| 1. |
- Muscarella, Robert, et al.
(författare)
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The global abundance of tree palms
- 2020
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Ingår i: Global Ecology and Biogeography. - : Wiley. - 1466-822X .- 1466-8238. ; 29:9, s. 1495-1514
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- AimPalms are an iconic, diverse and often abundant component of tropical ecosystems that provide many ecosystem services. Being monocots, tree palms are evolutionarily, morphologically and physiologically distinct from other trees, and these differences have important consequences for ecosystem services (e.g., carbon sequestration and storage) and in terms of responses to climate change. We quantified global patterns of tree palm relative abundance to help improve understanding of tropical forests and reduce uncertainty about these ecosystems under climate change.LocationTropical and subtropical moist forests.Time periodCurrent.Major taxa studiedPalms (Arecaceae).MethodsWe assembled a pantropical dataset of 2,548 forest plots (covering 1,191 ha) and quantified tree palm (i.e., ≥10 cm diameter at breast height) abundance relative to co‐occurring non‐palm trees. We compared the relative abundance of tree palms across biogeographical realms and tested for associations with palaeoclimate stability, current climate, edaphic conditions and metrics of forest structure.ResultsOn average, the relative abundance of tree palms was more than five times larger between Neotropical locations and other biogeographical realms. Tree palms were absent in most locations outside the Neotropics but present in >80% of Neotropical locations. The relative abundance of tree palms was more strongly associated with local conditions (e.g., higher mean annual precipitation, lower soil fertility, shallower water table and lower plot mean wood density) than metrics of long‐term climate stability. Life‐form diversity also influenced the patterns; palm assemblages outside the Neotropics comprise many non‐tree (e.g., climbing) palms. Finally, we show that tree palms can influence estimates of above‐ground biomass, but the magnitude and direction of the effect require additional work.ConclusionsTree palms are not only quintessentially tropical, but they are also overwhelmingly Neotropical. Future work to understand the contributions of tree palms to biomass estimates and carbon cycling will be particularly crucial in Neotropical forests.
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| 2. |
- Philippot, Gaetan, et al.
(författare)
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A Cannabinoid Receptor Type 1 (CB1R) Agonist Enhances the Developmental Neurotoxicity of Acetaminophen (Paracetamol)
- 2018
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Ingår i: Toxicological Sciences. - : OXFORD UNIV PRESS. - 1096-6080 .- 1096-0929. ; 166:1, s. 203-212
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Acetaminophen (AAP; also known as paracetamol) is the most used and only recommended analgesic and antipyretic among pregnant women and young children. However, recent findings in both humans and rodents suggest a link between developmental exposure to AAP and adverse neurobehavioral effects later in life. We hypothesized that the cannabinoid receptor type 1 (CB1R) may be involved in the developmental neurotoxicity of AAP, owing to its interaction with the endocannabinoid system. Here we test if CB1R agonist WIN 55 212-2 (WIN) and AAP can interact when exposure occurs during a neurodevelopmental stage known for increased growth rate and for its vulnerability to AAP exposure. We exposed male NMRI mice on postnatal day 10 to different combinations of AAP and WIN. Adult mice, neonatally co-exposed to AAP and WIN, displayed a significant lack of habituation in the spontaneous behavior test, when compared with controls and single agent exposed mice. These adult adverse effects may at least in part be explained by a reduction of transcript levels of hippocampal synaptophysin (Syp) and tropomyosin receptor kinase B (Trkb), and cerebral cortical fatty acid amide hydroxylase (Faah), 24h after exposure. These findings are consistent with our hypothesis that AAP and WIN can interact when exposure occurs during early postnatal brain development in mice. Assuming our results are relevant for humans, they raise concerns on AAP safety because it is the only recommended analgesic and antipyretic during pregnancy and early life.
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| 3. |
- Wallén-Mackenzie, Åsa, et al.
(författare)
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Restricted cortical and amygdaloid removal of vesicular glutamate transporter 2 in preadolescent mice impacts dopaminergic activity and neuronal circuitry of higher brain function.
- 2009
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Ingår i: The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience. - 1529-2401 .- 0270-6474. ; 29:7, s. 2238-51
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A major challenge in neuroscience is to resolve the connection between gene functionality, neuronal circuits, and behavior. Most, if not all, neuronal circuits of the adult brain contain a glutamatergic component, the nature of which has been difficult to assess because of the vast cellular abundance of glutamate. In this study, we wanted to determine the role of a restricted subpopulation of glutamatergic neurons within the forebrain, the Vglut2-expressing neurons, in neuronal circuitry of higher brain function. Vglut2 expression was selectively deleted in the cortex, hippocampus, and amygdala of preadolescent mice, which resulted in increased locomotor activity, altered social dominance and risk assessment, decreased sensorimotor gating, and impaired long-term spatial memory. Presynaptic VGLUT2-positive terminals were lost in the cortex, striatum, nucleus accumbens, and hippocampus, and a downstream effect on dopamine binding site availability in the striatum was evident. A connection between the induced late-onset, chronic reduction of glutamatergic neurotransmission and dopamine signaling within the circuitry was further substantiated by a partial attenuation of the deficits in sensorimotor gating by the dopamine-stabilizing antipsychotic drug aripiprazole and an increased sensitivity to amphetamine. Somewhat surprisingly, given the restricted expression of Vglut2 in regions responsible for higher brain function, our analyses show that VGLUT2-mediated neurotransmission is required for certain aspects of cognitive, emotional, and social behavior. The present study provides support for the existence of a neurocircuitry that connects changes in VGLUT2-mediated neurotransmission to alterations in the dopaminergic system with schizophrenia-like behavioral deficits as a major outcome.
