| 1. |
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| 2. |
- Richards, Stephen, et al.
(författare)
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Genome Sequence of the Pea Aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum
- 2010
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Ingår i: PLoS biology. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1544-9173 .- 1545-7885. ; 8:2, s. e1000313-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Aphids are important agricultural pests and also biological models for studies of insect-plant interactions, symbiosis, virus vectoring, and the developmental causes of extreme phenotypic plasticity. Here we present the 464 Mb draft genome assembly of the pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum. This first published whole genome sequence of a basal hemimetabolous insect provides an outgroup to the multiple published genomes of holometabolous insects. Pea aphids are host-plant specialists, they can reproduce both sexually and asexually, and they have coevolved with an obligate bacterial symbiont. Here we highlight findings from whole genome analysis that may be related to these unusual biological features. These findings include discovery of extensive gene duplication in more than 2000 gene families as well as loss of evolutionarily conserved genes. Gene family expansions relative to other published genomes include genes involved in chromatin modification, miRNA synthesis, and sugar transport. Gene losses include genes central to the IMD immune pathway, selenoprotein utilization, purine salvage, and the entire urea cycle. The pea aphid genome reveals that only a limited number of genes have been acquired from bacteria; thus the reduced gene count of Buchnera does not reflect gene transfer to the host genome. The inventory of metabolic genes in the pea aphid genome suggests that there is extensive metabolite exchange between the aphid and Buchnera, including sharing of amino acid biosynthesis between the aphid and Buchnera. The pea aphid genome provides a foundation for post-genomic studies of fundamental biological questions and applied agricultural problems.
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| 3. |
- Garcia-Ayllon, M. S., et al.
(författare)
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Plasma ACE2 species are differentially altered in COVID-19 patients
- 2021
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Ingår i: FASEB Journal. - 0892-6638. ; 35:8
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Studies are needed to identify useful biomarkers to assess the severity and prognosis of COVID-19 disease, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) virus. Here, we examine the levels of various plasma species of the SARS-CoV-2 host receptor, the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), in patients at different phases of the infection. Human plasma ACE2 species were characterized by immunoprecipitation and western blotting employing antibodies against the ectodomain and the C-terminal domain, using a recombinant human ACE2 protein as control. In addition, changes in the cleaved and full-length ACE2 species were also examined in serum samples derived from humanized K18-hACE2 mice challenged with a lethal dose of SARS-CoV-2. ACE2 immunoreactivity was present in human plasma as several molecular mass species that probably comprise truncated (70 and 75 kDa) and full-length forms (95, 100, 130, and 170 kDa). COVID-19 patients in the acute phase of infection (n = 46) had significantly decreased levels of ACE2 full-length species, while a truncated 70-kDa form was marginally higher compared with non-disease controls (n = 26). Levels of ACE2 full-length species were in the normal range in patients after a recovery period with an interval of 58-70 days (n = 29), while the 70-kDa species decreased. Levels of the truncated ACE2 species served to discriminate between individuals infected by SARS-CoV-2 and those infected with influenza A virus (n = 17). In conclusion, specific plasma ACE2 species are altered in patients with COVID-19 and these changes normalize during the recovery phase. Alterations in ACE2 species following SARS-CoV-2 infection warrant further investigation regarding their potential usefulness as biomarkers for the disease process and to asses efficacy during vaccination.
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| 4. |
- Bruneau, Anne, et al.
(författare)
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Advances in Legume Systematics 14. Classification of Caesalpinioideae. Part 2: Higher-level classification
- 2024
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Ingår i: PhytoKeys. - Sofia : Pensoft Publishers. - 1314-2011 .- 1314-2003. ; 240, s. 1-552
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Caesalpinioideae is the second largest subfamily of legumes (Leguminosae) with ca. 4680 species and 163 genera. It is an ecologically and economically important group formed of mostly woody perennials that range from large canopy emergent trees to functionally herbaceous geoxyles, lianas and shrubs, and which has a global distribution, occurring on every continent except Antarctica. Following the recent re-circumscription of 15 Caesalpinioideae genera as presented in Advances in Legume Systematics 14, Part 1, and using as a basis a phylogenomic analysis of 997 nuclear gene sequences for 420 species and all but five of the genera currently recognised in the subfamily, we present a new higher-level classification for the subfamily. The new classification of Caesalpinioideae comprises eleven tribes, all of which are either new, reinstated or re-circumscribed at this rank: Caesalpinieae Rchb. (27 genera / ca. 223 species), Campsiandreae LPWG (2 / 5-22), Cassieae Bronn (7 / 695), Cera-tonieae Rchb. (4 / 6), Dimorphandreae Benth. (4 / 35), Erythrophleeae LPWG (2 /13), Gleditsieae Nakai (3 / 20), Mimoseae Bronn (100 / ca. 3510), Pterogyneae LPWG (1 / 1), Schizolobieae Nakai (8 / 42-43), Sclerolobieae Benth. & Hook. f. (5 / ca. 113). Although many of these lineages have been recognised and named in the past, either as tribes or informal generic groups, their circumscriptions have varied widely and changed over the past decades, such that all the tribes described here differ in generic membership from those previously recognised. Importantly, the approximately 3500 species and 100 genera of the former subfamily Mimosoideae are now placed in the reinstated, but newly circumscribed, tribe Mimoseae. Because of the large size and ecological importance of the tribe, we also provide a clade-based classification system for Mimoseae that includes 17 named lower-level clades. Fourteen of the 100 Mimoseae genera remain unplaced in these lower-level clades: eight are resolved in two grades and six are phylogenetically isolated monogeneric lineages. In addition to the new classification, we provide a key to genera, morphological descriptions and notes for all 163 genera, all tribes, and all named clades. The diversity of growth forms, foliage, flowers and fruits are illustrated for all genera, and for each genus we also provide a distribution map, based on quality-controlled herbarium specimen localities. A glossary for specialised terms used in legume morphology is provided. This new phylogenetically based classification of Caesalpinioideae provides a solid system for communication and a framework for downstream analyses of biogeography, trait evolution and diversification, as well as for taxonomic revision of still understudied genera.
