. It suffers predation from crows, foxes, ravens, sea eagles, gulls and others. The total population may, however, be increasing, but it is complex to assess population trends, as this species occurs over more than 2,500,000 km2 (970,000 sq mi).
The bar-headed goose is one of the world's highest-flying birds, having been heard flying across Mount Makalu – the fifth highest mountain on earth at 8,481 m (27,825 ft) – and apparently seen over Mount Everest – 8,848 m (29,029 ft) – although this is a second-hand report with no verification. This demanding migration has long puzzled physiologists and naturalists: "there must be a good explanation for why the birds fly to the extreme altitudes... particularly since there are passes through the Himalaya at lower altitudes, and which are used by other migrating bird species." In fact, bar-headed geese had for a long time not been directly tracked (using GPS or satellite logging technology) flying higher than 6,540 metres (21,460 ft), and it is now believed that they do take the high passes through the mountains. The challenging northward migration from lowland India to breed in the summer on the Tibetan Plateau is undertaken in stages, with the flight across the Himalaya (from sea-level) being undertaken non-stop in as little as seven hours. Surprisingly, despite predictable tail winds that blow up the Himalayas (in the same direction of travel as the geese), bar-headed geese spurn these winds, waiting for them to die down overnight, when they then undertake the greatest rates of climbing flight ever recorded for a bird, and sustain these climbs rates for hours on end, according to research published in 2011.
The 2011 study found the geese peaking at an altitude of around 6,400 m (21,000 ft). In a 2012 study that tagged 91 geese and tracked their migration routes, it was determined that the geese spent 95% of their time below 5,784 m (18,976 ft), choosing to take a longer route through the Himalayas in order to utilize lower-altitude valleys and passes. Only 10 of the tagged geese were ever recorded above this altitude, and only one exceeded 6,500 m (21,300 ft), reaching 7,290 m (23,920 ft). All but one of these high-altitude flights were recorded at night, which along with the early morning, is the most common time of day for geese migration. The colder denser air during these times may be equivalent to an altitude hundreds of meters lower. It is suspected by the authors of these two studies that tales of the geese flying at 8,000 m (26,000 ft) are apocryphal. Bar headed geese have been observed flying at 7,000 metres (23,000 ft).
The bar-headed goose migrates over the Himalayas to spend the winter in parts of South Asia (from Assam to as far south as Tamil Nadu. The modern winter habitat of the species is cultivated fields, where it feeds on barley, rice and wheat, and may damage crops. Birds from Kyrgyzstan have been seen to stopover in western Tibet and southern Tajikistan for 20 to 30 days before migrating farther south. Some birds may show high wintering site fidelity.
They nest mainly on the Tibetan Plateau. Intraspecific brood parasitism is noticed with lower rank females attempting to lay their eggs in the nests of higher ranking females.
The bar-headed goose is often kept in captivity, as it is considered beautiful and breeds readily. Recorded sightings in Great Britain are frequent, and almost certainly relate to escapes. However, the species has bred on several occasions in recent years, and around five pairs were recorded in 2002, the most recent available report of the Rare Birds Breeding Panel. It is possible that, owing to a combination of frequent migration, accidental escapes and deliberate introduction, the species is becoming gradually more established in Great Britain.
The bar-headed goose has escaped or been deliberately released in Florida, U.S., but there is no evidence that the population is breeding and it may only persist due to continuing escapes or releases.
The main physiological challenge of bar-headed geese is extracting oxygen from hypoxic air and transporting it to aerobic muscle fibres in order to sustain flight at high altitudes. Flight is very metabolically costly at high-altitudes because birds need to flap harder in thin air to generate lift. Studies have found that bar-headed geese breathe more deeply and efficiently under low-oxygen conditions, which serves to increase oxygen uptake from the environment. The haemoglobin of their blood has a higher affinity for oxygen than that of low-altitude geese, which has been attributed to a single amino acid point mutation. This mutation causes a conformational shift in the haemoglobin molecule from the low-oxygen to the high-oxygen affinity form. The left-ventricle of the heart, which is responsible for pumping oxygenated blood to the body via systemic circulation, has significantly more capillaries in bar-headed geese than in lowland birds, maintaining oxygenation of cardiac muscle cells and thereby cardiac output. Compared to lowland birds, mitochondria (the main site of oxygen consumption) in the flight muscle of bar-headed geese are significantly closer to the sarcolemma, decreasing the intracellular diffusion distance of oxygen from the capillaries to the mitochondria.
Bar-headed geese have a slightly larger wing area for their weight than other geese, which is believed to help them fly at high altitudes. While this decreases the power output required for flight in thin air, birds at high altitude still need to flap harder than lowland birds.
The bar-headed goose has been suggested as being the model for the Hamsa of Indian mythology. Another interpretation suggests that the bar-headed goose is likely to be the Kadamb in ancient and medieval Sanskrit literature, whereas Hamsa generally refers to the swan.
The bar-headed goose (Anser indicus) is a goose that breeds in Central Asia in colonies of thousands near mountain lakes and winters in South Asia, as far south as peninsular India. It lays three to eight eggs at a time in a ground nest. It is known for the extreme altitudes it reaches when migrating across the Himalayas.
The grey goose genus Anser has no other member indigenous to the Indian region, nor any at all to the Ethiopian, Australian, or Neotropical regions. Ludwig Reichenbach placed the bar-headed goose in the monotypic genus Eulabeia in 1852, though John Boyd's taxonomy treats both Eulabeia and the genus Chen as subgenera of Anser.
The bird is pale grey and is easily distinguished from any of the other grey geese of the genus Anser by the black bars on its head. It is also much paler than the other geese in this genus. In flight, its call is a typical goose honking. A mid-sized goose, it measures 71–76 cm (28–30 in) in total length and weighs 1.87–3.2 kg (4.1–7.1 lb).
The summer habitat is high-altitude lakes where the bird grazes on short grass. The species has been reported as migrating south from Tibet, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Russia before crossing the Himalayas. The bird has come to the attention of medical science in recent years as having been an early victim of the H5N1 virus, HPAI (highly pathogenic avian influenza), at Qinghai. It suffers predation from crows, foxes, ravens, sea eagles, gulls and others. The total population may, however, be increasing, but it is complex to assess population trends, as this species occurs over more than 2,500,000 km2 (970,000 sq mi).
The bar-headed goose is one of the world's highest-flying birds, having been heard flying across Mount Makalu – the fifth highest mountain on earth at 8,481 m (27,825 ft) – and apparently seen over Mount Everest – 8,848 m (29,029 ft) – although this is a second-hand report with no verification. This demanding migration has long puzzled physiologists and naturalists: "there must be a good explanation for why the birds fly to the extreme altitudes... particularly since there are passes through the Himalaya at lower altitudes, and which are used by other migrating bird species." In fact, bar-headed geese had for a long time not been directly tracked (using GPS or satellite logging technology) flying higher than 6,540 metres (21,460 ft), and it is now believed that they do take the high passes through the mountains. The challenging northward migration from lowland India to breed in the summer on the Tibetan Plateau is undertaken in stages, with the flight across the Himalaya (from sea-level) being undertaken non-stop in as little as seven hours. Surprisingly, despite predictable tail winds that blow up the Himalayas (in the same direction of travel as the geese), bar-headed geese spurn these winds, waiting for them to die down overnight, when they then undertake the greatest rates of climbing flight ever recorded for a bird, and sustain these climbs rates for hours on end, according to research published in 2011.
The 2011 study found the geese peaking at an altitude of around 6,400 m (21,000 ft). In a 2012 study that tagged 91 geese and tracked their migration routes, it was determined that the geese spent 95% of their time below 5,784 m (18,976 ft), choosing to take a longer route through the Himalayas in order to utilize lower-altitude valleys and passes. Only 10 of the tagged geese were ever recorded above this altitude, and only one exceeded 6,500 m (21,300 ft), reaching 7,290 m (23,920 ft). All but one of these high-altitude flights were recorded at night, which along with the early morning, is the most common time of day for geese migration. The colder denser air during these times may be equivalent to an altitude hundreds of meters lower. It is suspected by the authors of these two studies that tales of the geese flying at 8,000 m (26,000 ft) are apocryphal. Bar headed geese have been observed flying at 7,000 metres (23,000 ft).
The bar-headed goose migrates over the Himalayas to spend the winter in parts of South Asia (from Assam to as far south as Tamil Nadu. The modern winter habitat of the species is cultivated fields, where it feeds on barley, rice and wheat, and may damage crops. Birds from Kyrgyzstan have been seen to stopover in western Tibet and southern Tajikistan for 20 to 30 days before migrating farther south. Some birds may show high wintering site fidelity.
They nest mainly on the Tibetan Plateau. Intraspecific brood parasitism is noticed with lower rank females attempting to lay their eggs in the nests of higher ranking females.
The bar-headed goose is often kept in captivity, as it is considered beautiful and breeds readily. Recorded sightings in Great Britain are frequent, and almost certainly relate to escapes. However, the species has bred on several occasions in recent years, and around five pairs were recorded in 2002, the most recent available report of the Rare Birds Breeding Panel. It is possible that, owing to a combination of frequent migration, accidental escapes and deliberate introduction, the species is becoming gradually more established in Great Britain.
The bar-headed goose has escaped or been deliberately released in Florida, U.S., but there is no evidence that the population is breeding and it may only persist due to continuing escapes or releases.
The main physiological challenge of bar-headed geese is extracting oxygen from hypoxic air and transporting it to aerobic muscle fibres in order to sustain flight at high altitudes. Flight is very metabolically costly at high-altitudes because birds need to flap harder in thin air to generate lift. Studies have found that bar-headed geese breathe more deeply and efficiently under low-oxygen conditions, which serves to increase oxygen uptake from the environment. The haemoglobin of their blood has a higher affinity for oxygen than that of low-altitude geese, which has been attributed to a single amino acid point mutation. This mutation causes a conformational shift in the haemoglobin molecule from the low-oxygen to the high-oxygen affinity form. The left-ventricle of the heart, which is responsible for pumping oxygenated blood to the body via systemic circulation, has significantly more capillaries in bar-headed geese than in lowland birds, maintaining oxygenation of cardiac muscle cells and thereby cardiac output. Compared to lowland birds, mitochondria (the main site of oxygen consumption) in the flight muscle of bar-headed geese are significantly closer to the sarcolemma, decreasing the intracellular diffusion distance of oxygen from the capillaries to the mitochondria.
Bar-headed geese have a slightly larger wing area for their weight than other geese, which is believed to help them fly at high altitudes. While this decreases the power output required for flight in thin air, birds at high altitude still need to flap harder than lowland birds.
The bar-headed goose has been suggested as being the model for the Hamsa of Indian mythology. Another interpretation suggests that the bar-headed goose is likely to be the Kadamb in ancient and medieval Sanskrit literature, whereas Hamsa generally refers to the swan.
This song sounds like something from a very old fairytale book, so I tried to get that effect with the colours and density of illustration. All the band members are in here, although three of them aren't portraits so much as impressions of their personalities from interviews.
I did this drawing a couple of years ago, when there wasn't a video for the song. They've gone back into their vaults though, and have created two new videos; the first one (in which Till does his best drama school trite sad clown act) and this one, shot by one director and "finished" by another. I'd like to see the original version by Eugenio Recuenco, but it's held up in legal tussles for the forseeable future.
ETA: and the future is now. Here is the original, much dreamier version of Mein Herz Brennt.
I was awake at five, and could not get back to sleep, so got up to go to the lounge to have a coffee and found several packs of digestive biscuits out to dunk.
Outside, we were bobbing around ready to go back into the pack ice, but a change of plan meant we went down a fjord were there was the strong possibility of bears.
It is very hard to judge distance up here, what seemed like a mile must have been several more, and at the far end were four other ships, looking like toys as they were dwarfed by the mountains and glaciers around the bay.
We edged through the ice filling the bay, followed by a flock of Kittiwakes, who were waiting for the flows to be pushed aside and codling be left in the open, then they would swoop.
It took nearly two hours to make our way to the end of the bay, and in the lea of a large rock boulder, a mother Polar Bear was looking after her cub. And despite weighing three quarters of a ton, they two bears were never more than a few pixels in the viewfinder.
We drifted for an hour, maybe more, just watching the bears, a pod of Beluga Whales came by, all round the edge of the pack ice, surfacing with a short pout of water, they went back and forth for an hour too, never for than an inch or so out of the water, but that didn’t stop me taking dozens, possibly hundreds of shots.
Just before lunch, news came that we would be going out in the zodiacs for the afternoon, wrap up warm, we were warned.
After lunch we barded all the zodiacs, and we slowly made our way in large “s” bends nearer and nearer the cliff edge, where at the bottom as polar bear was sleeping off its lunch of walrus carcass. We tried to be quiet, but occasionally it looked up to see what was disturbing his post-lunch slumber.
We didn’t get too close, so he wasn’t spooked, and after each time looking up at us, he would stretch back down in the cool snow, yawn and go to sleep again. I guess we were 100m from him, and was amazing to see something that big and rare, so lucky we were.
After that, we cruised along the edge of bay, passed 5 glaciers what were silently flowing to the fjord. All around were birds, the same Kittiwakes, arctic turns, eiders, but best of all, the weather had calmed down so there was no wind, and we were treated to perfect reflections in the water as the sun came out.
One last visit to the bear and we made our way back to the ship, to be all back on board ready for dinner. Only two more bears were spotted about, about a mile off the port side, mating. Just as well they appeared as dots in my viewfinder. To add to the excitement, another pod of belugas appeared and then an arctic fox was seen in front of the ship, on the ice. And finally, a juvenile bear was spotted, running over the ice, jumping, hoping to find the breathing hole of a seal.
Phew.
After dinner, we sat in the lounge, looking at the sun high over the ice flows, a quarter to ten and still broad daylight, and would be all “night”, of course.
We sat in the lounge, me sipping a wee dram of Shackleton Whisky, named after the famed polar explorer, it seemed fitting. IN front of us, through the large windows was the bay and out to see, al full of pack ice, glinting in the late evening sunshine. It seemed other-worldly, but yet, here we are, and we had been out in the boats in it too, so it was of this world, but so out of our experiences, like something out of a David Attenborough documentary.
In front of the boat, an artic fox had been spotted, and behind another pod of beluga, while we watched a ring seal diving from one area of ice-free water to another. This must be an every day scene up here, but for us, it was magical.
So magical, that when the juvenile polar bear was spotted earlier, rather than run for my camera, I chose to stay and watch it through my eyes alone. It was distant, and others too shots aplenty, but it was this bear, running, jumping, swimming, all on the lookout for a late snack before the artic summer really kicks in. Because for the bear, summer is the lean times, when they overheat easily, and their usual hunting grounds on the ice have melted. So they sleep. For months.
You might have noticed that Kieran, who featured heavily in the first two days posts, has not been mentioned since Saturday. There is much I could say, and much that I can’t. Kieran was medevacked off a beach near to where we had moored on Saturday, to be taken to the main hospital for assessment. We all felt sad, as for Kieran seeing a polar bear was is only wish, and he would not see one now, just two days short, probably. So, if Kieran is reading this, you were missed mate, and we all thought of you when we saw that first bear.
IN the end, we saw at least seven polar bears on Monday, I said to Jools it would have made a fine climax to the trip, so to have on the last day, as the bears is what most of us wanted to see on the trip. But there is so much more, I guess what I will remember is the grand landscapes, the towering cliffs of granite, carved by ice and time, now home to tens of thousands of kittiwakes. And on days when there was no wind, the ice covered cliffs reflected in the icy waters, which were lined with ice flows. Birds wheel around, Fulmars follow the ship in hope of a free meal, and Kittiwakes swarm round the disturbed ice in the hope of grabbing a codling or two.
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The polar bear (Ursus maritimus) is a hypercarnivorous species of bear. Its native range lies largely within the Arctic Circle, encompassing the Arctic Ocean and its surrounding seas and landmasses, which includes the northernmost regions of North America and Eurasia. It is the largest extant bear species, as well as the largest extant land carnivore.[6][7] A boar (adult male) weighs around 350–700 kg (770–1,540 lb),[8] while a sow (adult female) is about half that size. Although it is the sister species of the brown bear,[9] it has evolved to occupy a narrower ecological niche, with many body characteristics adapted for cold temperatures, for moving across snow, ice and open water, and for hunting seals, which make up most of its diet.[10] Although most polar bears are born on land, they spend most of their time on the sea ice. Their scientific name means "maritime bear" and derives from this fact. Polar bears hunt their preferred food of seals from the edge of sea ice, often living off fat reserves when no sea ice is present. Because of their dependence on the sea ice, polar bears are classified as marine mammals.[11]
Because of expected habitat loss caused by climate change, the polar bear is classified as a vulnerable species. For decades, large-scale hunting raised international concern for the future of the species, but populations rebounded after controls and quotas began to take effect.[12] For thousands of years, the polar bear has been a key figure in the material, spiritual, and cultural life of circumpolar peoples, and polar bears remain important in their cultures. Historically, the polar bear has also been known as the "white bear".[13] It is sometimes referred to as the "nanook", based on the Inuit term nanuq.
The usual range includes the territory of five nations: Denmark (Greenland), Norway (Svalbard), Russia, the United States (Alaska) and Canada. These five nations are the signatories of the International Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears, which mandates cooperation on research and conservation efforts throughout the polar bear's range.
The bear family, Ursidae, is thought to have split from other carnivorans about 38 million years ago.[24] The subfamily Ursinae originated approximately 4.2 million years ago.[25] The oldest known polar bear fossil is a 130,000 to 110,000-year-old jaw bone, found on Prince Charles Foreland in 2004.[26] Fossils show that between 10,000 and 20,000 years ago, the polar bear's molar teeth changed significantly from those of the brown bear.[27] Polar bears are thought to have diverged from a population of brown bears that became isolated during a period of glaciation in the Pleistocene[5] from the eastern part of Siberia (from Kamchatka and the Kolym Peninsula).[27]
The evidence from DNA analysis is more complex. The mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) of the polar bear diverged from the brown bear, Ursus arctos, roughly 150,000 years ago.[26] Further, some clades of brown bear, as assessed by their mtDNA, were thought to be more closely related to polar bears than to other brown bears,[28] meaning that the brown bear might not be considered a species under some species concepts, but paraphyletic.[29] The mtDNA of extinct Irish brown bears is particularly close to polar bears.[30] A comparison of the nuclear genome of polar bears with that of brown bears revealed a different pattern, the two forming genetically distinct clades that diverged approximately 603,000 years ago,[31] although the latest research is based on analysis of the complete genomes (rather than just the mitochondria or partial nuclear genomes) of polar and brown bears, and establishes the divergence of polar and brown bears at 400,000 years ago.[32]
However, the two species have mated intermittently for all that time, most likely coming into contact with each other during warming periods, when polar bears were driven onto land and brown bears migrated northward. Most brown bears have about 2 percent genetic material from polar bears, but one population, the ABC Islands bears, has between 5 percent and 10 percent polar bear genes, indicating more frequent and recent mating.[33] Polar bears can breed with brown bears to produce fertile grizzly–polar bear hybrids;[5][34] rather than indicating that they have only recently diverged, the new evidence suggests more frequent mating has continued over a longer period of time, and thus the two bears remain genetically similar.[33] However, because neither species can survive long in the other's ecological niche, and because they have different morphology, metabolism, social and feeding behaviours, and other phenotypic characteristics, the two bears are generally classified as separate species.[35]
When the polar bear was originally documented, two subspecies were identified: the American polar bear (Ursus maritimus maritimus) by Constantine J. Phipps in 1774, and the Siberian polar bear (Ursus maritimus marinus) by Peter Simon Pallas in 1776.[36] This distinction has since been invalidated.[37][38][39] One alleged fossil subspecies has been identified: Ursus maritimus tyrannus, which became extinct during the Pleistocene. U.m. tyrannus was significantly larger than the living subspecies.[5] However, recent reanalysis of the fossil suggests that it was actually a brown bear.
Mitochondrial Energy Optimizer with PQQ - my personal favorite. Why ?
Because it encourages healthy function & creation of energy-producing cellular mitochondria. Why is that important? Because it is powerful antioxidant that is essential for the healthy brain & cardiac function. It can be beneficial for elderly, autistic patients and healthy people for more energy production. This week’s work project. 💙💙💙 Btw. love the location 💙💙
The term Anunnaki is often used in ancient texts as referring to a group of gods. The name is a derivative of the names heaven and earth, Anu and Ki but is also translated by some as “those of royal blood” and also “princely offspring”.The name is variously written “a-nuna”, “a-nuna-ke-ne”, or “a-nun-na”, meaning “princely offspring” or “offspring of Anu”. Some even believe the Anunnaki are sons and daughters of the gods, heaven, and earth.ANUNNAKI: DNA Code. They are said to have created or come from the Mesopotamian culture. There are others who believe they are a form of extra-terrestrial beings (reptilian or serpent race) from outer space or sometimes more specifically from the planet Nibiru/Planet X that at one time lived on this planet or still do on another plane of existence. The Anunnaki were served by the Igigi until the Igigi revolted, forcing the Anunnaki to create Mankind. These servants were not slaves; they were held in high regard, and they were created only to relieve the gods of their labour. In the beginning, Mankind had no set lifespan, and so the gods could only control overpopulation via flood, plague, and famine. During the final deluge, the gods wept at the suffering of Mankind, and so Man was given a set lifespan. It is during this deluge that Ziusudra (Noah) survived with his wife on the ark. The story of the final flood can be found in Atra-Hasis and the Epic of Gilgamesh. This is the first myth of the relationship between ENKI- ANU.This is called the Sky God and Earth Mother myth, which illustrates the relationship between the Sky and Earth. There is also a deity called Enlil that controls and watches of the sky as his kingdom. Another counter argument for the Anunnaki theory is the question of “Looking for Gold” and trying to dig gold from planet Earth. If applied to the technology of the Cosmic Era, the idea of looking for gold is ridiculous and absurd since already in the modern era, transmutation has been very possible by using energy from the Vacuum, also known as Luminous Aether. The technology comes from electricity, and is very based on Cosmic technology, meaning that the Anunnaki would’ve already known how to make gold through transmutation of cheap metals, therefore why would they look for gold, in fact they are already a cosmic civilization and missing this key fact that they can perform transmutation from radiant energy, it would demoralize them in the face of the cosmos.The Anunnaki are a race of beings that traveled across into the depths of space. They’ve settled on a planet called Earth. The Anunnaki ruled the race called “Igigi” who worked for the Anunnaki. But after 2500 years of labor, the Igigi rebelled against the Anunnaki. Enki suggested creating a new race. The Anunnaki observed the possibilities, and in a place called Eden, they have created the Human race, mixing clay with the flesh and blood of an Anunnaki so that the new race could have the divine wisdom. Nintu put the dollop into “shells” and nine months later, humankind was born. In the end, the humans proved to be a good workforce. The Annunaki deities were worshiped by the Ancient Sumerians. In the Sumerian religion, they were forbidden to show the Annunaki Gods in their true form, so instead, the Sumerians depicted them as anthropomorphic animals in place of their true form. Later on the Sumerian ethnic group has been replaced by Akkadians then later Babylonians until they’ve been converted to monotheistic religions such as Zoroastrianism and Christianity. The Anunnaki have no defined appearance, although according to the fertile crescent mythology, the Anunnaki are most likely to look like humans in their original forms, but in larger height. The Anunnaki are a shape-shifting race and can mold themselves into many shapes and sizes. According to certain conspiracy theorists, the Sumerian language appears to be the language taught to the humans by the Annunaki, since it’s assumed to be the first language ever written. It has been said that the language of the Annunaki is considered to be pre-Sumerian. If this is true, the closest language to the Annunaki could be Hungarian since, in pre-modern history, many linguists have found many similarities between the Hungarian language and the Sumerian language. The Hungarians are believed to be the exiled remains of the Sumerians, and many legends from ancient Hungarian culture relates to the Annunaki myth. The Manysi and the Khanty ethnic group, like the Hungarians are classified in the “Ugaric” language family and one individual converted to shamanism, into believing the Mansi to be descendants of Sumerians. However, linguistic affinities are also being found between Hebrew, hinting the another link of Sumerian with the Semitic languages, in which biblical scriptures were originally written in. Akkadian was a Semitic language once used often with Sumerian, during the arrival of Akkadians into Iraq. DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is the hereditary material in humans and almost all other organisms. Nearly every cell in a person’s body has the same DNA. Most DNA is located in the cell nucleus (where it is called nuclear DNA), but a small amount of DNA can also be found in the mitochondria. The information in DNA is stored as a code made up of four chemical bases: adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C), and thymine (T). Human DNA consists of about 3 billion bases, and more than 99 percent of those bases are the same in all people. The order, or sequence, of these bases, determines the information available for building and maintaining an organism, similar to the way in which letters of the alphabet appear in a certain order to form words and sentences.
