| 1. |
- Liu, Bo, et al.
(author)
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Zircon U-Pb-Hf Isotopes and Whole-Rock Geochemistry of the “Kulumudi Formation” from the Laofengkou Area (West Junggar) : Implications of the Construction of a Juvenile Arc in the Junggar–Balkhash Ocean
- 2024
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In: Minerals. - 2075-163X. ; 14:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The properties of ancient magmatic arcs are crucial for understanding the tectonic evolution of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt. The Middle Devonian Kulumudi Formation in the Laofengkou area of West Junggar lacks accurate chronological data constraints, which hampers the knowledge of the nature of the Late Paleozoic magmatic arcs in the West Junggar and circum-Balkhash areas. In this contribution, samples of pyroclastic rocks and sedimentary rocks were collected from the volcano–sedimentary strata of the Kulumudi Formation. Petrography, zircon U-Pb-Hf isotopic analysis and whole-rock geochemistry were carried out to constrain the age and the tectonic setting of the Kulumudi Formation. The zircon U-Pb age of the lithic crystal tuff from the Kulumudi Formation on the northeast side of the Alemale Mountains was 386 ± 2 Ma, accurately indicating that this rock unit formed during the Middle Devonian. However, the fine sandstone near the Huojierte Mongolian Township, originally assigned as the “Kulumudi Formation”, yielded a maximum depositional age of 341 ± 3 Ma. Combined with the stratigraphic contact, this rock unit was redefined to belong to the Lower Carboniferous Jiangbasitao Formation. According to the whole-rock geochemistry study, the lithic crystal tuff of the Kulumudi Formation was characterized as medium potassium–calc–alkaline series rock, which is relatively enriched in light rare earth elements and large ion lithophile elements (i.e., Rb, Ba, K) and depleted in high-field-strength elements (i.e., Nb, Ta, Ti), showing similar geochemical characteristics to the volcanic arc rocks. By contrast, the fine sandstone from the Jiangbasitao Formation had Al2O3/SiO2 (0.25–0.29) and K2O/Na2O (1.29–1.72) ratios close to those derived from the continental arc and active continental margin and was characterized as part of the continental arc field in the La-Th-Sc and Th-Sc-Zr/10 tectonic discrimination diagrams. Zircon Hf isotope analysis showed that the εHf(t) values of the Kulumudi Formation were +5.6–+12.8, and those of the Jiangbasitao Formation were +11.43–+15.48, both of which show highly positive juvenile characteristics. The above data indicate that the Kulumudi Formation and Jiangbasitao Formation both formed in a juvenile arc setting with ocean–continent subduction. Combined with the previous work, it was concluded that the southward subduction of the ocean basin represented by the Darbut–Karamay ophiolitic mélanges beneath the newly accreted arc crustal segments produced a juvenile arc with positive Hf isotope characteristics.
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| 2. |
- Gong, Pi Xian, et al.
(author)
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Comprehensive analysis of different types of ginsenosides in the different parts of American ginseng by targeted and nontargeted MS/MS scanning
- 2023
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In: Journal of Food Science. - : Wiley. - 0022-1147 .- 1750-3841. ; 88:12, s. 5063-5077
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Abstract: To comprehensively study the ginsenosides distribution in the various tissues of American ginseng, the qualitative and quantitative-targeted and nontargeted mass spectroscopic methods were established using the high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with Qtrap triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (HPLC-QtrapQQQ-MS). The total ginsenosides of the root, stem, and leaf of American ginseng were determined by a colorimetric method, and the contents showed the order from high to low root, stem, and leaf. Eighty-two kinds of ginsenosides were detected in the different parts of American ginseng by enhanced mass scan–information-dependent data acquisition (IDA)–enhanced product ion (EPI) scan mode, including 69 from the root, 62 from the stem, and 48 from the leaf. An HPLC–multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) method was established, and 28 representative ginsenosides were further quantified in the three parts. Nearly all ginsenosides had the highest contents in the root and the lowest content in the leaf. Three types of ginsenosides (protopanaxadiol [PPD]-, protopanaxatiol [PPT]-, and oleanolic acid [OA]-types) were analyzed by precursor ion-IDA-EPI and MRM-IDA-EPI scan modes. Root had the most abundant ginsenosides in PPD- and PPT-type ginsenosides. Meanwhile, the OA-type ginsenosides are significantly enriched in the stem and leaf of American ginseng. The results provided a supplement to the quality assessment of American ginseng. Practical Application: The distribution profile of ginsenosides in the parts of American ginseng is different. Except for the root, the stem, and leaf of American ginseng have the most abundant ginsenosides in oleanolic acid type. The results reported herein can help the manufacturers choose appropriate materials to extract the ginsenosides.