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| 5. |
- Cortes, Andres J., et al.
(författare)
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Small-scale patterns in snowmelt timing affect gene flow and the distribution of genetic diversity in the alpine dwarf shrub Salix herbacea
- 2014
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Ingår i: Heredity. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0018-067X .- 1365-2540. ; 113:3, s. 233-239
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Current threats to biodiversity, such as climate change, are thought to alter the within-species genetic diversity among microhabitats in highly heterogeneous alpine environments. Assessing the spatial organization and dynamics of genetic diversity within species can help to predict the responses of organisms to environmental change. In this study, we evaluated whether small-scale heterogeneity in snowmelt timing restricts gene flow between microhabitats in the common long-lived dwarf shrub Salix herbacea L. We surveyed 273 genets across 12 early-and late-snowmelt sites (that is, ridges and snowbeds) in the Swiss Alps for phenological variation over 2 years and for genetic variation using seven SSR markers. Phenological differentiation triggered by differences in snowmelt timing did not correlate with genetic differentiation between microhabitats. On the contrary, extensive gene flow appeared to occur between microhabitats and slightly less extensively among adjacent mountains. However, ridges exhibited significantly lower levels of genetic diversity than snowbeds, and patterns of effective population size (Ne) and migration (Nem) between microhabitats were strongly asymmetric, with ridges acting as sources and snowbeds as sinks. As no recent genetic bottlenecks were detected in the studied sites, this asymmetry is likely to reflect current metapopulation dynamics of the species dominated by gene flow via seeds rather than ancient re-colonization after the last glacial period. Overall, our results suggest that seed dispersal prevents snowmelt-driven genetic isolation, and snowbeds act as sinks of genetic diversity. We discuss the consequences of such small-scale variation in gene flow and diversity levels for population responses to climate change.
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| 6. |
- Kelleher, CT, et al.
(författare)
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SNP discovery, gene diversity, and linkage disequilibrium in wild populations of Populus tremuloides
- 2012
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Ingår i: Tree Genetics & Genomes. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1614-2942 .- 1614-2950. ; 8:4, s. 821-829
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The use of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) as molecular markers in plant studies has become increasingly common. With the development of these markers, there is an interest in determining levels of variation in natural populations. Here, we identify and characterize levels of SNPs in wild populations of aspen ( Populus tremuloides Michx.). Four populations were sampled from Alberta and British Columbia in Western Canada. A total of 35 gene regions were selected for analysis. The loci selected are mainly involved in wood formation and include regions from genes for lignin biosynthesis, cellulose biosynthesis, and other cell wall compounds and a number of transcription factors. Other genes included those coding for growth hormones, disease resistance, and light responses. Primers were developed from conserved regions in multi-species EST alignments. Regions were PCR amplified, and products (approximately 500 to 1,000 bp) were assessed for levels of SNPs using Ecotilling. From a total of approximately 25 kb 462 SNPs were identified, over 18 SNPs/kb. Thus, SNPs are an abundant and potentially useful molecular marker in aspen. Gene diversity (heterozygosity) varied in the gene regions, with an overall average of H = 0.18. Although gene diversity was considerable, genetic differentiation was low with the overall F value being 0.004. A surrogate measure of linkage disequilibrium (LD) was calculated, and overall, the LD was shown to decay relatively rapidly with distance along the gene region. The results obtained from the wood formation genes in this study will enable further targeting of regions for association studies on lignin and cellulose variation in aspen and other Populus species.
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| 7. |
- Wheeler, J. A., et al.
