| 1. |
- Cruz, Raquel, et al.
(författare)
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Novel genes and sex differences in COVID-19 severity
- 2022
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Ingår i: Human Molecular Genetics. - : Oxford University Press. - 0964-6906 .- 1460-2083. ; 31:22, s. 3789-3806
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Here, we describe the results of a genome-wide study conducted in 11 939 coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) positive cases with an extensive clinical information that were recruited from 34 hospitals across Spain (SCOURGE consortium). In sex-disaggregated genome-wide association studies for COVID-19 hospitalization, genome-wide significance (P < 5 × 10−8) was crossed for variants in 3p21.31 and 21q22.11 loci only among males (P = 1.3 × 10−22 and P = 8.1 × 10−12, respectively), and for variants in 9q21.32 near TLE1 only among females (P = 4.4 × 10−8). In a second phase, results were combined with an independent Spanish cohort (1598 COVID-19 cases and 1068 population controls), revealing in the overall analysis two novel risk loci in 9p13.3 and 19q13.12, with fine-mapping prioritized variants functionally associated with AQP3 (P = 2.7 × 10−8) and ARHGAP33 (P = 1.3 × 10−8), respectively. The meta-analysis of both phases with four European studies stratified by sex from the Host Genetics Initiative (HGI) confirmed the association of the 3p21.31 and 21q22.11 loci predominantly in males and replicated a recently reported variant in 11p13 (ELF5, P = 4.1 × 10−8). Six of the COVID-19 HGI discovered loci were replicated and an HGI-based genetic risk score predicted the severity strata in SCOURGE. We also found more SNP-heritability and larger heritability differences by age (<60 or ≥60 years) among males than among females. Parallel genome-wide screening of inbreeding depression in SCOURGE also showed an effect of homozygosity in COVID-19 hospitalization and severity and this effect was stronger among older males. In summary, new candidate genes for COVID-19 severity and evidence supporting genetic disparities among sexes are provided.
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| 2. |
- Adl, Sina M., et al.
(författare)
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Revisions to the Classification, Nomenclature, and Diversity of Eukaryotes
- 2019
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Ingår i: Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology. - : WILEY. - 1066-5234 .- 1550-7408. ; 66:1, s. 4-119
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This revision of the classification of eukaryotes follows that of Adl et al., 2012 [J. Euk. Microbiol. 59(5)] and retains an emphasis on protists. Changes since have improved the resolution of many nodes in phylogenetic analyses. For some clades even families are being clearly resolved. As we had predicted, environmental sampling in the intervening years has massively increased the genetic information at hand. Consequently, we have discovered novel clades, exciting new genera and uncovered a massive species level diversity beyond the morphological species descriptions. Several clades known from environmental samples only have now found their home. Sampling soils, deeper marine waters and the deep sea will continue to fill us with surprises. The main changes in this revision are the confirmation that eukaryotes form at least two domains, the loss of monophyly in the Excavata, robust support for the Haptista and Cryptista. We provide suggested primer sets for DNA sequences from environmental samples that are effective for each clade. We have provided a guide to trophic functional guilds in an appendix, to facilitate the interpretation of environmental samples, and a standardized taxonomic guide for East Asian users.
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| 3. |
- Ordeig, Olga, et al.
(författare)
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On-Chip Electric Field Driven Electrochemical Detection Using a Poly(dimethylsiloxane) Microchannel with Gold Microband Electrodes
- 2008
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Ingår i: Analytical Chemistry. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 0003-2700 .- 1520-6882. ; 80:10, s. 3622-3632
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- An external electric field driven in-channel detection technique for on-chip electrochemical detection in micro fabricated devices is described based on a microfluidic system containing an array of 20 microband electrodes. It is shown that an external electric field induces a potential difference between two gold microband electrodes in a poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) microchannel, and that this enables the electrochemical detection of electroactive species such as ascorbic acid and Fe(CN)64−. The results, which are supported by simulations of the behavior of the microband electrodes in the microfluidic system, show that the induced potential difference between the electrodes can be controlled by altering the external electric field or by using different microbands in the microband array. As the obtained currents depend on the concentrations of electroactive species in the flowing solution and the detection can be carried out anywhere within the channel without interference of the external electric field, the present approach significantly facilitates electrochemical detection in capillary electrophoresis. This approach consequently holds great promise for application in inexpensive portable chip-based capillary electrophoresis (CE) devices.
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| 4. |
- Pecunia, Vincenzo, et al.
(författare)
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Roadmap on energy harvesting materials
- 2023
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Ingår i: Journal of Physics. - : IOP Publishing. - 2515-7639. ; 6:4
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Ambient energy harvesting has great potential to contribute to sustainable development and address growing environmental challenges. Converting waste energy from energy-intensive processes and systems (e.g. combustion engines and furnaces) is crucial to reducing their environmental impact and achieving net-zero emissions. Compact energy harvesters will also be key to powering the exponentially growing smart devices ecosystem that is part of the Internet of Things, thus enabling futuristic applications that can improve our quality of life (e.g. smart homes, smart cities, smart manufacturing, and smart healthcare). To achieve these goals, innovative materials are needed to efficiently convert ambient energy into electricity through various physical mechanisms, such as the photovoltaic effect, thermoelectricity, piezoelectricity, triboelectricity, and radiofrequency wireless power transfer. By bringing together the perspectives of experts in various types of energy harvesting materials, this Roadmap provides extensive insights into recent advances and present challenges in the field. Additionally, the Roadmap analyses the key performance metrics of these technologies in relation to their ultimate energy conversion limits. Building on these insights, the Roadmap outlines promising directions for future research to fully harness the potential of energy harvesting materials for green energy anytime, anywhere.
