| 1. |
- Andersson, Martin O., et al.
(författare)
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Molecular detection of Babesia capreoli and Babesia venatorum in wild Swedish roe deer, Capreolus capreolus
- 2016
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Ingår i: Parasites & Vectors. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1756-3305. ; 9:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: The epidemiology of the zoonotic tick-transmitted parasite Babesia spp. and its occurrence in wild reservoir hosts in Sweden is unclear. In European deer, several parasite species, including Babesia capreoli and the zoonotic B. venatorum and B. divergens has been reported previously. The European roe deer, Capreolus capreolus, is an important and common part of the indigenous fauna in Europe, as well as an important host for Ixodes ricinus ticks, the vector of several Babesia spp. in Europe. Here, we aimed to investigate the occurrence of Babesia spp. in roe deer in Sweden. Findings: Roe deer (n = 77) were caught and sampled for blood. Babesia spp. was detected with a PCR assay targeting the 18S rRNA gene. The prevalence of Babesia spp. was 52 %, and two species were detected; B. capreoli and B. venatorum in 44 and 7.8 % of the individuals, respectively. Infection occurred both in summer and winter. Conclusions: We showed that roe deer in Sweden, close to the edge of their northern inland distributional range, are infected with Babesia spp. The occurrence of B. venatorum in roe deer imply that it is established in Sweden and the zoonotic implication of this finding should be regarded to a greater extent in future.
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| 2. |
- Blockhuys, Stephanie, 1983, et al.
(författare)
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Defining the human copper proteome and analysis of its expression variation in cancers.
- 2017
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Ingår i: Metallomics. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 1756-5901 .- 1756-591X. ; 9:2, s. 112-123
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Copper (Cu) is essential for living organisms, and acts as a cofactor in many metabolic enzymes. To avoid the toxicity of free Cu, organisms have specific transport systems that 'chaperone' the metal to targets. Cancer progression is associated with increased cellular Cu concentrations, whereby proliferative immortality, angiogenesis and metastasis are cancer hallmarks with defined requirements for Cu. The aim of this study is to gather all known Cu-binding proteins and reveal their putative involvement in cancers using the available database resources of RNA transcript levels. Using the database along with manual curation, we identified a total of 54 Cu-binding proteins (named the human Cu proteome). Next, we retrieved RNA expression levels in cancer versus normal tissues from the TCGA database for the human Cu proteome in 18 cancer types, and noted an intricate pattern of up- and downregulation of the genes in different cancers. Hierarchical clustering in combination with bioinformatics and functional genomics analyses allowed for the prediction of cancer-related Cu-binding proteins; these were specifically inspected for the breast cancer data. Finally, for the Cu chaperone ATOX1, which is the only Cu-binding protein proposed to have transcription factor activities, we validated its predicted over-expression in patient breast cancer tissue at the protein level. This collection of Cu-binding proteins, with RNA expression patterns in different cancers, will serve as an excellent resource for mechanistic-molecular studies of Cu-dependent processes in cancer.
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| 3. |
- Karlsson, Anna-Carin, et al.
(författare)
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The effect of a mutation in the thyroid stimulating hormone receptor (TSHR) on development, behaviour and TH levels in domesticated chickens
- 2015
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Ingår i: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science. - 1932-6203. ; 10:6
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The thyroid stimulating hormone receptor (TSHR) has been suggested to be a “domestication locus” in the chicken, due to a strong selective sweep over the gene found in domesticated chickens, but not in their wild ancestor the Red Junglefowl (RJF). We investigated the effect of the mutation on development (incubation time), behaviour and thyroid hormone levels in intercross chickens homozygous for the mutation (d/d), wild type homozygotes (w/w) or heterozygotes (d/w). This allowed an assessment of the effect of genotype at this locus against a random mix of RJF and WL genotypes throughout the rest of the genome. The (d/d) genotype showed a longer incubation time, less fearful behaviours, lower number of aggressive behaviours and decreased levels of the thyroid hormone T4, in comparison to the (w/w) genotype. The difference between TSHR genotypes (d/d vs. w/w) in these respects mirrors the differences in development and behaviour between pure domesticated White Leghorns and pure RJF chickens. Our study indicates that the TSHR mutation affects typical domestication traits and may therefore have been important during the evolution of the domestic chicken.
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| 4. |
- Maklakov, Alexei A., et al.
