| 1. |
|
|
| 2. |
- Cook, ER, et al.
(författare)
-
Old World megadroughts and pluvials during the Common Era
- 2015
-
Ingår i: Science Advances. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - 2375-2548. ; 1:10
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Climate model projections suggest widespread drying in the Mediterranean Basin and wetting in Fennoscandia in the coming decades largely as a consequence of greenhouse gas forcing of climate. To place these and other “Old World” climate projections into historical perspective based on more complete estimates of natural hydroclimatic variability, we have developed the “Old World Drought Atlas” (OWDA), a set of year-to-year maps of tree-ring reconstructed summer wetness and dryness over Europe and the Mediterranean Basin during the Common Era. TheOWDAmatches historical accounts of severe drought and wetness with a spatial completeness not previously available. In addition, megadroughts reconstructed over north-central Europe in the 11th and mid-15th centuries reinforce other evidence from North America and Asia that droughts were more severe, extensive, and prolonged over Northern Hemisphere land areas before the 20th century, with an inadequate understanding of their causes. The OWDA provides new data to determine the causes of Old World drought and wetness and attribute past climate variability to forced and/or internal variability.
|
|
| 3. |
|
|
| 4. |
- Matos-Maraví, Pável, et al.
(författare)
-
An ant genus-group (Prenolepis) illuminates the biogeography and drivers of insect diversification in the Indo-Pacific
- 2018
-
Ingår i: Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. - : Elsevier BV. - 1055-7903. ; 123, s. 16-25
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Malay Archipelago and the tropical South Pacific (hereafter the Indo-Pacific region) are considered biodiversity hotspots, yet a general understanding of the origins and diversification of species-rich groups in the region remains elusive. We aimed to test hypotheses for the evolutionary processes driving insect species diversity in the Indo-Pacific using a higher-level and comprehensive phylogenetic hypothesis for an ant clade consisting of seven genera. We estimated divergence times and reconstructed the biogeographical history of ant species in the Prenolepis genus-group (Formicidae: Formicinae: Lasiini). We used a fossil-calibrated phylogeny to infer ancestral geographical ranges utilizing a biogeographic model that includes founder-event speciation. Ancestral state reconstructions of the ants' ecological preferences, and diversification rates were estimated for selected Indo-Pacific clades. Overall, we report that faunal interchange between Asia and Australia has occurred since at least 20-25 Ma, and early dispersal to the Fijian Basin happened during the early and mid-Miocene (ca. 10-20 Ma). Differences in diversification rates across Indo-Pacific clades may be related to ecological preference breadth, which in turn may have facilitated geographical range expansions. Ancient dispersal routes suggested by our results agree with the palaeogeography of the region. For this particular group of ants, the rapid orogenesis in New Guinea and possibly subsequent ecological shifts may have promoted their rapid diversification and widespread distribution across the Indo-Pacific.
|
|
| 5. |
- Matos-Maraví, Pável, et al.
(författare)
-
Taxon cycle predictions supported by model-based inference in Indo-Pacific trap-jaw ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Odontomachus)
- 2018
-
Ingår i: Molecular Ecology. - : Wiley. - 0962-1083 .- 1365-294X. ; 27:20, s. 4090-4107
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Nonequilibrium dynamics and non-neutral processes, such as trait-dependent dispersal, are often missing from quantitative island biogeography models despite their potential explanatory value. One of the most influential nonequilibrium models is the taxon cycle, but it has been difficult to test its validity as a general biogeographical framework. Here, we test predictions of the taxon cycle model using six expected phylogenetic patterns and a time-calibrated phylogeny of Indo-Pacific Odontomachus (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Ponerinae), one of the ant genera that E.O. Wilson used when first proposing the hypothesis. We used model-based inference and a newly developed trait-dependent dispersal model to jointly estimate ancestral biogeography, ecology (habitat preferences for forest interiors, vs. marginal habitats, such as savannahs, shorelines, disturbed areas) and the linkage between ecology and dispersal rates. We found strong evidence that habitat shifts from forest interior to open and disturbed habitats increased macroevolutionary dispersal rate. In addition, lineages occupying open and disturbed habitats can give rise to both island endemics re-occupying only forest interiors and taxa that re-expand geographical ranges. The phylogenetic predictions outlined in this study can be used in future work to evaluate the relative weights of neutral (e.g., geographical distance and area) and non-neutral (e.g., trait-dependent dispersal) processes in historical biogeography and community ecology.
|
|
| 6. |
|
|
| 7. |
- Serwas, N. K., et al.