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| 4. |
- Aggarwal, Tanya, et al.
(författare)
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Knockdown of SLC38 Transporter Ortholog-CG13743 Reveals a Metabolic Relevance in Drosophila
- 2020
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Ingår i: Frontiers in Physiology. - : FRONTIERS MEDIA SA. - 1664-042X. ; 10
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Solute Carrier (SLC) is a cluster of families of membrane bound transporters, of which many members lack defined substrate profile, and many more are poorly characterized. Many play a vital role in regulating metabolic systems, protein synthesis, and post translational modifications. SLC38 is one of the families of SLCs, which are also known as sodium-coupled neutral amino acid transporters (SNATs). In mice, it has 11 members (SNAT1-11) but in Drosophila there are two homologs for the SLC38 family; CG13743 and CG30394. Here, we show characteristics of Drosophila CG13743 which closely resembles SLC38A11 in humans. SLC38A11 still remains an orphan member of the SLC38 family which has not been functionally well studied. We used the UAS-GAL4 system to investigate and control gene expression using RNAi lines for ubiquitous knockdown of the CG13743 gene. It was found to be expressed mainly in salivary gland and brain. Knockdown flies had reduced body weight and consumed less sugar compared with controls. The gene knockdown also affected stored energy pools (lipids and glycogen) and influenced feeding pattern and total activity. In all, this shows novel findings for the characterization of CG13743 in Drosophila and a possible role in maintaining general metabolic pathways and behavior of the fly.
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| 5. |
- Al-Sabri, Mohamed H., et al.
(författare)
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Fluvastatin-induced myofibrillar damage is associated with elevated ROS, and impaired fatty acid oxidation, and is preceded by mitochondrial morphological changes
- 2024
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Ingår i: Scientific Reports. - : Springer Nature. - 2045-2322. ; 14:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Previously, we showed that fluvastatin treatment induces myofibrillar damage and mitochondrial phenotypes in the skeletal muscles of Drosophila. However, the sequential occurrence of mitochondrial phenotypes and myofibril damage remains elusive. To address this, we treated flies with fluvastatin for two and five days and examined their thorax flight muscles using confocal microscopy. In the two-day fluvastatin group, compared to the control, thorax flight muscles exhibited mitochondrial morphological changes, including fragmentation, rounding up and reduced content, while myofibrils remained organized in parallel. In the five-day fluvastatin treatment, not only did mitochondrial morphological changes become more pronounced, but myofibrils became severely disorganized with significantly increased thickness and spacing, along with myofilament abnormalities, suggesting myofibril damage. These findings suggest that fluvastatin-induced mitochondrial changes precede myofibril damage. Moreover, in the five-day fluvastatin group, the mitochondria demonstrated elevated H2O2 and impaired fatty acid oxidation compared to the control group, indicating potential mitochondrial dysfunction. Surprisingly, knocking down Hmgcr (Drosophila homolog of HMGCR) showed normal mitochondrial respiration in all parameters compared to controls or five-day fluvastatin treatment, which suggests that fluvastatin-induced mitochondrial dysfunction might be independent of Hmgcr inhibition. These results provide insights into the sequential occurrence of mitochondria and myofibril damage in statin-induced myopathy for future studies.
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| 6. |
- Al-Sabri, Mohamed H., et al.
(författare)
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Statins Induce Locomotion and Muscular Phenotypes in Drosophila melanogaster That Are Reminiscent of Human Myopathy : Evidence for the Role of the Chloride Channel Inhibition in the Muscular Phenotypes
- 2022
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Ingår i: Cells. - : MDPI. - 2073-4409. ; 11:22
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The underlying mechanisms for statin-induced myopathy (SIM) are still equivocal. In this study, we employ Drosophila melanogaster to dissect possible underlying mechanisms for SIM. We observe that chronic fluvastatin treatment causes reduced general locomotion activity and climbing ability. In addition, transmission microscopy of dissected skeletal muscles of fluvastatin-treated flies reveals strong myofibrillar damage, including increased sarcomere lengths and Z-line streaming, which are reminiscent of myopathy, along with fragmented mitochondria of larger sizes, most of which are round-like shapes. Furthermore, chronic fluvastatin treatment is associated with impaired lipid metabolism and insulin signalling. Mechanistically, knockdown of the statin-target Hmgcr in the skeletal muscles recapitulates fluvastatin-induced mitochondrial phenotypes and lowered general locomotion activity; however, it was not sufficient to alter sarcomere length or elicit myofibrillar damage compared to controls or fluvastatin treatment. Moreover, we found that fluvastatin treatment was associated with reduced expression of the skeletal muscle chloride channel, C1C-a (Drosophila homolog of CLCN1), while selective knockdown of skeletal muscle C1C-a also recapitulated fluvastatin-induced myofibril damage and increased sarcomere lengths. Surprisingly, exercising fluvastatin-treated flies restored C1C-a expression and normalized sarcomere lengths, suggesting that fluvastatin-induced myofibrillar phenotypes could be linked to lowered C1C-a expression. Taken together, these results may indicate the potential role of C1C-a inhibition in statinassociated muscular phenotypes. This study underlines the importance of Drosophila melanogaster as a powerful model system for elucidating the locomotion and muscular phenotypes, promoting a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying SIM.
