| 1. |
- Smith, Jennifer A, et al.
(författare)
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Genome-wide association study identifies 74 loci associated with educational attainment
- 2016
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Ingår i: Nature (London). - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1476-4687 .- 0028-0836. ; 533:7604, s. 539-542
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Educational attainment is strongly influenced by social and other environmental factors, but genetic factors are estimated to account for at least 20% of the variation across individuals. Here we report the results of a genome-wide association study (GWAS) for educational attainment that extends our earlier discovery sample of 101,069 individuals to 293,723 individuals, and a replication study in an independent sample of 111,349 individuals from the UK Biobank. We identify 74 genome-wide significant loci associated with the number of years of schooling completed. Single-nucleotide polymorphisms associated with educational attainment are disproportionately found in genomic regions regulating gene expression in the fetal brain. Candidate genes are preferentially expressed in neural tissue, especially during the prenatal period, and enriched for biological pathways involved in neural development. Our findings demonstrate that, even for a behavioural phenotype that is mostly environmentally determined, a well-powered GWAS identifies replicable associated genetic variants that suggest biologically relevant pathways. Because educational attainment is measured in large numbers of individuals, it will continue to be useful as a proxy phenotype in efforts to characterize the genetic influences of related phenotypes, including cognition and neuropsychiatric diseases.
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| 2. |
- Lehikoinen, Aleksi, et al.
(författare)
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Phenology of the avian spring migratory passage in Europe and North America : Asymmetric advancement in time and increase in duration
- 2019
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Ingår i: Ecological Indicators. - : Elsevier BV. - 1470-160X .- 1872-7034. ; 101, s. 985-991
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Climate change has been shown to shift the seasonal timing (i.e. phenology) and distribution of species. The phenological effects of climate change on living organisms have often been tested using first occurrence dates, which may be uninformative and biased. More rarely investigated is how different phases of a phenological sequence (e.g. beginning, central tendency and end) or its duration have changed over time. This type of analysis requires continuous observation throughout the phenological event over multiple years, and such data sets are rare. In this study we examined the impact of temperature on long-term change of passage timing and duration of the spring migration period in birds, and which species' traits explain species-specific variation. Data used covered 195 species from 21 European and Canadian bird observatories from which systematic daily sampling protocols were available. Migration dates were negatively associated with early spring temperature and timings had in general advanced in 57 years. Short-distance migrants advanced the beginning of their migration more than long-distance migrants when corrected for phylogenic relatedness, but such a difference was not found in other phases of migration. The advancement of migration has generally been greater for the beginning and median phases of migration relative to the end, leading to extended spring migration seasons. Duration of the migration season increased with increasing temperature. Phenological changes have also been less noticeable in Canada even when corrected for rate of change in temperature. To visualize long-term changes in phenology, we constructed the first multi-species spring migration phenology indicator to describe general changes in median migration dates in the northern hemisphere. The indicator showed an average advancement of one week during five decades across the continents (period 1959-2015). The indicator is easy to update with new data and we therefore encourage future research to investigate whether the trend towards longer periods of occurrence or emergence in spring is also evident in other migratory populations. Such phenological changes may influence detectability in monitoring schemes, and may have broader implications on population and community dynamics.
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| 3. |
- Bergström, Ann-Kristin, et al.
(författare)
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Contrasting plankton stoichiometry and nutrient regeneration in northern arctic and boreal lakes
- 2018
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Ingår i: Aquatic Sciences. - : Springer. - 1015-1621 .- 1420-9055. ; 80:2
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Contrasting carbon: nitrogen: phosphorus (C: N: P) stoichiometry between phytoplankton and zooplankton affect consumer growth and phytoplankton nutrient limitation via nutrient recycling by zooplankton. However, no study has assessed how regional differences in terrestrial loadings of organic matter affect plankton N: P stoichiometry and recycling in systems with low N deposition and N-limited phytoplankton. We address this question by using data from 14 unproductive headwater arctic and boreal lakes. We found that boreal lakes had higher lake water-and seston C, N and P concentrations than arctic lakes, whereas seston C: N, C: P and N: P ratios did not differ among regions. Boreal zooplankton were also richer in N and P relative to C, with lower somatic N: P ratios, compared to arctic lakes. Consequently, the estimated N: P imbalances between seston and zooplankton were negative in arctic lakes, indicating zooplankton feeding on phytoplankton of suboptimal N content, resulting in low consumer driven N: P recycling (medians arctic sub-mid and high altitude lakes: 11 and 13). In boreal lakes, estimated N: P imbalance did not differ from zero, with a seston N: P stoichiometry matching the N: P requirements of zooplankton, which resulted in higher consumer driven N: P recycling (median 18). Our results imply that regional climate induced catchment differences, through enhanced terrestrial nutrient inputs, affect plankton stoichiometry by raising consumer N: P recycling ratio and changing zooplankton from being mainly N-(arctic) to NP co-limited (boreal). Browning of lakes, in regions with low N deposition, may therefore promote large-scale regional changes in plankton nutrient limitation with potential feedbacks on pelagic food webs.
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| 4. |
- Giesler, Reiner, et al.