‘Alien’ DNA Strands Discovered in Human Genome
Science has already successfully mapped the human genome and identified the functions of specific genes in hereditary characteristics, such as skin color. But few people know that some of the DNA strands in the human genome are not even human in origin, making them quite “alien.” A recent research paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has revealed that the human genome contains at least nineteen pieces of ancient viral DNA. More so, complete genetic strands of the viruses were found in two percent of the people who were tested.The ancient genetic fragments from viruses found in our genome are known as human endogenous retroviruses, or HERVs. The study examined the genome of 2,500 people across the globe and found genetic markers for HERVs. Approximately eight percent of the DNA in the human body is from viral genetic fragments. These are the DNA strands that became integrated with the human genome and passed on to several generations. Darwin’s theory of evolution has given a very big struggle with the views thought from the world’s religions. The Anunnaki play a key role as a point of Evolutionists, Creationists and Ancient historians meet. The Anunnaki version of creationism was based on ancient excavations of ancient documents and artifacts that support the evidence of ancient civilizations being helped by extraterrestrials. In ancient manuscripts, there are several accounts that imply ancient civilizations having knowledge in advanced science that we humans have just learned in the modern era. The double helix model of the DNA is sometimes linked with the double-helix snake on a road symbol, found commonly among medical symbols. This has been linked to the fact that the snake symbol is based on the DNA model, which is some evidence of ancient historians having knowledge about the DNA genome model. The ancient liturgical texts of Mesopotamia was linked with different passages in the Hebrew Bible, for example, the Epic of Gilgamesh parallels the Noah’s Ark story, and the Genesis in the Torah parallels to the Sumerian creation myth, involving the Annunaki. In Modern Conspiracy Theory, which revolves around subjects like the Illuminati and the secret plans of the world elite such as the NWO, the Anunnaki have gained much interest from conspiracy theorists. The Annunaki are thought to be linked to Reptilians, and have been continuously said to be the same species; however, there is no evidence to support that argument. Humans would be reptilian in nature and most of our world religions would have reptiles rather than giant humans such as seen in the Sumerian tablets of the humanoid Anunnaki. Other than that, there are statements saying the world elite are directly related to the Annunaki, now secretly collaborating a doomsday plot to rid or enslave humanity once again. Humans directly related to the superior Anunnaki have claimed to be the first to discover humanity’s purpose near our creation. The Anunnaki creation myth is annotated to have different views, for instance, some claiming it’s great evidence supporting creationism, and others claiming negative views of the creation myth, viewing the Anunnaki as a malevolent race, wanting to make mankind complete slaves.
www.matrixdisclosure.com/anunnaki-dna-code/
Did Giant humans roam Ancient America in the past? Did the Native American’s have a royal class of giant rulers entombed in massive burial mounds?The historical record certainly seems to support this reality. Over a two hundred year period, more than 1000 accounts of seven-foot and taller skeletons have been reported unearthed from ancient burial sites in North America. Newspaper accounts, town and county histories, letters, scientific journals, diaries, photos and Smithsonian ethnology reports have carefully documented this. These skeletons have been reported from coast to coast in burial chambers, stone crypts, caves, ancient battlefields and massive mounds. Strange anatomic anomalies such as double rows of teeth, jawbones so large as to be fit over the face of the finder, and elongated skulls, were documented in virtually every state. Smithsonian scientists identified at least 17 skeletons that stood at over seven feet in their annual reports, including one example that was 8 feet tall, and a skull with a 36-inch circumference (an average human skull has a circumference of about 20 inches). The Smithsonian Institution is mentioned dozens more times as the recipient of enormous skeletons from across the United States. In late 2014, an article from a satirical website claimed that a Supreme Court ruling forced the Smithsonian Institution to admit to the historic destruction of giant skeletons. It was published not long after our Search for the Lost Giants TV show that aired on History Channel. The headline read: “Smithsonian Admits to Destruction of Thousands of Giant Human Skeletons in Early 1900s.” 2 The article was convincing, and this apparent exposé of the National Museum hit a chord with people. Right away, we were inundated with emails from people believing the story was real. In reality, if such a story were true, it would surely be front-page worldwide news. However, when an Internet post is mentioning a startling find and not verifying any of the professionals involved, or real organizations or institutions they belong to, one can quickly conclude that it is a misrepresentation of facts or an outright lie. Maybe someday, however, the Smithsonian will admit to the irony of this story.
The over-willingness to believe seems to be the culprit for such stories gaining life. This is the reality we have had to deal with when researching the strange case of the North American giants, as hoaxes and exaggerations were often reported as truth. This is further complicated by the lack of physical evidence, and the moral and ethical implications of investigating human remains. When the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) was passed in 1990, any remaining giant skeletons and bones were removed from public display and buried according to the traditions of individual tribes. We often get asked: “where are the bones?” and we reply: “ask the Smithsonian and the Native Americans.” Even with these obstacles, we have done our best to chase down every account to the end and to be as impartial as possible. The book Giants on Record, is not trying to be a long scientific paper but rather an assemblage of data and documents that have been hidden in libraries and local historical societies, and quietly shunned by orthodox anthropology and archaeology for over a century. The following accounts are part of this forgotten legacy, which carry implications that may someday shake the foundations of American academia. Most of the reports we have uncovered are from well-known newspapers such as The Washington Post and The New York Times, but we begin our analysis with this account from The Worthington Advance (November 18, 1897, pg.3) that describes the ethnological work of the Smithsonian Institution’s Division of Eastern Mounds, and quotes the Director of the Bureau of Ethnology at the time, John Wesley Powell. The image below accompanies the news report, “It is officially recorded that agents of the Bureau of Ethnology have explored more than 2,000 of these mounds. Among the objects found in them were pearls in great numbers and some of very large size… It is a matter of official record that in digging through a mound in Iowa the scientists found the skeleton of a giant, who, judging from actual measurement, must have stood seven feet six inches tall when alive. The bones crumbled to dust when exposed to the air. Around the neck was a collar of bear’s teeth and across the thighs were dozens of small copper beads, which may have once adorned a hunting skirt.” As part of the Search for the Lost Giants show, Jim and fellow researcher James Clary investigated the following account that had this heading:
“An Ancient Ozark Giant Dug Up Near Steelville: Strange discovery made by a boy looking for arrowheads, gives this Missouri Town an absorbing mystery to ponder.” Highlights of the lengthy report from The Steelville Ledger (June 11, 1933) are given: “…he turned up the complete skeleton of an 8 foot giant. The grisly find was brought to Dr. R. C. Parker here and stretched out to its enormous length in a hallway of his office where it has since remained the most startling exhibit Steelville has ever had on public view… An appeal to Dr. Aleš Hrdlička, anthropologist of the National Museum in Washington and celebrated authority on primitive races is expected to help. Dr. Parker has written to him, offering to forward the skull or the whole skeleton, if necessary for scientific study.” Jim and James Clary found the exact location where the 8-foot skeleton was removed, which was from along the north wall of a cave. They met with several relatives of Billy Harmon, who all professed to the legitimacy of the find. They also found where R. C. Parker’s office once was, and ran into an old timer, who was Dr. Parker’s patient in his youth. While reading through the microfilm at the Steelville library, three reports of the find where uncovered, including the photo that shows Les Eaton, a 6-foot man laid out next to the 8-foot skeleton in Dr. Parkers office (see image below).
The Smithsonian Institution is continually linked to giant skeletons, or at least the lack of them. Most of the reports end in something like this: “The bones were shipped to the Smithsonian Institution for further study.” This ongoing problem of the “missing bones” has become a matter of legend, as there are dozens of reports of the Smithsonian receiving artifacts and giant skeletons. Today, however, they deny their existence. We investigate this thoroughly in our book, and conclude that a cover-up may have been instigated in the late 1800s because it did not fit in with their new ideologies of ‘Manifest Destiny’ and ‘Evolution.’ Although the giants were sidelined in the early stages of scientific discovery, they were, thanks to earlier explorers of America, already in the written record. ;As far back as the 1500s when the Spanish navigators were exploring the coast of the Americas, sightings of live giants were being recorded. Three captains of Spanish ships reported these taller-than-average native people on their expeditions to America, as well as Sir Francis Drake, Captain John Smith, a Smithsonian professor, and several other notable eyewitnesses. In 1519, Spanish explorer Alonzo Álvarez de Pineda was mapping the coastline of the Gulf Coast, marking the various rivers, bays, landmarks, and potential ports, declaring that they belonged to the king of Spain. Not far from where the river empties into the Gulf of Mexico he “found a large town, and on both sides of its banks, for a distance of six leagues up its course, some forty native villages.”3 He also noted that other than giants, the tribes also had a race of tiny pygmies. Pineda described the tribes that settled near the Mississippi river as: “A race of giants, from ten to eleven palms in height and a race of pigmies only five or six palms high.” (Webster’s Dictionary defines a palm used as a unit of measurement to range from seven to ten inches, so the giants were at least 6 feet 7 inches to 8 feet tall). On his return from Tampico to the Mississippi, Pineda unknowingly sailed right past a tribe of equally huge Texas Indians.3 A report on the Karankawas, John R. Swanton, of the Bureau of American Ethnology, describes the men as being: “…very tall and well formed…Head-flattening and tattooing were practiced to a considerable extent.” However it was also recorded that they:
“…do not eat men, but roast them only, on account of the cruelties first enacted against their ancestors by the Spanish.”
So that’s OK then! A few years later in 1523, as the Spanish fleet discovered, dominated, and overran the Caribbean Islands, a strange report came forth via historian Peter Martyr who assisted at the Council of the Indies. The account was originally shared by a native who was Christianized and taken to Spain: “The report ran that the natives were white and their king and queen giants, whose bones, while babies, had been softened with an ointment of strange herbs, then kneaded and stretched like wax by masters of the art, leaving the poor objects of their magic half dead, until after repeated manipulations they finally attained their great size.” In early 1521, Francisco Gordillo and Pedro de Quejo undertook a secret voyage from Spain. They sailed over to America and along the Carolina coast to capture Native American slaves, and to scout out potential locations for new Spanish colonies. They managed to capture seventy members of the Chicora tribe to bring back to their homeland: “The chiefs of the province of Chicora, a portion of what is now South Carolina, were famous for their height, which was supposed to prove their royal blood.” While Gordillo and Quejo treated the enigmatic Chicora Indians with treachery, their relationships with the Duhare peoples were much more gentlemanly. This was probably because the inhabitants of Duhare were described as looking European, with red or brown hair, tanned skin and gray eyes. Strangely, for this part of the world, the men had full beards and towered over the Spanish. They did not appear to be Native American. He visited with many of the Native American tribes in the area and recorded their customs, rituals and ways of living. The report on the Duhare stated: “Ayllon says the natives are white men, and his testimony is confirmed by Francisco Chicorana. Their hair is brown and hangs to their heels. They are governed by a king of gigantic size, called Datha, whose wife is as large as himself. They have five children. In place of horses, the king is carried on the shoulders of strong young men, who run with him to the different places he wishes to visit.” The Spanish describe Datha as being the largest man they had ever seen. He had a wife as tall as him. He wore brightly colored paint or tattoos on his skin that distinguished him from the commoners. This was all happening at the same time that the Patagonian giants (pictured below with Dr. Frederick A. Cook in 1898) were being witnessed on the southern tip of South America. For “Giants” became fashionable in the 1500s. In the summer of 1579, just north of San Francisco, Sir Francis Drake recounted his witnessing of living giants in his diary. In 1602, the California Channel Islands were ‘discovered’ by the Spanish, an area that has become a mecca for giantologists. Over 3,000 skeletons were discovered on the islands in the early 1900s, some being between 8 and 9 feet tall. Numerous mysterious reports of skulls containing ‘double rows of teeth’ were also reported on the neighboring islands.Hundreds of skeletal exhumation reports across the United States have demonstrated some very unusual anatomical features. These include macrocephalic (large) skulls, elongated craniums, enormous jaws that were fit over the face of the finders, and double rows of teeth. They come from official Smithsonian reports (with one account describing a third set of teeth), newspaper articles, and letters and journals from doctors and respected members of the local community. The ‘double row of teeth’ phenomenon is what we will briefly look at here, as it has been described in multiple accounts with evidence going as far back as 6,000 years, from the area of the Canadian Great Lakes.
Second period: 9.30 to 10.15 am. A bell shrilled in the distance.
Joe stood absolutely still, hands clasped behind his back, as they filed noisily in and were seated in a rattle and scuffle of chairs, bags and youthful chatter. Outside, the leaves were falling in a cascade of ochre hues. He watched them fly down and whirl around to gather in small drifts next to gutters, mowed pitches and smooth concrete. Little eddies of wind would spiral the yellows, golds and browns around in a blur, or trap them in the spokes of bicycles parked against the Autumn-shedding trees.
Joe never watched them enter the room, but would wait until they were all seated before turning round to face the thirty pairs of eyes. For forty-five minutes they were his. And he, theirs.
Joseph was a teacher.
He had taught Biology since first being employed by the exclusive school of Punnrich Eton. It had been a marked step up from his previous job. There he thought, he was less employed than deployed, given the nature of the inner city school in which he had laboured hard and with frustratingly little success to reach the kids who slouched or strutted into his run-down classroom.
Trying more to reach them than to teach them, Joe had abandoned educational conformity after his first semester. He’d had enough time to think about it while recuperating from the stiletto jab to his back, sustained one grey day while trying to break up a fight in the boys’ locker room. He recalled it was a fight over ‘turf’. It was always over turf. Or drugs. But here, at ‘Eton’, the only turf the boys argued over was that on the cricket pitch. That was one of the benefits of a more exclusive school posting. No, the boys were not the problem here.
Joe turned to face them. Eyes looked up at him. Intelligent. Expectant. “Good morning, sir”, they intoned dutifully. He smiled. They smiled back. Soon, he was involved in the intricacies of the differences between the endoplasmic reticulum and the membranes of the mitochondria of eukaryotic cells.
A bookishly handsome man who looked much younger than his thirty-nine years, Joe had a lean build borne of his time spent cycling, and hawkish but kind eyes. Although he dressed well, in a conservative way, he was the only male teacher who did not wear a tie to work. That fact alone, for some strange reason, had endeared the boys in his class to him more than anything else.
The girls… well, what endeared him to them was the fact that Joe was still single.
Young enough not to understand the full potential of their beguilement, but old enough to want to test it, the girls would drive him nuts, using weapons he had no means or training with which to cope. Joe would often wonder how and where they learned such subtleties. Like a contemporary Humbert he would struggle to keep from showing any signs of their success in distracting him. They were like… Joe couldn’t think of an appropriate simile – he was, after all, a biology, not a literary major … magical creatures not yet fully aware of, nor indeed able to control their power.
Joe had never married. His colleagues sometimes wondered if Joe was gay. The highly charged atmosphere of the staffroom was hard that way. If you reached forty empty handed, as it were, then you were automatically labelled a ‘Randlethwaight’, after the ancient librarian at the school. Nobody actually knew how old old Randles was – not even the Principal – but consensus was (accurately, as it turned out) that the Bookmaster was well over ninety.
Randlethwaite was a bachelor, and had been since woolly mammoths roamed the tundra.
It was not that Joe didn’t like women, quite the opposite. It was just that most of them found him rather… unconventional. An accountant that takes his work home is one thing; a biology teacher is something completely different. The jars containing little animals in formalin, the dumpling-weevils growing fat and happy in the fish tank, not to mention the great maggot experiment of ’98 (even Joe had admitted that had been a mistake – he couldn’t go into the basement for weeks afterwards). Joe couldn’t help it; he loved that stuff. It was why he taught Biology. The problem was, he had yet to meet a woman who could handle such predilections.
And while he waited for a response to his online profile (those things never worked, or did they?), he had to deal with these woman-children whose methods were quite beyond his own ability to handle.
Tamara was a case in point. Dyed black hair, extremely bright but lazy, whose father bred race-horses (for crying out loud!). The class assignment for the day set, he would just be sitting down at his desk to let them get on with it when she would rise and approach. Like clockwork. Dear god, he thought, not again. She had breasts that were far too big to be fake, and would press up against him on the pretence of asking some question much too inane for her intelligence. Joe would have to lean away, so that by the time he had dealt with her query, teacher and pupil were like badly balanced sculptures, canting wildly off to one side.
Elizabeth was the niece of the Vietnamese ambassador. With her raven hair and elegant dancer’s physique, her presence was tangible. Shy with the boys in the class, her speciality was the subtle touch. She could strike with the speed of a tropical cobra. Joe would be patrolling the rows between the desks, relaxed, watching them work, when he would feel a cool hand on his arm, the lightest touch electric. Could he please explain the attractive forces involved with disulphide bridge formation in amino acids? Her long fingers almost imperceptibly kneading the pulse at his wrist. He’d mumble something about covalent bonding and its difference to van der Waal’s forces, and beat a shaky retreat.
And then of course, in the front row, Anni (sorry, Annalisa) McAllister, daughter of Senator McAllister. Razor-sharp mind (when it was out of the gutter), dry wit and white-blonde hair. Her real hair colour, as Joe would now remind himself grimly – a fact demonstrated with abundant clarity when he had bent down to pick up his dropped chalk on one occasion (he should have known when he saw her enter the room: the lack of panty-line under her short skirt now decisively explicable). Sweet Joseph and Mary. She had smiled sweetly at him, fire in her eyes. Beads of perspiration ran down Joe’s forehead.
There was only one time of the year that Joe regretted teaching Biology: semester four, grade 11, Human Reproduction. It was then that he wished he taught mathematics instead. He would soldier bravely on, maintaining decorum in his scholarly, long-suffering manner. After every lesson Joe would reflect on why the only uncomfortable people in the room were male, the boys blushing in their seats, and the teacher, blushing in front of the lot of them.
The lesson continued, while the orange leaves dropped in slow-motion from the trees beyond the window. In the front row, Anni (sorry, Annalisa) shifted in her seat with the languid grace of a veteran pole-dancer. She looked up at Joe, and he saw the naked flame in her eyes.
Fumbling, Joe dropped his chalk.
He left it lying were it was, and fished another out of the box near the board.
The tomato is the edible berry of the plant Solanum lycopersicum, commonly known as a tomato plant. The species originated in western South America and Central America. The Nahuatl (the language used by the Aztecs) word tomatl gave rise to the Spanish word tomate, from which the English word tomato derived. Its domestication and use as a cultivated food may have originated with the indigenous peoples of Mexico. The Aztecs used tomatoes in their cooking at the time of the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, and after the Spanish encountered the tomato for the first time after their contact with the Aztecs, they brought the plant to Europe. From there, the tomato was introduced to other parts of the European-colonized world during the 16th century.
Tomatoes are a significant source of umami flavor. The tomato is consumed in diverse ways, raw or cooked, in many dishes, sauces, salads, and drinks. While tomatoes are fruits—botanically classified as berries—they are commonly used as a vegetable ingredient or side dish.
Numerous varieties of the tomato plant are widely grown in temperate climates across the world, with greenhouses allowing for the production of tomatoes throughout all seasons of the year. Tomato plants typically grow to 1–3 meters in height. They are vines that have a weak stem that sprawls and typically needs support. Indeterminate tomato plants are perennials in their native habitat, but are cultivated as annuals. (Determinate, or bush, plants are annuals that stop growing at a certain height and produce a crop all at once.) The size of the tomato varies according to the cultivar, with a range of 1–10 cm in width.
NAMES
ETYMOLOGY
The word tomato comes from the Spanish tomate, which in turn comes from the Nahuatl word tomatl [ˈtomat͡ɬ], meaning 'the swelling fruit'. The native Mexican tomatillo is tomate (Nahuatl: tomātl About this soundpronunciation (help·info), meaning 'fat water' or 'fat thing'). When Aztecs started to cultivate the fruit to be larger, sweeter, and red, they called the new species xitomatl (or jitomates) (pronounced [ʃiːˈtomatɬ]), ('plump with navel' or 'fat water with navel'). The scientific species epithet lycopersicum is interpreted literally from Latin in the 1753 book, Species Plantarum, as 'wolfpeach', where wolf is from lyco and peach is from persicum.
PRONUNCIATION
The usual pronunciations of tomato are /təˈmeɪtoʊ/ (usual in American English) and /təˈmɑːtoʊ/ (usual in British English). The word's dual pronunciations were immortalized in Ira and George Gershwin's 1937 song "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" ("You like /pəˈteɪtoʊ/ and I like /pəˈtɑːtoʊ/ / You like /təˈmeɪtoʊ/ and I like /təˈmɑːtoʊ/") and have become a symbol for nitpicking pronunciation disputes. In this capacity, it has even become an American and British slang term: saying "/təˈmeɪtoʊ təˈmɑːtoʊ/" when presented with two choices can mean "What's the difference?" or "It's all the same to me".
FRUIT VERSUS VEGETABLE
Botanically, a tomato is a fruit—a berry, consisting of the ovary, together with its seeds, of a flowering plant. However, the tomato is considered a "culinary vegetable" because it has a much lower sugar content than culinary fruits; it is typically served as part of a salad or main course of a meal, rather than as a dessert. Tomatoes are not the only food source with this ambiguity; bell peppers, cucumbers, green beans, eggplants, avocados, and squashes of all kinds (such as zucchini and pumpkins) are all botanically fruit, yet cooked as vegetables. This has led to legal dispute in the United States. In 1887, U.S. tariff laws that imposed a duty on vegetables, but not on fruit, caused the tomato's status to become a matter of legal importance. The U.S. Supreme Court settled this controversy on May 10, 1893, by declaring that the tomato is a vegetable, based on the popular definition that classifies vegetables by use—they are generally served with dinner and not dessert (Nix v. Hedden (149 U.S. 304)). The holding of this case applies only to the interpretation of the Tariff of 1883, and the court did not purport to reclassify the tomato for botanical or other purposes.
BOTANY
DESCRIPTION
Tomato plants are vines, initially decumbent, typically growing 180 cm or more above the ground if supported, although erect bush varieties have been bred, generally 100 cm tall or shorter. Indeterminate types are "tender" perennials, dying annually in temperate climates (they are originally native to tropical highlands), although they can live up to three years in a greenhouse in some cases. Determinate types are annual in all climates.
Tomato plants are dicots, and grow as a series of branching stems, with a terminal bud at the tip that does the actual growing. When that tip eventually stops growing, whether because of pruning or flowering, lateral buds take over and grow into other, fully functional, vines.
Tomato vines are typically pubescent, meaning covered with fine short hairs. These hairs facilitate the vining process, turning into roots wherever the plant is in contact with the ground and moisture, especially if the vine's connection to its original root has been damaged or severed.
Most tomato plants have compound leaves, and are called regular leaf (RL) plants, but some cultivars have simple leaves known as potato leaf (PL) style because of their resemblance to that particular relative. Of RL plants, there are variations, such as rugose leaves, which are deeply grooved, and variegated, angora leaves, which have additional colors where a genetic mutation causes chlorophyll to be excluded from some portions of the leaves.
The leaves are 10–25 cm long, odd pinnate, with five to nine leaflets on petioles, each leaflet up to 8 cm long, with a serrated margin; both the stem and leaves are densely glandular-hairy.
Their flowers, appearing on the apical meristem, have the anthers fused along the edges, forming a column surrounding the pistil's style. Flowers in domestic cultivars can be self-fertilizing. The flowers are 1–2 cm across, yellow, with five pointed lobes on the corolla; they are borne in a cyme of three to 12 together.
Although in culinary terms, tomato is regarded as a vegetable, its fruit is classified botanically as a berry. As a true fruit, it develops from the ovary of the plant after fertilization, its flesh comprising the pericarp walls. The fruit contains hollow spaces full of seeds and moisture, called locular cavities. These vary, among cultivated species, according to type. Some smaller varieties have two cavities, globe-shaped varieties typically have three to five, beefsteak tomatoes have a great number of smaller cavities, while paste tomatoes have very few, very small cavities.
For propagation, the seeds need to come from a mature fruit, and be dried or fermented before germination.
CLASSIFICATION
In 1753, Linnaeus placed the tomato in the genus Solanum (alongside the potato) as Solanum lycopersicum. In 1768, Philip Miller moved it to its own genus, naming it Lycopersicon esculentum. This name came into wide use, but was technically in breach of the plant naming rules because Linnaeus's species name lycopersicum still had priority. Although the name Lycopersicum lycopersicum was suggested by Karsten (1888), this is not used because it violates the International Code of Nomenclature barring the use of tautonyms in botanical nomenclature. The corrected name Lycopersicon lycopersicum (Nicolson 1974) was technically valid, since Miller's genus name and Linnaeus's species name differ in exact spelling, but since Lycopersicon esculentum has become so well known, it was officially listed as a nomen conservandum in 1983, and would be the correct name for the tomato in classifications which do not place the tomato in the genus Solanum.
Genetic evidence has now shown that Linnaeus was correct to put the tomato in the genus Solanum, making Solanum lycopersicum the correct name. Both names, however, will probably be found in the literature for some time. Two of the major reasons for considering the genera separate are the leaf structure (tomato leaves are markedly different from any other Solanum), and the biochemistry (many of the alkaloids common to other Solanum species are conspicuously absent in the tomato). On the other hand, hybrids of tomato and diploid potato can be created in the lab by somatic fusion, and are partially fertile, providing evidence of the close relationship between these species.
GENETIC MODIFICATION
Tomatoes that have been modified using genetic engineering have been developed, and although none are commercially available now, they have been in the past. The first commercially available genetically modified food was a variety of tomato named the Flavr Savr, which was engineered to have a longer shelf life. Scientists are continuing to develop tomatoes with new traits not found in natural crops, such as increased resistance to pests or environmental stresses. Other projects aim to enrich tomatoes with substances that may offer health benefits or provide better nutrition.
An international consortium of researchers from 10 countries, among them researchers from the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research, began sequencing the tomato genome in 2004, and is creating a database of genomic sequences and information on the tomato and related plants. A prerelease version of the genome was made available in December 2009. The genomes of its mitochondria and chloroplasts are also being sequenced as part of the project. The complete genome for the cultivar Heinz 1706 was published on 31 May 2012 in Nature. Since many other fruits, like strawberries, apples, melons, and bananas share the same characteristics and genes, researchers stated the published genome could help to improve food quality, food security and reduce costs of all of these fruits.
BREEDING
The Tomato Genetic Resource Center, Germplasm Resources Information Network, AVRDC, and numerous seed banks around the world store seed representing genetic variations of value to modern agriculture. These seed stocks are available for legitimate breeding and research efforts. While individual breeding efforts can produce useful results, the bulk of tomato breeding work is at universities and major agriculture-related corporations. These efforts have resulted in significant regionally adapted breeding lines and hybrids, such as the Mountain series from North Carolina. Corporations including Heinz, Monsanto, BHNSeed, and Bejoseed have breeding programs that attempt to improve production, size, shape, color, flavor, disease tolerance, pest tolerance, nutritional value, and numerous other traits.
HISTORY
The wild ancestor of the tomato is native to western South America. These wild versions were the size of peas. Aztecs and other peoples in Mesoamerica were the first to have domesticated the fruit and used in their cooking. The Spanish first introduced tomatoes to Europe, where they became used in Spanish food. In France, Italy and northern Europe, the tomato was initially grown as an ornamental plant. It was regarded with suspicion as a food because botanists recognized it as a nightshade, a relative of the poisonous belladonna. This was exacerbated by the interaction of the tomato's acidic juice with pewter plates. The leaves and immature fruit contains tomatine, which in large quantities would be toxic. However, the ripe fruit contains no tomatine.