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| 3. |
- Li, Wanxin, et al.
(author)
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Exploring the Complex Relationship between Gut Microbiota and Risk of Colorectal Neoplasia Using Bidirectional Mendelian Randomization Analysis
- 2023
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In: Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention. - : American Association For Cancer Research (AACR). - 1055-9965 .- 1538-7755. ; 32:6, s. 809-817
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Human gut microbiome has complex relation-ships with the host, contributing to metabolism, immunity, and carcinogenesis.Methods: Summary-level data for gut microbiota and metabo-lites were obtained from MiBioGen, FINRISK and human meta-bolome consortia. Summary-level data for colorectal cancer were derived from a genome-wide association study meta-analysis. In forward Mendelian randomization (MR), we employed genetic instrumental variables (IV) for 24 gut microbiota taxa and six bacterial metabolites to examine their causal relationship with colorectal cancer. We also used a lenient threshold for nine apriori gut microbiota taxa as secondary analyses. In reverse MR, we explored association between genetic liability to colorectal neoplasia and abundance of microbiota studied above using 95, 19, and 7 IVs for colorectal cancer, adenoma, and polyps, respectively.Results: Forward MR did not find evidence indicating causal relationship between any of the gut microbiota taxa or six bacterial metabolites tested and colorectal cancer risk. However, reverse MR supported genetic liability to colorectal adenomas was causally related with increased abundance of two taxa: Gammaproteobacteria (b = 0.027, which represents a 0.027 increase in log-transformed relative abundance values of Gam-maproteobacteria for per one-unit increase in log OR of adenoma risk; P = 7.06x10-8), Enterobacteriaceae (b = 0.023, P = 1.29x10-5).Conclusions: We find genetic liability to colorectal neoplasia may be associated with abundance of certain microbiota taxa. It is more likely that subset of colorectal cancer genetic liability variants changes gut biology by influencing both gut microbiota and colo-rectal cancer risk.Impact: This study highlights the need of future complemen-tary studies to explore causal mechanisms linking both host genetic variation with gut microbiome and colorectal cancer susceptibility.
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| 4. |
- Tian, Xue-Chan, et al.
(author)
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Unique gene duplications and conserved microsynteny potentially associated with resistance to wood decay in the Lauraceae
- 2023
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In: Frontiers in Plant Science. - : Frontiers Media S.A.. - 1664-462X. ; 14
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Wood decay resistance (WDR) is marking the value of wood utilization. Many trees of the Lauraceae have exceptional WDR, as evidenced by their use in ancient royal palace buildings in China. However, the genetics of WDR remain elusive. Here, through comparative genomics, we revealed the unique characteristics related to the high WDR in Lauraceae trees. We present a 1.27-Gb chromosome-level assembly for Lindera megaphylla (Lauraceae). Comparative genomics integrating major groups of angiosperm revealed Lauraceae species have extensively shared gene microsynteny associated with the biosynthesis of specialized metabolites such as isoquinoline alkaloids, flavonoid, lignins and terpenoid, which play significant roles in WDR. In Lauraceae genomes, tandem and proximal duplications (TD/PD) significantly expanded the coding space of key enzymes of biosynthesis pathways related to WDR, which may enhance the decay resistance of wood by increasing the accumulation of these compounds. Among Lauraceae species, genes of WDR-related biosynthesis pathways showed remarkable expansion by TD/PD and conveyed unique and conserved motifs in their promoter and protein sequences, suggesting conserved gene collinearity, gene expansion and gene regulation supporting the high WDR. Our study thus reveals genomic profiles related to biochemical transitions among major plant groups and the genomic basis of WDR in the Lauraceae.
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| 5. |
- He, Wei, et al.