(författare)
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Catchment-scale dissolved carbon concentrations and exportestimates across six subarctic streams in northern Sweden
- 2014
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Ingår i: Biogeosciences. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1726-4170 .- 1726-4189. ; 11:2, s. 525-537
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Climatic change is currently enhancing permafrost thawing and the flow of water through the landscape in subarctic and arctic catchments, with major consequences for the carbon export to aquatic ecosystems. We studied stream water carbon export in several tundra-dominated catchments in northern Sweden. There were clear seasonal differences in both dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) concentrations. The highest DOC concentrations occurred during the spring freshet while the highest DIC concentrations were always observed during winter baseflow conditions for the six catchments considered in this study. Long-term trends for the period 1982 to 2010 for one of the streams showed that DIC concentrations has increased by 9% during the 28 yr of measurement while no clear trend was found for DOC. Similar increasing trends were also found for conductivity, Ca and Mg. When trends were discretized into individual months, we found a significant linear increase in DIC concentrations with time for September, November and December. In these subarctic catchments, the annual mass of C exported as DIC was in the same order of magnitude as DOC; the average proportion of DIC to the total dissolved C exported was 61% for the six streams. Furthermore, there was a direct relationship between total runoff and annual dissolved carbon fluxes for these six catchments. These relationships were more prevalent for annual DIC exports than annual DOC exports in this region. Our results also highlight that both DOC and DIC can be important in high-latitude ecosystems. This is particularly relevant in environments where thawing permafrost and changes to subsurface ice due to global warming can influence stream water fluxes of C. The large proportion of stream water DIC flux also has implications on regional C budgets and needs to be considered in order to understand climate-induced feedback mechanisms across the landscape.
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| 5. |
- Karlsson, Martin, et al.
(författare)
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Size-controlled nanoparticles by thermal cracking of iron pentacarbonyl
- 2005
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Ingår i: Applied Physics A: Materials Science & Processing. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1432-0630. ; 80:7, s. 1579-1583
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A gas-phase method has been developed for producing size-controlled nanoparticles by thermal cracking of iron pentacarbonyl. The method includes the formation of iron particles from vapor emanating from the cracking of the volatile compound and subsequent compacting of the selected particles. Different temperature steps were involved in the process, and their effects on the particle production were investigated. On-line differential mobility measurements and off-line transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were used to study the morphology, composition and structure of the generated particles. The aim of the study was to produce nanoparticles of pure iron. After transportation in air, the composition of the particles was analyzed by TEM and found to be magnetite, Fe3O4. The oxidation may be attributed to the exposure to air and humidity during the transport. The phase of the uncontaminated particles could not be determined. Tests for growth of silicon nanowhiskers using nanoparticles produced with this method were successful.
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| 6. |
- Ekstrand, Eva-Maria, 1985-, et al.
(författare)
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Identifying targets for increased biogasproduction through chemical and organicmatter characterization of digestate from full‑scale biogas plants : what remains and why?
- 2022
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Ingår i: Biotechnology for Biofuels and Bioproducts. - London, United Kingdom : BioMed Central. - 2731-3654. ; 15:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: This study examines the destiny of macromolecules in different full-scale biogas processes. From previousstudies it is clear that the residual organic matter in outgoing digestates can have significant biogas potential,but the factors dictating the size and composition of this residual fraction and how they correlate with the residualmethane potential (RMP) are not fully understood. The aim of this study was to generate additional knowledge of thecomposition of residual digestate fractions and to understand how they correlate with various operational and chemicalparameters. The organic composition of both the substrates and digestates from nine biogas plants operating onfood waste, sewage sludge, or agricultural waste was characterized and the residual organic fractions were linked tosubstrate type, trace metal content, ammonia concentration, operational parameters, RMP, and enzyme activity.Results: Carbohydrates represented the largest fraction of the total VS (32–68%) in most substrates. However, inthe digestates protein was instead the most abundant residual macromolecule in almost all plants (3–21 g/kg). Thedegradation efficiency of proteins generally lower (28–79%) compared to carbohydrates (67–94%) and fats (86–91%).High residual protein content was coupled to recalcitrant protein fractions and microbial biomass, either from thesubstrate or formed in the degradation process. Co-digesting sewage sludge with fat increased the protein degradationefficiency with 18%, possibly through a priming mechanism where addition of easily degradable substrates alsotriggers the degradation of more complex fractions. In this study, high residual methane production (> 140 L CH4/kgVS) was firstly coupled to operation at unstable process conditions caused mainly by ammonia inhibition (0.74 mgNH3-N/kg) and/or trace element deficiency and, secondly, to short hydraulic retention time (HRT) (55 days) relative tothe slow digestion of agricultural waste and manure.Conclusions: Operation at unstable conditions was one reason for the high residual macromolecule content andhigh RMP. The outgoing protein content was relatively high in all digesters and improving the degradation of proteinsrepresents one important way to increase the VS reduction and methane production in biogas plants. Post-treatment
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| 7. |
- Milberg, Per, et al.