(författare)
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Ageing : Why Males Curtail the Longevity of Their Mates
- 2016
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Ingår i: Current Biology. - : Elsevier BV. - 0960-9822 .- 1879-0445. ; 26:20, s. R929-R932
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Male nematodes secrete pheromones that accelerate the somatic senescence of potential mates. A new study shows that this harm most likely is an unintended by-product of the males' aim to speed up sexual maturation and delay reproductive senescence of future partners.
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| 5. |
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| 6. |
- Turkina, Maria V, et al.
(författare)
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The transit peptide of CP29 thylakoid protein in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii is not removed but undergoes acetylation and phosphorylation
- 2004
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Ingår i: FEBS Letters. - Amsterdam : Elsevier. - 0014-5793 .- 1873-3468. ; 564:1-2, s. 104-108
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The surface-exposed peptides were cleaved by trypsin from the photosynthetic thylakoid membranes isolated from the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Two phosphorylated peptides, enriched from the peptide mixture and sequenced by nanospray quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry, revealed overlapping sequences corresponding to the N-terminus of a nuclear-encoded chlorophyll a/b-binding protein CP29. In contrast to all known nuclear-encoded thylakoid proteins, the transit peptide in the mature algal CP29 was not removed but processed by methionine excision, N-terminal acetylation and phosphorylation on threonine 6. The importance of this phosphorylation site is proposed as the reason of the unique transit peptide retention.
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| 7. |
- Videvall, Elin, et al.
(författare)
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Strong Maternal Effects on Gene Expression in Arabidopsis lyrata Hybrids
- 2016
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Ingår i: Molecular biology and evolution. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0737-4038 .- 1537-1719. ; 33:4, s. 984-994
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Hybridization between populations or species can have pronounced fitness consequences. Yet little is known about how hybridization affects gene regulation. Three main models have been put forward to explain gene expression patterns in hybrids: additive, dominance, or parental effects. Here, we use high throughput RNA-sequencing to examine the extent to which hybrid gene expression follows predictions by each of the three models. We performed a reciprocal crossing experiment between two differentiated populations of the perennial herb Arabidopsis lyrata and sequenced RNA in rosette leaves of 12-week-old plants grown in greenhouse conditions. The two parental populations had highly differentiated gene expression patterns. In hybrids, a majority of genes showed intermediate expression relative to that of their parental populations (i.e., additive effects), but expression was frequently more similar to the maternal than to their paternal population (i.e., maternal effects). Allele-specific expression analyses showed that in the vast majority of cases, genes with pronounced maternal effect expressed both the maternal and the paternal allele. Maternal effects on hybrid gene expression have rarely been documented previously and our study suggests it could be more common than previously assumed. Whether the maternal effect on gene expression persists to later life-stages, and whether the variation in gene expression is manifested in other aspects of the phenotype, remain to be elucidated. Our findings are relevant for understanding the consequences of outbreeding and hybridization and open up several questions for future studies.
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| 8. |
- Wang, Z. Q., et al.
(författare)
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PARP is important for genomic stability but dispensable in apoptosis
- 1997
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Ingår i: Genes & Development. - : Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press (CSHL). - 0890-9369 .- 1549-5477. ; 11:18, s. 2347-2358
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Mice lacking the gene encoding poly(ADP-ribosyl) transferase (PARP or ADPRT) display no phenotypic abnormalities, although aged mice are susceptible to epidermal hyperplasia and obesity in a mixed genetic background. Whereas embryonic fibroblasts lacking PARP exhibit normal DNA excision repair, they grow more slowly in vitro. Here we investigated the putative roles of PARP in cell proliferation, cell death, radiosensitivity, and DNA recombination, as well as chromosomal stability. We show that the proliferation deficiency in vitro and in vive is most likely caused by a hypersensitive response to environmental stress. Although PARP is specifically cleaved during apoptosis, cells Backing this molecule apoptosed normally in response to treatment with anti-Fas, tumor neurosis factor alpha, gamma-irradiation, and dexamethasone, indicating that PARP is dispensable in apoptosis and that PARP-/-thymocytes are not hypersensitive to ionizing radiation. Furthermore, the capacity of mutant cells to carry out immunoglobulin class switching and V(D)J recombination is normal. Finally, primary PARP mutant fibroblasts and splenocytes exhibited an elevated frequency of spontaneous sister chromatid exchanges and elevated micronuclei formation after treatment with genotoxic agents, establishing an important role for PARP in the maintenance of genomic integrity.
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| 9. |
- Ziels, Ryan, et al.