MESOAMERICA
The exact date of domestication is unknown; by 500 BC, it was already being cultivated in southern Mexico and probably other areas. The Pueblo people are thought to have believed that those who witnessed the ingestion of tomato seeds were blessed with powers of divination. The large, lumpy variety of tomato, a mutation from a smoother, smaller fruit, originated in Mesoamerica, and may be the direct ancestor of some modern cultivated tomatoes.
The Aztecs raised several varieties of tomato, with red tomatoes called xictomatl and green tomatoes called tomatl (Tomatillo). According to Bernardino de Sahagún he saw a great variety of tomatoes in the Aztec market at Tenochtitlán (Mexico City): “. . . large tomatoes, small tomatoes, leaf tomatoes, sweet tomatoes, large serpent tomatoes, nipple-shaped tomatoes,” and tomatoes of all colors from the brightest red to the deepest yellow. Bernardino de Sahagún mentioned Aztecs cooking various sauces, some with and without tomatoes of different sizes, serving them in city markets: "foods sauces, hot sauces; fried [food], olla-cooked [food], juices, sauces of juices, shredded [food] with chile, with squash seeds [most likely Cucurbita pepo], with tomatoes, with smoked chile, with hot chile, with yellow chile, with mild red chile sauce, yellow chile sauce, hot chile sauce, with "bird excrement" sauce, sauce of smoked chile, heated [sauces], bean sauce; [he sells] toasted beans, cooked beans, mushroom sauce, sauce of small squash, sauce of large tomatoes, sauce of ordinary tomatoes, sauce of various kinds of sour herbs, avocado sauce."
SPANISH DISTRIBUTION
Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés may have been the first to transfer a small yellow tomato to Europe after he captured the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan, now Mexico City, in 1521. The earliest discussion of the tomato in European literature appeared in a herbal written in 1544 by Pietro Andrea Mattioli, an Italian physician and botanist, who suggested that a new type of eggplant had been brought to Italy that was blood red or golden color when mature and could be divided into segments and eaten like an eggplant—that is, cooked and seasoned with salt, black pepper, and oil. It was not until ten years later that tomatoes were named in print by Mattioli as pomi d'oro, or "golden apples".
After the Spanish colonization of the Americas, the Spanish distributed the tomato throughout their colonies in the Caribbean. They also took it to the Philippines, from where it spread to southeast Asia and then the entire Asian continent. The Spanish also brought the tomato to Europe. It grew easily in Mediterranean climates, and cultivation began in the 1540s. It was probably eaten shortly after it was introduced, and was certainly being used as food by the early 17th century in Spain.
CHINA
The tomato was introduced to China, likely via the Philippines or Macau, in the 1500s. It was given the name fānqié (barbarian eggplant), as the Chinese named many foodstuffs introduced from abroad, but referring specifically to early introductions.
ITALY
The recorded history of tomatoes in Italy dates back to at least 31 October 1548, when the house steward of Cosimo de' Medici, the grand duke of Tuscany, wrote to the Medici private secretary informing him that the basket of tomatoes sent from the grand duke's Florentine estate at Torre del Gallo "had arrived safely". Tomatoes were grown mainly as ornamentals early on after their arrival in Italy. For example, the Florentine aristocrat Giovanvettorio Soderini wrote how they "were to be sought only for their beauty", and were grown only in gardens or flower beds. The tomato's ability to mutate and create new and different varieties helped contribute to its success and spread throughout Italy. However, even in areas where the climate supported growing tomatoes, their habit of growing to the ground suggested low status. They were not adopted as a staple of the peasant population because they were not as filling as other fruits already available. Additionally, both toxic and inedible varieties discouraged many people from attempting to consume or prepare any other varieties. In certain areas of Italy, such as Florence, the fruit was used solely as a tabletop decoration, until it was incorporated into the local cuisine in the late 17th or early 18th century. The earliest discovered cookbook with tomato recipes was published in Naples in 1692, though the author had apparently obtained these recipes from Spanish sources.
Unique varieties were developed over the next several hundred years for uses such as dried tomatoes, sauce tomatoes, pizza tomatoes, and tomatoes for long-term storage. These varieties are usually known for their place of origin as much as by a variety name. For example, Pomodorino del Piennolo del Vesuvio is the "hanging tomato of Vesuvius" or the Pomodoro di Pachino and Pomodorino di Manduria.
BRITAIN
Tomatoes were not grown in England until the 1590s. One of the earliest cultivators was John Gerard, a barber-surgeon. Gerard's Herbal, published in 1597, and largely plagiarized from continental sources, is also one of the earliest discussions of the tomato in England. Gerard knew the tomato was eaten in Spain and Italy. Nonetheless, he believed it was poisonous (in fact, the plant and raw fruit do have low levels of tomatine, but are not generally dangerous; see below). Gerard's views were influential, and the tomato was considered unfit for eating (though not necessarily poisonous) for many years in Britain and its North American colonies.
However, by the mid-18th century, tomatoes were widely eaten in Britain, and before the end of that century, the Encyclopædia Britannica stated the tomato was "in daily use" in soups, broths, and as a garnish. They were not part of the average person's diet, and though by 1820 they were described as "to be seen in great abundance in all our vegetable markets" and to be "used by all our best cooks", reference was made to their cultivation in gardens still "for the singularity of their appearance", while their use in cooking was associated with exotic Italian or Jewish cuisine.
INDIA
The tomato arrived in India by the way of Portuguese explorers, in the 16th century. It was grown from the 18th century onwards for the British. Even today, in Bengal, the alternative name is "Biliti Begun" (Bengali: বিলিতি বেগুন), meaning "Foreign Eggplant" It was then adopted widely as it is well suited to India's climate, with Uttarakhand as one of the main producers.
MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA
The tomato was introduced to cultivation in the Middle East by John Barker, British consul in Aleppo circa 1799 to 1825. Nineteenth century descriptions of its consumption are uniformly as an ingredient in a cooked dish. In 1881, it is described as only eaten in the region "within the last forty years". Today, the tomato is a critical and ubiquitous part of Middle Eastern cuisine, served fresh in salads (e.g., Arab salad, Israeli salad, Shirazi salad and Turkish salad), grilled with kebabs and other dishes, made into sauces, and so on.
NORTH AMERICA
The earliest reference to tomatoes being grown in British North America is from 1710, when herbalist William Salmon reported seeing them in what is today South Carolina. They may have been introduced from the Caribbean. By the mid-18th century, they were cultivated on some Carolina plantations, and probably in other parts of the Southeast as well. Possibly, some people continued to think tomatoes were poisonous at this time; and in general, they were grown more as ornamental plants than as food. Thomas Jefferson, who ate tomatoes in Paris, sent some seeds back to America.
Early tomato breeders included Henry Tilden in Iowa and a Dr. Hand in Baltimore.
Alexander W. Livingston receives much credit for developing numerous varieties of tomato for both home and commercial gardeners. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's 1937 yearbook declared that "half of the major varieties were a result of the abilities of the Livingstons to evaluate and perpetuate superior material in the tomato." Livingston's first breed of tomato, the Paragon, was introduced in 1870. In 1875, he introduced the Acme, which was said to be involved in the parentage of most of the tomatoes introduced by him and his competitors for the next twenty-five years.
When Livingston began his attempts to develop the tomato as a commercial crop, his aim had been to grow tomatoes smooth in contour, uniform in size, and sweet in flavor. In 1870, Livingston introduced the Paragon, and tomato culture soon became a great enterprise in the county. He eventually developed over seventeen different varieties of the tomato plant. Today, the crop is grown in every state in the Union.
Because of the long growing season needed for this heat-loving crop, several states in the US Sun Belt became major tomato-producers, particularly Florida and California. In California, tomatoes are grown under irrigation for both the fresh fruit market and for canning and processing. The University of California, Davis (UC Davis) became a major center for research on the tomato. The C.M. Rick Tomato Genetics Resource Center at UC Davis is a gene bank of wild relatives, monogenic mutants and miscellaneous genetic stocks of tomato. The center is named for the late Dr. Charles M. Rick, a pioneer in tomato genetics research. Research on processing tomatoes is also conducted by the California Tomato Research Institute in Escalon, California.
In California, growers have used a method of cultivation called dry-farming, especially with Early Girl tomatoes. This technique encourages the plant to send roots deep to find existing moisture in soil that retains moisture, such as clayey soil.
MODERN COMMERCIAL VARIETIES
The poor taste and lack of sugar in modern garden and commercial tomato varieties resulted from breeding tomatoes to ripen uniformly red. This change occurred after discovery of a mutant "u" phenotype in the mid 20th century that ripened "u"niformly. This was widely cross-bred to produce red fruit without the typical green ring around the stem on uncross-bred varieties. Prior to general introduction of this trait, most tomatoes produced more sugar during ripening, and were sweeter and more flavorful.
Evidence has been found that 10–20% of the total carbon fixed in the fruit can be produced by photosynthesis in the developing fruit of the normal U phenotype. The u genetic mutation encodes a factor that produces defective chloroplasts with lower density in developing fruit, resulting in a lighter green colour of unripe fruit, and repression of sugars accumulation in the resulting ripe fruit by 10–15%. Perhaps more important than their role in photosynthesis, the fruit chloroplasts are remodelled during ripening into chlorophyll-free chromoplasts that synthesize and accumulate the carotenoids lycopene, β-carotene, and other metabolites that are sensory and nutritional assets of the ripe fruit. The potent chloroplasts in the dark-green shoulders of the U phenotype are beneficial here, but have the disadvantage of leaving green shoulders near the stems of the ripe fruit, and even cracked yellow shoulders, apparently because of oxidative stress due to overload of the photosynthetic chain in direct sunlight at high temperatures. Hence genetic design of a commercial variety that combines the advantages of types u and U requires fine tuning, but may be feasible.
Furthermore, breeders of modern tomato cultivars typically strive to produce tomato plants exhibiting improved yield, shelf life, size, and tolerance/resistance to various environmental pressures, including disease. However, these breeding efforts have yielded unintended negative consequences on various tomato fruit attributes. For instance, linkage drag is a phenomenon that has been responsible for alterations in the metabolism of the tomato fruit. Linkage drag describes the introduction of an undesired trait or allele into a plant during backcrossing. This trait/allele is physically linked (or is very close) to the desired allele along the chromosome. In introducing the beneficial allele, there exists a high likelihood that the poor allele is also incorporated into the plant. Thus, breeding efforts attempting to enhance certain traits (for example: larger fruit size) have unintentionally altered production of chemicals associated with, for instance, nutritional value and flavor.
Breeders have turned to using wild tomato species as a source of alleles for the introduction of beneficial traits into modern tomato varieties. For example, wild tomato relatives may possess higher amounts of fruit solids (which are associated with greater sugar content) or resistance to diseases caused by microbes, such as resistance towards the early blight pathogen Alternaria solani. However, this tactic has limitations, for the incorporation of certain traits, such as pathogen resistance, can negatively impact other favorable phenotypes (fruit production, etc.).
CULTIVATION
The tomato is grown worldwide for its edible fruits, with thousands of cultivars. A fertilizer with an NPK ratio of 5–10–10 is often sold as tomato fertilizer or vegetable fertilizer, although manure and compost are also used.
DISEASES,PESTS AND DISORDERS
Tomato cultivars vary widely in their resistance to disease. Modern hybrids focus on improving disease resistance over the heirloom plants.
Various forms of mildew and blight are common tomato afflictions, which is why tomato cultivars are often marked with a combination of letters that refer to specific disease resistance. The most common letters are: LB – late blight, V – verticillium wilt, F – fusarium wilt strain I, FF – fusarium wilt strain I and II, N – nematodes, T – tobacco mosaic virus, and A – alternaria.
Some common tomato pests are stink bugs, cutworms, tomato hornworms and tobacco hornworms, aphids, cabbage loopers, whiteflies, tomato fruitworms, flea beetles, red spider mite, slugs,[56] and Colorado potato beetles. The tomato russet mite, Aculops lycopersici, feeds on foliage and young fruit of tomato plants, causing shrivelling and necrosis of leaves, flowers, and fruit, possibly killing the plant.
A common tomato disease is tobacco mosaic virus. Handling cigarettes and other infected tobacco products can transmit the virus to tomato plants.
Another particularly dreaded disease is curly top, carried by the beet leafhopper, which interrupts the lifecycle. As the name implies, it has the symptom of making the top leaves of the plant wrinkle up and grow abnormally.
After an insect attack tomato plants produce systemin, a plant peptide hormone . Systemin activates defensive mechanisms, such as the production of protease inhibitors to slow the growth of insects. The hormone was first identified in tomatoes, but similar proteins have been identified in other species since.
Although not a disease as such, irregular supplies of water can cause growing or ripening fruit to split. Besides cosmetic damage, the splits may allow decay to start, although growing fruits have some ability to heal after a split. In addition, a deformity called cat-facing can be caused by pests, temperature stress, or poor soil conditions. Affected fruit usually remains edible, but its appearance may be unsightly.
COMPANION PLANTS
Tomatoes serve, or are served by, a large variety of companion plants.
Among the most famous pairings is the tomato plant and carrots; studies supporting this relationship have produced a popular book about companion planting, Carrots Love Tomatoes.
The devastating tomato hornworm has a major predator in various parasitic wasps, whose larvae devour the hornworm, but whose adult form drinks nectar from tiny-flowered plants like umbellifers. Several species of umbellifer are therefore often grown with tomato plants, including parsley, Queen Anne's lace, and occasionally dill. These also attract predatory flies that attack various tomato pests.
Borage is thought to repel the tomato hornworm moth.
Plants with strong scents, like alliums (onions, chives, garlic), mints (basil, oregano, spearmint) and French marigold, (Tagetes patula) are thought to mask the scent of the tomato plant, making it harder for pests to locate it, or to provide an alternative landing point, reducing the odds of the pests from attacking the correct plant. These plants may also subtly affect the flavor of tomato fruit.
Tomato plants can protect asparagus from asparagus beetles, because they contain solanine that kills this pest, while asparagus plants contain Asparagusic acid that repels nematodes known to attack tomato plants. Marigolds also repel nematodes.
POLLINATION
In the wild, original state, tomatoes required cross-pollination; they were much more self-incompatible than domestic cultivars. As a floral device to reduce selfing, the pistil of wild tomatoes extends farther out of the flower than today's cultivars. The stamens were, and remain, entirely within the closed corolla.
As tomatoes were moved from their native areas, their traditional pollinators, (probably a species of halictid bee) did not move with them. The trait of self-fertility became an advantage, and domestic cultivars of tomato have been selected to maximize this trait.
This is not the same as self-pollination, despite the common claim that tomatoes do so. That tomatoes pollinate themselves poorly without outside aid is clearly shown in greenhouse situations, where pollination must be aided by artificial wind, vibration of the plants (one brand of vibrator is a wand called an "electric bee" that is used manually), or more often today, by cultured bumblebees. The anther of a tomato flower is shaped like a hollow tube, with the pollen produced within the structure, rather than on the surface, as in most species. The pollen moves through pores in the anther, but very little pollen is shed without some kind of externally-induced motion. The ideal vibratory frequencies to release pollen grains are provided by an insect, such as a bumblebee, or the original wild halictid pollinator, capable of engaging in a behavior known as buzz pollination, which honey bees cannot perform. In an outdoors setting, wind or animals usually provide sufficient motion to produce commercially viable crops.
FRUIT FORMATION
Pollination and fruit formation depend on meiosis. Meiosis is central to the processes by which diploid microspore mother cells within the anther give rise to haploid pollen grains, and megaspore mother cells in ovules that are contained within the ovary give rise to haploid nuclei. Union of haploid nuclei from pollen and ovule (fertilization) can occur either by self- or cross-pollination. Fertilization leads to the formation of a diploid zygote that can then develop into an embryo within the emerging seed. Repeated fertilizations within the ovary are accompanied by maturation of the ovary to form the tomato fruit.
Homologs of the recA gene, including rad51, play a key role in homologous recombinational repair of DNA during meiosis. A rad51 homolog is present in the anther of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum), suggesting that recombinational repair occurs during meiosis in tomato.
HYDROPONIC AND GREENHOUSE CULTIVATION
Tomatoes are often grown in greenhouses in cooler climates, and cultivars such as the British 'Moneymaker' and a number of cultivars grown in Siberia are specifically bred for indoor growing. In more temperate climates, it is not uncommon to start seeds in greenhouses during the late winter for future transplant.
Greenhouse tomato production in large-acreage commercial greenhouses and owner-operator stand-alone or multiple-bay greenhouses is on the increase, providing fruit during those times of the year when field-grown fruit is not readily available. Smaller sized fruit (cherry and grape), or cluster tomatoes (fruit-on-the-vine) are the fruit of choice for the large commercial greenhouse operators while the beefsteak varieties are the choice of owner-operator growers.
Hydroponic technique is often used in hostile growing environments, as well as high-density plantings.
PICKING AND RIPENING
To facilitate transportation and storage, tomatoes are often picked unripe (green) and ripened in storage with ethylene.
A machine-harvestable variety of tomato (the "square tomato") was developed in the 1950s by University of California, Davis's Gordie C. Hanna, which, in combination with the development of a suitable harvester, revolutionized the tomato-growing industry. This type of tomato is grown commercially near plants that process and can tomatoes, tomato sauce, and tomato paste. They are harvested when ripe and are flavorful when picked. They are harvested 24 hours a day, seven days a week during a 12- to 14-week season, and immediately transported to packing plants, which operate on the same schedule. California is a center of this sort of commercial tomato production and produces about a third of the processed tomatoes produced in the world.
In 1994, Calgene introduced a genetically modified tomato called the FlavrSavr, which could be vine ripened without compromising shelf life. However, the product was not commercially successful, and was sold only until 1997.
YIELD
The world dedicated 4.8 million hectares in 2012 for tomato cultivation and the total production was about 161.8 million tonnes. The average world farm yield for tomato was 33.6 tonnes per hectare, in 2012.
Tomato farms in the Netherlands were the most productive in 2012, with a nationwide average of 476 tonnes per hectare, followed by Belgium (463 tonnes per hectare) and Iceland (429 tonnes per hectare).
RECORDS
As of 2008, the heaviest tomato harvested, weighed 3.51 kg, was of the cultivar "Delicious", and was grown by Gordon Graham of Edmond, Oklahoma in 1986. The largest tomato plant grown was of the cultivar "Sungold" and reached 19.8 m in length, grown by Nutriculture Ltd (UK) of Mawdesley, Lancashire, UK, in 2000.
A massive "tomato tree" growing inside the Walt Disney World Resort's experimental greenhouses in Lake Buena Vista, Florida may have been the largest single tomato plant in the world. The plant has been recognized as a Guinness World Record Holder, with a harvest of more than 32,000 tomatoes and a total weight of 522 kg It yielded thousands of tomatoes at one time from a single vine. Yong Huang, Epcot's manager of agricultural science, discovered the unique plant in Beijing, China. Huang brought its seeds to Epcot and created the specialized greenhouse for the fruit to grow. The vine grew golf ball-sized tomatoes, which were served at Walt Disney World restaurants.[citation needed] The tree developed a disease and was removed in April 2010 after about 13 months of life.
PRODUCTION
In 2019, world production of tomatoes was 181 million tonnes, with China accounting for 35% of the total, followed by India and Turkey as major producers (table).
CONSUMPTION
Though it is botanically a berry, a subset of fruit, the tomato is a vegetable for culinary purposes because of its savory flavor (see below).
Although tomatoes originated in the Americas, they have become extensively used in Mediterranean cuisine. Ripe tomatoes contain significant umami flavor and they are a key ingredient in pizza, and are commonly used in pasta sauces. They are also used in gazpacho (Spanish cuisine) and pa amb tomàquet (Catalan cuisine).
The tomato is now grown and eaten around the world. It is used in diverse ways, including raw in salads or in slices, stewed, incorporated into a wide variety of dishes, or processed into ketchup or tomato soup. Unripe green tomatoes can also be breaded and fried, used to make salsa, or pickled. Tomato juice is sold as a drink, and is used in cocktails such as the Bloody Mary.
STORAGE
Tomatoes keep best unwashed at room temperature and out of direct sunlight. It is not recommended to refrigerate them as this can harm the flavor. Tomatoes stored cold tend to lose their flavor permanently.
Storing stem down can prolong shelf life, as it may keep from rotting too quickly.
Tomatoes that are not yet ripe can be kept in a paper bag till ripening.
Tomatoes are easy to preserve whole, in pieces, as tomato sauce or paste by home canning. They are acidic enough to process in a water bath rather than a pressure cooker as most vegetables require. The fruit is also preserved by drying, often in the sun, and sold either in bags or in jars with oil.
SAFETY
PLANT TOXICITY
The leaves, stem, and green unripe fruit of the tomato plant contain small amounts of the alkaloid tomatine, whose effect on humans has not been studied. They also contain small amounts of solanine, a toxic alkaloid found in potato leaves and other plants in the nightshade family. However, solanine concentrations in foliage and green fruit are generally too small to be dangerous unless large amounts are consumed—for example, as greens.
Small amounts of tomato foliage are sometimes used for flavoring without ill effect, and the green fruit of unripe red tomato varieties is sometimes used for cooking, particularly as fried green tomatoes. There are also tomato varieties with fully ripe fruit that is still green. Compared to potatoes, the amount of solanine in unripe green or fully ripe tomatoes is low. However, even in the case of potatoes, while solanine poisoning resulting from dosages several times the normal human consumption has been demonstrated, actual cases of poisoning from excessive consumption of potatoes are rare.
Tomato plants can be toxic to dogs if they eat large amounts of the fruit, or chew plant material.
SALMONELLA
Tomatoes were linked to seven Salmonella outbreaks between 1990 and 2005, and may have been the cause of a salmonellosis outbreak causing 172 illnesses in 18 US states in 2006. The 2008 United States salmonellosis outbreak caused the temporary removal of tomatoes from stores and restaurants across the United States and parts of Canada, although other foods, including jalapeño and serrano peppers, may have been involved.
NUTRITION
A tomato is 95% water, contains 4% carbohydrates and less than 1% each of fat and protein (table). In a 100 gram amount, raw tomatoes supply 18 calories and are a moderate source of vitamin C (17% of the Daily Value), but otherwise are absent of significant nutrient content (table).
RESEARCH
No conclusive evidence indicates that the lycopene in tomatoes or in supplements affects the onset of cardiovascular diseases or cancer.
In the United States, supposed health benefits of consuming tomatoes, tomato products or lycopene to affect cancer cannot be mentioned on packaged food products without a qualified health claim statement. In a scientific review of potential claims for lycopene favorably affecting DNA, skin exposed to ultraviolet radiation, heart function and vision, the European Food Safety Authority concluded that the evidence for lycopene having any of these effects was inconclusive.
HOST PLANT
The Potato Tuber moth (Phthorimaea operculella) is an oligophagous insect that prefers to feed on plants of the family Solanaceae such as tomato plants. Female P. operculella use the leaves to lay their eggs and the hatched larvae will eat away at the mesophyll of the leaf.
IN POPULAR CULTURE
On 30 August 2007, 40,000 Spaniards gathered in Buñol to throw 115,000 kg of tomatoes at each other in the yearly Tomatina festival.
In Ontario, Canada, member of provincial parliament Mike Colle introduced a private member's bill in March 2016 to name the tomato as the official vegetable of the province and to designate 15 July as Tomato Day, in order to acknowledge the tomato's importance in Ontario's agriculture. The bill did not pass in the legislature and no official designations were made.
Tomatoes have been designated the state vegetable of New Jersey. Arkansas took both sides by declaring the South Arkansas Vine Ripe Pink Tomato both the state fruit and the state vegetable in the same law, citing both its culinary and botanical classifications. In 2009, the state of Ohio passed a law making the tomato the state's official fruit. Tomato juice has been the official beverage of Ohio since 1965. Alexander W. Livingston, of Reynoldsburg, Ohio, played a large part in popularizing the tomato in the late 19th century; his efforts are commemorated in Reynoldsburg with an annual Tomato Festival.
Flavr Savr was the first commercially grown genetically engineered food licensed for human consumption.
The town of Buñol, Spain, annually celebrates La Tomatina, a festival centered on an enormous tomato fight. Tomatoes are a popular "nonlethal" throwing weapon in mass protests, and there was a common tradition of throwing rotten tomatoes at bad performers on a stage during the 19th century; today this is usually referenced as a metaphor. Embracing it for this protest connotation, the Dutch Socialist party adopted the tomato as their logo.
The US city of Reynoldsburg, Ohio calls itself "The Birthplace of the Tomato", claiming the first commercial variety of tomato was bred there in the 19th century.
Several US states have adopted the tomato as a state fruit or vegetable (see above).
"Rotten Tomatoes" is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The name "Rotten Tomatoes" derives from the practice of audiences throwing rotten tomatoes when disapproving of a poor stage performance. "Rotten Tomatoes" took the tomato metaphor further by rating films as Certified Fresh if they got a score of 75% or higher, Fresh for films with a score of 60% or higher that do not meet the requirements for the Certified Fresh seal, and Rotten for films with a score of 0–59%.
WIKIPEDIA
from poetic prose… to watercolor paintings… to high-resolution 3D models .
The cell is a crucible of magical marvels accumulated over millennia. These authors and artists have tried to convey that in various media over time. Perhaps because I am a visual thinker, the richer representations are easier to remember than related text I read many years ago. I’ll share my favorite quotes and images.
Next, we turn to the watercolor paintings of David Goodsell (an eponymous homonym) in The Machinery of Life, first published in 1993. His accurate portrayals belie the simple block diagrams from our grade school textbooks as misleading, much like the spacing of the planets in most solar system representations. Nanomachines also defy our senses and intuition from statistical physics, yet reveal a homologous beauty across structural biology and biochemistry.
“The nanoscale world of molecules is separated from our everyday world of experience by a daunting million-fold difference in size, so the world of molecules is completely invisible. I created the paintings in this book to help bridge this gulf and allow us to see the molecular structure of cells.”
