The European medicinal leech is one of vanishingly few animal species with direct application in modern medicine. In addition to the therapeutic potential held by many protease inhibitors purified from leech saliva, and notwithstanding the historical association with quackery, Hirudo medicinalis has been approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration as a prescription medical device. Accurate annotation of bioactive compounds relies on precise species determination. Interpretations of developmental and neurophysiological characteristics also presuppose uniformity within a model species used in laboratory settings. Here, we show, with mitochondrial sequences and nuclear microsatellites, that there are at least three species of European medicinal leech, and that leeches marketed as H. medicinalis are actually Hirudo verbana. Beyond the obvious need for reconsideration of decades of biomedical research on this widely used model organism, these findings impact regulatory statutes and raise concerns for the conservation status of European medicinal leeches.
Supplemental Digital Content is Available in the Text.A novel and potent protein kinase G-1α (PKG-1α) inhibitor is used to demonstrate the important roles of PKG in capsaicin-induced acute pain and in persistent inflammatory pain.
Some temperate wood‐boring cerambycid beetles harbor intracellular gut yeasts believed to augment host nutrition, but species belonging to the subfamily Lamiinae are thought to lack endosymbionts. Almost 49 percent of Neotropical cerambycid species are lamiines, therefore, comparatively few rain forest species would be expected to host symbiotic gut yeasts. This study reports the isolation of gut yeasts from closely related Neotropical lamiines. We investigated species that feed on trees in the Brazil nut family (Lecythidaceae), because host plant associations are relatively well known. Our objectives were to determine if gut yeasts were present and, if possible, infer their mode of transmission. We collected and dissected 18 beetle specimens from three tree species, including 17 cerambycids and one curculionid. Every insect specimen yielded a gut yeast. DNA sequence libraries were used for a rapid identification of the yeasts and their larval hosts. The cerambycids included five lamiine species and one cerambycine. Six ascomycete yeasts were isolated from their guts; we found no evidence of strict vertical transmission. Larval gut yeasts were genetically similar to yeasts previously isolated from insects associated with wood or fungi, implying potential habitat specificity. The yeasts have not yet been localized, and potential function is not known, but they may contribute to rapid nutrient cycling or serve as the first line of defense against plant toxins.
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