In species of great conservation concern, special attention must be paid to their phylogeography, in particular the origin of animals for captive breeding and reintroduction. The endangered European mink lives now in at least three well-separated populations in northeast, southeast and west Europe. Our aim is to assess the genetic structure of these populations to identify 'distinct population segments' (DPS) and advise captive breeding programmes. First, the mtDNA control region was completely sequenced in 176 minks and 10 polecats. The analysis revealed that the western population is characterized by a single mtDNA haplotype that is closely related to those in eastern regions but nevertheless, not found there to date. The northeast European animals are much more variable (pi = 0.012, h = 0.939), with the southeast samples intermediate (pi = 0.0012, h = 0.469). Second, 155 European mink were genotyped using six microsatellites. The latter display the same trends of genetic diversity among regions as mtDNA [gene diversity and allelic richness highest in northeast Europe (H(E) = 0.539, R(S) = 3.76), lowest in west Europe (H(E) = 0.379, R(S) = 2.12)], and provide evidences that the southeast and possibly the west populations have undergone a recent bottleneck. Our results indicate that the western population derives from a few animals which recently colonized this region, possibly after a human introduction. Microsatellite data also reveal that isolation by distance occurs in the western population, causing some inbreeding because related individuals mate. As genetic data indicate that the three populations have not undergone independent evolutionary histories for long (no phylogeographical structure), they should not be considered as distinct DPS. In conclusion, the captive breeding programme should use animals from different parts of the species' present distribution area.

The multispanning membrane protein Ste6, a member of the ABC-transporter family, is transported to the yeast vacuole for degradation. To identify functions involved in the intracellular trafficking of polytopic membrane proteins, we looked for functions that block Ste6 transport to the vacuole upon overproduction. In our screen, we identified several known vacuolar protein sorting (VPS) genes (SNF7/VPS32, VPS4, and VPS35) and a previously uncharacterized open reading frame, which we named MOS10 (more of Ste6). Sequence analysis showed that Mos10 is a member of a small family of coiled-coil-forming proteins, which includes Snf7 and Vps20. Deletion mutants of all three genes stabilize Ste6 and show a "class E vps phenotype." Maturation of the vacuolar hydrolase carboxypeptidase Y was affected in the mutants and the endocytic tracer FM4-64 and Ste6 accumulated in a dot or ring-like structure next to the vacuole. Differential centrifugation experiments demonstrated that about half of the hydrophilic proteins Mos10 and Vps20 was membrane associated. The intracellular distribution was further analyzed for Mos10. On sucrose gradients, membrane-associated Mos10 cofractionated with the endosomal t-SNARE Pep12, pointing to an endosomal localization of Mos10. The growth phenotypes of the mutants suggest that the "Snf7-family" members are involved in a cargo-specific event.

Previous experiments suggested that trafficking of the a-factor transporter Ste6 of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to the yeast vacuole is regulated by ubiquitination. To define the ubiquitinationdependent step in the trafficking pathway, we examined the intracellular localization of Ste6 in the ubiquitination-deficient doa4 mutant by immunofluorescence experiments, with a Ste6-green fluorescent protein fusion protein and by sucrose density gradient fractionation. We found that Ste6 accumulated at the vacuolar membrane in the doa4 mutant and not at the cell surface. Experiments with a doa4 pep4 double mutant showed that Ste6 uptake into the lumen of the vacuole is inhibited in the doa4 mutant. The uptake defect could be suppressed by expression of additional ubiquitin, indicating that it is primarily the result of a lowered ubiquitin level (and thus of reduced ubiquitination) and not the result of a deubiquitination defect. Based on our findings, we propose that ubiquitination of Ste6 or of a trafficking factor is required for Ste6 sorting into the multivesicular bodies pathway. In addition, we obtained evidence suggesting that Ste6 recycles between an internal compartment and the plasma membrane.