(författare)
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Increased spring freezing vulnerability for alpine shrubs under early snowmelt
- 2014
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Ingår i: Oecologia. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0029-8549 .- 1432-1939. ; 175:1, s. 219-229
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Alpine dwarf shrub communities are phenologically linked with snowmelt timing, so early spring exposure may increase risk of freezing damage during early development, and consequently reduce seasonal growth. We examined whether environmental factors (duration of snow cover, elevation) influenced size and the vulnerability of shrubs to spring freezing along elevational gradients and snow microhabitats by modelling the past frequency of spring freezing events. We sampled biomass and measured the size of Salix herbacea, Vaccinium myrtillus, Vaccinium uliginosum and Loiseleuria procumbens in late spring. Leaves were exposed to freezing temperatures to determine the temperature at which 50 % of specimens are killed for each species and sampling site. By linking site snowmelt and temperatures to long-term climate measurements, we extrapolated the frequency of spring freezing events at each elevation, snow microhabitat and per species over 37 years. Snowmelt timing was significantly driven by microhabitat effects, but was independent of elevation. Shrub growth was neither enhanced nor reduced by earlier snowmelt, but decreased with elevation. Freezing resistance was strongly species dependent, and did not differ along the elevation or snowmelt gradient. Microclimate extrapolation suggested that potentially lethal freezing events (in May and June) occurred for three of the four species examined. Freezing events never occurred on late snow beds, and increased in frequency with earlier snowmelt and higher elevation. Extrapolated freezing events showed a slight, non-significant increase over the 37-year record. We suggest that earlier snowmelt does not enhance growth in four dominant alpine shrubs, but increases the risk of lethal spring freezing exposure for less freezing-resistant species.
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| 8. |
- Wheeler, J. A., et al.
(författare)
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With a little help from my friends : community facilitation increases performance in the dwarf shrub Salix herbacea
- 2015
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Ingår i: Basic and Applied Ecology. - : Elsevier BV. - 1439-1791 .- 1618-0089. ; 16:3, s. 202-209
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Shifts between positive and negative plant interactions along environmental stress gradients can affect alpine plant performance. We removed neighbours around Salix herbacea, a common arctic and alpine dwarf shrub, along elevational and snowmelt gradients on three mountains in Switzerland. The objectives of our study were to determine the effect of neighbours on phenological, morphological, and fitness traits ofS. herbacea, and to determine whether neighbour interactions shift from competition to facilitation along environmental stress gradients.Target plants without neighbours required less time for fruit production; however, they also were more likely to be damaged by caterpillar herbivory. Effects of neighbour removal changed along the environmental gradients: plants without neighbours had smaller leaves on earlier snowmelt sites, and increased fungal damage with increasing elevation. Without neighbour removal, damage generally led to reduced female flowering under later snowmelt conditions in the following summer.Our results indicate that the majority of neighbour interactions influencing S. herbacea are facilitative, particularly at stressful early snowmelt and high elevation sites. We suggest that neighbours moderate environmental conditions by protecting plants from temperature extremes, and reduce plant apparency to caterpillars. Neighbours also indirectly increase fitness by reducing damage. Facilitation by neighbours may become more important under climate change, as early snowmelt may increase stress.
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| 9. |
- Beal, Jacob, et al.
(författare)
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Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density
- 2020
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Ingår i: Communications Biology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2399-3642. ; 3:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data.
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| 10. |
- Cortés, Andrés J., 1989, et al.
(författare)
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On the Causes of Rapid Diversification in the Paramos: Isolation by Ecology and Genomic Divergence in Espeletia
- 2018
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Ingår i: Frontiers in Plant Science. - : Frontiers Media SA. - 1664-462X. ; 9
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- How diversity arises and what is the relative role of allopatric and ecological divergence are among the most persistent questions in evolution and ecology. Here, we assessed whether ecological divergence has enhanced the diversification of the Neotropical alpine plant complex Espeletia, also known as frailejones. This genus has one of the highest diversification rates ever reported and is distributed in the world's fastest evolving biodiversity hotspot, the Paramo (Neotropical alpine grasslands at elevations of c. 2800-4700 m). Our goal was to determine whether ecology plays a role in divergence within the Espeletia complex by quantifying genome-wide patterns of ecological divergence. We characterized 162 samples of the three most common and contrasting ecotypes (distinct morphotypes occupying particular habitats) co-occurring in six localities in the northern Andes using Genotyping by Sequencing. Contrasting ecotypes were caulescent cloud forest populations, caulescent populations from wind-sheltered and well-irrigated depressions and acaulescent populations from wind-exposed drier slopes. We found high polymorphism with a total of 1,273 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that defined the relationships among nine genetic clusters. We quantified allelic associations of these markers with localities and habitats using 18 different general and mixed-effects statistical models that accounted for phylogenetic distance. Despite that these models always yielded more SNPs associated with the localities, markers associated with the habitat types were recovered too. We found strong evidence for isolation-by-distance (IBD) across populations despite rampant gene flow, as expected for plant groups with limited seed dispersal. Contrasts between populations of different habitat types showed that an isolation-by-environment (IBE) trend emerged and masked the IBD signal. Maximum likelihood estimation of the number of migrants per generation (Nem) among ecotypes confirmed the IBE pattern. This result illustrates the importance of mountains' environmental variation at a local scale in generating rapid morphological radiations and maintaining multiple adaptations in a fast-evolving ecosystem like the Paramo.
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