(author)
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China's Terrestrial Carbon Sink Over 2010–2015 Constrained by Satellite Observations of Atmospheric CO2 and Land Surface Variables
- 2022
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In: Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences. - 2169-8953. ; 127:2
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The magnitude and distribution of China's terrestrial carbon sink remain uncertain due to insufficient constraints at large scales, whereby satellite data offer great potential for reducing the uncertainty. Here, we present two carbon sink estimates for China constrained either by satellite CO2 column concentrations (XCO2) within the Global Carbon Assimilation System or by remotely sensed soil moisture and Fraction of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (FAPAR) in addition to in situ CO2 observations within the Carbon Cycle Data Assimilation System. They point to a moderate size of carbon sinks of 0.34 ± 0.14 (mean ± unc.) and 0.43 ± 0.09 PgC/yr during 2010–2015, which are supported by an inventory-based estimate for forest and soil carbon sink (0.26 PgC/yr) and fall in the range of contemporary ensemble atmospheric inversions (0.25–0.48 PgC/yr). They also agree reasonably well on interannual variations, which reflect the carbon sink anomalies induced by regional droughts in southwest China. Furthermore, their spatial distributions are broadly consistent that of the forest inventory-based estimate, indicating that the largest carbon sinks locate in central and eastern China. Their estimates for forest carbon sink coincide fairly well with the inventory-based estimate across different regions, especially when aggregated to the north and south of China. Although enhanced recently by afforestation, China's carbon sink was also significantly weakened by regional droughts, which were often not fully represented in previous in situ CO2-based inversions due to insufficient observations. Our results suggest that satellite-based atmospheric CO2 and land surface observations are vital in characterizing terrestrial net carbon fluxes at regional scales.
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| 6. |
- Kanoni, Stavroula, et al.
(author)
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Implicating genes, pleiotropy, and sexual dimorphism at blood lipid loci through multi-ancestry meta-analysis.
- 2022
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In: Genome biology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1474-760X .- 1465-6906 .- 1474-7596. ; 23:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Genetic variants within nearly 1000 loci are known to contribute to modulation of blood lipid levels. However, the biological pathways underlying these associations are frequently unknown, limiting understanding of these findings and hindering downstream translational efforts such as drug target discovery.To expand our understanding of the underlying biological pathways and mechanisms controlling blood lipid levels, we leverage a large multi-ancestry meta-analysis (N=1,654,960) of blood lipids to prioritize putative causal genes for 2286 lipid associations using six gene prediction approaches. Using phenome-wide association (PheWAS) scans, we identify relationships of genetically predicted lipid levels to other diseases and conditions. We confirm known pleiotropic associations with cardiovascular phenotypes and determine novel associations, notably with cholelithiasis risk. We perform sex-stratified GWAS meta-analysis of lipid levels and show that 3-5% of autosomal lipid-associated loci demonstrate sex-biased effects. Finally, we report 21 novel lipid loci identified on the X chromosome. Many of the sex-biased autosomal and X chromosome lipid loci show pleiotropic associations with sex hormones, emphasizing the role of hormone regulation in lipid metabolism.Taken together, our findings provide insights into the biological mechanisms through which associated variants lead to altered lipid levels and potentially cardiovascular disease risk.
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| 7. |
- Yuan, Shuai, et al.
(author)
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Health effects of high serum calcium levels : Updated phenome-wide Mendelian randomisation investigation and review of Mendelian randomisation studies
- 2022
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In: EBioMedicine. - : Elsevier. - 2352-3964. ; 76
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Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- BackgroundCalcium plays a role in a wide range of biological functions. Here we conducted a phenome-wide Mendelian randomisation (MR-PheWAS) analysis and a systematic review for MR studies to comprehensively investigate the health effects of serum calcium.MethodsOne-hundred and thirty genetic variants strongly associated with serum calcium levels were used as instrumental variables. A phenome-wide association analysis (PheWAS) was conducted to examine the associations of genetically predicted serum calcium with 1473 distinct phenotypes in the UK Biobank including 339,197 individuals. Observed associations in PheWAS were further tested for replication in two-sample MR replication analysis. A systematic review for MR studies on serum calcium was performed to synthesize the published evidence and compare with the current MR-PheWAS findings.FindingsHigher genetically predicted calcium levels were associated with decreased risk of 5 diseases in dermatologic and musculoskeletal systems and increased risk of 17 diseases in circulatory, digestive, endocrine, genitourinary and immune systems. Eight associations were replicated in two-sample MR analysis. These included decreased risk of osteoarthritis and increased risk of coronary artery disease, myocardial infarction, coronary atherosclerosis, hyperparathyroidism, disorder of parathyroid gland, gout, and calculus of kidney and ureter with increased serum calcium. Systematic review of 25 MR studies provided supporting evidence on five out of the eight disease outcomes, while the increased risk of gout, hyperparathyroidism and disorder of parathyroid gland were novel findings.InterpretationThis study found wide-ranged health effects of high serum calcium, which suggests that the benefits and adversities of strategies promoting calcium intake should be assessed
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| 8. |
- Zhou, Weibin, et al.
