| 1. |
- Elsik, Christine G., et al.
(författare)
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The Genome Sequence of Taurine Cattle : A Window to Ruminant Biology and Evolution
- 2009
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Ingår i: Science. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - 0036-8075 .- 1095-9203. ; 324:5926, s. 522-528
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- To understand the biology and evolution of ruminants, the cattle genome was sequenced to about sevenfold coverage. The cattle genome contains a minimum of 22,000 genes, with a core set of 14,345 orthologs shared among seven mammalian species of which 1217 are absent or undetected in noneutherian (marsupial or monotreme) genomes. Cattle-specific evolutionary breakpoint regions in chromosomes have a higher density of segmental duplications, enrichment of repetitive elements, and species-specific variations in genes associated with lactation and immune responsiveness. Genes involved in metabolism are generally highly conserved, although five metabolic genes are deleted or extensively diverged from their human orthologs. The cattle genome sequence thus provides a resource for understanding mammalian evolution and accelerating livestock genetic improvement for milk and meat production.
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| 2. |
- Newton-Cheh, Christopher, et al.
(författare)
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Genome-wide association study identifies eight loci associated with blood pressure
- 2009
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Ingår i: Nature Genetics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1546-1718 .- 1061-4036. ; 41:6, s. 666-676
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Elevated blood pressure is a common, heritable cause of cardiovascular disease worldwide. To date, identification of common genetic variants influencing blood pressure has proven challenging. We tested 2.5 million genotyped and imputed SNPs for association with systolic and diastolic blood pressure in 34,433 subjects of European ancestry from the Global BPgen consortium and followed up findings with direct genotyping (N <= 71,225 European ancestry, N <= 12,889 Indian Asian ancestry) and in silico comparison (CHARGE consortium, N 29,136). We identified association between systolic or diastolic blood pressure and common variants in eight regions near the CYP17A1 (P = 7 x 10(-24)), CYP1A2 (P = 1 x 10(-23)), FGF5 (P = 1 x 10(-21)), SH2B3 (P = 3 x 10(-18)), MTHFR (P = 2 x 10(-13)), c10orf107 (P = 1 x 10(-9)), ZNF652 (P = 5 x 10(-9)) and PLCD3 (P = 1 x 10(-8)) genes. All variants associated with continuous blood pressure were associated with dichotomous hypertension. These associations between common variants and blood pressure and hypertension offer mechanistic insights into the regulation of blood pressure and may point to novel targets for interventions to prevent cardiovascular disease.
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| 3. |
- Moschos, Sterghios Athanasios, et al.
(författare)
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Lung delivery studies using siRNA conjugated to TAT(48-60) and penetratin reveal peptide induced reduction in gene expression and induction of innate immunity
- 2007
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Ingår i: Bioconjugate Chemistry. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 1520-4812 .- 1043-1802. ; 18:5, s. 1450-1459
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The therapeutic application of siRNA shows promise as an alternative approach to small-molecule inhibitors for the treatment of human disease. However, the major obstacle to its use has been the difficulty in delivering these large anionic molecules in vivo. In this study, we have investigated whether siRNA-mediated knockdown of p38 MAP kinase mRNA in mouse lung is influenced by conjugation to the nonviral delivery vector cholesterol and the cell penetrating peptides (CPP) TAT(48-60) and penetratin. Initial studies in the mouse fibroblast L929 cell line showed that siRNA conjugated to cholesterol, TAT(48-60), and penetratin, but not siRNA alone, achieved a limited reduction of p38 MAP kinase mRNA expression. Intratracheal administration of siRNA resulted in localization within macrophages and scattered epithelial cells and produced a 30-45% knockdown of p38 MAP kinase mRNA at 6 h. As with increasing doses of siRNA, conjugation to cholesterol improved upon the duration but not the magnitude of mRNA knockdown, while penetratin and TAT(48-60) had no effect. Importantly, administration of the penetratin or TAT(48-60) peptides alone caused significant reduction in p38 MAP kinase mRNA expression, while the penetratin-siRNA conjugate activated the innate immune response. Overall, these studies suggest that conjugation to cholesterol may extend but not increase siRNA-mediated p38 MAP kinase mRNA knockdown in the lung. Furthermore, the use of CPP may be limited due to as yet uncharacterized effects upon gene expression and a potential for immune activation.
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| 4. |
- Dennis, Roger L. H., et al.