The Eurasian otter is recovering in most of Europe after a considerable decline earlier in the 20th century. As otter populations increase, so do conflicts with man. In areas where fish farming is an important industry, some fish farmers perceive the otter as an increasing threat to their livelihood. In order to identify and quantify attitudes and experiences of fish farmers, a questionnaire survey was conducted in four major carp farming areas of Central Europe in 1998. The attitude of fish farmers towards the otter was found to be most negative in the Czech Republic, followed by Austria, Hungary and Saxony. In the first two countries, the otter is perceived to be a pest species. There, otters cause considerable damage not only by consuming carp, but according to the opinion of the farmers, also by inducing stress in over-wintering carp. This has been observed to a lesser extent in the lowlands of Saxony and Hungary. It is argued that secondary damage caused by stress may be a particular problem in the highlands, where fish farming is already sub-optimal due to climatic and other factors. Besides the real damage, the perceived damage is obviously influenced by the local compensation policy and the economic scope of the enterprise.Resume. -Apres avoir connu un declin considerable au debut du 20 C siecle, la loutre eurasienne est en train de repeupler la plus grande partie de TEurope. En meme temps, les conflits avec rhomme augmentent. Dans les zones de pisciculture industrielle, certains pergoivent la loutre comme une menace pour leurs moyens d'existence. Afin d'identifier et de quantifier les reactions et experiences des pisciculteurs, une enquete a ete conduite dans 4 zones d'elevages de carpes d'Europe centrale en 1998. L'attitude des pisciculteurs envers les loutres etait la plus negative en republique Tcheque, suivie par TAutricne, la Hongrie et la Saxe. Dans les deux premiers pays, la loutre est pergue comme une espece nuisible. En effet, les loutres causent de considerables dommages, non seulement en tant que predateurs mais aussi en provoquant du stress. Ceci a ete observe , ä un moindre degre en Saxe et en Hongrie. II est discute du probleme du stress dans les zones d'altitude oü l'activite d'elevage du poisson est dejä limitee du fait du climat et d'autres facteurs. A cöte des dommages reels, les dommages pergus sont fortement influences par les mesures locales de compensation et les projets economiques de Pentreprise.

BackgroundChimeric virus-like particles (VLP) allow the display of foreign antigens on their surface and have proved valuable in the development of safe subunit vaccines or drug delivery. However, finding an inexpensive production system and a VLP scaffold that allows stable incorporation of diverse, large foreign antigens are major challenges in this field.ResultsIn this study, a versatile and cost-effective platform for chimeric VLP development was established. The membrane integral small surface protein (dS) of the duck hepatitis B virus was chosen as VLP scaffold and the industrially applied and safe yeast Hansenula polymorpha (syn. Pichia angusta, Ogataea polymorpha) as the heterologous expression host. Eight different, large molecular weight antigens of up to 412 amino acids derived from four animal-infecting viruses were genetically fused to the dS and recombinant production strains were isolated. In all cases, the fusion protein was well expressed and upon co-production with dS, chimeric VLP containing both proteins could be generated. Purification was accomplished by a downstream process adapted from the production of a recombinant hepatitis B VLP vaccine. Chimeric VLP were up to 95% pure on protein level and contained up to 33% fusion protein. Immunological data supported surface exposure of the foreign antigens on the native VLP. Approximately 40 mg of chimeric VLP per 100 g dry cell weight could be isolated. This is highly comparable to values reported for the optimized production of human hepatitis B VLP. Purified chimeric VLP were shown to be essentially stable for 6 months at 4 °C.ConclusionsThe dS-based VLP scaffold tolerates the incorporation of a variety of large molecular weight foreign protein sequences. It is applicable for the display of highly immunogenic antigens originating from a variety of pathogens. The yeast-based production system allows cost-effective production that is not limited to small-scale fundamental research. Thus, the dS-based VLP platform is highly efficient for antigen presentation and should be considered in the development of future vaccines.