“Cells are small, crowded places with many things happening at once” (25)
“Cells live in a world of thick viscous water, almost oblivious to gravity.” (65)
The images below in the comments feature the common gut bacteria E.Coli and its rotary motors:
“E.Coli cells swim using long corkscrew-shaped flagella, which act like propellers. The cells push through water typically moving 10-15 cell lengths/second. But when they stop turning the flagella, they don’t keep coasting along the way a ship or submarine would. Instead, the surrounding water instantly stops them in less than the diameter of a water molecule!
The flagellar motor is one of the wonders of the biomolecular world. The motor spans the entire cell wall, rotating at speeds of up to 18,000 RPM. Each rotation is powered by the flow of 1000 hydrogen ions across the inner membrane. Amazingly, the motor can turn the flagellum in either direction on demand. When it turns in one direction, all of the flagella get tangled into a bundle, and together they propel the cell through the surrounding water. If the motor switches direction, however, the flagella separate and flail in different directions, causing the cell to stop and tumble in place.” (65)
Before modern imaging, we have the poetry of Lewis Thomas, The Lives of a Cell, originally typed in 1973. The cover is but a sketch, the pages sculpted prose:
"Once you have become permanently startled, as I am, by the realization that we are a social species, you tend to keep an eye out for the pieces of evidence that this is, by and large, good for us." (58)
“My mitochondria comprise a very large proportion of me. I cannot do the calculation, but I suppose there is almost as much of them in sheer dry bulk as there is the rest of me. Looked at in this way, I could be taken for a very large, motile colony of respiring bacteria, operating a complex system of nuclei, microtubules, and neurons for the pleasure and sustenance of their families, and running, at the moment, a typewriter.” (72)
“Inflammation and immunology must indeed be powerfully designed to keep us apart; without such mechanisms, involving considerable effort, we might have developed as a kind of flowing syncytium over the earth, without the morphogenesis of even a flower.” (10)
“The genes for the marking of self by cellular antigens and those for making immunologic responses by antibody formation are closely linked. It is possible that antibodies evolved from the earlier sensing mechanism needed for symbiosis, to keep the latter from getting out of hand.” (41)
“Pathogenicity is not the rule. Indeed, it occurs so infrequently and involves such a relatively small number of species, considering the huge population of bacteria on the earth, that it has a freakish aspect. Disease usually results from inconclusive negotiations for symbiosis, an overstepping of the line by one side or the other, a biologic misinterpretation of borders.” (76)
“We tear ourselves to pieces because of symbols, and we are more vulnerable to this than any host of predators. We are, in effect, at the mercy of our own Pentagons, most of the time.” (80)
“The capacity to blunder slightly is the real marvel of DNA. Without this special attribute, we would still be anaerobic bacteria and there would be no music.”
It reminds me of Juan Enriquez’s definition of life: the imperfect transmission of code.
“The nature of biologic information not only stores itself up as energy but also instigates a search for more. It is an insatiable mechanism.” (93)
“Ambiguity seems to be an essential, indispensable element for the transfer of information from one place to another by words, where matters of real importance are concerned. It is often necessary, for meaning to come through, that there be an almost vague sense of strangeness and askewness. Speechless animals and cells cannot do this. Only the human mind is designed to work in this way, programmed to drift away in the presence of locked-on information, straying from each point in a hunt for a better, different point.
“If it were not for the capacity for ambiguity, for the sensing of strangeness, the words in all languages provide, we would have no way of recognizing the layers of counterpoint in meaning, and we might be spending all our time sitting on stone fences, staring into the sun. To be sure, we would always have had some everyday use to make of the alphabet, and we might have reached the same capacity for small talk, but it is unlikely that we would have been able to evolve from words to Bach. The great thing about human language is that it prevents us from sticking to the matter at hand.” (95)
“It is in our collective behavior that we are the most mysterious. We won't be able to construct machines like ourselves until we've understood this, and we're not even close. All we know is the phenomenon: we spend our time sending messages to each other, talking and trying to listen at the same time, exchanging information. This seems to be our most urgent biological function; it is what we do with our lives. All 3 billion of us are being connected by telephones, radios, television sets, airplanes, satellites, harangues on public-address systems, newspapers, magazines, leaflets dropped from great heights, words got in edgewise. We are becoming a grid, a circuitry around the earth.” (112, this was written in 1973, before the internet)
“Although we are by all odds the most social of all social animals, we do not often feel our conjoined intelligence.” (14).
“Science is instinctive behavior. You can measure the quality of the work by the intensity of astonishment.” (102, 119)
“Individual organisms might be self-transcending in their relation to a dense society.” (128)
“It is permissible to say this sort of thing about humans: they do resemble, in their most compulsively social behavior, ants at a distance. It is, however, quite bad form in biological circles to put it the other way round, to imply that the operation of insect societies has any relation at all to human affairs.” “Ants are so much like humans as to be an embarrassment.” (11)
“It is from the progeny of this original parent cell that we take our looks; we still share genes around, and the resemblance of the enzymes of grasses to those of whales is a family resemblance. The viruses, instead of being single-minded agents of disease and death, now begin to look more like mobile genes. Evolution is still an infinitely long and tedious biologic game, with only the winners staying at the table, but the rules are beginning to look more flexible. We live in a dancing matrix of viruses; they dart, rather like bees, from organism to organism, from plant to insect to mammal to me and back again, and into the sea, tugging along pieces of this genome, strings of genes from that, transplanting grafts of DNA, passing around heredity as though at a great party. They may be a mechanism for keeping new, mutant kinds of DNA in the widest circulation among us.” (5)
“Our cilia gave up any independent existence long ago, and our organelles are now truly ours, but the genomes controlling separate parts of our cells are still different genomes, lodged in separate compartments; doctrinally, we are still assemblages.” (125)
“It is illusion to think that there is anything fragile about the life of the earth; surely this is the toughest membrane imaginable in the universe, opaque to probability, impermeable to death. We are the delicate part, transient and vulnerable as cilia. Nor is it a new thing for Man to invent an existence that he imagines to be above the rest of life; this has been his most consistent intellectual exertion down the millennia. As illusion, it has never worked out to his satisfaction in the past, any more than it does today.” (3)
“We should credit the sky for what it is: for sheer size and perfection of function, it is far and away the grandest product of collaboration in all of nature. It breathes for us, and it does another thing for our pleasure. Each day, millions of meteorites fall against the outer limits of the membrane and are burned to nothing by the friction. Without this shelter, our surface would long since have become the pounded powder of the moon. Even though our receptors are not sensitive enough to hear it, there is comfort in knowing that the sound is there overhead, like the random noise of rain on the roof at night.” (the closing paragraph, 148)
Bipolar disorder, previously known as manic depression, is a mood disorder characterized by periods of depression and periods of abnormally-elevated mood that last from days to weeks each. A self-disorder, also called ipseity disturbance, is a psychological phenomenon of disruption or diminishing of a person's sense of minimal (or basic) self-awareness. The precise mechanisms that cause bipolar disorder are not well understood. Bipolar disorder is thought to be associated with abnormalities in the structure and function of certain brain areas responsible for cognitive tasks and the processing of emotions. A neurologic model for bipolar disorder proposes that the emotional circuitry of the brain can be divided into two main parts. The ventral system (regulates emotional perception) includes brain structures such as the amygdala, insula, ventral striatum, ventral anterior cingulate cortex, and the prefrontal cortex. The dorsal system (responsible for emotional regulation) includes the hippocampus, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, and other parts of the prefrontal cortex.The model hypothesizes that bipolar disorder may occur when the ventral system is overactivated and the dorsal system is underactivated.Other models suggest the ability to regulate emotions is disrupted in people with bipolar disorder and that dysfunction of the ventricular prefrontal cortex (vPFC) is crucial to this disruption.
If the elevated mood is severe or associated with psychosis, it is called mania; if it is less severe, it is called hypomania. During mania, an individual behaves or feels abnormally energetic, happy or irritable, and they often make impulsive decisions with little regard for the consequences.[5] There is usually also a reduced need for sleep during manic phases.[5] During periods of depression, the individual may experience crying and have a negative outlook on life and poor eye contact with others.[ The risk of suicide is high; over a period of 20 years, 6% of those with bipolar disorder died by suicide, while 30–40% engaged in self-harm. Other mental health issues, such as anxiety disorders and substance use disorders, are commonly associated with bipolar disorder. The sense of minimal self refers to the very basic sense of having experiences that are one's own; it has no properties, unlike the more extended sense of self, the narrative self, which is characterized by the person's reflections on themselves as a person, things they like, their identity, and other aspects that are the result of reflection on one's self. Disturbances in the sense of minimal self, as measured by the Examination of Anomalous Self-Experience (EASE), aggregate in the schizophrenia spectrum disorders, to include schizotypal personality disorder, and distinguish them from other conditions such as psychotic bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder. The minimal self has been likened to a "flame that enlightens its surroundings and thereby itself." Unlike the extended self, which is composed of properties such as the person's identity, the person's narrative, and other aspects that can be gleaned from reflection, the minimal self has no properties, but refers to the "mine-ness" "given-ness" of experience, that the experiences are that of the person having them in that person's stream of consciousness. These experiences that are part of the minimal self are normally "tacit" and implied, requiring no reflection on the part of the person experiencing to know that the experience is theirs. The minimal self cannot be further elaborated and normally one cannot grasp it upon reflection. The minimal self goes hand-in-hand with immersion in the shared social world, such that "[t]he world is always pregiven, ie, tacitly grasped as a self-evident background of all experiencing and meaning." This is the self-world structure. De Warren gives an example of the minimal self combined with immersion in the shared social world: "When looking at this tree in my backyard, my consciousness is directed toward the tree and not toward my own act of perception. I am, however, aware of myself as perceiving this tree, yet this self-awareness (or self-consciousness) is not itself thematic."[5] The focus is normally on the tree itself, not on the person's own act of seeing the tree: to know that one is seeing the tree does not require an act of reflection. In the schizophrenia spectrum disorders, the minimal self and the self-world structure are "constantly challenged, unstable, and oscillating," causing anomalous self-experiences known as self-disorders. These involve the person feeling as if they lack an identity, as if they are not really existing, that the sense of their experiences being their own (the "mine-ness" of their experiential world) is failing or diminishing, as if their inner experiences are no longer private, and that they don't really understand the world. These experiences lead to the person engaging in hyper-reflectivity, or abnormally prolonged and intense self-reflection, to attempt to gain a grasp on these experiences, but such intense reflection may further exacerbate the self-disorders. Self-disorders tend to be chronic, becoming incorporated into the person's way of being and affecting "how" they experience the world and not necessarily "what" they experience. This instability of the minimal self may provoke the onset of psychosis. Similar phenomena can occur in other conditions, such as bipolar disorder and depersonalization disorder, but Sass's (2014) review of the literature comparing accounts of self-experience in various mental disorders shows that serious self-other confusion and "severe erosion of minimal self-experience" only occur in schizophrenia; as an example of the latter, Sass cites the autobiographical account of Elyn Saks, who has schizophrenia, of her experience of "disorganization" in which she felt that thoughts, perceptions, sensations, and even the passage of time became incoherent, and that she had no longer "the solid center from which one experiences reality", which occurred when she was 7 or 8 years old. This disturbance tends to fluctuate over time based on emotions and motivation, accounting for the phenomenon of dialipsis in schizophrenia, where neurocognitive performance tends to be inconsistent over time. The disturbance of the minimal self may manifest in people in various ways, including as a tendency to inspect one's thoughts in order to know what they are thinking, like a person seeing an image, reading a message, or listening closely to someone talking (audible thoughts; or in German: Gedankenlautwerden). In normal thought, the "signifier" (the images or inner speech representing the thought) and the "meaning" are combined into the "expression", so that the person "inhabits" their thinking, or that both the signifier and the meaning implicitly come to mind together; the person does not need to reflect on their thoughts to understand what they are thinking. In people with self-disorder, however, it is frequently the case that many thoughts are experienced as more like external objects that are not implicitly comprehended. The person must turn their focus toward the thoughts to understand their thoughts because of that lack of implicit comprehension, a split of the signifier and the meaning from each other, where the signifier emerges automatically in the field of awareness but the meaning does not. This is an example of the failing "mine-ness" of the experiential field as the minimal self recedes from its own thoughts, which are consigned to an outer space. This is present chronically, both during and outside of psychosis, and may represent a middle point between normal inner speech and auditory hallucinations, as well as normal experience and first-rank symptoms. They may also experience uncontrolled multiple trains of thought with different themes simultaneously coursing through one's head interfering with concentration (thought pressure) or often feel they must attend to things with their full attention in order to get done what most people can do without giving it much thought (hyper-reflectivity), which can lead to fatigue.In a 2014 review, Postmes, et al., suggested that self-disorders and psychosis may arise from attempts to compensate for perceptual incoherence and proposed a hypothesis for how the interaction among these phenomena and the person's attempts to resolve the incoherence give rise to schizophrenia. The problems with the integration of sensory information create problems for the person in keeping a grip on the world, and since the self-world interaction is fundamentally linked to the basic sense of self, the latter is also disrupted as a result. Sass and Borda have studied the correlates of the dimensions of self-disorders, namely disturbed grip (perplexity, difficulty "getting" stuff most people can get), hyperreflexivity (where thoughts, feelings, sensations, and objects pop up uncontrollably in the field of awareness, as well dysfunctional reflecting on matters and the self), and diminished self-affection (where the person has difficulty being "affected" by aspects of the self, experiencing those aspects as if they existed in an outer space), and have proposed how both primary and secondary factors may arise from dysfunctions in perceptual organization and multisensory integration. In a 2013 review, Mishara, et al., criticized the concept of the minimal self as an explanation for self-disorder, saying that it is unfalsifiable, and that self-disorder arises primarily from difficulty integrating different aspects of the self as well as having difficulty distinguishing self and other, as proposed by Lysaker and Lysaker: Ichstörung or ego disorder, as they say, in schizophrenia arises from disturbed relationships not from the "solipsistic" concept of the self as proposed by Sass, Parnas, and others. In his review, Sass agrees that the focus of research into self-disorder has focused too much on the self, and mentions attempts to look at disturbances in the person's relationship with other people and the world, with work being done to create an Examination of Anomalous World Experience, which will look at the person's anomalous experiences regarding time, space, persons, language, and atmosphere; he suggests there are problems with both the self and the world in people with self-disorder, and that it may be better conceptualized as a "presence-disturbance".Parnas acknowledges the Lysaker model, but says that it is not incompatible with the concept of the minimal self, as they deal with different levels of self-hood.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-disorder
Late adolescence and early adulthood are peak years for the onset of bipolar disorder.The condition is characterized by intermittent episodes of mania and/or depression, with an absence of symptoms in between. During these episodes, people with bipolar disorder exhibit disruptions in normal mood, psychomotor activity (the level of physical activity that is influenced by mood)—e.g. constant fidgeting during mania or slowed movements during depression—circadian rhythm and cognition. Mania can present with varying levels of mood disturbance, ranging from euphoria, which is associated with "classic mania", to dysphoria and irritability. Psychotic symptoms such as delusions or hallucinations may occur in both manic and depressive episodes; their content and nature are consistent with the person's prevailing mood. According to the DSM-5 criteria, mania is distinguished from hypomania by length: hypomania is present if elevated mood symptoms persist for at least four consecutive days, while mania is present if such symptoms persist for more than a week. Unlike mania, hypomania is not always associated with impaired functioning. The biological mechanisms responsible for switching from a manic or hypomanic episode to a depressive episode, or vice versa, remain poorly understood.The causes of bipolar disorder are not clearly understood, both genetic and environmental factors are thought to play a role. Many genes, each with small effects, may contribute to the development of the disorder. Genetic factors account for about 70–90% of the risk of developing bipolar disorder. Environmental risk factors include a history of childhood abuse and long-term stress. The condition is classified as bipolar I disorder if there has been at least one manic episode, with or without depressive episodes, and as bipolar II disorder if there has been at least one hypomanic episode (but no full manic episodes) and one major depressive episode. If these symptoms are due to drugs or medical problems, they are not diagnosed as bipolar disorder. Other conditions that have overlapping symptoms with bipolar disorder include attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, personality disorders, schizophrenia, and substance use disorder as well as many other medical conditions. Medical testing is not required for a diagnosis, though blood tests or medical imaging can rule out other problems. Mood stabilizers—lithium and certain anticonvulsants such as valproate and carbamazepine—are the mainstay of long-term relapse prevention. Antipsychotics are given during acute manic episodes as well as in cases where mood stabilizers are poorly tolerated or ineffective or where compliance is poor. There is some evidence that psychotherapy improves the course of this disorder. The use of antidepressants in depressive episodes is controversial: they can be effective but have been implicated in triggering manic episodes. The treatment of depressive episodes, therefore, is often difficult. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is effective in acute manic and depressive episodes, especially with psychosis or catatonia. Admission to a psychiatric hospital may be required if a person is a risk to themselves or others; involuntary treatment is sometimes necessary if the affected person refuses treatment. Bipolar disorder occurs in approximately 1% of the global population. In the United States, about 3% are estimated to be affected at some point in their life; rates appear to be similar in females and males. Symptoms most commonly begin between the ages of 20 and 25 years old; an earlier onset in life is associated with a worse prognosis. Interest in functioning in the assessment of patients with bipolar disorder is growing, with an emphasis on specific domains such as work, education, social life, family, and cognition. Around one-quarter to one-third of people with bipolar disorder have financial, social or work-related problems due to the illness. Bipolar disorder is among the top 20 causes of disability worldwide and leads to substantial costs for society. Due to lifestyle choices and the side effects of medications, the risk of death from natural causes such as coronary heart disease in people with bipolar disorder is twice that of the general population. Also known as a manic episode, mania is a distinct period of at least one week of elevated or irritable mood, which can range from euphoria to delirium. The core symptom of mania involves an increase in energy of psychomotor activity. Mania can also present with increased self-esteem or grandiosity, racing thoughts, pressured speech that is difficult to interrupt, decreased need for sleep, disinhibited social behavior, increased goal-oriented activities and impaired judgement, which can lead to exhibition of behaviors characterized as impulsive or high-risk, such as hypersexuality or excessive spending.To fit the definition of a manic episode, these behaviors must impair the individual's ability to socialize or work.[ If untreated, a manic episode usually lasts three to six months.
In severe manic episodes, a person can experience psychotic symptoms, where thought content is affected along with mood. They may feel unstoppable, or as if they have a special relationship with God, a great mission to accomplish, or other grandiose or delusional ideas. This may lead to violent behavior and, sometimes, hospitalization in an inpatient psychiatric hospital. The severity of manic symptoms can be measured by rating scales such as the Young Mania Rating Scale, though questions remain about the reliability of these scales. The onset of a manic or depressive episode is often foreshadowed by sleep disturbance. Mood changes, psychomotor and appetite changes, and an increase in anxiety can also occur up to three weeks before a manic episode develops.[medical citation needed] Manic individuals often have a history of substance abuse developed over years as a form of "self-medication". Hypomania is the milder form of mania, defined as at least four days of the same criteria as mania, but which does not cause a significant decrease in the individual's ability to socialize or work, lacks psychotic features such as delusions or hallucinations, and does not require psychiatric hospitalization. Overall functioning may actually increase during episodes of hypomania and is thought to serve as a defense mechanism against depression by some. Hypomanic episodes rarely progress to full-blown manic episodes. Some people who experience hypomania show increased creativity, while others are irritable or demonstrate poor judgment. Hypomania may feel good to some individuals who experience it, though most people who experience hypomania state that the stress of the experience is very painful. People with bipolar disorder who experience hypomania tend to forget the effects of their actions on those around them. Even when family and friends recognize mood swings, the individual will often deny that anything is wrong. If not accompanied by depressive episodes, hypomanic episodes are often not deemed problematic unless the mood changes are uncontrollable or volatile.Most commonly, symptoms continue for time periods from a few weeks to a few months. People with bipolar disorder who are in a euthymic mood state show decreased activity in the lingual gyrus compared to people without bipolar disorder. In contrast, they demonstrate decreased activity in the inferior frontal cortex during manic episodes compared to people without the disorder. Similar studies examining the differences in brain activity between people with bipolar disorder and those without did not find a consistent area in the brain that was more or less active when comparing these two groups. People with bipolar have increased activation of left hemisphere ventral limbic areas—which mediate emotional experiences and generation of emotional responses—and decreased activation of right hemisphere cortical structures related to cognition—structures associated with the regulation of emotions. Neuroscientists have proposed additional models to try to explain the cause of bipolar disorder. One proposed model for bipolar disorder suggests that hypersensitivity of reward circuits consisting of frontostriatal circuits causes mania, and decreased sensitivity of these circuits causes depression. According to the "kindling" hypothesis, when people who are genetically predisposed toward bipolar disorder experience stressful events, the stress threshold at which mood changes occur becomes progressively lower, until the episodes eventually start (and recur) spontaneously. There is evidence supporting an association between early-life stress and dysfunction of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis leading to its overactivation, which may play a role in the pathogenesis of bipolar disorder. Other brain components that have been proposed to play a role in bipolar disorder are the mitochondria and a sodium ATPase pump. Circadian rhythms and regulation of the hormone melatonin also seem to be altered. Dopamine, a neurotransmitter responsible for mood cycling, has increased transmission during the manic phase. The dopamine hypothesis states that the increase in dopamine results in secondary homeostatic downregulation of key system elements and receptors such as lower sensitivity of dopaminergic receptors. This results in decreased dopamine transmission characteristic of the depressive phase. The depressive phase ends with homeostatic upregulation potentially restarting the cycle over again. Glutamate is significantly increased within the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex during the manic phase of bipolar disorder, and returns to normal levels once the phase is over. Medications used to treat bipolar may exert their effect by modulating intracellular signaling, such as through depleting myo-inositol levels, inhibition of cAMP signaling, and through altering subunits of the dopamine-associated G-protein.[81] Consistent with this, elevated levels of Gαi, Gαs, and Gαq/11 have been reported in brain and blood samples, along with increased protein kinase A (PKA) expression and sensitivity;[82] typically, PKA activates as part of the intracellular signalling cascade downstream from the detachment of Gαs subunit from the G protein complex. Decreased levels of 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid, a byproduct of serotonin, are present in the cerebrospinal fluid of persons with bipolar disorder during both the depressed and manic phases. Increased dopaminergic activity has been hypothesized in manic states due to the ability of dopamine agonists to stimulate mania in people with bipolar disorder. Decreased sensitivity of regulatory α2 adrenergic receptors as well as increased cell counts in the locus coeruleus indicated increased noradrenergic activity in manic people. Low plasma GABA levels on both sides of the mood spectrum have been found.[83] One review found no difference in monoamine levels, but found abnormal norepinephrine turnover in people with bipolar disorder. Tyrosine depletion was found to reduce the effects of methamphetamine in people with bipolar disorder as well as symptoms of mania, implicating dopamine in mania. VMAT2 binding was found to be increased in one study of people with bipolar mania.
League of Heroes: Ascent
Episode 2: The Long Night - Part 11
The following is a transcript from audio recorded at Watt Tech Laboratories by lab technician Sam Sterling:
Friday, October 13 - 4:30 AM
I have spent the last hour running all manner of test on the mysterious substance that was provided to me by the Crimson Cloak. The chemical, at first glance, seems simple enough. It is a light green hue, it is odorless, and it has a slight oily viscosity. After my initial battery of tests, I came to the conclusion that the chemical does not react to extreme changes in temperature. Nor does it reacted to outside stimuli such as electricity or common chemical reagents. Though, I know that something is obviously odd enough about the chemical to spook the Crimson Cloak. A man, who I can tell, doesn’t spook easily.
After running my initial tests on the chemical, I couldn’t help but notice that something seemed familiar about the substance. I then recalled a serum that had been in development a number of years back while I was a lab assistant at STUD Labs. The chemical was a syntho-organic bonding agent known as ABS-5. Furthermore, ABS-5 was the integral part of a project known only by the codename: “Project Jumper.” The problem was that ABS-5 failed to actually bond with an organic host’s DNA for any long term period of time. Thus, it had no lasting effects which meant no more funding. As far as I can recall, the project had been scrubbed. Yet here are what seem to be vials of ABS-5. I will have to run a few more tests.
Friday, October 13 - 4:47 AM
Eureka! My last test proved to be vital in understanding the properties of the chemical. I took a sample of the serum, which I have deemed as ABS-6, and I introduced it to a sample of harmless Derlinite Bacterium. I then marveled as the ABS-6 swelled the cell walls of the Derlinite to over three times their original size. Upon releasing a sample of the harmful afolitis virus in with the ABS-6 laced Derlinites, I was alarmed to find that the Derlinite Bacterium had suddenly become resistant to the virus. The ABS-6 seemed to give the Derlinites the ability to regenerate any cellular damage caused by the afolitis. However… Ahh… right on cue, that is the other side effect of ABS-6. The mitochondria are also negatively effected by the serum, and it seems to cause a flood of ATP to be released by the cells of a living organism. In effect, it makes it’s host into a “living bomb.”
My final conclusion is that the serum is closely related to the original ABS-5 from STUD Labs, but it is obvious from my tests that the chemical structure has been slightly altered by somebody. Though, for what purpose, I’m not certain. Perhaps a closer analysis of the map provided to me by the Crimson Cloak will yield more conclusive data.
Friday, October 13 - 5:01 AM
I need to get this data to the Crimson Cloak immediately! The Watt-Tech computer found a troubling pattern linking the green ‘X’ symbols on the map to locations throughout New Brickton that have had recent work completed on their public utilities. Specifically their plumbing. One of the buildings was the New Brickton Penitentiary. I believe that somebody plans to slowly release vials of ABS-6 into the water supply at strategic locations, thus causing a slow chain reaction of explosions all over the city. ABS-6 is too dangerous, too volatile. There is no time to waste.
This was built for the League of Lego Heroes Group… www.flickr.com/groups/llh/
Suit up and join today!!!
*** FYI - I have tried my best with this short story to capture some believable scientific jargon, tough admittedly it was an exercise in creativity for me to tie together actual scientific concepts with nods to LEGO. As a side note: ABS is the plastic used to make most LEGO pieces. Derlin is the softer material used in antenna and other bendable pieces. Jumpers are the small tiles with a single stud in the middle. Afolitis is what most of us suffer from. AND... to maintain realism, the mitochondria of a cell are considered to be the powerhouse, plus they seem to have a link to the aging process and the healing abilities of a cell. So, it worked out nicely to have ABS-6 (A chemical derived from a supposed super soldier serum) make a person into a living bomb.
