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Creators/Authors contains: "Erwin, Joseph"

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  1. Abstract Microbial respiration via extracellular electron transfer (EET) drives several globally-important environmental processes and has applications in bioenergy, bioremediation, and bioelectronics.Geobacter sulfurreducensproduce micrometer-long cytochrome nanowires for long-range (>10 µm) EET, but also require transmembrane porin-cytochrome complexes (PCCs), which can only perform EET on the cell surface. It was unknown why cells performing long-range EET need both PCCs and nanowires. Using Om(abc)B and OmcS as a model PCC and nanowire, respectively, for EET to Fe(III), we show that PCCs and nanowires form sequential, independent EET pathways where PCCs first kickstart EET and provide energy crucial for nanowire synthesis, and then nanowires perform long-range EET. Our model explains why both PCCs and nanowires are necessary. To understand the underlying EET mechanism, we purified native Om(ab)B and OmcB and found high excitonic coupling among hemes. Their midpoint reduction potentials (-182, -167 mV, respectively) are tuned for efficient electron transport. Additionally, OmcB transfers electrons to Fe(III) ~5 times more efficiently than OmcS. Our work suggests that the metabolic trade-off between PCCs and nanowires results from efficient proteome allocation. Notably, PCCs are widespread in environmentally-important bacteria and co-evolved with OmcS nanowires. This previously-undescribed nanowire synthesis strategy could accelerate EET in diverse microbes and environments. 
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  2. Abstract The genusMacacais an ideal model for investigating the biological basis of primate social behavior from an evolutionary perspective. A significant amount of behavioral diversity has been reported among the macaque species, but little is known about the neural substrates that support this variation. The present study compared neural cell density and serotonergic innervation of the amygdala among four macaque species using histological and immunohistochemical methods. The species examined included rhesus (Macaca mulatta), Japanese (M. fuscata), pigtailed (M. nemestrina), and moor macaques (M. maura). We anticipated that the more aggressive rhesus and Japanese macaques would have lower serotonergic innervation within the amygdala compared to the more affiliative pigtailed and moor macaques. In contrast to our prediction, pigtailed macaques had higher serotonergic innervation than Japanese and moor macaques in the basal and central amygdala nuclei when controlling for neuron density. Our analysis of neural cell populations revealed that Japanese macaques possess significantly higher neuron and glia densities relative to the other three species, however we observed no glia‐to‐neuron ratio differences among species. The results of this study revealed serotonergic innervation and cell density differences among closely related macaque species, which may play a role in modulating subtle differences in emotional processing and species‐typical social styles. 
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