(författare)
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Butterflies of European islands : the implications of the geography and ecology of rarity and endemicity for conservation
- 2008
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Ingår i: Journal of Insect Conservation. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1366-638X .- 1572-9753. ; 12:3-4, s. 205-236
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Depending on their faunal content islands can function as important ‘vehicles’ for conservation. In this study, we examine data on 440 butterfly species over 564 European islands in 10 island groups. To determine the status of the butterfly fauna, we have adopted two approaches, island-focused and species-focused, examined using principal components analysis and regression modelling.In the former, we relate species richness, rarity and endemicity to island geography (area, elevation, isolation and location in latitude and longitude); in the latter, species occurrence on islands is examined in relation to distribution, range, range boundaries, and altitudinal limits on the continent as well as species’ ecology (number of"/> host plants) and morphology (wing expanse). Species on islands are also assessed for their status on the continental mainland, their distributional dynamics (extinctions, distribution changes) and conservation status (Red Data Book, European Habitat Directive, Species of European Conservation Concern and Bern Convention listing.Unexpectedly, we find that a large fraction of the European butterfly species is found on the islands (63.4%; 59% on small islands) comprising some 6.2% of the land area of Europe. Although species occurring on the islands tend, on the whole, to have lower conservation status and are not declining over Europe, 45 species are endemics restricted to the islands. Species richness shows only a weak locational pattern and is related as expected to isolation from the continental source and island area; but, both rarity and endemicity have distinctive geographical bias to southern Europe, on islands now under increasing pressure from climate change and increasingly intensive human exploitation. The vulnerability of species on islands is emphasised in the relationship of island occurrence (% occurrence and presence/absence of species on any island) with continental distributions. A large proportion of the variation (84%) is accounted by continental distribution, the southern range limit and lower altitudinal limit. Most species (69%) occur on very few islands (\5%). In view of ongoing species dynamics on islands, migrations and extinctions of species, island repositories of species depend in large part on conservation of butterflies at continental sources. The unique faunas and rare species on islands also depend on appropriate concern being given to the island faunas. Conservation of European islands is thus a two-way process, sustaining sources and conserving island refuges. Residuals from the regressions (islands with more or fewer species, rare and endemic species; species occurring more or less frequently than expected on islands) provide warning signals of regions and islands deserving immediate attention.
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| 5. |
- Dobrovolsky, Vasily N., et al.
(författare)
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Effect of arylformamidase (kynurenine formamidase) gene inactivation in mice on enzymatic activity, kynurenine pathway metabolites and phenotype
- 2005
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Ingår i: Biochimica et Biophysica Acta. ; :1724, s. 163-172
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The gene coding for arylformamidase (Afmid, also known as kynurenine formamidase) was inactivated in mice through the removal of a shared bidirectional promoter region regulating expression of the Afmid and thymidine kinase (Tk) genes. Afmid/Tk-deficient mice are known to develop sclerosis of glomeruli and to have an abnormal immune system. Afmid-catalyzed hydrolysis of N-formyl-kynurenine is a key step in tryptophan metabolism and biosynthesis of kynurenine-derived products including kynurenic acid, quinolinic acid, nicotinamide, NAD, and NADP. A disruption of these pathways is implicated in neurotoxicity and immunotoxicity. In wild-type (WT) mice, Afmid-specific activity (as measured by formyl-kynurenine hydrolysis) was 2-fold higher in the liver than in the kidney. Formyl-kynurenine hydrolysis was reduced by ~50% in mice heterozygous (HZ) for Afmid/Tk and almost completely eliminated in Afmid/Tk knockout (KO) mice. However, there was 13% residual formyl-kynurenine hydrolysis in the kidney of KO mice, suggesting the existence of a formamidase other than Afmid. Liver and kidney levels of nicotinamide plus NAD/NADP remained the same in WT, HZ and KO mice. Plasma concentrations of formyl-kynurenine, kynurenine, and kynurenic acid were elevated in KO mice (but not HZ mice) relative to WT mice, further suggesting that there must be enzymes other than Afmid (possibly in the kidney) capable of metabolizing formyl-kynurenine into kynurenine. Gradual kidney deterioration and subsequent failure in KO mice is consisten with high levels of tissue-specific Afmid expression in the kidney of WT but not KO mice. On this basis, the most significant function of the kynurenine pathway and Afmid in mice may be in eliminating toxic metabolites and to a lesser extent in providing intermediates for other processes.
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| 6. |
- Folkesson, John, 1960-, et al.
(författare)
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A Feature Based Navigation System for an Autonomous Underwater Robot
- 2008
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Ingår i: Field And Service Robotics. - Berlin, Heidelberg : Springer Berlin/Heidelberg. - 9783540754039 ; , s. 105-114
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present a system for autonomous underwater navigation as implemented on a Nekton Ranger autonomous underwater vehicle, AUV. This is one of the first implementations of a practical application for simultaneous localization and mapping on an AUV. Besides being an application of real-time SLAM, the implemtation demonstrates a novel data fusion solution where data from 7 sources are fused at different time scales in 5 separate estimators. By modularizing the data fusion problem in this way each estimator can be tuned separately to provide output useful to the end goal of localizing the AUV, on an a priori map. The Ranger AUV is equipped with a BlueView blazed array sonar which is used to detect features in the underwater environment. Underwater testing results are presented. The features in these tests are deployed radar reflectors.
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| 7. |
- Folkesson, John, 1960-, et al.