(författare)
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Do differences in plasticity during early growth lead to differing success in competition? A test using four co-occurring annual Papaver
- 2014
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Ingår i: Plant Species Biology. - : Wiley-Blackwell: No OnlineOpen. - 0913-557X .- 1442-1984. ; 29:1, s. 92-100
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Plant species differ in their ability to transform available resources to biomass and to respond in a plastic way to environmental circumstances; we hypothesized that such differences among four weed taxa of Papaver would explain differences in their competitive response. We first compared two populations each of Papaver rhoeasL., P.dubiumL. ssp. dubium, P.dubiumL. ssp. lecoqii (Lamotte) Syme and P.argemoneL., grown in a greenhouse for 6 weeks in a nutrient gradient combined with two light treatments to elucidate possible differences in responses. As there were clear differences, a second experiment evaluated whether these differences also meant differences in competitive response, during early growth, when tested against two crops (wheat, rape). The assumption that competitive response was linked to the ability to transform nutrient and light to biomass was not supported: even though differences in extent of plasticity existed, the effect of competition was similar for the taxa. Thus, higher plasticity and ability to transform available recourses to biomass did not lead to stronger competitiveness for Papaver during early growth.
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| 8. |
- Shuoker, Bashar, et al.
(författare)
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Sialidases and fucosidases of Akkermansia muciniphila are crucial for growth on mucin and nutrient sharing with mucus-associated gut bacteria
- 2023
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Ingår i: Nature Communications. - 2041-1723. ; 14
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The mucolytic human gut microbiota specialist Akkermansia muciniphila is proposed to boost mucin-secretion by the host, thereby being a key player in mucus turnover. Mucin glycan utilization requires the removal of protective caps, notably fucose and sialic acid, but the enzymatic details of this process remain largely unknown. Here, we describe the specificities of ten A. muciniphila glycoside hydrolases, which collectively remove all known sialyl and fucosyl mucin caps including those on double-sulfated epitopes. Structural analyses revealed an unprecedented fucosidase modular arrangement and explained the sialyl T-antigen specificity of a sialidase of a previously unknown family. Cell-attached sialidases and fucosidases displayed mucin-binding and their inhibition abolished growth of A. muciniphila on mucin. Remarkably, neither the sialic acid nor fucose contributed to A. muciniphila growth, but instead promoted butyrate production by co-cultured Clostridia. This study brings unprecedented mechanistic insight into the initiation of mucin O-glycan degradation by A. muciniphila and nutrient sharing between mucus-associated bacteria.
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| 9. |
- Balmes, Olivier, et al.
(författare)
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Imaging atomic structure in metal nanoparticles using high-resolution cryo-TEM
- 2006
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Ingår i: Microscopy and Microanalysis. - 1435-8115. ; 12:2, s. 145-150
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- It has been shown, by imaging gold (200) planes, that it is possible to achieve better than 0.20-nm structural resolution in cryo-transmission electron microscopy (cryo-TEM). This has been done using commercially available cryo equipment and using a 300-kV field emission gun (FEG) TEM. The images of 15-nm gold particles embedded in amorphous frozen water clearly show the (111) planes (separated by 0.235 nm) in gold. Fourier transform demonstrates the presence of (200) planes in the image, proving a resolution of better than 0.20 nm. The experimental results are Supported by image simulations using the multislice method. These simulations suggest that it should be possible to achieve the same resolution even in smaller particles and particles of lighter elements. The crucial experimental problem to overcome is keeping the thickness of the amorphous film low and to work at low electron dose conditions.
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| 10. |
- Bergström, Ann-Kristin, et al.
(författare)
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Nitrogen deposition and warming – effects on phytoplankton nutrient limitation in subarctic lakes
- 2013
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Ingår i: Global Change Biology. - Hoboken, NJ : Wiley-Blackwell. - 1354-1013 .- 1365-2486. ; 19:8, s. 2557-2568
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The aim of this study was to predict the combined effects of enhanced nitrogen (N) deposition and warming on phytoplankton development in high latitude and mountain lakes. Consequently, we assessed, in a series of enclosureexperiments, how lake water nutrient stoichiometry and phytoplankton nutrient limitation varied over the growingseason in 11 lakes situated along an altitudinal/climate gradient with low N-deposition (<1 kg N ha1yr1) in northern subarctic Sweden. Short-term bioassay experiments with N- and P-additions revealed that phytoplankton inhigh-alpine lakes were more prone to P-limitation, and with decreasing altitude became increasingly N- andNP-colimited. Nutrient limitation was additionally most obvious in midsummer. There was also a strong positivecorrelation between phytoplankton growth and water temperature in the bioassays. Although excess nutrients wereavailable in spring and autumn, on these occasions growth was likely constrained by low water temperatures. Theseresults imply that enhanced N-deposition over the Swedish mountain areas will, with the exception of high-alpinelakes, enhance biomass and drive phytoplankton from N- to P-limitation. However, if not accompanied by warming,N-input from deposition will stimulate limited phytoplankton growth due to low water temperatures during largeparts of the growing season. Direct effects of warming, allowing increased metabolic rates and an extension of thegrowing season, seem equally crucial to synergistically enhance phytoplankton development in these lakes.
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