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- Berndt, Sonja I., et al.
(author)
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Genome-wide meta-analysis identifies 11 new loci for anthropometric traits and provides insights into genetic architecture
- 2013
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In: Nature Genetics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1061-4036 .- 1546-1718. ; 45:5, s. 501-U69
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Approaches exploiting trait distribution extremes may be used to identify loci associated with common traits, but it is unknown whether these loci are generalizable to the broader population. In a genome-wide search for loci associated with the upper versus the lower 5th percentiles of body mass index, height and waist-to-hip ratio, as well as clinical classes of obesity, including up to 263,407 individuals of European ancestry, we identified 4 new loci (IGFBP4, H6PD, RSRC1 and PPP2R2A) influencing height detected in the distribution tails and 7 new loci (HNF4G, RPTOR, GNAT2, MRPS33P4, ADCY9, HS6ST3 and ZZZ3) for clinical classes of obesity. Further, we find a large overlap in genetic structure and the distribution of variants between traits based on extremes and the general population and little etiological heterogeneity between obesity subgroups.
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2. |
- Alsmark, Cecilia M., et al.
(author)
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The louse-borne human pathogen Bartonella quintana is a genomic derivative of the zoonotic agent Bartonella henselae
- 2004
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In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. - : Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. - 0027-8424 .- 1091-6490. ; 101:26, s. 9716-9721
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We present the complete genomes of two human pathogens, Bartonella quintana (1,581,384 bp) and Bartonella henselae (1,931,047 bp). The two pathogens maintain several similarities in being transmitted by insect vectors, using mammalian reservoirs, infecting similar cell types (endothelial cells and erythrocytes) and causing vasculoproliferative changes in immunocompromised hosts. A primary difference between the two pathogens is their reservoir ecology. Whereas B. quintana is a specialist, using only the human as a reservoir, B. henselae is more promiscuous and is frequently isolated from both cats and humans. Genome comparison elucidated a high degree of overall similarity with major differences being B. henselae specific genomic islands coding for filamentous hemagglutinin, and evidence of extensive genome reduction in B. quintana, reminiscent of that found in Rickettsia prowazekii. Both genomes are reduced versions of chromosome I from the highly related pathogen Brucella melitensis. Flanked by two rRNA operons is a segment with similarity to genes located on chromosome II of B. melitensis, suggesting that it was acquired by integration of megareplicon DNA in a common ancestor of the two Bartonella species. Comparisons of the vector-host ecology of these organisms suggest that the utilization of host-restricted vectors is associated with accelerated rates of genome degradation and may explain why human pathogens transmitted by specialist vectors are outnumbered by zoonotic agents, which use vectors of broad host ranges.
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- Andersson, Siv G E, et al.
(author)
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Comparative genomics of microbial pathogens and symbionts.
- 2002
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In: Bioinformatics. - 1367-4803 .- 1367-4811. ; 18 Suppl 2, s. S17-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We are interested in quantifying the contribution of gene acquisition, loss, expansion and rearrangements to the evolution of microbial genomes. Here, we discuss factors influencing microbial genome divergence based on pair-wise genome comparisons of closely related strains and species with different lifestyles. A particular focus is on intracellular pathogens and symbionts of the genera Rickettsia, Bartonella and BUCHNERA: Extensive gene loss and restricted access to phage and plasmid pools may provide an explanation for why single host pathogens are normally less successful than multihost pathogens. We note that species-specific genes tend to be shorter than orthologous genes, suggesting that a fraction of these may represent fossil-orfs, as also supported by multiple sequence alignments among species. The results of our genome comparisons are placed in the context of phylogenomic analyses of alpha and gamma proteobacteria. We highlight artefacts caused by different rates and patterns of mutations, suggesting that atypical phylogenetic placements can not a priori be taken as evidence for horizontal gene transfer events. The flexibility in genome structure among free-living microbes contrasts with the extreme stability observed for the small genomes of aphid endosymbionts, in which no rearrangements or inflow of genetic material have occurred during the past 50 millions years (1). Taken together, the results suggest that genomic stability correlate with the content of repeated sequences and mobile genetic elements, and thereby indirectly with bacterial lifestyles.
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4. |
- Atsawawaranunt, Kamolphat, et al.