(författare)
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Microbial community adaptation influences long-chain fatty acid conversion during anaerobic codigestion of fats, oils, and grease with municipal sludge
- 2016
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Ingår i: Water Research. - : Elsevier BV. - 0043-1354 .- 1879-2448. ; 103, s. 372-382
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Codigesting fats, oils, and greases with municipal wastewater sludge can greatly improve biomethanerecovery at wastewater treatment facilities. Process loading rates of fats, oils, and greases have beenpreviously tested with little knowledge of the digester microbial community structure, and high transientfat loadings have led to long chain fatty acid (LCFA) accumulation and digester upsets. This studyutilized recently-developed quantitative PCR assays for syntrophic LCFA-degrading bacteria along with16S amplicon sequencing to relate changes in microbial community structure to LCFA accumulationduring transient loading increases to an anaerobic codigester receiving waste restaurant oil andmunicipal wastewater sludge. The 16S rRNA gene concentration of the syntrophic b-oxidizing genusSyntrophomonas increased to ~15% of the Bacteria community in the codigester, but stayed below 3% inthe control digester that was fed only wastewater sludge. Methanosaeta and Methanospirillum were thedominant methanogenic genera enriched in the codigester, and together comprised over 80% of theArchaea community by the end of the experimental period. Constrained ordination showed that changesin the codigester Bacteria and Archaea community structures were related to measures of digester performance.Notably, the effluent LCFA concentration in the codigester was positively correlated to thespecific loading rate of waste oil normalized to the Syntrophomonas 16S rRNA concentration. Specificloading rates of 0e1.5 1012 g VS oil/16S gene copies-day resulted in LCFA concentrations below 30 mg/g TS, whereas LCFA accumulated up to 104 mg/g TS at higher transient loading rates. Based on thecommunity-dependent loading limitations found, enhanced biomethane production from high loadingsof fats, oils and greases can be achieved by promoting a higher biomass of slow-growing syntrophicconsortia, such as with longer digester solids retention times. This work also demonstrates the potentialfor controlling the loading rate of fats, oils, and greases based on the analysis of the codigester communitystructure, such as with quantitative PCR measurements of syntrophic LCFA-degrading bacteriaabundance.
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| 10. |
- Johansson, Mikaela
(författare)
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Metaproteogenomics-guided enzyme discovery : Targeted identification of novel proteases in microbial communities
- 2018
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Industrial biotechnology is a large and growing industry as it is part of establishing a “greener” and more sustainable bioeconomy-based society. Using enzymes as biocatalysts is a viable alternative to chemicals and energy intense industrial processes and is en route to a more sustainable industry. Enzymes have been used in different areas for ages and are today used in many industrial processes such as biofuels production, food industry, tanning, chemical synthesis, pharmaceuticals etc. Enzymes are today a billion-dollar industry in itself and the demand for novel catalysts for various present and future processes of renewable resources are high and perfectly in line with converting to a more sustainable society.Most enzymes used in industry today have been identified from isolated and pure cultured microorganisms with identified desirable traits and enzymatic capacities. However, it is known that less than 1% of all microorganisms can be can be obtained in pure cultures. Thus, if we were to rely solely on pure culturing, this would leave the 99% of the microorganisms that constitutes the “microbial dark matter” uninvestigated for their potential in coding for and producing valuable novel enzymes. Therefore, to investigate these “unculturable” microorganisms for novel and valuable enzymes, pure-culture independent methods are needed.During the last two decades there has been a fast and extensive development in techniques and methods applicable for this purpose. Especially important has been the advancements made in mass spectrometry for protein identification and next generation sequencing of DNA. With these technical developments new research fields of proteomics and genomics have been developed, by which the complete protein complement of cells (the proteome) and all genes (the genome) of organisms can be investigated. When these techniques are applied to microbial communities these fields of research are known as meta-proteomics and meta-genomics.However, when applied to complex microbial communities, difficulties different from those encountered in their original usage for analysis of single multicellular organisms or cell linages arises, and when used independently both methods have their own limitations and bottlenecks. In addition, both metaproteomics and metagenomics are largely non-targeting techniques. Thus, if the purpose is still to - somewhat contradictory – use these non-targeting methods for targeted identification of novel enzymes with certain desired activities and properties from within microbial communities, special measures need to be taken.The work presented in this thesis describes the development of a method that combinesmetaproteomics and metagenomics (i.e. metaproteogenomics) for the targeted discovery of novel enzymes with desired activities, and their correct coding genes, from within microbial communities. Thus, what is described is a method that can be used to circumvent the pure-culturing problem so that a much larger fraction of the microbial dark matter can be specifically investigated for the identification of novel valuable enzymes.
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