User talk:Theottlo/sandbox

Chlorosome

Just a quick glance at this Wiki page and one can easily see that it lacks references. This is evident in several sections, such as those on the structure of chlorosomes and alternative energy sources. Despite one being present in the introduction, a read-through reveals that only the data in that sentence cites the referenced journal article.

There also seems to be a lot of irrelevant information. In the introduction, there are several sentences discussing green sulphur bacteria and the role of chlorosomes within them. As there is already a link to green sulphur bacteria within the paragraph, I don’t think those sentences are necessary. If others feel it is, it would be better to include relevant information on this for green filamentous anoxygenic phototrophs as well since it is mentioned that chlorosomes are also present in those organisms.

Furthermore, there are several sections that are underrepresented and/or outdated. One of these is the “Structure” section, which was added in 2009. After doing some research on my own, there seems to be several more recent papers published that discuss the composition of the chromosomes in detail. Though there are links provided for each component, I would suggest updating it to include information that distinguishes chlorosomes from other light-absorbing systems. An example of a recent journal article that discusses this is cited below.

Pšenčík, Jakub & Butcher, Sarah & Tuma, Roman. (2014). Chlorosomes: Structure, Function and Assembly. 39. 77-109. 10.1007/978-94-017-8742-0_5.

Theottlo (talk) 06:15, 17 September 2017 (UTC)

Xenobiotic

Xenobiotics is a notable topic. There are many articles that discuss the metabolism, effects on the microbiota, and environmental effects of xenobiotics as referenced in the original Wiki article as well as a few that are included in this post.

Several paragraphs on this wiki article are not referenced, one of which is the first paragraph in Xenobiotic Metabolism. A quick Google search, by copying and pasting the first two lines of the paragraph, has revealed that the editor of this section has most likely copied and pasted the paragraph from an article as it is found word for word in this article.

In the same section, the editor mentions the ability of organisms to evolve and tolerate xenobiotics; however, only does this by providing an example. Thus, I believe this could be improved by discussing a few mechanisms of tolerance that have evolved as well as the factors that affect the level of tolerance. A brief search in this area has resulted in several articles that identified components needed for xenobiotic tolerance in plants.

Despite discussing two improvements above, I will most likely be adding a new section to this Wiki article on the effects of xenobiotics on the microbiota as this is mentioned in the introduction of Xenobiotics but not expanded on. There are numerous articles regarding this, outlining the effects of specific groups of xenobiotics on the structure of the gut microbiota. One group I will discuss briefly is antibiotics, though I will add more during the Wiki edit phase. Several studies have shown that after the ingestion of antibiotics, there are changes in the levels of certain gut microbiota species in comparison to normal levels suggesting that the variation is due to antibiotic exposure. Though there are fewer studies that follow up on these results to examine the functional effects of changes in microbiota structure, there are some that indicate antibiotic ingestion resulted in an increase in the expression of genes involved in stress response.

Theottlo (talk) 04:33, 28 September 2017 (UTC)

Original - "Xenobiotic"

Xenobiotic Metabolism

The body removes xenobiotics by xenobiotic metabolism. This consists of the deactivation and the excretion of xenobiotics, and happens mostly in the liver. Excretion routes are urine, faeces, breath, and sweat. Hepatic enzymes are responsible for the metabolism of xenobiotics by first activating them (oxidation, reduction, hydrolysis and/or hydration of the xenobiotic), and then conjugating the active secondary metabolite with glucuronic acid, sulphuric acid, or glutathione, followed by excretion in bile or urine. An example of a group of enzymes involved in xenobiotic metabolism is hepatic microsomal cytochrome P450. These enzymes that metabolize xenobiotics are very important for the pharmaceutical industry, because they are responsible for the breakdown of medications.

Organisms can also evolve to tolerate xenobiotics. An example is the co-evolution of the production of tetrodotoxin in the rough-skinned newt and the evolution of tetrodotoxin resistance in its predator, the Common Garter Snake. In this predator–prey pair, an evolutionary arms race has produced high levels of toxin in the newt and correspondingly high levels of resistance in the snake.[2] This evolutionary response is based on the snake evolving modified forms of the ion channels that the toxin acts upon, so becoming resistant to its effects.[3]

--Theottlo (talk) 02:04, 9 October 2017 (UTC)

Theottlo’s Peer Review

In the edit of Xenobiotic Metabolism section, the added parts are organised in a well sensible order. The information added is relevant to the article and provide more depth of the concept. The information added also reflects significances of the subject. All the statements added are supported by evidences from literature and all connected sources are reliable sources such as peer-reviewed journals and academic websites.

The first part is about bioactivation and is added after the paragraph of deactivation process, which improves the organization of this section. This part provides more information relevant to the topic for readers' better understanding. However, most of this part is about various studies about bioactivation in gut microbiota and might not balanced well. This part could be summarized to a brief description of the studies’ purposes and contributions for a better understanding.

The second part provides an explanation of xenobiotic tolerance in insects and fungus. The information is supported by reliable references and is relevant to the article. However, this part might be slightly disjointed since the original information is about a predator–prey pair, rough-skinned newt and Common Garter Snake, while the added part is about insects and fungus. This part can be modified to be a bit more organized. Adding more information or changing the order might make better understanding. Also, the last sentence “particularly true ...” might be trying to convince the reader to accept this point of view. This part could be modified to be unbiased and provide a neutral point of view. YUAN JI (talk) 08:58, 7 November 2017 (UTC)