(författare)
-
CEBPE-mutant specific granule deficiency correlates with aberrant granule organization and substantial proteome alterations in neutrophils
- 2018
-
Ingår i: Frontiers in Immunology. - : Frontiers Media SA. - 1664-3224. ; 9:MAR
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Specific granule deficiency (SGD) is a rare disorder characterized by abnormal neutrophils evidenced by reduced granules, absence of granule proteins, and atypical bilobed nuclei. Mutations in CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein-e (CEBPE) are one molecular etiology of the disease. Although C/EBPe has been studied extensively, the impact of CEBPE mutations on neutrophil biology remains elusive. Here, we identified two SGD patients bearing a previously described heterozygous mutation (p.Val218Ala) in CEBPE. We took this rare opportunity to characterize SGD neutrophils in terms of granule distribution and protein content. Granules of patient neutrophils were clustered and polarized, suggesting that not only absence of specific granules but also defects affecting other granules contribute to the phenotype. Our analysis showed that remaining granules displayed mixed protein content and lacked several glycoepitopes. To further elucidate the impact of mutant CEBPE, we performed detailed proteomic analysis of SGD neutrophils. Beside an absence of several granule proteins in patient cells, we observed increased expression of members of the linker of nucleoskeleton and cytoskeleton complex (nesprin-2, vimentin, and lamin-B2), which control nuclear shape. This suggests that absence of these proteins in healthy individuals might be responsible for segmented shapes of neutrophilic nuclei. We further show that the heterozygous mutation p.Val218Ala in CEBPE causes SGD through prevention of nuclear localization of the protein product. In conclusion, we uncover that absence of nuclear C/EBPe impacts on spatiotemporal expression and subsequent distribution of several granule proteins and further on expression of proteins controlling nuclear shape. © 2018 Serwas, Huemer, Dieckmann, Mejstrikova, Garncarz, Litzman, Hoeger, Zapletal, Janda, Bennett, Kain, Kerjaschky and Boztug.
|
|
| 8. |
|
|
| 9. |
|
|
| 10. |
- Globisch, Daniel, et al.
(författare)
-
Validation of onchocerciasis biomarker N-acetyltyramine-O-glucuronide (NATOG)
- 2017
-
Ingår i: Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters. - : PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD. - 0960-894X .- 1464-3405. ; 27:15, s. 3436-3440
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Neglected Tropical Disease onchocerciasis is a parasitic disease. Despite many control programmes by the World Health Organization (WHO), large communities in West and Central Africa are still affected. Besides logistic challenges during biannual mass drug administration, the lack of a robust, point-of-care diagnostic is limiting successful eradication of onchocerciasis. Towards the implementation of a non-invasive and point-of-care diagnostic, we have recently reported the discovery of the biomarker N-acetyltyramine-O-glucuronide (NATOG) in human urine samples using a metabolomics-mining approach. NATOG's biomarker value was enhanced during an investigation in a rodent model. Herein, we further detail the specificity of NATOG in active onchocerciasis infections as well as the co-infecting parasites Loa loa and Mansonella perstans. Our results measured by liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (LC-MS) reveal elevated NATOG values in mono-and co-infection samples only in the presence of the nematode Onchocerca volvulus. Metabolic pathway investigation of L-tyrosine/tyramine in all investigated nematodes uncovered an important link between the endosymbiotic bacterium Wolbachia and O. volvulus for the biosynthesis of NATOG. Based on these extended studies, we suggest NATOG as a biomarker for tracking active onchocerciasis infections and provide a threshold concentration value of NATOG for future diagnostic tool development.
|
|