The bar-headed goose (Anser indicus) is a goose that breeds in Central Asia in colonies of thousands near mountain lakes and winters in South Asia, as far south as peninsular India. It lays three to eight eggs at a time in a ground nest. It is known for the extreme altitudes it reaches when migrating across the Himalayas.
Taxonomy
The grey goose genus Anser has no other member indigenous to the Indian region, nor any at all to the Ethiopian, Australian, or Neotropical regions. Ludwig Reichenbach placed the bar-headed goose in the monotypic genus Eulabeia in 1852, though John Boyd's taxonomy treats both Eulabeia and the genus Chen as subgenera of Anser.
Description
The bird is pale grey and is easily distinguished from any of the other grey geese of the genus Anser by the black bars on its head. It is also much paler than the other geese in this genus. In flight, its call is a typical goose honking. A mid-sized goose, it measures 71–76 cm (28–30 in) in total length and weighs 1.87–3.2 kg (4.1–7.1 lb).
Ecology
The summer habitat is high-altitude lakes where the bird grazes on short grass. The species has been reported as migrating south from Tibet, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Russia before crossing the Himalayas. The bird has come to the attention of medical science in recent years as having been an early victim of the H5N1 virus, HPAI (highly pathogenic avian influenza), at Qinghai. It suffers predation from crows, foxes, ravens, sea eagles, gulls and others. The total population may, however, be increasing, but it is complex to assess population trends, as this species occurs over more than 2,500,000 km2 (970,000 sq mi).
The bar-headed goose is one of the world's highest-flying birds, having been heard flying across Mount Makalu – the fifth highest mountain on earth at 8,481 m (27,825 ft) – and apparently seen over Mount Everest – 8,848 m (29,029 ft) – although this is a second-hand report with no verification. This demanding migration has long puzzled physiologists and naturalists: "there must be a good explanation for why the birds fly to the extreme altitudes... particularly since there are passes through the Himalaya at lower altitudes, and which are used by other migrating bird species." In fact, bar-headed geese had for a long time not been directly tracked (using GPS or satellite logging technology) flying higher than 6,540 metres (21,460 ft), and it is now believed that they do take the high passes through the mountains. The challenging northward migration from lowland India to breed in the summer on the Tibetan Plateau is undertaken in stages, with the flight across the Himalaya (from sea-level) being undertaken non-stop in as little as seven hours. Surprisingly, despite predictable tail winds that blow up the Himalayas (in the same direction of travel as the geese), bar-headed geese spurn these winds, waiting for them to die down overnight, when they then undertake the greatest rates of climbing flight ever recorded for a bird, and sustain these climbs rates for hours on end, according to research published in 2011.
The 2011 study found the geese peaking at an altitude of around 6,400 m (21,000 ft). In a 2012 study that tagged 91 geese and tracked their migration routes, it was determined that the geese spent 95% of their time below 5,784 m (18,976 ft), choosing to take a longer route through the Himalayas in order to utilize lower-altitude valleys and passes. Only 10 of the tagged geese were ever recorded above this altitude, and only one exceeded 6,500 m (21,300 ft), reaching 7,290 m (23,920 ft). All but one of these high-altitude flights were recorded at night, which along with the early morning, is the most common time of day for geese migration. The colder denser air during these times may be equivalent to an altitude hundreds of meters lower. It is suspected by the authors of these two studies that tales of the geese flying at 8,000 m (26,000 ft) are apocryphal.[8] Bar headed geese have been observed flying at 7,000 metres (23,000 ft).
The bar-headed goose migrates over the Himalayas to spend the winter in parts of South Asia (from Assam to as far south as Tamil Nadu. The modern winter habitat of the species is cultivated fields, where it feeds on barley, rice and wheat, and may damage crops. Birds from Kyrgyzstan have been seen to stopover in western Tibet and southern Tajikistan for 20 to 30 days before migrating farther south. Some birds may show high wintering site fidelity.
They nest mainly on the Tibetan Plateau. Intraspecific brood parasitism is noticed with lower rank females attempting to lay their eggs in the nests of higher ranking females.
The bar-headed goose is often kept in captivity, as it is considered beautiful and breeds readily. Recorded sightings in Great Britain are frequent, and almost certainly relate to escapes. However, the species has bred on several occasions in recent years, and around five pairs were recorded in 2002, the most recent available report of the Rare Birds Breeding Panel. It is possible that, owing to a combination of frequent migration, accidental escapes and deliberate introduction, the species is becoming gradually more established in Great Britain.
The bar-headed goose has escaped or been deliberately released in Florida, U.S., but there is no evidence that the population is breeding and it may only persist due to continuing escapes or releases.
Physiology and morphology
The main physiological challenge of bar-headed geese is extracting oxygen from hypoxic air and transporting it to aerobic muscle fibres in order to sustain flight at high altitudes. Flight is very metabolically costly at high-altitudes because birds need to flap harder in thin air to generate lift. Studies have found that bar-headed geese breathe more deeply and efficiently under low-oxygen conditions, which serves to increase oxygen uptake from the environment. The haemoglobin of their blood has a higher affinity for oxygen than that of low-altitude geese, which has been attributed to a single amino acid point mutation. This mutation causes a conformational shift in the haemoglobin molecule from the low-oxygen to the high-oxygen affinity form. The left-ventricle of the heart, which is responsible for pumping oxygenated blood to the body via systemic circulation, has significantly more capillaries in bar-headed geese than in lowland birds, maintaining oxygenation of cardiac muscle cells and thereby cardiac output. Compared to lowland birds, mitochondria (the main site of oxygen consumption) in the flight muscle of bar-headed geese are significantly closer to the sarcolemma, decreasing the intracellular diffusion distance of oxygen from the capillaries to the mitochondria.
Bar-headed geese have a slightly larger wing area for their weight than other geese, which is believed to help them fly at high altitudes. While this decreases the power output required for flight in thin air, birds at high altitude still need to flap harder than lowland birds.
Cultural depiction
The bar-headed goose has been suggested as being the model for the Hamsa of Indian mythology. Another interpretation suggests that the bar-headed goose is likely to be the Kadamb in ancient and medieval Sanskrit literature, whereas Hamsa generally refers to the swan.
This waterdrop is playing coy. It's hiding in plain sight; a clever trick.
We all hide in plain sight. Some of us hide our talents -- who amongst us has hidden talents? Probably every last one of you, right?
So, go on, speak up. Tell Chucky of your secret talents.
Are you able to sneeze the Star Spangled Banner?
Create emotionally affecting portraiture out of Silly Putty and sexual lubricants?
Can you sharpshoot the mitochondria out of an escaping protozoa from 100 yards away?
Can you destroy entire continents with but a flick of your wrist?
So, go on. It's Friday. We're all relaxed. We're all groovy. Share. Share away. Tell us of your unknown talents.
The bar-headed goose (Anser indicus) is a goose that breeds in Central Asia in colonies of thousands near mountain lakes and winters in South Asia, as far south as peninsular India. It lays three to eight eggs at a time in a ground nest. It is known for the extreme altitudes it reaches when migrating across the Himalayas.
Taxonomy
The grey goose genus Anser has no other member indigenous to the Indian region, nor any at all to the Ethiopian, Australian, or Neotropical regions. Ludwig Reichenbach placed the bar-headed goose in the monotypic genus Eulabeia in 1852, though John Boyd's taxonomy treats both Eulabeia and the genus Chen as subgenera of Anser.
Description
The bird is pale grey and is easily distinguished from any of the other grey geese of the genus Anser by the black bars on its head. It is also much paler than the other geese in this genus. In flight, its call is a typical goose honking. A mid-sized goose, it measures 71–76 cm (28–30 in) in total length and weighs 1.87–3.2 kg (4.1–7.1 lb).
Ecology
The summer habitat is high-altitude lakes where the bird grazes on short grass. The species has been reported as migrating south from Tibet, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Russia before crossing the Himalayas. The bird has come to the attention of medical science in recent years as having been an early victim of the H5N1 virus, HPAI (highly pathogenic avian influenza), at Qinghai. It suffers predation from crows, foxes, ravens, sea eagles, gulls and others. The total population may, however, be increasing, but it is complex to assess population trends, as this species occurs over more than 2,500,000 km2 (970,000 sq mi).
The bar-headed goose is one of the world's highest-flying birds, having been heard flying across Mount Makalu – the fifth highest mountain on earth at 8,481 m (27,825 ft) – and apparently seen over Mount Everest – 8,848 m (29,029 ft) – although this is a second-hand report with no verification. This demanding migration has long puzzled physiologists and naturalists: "there must be a good explanation for why the birds fly to the extreme altitudes... particularly since there are passes through the Himalaya at lower altitudes, and which are used by other migrating bird species." In fact, bar-headed geese had for a long time not been directly tracked (using GPS or satellite logging technology) flying higher than 6,540 metres (21,460 ft), and it is now believed that they do take the high passes through the mountains. The challenging northward migration from lowland India to breed in the summer on the Tibetan Plateau is undertaken in stages, with the flight across the Himalaya (from sea-level) being undertaken non-stop in as little as seven hours. Surprisingly, despite predictable tail winds that blow up the Himalayas (in the same direction of travel as the geese), bar-headed geese spurn these winds, waiting for them to die down overnight, when they then undertake the greatest rates of climbing flight ever recorded for a bird, and sustain these climbs rates for hours on end, according to research published in 2011.
The 2011 study found the geese peaking at an altitude of around 6,400 m (21,000 ft). In a 2012 study that tagged 91 geese and tracked their migration routes, it was determined that the geese spent 95% of their time below 5,784 m (18,976 ft), choosing to take a longer route through the Himalayas in order to utilize lower-altitude valleys and passes. Only 10 of the tagged geese were ever recorded above this altitude, and only one exceeded 6,500 m (21,300 ft), reaching 7,290 m (23,920 ft). All but one of these high-altitude flights were recorded at night, which along with the early morning, is the most common time of day for geese migration. The colder denser air during these times may be equivalent to an altitude hundreds of meters lower. It is suspected by the authors of these two studies that tales of the geese flying at 8,000 m (26,000 ft) are apocryphal.[8] Bar headed geese have been observed flying at 7,000 metres (23,000 ft).
The bar-headed goose migrates over the Himalayas to spend the winter in parts of South Asia (from Assam to as far south as Tamil Nadu. The modern winter habitat of the species is cultivated fields, where it feeds on barley, rice and wheat, and may damage crops. Birds from Kyrgyzstan have been seen to stopover in western Tibet and southern Tajikistan for 20 to 30 days before migrating farther south. Some birds may show high wintering site fidelity.
They nest mainly on the Tibetan Plateau. Intraspecific brood parasitism is noticed with lower rank females attempting to lay their eggs in the nests of higher ranking females.
The bar-headed goose is often kept in captivity, as it is considered beautiful and breeds readily. Recorded sightings in Great Britain are frequent, and almost certainly relate to escapes. However, the species has bred on several occasions in recent years, and around five pairs were recorded in 2002, the most recent available report of the Rare Birds Breeding Panel. It is possible that, owing to a combination of frequent migration, accidental escapes and deliberate introduction, the species is becoming gradually more established in Great Britain.
The bar-headed goose has escaped or been deliberately released in Florida, U.S., but there is no evidence that the population is breeding and it may only persist due to continuing escapes or releases.
Physiology and morphology
The main physiological challenge of bar-headed geese is extracting oxygen from hypoxic air and transporting it to aerobic muscle fibres in order to sustain flight at high altitudes. Flight is very metabolically costly at high-altitudes because birds need to flap harder in thin air to generate lift. Studies have found that bar-headed geese breathe more deeply and efficiently under low-oxygen conditions, which serves to increase oxygen uptake from the environment. The haemoglobin of their blood has a higher affinity for oxygen than that of low-altitude geese, which has been attributed to a single amino acid point mutation. This mutation causes a conformational shift in the haemoglobin molecule from the low-oxygen to the high-oxygen affinity form. The left-ventricle of the heart, which is responsible for pumping oxygenated blood to the body via systemic circulation, has significantly more capillaries in bar-headed geese than in lowland birds, maintaining oxygenation of cardiac muscle cells and thereby cardiac output. Compared to lowland birds, mitochondria (the main site of oxygen consumption) in the flight muscle of bar-headed geese are significantly closer to the sarcolemma, decreasing the intracellular diffusion distance of oxygen from the capillaries to the mitochondria.
Bar-headed geese have a slightly larger wing area for their weight than other geese, which is believed to help them fly at high altitudes. While this decreases the power output required for flight in thin air, birds at high altitude still need to flap harder than lowland birds.
Cultural depiction
The bar-headed goose has been suggested as being the model for the Hamsa of Indian mythology. Another interpretation suggests that the bar-headed goose is likely to be the Kadamb in ancient and medieval Sanskrit literature, whereas Hamsa generally refers to the swan.
- Dear Mr. Bluebird, I have done another scan of your body, now we have examined every inch of you even down to every single mitochondria in your entire body, you are as well as a flesh-bag of your kin can be, actually if I would write a illustrated book, you would be on the picture of the diagnose "heathy Human"
...I think the problem is in your brain and that is not my area, then you have to call the shrink-bot and that is not on the federal assurance, so that will be charged from your wages, and so will my next visit unless you are actually sick!!!
- But DMT-GG-1! your are so cold, so inhuman, I am freezing, the world is so cold... can I ask you a personal question!
- Eh, Well ok, I guess but then I have to split, there are actual sick people to treat...
- Ok, so imagine if you where a human, would you find me exciting, handsome, sexy, hot or just boring...
- Well I am not a shrink-bot, so I am not really authorized to do this, I mean the company would punish me severely if you were to kill you self after our talk... but sure I would find you rather mellow, but prize yourself on this: you are the most annoying and time-consuming patient in our entire block of service apartments, so yes you are a special person...
I know what is going on, you miss that pink horrible one, she is very dear to you I know that, but when it concerns me, she could stay lost forever all that grouping and touching, she behaves like a one of those Pig-Human Male experiments from the 50s...
- yes you are right I am pointless, without Miss and Irena I am nothing, look here I bought this guitar just so people would think that I played guitar, that I was someone interesting.... Bu-Huu-Bu- cryy, cryyy, cryy...
- Ok, now Mr. Bluebird I am leaving now, I would suggest you to call either the shrink-bot or your wife back in the capital, but I would suggest the first, because I don´t think your wife can take much more pathetic wining and whimping about, to be honest I don´t see what she sees in you, your are really the most annoying Flesh-bag I have ever met, I even prefer the pink one, she is sexual deviant and harasser but at least she has some kind of personality... it this wasn´t sci-fi slide-doors that make cool pneumatic sounds I would slam the door to show my anger and repulsion to your fleshy body and pathetic mind!!!
BYE!!!
Why should Washington, DC, have the nation's only conspicuous Fair-Haired Dumbbell? Now Portland has one, too.
Here's the story:
Every year, architect and developer Kevin Cavenaugh gets a little postcard. And every year, the postcard comes with a little medal on it.
"Congratulations!" it says. "You win ugliest building of the year…again!"
The guy behind Beaumont's Ode to Rose's building, East Burnside's garishly red Rocket building, and Kerns' Bauhaus-style food mall the Zipper is used to this sort of attention. But he expects it's going to get a lot worse this year, when his Fair-Haired Dumbbell buildings are completed on Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Burnside Street—one of the most visible street corners in Portland.
For five months after construction is finished, a team of artists on scaffolding will paint them according to a design by renowned Los Angeles artist James Jean.
The roofs and all eight walls will be covered in a rainbow of blooming abstractions that look for all the world like the Day-Glo cell organelles of a junior-high biology book—mitochondria and ribosome and endoplasmic reticulum, an explosion of obscure and colorful biology.
"It'll be hated as a building, I promise," Cavenaugh says. "There will be people who write me letters every year. I'm OK with that. I'm tired of mocha-colored, vinyl-windowed boring. I can't change the fact that the streets are gray and the sky is gray. But the buildings? That I can change."
The Fair-Haired Dumbbell—yes, it's named after a person—will join two other new landmarks along Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. One is the many-angled, knife-edged Yard skyscraper at the east end of the Burnside Bridge, colloquially known as the Death Star. The other is the twinned and steel-backboned Inversion +/- sculpture at the edge of the Morrison Bridge, standing as a ghost of buildings that were there before.
All three are hated and loved in equal measure. Together, they begin to create something Portland has pretty much never had: a street of public architecture worth talking about, caring about and looking at.
When the Dumbbell's colorful design was first unveiled at a City Council meeting, Commissioner Nick Fish asked Cavenaugh a question he has heard many times since then: "Is that what it's really going to look like?"
"I said, 'Yeah, my goal is to make small fender benders in front of buildings,'" says Cavenaugh, laughing. "After that, one of my partners pulled me aside. They said, "Maybe we shouldn't let you talk at meetings anymore."
www.wweek.com/news/2017/02/07/portland-finally-has-archit...
Researchers at the NIH's National Eye Institute (NEI) have discovered that power-producing organelles in the eye's photoreceptor cells, called mitochondria, function as microlenses that help channel light to these cells' outer segments where it's converted into nerve signals. The discovery in ground squirrels provides a more precise picture of the retina's optical properties and could help detect eye disease earlier. The findings, published today in Science Advances, also shed light on the evolution of vision.
Image: Using a modified confocal microscope, the researchers observed the optical properties of living cone mitochondria exposed to light. The path of light became concentrated with transmission from the inner to the outer segments of cone photoreceptors.
Credit: John Ball, Ph.D., NEI
More info: www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/vision-scientists-d...
Mitochondria are the powerhouses of the cells, generating the energy the cells need to do their tasks and to stay alive. Researchers have studied mitochondria for some time because when these cell organelles don't as well as they should, several diseases develop. In this photograph of cow cells taken with a microscope, the mitochondria were stained in bright yellow to visualize them in the cell. The large blue dots are the cell nuclei and the gray web is the cytoskeleton of the cells.
This image is not owned by the NIH. It is shared with the public under license. If you have a question about using or reproducing this image, please contact the creator listed in the credits. All rights to the work remain with the original creator.
Credit: Torsten Wittmann, University of California, San Francisco
NIH funding from: National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)
The bar-headed goose (Anser indicus) is a goose that breeds in Central Asia in colonies of thousands near mountain lakes and winters in South Asia, as far south as peninsular India. It lays three to eight eggs at a time in a ground nest. It is known for the extreme altitudes it reaches when migrating across the Himalayas.
Taxonomy
The grey goose genus Anser has no other member indigenous to the Indian region, nor any at all to the Ethiopian, Australian, or Neotropical regions. Ludwig Reichenbach placed the bar-headed goose in the monotypic genus Eulabeia in 1852, though John Boyd's taxonomy treats both Eulabeia and the genus Chen as subgenera of Anser.
Description
The bird is pale grey and is easily distinguished from any of the other grey geese of the genus Anser by the black bars on its head. It is also much paler than the other geese in this genus. In flight, its call is a typical goose honking. A mid-sized goose, it measures 71–76 cm (28–30 in) in total length and weighs 1.87–3.2 kg (4.1–7.1 lb).
Ecology
The summer habitat is high-altitude lakes where the bird grazes on short grass. The species has been reported as migrating south from Tibet, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Russia before crossing the Himalayas. The bird has come to the attention of medical science in recent years as having been an early victim of the H5N1 virus, HPAI (highly pathogenic avian influenza), at Qinghai. It suffers predation from crows, foxes, ravens, sea eagles, gulls and others. The total population may, however, be increasing, but it is complex to assess population trends, as this species occurs over more than 2,500,000 km2 (970,000 sq mi).
The bar-headed goose is one of the world's highest-flying birds, having been heard flying across Mount Makalu – the fifth highest mountain on earth at 8,481 m (27,825 ft) – and apparently seen over Mount Everest – 8,848 m (29,029 ft) – although this is a second-hand report with no verification. This demanding migration has long puzzled physiologists and naturalists: "there must be a good explanation for why the birds fly to the extreme altitudes... particularly since there are passes through the Himalaya at lower altitudes, and which are used by other migrating bird species." In fact, bar-headed geese had for a long time not been directly tracked (using GPS or satellite logging technology) flying higher than 6,540 metres (21,460 ft), and it is now believed that they do take the high passes through the mountains. The challenging northward migration from lowland India to breed in the summer on the Tibetan Plateau is undertaken in stages, with the flight across the Himalaya (from sea-level) being undertaken non-stop in as little as seven hours. Surprisingly, despite predictable tail winds that blow up the Himalayas (in the same direction of travel as the geese), bar-headed geese spurn these winds, waiting for them to die down overnight, when they then undertake the greatest rates of climbing flight ever recorded for a bird, and sustain these climbs rates for hours on end, according to research published in 2011.
The 2011 study found the geese peaking at an altitude of around 6,400 m (21,000 ft). In a 2012 study that tagged 91 geese and tracked their migration routes, it was determined that the geese spent 95% of their time below 5,784 m (18,976 ft), choosing to take a longer route through the Himalayas in order to utilize lower-altitude valleys and passes. Only 10 of the tagged geese were ever recorded above this altitude, and only one exceeded 6,500 m (21,300 ft), reaching 7,290 m (23,920 ft). All but one of these high-altitude flights were recorded at night, which along with the early morning, is the most common time of day for geese migration. The colder denser air during these times may be equivalent to an altitude hundreds of meters lower. It is suspected by the authors of these two studies that tales of the geese flying at 8,000 m (26,000 ft) are apocryphal.[8] Bar headed geese have been observed flying at 7,000 metres (23,000 ft).
The bar-headed goose migrates over the Himalayas to spend the winter in parts of South Asia (from Assam to as far south as Tamil Nadu. The modern winter habitat of the species is cultivated fields, where it feeds on barley, rice and wheat, and may damage crops. Birds from Kyrgyzstan have been seen to stopover in western Tibet and southern Tajikistan for 20 to 30 days before migrating farther south. Some birds may show high wintering site fidelity.
They nest mainly on the Tibetan Plateau. Intraspecific brood parasitism is noticed with lower rank females attempting to lay their eggs in the nests of higher ranking females.
The bar-headed goose is often kept in captivity, as it is considered beautiful and breeds readily. Recorded sightings in Great Britain are frequent, and almost certainly relate to escapes. However, the species has bred on several occasions in recent years, and around five pairs were recorded in 2002, the most recent available report of the Rare Birds Breeding Panel. It is possible that, owing to a combination of frequent migration, accidental escapes and deliberate introduction, the species is becoming gradually more established in Great Britain.
The bar-headed goose has escaped or been deliberately released in Florida, U.S., but there is no evidence that the population is breeding and it may only persist due to continuing escapes or releases.
Physiology and morphology
The main physiological challenge of bar-headed geese is extracting oxygen from hypoxic air and transporting it to aerobic muscle fibres in order to sustain flight at high altitudes. Flight is very metabolically costly at high-altitudes because birds need to flap harder in thin air to generate lift. Studies have found that bar-headed geese breathe more deeply and efficiently under low-oxygen conditions, which serves to increase oxygen uptake from the environment. The haemoglobin of their blood has a higher affinity for oxygen than that of low-altitude geese, which has been attributed to a single amino acid point mutation. This mutation causes a conformational shift in the haemoglobin molecule from the low-oxygen to the high-oxygen affinity form. The left-ventricle of the heart, which is responsible for pumping oxygenated blood to the body via systemic circulation, has significantly more capillaries in bar-headed geese than in lowland birds, maintaining oxygenation of cardiac muscle cells and thereby cardiac output. Compared to lowland birds, mitochondria (the main site of oxygen consumption) in the flight muscle of bar-headed geese are significantly closer to the sarcolemma, decreasing the intracellular diffusion distance of oxygen from the capillaries to the mitochondria.
Bar-headed geese have a slightly larger wing area for their weight than other geese, which is believed to help them fly at high altitudes. While this decreases the power output required for flight in thin air, birds at high altitude still need to flap harder than lowland birds.
Cultural depiction
The bar-headed goose has been suggested as being the model for the Hamsa of Indian mythology. Another interpretation suggests that the bar-headed goose is likely to be the Kadamb in ancient and medieval Sanskrit literature, whereas Hamsa generally refers to the swan.
Это есть некий шарж на Елену Викторовну, раз пятьдесят я безуспешно пытался её сподвигнуть на философские беседы. Как-то раз она ответила "инициативы нет внутри меня". Это фраза удивительно музыкальна. В течение 15 минут появилась песня. Я не знаю, насколько этот шарж заслуженный или незаслуженный, т.к. философских бесед так и не получилось. В целом, конечно, идея о трансформации человека в насекомое сейчас "актуальна, как никогда".
of the trees is not due to wide angle distortion but because of the way the trees will grow towards the sunlight, or, in this case, towards the bright milkyway. Hey, prove me wrong here. Those stars in our galaxy are suns and should be able to power photosynthesis. But why would plants have mitochondria? For cloudy nights of course!
5D MK III + 17-40L at nosebleed ISO 12,800 and 15 seconds somewhere on a dark night in the Adirondacks near Wilmington.
I was talking to Haya yesterday about mitochondria and cellular science stuff so I decided to draw some viruses. I'm also practicing colours and my linework together and bumming around in photohaus. It would be cool to animate these little doods.
PS. Viruses are not your friends...just stay away from them, okay?
Self portrait as a scissors person. Shown at meeting.
The slide on the left depicts a champagne dinner in Berlin at a restaurant overlooking the Allee Unter den Linden and the Brandenburg Gate (in distance through window).
The slide on the right shows two Mitochondria (male and female) from a cartoon in the Journal of the American Medical Association in the front seat of a car. The female is saying "But Ronald, We Can't! We're not Meiotic!".
While all of our cells need glucose (a form of sugar which is turned into energy), cancer thrives on a body full of simple carbohydrates (which become sugar in the body) and refined sugars that come from processed foods and overly sweet goodies. If you or someone you know is suffering from cancer, one of the best things they can do is take away the disease’s favorite food – sugar.
Dr. Otto Wartburg and other health experts have been talking about how cancer loves sugar since the 1920s, but surprisingly many doctors don’t tell their cancer patients that as long as they continue to eat processed foods full of the stuff, they will likely have a more difficult time fighting this disease.