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| 7. |
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| 8. |
- Almén, Markus Sällman, et al.
(författare)
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Genome wide analysis reveals association of a FTO gene variant with epigenetic changes
- 2012
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Ingår i: Genomics. - : Elsevier BV. - 0888-7543 .- 1089-8646. ; 99:3, s. 132-137
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Variants of the FTO gene show strong association with obesity, but the mechanisms behind this association remain unclear. We determined the genome wide DNA methylation profile in blood from 47 female preadolescents. We identified sites associated with the genes KARS, TERF2IP, DEXI, MSI1,STON1 and BCAS3 that had a significant differential methylation level in the carriers of the FTO risk allele (rs9939609). In addition, we identified 20 differentially methylated sites associated with obesity. Our findings suggest that the effect of the FTO obesity risk allele may be mediated through epigenetic changes. Further, these sites might prove to be valuable biomarkers for the understanding of obesity and its comorbidites.
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| 9. |
- Almén, Markus Sällman, et al.
(författare)
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Genome-wide analysis reveals DNA methylation markers that vary with both age and obesity
- 2014
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Ingår i: Gene. - : Elsevier BV. - 0378-1119 .- 1879-0038. ; 548:1, s. 61-67
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The combination of the obesity epidemic and an aging population presents growing challenges for the healthcare system. Obesity and aging are major risk factors for a diverse number of diseases and it is of importance to understand their interaction and the underlying molecular mechanisms. Herein the authors examined the methylation levels of 27578 CpG sites in 46 samples from adult peripheral blood. The effect of obesity and aging was ascertained with general linear models. More than one hundred probes were correlated to aging, nine of which belonged to the KEGG group map04080. Additionally, 10 CpG sites had diverse methylation profiles in obese and lean individuals, one of which was the telomerase catalytic subunit (TERT). In eight of ten cases the methylation change was reverted between obese and lean individuals. One region proved to be differentially methylated with obesity (LINC00304) independent of age. This study provides evidence that obesity influences age driven epigenetic changes, which provides a molecular link between aging and obesity. This link and the identified markers may prove to be valuable biomarkers for the understanding of the molecular basis of aging, obesity and associated diseases.
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| 10. |
- Almén, Markus Sällman, et al.
(författare)
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Mapping the human membrane proteome : a majority of the human membrane proteins can be classified according to function and evolutionary origin
- 2009
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Ingår i: BMC Biology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1741-7007. ; 7, s. 50-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BACKGROUND: Membrane proteins form key nodes in mediating the cell's interaction with the surroundings, which is one of the main reasons why the majority of drug targets are membrane proteins. RESULTS: Here we mined the human proteome and identified the membrane proteome subset using three prediction tools for alpha-helices: Phobius, TMHMM, and SOSUI. This dataset was reduced to a non-redundant set by aligning it to the human genome and then clustered with our own interactive implementation of the ISODATA algorithm. The genes were classified and each protein group was manually curated, virtually evaluating each sequence of the clusters, applying systematic comparisons with a range of databases and other resources. We identified 6,718 human membrane proteins and classified the majority of them into 234 families of which 151 belong to the three major functional groups: receptors (63 groups, 1,352 members), transporters (89 groups, 817 members) or enzymes (7 groups, 533 members). Also, 74 miscellaneous groups with 697 members were determined. Interestingly, we find that 41% of the membrane proteins are singlets with no apparent affiliation or identity to any human protein family. Our results identify major differences between the human membrane proteome and the ones in unicellular organisms and we also show a strong bias towards certain membrane topologies for different functional classes: 77% of all transporters have more than six helices while 60% of proteins with an enzymatic function and 88% receptors, that are not GPCRs, have only one single membrane spanning alpha-helix. Further, we have identified and characterized new gene families and novel members of existing families. CONCLUSION: Here we present the most detailed roadmap of gene numbers and families to our knowledge, which is an important step towards an overall classification of the entire human proteome. We estimate that 27% of the total human proteome are alpha-helical transmembrane proteins and provide an extended classification together with in-depth investigations of the membrane proteome's functional, structural, and evolutionary features.
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