(author)
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Targeting VEGF-A/VEGFR2 Y949 Signaling-Mediated Vascular Permeability Alleviates Hypoxic Pulmonary Hypertension
- 2022
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In: Circulation. - : Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. - 0009-7322 .- 1524-4539. ; 146:24, s. 1855-1881
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background:Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is associated with increased expression of VEGF-A (vascular endothelial growth factor A) and its receptor, VEGFR2 (vascular endothelial growth factor 2), but whether and how activation of VEGF-A signal participates in the pathogenesis of PH is unclear. Methods:VEGF-A/VEGFR2 signal activation and VEGFR2 Y949-dependent vascular leak were investigated in lung samples from patients with PH and mice exposed to hypoxia. To study their mechanistic roles in hypoxic PH, we examined right ventricle systolic pressure, right ventricular hypertrophy, and pulmonary vasculopathy in mutant mice carrying knock-in of phenylalanine that replaced the tyrosine at residual 949 of VEGFR2 (Vefgr2(Y949F)) and mice with conditional endothelial deletion of Vegfr2 after chronic hypoxia exposure. Results:We show that PH leads to excessive pulmonary vascular leak in both patients and hypoxic mice, and this is because of an overactivated VEGF-A/VEGFR2 Y949 signaling axis. In the context of hypoxic PH, activation of Yes1 and c-Src and subsequent VE-cadherin phosphorylation in endothelial cells are involved in VEGFR2 Y949-induced vascular permeability. Abolishing VEGFR2 Y949 signaling by Vefgr2(Y949F) point mutation was sufficient to prevent pulmonary vascular permeability and inhibit macrophage infiltration and Rac1 activation in smooth muscle cells under hypoxia exposure, thereby leading to alleviated PH manifestations, including muscularization of distal pulmonary arterioles, elevated right ventricle systolic pressure, and right ventricular hypertrophy. It is important that we found that VEGFR2 Y949 signaling in myeloid cells including macrophages was trivial and dispensable for hypoxia-induced vascular abnormalities and PH. In contrast with selective blockage of VEGFR2 Y949 signaling, disruption of the entire VEGFR2 signaling by conditional endothelial deletion of Vegfr2 promotes the development of PH. Conclusions:Our results support the notion that VEGF-A/VEGFR2 Y949-dependent vascular permeability is an important determinant in the pathogenesis of PH and might serve as an attractive therapeutic target pathway for this disease.
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| 9. |
- Sung, Yun Ju, et al.
(author)
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A multi-ancestry genome-wide study incorporating gene-smoking interactions identifies multiple new loci for pulse pressure and mean arterial pressure
- 2019
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In: Human Molecular Genetics. - : Oxford University Press. - 0964-6906 .- 1460-2083. ; 28:15, s. 2615-2633
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Elevated blood pressure (BP), a leading cause of global morbidity and mortality, is influenced by both genetic and lifestyle factors. Cigarette smoking is one such lifestyle factor. Across five ancestries, we performed a genome-wide gene–smoking interaction study of mean arterial pressure (MAP) and pulse pressure (PP) in 129 913 individuals in stage 1 and follow-up analysis in 480 178 additional individuals in stage 2. We report here 136 loci significantly associated with MAP and/or PP. Of these, 61 were previously published through main-effect analysis of BP traits, 37 were recently reported by us for systolic BP and/or diastolic BP through gene–smoking interaction analysis and 38 were newly identified (P < 5 × 10−8, false discovery rate < 0.05). We also identified nine new signals near known loci. Of the 136 loci, 8 showed significant interaction with smoking status. They include CSMD1 previously reported for insulin resistance and BP in the spontaneously hypertensive rats. Many of the 38 new loci show biologic plausibility for a role in BP regulation. SLC26A7 encodes a chloride/bicarbonate exchanger expressed in the renal outer medullary collecting duct. AVPR1A is widely expressed, including in vascular smooth muscle cells, kidney, myocardium and brain. FHAD1 is a long non-coding RNA overexpressed in heart failure. TMEM51 was associated with contractile function in cardiomyocytes. CASP9 plays a central role in cardiomyocyte apoptosis. Identified only in African ancestry were 30 novel loci. Our findings highlight the value of multi-ancestry investigations, particularly in studies of interaction with lifestyle factors, where genomic and lifestyle differences may contribute to novel findings.
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| 10. |
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