The German physiologist, leading biochemist, medical doctor, and Nobel laureate was convinced that you could starve cancer right out of the body. While it may not always be that easy, this is something that could significantly change the game.
His theory was that malignant cells and tumor growth was caused by cells that generated energy via adenosine triphosphate (ATP) through a nonoxidative breakdown of glucose (sugar). The recycling of the metabolite from this process called glycolysis and the circulation of adhA back into the body caused anaerobic respiration. This is the reverse of what happens with healthy cells. Healthy, non-cancerous cells generate energy for the body to use through the oxidative breakdown of pyruvate, the end product of glycolysis, which leads to oxidized mitochondria. He therefore concluded that cancer was really a mitochondrial dysfunction. The normal process of respiration of oxygen in the body is changed to the fermentation of sugar. If you remove the sugar, the body should not develop cancer.
the crazy amount of sugar hidden in random foods
textures are my own and the lovely and talented lenabem-anna
It is very frustrating to see that the honey-bee population is fast dwindling due to the excessive usage of chemicals in agriculture.
New insights into how crop chemicals are annihilating honeybees have emerged out of Brazil, where researchers say they've identified the mechanics behind bee-killing pesticides like fipronil (pyrazoles) and imidacloprid (neonicotinoids).
Since the infamous colony collapse disorder (CCD) is characterized by a failure of bees to forage and find their way back to the hive, the researchers involved with the new study decided to look at how pesticides might be interfering with the bees' mitochondrial function. Mitochondria are the energy producers of cells, and it has been widely speculated that agricultural chemicals like fipronil and imidacloprid somehow interfere with their normal function.
Learn more: www.naturalnews.com/046606_honeybees_neonicotinoids_pyraz...<
கடலமுதே தேனேயென் கண்ணே கவலை
படமுடியா தென்னைமுகம் பார்நீ பராபரமே !!!
தாயுமானவர் பராபரக்கண்ணி
This image shows an osteosarcoma cell with DNA in blue, energy factories (mitochondria) in yellow and actin filaments, part of the cellular skeleton, in purple. One of the few cancers that originate in the bones, osteosarcoma is extremely rare, with less than a thousand new cases diagnosed each year in the United States.
Credit: Dylan Burnette and Jennifer Lippincott-Schwartz, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health
Life Magnified images: www.nigms.nih.gov/education/life-magnified/Pages/11B_acti...
Taken on an FEI Verios 460 scanning electron microscope in the Advanced Imaging Centre in Cambridge, freezing the samples preserved biological structures of the cells without desiccation. In the image the purple non-sulpur bacterium Rhodopseudomonas palustris CGA009 (red) can be seen colonizing the surface of the electrically conductive graphene coated carbon foam. Nanowires can be seen protruding from some cells and attaching either directly to the graphene surface, providing a direct bio-electrical interface, or to other cells in a circuit that extends the reach of each cell. Dominating the image is a rampaging contaminant, most likely a eukaryotic unicellular ciliate, bursting from the darkness in a frenzy of tentacle like cilia.
The first reports of electricity being generated directly from bacteria appeared over 100 years ago. Today, with improvements in imaging techniques and genetic engineering methods we are starting to fully understand why microorganisms expel electrons, how some bacteria have evolved particularly efficient ways of connecting electrically to their surroundings, and what these enabling outer membrane cytochromes and type IV conductive pili are made of.
Electrons are the currency of life, we strip them from our food to power the engine of chemiosmosis and generate proton gradients across membranes in our mitochondria that in turn drive ATP synthesis. Once they have passed through the finely tuned chemiosmotic machinery, we pass them onto oxygen in a hurry. Hold your breath and you’ll see how finely balanced that energy churning process is. In environments devoid of oxygen, many microorganisms have evolved different ways of donating electrons to a terminal electron acceptor, including directly passing them to a conductive material outside the cell and across the protective layers of the outer membrane.
We can build simple devices designed to harness electrons produced by such ‘exoelectrogenic’ bacteria. Maximum power outputs from lab scale devices reach into the hundreds of Watts per metre cubed, impressive by biological standards given these are living cells, but perhaps leaving something to be desired if competing with conventional renewable energy sources. Where microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are at an advantage is in harnessing biochemical ability of the microorganisms to use waste substrates as their food, ejecting spent electrons for our benefit. Early stage examples of MFC technology in the real world harness waste streams from breweries or farms in order to give power back to the plant. Potential applications include miniaturised devices acting as sensitive biosensors or as a means for power generation in remote areas including deep space exploration.
We are working to improve the rate of electron transfer by optimizing the electrode material. Graphene is a promising material due to its high conductivity, biocompatibility, relatively low cost, and importantly its ease of incorporation into extremely high surface area materials that maximize cell to electrode contact. The image here could represent one of the major challenges to scaling up bioenergy production, namely the instability of monocultures and vulnerability to contamination that so often scuppers industrial efforts to bring bioenergy solutions into the commercial world.
Contributors:
Toby Call, Final year PhD student in Prof. Chris Howe’s lab, Department of Biochemistry: Performed the experiment and imaged the material after Tian Carey and Dr. Felice Torrisi, PhD and PI respectively in the Graphene Centre, Department of Electrical Engineering: coated carbon foam anode with pure graphene Dr. Paolo Bombelli, Post-doc., Department of Biochemistry: design and construction of microbial fuel cells Dr. Jeremy Skepper, Advanced Imaging Centre, Anatomy Department: sample preparation and loading
Mãng cầu Xiêm, còn gọi là mãng cầu gai, na Xiêm, na gai Mãng cầu xiêm có tên khoa học là Annona muricata thuộc họ thực vật Annonaceae. (Annona, phát xuất từ tên tại Haiti, anon, nghĩa là thu-hoạch của năm ‘muricata’ có nghĩa l à mặt bên ngoài sần lên, có những mũi nhọn).
Các tên thông thường: Soursop (Anh-Mỹ), Guanabana, Graviola, Brazilian Paw Paw, Corossolier (Pháp), Guanavana, Durian benggala Nangka londa.
thuộc loại tiểu mộc, có thể cao 6-8 m. Vỏ thân có nhiều lỗ nhỏ màu nâu. lá màu đậm có mùi thơm, không lông, xanh quanh năm. Hoa màu xanh, mọc ở thân. Quả mãng cầu xiêm to và có gai mềm. Thịt quả ngọt và hơi chua, hạt có màu nâu sậm. Cây mãng cầu xiêm sống ở những khu vực có độ ẩm cao và có mùa Đông không lạnh lắm, nhiệt độ dưới 5°C sẽ làm lá và các nhánh nhỏ hỏng và nhiệt độ dưới 3°C thì cây có thể chết. Cây mãng cầu xiêm được trồng làm cây ăn quả. Quả mãng cầu Xiêm nặng trung bình từ 1-2 kg có khi đến 2,5 kg, vỏ ngoài nhẵn chỉ phân biệt múi nọ với múi kia nhờ mỗi múi có một cái gai cong, mềm vì vậy còn có tên là mãng cầu gai.
Giới (regnum):
Plantae
(không phân hạng):Angiospermae
(không phân hạng)Magnoliidae
Bộ (ordo):
Magnoliales
Họ (familia):
Annonaceae
Chi (genus):
Annona
Loài (species):
A. muricata
Mãng cầu xiêm là một trái cây nhiệt đới rất thường gặp trong vùng Nam Mỹ và Đông Ấn (West Indies). Đây cũng là một trong những cây đầu tiên được đưa từ Mỹ châu về lục địa ‘Cựu Thế Giới’, và mãng cầu xiêm sau đó được trồng rộng rãi suốt từ khu vực Đông Nam Trung Hoa sang đến Úc và những vùng bình nguyên tại Đông và Tây Phi châu.
Đặc tính thực vật:
Mãng cầu xiêm thuộc loại tiểu mộc, có thể cao 6-8 m. Vỏ thân có nhiều lỗ nhỏ màu nâu. Lá hình trái xoan, thuôn thành ngọn giáo, mọc so le. Lá có mùi thơm. Phiến lá có 7-9 cặp gân phụ. Hoa mọc đơn độc ở thân hay nhánh già; hoa có 3 lá đài nhỏ màu xanh, 3 cánh ngoài màu xanh-vàng, và 3 cánh trong màu vàng. Nhị và nhụy hoa tạo thành 1 khối tròn, Trái thuộc loại trái mọng kép, lớn, hình trứng phình dài 20-25 cm, màu xanh lục hay vàng xanh, khi chín quá mức sẽ đổi sang vàng. Trái có thể kết tại nhiều vị trí khác nhau trên thân, cành hay nhánh con, và có thể cân nặng đến 5kg (15 lb). Vỏ rất mỏng, bên ngoài có những nốt phù thành những múi nhỏ nhọn hay cong, chứa nhiều hạt màu đen. Trái thường được thu hái lúc còn xanh, cứng và ăn ngon nhất vào lúc 4-5 ngày sau khi hái, lúc đó quả trở thành mềm vừa đủ để khi nhấn nhẹ ngón tay vào sẽ có một vết lõm. Phần thịt của tr ái màu trắng chia thành nhiều khối chứa hạt nhỏ.
Thành phần dinh dưỡng và hóa học:
100 gram phần thịt của trái mãng cầu xiêm, bỏ hạt, chứa:
- Calories 53.1-61.3
- Chất đạm 1 g
- Chất béo 0.97 g
- Chất sơ 0.79 g
- Calcium 10.3 mg
- Sắt 0.64 mg
- Magnesium 21 mg
- Phosphorus 27.7 mg
- Potassium 287 mg
- Sodium 14 mg
- Beta-Carotene (A) 2 IU
- Thiamine 0.110 mg
- Riboflavine 0.050 mg
- Niacin 1.280 mg
- Pantothenic acid 0.253 mg
- Pyridoxine 0.059 mg
- Vitamin C 29.6 mg
Lá mãng cầu xiêm chứa các acetogenins loại monotetrahydrofurane như annopentocins A, B và C; Cis và Trans-annomuricin-D-ones(4, 5), Muricoreacin, Muricohexocin… ngoài ra còn có tannin, chất nhựa resin.
Trái mãng cầu xiêm chứa các alkaloids loại isoquinoleine như: annonaine, nornuciferine và asimilobine.
Hạt chứa khoảng 0.05 % alcaloids trong đó 2 chất chính là muricin và muricinin. Nghiên cứu tại ĐH Bắc Kinh (2001) ghi nhận hạt có chứa các acetogenins: Muricatenol, Gigantetrocin-A, -B, Annomontacin, Gigante tronenin. Trong hạt còn có các hỗn hợp N-fatty acyl tryptamines, một lectin có ái lực mạnh với glucose/mannose; các galactomannans..
Vài phương thức sử dụng:
Mãng cầu xiêm được dùng làm thực phẩm tại nhiều nơi trên thế giới. Tên soursop, cho thấy quả có thể có vị chua, tuy nhiên độ chua thay đổi, tùy giống, có giống khá ngọt để ăn sống được, có giống phải ăn chung với đường. Trái chứa nhiều nước, nên thường dùng để uống hơn là ăn! Như tại Ba Tây có món Champola, tại Puerto Rico có món Carato là những thức uống theo kiểu ‘nuớc sinh tố’ ở Việt Nam: mãng cầu xay chung với sữa, nước (tại Philippines, còn pha thêm màu xanh, đỏ như sinh tố pha si-rô ở Việt Nam)
Mãng cầu xiêm (lá, rễ và hạt) được dùng làm thuốc tại rất nhiều nơi trên thế-giới, nhất là tại những quốc gia Nam Mỹ:
Tại Peru, trong vùng núi Andes, lá mãng cầu được dùng làm thuốc trị cảm, xổ mũi; hạt nghiền nát làm thuốc trừ sâu bọ; trong vùng Amazon, vỏ cây và lá dùng trị tiểu đường, làm dịu đau, chống co giật.
Tại Guyana: lá và vỏ cây, nấu thành trà dược giúp trị đau và bổ tim.
Tại Ba Tây, trong vùng Amazon: lá nấu thành trà trị bệnh gan; dầu ép từ lá và trái còn non, trộn với dầu olive làm thuốc thoa bên ngoài trị thấp khớp, đau sưng gân cốt.
Tại Jamaica, Haiti và West Indies: trái hay nước ép từ trái dùng trị nóng sốt, giúp sinh sữa và trị tiêu chảy; vỏ thân cây và lá dùng trị đau nhức, chống co-giật, ho, suyển.
Tại Ấn Độ, cây được gọi theo tiếng Tamilnadu là mullu-chitta: quả dùng chống thiếu vitamin C ( scorbut); hạt gây nôn mửa và làm se da.
Tại Việt Nam, hạt được dùng như hạt na, nghiền nát trong nước, lấy nước gột đầu để trị chí rận. Một phương thuốc Nam khá phổ biến để trị huyết áp cao là dùng vỏ trái hay lá mãng cầu xiêm, sắc chung với rễ nhàu và rau cần thành nước uống (bỏ bã) mỗi ngày.
Dược tính của mãng cầu xiêm:
Các nhà khoa học đã nghiên cứu về dược tính của mãng cầu xiêm từ 1940 và ly trích được nhiều hoạt chất. Một số các nghiên cứu sơ khởi được công bố trong khoảng thời gian 1940 đến 1962 ghi nhận vỏ thân và lá mãng cầu xiêm có những tác dụng làm hạ huyết áp, chống co giật, làm giãn nở mạch máu, thư giãn cơ trơn khi thử trên thú vật. Đến 1991, tác dụng hạ huyết áp của lá mãng cầu xiêm đã được tái xác nhận. Các nghiên cứu sau đó đã chứng minh được là dịch chiết từ lá, vỏ thân, rễ, chồi và hạt mãng cầu xiêm có những tác dụng kháng sinh chống lại một số vi khuẩn gây bệnh, và vỏ cây có khả năng chống nấm.
Hoạt tính của các acetogenins:
Trong một chương trình nghiên cứu về dược thảo của National Cancer Institute vào năm 1976, lá và chồi của mãng cầu xiêm được ghi nhận là có hoạt tính diệt các tế bào của một số loại ung thư. Hoạt tính này được cho là do ở nhóm hợp chất, đặt tên là annonaceous acetogenins
Các nghiên cứu về acetogenins cho thấy những chất này có khả năng ức chế rất mạnh phức hợp I (Complex I) ở trong các hệ thống chuyển vận điện tử nơi ty lạp thể (mitochondria) kể cả của tế bào ung thư [ các cây của gia đình Anonna có chứa nhiều loại acetogenins hoạt tính rất mạnh, một số có tác dụng diệt tế bào u-bướu ở nồng độ EC50 rất thấp, ngay ở 10-9 microgram/ mL.]
Trường Đại Học Purdue là nơi có nhiều nghiên cứu nhất về hoạt tính của gia đình Annona, giữ hàng chục bản quyền về acetogenins, và công bố khá nhiều thí nghiệm lâm sàng về tác dụng của acetogenins trên ung thư, diệt bướu ung độc:
Một nghiên cứu năm 1998 ghi nhận một loại acetogenin trích từ mãng cầu xiêm có tác dụng chọn lựa, diệt được tế bào ung thư ruột già loại adenocarcinoma, tác dụng này mạnh gấp 10 ngàn lần thuốc Adriamycin.
Theo các kết quả nghiên cứu tại Purdue thì: ‘các acetogenins từ annonaceae, là những acid béo có dây carbon dài từ 32-34, phối hợp với một đơn vị 2-propanol tại C-2 để tạo thành một vòng lactone. Acetogenins có những hoạt tính sinh học như chống u-bướu, kích ứng miễn nhiễm, diệt sâu bọ, chống protozoa, diệt giun sán và kháng sinh. Acetogenins là những chất ức chế rất mạnh NADH:Ubiquinone oxidoreductase, vốn là một enzym căn bản cần thiết cho complex I đưa đến phàn ứng phosphoryl-oxid hóa trong mitochondria. Acetogenins tác dụng trực tiếp vào các vị trí ubiquinone-catalytic nằm trong complex I và ngay vào men glucose dehydrogenase của vi trùng. Acetogenins cũng ức chế men ubiquinone-kết với NADH oxidase, chỉ có nơi màng plasma của tế bào ung thư.(Recent Advances in Annonaceous Acetogenins-Purdue University -1997)
Các acetogenins Muricoreacin và Muricohexocin có những hoạt tính diệt bào khá mạnh trên 6 loại tế bào ung thư như ung thư tiền liệt tuyền (prostate) loại adenocarcinoma (PC-3), ung thư lá lách loại carcinoma (PACA-2) (ĐH Purdue, West LaFayette, IN- trong Phytochemistry Số 49-1998)
Một acetogenin khác :Bullatacin có khả năng diệt được các tế bào ung thư đã kháng được nhiều thuốc dùng trong hóa-chất trị liệu, do ở hoạt tính ngăn chận sự chế tạo Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) cần thiết cho hoạt động của tế bào ung thư (Cancer Letter June 1997)
Các acetogenins trích từ lá Annomutacin, cùng các hợp chất loại annonacin-A-one có hoạt tính diệt được tế bào ung thư phổi dòng A-549 (Journal of Natural Products Số Tháng 9-1995)
Các duợc tính khác:
Các alkaloid: annonaine, nornuciferine và asimilobine trích được từ trái có tác dụng an thần và trị đau: Hoạt tính này do ở khả năng ức chế sự nối kết của [3H] rauwolscine vào các thụ thể 5-HT1A nằm trong phần yên của não bộ. (Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology Số 49-1997).
Dịch chiết từ trái bằng ethanol có tác dụng ức chế được siêu vi khuẩn Herpes Simplex (HSV-1) ở nồng độ 1mg/ml (Journal of Ethnophar macology Số 61-1998).
Các dịch chiết bằng hexane, ethyl acetate và methanol từ trái đều có những hoạt tính diệt được ký sinh trùng Leishmania braziliensis và L.panamensis (tác dụng này còn mạnh hơn cả chất Glucantime dùng làm tiêu chuẩn đối chiếu). Ngoài ra các acetogenins cô lập được annonacein, annonacin A và annomuricin A có các hoạt tính gây độc hại cho các tế bào ung thư dòng U-937 (Fitotherapia Số 71-2000).
Thử nghiệm tại Đại học Universidade Federal de Alagoas, Maceio-AL, Ba Tây ghi nhận dịch chiết từ lá bằng ethanol có khả năng diệt được nhuyến thể (ốc-sò) loài Biomphalaria glabrata ở nồng độ LD50 = 8.75 ppm, và có thêm đặc điểm là diệt được các tụ khối trứng của sên (Phytomedicine Số 8-2001).
Một lectin loại glycoproteine chứa 8% carbohydrate, ly trích từ hạt có hoạt tính kết tụ hồng huyết cầu của người, ngỗng, ngựa và gà, đồng thời ức chế được sự tăng trưởng của các nấm và mốc loại Fusarium oxysoporum, Fusarium solani và Colletotrichum musae (Journal of Protein Chemistry Số 22-2003)
Mãng cầu xiêm có liên hệ với bệnh Parkinson:
Tại vùng West Indies thuộc Pháp, nhất là ở Guadaloupe có tình trạng xảy ra bất thường về con số các bệnh nhân bị bệnh Parkinson, loại kháng-levo dopa: những bệnh nhân này đều tiêu thụ một lượng cao, và trong một thời gian lâu dài soursop hay mãng cầu xiêm (A.muricata).
Những nghiên cứu sơ khởi trong năm 1999 (công bố trên tạp chí Lancet Số 354, ngày 23 tháng 10 năm 1999) trên 87 bệnh nhân đưa đến kết luận là rất có thể có sự liên hệ giữa dùng nhiều mãng cầu xiêm, vốn có chứa các alkaloids loại benzyltetrahydroisoquinoleine độc hại về thần kinh. Nhóm bệnh nhân có những triệu chứng Parkinson không chuyên biệt (atipycal), gồm 30 người dùng khá nhiều mãng cầu trong cách ăn uống hàng ngày.
Nghiên cứu sâu rộng hơn vào năm 2002, cũng tại Guadeloupe, nhằm vào nhóm bệnh nhân Parkinson (atypical) cho thấy khi tách riêng các tế bào thần kinh (neuron) loại mesencephalic dopaminergic và cấy trong môi trường có chứa dịch chiết toàn phần rễ mãng cầu xiêm, hoặc chứa các hoạt chất cô lập như coreximinine, reticuline, có các kết quả như sau: Sau 24 giờ tiếp xúc: 50% các tế bào thần kinh cấy bị suy thoái ở nồng độ 18 microg/ml dịch chiết toàn phần; 4.3 microg/ml coreximine và 100 microg/ml reticuline.
Nghiên cứu này đưa đến kết luận là những alkaloids trích từ mãng cầu xiêm có thể có tác dụng điều hợp chức năng cùng sự thay đổi để sinh tồn của các tế bào thần kinh dopaminergic trong các thử nghiệm ‘in vitro’; và rất có thể có những liên hệ tác hại giữa việc dùng mãng cầu xiêm ở lượng cao và liên tục với những suy thoái về tế bào thần kinh. Do đó bệnh nhân Parkinson, do yếu tố an toàn nên tránh ăn mãng cầu xiêm! (Movement Disorders Số 17-2002).
Độc tính và liều lượng:
Theo tài liệu của Herbal Secrets of the Rain Forest:
Liều trị liệu của lá (cũng chứa lượng acetrogenins khá cao, so với rễ và hạt) là 2-3 gram chia làm 3-4 lần/ngày. Trên thị trường Hoa Kỳ có một số chế phẩm, mang tên Graviola, dưới các dạng viên nang (capsule) và cồn thuốc (tincture).
Không nên dùng các chế phẩm làm từ lá, rễ và hạt mãng cầu xiêm (phần thịt của quả không bị hạn chế) trong các trường hợp:
- Có thai: do hoạt tính gây co tht tử cung khi thử trên chuột.
- Huyết áp cao: Lá, rễ và ht có tác dụng gây hạ huyết áp, ức chế tim, người dùng thuốc trị áp huyết cần bàn với BS điều trị.
- Khi dùng lâu dài các chế phẩ;m Graviola có thể gây các rối loạn về vi sinh vật trong đường ruột.
- Một số trường h&##7907;p bị ói mửa, buồn nôn khi dùng Graviola, trong trường hợp này nên giảm bớt liều sử dụng.
- Không nên dùng Graviola chung với CoEnzyme Q 10 (một trong những cơ chế hoạt động của acetogenins là ngăn chặn sự cung cấp ATP cho tế bào ung thư, và CoEnzym Q.10 là một chất cung cấp ATP), uống chung sẽ làm giảm công hiệu của cả 2 loại.
Annona muricata is a member of the family of Custard apple trees called Annonaceae and a species of the genus Annona known mostly for its edible fruits Anona. Annona muricata produces fruits that are usually called Soursop due to its slightly acidic taste when ripe. A. muricata trees grew natively in the Caribbean and Central America but are now widely cultivated and in some areas, escaping and living on their own in tropical climates throughout the world.
Common names
•English: Brazilian pawpaw, soursop, prickly custard apple, Soursapi
•Spanish: guanábana, guanábano, anona, catche, catoche, catuche, zapote agrio
•Chamorro: laguaná, laguana, laguanaha, syasyap
•German: Sauersack, Stachelannone, anona, flashendaum, stachel anone, stachliger
•Fijian: sarifa, seremaia
•French: anone muriquee, cachiman épineux, corossol épineux,anone, cachiman épineux, caichemantier, coeur de boeuf, corossol, corossolier, epineux
•Indonesian: sirsak
•Malay: Durian Belanda
•Māori: kātara‘apa, kātara‘apa papa‘ā, naponapo taratara
•Dutch: zuurzak
•Portuguese: graviola, araticum-grande, araticum-manso, coração-de-rainha, jaca-de-pobre, jaca-do-Pará, anona, curassol, graviola, pinha azeda
•Samoan: sanalapa, sasalapa, sasalapa
•Tahitian: tapotapo papa‘a, tapotapo urupe
•Vietnamese: mãng cầu Xiêm, mãng cầu gai
•Chinese: 刺果番荔枝
Description
Annona muricata is a small, upright, evergreen that can grow to about 4 metres (13 ft) tall and cannot stand frost.
Stems and leaves
The young branches are hairy.
Leaves are oblong to oval, 8 centimetres (3.1 in) to 16 centimetres (6.3 in) long and 3 centimetres (1.2 in) to 7 centimetres (2.8 in) wide. Glossy dark green with no hairs above, paler and minutely hairy to no hairs below.
The leaf stalks are 4 millimetres (0.16 in) to 13 millimetres (0.51 in) long and without hairs.
Flowers
Flower stalks (peduncles) are 2 millimetres (0.079 in) to 5 millimetres (0.20 in) long and woody. They appear opposite from the leaves or as an extra from near the leaf stalk, each with one or two flowers, occasionally a third.
Stalks for the individual flowers (pedicels) are stout and woody, minutely hairy to hairless and 15 millimetres (0.59 in) to 20 millimetres (0.79 in) with small bractlets nearer to the base which are densely hairy.
Petals are thick and yellowish. Outer petals meet at the edges without overlapping and are broadly ovate, 2.8 centimetres (1.1 in) to 3.3 centimetres (1.3 in) by 2.1 centimetres (0.83 in) to 2.5 centimetres (0.98 in), tapering to a point with a heart shaped base. Evenly thick, covered with long, slender, soft hairs externally and matted finely with soft hairs within. Inner petals are oval shaped and overlap. 2.5 centimetres (0.98 in) to 2.8 centimetres (1.1 in) by 2 centimetres (0.79 in). Sharply angled and tapering at the base. Margins are comparatively thin, with fine matted soft hairs on both sides. The receptacle is conical and hairy. Stamens 4.5 millimetres (0.18 in) long and narrowly wedge-shaped. The connective-tip terminate abruptly and anther hollows are unequal. Sepals are quite thick and do not overlap. Carpels are linear and basally growing from one base. The ovaries are covered with dense reddish brown hairs, 1-ovuled, style short and stigma truncate.