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| 5. |
- Rodriguez-Martinez, Xabier, et al.
(författare)
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Microfluidic-Assisted Blade Coating of Compositional Libraries for Combinatorial Applications: The Case of Organic Photovoltaics
- 2020
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Ingår i: Advanced Energy Materials. - : WILEY-V C H VERLAG GMBH. - 1614-6832 .- 1614-6840. ; 10:33
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Microfluidic technologies are highly adept at generating controllable compositional gradients in fluids, a feature that has accelerated the understanding of the importance of chemical gradients in biological processes. That said, the development of versatile methods to generate controllable compositional gradients in the solid-state has been far more elusive. The ability to produce such gradients would provide access to extensive compositional libraries, thus enabling the high-throughput exploration of the parametric landscape of functional solids and devices in a resource-, time-, and cost-efficient manner. Herein, the synergic integration of microfluidic technologies is reported with blade coating to enable the controlled formation of compositional lateral gradients in solution. Subsequently, the transformation of liquid-based compositional gradients into solid-state thin films using this method is demonstrated. To demonstrate efficacy of the approach, microfluidic-assisted blade coating is used to optimize blending ratios in organic solar cells. Importantly, this novel technology can be easily extended to other solution processable systems that require the formation of solid-state compositional lateral gradients.
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| 6. |
- Strassert, Jürgen F. H., et al.
(författare)
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Phylogeny, Evidence for a Cryptic Plastid, and Distribution of Chytriodinium Parasites (Dinophyceae) Infecting Copepods
- 2019
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Ingår i: Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology. - : Wiley. - 1066-5234 .- 1550-7408. ; 66:4, s. 574-581
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Spores of the dinoflagellate Chytriodinium are known to infest copepod eggs causing their lethality. Despite the potential to control the population of such an ecologically important host, knowledge about Chytriodinium parasites is limited: we know little about phylogeny, parasitism, abundance, or geographical distribution. We carried out genome sequence surveys on four manually isolated sporocytes from the same sporangium, which seemed to be attached to a copepod nauplius, to analyze the phylogenetic position of Chytriodinium based on SSU and concatenated SSU/LSU rRNA gene sequences, and also characterize two genes related to the plastidial heme pathway, hemL and hemY. The results suggest the presence of a cryptic plastid in Chytriodinium and a photosynthetic ancestral state of the parasitic Chytriodinium/Dissodinium clade. Finally, by mapping Tara Oceans V9 SSU amplicon data to the recovered SSU rRNA gene sequences from the sporocytes, we show that globally, Chytriodinium parasites are most abundant within the pico/nano- and mesoplankton of the surface ocean and almost absent within microplankton, a distribution indicating that they generally exist either as free-living spores or host-associated sporangia.
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| 7. |
- Strassert, Jürgen F H, et al.
(författare)
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Single cell genomics of uncultured marine alveolates shows paraphyly of basal dinoflagellates
- 2018
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Ingår i: The ISME Journal. - : Macmillan Publishers Ltd.. - 1751-7362 .- 1751-7370. ; 12, s. 304-308
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Marine alveolates (MALVs) are diverse and widespread early-branching dinoflagellates, but most knowledge of the group comes from a few cultured species that are generally not abundant in natural samples, or from diversity analyses of PCR-based environmental SSU rRNA gene sequences. To more broadly examine MALV genomes, we generated single cell genome sequences from seven individually isolated cells. Genes expected of heterotrophic eukaryotes were found, with interesting exceptions like presence of proteorhodopsin and vacuolar H+-pyrophosphatase. Phylogenetic analysis of concatenated SSU and LSU rRNA gene sequences provided strong support for the paraphyly of MALV lineages. Dinoflagellate viral nucleoproteins were found only in MALV groups that branched as sister to dinokaryotes. Our findings indicate that multiple independent origins of several characteristics early in dinoflagellate evolution, such as a parasitic life style, underlie the environmental diversity of MALVs, and suggest they have more varied trophic modes than previously thought.
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| 8. |
- Zamora, Juan Carlos, et al.
(författare)
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Considerations and consequences of allowing DNA sequence data as types of fungal taxa
- 2018
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Ingår i: IMA Fungus. - : INT MYCOLOGICAL ASSOC. - 2210-6340 .- 2210-6359. ; 9:1, s. 167-185
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Nomenclatural type definitions are one of the most important concepts in biological nomenclature. Being physical objects that can be re-studied by other researchers, types permanently link taxonomy (an artificial agreement to classify biological diversity) with nomenclature (an artificial agreement to name biological diversity). Two proposals to amend the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (ICN), allowing DNA sequences alone (of any region and extent) to serve as types of taxon names for voucherless fungi (mainly putative taxa from environmental DNA sequences), have been submitted to be voted on at the 11th International Mycological Congress (Puerto Rico, July 2018). We consider various genetic processes affecting the distribution of alleles among taxa and find that alleles may not consistently and uniquely represent the species within which they are contained. Should the proposals be accepted, the meaning of nomenclatural types would change in a fundamental way from physical objects as sources of data to the data themselves. Such changes are conducive to irreproducible science, the potential typification on artefactual data, and massive creation of names with low information content, ultimately causing nomenclatural instability and unnecessary work for future researchers that would stall future explorations of fungal diversity. We conclude that the acceptance of DNA sequences alone as types of names of taxa, under the terms used in the current proposals, is unnecessary and would not solve the problem of naming putative taxa known only from DNA sequences in a scientifically defensible way. As an alternative, we highlight the use of formulas for naming putative taxa (candidate taxa) that do not require any modification of the ICN.
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