(author)
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The SISAL database : a global resource to document oxygen and carbon isotope records from speleothems
- 2018
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In: Earth System Science Data. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1866-3508 .- 1866-3516. ; 10:3, s. 1687-1713
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Stable isotope records from speleothems provide information on past climate changes, most particularly information that can be used to reconstruct past changes in precipitation and atmospheric circulation. These records are increasingly being used to provide "out-of-sample" evaluations of isotope-enabled climate models. SISAL (Speleothem Isotope Synthesis and Analysis) is an international working group of the Past Global Changes (PAGES) project. The working group aims to provide a comprehensive compilation of speleothem isotope records for climate reconstruction and model evaluation. The SISAL database contains data for individual speleothems, grouped by cave system. Stable isotopes of oxygen and carbon (delta O-18, delta C-13) measurements are referenced by distance from the top or bottom of the speleothem. Additional tables provide information on dating, including information on the dates used to construct the original age model and sufficient information to assess the quality of each data set and to erect a standardized chronology across different speleothems. The metadata table provides location information, information on the full range of measurements carried out on each speleothem and information on the cave system that is relevant to the interpretation of the records, as well as citations for both publications and archived data.
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5. |
- Azevedo, Flavio, et al.
(author)
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Social and moral psychology of COVID-19 across 69 countries
- 2023
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In: Scientific Data. - : NATURE PORTFOLIO. - 2052-4463. ; 10:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all domains of human life, including the economic and social fabric of societies. One of the central strategies for managing public health throughout the pandemic has been through persuasive messaging and collective behaviour change. To help scholars better understand the social and moral psychology behind public health behaviour, we present a dataset comprising of 51,404 individuals from 69 countries. This dataset was collected for the International Collaboration on Social & Moral Psychology of COVID-19 project (ICSMP COVID-19). This social science survey invited participants around the world to complete a series of moral and psychological measures and public health attitudes about COVID-19 during an early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic (between April and June 2020). The survey included seven broad categories of questions: COVID-19 beliefs and compliance behaviours; identity and social attitudes; ideology; health and well-being; moral beliefs and motivation; personality traits; and demographic variables. We report both raw and cleaned data, along with all survey materials, data visualisations, and psychometric evaluations of key variables.
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6. |
- Berglund, Eva C., et al.
(author)
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Run-off replication of host-adaptability genes is associated with gene transfer agents in the genome of mouse-infecting Bartonella grahamii
- 2009
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In: PLoS genetics. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1553-7404. ; 5:7, s. e1000546-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The genus Bartonella comprises facultative intracellular bacteria adapted to mammals, including previously recognized and emerging human pathogens. We report the 2,341,328 bp genome sequence of Bartonella grahamii, one of the most prevalent Bartonella species in wild rodents. Comparative genomics revealed that rodent-associated Bartonella species have higher copy numbers of genes for putative host-adaptability factors than the related human-specific pathogens. Many of these gene clusters are located in a highly dynamic region of 461 kb. Using hybridization to a microarray designed for the B. grahamii genome, we observed a massive, putatively phage-derived run-off replication of this region. We also identified a novel gene transfer agent, which packages the bacterial genome, with an over-representation of the amplified DNA, in 14 kb pieces. This is the first observation associating the products of run-off replication with a gene transfer agent. Because of the high concentration of gene clusters for host-adaptation proteins in the amplified region, and since the genes encoding the gene transfer agent and the phage origin are well conserved in Bartonella, we hypothesize that these systems are driven by selection. We propose that the coupling of run-off replication with gene transfer agents promotes diversification and rapid spread of host-adaptability factors, facilitating host shifts in Bartonella.
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7. |
- Boussau, Bastien, et al.
(author)
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Computational inference of scenarios for alpha-proteobecterial genome evolution
- 2004
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In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. - : Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. - 0027-8424 .- 1091-6490. ; 101:26, s. 9722-9727
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The alpha-proteobacteria, from which mitochondria are thought to have originated, display a 10-fold genome size variation and provide an excellent model system for studies of genome size evolution in bacteria. Here, we use computational approaches to infer ancestral gene sets and to quantify the flux of genes along the branches of the alpha-proteobacterial species tree. Our study reveals massive gene expansions at branches diversifying plant-associated bacteria and extreme losses at branches separating intracellular bacteria of animals and humans. Alterations in gene numbers have mostly affected functional categories associated with regulation, transport, and small-molecule metabolism, many of which are encoded by paralogous gene families located on auxiliary chromosomes. The results suggest that the alpha-proteobacterial ancestor contained 3,000-5,000 genes and was a free-living, aerobic, and motile bacterium with pili and surface proteins for host cell and environmental interactions. Approximately one third of the ancestral gene set has no homologs among the eukaryotes. More than 40% of the genes without eukaryotic counterparts encode proteins that are conserved among the alpha-proteobacteria but for which no function has yet been identified. These genes that never made it into the eukaryotes but are widely distributed in bacteria may represent bacterial drug targets and should be prime candidates for future functional characterization.
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