Fruits and reproduction
Dark green, prickly (or bristled) fruits are egg-shaped and can be up to 30 centimetres (12 in) long, with a moderately firm texture.[5] Flesh is juicy, acid, whitish and aromatic.
Abundant seeds the average weight of 1000 fresh seeds is 470 grams (17 oz) and had an average oil content of 24%. When dried for 3 days in 60 °C (140 °F) the average seed weight was 322 grams (11.4 oz) and were tolerant of the moisture extraction; showing no problems for long-term storage under reasonable conditions.
Distribution
Annona muricata is tolerant of poor soil and prefers lowland areas between the altitudes of 0 metres (0 ft) to 1,200 metres (3,900 ft).
Native
Neotropic:
Caribbean: Cuba, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Haiti, Puerto Rico
Central America: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Belize
South America: Bolivia, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador[4
A fungus (pl.: fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as one of the traditional eukaryotic kingdoms, along with Animalia, Plantae and either Protista or Protozoa and Chromista.
A characteristic that places fungi in a different kingdom from plants, bacteria, and some protists is chitin in their cell walls. Fungi, like animals, are heterotrophs; they acquire their food by absorbing dissolved molecules, typically by secreting digestive enzymes into their environment. Fungi do not photosynthesize. Growth is their means of mobility, except for spores (a few of which are flagellated), which may travel through the air or water. Fungi are the principal decomposers in ecological systems. These and other differences place fungi in a single group of related organisms, named the Eumycota (true fungi or Eumycetes), that share a common ancestor (i.e. they form a monophyletic group), an interpretation that is also strongly supported by molecular phylogenetics. This fungal group is distinct from the structurally similar myxomycetes (slime molds) and oomycetes (water molds). The discipline of biology devoted to the study of fungi is known as mycology (from the Greek μύκης mykes, mushroom). In the past mycology was regarded as a branch of botany, although it is now known that fungi are genetically more closely related to animals than to plants.
Abundant worldwide, most fungi are inconspicuous because of the small size of their structures, and their cryptic lifestyles in soil or on dead matter. Fungi include symbionts of plants, animals, or other fungi and also parasites. They may become noticeable when fruiting, either as mushrooms or as molds. Fungi perform an essential role in the decomposition of organic matter and have fundamental roles in nutrient cycling and exchange in the environment. They have long been used as a direct source of human food, in the form of mushrooms and truffles; as a leavening agent for bread; and in the fermentation of various food products, such as wine, beer, and soy sauce. Since the 1940s, fungi have been used for the production of antibiotics, and, more recently, various enzymes produced by fungi are used industrially and in detergents. Fungi are also used as biological pesticides to control weeds, plant diseases, and insect pests. Many species produce bioactive compounds called mycotoxins, such as alkaloids and polyketides, that are toxic to animals, including humans. The fruiting structures of a few species contain psychotropic compounds and are consumed recreationally or in traditional spiritual ceremonies. Fungi can break down manufactured materials and buildings, and become significant pathogens of humans and other animals. Losses of crops due to fungal diseases (e.g., rice blast disease) or food spoilage can have a large impact on human food supplies and local economies.
The fungus kingdom encompasses an enormous diversity of taxa with varied ecologies, life cycle strategies, and morphologies ranging from unicellular aquatic chytrids to large mushrooms. However, little is known of the true biodiversity of the fungus kingdom, which has been estimated at 2.2 million to 3.8 million species. Of these, only about 148,000 have been described, with over 8,000 species known to be detrimental to plants and at least 300 that can be pathogenic to humans. Ever since the pioneering 18th and 19th century taxonomical works of Carl Linnaeus, Christiaan Hendrik Persoon, and Elias Magnus Fries, fungi have been classified according to their morphology (e.g., characteristics such as spore color or microscopic features) or physiology. Advances in molecular genetics have opened the way for DNA analysis to be incorporated into taxonomy, which has sometimes challenged the historical groupings based on morphology and other traits. Phylogenetic studies published in the first decade of the 21st century have helped reshape the classification within the fungi kingdom, which is divided into one subkingdom, seven phyla, and ten subphyla.
Etymology
The English word fungus is directly adopted from the Latin fungus (mushroom), used in the writings of Horace and Pliny. This in turn is derived from the Greek word sphongos (σφόγγος 'sponge'), which refers to the macroscopic structures and morphology of mushrooms and molds; the root is also used in other languages, such as the German Schwamm ('sponge') and Schimmel ('mold').
The word mycology is derived from the Greek mykes (μύκης 'mushroom') and logos (λόγος 'discourse'). It denotes the scientific study of fungi. The Latin adjectival form of "mycology" (mycologicæ) appeared as early as 1796 in a book on the subject by Christiaan Hendrik Persoon. The word appeared in English as early as 1824 in a book by Robert Kaye Greville. In 1836 the English naturalist Miles Joseph Berkeley's publication The English Flora of Sir James Edward Smith, Vol. 5. also refers to mycology as the study of fungi.
A group of all the fungi present in a particular region is known as mycobiota (plural noun, no singular). The term mycota is often used for this purpose, but many authors use it as a synonym of Fungi. The word funga has been proposed as a less ambiguous term morphologically similar to fauna and flora. The Species Survival Commission (SSC) of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in August 2021 asked that the phrase fauna and flora be replaced by fauna, flora, and funga.
Characteristics
Fungal hyphae cells
Hyphal wall
Septum
Mitochondrion
Vacuole
Ergosterol crystal
Ribosome
Nucleus
Endoplasmic reticulum
Lipid body
Plasma membrane
Spitzenkörper
Golgi apparatus
Fungal cell cycle showing Dikaryons typical of Higher Fungi
Before the introduction of molecular methods for phylogenetic analysis, taxonomists considered fungi to be members of the plant kingdom because of similarities in lifestyle: both fungi and plants are mainly immobile, and have similarities in general morphology and growth habitat. Although inaccurate, the common misconception that fungi are plants persists among the general public due to their historical classification, as well as several similarities. Like plants, fungi often grow in soil and, in the case of mushrooms, form conspicuous fruit bodies, which sometimes resemble plants such as mosses. The fungi are now considered a separate kingdom, distinct from both plants and animals, from which they appear to have diverged around one billion years ago (around the start of the Neoproterozoic Era). Some morphological, biochemical, and genetic features are shared with other organisms, while others are unique to the fungi, clearly separating them from the other kingdoms:
With other eukaryotes: Fungal cells contain membrane-bound nuclei with chromosomes that contain DNA with noncoding regions called introns and coding regions called exons. Fungi have membrane-bound cytoplasmic organelles such as mitochondria, sterol-containing membranes, and ribosomes of the 80S type. They have a characteristic range of soluble carbohydrates and storage compounds, including sugar alcohols (e.g., mannitol), disaccharides, (e.g., trehalose), and polysaccharides (e.g., glycogen, which is also found in animals).
With animals: Fungi lack chloroplasts and are heterotrophic organisms and so require preformed organic compounds as energy sources.
With plants: Fungi have a cell wall and vacuoles. They reproduce by both sexual and asexual means, and like basal plant groups (such as ferns and mosses) produce spores. Similar to mosses and algae, fungi typically have haploid nuclei.
With euglenoids and bacteria: Higher fungi, euglenoids, and some bacteria produce the amino acid L-lysine in specific biosynthesis steps, called the α-aminoadipate pathway.
The cells of most fungi grow as tubular, elongated, and thread-like (filamentous) structures called hyphae, which may contain multiple nuclei and extend by growing at their tips. Each tip contains a set of aggregated vesicles—cellular structures consisting of proteins, lipids, and other organic molecules—called the Spitzenkörper. Both fungi and oomycetes grow as filamentous hyphal cells. In contrast, similar-looking organisms, such as filamentous green algae, grow by repeated cell division within a chain of cells. There are also single-celled fungi (yeasts) that do not form hyphae, and some fungi have both hyphal and yeast forms.
In common with some plant and animal species, more than one hundred fungal species display bioluminescence.
Unique features:
Some species grow as unicellular yeasts that reproduce by budding or fission. Dimorphic fungi can switch between a yeast phase and a hyphal phase in response to environmental conditions.
The fungal cell wall is made of a chitin-glucan complex; while glucans are also found in plants and chitin in the exoskeleton of arthropods, fungi are the only organisms that combine these two structural molecules in their cell wall. Unlike those of plants and oomycetes, fungal cell walls do not contain cellulose.
A whitish fan or funnel-shaped mushroom growing at the base of a tree.
Omphalotus nidiformis, a bioluminescent mushroom
Most fungi lack an efficient system for the long-distance transport of water and nutrients, such as the xylem and phloem in many plants. To overcome this limitation, some fungi, such as Armillaria, form rhizomorphs, which resemble and perform functions similar to the roots of plants. As eukaryotes, fungi possess a biosynthetic pathway for producing terpenes that uses mevalonic acid and pyrophosphate as chemical building blocks. Plants and some other organisms have an additional terpene biosynthesis pathway in their chloroplasts, a structure that fungi and animals do not have. Fungi produce several secondary metabolites that are similar or identical in structure to those made by plants. Many of the plant and fungal enzymes that make these compounds differ from each other in sequence and other characteristics, which indicates separate origins and convergent evolution of these enzymes in the fungi and plants.
Diversity
Fungi have a worldwide distribution, and grow in a wide range of habitats, including extreme environments such as deserts or areas with high salt concentrations or ionizing radiation, as well as in deep sea sediments. Some can survive the intense UV and cosmic radiation encountered during space travel. Most grow in terrestrial environments, though several species live partly or solely in aquatic habitats, such as the chytrid fungi Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis and B. salamandrivorans, parasites that have been responsible for a worldwide decline in amphibian populations. These organisms spend part of their life cycle as a motile zoospore, enabling them to propel itself through water and enter their amphibian host. Other examples of aquatic fungi include those living in hydrothermal areas of the ocean.
As of 2020, around 148,000 species of fungi have been described by taxonomists, but the global biodiversity of the fungus kingdom is not fully understood. A 2017 estimate suggests there may be between 2.2 and 3.8 million species The number of new fungi species discovered yearly has increased from 1,000 to 1,500 per year about 10 years ago, to about 2000 with a peak of more than 2,500 species in 2016. In the year 2019, 1882 new species of fungi were described, and it was estimated that more than 90% of fungi remain unknown The following year, 2905 new species were described—the highest annual record of new fungus names. In mycology, species have historically been distinguished by a variety of methods and concepts. Classification based on morphological characteristics, such as the size and shape of spores or fruiting structures, has traditionally dominated fungal taxonomy. Species may also be distinguished by their biochemical and physiological characteristics, such as their ability to metabolize certain biochemicals, or their reaction to chemical tests. The biological species concept discriminates species based on their ability to mate. The application of molecular tools, such as DNA sequencing and phylogenetic analysis, to study diversity has greatly enhanced the resolution and added robustness to estimates of genetic diversity within various taxonomic groups.
Mycology
Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the systematic study of fungi, including their genetic and biochemical properties, their taxonomy, and their use to humans as a source of medicine, food, and psychotropic substances consumed for religious purposes, as well as their dangers, such as poisoning or infection. The field of phytopathology, the study of plant diseases, is closely related because many plant pathogens are fungi.
The use of fungi by humans dates back to prehistory; Ötzi the Iceman, a well-preserved mummy of a 5,300-year-old Neolithic man found frozen in the Austrian Alps, carried two species of polypore mushrooms that may have been used as tinder (Fomes fomentarius), or for medicinal purposes (Piptoporus betulinus). Ancient peoples have used fungi as food sources—often unknowingly—for millennia, in the preparation of leavened bread and fermented juices. Some of the oldest written records contain references to the destruction of crops that were probably caused by pathogenic fungi.
History
Mycology became a systematic science after the development of the microscope in the 17th century. Although fungal spores were first observed by Giambattista della Porta in 1588, the seminal work in the development of mycology is considered to be the publication of Pier Antonio Micheli's 1729 work Nova plantarum genera. Micheli not only observed spores but also showed that, under the proper conditions, they could be induced into growing into the same species of fungi from which they originated. Extending the use of the binomial system of nomenclature introduced by Carl Linnaeus in his Species plantarum (1753), the Dutch Christiaan Hendrik Persoon (1761–1836) established the first classification of mushrooms with such skill as to be considered a founder of modern mycology. Later, Elias Magnus Fries (1794–1878) further elaborated the classification of fungi, using spore color and microscopic characteristics, methods still used by taxonomists today. Other notable early contributors to mycology in the 17th–19th and early 20th centuries include Miles Joseph Berkeley, August Carl Joseph Corda, Anton de Bary, the brothers Louis René and Charles Tulasne, Arthur H. R. Buller, Curtis G. Lloyd, and Pier Andrea Saccardo. In the 20th and 21st centuries, advances in biochemistry, genetics, molecular biology, biotechnology, DNA sequencing and phylogenetic analysis has provided new insights into fungal relationships and biodiversity, and has challenged traditional morphology-based groupings in fungal taxonomy.
Morphology
Microscopic structures
Monochrome micrograph showing Penicillium hyphae as long, transparent, tube-like structures a few micrometres across. Conidiophores branch out laterally from the hyphae, terminating in bundles of phialides on which spherical condidiophores are arranged like beads on a string. Septa are faintly visible as dark lines crossing the hyphae.
An environmental isolate of Penicillium
Hypha
Conidiophore
Phialide
Conidia
Septa
Most fungi grow as hyphae, which are cylindrical, thread-like structures 2–10 µm in diameter and up to several centimeters in length. Hyphae grow at their tips (apices); new hyphae are typically formed by emergence of new tips along existing hyphae by a process called branching, or occasionally growing hyphal tips fork, giving rise to two parallel-growing hyphae. Hyphae also sometimes fuse when they come into contact, a process called hyphal fusion (or anastomosis). These growth processes lead to the development of a mycelium, an interconnected network of hyphae. Hyphae can be either septate or coenocytic. Septate hyphae are divided into compartments separated by cross walls (internal cell walls, called septa, that are formed at right angles to the cell wall giving the hypha its shape), with each compartment containing one or more nuclei; coenocytic hyphae are not compartmentalized. Septa have pores that allow cytoplasm, organelles, and sometimes nuclei to pass through; an example is the dolipore septum in fungi of the phylum Basidiomycota. Coenocytic hyphae are in essence multinucleate supercells.
Many species have developed specialized hyphal structures for nutrient uptake from living hosts; examples include haustoria in plant-parasitic species of most fungal phyla,[63] and arbuscules of several mycorrhizal fungi, which penetrate into the host cells to consume nutrients.
Although fungi are opisthokonts—a grouping of evolutionarily related organisms broadly characterized by a single posterior flagellum—all phyla except for the chytrids have lost their posterior flagella. Fungi are unusual among the eukaryotes in having a cell wall that, in addition to glucans (e.g., β-1,3-glucan) and other typical components, also contains the biopolymer chitin.
Macroscopic structures
Fungal mycelia can become visible to the naked eye, for example, on various surfaces and substrates, such as damp walls and spoiled food, where they are commonly called molds. Mycelia grown on solid agar media in laboratory petri dishes are usually referred to as colonies. These colonies can exhibit growth shapes and colors (due to spores or pigmentation) that can be used as diagnostic features in the identification of species or groups. Some individual fungal colonies can reach extraordinary dimensions and ages as in the case of a clonal colony of Armillaria solidipes, which extends over an area of more than 900 ha (3.5 square miles), with an estimated age of nearly 9,000 years.
The apothecium—a specialized structure important in sexual reproduction in the ascomycetes—is a cup-shaped fruit body that is often macroscopic and holds the hymenium, a layer of tissue containing the spore-bearing cells. The fruit bodies of the basidiomycetes (basidiocarps) and some ascomycetes can sometimes grow very large, and many are well known as mushrooms.
Growth and physiology
Time-lapse photography sequence of a peach becoming progressively discolored and disfigured
Mold growth covering a decaying peach. The frames were taken approximately 12 hours apart over a period of six days.
The growth of fungi as hyphae on or in solid substrates or as single cells in aquatic environments is adapted for the efficient extraction of nutrients, because these growth forms have high surface area to volume ratios. Hyphae are specifically adapted for growth on solid surfaces, and to invade substrates and tissues. They can exert large penetrative mechanical forces; for example, many plant pathogens, including Magnaporthe grisea, form a structure called an appressorium that evolved to puncture plant tissues.[71] The pressure generated by the appressorium, directed against the plant epidermis, can exceed 8 megapascals (1,200 psi).[71] The filamentous fungus Paecilomyces lilacinus uses a similar structure to penetrate the eggs of nematodes.
The mechanical pressure exerted by the appressorium is generated from physiological processes that increase intracellular turgor by producing osmolytes such as glycerol. Adaptations such as these are complemented by hydrolytic enzymes secreted into the environment to digest large organic molecules—such as polysaccharides, proteins, and lipids—into smaller molecules that may then be absorbed as nutrients. The vast majority of filamentous fungi grow in a polar fashion (extending in one direction) by elongation at the tip (apex) of the hypha. Other forms of fungal growth include intercalary extension (longitudinal expansion of hyphal compartments that are below the apex) as in the case of some endophytic fungi, or growth by volume expansion during the development of mushroom stipes and other large organs. Growth of fungi as multicellular structures consisting of somatic and reproductive cells—a feature independently evolved in animals and plants—has several functions, including the development of fruit bodies for dissemination of sexual spores (see above) and biofilms for substrate colonization and intercellular communication.
Fungi are traditionally considered heterotrophs, organisms that rely solely on carbon fixed by other organisms for metabolism. Fungi have evolved a high degree of metabolic versatility that allows them to use a diverse range of organic substrates for growth, including simple compounds such as nitrate, ammonia, acetate, or ethanol. In some species the pigment melanin may play a role in extracting energy from ionizing radiation, such as gamma radiation. This form of "radiotrophic" growth has been described for only a few species, the effects on growth rates are small, and the underlying biophysical and biochemical processes are not well known. This process might bear similarity to CO2 fixation via visible light, but instead uses ionizing radiation as a source of energy.
Reproduction
Two thickly stemmed brownish mushrooms with scales on the upper surface, growing out of a tree trunk
Polyporus squamosus
Fungal reproduction is complex, reflecting the differences in lifestyles and genetic makeup within this diverse kingdom of organisms. It is estimated that a third of all fungi reproduce using more than one method of propagation; for example, reproduction may occur in two well-differentiated stages within the life cycle of a species, the teleomorph (sexual reproduction) and the anamorph (asexual reproduction). Environmental conditions trigger genetically determined developmental states that lead to the creation of specialized structures for sexual or asexual reproduction. These structures aid reproduction by efficiently dispersing spores or spore-containing propagules.
Asexual reproduction
Asexual reproduction occurs via vegetative spores (conidia) or through mycelial fragmentation. Mycelial fragmentation occurs when a fungal mycelium separates into pieces, and each component grows into a separate mycelium. Mycelial fragmentation and vegetative spores maintain clonal populations adapted to a specific niche, and allow more rapid dispersal than sexual reproduction. The "Fungi imperfecti" (fungi lacking the perfect or sexual stage) or Deuteromycota comprise all the species that lack an observable sexual cycle. Deuteromycota (alternatively known as Deuteromycetes, conidial fungi, or mitosporic fungi) is not an accepted taxonomic clade and is now taken to mean simply fungi that lack a known sexual stage.
Sexual reproduction
See also: Mating in fungi and Sexual selection in fungi
Sexual reproduction with meiosis has been directly observed in all fungal phyla except Glomeromycota (genetic analysis suggests meiosis in Glomeromycota as well). It differs in many aspects from sexual reproduction in animals or plants. Differences also exist between fungal groups and can be used to discriminate species by morphological differences in sexual structures and reproductive strategies. Mating experiments between fungal isolates may identify species on the basis of biological species concepts. The major fungal groupings have initially been delineated based on the morphology of their sexual structures and spores; for example, the spore-containing structures, asci and basidia, can be used in the identification of ascomycetes and basidiomycetes, respectively. Fungi employ two mating systems: heterothallic species allow mating only between individuals of the opposite mating type, whereas homothallic species can mate, and sexually reproduce, with any other individual or itself.
Most fungi have both a haploid and a diploid stage in their life cycles. In sexually reproducing fungi, compatible individuals may combine by fusing their hyphae together into an interconnected network; this process, anastomosis, is required for the initiation of the sexual cycle. Many ascomycetes and basidiomycetes go through a dikaryotic stage, in which the nuclei inherited from the two parents do not combine immediately after cell fusion, but remain separate in the hyphal cells (see heterokaryosis).
In ascomycetes, dikaryotic hyphae of the hymenium (the spore-bearing tissue layer) form a characteristic hook (crozier) at the hyphal septum. During cell division, the formation of the hook ensures proper distribution of the newly divided nuclei into the apical and basal hyphal compartments. An ascus (plural asci) is then formed, in which karyogamy (nuclear fusion) occurs. Asci are embedded in an ascocarp, or fruiting body. Karyogamy in the asci is followed immediately by meiosis and the production of ascospores. After dispersal, the ascospores may germinate and form a new haploid mycelium.
Sexual reproduction in basidiomycetes is similar to that of the ascomycetes. Compatible haploid hyphae fuse to produce a dikaryotic mycelium. However, the dikaryotic phase is more extensive in the basidiomycetes, often also present in the vegetatively growing mycelium. A specialized anatomical structure, called a clamp connection, is formed at each hyphal septum. As with the structurally similar hook in the ascomycetes, the clamp connection in the basidiomycetes is required for controlled transfer of nuclei during cell division, to maintain the dikaryotic stage with two genetically different nuclei in each hyphal compartment. A basidiocarp is formed in which club-like structures known as basidia generate haploid basidiospores after karyogamy and meiosis. The most commonly known basidiocarps are mushrooms, but they may also take other forms (see Morphology section).
In fungi formerly classified as Zygomycota, haploid hyphae of two individuals fuse, forming a gametangium, a specialized cell structure that becomes a fertile gamete-producing cell. The gametangium develops into a zygospore, a thick-walled spore formed by the union of gametes. When the zygospore germinates, it undergoes meiosis, generating new haploid hyphae, which may then form asexual sporangiospores. These sporangiospores allow the fungus to rapidly disperse and germinate into new genetically identical haploid fungal mycelia.
Spore dispersal
The spores of most of the researched species of fungi are transported by wind. Such species often produce dry or hydrophobic spores that do not absorb water and are readily scattered by raindrops, for example. In other species, both asexual and sexual spores or sporangiospores are often actively dispersed by forcible ejection from their reproductive structures. This ejection ensures exit of the spores from the reproductive structures as well as traveling through the air over long distances.
Specialized mechanical and physiological mechanisms, as well as spore surface structures (such as hydrophobins), enable efficient spore ejection. For example, the structure of the spore-bearing cells in some ascomycete species is such that the buildup of substances affecting cell volume and fluid balance enables the explosive discharge of spores into the air. The forcible discharge of single spores termed ballistospores involves formation of a small drop of water (Buller's drop), which upon contact with the spore leads to its projectile release with an initial acceleration of more than 10,000 g; the net result is that the spore is ejected 0.01–0.02 cm, sufficient distance for it to fall through the gills or pores into the air below. Other fungi, like the puffballs, rely on alternative mechanisms for spore release, such as external mechanical forces. The hydnoid fungi (tooth fungi) produce spores on pendant, tooth-like or spine-like projections. The bird's nest fungi use the force of falling water drops to liberate the spores from cup-shaped fruiting bodies. Another strategy is seen in the stinkhorns, a group of fungi with lively colors and putrid odor that attract insects to disperse their spores.
Homothallism
In homothallic sexual reproduction, two haploid nuclei derived from the same individual fuse to form a zygote that can then undergo meiosis. Homothallic fungi include species with an Aspergillus-like asexual stage (anamorphs) occurring in numerous different genera, several species of the ascomycete genus Cochliobolus, and the ascomycete Pneumocystis jirovecii. The earliest mode of sexual reproduction among eukaryotes was likely homothallism, that is, self-fertile unisexual reproduction.
Other sexual processes
Besides regular sexual reproduction with meiosis, certain fungi, such as those in the genera Penicillium and Aspergillus, may exchange genetic material via parasexual processes, initiated by anastomosis between hyphae and plasmogamy of fungal cells. The frequency and relative importance of parasexual events is unclear and may be lower than other sexual processes. It is known to play a role in intraspecific hybridization and is likely required for hybridization between species, which has been associated with major events in fungal evolution.
Evolution
In contrast to plants and animals, the early fossil record of the fungi is meager. Factors that likely contribute to the under-representation of fungal species among fossils include the nature of fungal fruiting bodies, which are soft, fleshy, and easily degradable tissues and the microscopic dimensions of most fungal structures, which therefore are not readily evident. Fungal fossils are difficult to distinguish from those of other microbes, and are most easily identified when they resemble extant fungi. Often recovered from a permineralized plant or animal host, these samples are typically studied by making thin-section preparations that can be examined with light microscopy or transmission electron microscopy. Researchers study compression fossils by dissolving the surrounding matrix with acid and then using light or scanning electron microscopy to examine surface details.
The earliest fossils possessing features typical of fungi date to the Paleoproterozoic era, some 2,400 million years ago (Ma); these multicellular benthic organisms had filamentous structures capable of anastomosis. Other studies (2009) estimate the arrival of fungal organisms at about 760–1060 Ma on the basis of comparisons of the rate of evolution in closely related groups. The oldest fossilizied mycelium to be identified from its molecular composition is between 715 and 810 million years old. For much of the Paleozoic Era (542–251 Ma), the fungi appear to have been aquatic and consisted of organisms similar to the extant chytrids in having flagellum-bearing spores. The evolutionary adaptation from an aquatic to a terrestrial lifestyle necessitated a diversification of ecological strategies for obtaining nutrients, including parasitism, saprobism, and the development of mutualistic relationships such as mycorrhiza and lichenization. Studies suggest that the ancestral ecological state of the Ascomycota was saprobism, and that independent lichenization events have occurred multiple times.
