Insulin inhibits proteolysis in human muscle thereby increasing protein anabolism. In contrast, IGF-I promotes muscle protein anabolism principally by stimulating protein synthesis. As increases or decreases of plasma amino acids may affect protein turnover in muscle and also alter the muscle's response to insulin and/or IGF-I, this study was designed to examine the effects of insulin and IGF-I on human muscle protein turnover during hyperaminoacidemia. We measured phenylalanine balance and [3HI -phenylalanine kinetics in both forearms of 22 postabsorptive adults during a continuous [3HIphenylalanine infusion.Measurements were made basally and at 3 and 6 h after beginning a systemic infusion of a balanced amino acid mixture that raised arterial phenylalanine concentration about twofold. Throughout the 6 h, 10 subjects received insulin locally (0.035 mU/min per kg) into one brachial artery while 12 other subjects were given intraaterial IGF-I (100 ng/min per kg) to raise insulin or IGF-I concentrations, respectively, in the infused arm. The contralateral arm in each study served as a simultaneous control for the effects of amino acids (aa) alone.Glucose uptake and lactate release increased in the insulin-and IGF-I-infused forearms (P < 0.01) but did not change in the contralateral (aa alone) forearm in either study. In the aa alone arm in both studies, hyperaminoacidemia reversed the postabsorptive net phenylalanine release by muscle to a net uptake (P < 0.025, for each) due to a stimulation of muscle protein synthesis. In the hormoneinfused arms, the addition of either insulin or IGF-I promoted greater positive shifts in phenylalanine balance than the aa alone arm (P < 0.01). With insulin, the enhanced anabolism was due to inhibition of protein degradation (P < 0.02), whereas IGF-I augmented anabolism by a further stimulation of protein synthesis above aa alone (P < 0.02). We conclude that: (a) hyperaminoacidemia specifically stimulates muscle protein synthesis; (b) insulin, even with hyperaminoacidemia, improves muscle protein balance solely by inhibiting proteolysis; and (c) hyperaminoacidemia combined with IGF-I enhances protein synthesis more

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Insects provide essential ecological services in both the natural environment and in human-dominated habitats. Because pollinator declines associated with land use change have been reported across the globe, there is great concern that pollinators and the ecosystem services they provide will be negatively affected. This study examines the diversity and abundance of bee pollinators in grasslands in Boulder County, Colorado, USA. Over five years, 5,200 bees were collected in grassland plots with different levels of urbanization. Most of the difference in species composition among three levels of urbanization was due to rare species that may not have been discovered in all plots. Neither the number of species nor their abundance differed significantly among the plot types, although the trend indicated increasing diversity with increasing distance from urbanization. Most notably, measures of urbanization, such as the amount of pavement and development, were not correlated with diversity. The most important factor affecting bee abundance, particularly for ground-nesting bees, was grazing regime. Bee abundance also was positively related to the number of flowering plant species. Other studies of different insects (grasshoppers and butterflies) in these plots showed results similar to ours. In contrast, previous studies on song-birds, raptors, and rodents showed significant differences between urban edge and remote plots in terms of organism abundance and diversity. Together, these results suggest that factors other than the degree of urbanization are important in determining insect abundance and diversity.

To estimate the numbers of sporophytic S-alleles in two adjacent populations of wild radish, we performed 701 reciprocal crosses among 50 individuals. Each cross was replicated five times in each direction. Sixteen plants were fully intercompatible, indicating the presence of at least 32 S-alleles in the two populations. A minimum of 22 S-alleles occur in a single population. The frequency of incompatibility was significantly higher for within-population crosses (14.5%) than for between-population crosses (7.8%). This suggests that the two populations differ in the composition and frequency of alleles at the S-locus.

When more pollen is present on stigmas than needed to fertilize all ovules, selection among pollen grains may occur due to effects of both pollen donors and maternal plants. We asked whether increasing plant age and flower age, two changes in maternal condition, altered the pattern of seed paternity after mixed pollination. We also asked whether changes in seed paternity affected offspring success in an experimental garden. While flower age did not affect seed paternity, there was a dramatic shift in pollen donor performance as plants aged. These differences were seen in the offspring as well, where the offspring of one pollen donor, which sired more seeds on young plants, flowered earlier in the season, and the offspring of another pollen donor, which sired more seeds on old plants, flowered later in the season. Thus, change in maternal condition resulted in altered seed paternity, perhaps because the environment for pollen tube growth was different. The pattern of seed paternity and offspring performance suggests that pollen donors may show temporal specialization.