I mmune cell recruitment is a crucial process in cell homing and vertebrate immunity, initiating powerful host innate and adaptive defense mechanisms. However, immune cell recruitment also critically contributes to the pathologic sequelae of events driving various inflammatory diseases in humans such as atherosclerosis. The recruitment process is executed by chemokines, which promote the direct...

Cytotoxic fractions obtained by purification of the ethanolic extract of Anasterias minuta contain sulfated hexasaccharide glycosides. These compounds show antifungal activity against Cladosporium cucumerinum. Introduction Extracts and saponins isolated from starfish show a broad spectrum of biological effects: cytotoxic, hemolytic, antifungal and antiviral activities [1]. Although a high numbe...

The body wall of starfish is composed of magnesium calcite ossicles connected by collagenous tissue and muscles and it exhibits remarkable variability in stiffness, which is attributed to the mechanical mutability of the collagenous component. Using the common European starfish Asterias rubens as an experimental animal, here we have employed a variety of techniques to gain new insights into the...

Nuclear envelope breakdown in metazoan cells is thought to be facilitated by microtubules, which pull on the nuclear membranes. Unexpectedly, an F-actin meshwork helps to tear down the large nucleus of starfish oocytes and to prevent chromosome loss in meiosis.

Labidiasteroside A, a Novel Saponin from the Antartic Starfish Labidiaster Annulatus M.E. Díaz de Vivar, M.S. Maier and A.M. Seldes Facultad de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Nacional de La Patagonia “San Juan Bosco”, Puerto Madryn, Chubut, Argentina Depto. de Química Orgánica, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Ciudad Universitaria, Pabellón 2, (1428) Bueno...

This dataset includes information on sea stars collected during the ANDEEP3 expedition, which took place in 2005. The expedition focused on deep-sea stations in the Powell Basin and Weddell Sea.Sea stars were collected using an Agassiz trawl (3m, mesh-size 500µm), deployed in 16 stations during the ANTXXII/3 (ANDEEP3, PS72) expedition of the RV Polarstern. Sampling depth ranged from 1047 to 493...

Bustling around their reef homes, Red Sea dascyllus damselfish (Dascyllus marginatus) do quite well out of their co-habiting arrangement with hood coral (Stylophora pistillata). ‘The coral provide the fish with shelter from predators and a place for social interactions and egg laying’, says Nur Garcia-Herrera, from the Alfred-Wegener-Institut, Germany. Yet the agreement isn’t entirely one sided...

A 19K protein isolated from porcine brain not only inhibits actin polymerization but depolymerizes actin filaments quickly. The protein reacts stoichiometrically with actin in a 1:1 molar ratio. When actin is induced to polymerize with salts in the presence of the brain 19K protein, the lag phase is prolonged, and the extent of polymerization is decreased, but the half-polymerization time is no...