In May 2019, scientists reported the discovery of a fossilized fungus, named Ourasphaira giraldae, in the Canadian Arctic, that may have grown on land a billion years ago, well before plants were living on land. Pyritized fungus-like microfossils preserved in the basal Ediacaran Doushantuo Formation (~635 Ma) have been reported in South China. Earlier, it had been presumed that the fungi colonized the land during the Cambrian (542–488.3 Ma), also long before land plants. Fossilized hyphae and spores recovered from the Ordovician of Wisconsin (460 Ma) resemble modern-day Glomerales, and existed at a time when the land flora likely consisted of only non-vascular bryophyte-like plants. Prototaxites, which was probably a fungus or lichen, would have been the tallest organism of the late Silurian and early Devonian. Fungal fossils do not become common and uncontroversial until the early Devonian (416–359.2 Ma), when they occur abundantly in the Rhynie chert, mostly as Zygomycota and Chytridiomycota. At about this same time, approximately 400 Ma, the Ascomycota and Basidiomycota diverged, and all modern classes of fungi were present by the Late Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian, 318.1–299 Ma).
Lichens formed a component of the early terrestrial ecosystems, and the estimated age of the oldest terrestrial lichen fossil is 415 Ma; this date roughly corresponds to the age of the oldest known sporocarp fossil, a Paleopyrenomycites species found in the Rhynie Chert. The oldest fossil with microscopic features resembling modern-day basidiomycetes is Palaeoancistrus, found permineralized with a fern from the Pennsylvanian. Rare in the fossil record are the Homobasidiomycetes (a taxon roughly equivalent to the mushroom-producing species of the Agaricomycetes). Two amber-preserved specimens provide evidence that the earliest known mushroom-forming fungi (the extinct species Archaeomarasmius leggetti) appeared during the late Cretaceous, 90 Ma.
Some time after the Permian–Triassic extinction event (251.4 Ma), a fungal spike (originally thought to be an extraordinary abundance of fungal spores in sediments) formed, suggesting that fungi were the dominant life form at this time, representing nearly 100% of the available fossil record for this period. However, the relative proportion of fungal spores relative to spores formed by algal species is difficult to assess, the spike did not appear worldwide, and in many places it did not fall on the Permian–Triassic boundary.
Sixty-five million years ago, immediately after the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event that famously killed off most dinosaurs, there was a dramatic increase in evidence of fungi; apparently the death of most plant and animal species led to a huge fungal bloom like "a massive compost heap".
Taxonomy
Although commonly included in botany curricula and textbooks, fungi are more closely related to animals than to plants and are placed with the animals in the monophyletic group of opisthokonts. Analyses using molecular phylogenetics support a monophyletic origin of fungi. The taxonomy of fungi is in a state of constant flux, especially due to research based on DNA comparisons. These current phylogenetic analyses often overturn classifications based on older and sometimes less discriminative methods based on morphological features and biological species concepts obtained from experimental matings.
There is no unique generally accepted system at the higher taxonomic levels and there are frequent name changes at every level, from species upwards. Efforts among researchers are now underway to establish and encourage usage of a unified and more consistent nomenclature. Until relatively recent (2012) changes to the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi and plants, fungal species could also have multiple scientific names depending on their life cycle and mode (sexual or asexual) of reproduction. Web sites such as Index Fungorum and MycoBank are officially recognized nomenclatural repositories and list current names of fungal species (with cross-references to older synonyms).
The 2007 classification of Kingdom Fungi is the result of a large-scale collaborative research effort involving dozens of mycologists and other scientists working on fungal taxonomy. It recognizes seven phyla, two of which—the Ascomycota and the Basidiomycota—are contained within a branch representing subkingdom Dikarya, the most species rich and familiar group, including all the mushrooms, most food-spoilage molds, most plant pathogenic fungi, and the beer, wine, and bread yeasts. The accompanying cladogram depicts the major fungal taxa and their relationship to opisthokont and unikont organisms, based on the work of Philippe Silar, "The Mycota: A Comprehensive Treatise on Fungi as Experimental Systems for Basic and Applied Research" and Tedersoo et al. 2018. The lengths of the branches are not proportional to evolutionary distances.
The major phyla (sometimes called divisions) of fungi have been classified mainly on the basis of characteristics of their sexual reproductive structures. As of 2019, nine major lineages have been identified: Opisthosporidia, Chytridiomycota, Neocallimastigomycota, Blastocladiomycota, Zoopagomycotina, Mucoromycota, Glomeromycota, Ascomycota and Basidiomycota.
Phylogenetic analysis has demonstrated that the Microsporidia, unicellular parasites of animals and protists, are fairly recent and highly derived endobiotic fungi (living within the tissue of another species). Previously considered to be "primitive" protozoa, they are now thought to be either a basal branch of the Fungi, or a sister group–each other's closest evolutionary relative.
The Chytridiomycota are commonly known as chytrids. These fungi are distributed worldwide. Chytrids and their close relatives Neocallimastigomycota and Blastocladiomycota (below) are the only fungi with active motility, producing zoospores that are capable of active movement through aqueous phases with a single flagellum, leading early taxonomists to classify them as protists. Molecular phylogenies, inferred from rRNA sequences in ribosomes, suggest that the Chytrids are a basal group divergent from the other fungal phyla, consisting of four major clades with suggestive evidence for paraphyly or possibly polyphyly.
The Blastocladiomycota were previously considered a taxonomic clade within the Chytridiomycota. Molecular data and ultrastructural characteristics, however, place the Blastocladiomycota as a sister clade to the Zygomycota, Glomeromycota, and Dikarya (Ascomycota and Basidiomycota). The blastocladiomycetes are saprotrophs, feeding on decomposing organic matter, and they are parasites of all eukaryotic groups. Unlike their close relatives, the chytrids, most of which exhibit zygotic meiosis, the blastocladiomycetes undergo sporic meiosis.
The Neocallimastigomycota were earlier placed in the phylum Chytridiomycota. Members of this small phylum are anaerobic organisms, living in the digestive system of larger herbivorous mammals and in other terrestrial and aquatic environments enriched in cellulose (e.g., domestic waste landfill sites). They lack mitochondria but contain hydrogenosomes of mitochondrial origin. As in the related chrytrids, neocallimastigomycetes form zoospores that are posteriorly uniflagellate or polyflagellate.
Microscopic view of a layer of translucent grayish cells, some containing small dark-color spheres
Arbuscular mycorrhiza seen under microscope. Flax root cortical cells containing paired arbuscules.
Cross-section of a cup-shaped structure showing locations of developing meiotic asci (upper edge of cup, left side, arrows pointing to two gray cells containing four and two small circles), sterile hyphae (upper edge of cup, right side, arrows pointing to white cells with a single small circle in them), and mature asci (upper edge of cup, pointing to two gray cells with eight small circles in them)
Diagram of an apothecium (the typical cup-like reproductive structure of Ascomycetes) showing sterile tissues as well as developing and mature asci.
Members of the Glomeromycota form arbuscular mycorrhizae, a form of mutualist symbiosis wherein fungal hyphae invade plant root cells and both species benefit from the resulting increased supply of nutrients. All known Glomeromycota species reproduce asexually. The symbiotic association between the Glomeromycota and plants is ancient, with evidence dating to 400 million years ago. Formerly part of the Zygomycota (commonly known as 'sugar' and 'pin' molds), the Glomeromycota were elevated to phylum status in 2001 and now replace the older phylum Zygomycota. Fungi that were placed in the Zygomycota are now being reassigned to the Glomeromycota, or the subphyla incertae sedis Mucoromycotina, Kickxellomycotina, the Zoopagomycotina and the Entomophthoromycotina. Some well-known examples of fungi formerly in the Zygomycota include black bread mold (Rhizopus stolonifer), and Pilobolus species, capable of ejecting spores several meters through the air. Medically relevant genera include Mucor, Rhizomucor, and Rhizopus.
The Ascomycota, commonly known as sac fungi or ascomycetes, constitute the largest taxonomic group within the Eumycota. These fungi form meiotic spores called ascospores, which are enclosed in a special sac-like structure called an ascus. This phylum includes morels, a few mushrooms and truffles, unicellular yeasts (e.g., of the genera Saccharomyces, Kluyveromyces, Pichia, and Candida), and many filamentous fungi living as saprotrophs, parasites, and mutualistic symbionts (e.g. lichens). Prominent and important genera of filamentous ascomycetes include Aspergillus, Penicillium, Fusarium, and Claviceps. Many ascomycete species have only been observed undergoing asexual reproduction (called anamorphic species), but analysis of molecular data has often been able to identify their closest teleomorphs in the Ascomycota. Because the products of meiosis are retained within the sac-like ascus, ascomycetes have been used for elucidating principles of genetics and heredity (e.g., Neurospora crassa).
Members of the Basidiomycota, commonly known as the club fungi or basidiomycetes, produce meiospores called basidiospores on club-like stalks called basidia. Most common mushrooms belong to this group, as well as rust and smut fungi, which are major pathogens of grains. Other important basidiomycetes include the maize pathogen Ustilago maydis, human commensal species of the genus Malassezia, and the opportunistic human pathogen, Cryptococcus neoformans.
Fungus-like organisms
Because of similarities in morphology and lifestyle, the slime molds (mycetozoans, plasmodiophorids, acrasids, Fonticula and labyrinthulids, now in Amoebozoa, Rhizaria, Excavata, Opisthokonta and Stramenopiles, respectively), water molds (oomycetes) and hyphochytrids (both Stramenopiles) were formerly classified in the kingdom Fungi, in groups like Mastigomycotina, Gymnomycota and Phycomycetes. The slime molds were studied also as protozoans, leading to an ambiregnal, duplicated taxonomy.
Unlike true fungi, the cell walls of oomycetes contain cellulose and lack chitin. Hyphochytrids have both chitin and cellulose. Slime molds lack a cell wall during the assimilative phase (except labyrinthulids, which have a wall of scales), and take in nutrients by ingestion (phagocytosis, except labyrinthulids) rather than absorption (osmotrophy, as fungi, labyrinthulids, oomycetes and hyphochytrids). Neither water molds nor slime molds are closely related to the true fungi, and, therefore, taxonomists no longer group them in the kingdom Fungi. Nonetheless, studies of the oomycetes and myxomycetes are still often included in mycology textbooks and primary research literature.
The Eccrinales and Amoebidiales are opisthokont protists, previously thought to be zygomycete fungi. Other groups now in Opisthokonta (e.g., Corallochytrium, Ichthyosporea) were also at given time classified as fungi. The genus Blastocystis, now in Stramenopiles, was originally classified as a yeast. Ellobiopsis, now in Alveolata, was considered a chytrid. The bacteria were also included in fungi in some classifications, as the group Schizomycetes.
The Rozellida clade, including the "ex-chytrid" Rozella, is a genetically disparate group known mostly from environmental DNA sequences that is a sister group to fungi. Members of the group that have been isolated lack the chitinous cell wall that is characteristic of fungi. Alternatively, Rozella can be classified as a basal fungal group.
The nucleariids may be the next sister group to the eumycete clade, and as such could be included in an expanded fungal kingdom. Many Actinomycetales (Actinomycetota), a group with many filamentous bacteria, were also long believed to be fungi.
Ecology
Although often inconspicuous, fungi occur in every environment on Earth and play very important roles in most ecosystems. Along with bacteria, fungi are the major decomposers in most terrestrial (and some aquatic) ecosystems, and therefore play a critical role in biogeochemical cycles and in many food webs. As decomposers, they play an essential role in nutrient cycling, especially as saprotrophs and symbionts, degrading organic matter to inorganic molecules, which can then re-enter anabolic metabolic pathways in plants or other organisms.
Symbiosis
Many fungi have important symbiotic relationships with organisms from most if not all kingdoms. These interactions can be mutualistic or antagonistic in nature, or in the case of commensal fungi are of no apparent benefit or detriment to the host.
With plants
Mycorrhizal symbiosis between plants and fungi is one of the most well-known plant–fungus associations and is of significant importance for plant growth and persistence in many ecosystems; over 90% of all plant species engage in mycorrhizal relationships with fungi and are dependent upon this relationship for survival.
A microscopic view of blue-stained cells, some with dark wavy lines in them
The dark filaments are hyphae of the endophytic fungus Epichloë coenophiala in the intercellular spaces of tall fescue leaf sheath tissue
The mycorrhizal symbiosis is ancient, dating back to at least 400 million years. It often increases the plant's uptake of inorganic compounds, such as nitrate and phosphate from soils having low concentrations of these key plant nutrients. The fungal partners may also mediate plant-to-plant transfer of carbohydrates and other nutrients. Such mycorrhizal communities are called "common mycorrhizal networks". A special case of mycorrhiza is myco-heterotrophy, whereby the plant parasitizes the fungus, obtaining all of its nutrients from its fungal symbiont. Some fungal species inhabit the tissues inside roots, stems, and leaves, in which case they are called endophytes. Similar to mycorrhiza, endophytic colonization by fungi may benefit both symbionts; for example, endophytes of grasses impart to their host increased resistance to herbivores and other environmental stresses and receive food and shelter from the plant in return.
With algae and cyanobacteria
A green, leaf-like structure attached to a tree, with a pattern of ridges and depression on the bottom surface
The lichen Lobaria pulmonaria, a symbiosis of fungal, algal, and cyanobacterial species
Lichens are a symbiotic relationship between fungi and photosynthetic algae or cyanobacteria. The photosynthetic partner in the relationship is referred to in lichen terminology as a "photobiont". The fungal part of the relationship is composed mostly of various species of ascomycetes and a few basidiomycetes. Lichens occur in every ecosystem on all continents, play a key role in soil formation and the initiation of biological succession, and are prominent in some extreme environments, including polar, alpine, and semiarid desert regions. They are able to grow on inhospitable surfaces, including bare soil, rocks, tree bark, wood, shells, barnacles and leaves. As in mycorrhizas, the photobiont provides sugars and other carbohydrates via photosynthesis to the fungus, while the fungus provides minerals and water to the photobiont. The functions of both symbiotic organisms are so closely intertwined that they function almost as a single organism; in most cases the resulting organism differs greatly from the individual components. Lichenization is a common mode of nutrition for fungi; around 27% of known fungi—more than 19,400 species—are lichenized. Characteristics common to most lichens include obtaining organic carbon by photosynthesis, slow growth, small size, long life, long-lasting (seasonal) vegetative reproductive structures, mineral nutrition obtained largely from airborne sources, and greater tolerance of desiccation than most other photosynthetic organisms in the same habitat.
With insects
Many insects also engage in mutualistic relationships with fungi. Several groups of ants cultivate fungi in the order Chaetothyriales for several purposes: as a food source, as a structural component of their nests, and as a part of an ant/plant symbiosis in the domatia (tiny chambers in plants that house arthropods). Ambrosia beetles cultivate various species of fungi in the bark of trees that they infest. Likewise, females of several wood wasp species (genus Sirex) inject their eggs together with spores of the wood-rotting fungus Amylostereum areolatum into the sapwood of pine trees; the growth of the fungus provides ideal nutritional conditions for the development of the wasp larvae. At least one species of stingless bee has a relationship with a fungus in the genus Monascus, where the larvae consume and depend on fungus transferred from old to new nests. Termites on the African savannah are also known to cultivate fungi, and yeasts of the genera Candida and Lachancea inhabit the gut of a wide range of insects, including neuropterans, beetles, and cockroaches; it is not known whether these fungi benefit their hosts. Fungi growing in dead wood are essential for xylophagous insects (e.g. woodboring beetles). They deliver nutrients needed by xylophages to nutritionally scarce dead wood. Thanks to this nutritional enrichment the larvae of the woodboring insect is able to grow and develop to adulthood. The larvae of many families of fungicolous flies, particularly those within the superfamily Sciaroidea such as the Mycetophilidae and some Keroplatidae feed on fungal fruiting bodies and sterile mycorrhizae.
A thin brown stick positioned horizontally with roughly two dozen clustered orange-red leaves originating from a single point in the middle of the stick. These orange leaves are three to four times larger than the few other green leaves growing out of the stick, and are covered on the lower leaf surface with hundreds of tiny bumps. The background shows the green leaves and branches of neighboring shrubs.
The plant pathogen Puccinia magellanicum (calafate rust) causes the defect known as witch's broom, seen here on a barberry shrub in Chile.
Gram stain of Candida albicans from a vaginal swab from a woman with candidiasis, showing hyphae, and chlamydospores, which are 2–4 µm in diameter.
Many fungi are parasites on plants, animals (including humans), and other fungi. Serious pathogens of many cultivated plants causing extensive damage and losses to agriculture and forestry include the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae, tree pathogens such as Ophiostoma ulmi and Ophiostoma novo-ulmi causing Dutch elm disease, Cryphonectria parasitica responsible for chestnut blight, and Phymatotrichopsis omnivora causing Texas Root Rot, and plant pathogens in the genera Fusarium, Ustilago, Alternaria, and Cochliobolus. Some carnivorous fungi, like Paecilomyces lilacinus, are predators of nematodes, which they capture using an array of specialized structures such as constricting rings or adhesive nets. Many fungi that are plant pathogens, such as Magnaporthe oryzae, can switch from being biotrophic (parasitic on living plants) to being necrotrophic (feeding on the dead tissues of plants they have killed). This same principle is applied to fungi-feeding parasites, including Asterotremella albida, which feeds on the fruit bodies of other fungi both while they are living and after they are dead.
Some fungi can cause serious diseases in humans, several of which may be fatal if untreated. These include aspergillosis, candidiasis, coccidioidomycosis, cryptococcosis, histoplasmosis, mycetomas, and paracoccidioidomycosis. Furthermore, persons with immuno-deficiencies are particularly susceptible to disease by genera such as Aspergillus, Candida, Cryptoccocus, Histoplasma, and Pneumocystis. Other fungi can attack eyes, nails, hair, and especially skin, the so-called dermatophytic and keratinophilic fungi, and cause local infections such as ringworm and athlete's foot. Fungal spores are also a cause of allergies, and fungi from different taxonomic groups can evoke allergic reactions.
As targets of mycoparasites
Organisms that parasitize fungi are known as mycoparasitic organisms. About 300 species of fungi and fungus-like organisms, belonging to 13 classes and 113 genera, are used as biocontrol agents against plant fungal diseases. Fungi can also act as mycoparasites or antagonists of other fungi, such as Hypomyces chrysospermus, which grows on bolete mushrooms. Fungi can also become the target of infection by mycoviruses.
Communication
Main article: Mycorrhizal networks
There appears to be electrical communication between fungi in word-like components according to spiking characteristics.
Possible impact on climate
According to a study published in the academic journal Current Biology, fungi can soak from the atmosphere around 36% of global fossil fuel greenhouse gas emissions.
Mycotoxins
(6aR,9R)-N-((2R,5S,10aS,10bS)-5-benzyl-10b-hydroxy-2-methyl-3,6-dioxooctahydro-2H-oxazolo[3,2-a] pyrrolo[2,1-c]pyrazin-2-yl)-7-methyl-4,6,6a,7,8,9-hexahydroindolo[4,3-fg] quinoline-9-carboxamide
Ergotamine, a major mycotoxin produced by Claviceps species, which if ingested can cause gangrene, convulsions, and hallucinations
Many fungi produce biologically active compounds, several of which are toxic to animals or plants and are therefore called mycotoxins. Of particular relevance to humans are mycotoxins produced by molds causing food spoilage, and poisonous mushrooms (see above). Particularly infamous are the lethal amatoxins in some Amanita mushrooms, and ergot alkaloids, which have a long history of causing serious epidemics of ergotism (St Anthony's Fire) in people consuming rye or related cereals contaminated with sclerotia of the ergot fungus, Claviceps purpurea. Other notable mycotoxins include the aflatoxins, which are insidious liver toxins and highly carcinogenic metabolites produced by certain Aspergillus species often growing in or on grains and nuts consumed by humans, ochratoxins, patulin, and trichothecenes (e.g., T-2 mycotoxin) and fumonisins, which have significant impact on human food supplies or animal livestock.
Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites (or natural products), and research has established the existence of biochemical pathways solely for the purpose of producing mycotoxins and other natural products in fungi. Mycotoxins may provide fitness benefits in terms of physiological adaptation, competition with other microbes and fungi, and protection from consumption (fungivory). Many fungal secondary metabolites (or derivatives) are used medically, as described under Human use below.
Pathogenic mechanisms
Ustilago maydis is a pathogenic plant fungus that causes smut disease in maize and teosinte. Plants have evolved efficient defense systems against pathogenic microbes such as U. maydis. A rapid defense reaction after pathogen attack is the oxidative burst where the plant produces reactive oxygen species at the site of the attempted invasion. U. maydis can respond to the oxidative burst with an oxidative stress response, regulated by the gene YAP1. The response protects U. maydis from the host defense, and is necessary for the pathogen's virulence. Furthermore, U. maydis has a well-established recombinational DNA repair system which acts during mitosis and meiosis. The system may assist the pathogen in surviving DNA damage arising from the host plant's oxidative defensive response to infection.
Cryptococcus neoformans is an encapsulated yeast that can live in both plants and animals. C. neoformans usually infects the lungs, where it is phagocytosed by alveolar macrophages. Some C. neoformans can survive inside macrophages, which appears to be the basis for latency, disseminated disease, and resistance to antifungal agents. One mechanism by which C. neoformans survives the hostile macrophage environment is by up-regulating the expression of genes involved in the oxidative stress response. Another mechanism involves meiosis. The majority of C. neoformans are mating "type a". Filaments of mating "type a" ordinarily have haploid nuclei, but they can become diploid (perhaps by endoduplication or by stimulated nuclear fusion) to form blastospores. The diploid nuclei of blastospores can undergo meiosis, including recombination, to form haploid basidiospores that can be dispersed. This process is referred to as monokaryotic fruiting. This process requires a gene called DMC1, which is a conserved homologue of genes recA in bacteria and RAD51 in eukaryotes, that mediates homologous chromosome pairing during meiosis and repair of DNA double-strand breaks. Thus, C. neoformans can undergo a meiosis, monokaryotic fruiting, that promotes recombinational repair in the oxidative, DNA damaging environment of the host macrophage, and the repair capability may contribute to its virulence.
Human use
See also: Human interactions with fungi
Microscopic view of five spherical structures; one of the spheres is considerably smaller than the rest and attached to one of the larger spheres
Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells shown with DIC microscopy
The human use of fungi for food preparation or preservation and other purposes is extensive and has a long history. Mushroom farming and mushroom gathering are large industries in many countries. The study of the historical uses and sociological impact of fungi is known as ethnomycology. Because of the capacity of this group to produce an enormous range of natural products with antimicrobial or other biological activities, many species have long been used or are being developed for industrial production of antibiotics, vitamins, and anti-cancer and cholesterol-lowering drugs. Methods have been developed for genetic engineering of fungi, enabling metabolic engineering of fungal species. For example, genetic modification of yeast species—which are easy to grow at fast rates in large fermentation vessels—has opened up ways of pharmaceutical production that are potentially more efficient than production by the original source organisms. Fungi-based industries are sometimes considered to be a major part of a growing bioeconomy, with applications under research and development including use for textiles, meat substitution and general fungal biotechnology.
Therapeutic uses
Modern chemotherapeutics
Many species produce metabolites that are major sources of pharmacologically active drugs.
Antibiotics
Particularly important are the antibiotics, including the penicillins, a structurally related group of β-lactam antibiotics that are synthesized from small peptides. Although naturally occurring penicillins such as penicillin G (produced by Penicillium chrysogenum) have a relatively narrow spectrum of biological activity, a wide range of other penicillins can be produced by chemical modification of the natural penicillins. Modern penicillins are semisynthetic compounds, obtained initially from fermentation cultures, but then structurally altered for specific desirable properties. Other antibiotics produced by fungi include: ciclosporin, commonly used as an immunosuppressant during transplant surgery; and fusidic acid, used to help control infection from methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria. Widespread use of antibiotics for the treatment of bacterial diseases, such as tuberculosis, syphilis, leprosy, and others began in the early 20th century and continues to date. In nature, antibiotics of fungal or bacterial origin appear to play a dual role: at high concentrations they act as chemical defense against competition with other microorganisms in species-rich environments, such as the rhizosphere, and at low concentrations as quorum-sensing molecules for intra- or interspecies signaling.
Other
Other drugs produced by fungi include griseofulvin isolated from Penicillium griseofulvum, used to treat fungal infections, and statins (HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors), used to inhibit cholesterol synthesis. Examples of statins found in fungi include mevastatin from Penicillium citrinum and lovastatin from Aspergillus terreus and the oyster mushroom. Psilocybin from fungi is investigated for therapeutic use and appears to cause global increases in brain network integration. Fungi produce compounds that inhibit viruses and cancer cells. Specific metabolites, such as polysaccharide-K, ergotamine, and β-lactam antibiotics, are routinely used in clinical medicine. The shiitake mushroom is a source of lentinan, a clinical drug approved for use in cancer treatments in several countries, including Japan. In Europe and Japan, polysaccharide-K (brand name Krestin), a chemical derived from Trametes versicolor, is an approved adjuvant for cancer therapy.
Traditional medicine
Upper surface view of a kidney-shaped fungus, brownish-red with a lighter yellow-brown margin, and a somewhat varnished or shiny appearance
Two dried yellow-orange caterpillars, one with a curly grayish fungus growing out of one of its ends. The grayish fungus is roughly equal to or slightly greater in length than the caterpillar, and tapers in thickness to a narrow end.
The fungi Ganoderma lucidum (left) and Ophiocordyceps sinensis (right) are used in traditional medicine practices
Certain mushrooms are used as supposed therapeutics in folk medicine practices, such as traditional Chinese medicine. Mushrooms with a history of such use include Agaricus subrufescens, Ganoderma lucidum, and Ophiocordyceps sinensis.
Cultured foods
Baker's yeast or Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a unicellular fungus, is used to make bread and other wheat-based products, such as pizza dough and dumplings. Yeast species of the genus Saccharomyces are also used to produce alcoholic beverages through fermentation. Shoyu koji mold (Aspergillus oryzae) is an essential ingredient in brewing Shoyu (soy sauce) and sake, and the preparation of miso while Rhizopus species are used for making tempeh. Several of these fungi are domesticated species that were bred or selected according to their capacity to ferment food without producing harmful mycotoxins (see below), which are produced by very closely related Aspergilli. Quorn, a meat substitute, is made from Fusarium venenatum.