(författare)
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Feature tracking for underwater navigation using sonar
- 2007
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the 2007 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems San Diego, CA, USA, Oct 29 - Nov 2, 2007. - : IEEE conference proceedings. - 9781424409129 ; , s. 3678-3684
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Tracking sonar features in real time on an underwater robot is a challenging task. One reason is the low observability of the sonar in some directions. For example, using a blazed array sonar one observes range and the angle to the array axis with fair precision. The angle around the axis is poorly constrained. This situation is problematic for tracking features in world frame Cartesian coordinates as the error surfaces will not be ellipsoids. Thus Gaussian tracking of the features will not work properly. The situation is similar to the problem of tracking features in camera images. There the unconstrained direction is depth and its errors are highly non-Gaussian. We propose a solution to the sonar problem that is analogous to the successful inverse depth feature parameterization for vision tracking, introduced by [1]. We parameterize the features by the robot pose where it was first seen and the range/bearing from that pose. Thus the 3D features have 9 parameters that specify their world coordinates. We use a nonlinear transformation on the poorly observed bearing angle to give a more accurate Gaussian approximation to the uncertainty. These features are tracked in a SLAM framework until there is enough information to initialize world frame Cartesian coordinates for them. The more compact representation can then be used for a global SLAM or localization purposes. We present results for a system running real time underwater SLAM/localization. These results show that the parameterization leads to greater consistency in the feature location estimates.
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| 8. |
- Gudbjartsson, Daniel F., et al.
(författare)
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Sequence variants affecting eosinophil numbers associate with asthma and myocardial infarction
- 2009
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Ingår i: Nature Genetics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1061-4036 .- 1546-1718. ; 41:3, s. 342-347
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Eosinophils are pleiotropic multifunctional leukocytes involved in initiation and propagation of inflammatory responses and thus have important roles in the pathogenesis of inflammatory diseases. Here we describe a genome-wide association scan for sequence variants affecting eosinophil counts in blood of 9,392 Icelanders. The most significant SNPs were studied further in 12,118 Europeans and 5,212 East Asians. SNPs at 2q12 (rs1420101), 2q13 (rs12619285), 3q21 (rs4857855), 5q31 (rs4143832) and 12q24 (rs3184504) reached genome-wide significance (P = 5.3 x 10(-14), 5.4 x 10(-10), 8.6 x 10(-17), 1.2 x 10(-10) and 6.5 x 10(-19), respectively). A SNP at IL1RL1 associated with asthma (P = 5.5 x 10(-12)) in a collection of ten different populations (7,996 cases and 44,890 controls). SNPs at WDR36, IL33 and MYB that showed suggestive association with eosinophil counts were also associated with atopic asthma (P = 4.2 x 10(-6), 2.2 x 10(-5) and 2.4 x 10(-4), respectively). We also found that a nonsynonymous SNP at 12q24, in SH2B3, associated significantly (P = 8.6 x 10(-8)) with myocardial infarction in six different populations (6,650 cases and 40,621 controls).
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| 9. |
- Harley, John B., et al.
(författare)
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Genome-wide association scan in women with systemic lupus erythematosus identifies susceptibility variants in ITGAM, PXK, KIAA1542 and other loci
- 2008
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Ingår i: Nature Genetics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1061-4036 .- 1546-1718. ; 40:2, s. 204-10
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a common systemic autoimmune disease with complex etiology but strong clustering in families (lambda(S) = approximately 30). We performed a genome-wide association scan using 317,501 SNPs in 720 women of European ancestry with SLE and in 2,337 controls, and we genotyped consistently associated SNPs in two additional independent sample sets totaling 1,846 affected women and 1,825 controls. Aside from the expected strong association between SLE and the HLA region on chromosome 6p21 and the previously confirmed non-HLA locus IRF5 on chromosome 7q32, we found evidence of association with replication (1.1 x 10(-7) < P(overall) < 1.6 x 10(-23); odds ratio = 0.82-1.62) in four regions: 16p11.2 (ITGAM), 11p15.5 (KIAA1542), 3p14.3 (PXK) and 1q25.1 (rs10798269). We also found evidence for association (P < 1 x 10(-5)) at FCGR2A, PTPN22 and STAT4, regions previously associated with SLE and other autoimmune diseases, as well as at > or =9 other loci (P < 2 x 10(-7)). Our results show that numerous genes, some with known immune-related functions, predispose to SLE.
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| 10. |
- Joost, Hans-Georg, et al.
(författare)
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Personalised nutrition : status and perspectives
- 2007
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Ingår i: British Journal of Nutrition. - 1475-2662. ; 98:01, s. 26-31
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Personalised, genotype-based nutrition is a concept that links genotyping with specific nutritional advice in order to improve the prevention of nutrition-associated, chronic diseases. This review describes the current scientific basis of the concept and discusses its problems. There is convincing evidence that variant genes may indeed determine the biological response to nutrients. The effects of single-gene variants on risk or risk factor levels of a complex disease are, however, usually small and sometimes inconsistent. Thus, information on the effects of combinations of relevant gene variants appears to be required in order to improve the predictive precision of the genetic information. Furthermore, very few associations between genotype and response have been tested for causality in human intervention studies, and little is known about potential adverse effects of a genotype-derived intervention. These issues need to be addressed before genotyping can become an acceptable method to guide nutritional recommendations.
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