| 1. |
- Beal, Jacob, et al.
(author)
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Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density
- 2020
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In: Communications Biology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2399-3642. ; 3:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data.
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| 2. |
- 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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| 3. |
- Marouli, Eirini, et al.
(author)
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Rare and low-frequency coding variants alter human adult height
- 2017
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In: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 542:7640, s. 186-190
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Height is a highly heritable, classic polygenic trait with approximately 700 common associated variants identified through genome-wide association studies so far. Here, we report 83 height-associated coding variants with lower minor-allele frequencies (in the range of 0.1-4.8%) and effects of up to 2 centimetres per allele (such as those in IHH, STC2, AR and CRISPLD2), greater than ten times the average effect of common variants. In functional follow-up studies, rare height increasing alleles of STC2 (giving an increase of 1-2 centimetres per allele) compromised proteolytic inhibition of PAPP-A and increased cleavage of IGFBP-4 in vitro, resulting in higher bioavailability of insulin-like growth factors. These 83 height-associated variants overlap genes that are mutated in monogenic growth disorders and highlight new biological candidates (such as ADAMTS3, IL11RA and NOX4) and pathways (such as proteoglycan and glycosaminoglycan synthesis) involved in growth. Our results demonstrate that sufficiently large sample sizes can uncover rare and low-frequency variants of moderate-to-large effect associated with polygenic human phenotypes, and that these variants implicate relevant genes and pathways.
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| 4. |
- Turcot, Valerie, et al.
(author)
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Protein-altering variants associated with body mass index implicate pathways that control energy intake and expenditure in obesity
- 2018
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In: Nature Genetics. - : Nature Publishing Group. - 1061-4036 .- 1546-1718. ; 50:1, s. 26-41
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified >250 loci for body mass index (BMI), implicating pathways related to neuronal biology. Most GWAS loci represent clusters of common, noncoding variants from which pinpointing causal genes remains challenging. Here we combined data from 718,734 individuals to discover rare and low-frequency (minor allele frequency (MAF) < 5%) coding variants associated with BMI. We identified 14 coding variants in 13 genes, of which 8 variants were in genes (ZBTB7B, ACHE, RAPGEF3, RAB21, ZFHX3, ENTPD6, ZFR2 and ZNF169) newly implicated in human obesity, 2 variants were in genes (MC4R and KSR2) previously observed to be mutated in extreme obesity and 2 variants were in GIPR. The effect sizes of rare variants are similar to 10 times larger than those of common variants, with the largest effect observed in carriers of an MC4R mutation introducing a stop codon (p.Tyr35Ter, MAF = 0.01%), who weighed similar to 7 kg more than non-carriers. Pathway analyses based on the variants associated with BMI confirm enrichment of neuronal genes and provide new evidence for adipocyte and energy expenditure biology, widening the potential of genetically supported therapeutic targets in obesity.
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| 5. |
- Wheeler, Eleanor, et al.
(author)
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Impact of common genetic determinants of Hemoglobin A1c on type 2 diabetes risk and diagnosis in ancestrally diverse populations : A transethnic genome-wide meta-analysis
- 2017
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In: PLoS Medicine. - : PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE. - 1549-1277 .- 1549-1676. ; 14:9
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) is used to diagnose type 2 diabetes (T2D) and assess glycemic control in patients with diabetes. Previous genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified 18 HbA1c-associated genetic variants. These variants proved to be classifiable by their likely biological action as erythrocytic (also associated with erythrocyte traits) or glycemic (associated with other glucose-related traits). In this study, we tested the hypotheses that, in a very large scale GWAS, we would identify more genetic variants associated with HbA1c and that HbA1c variants implicated in erythrocytic biology would affect the diagnostic accuracy of HbA1c. We therefore expanded the number of HbA1c-associated loci and tested the effect of genetic risk-scores comprised of erythrocytic or glycemic variants on incident diabetes prediction and on prevalent diabetes screening performance. Throughout this multiancestry study, we kept a focus on interancestry differences in HbA1c genetics performance that might influence race-ancestry differences in health outcomes.Methods & findings: Using genome-wide association meta-analyses in up to 159,940 individuals from 82 cohorts of European, African, East Asian, and South Asian ancestry, we identified 60 common genetic variants associated with HbA1c. We classified variants as implicated in glycemic, erythrocytic, or unclassified biology and tested whether additive genetic scores of erythrocytic variants (GS-E) or glycemic variants (GS-G) were associated with higher T2D incidence in multiethnic longitudinal cohorts (N = 33,241). Nineteen glycemic and 22 erythrocytic variants were associated with HbA1c at genome-wide significance. GS-G was associated with higher T2D risk (incidence OR = 1.05, 95% CI 1.04-1.06, per HbA1c-raising allele, p = 3 x 10-29); whereas GS-E was not (OR = 1.00, 95% CI 0.99-1.01, p = 0.60). In Europeans and Asians, erythrocytic variants in aggregate had only modest effects on the diagnostic accuracy of HbA1c. Yet, in African Americans, the X-linked G6PD G202A variant (T-allele frequency 11%) was associated with an absolute decrease in HbA1c of 0.81%-units (95% CI 0.66-0.96) per allele in hemizygous men, and 0.68%-units (95% CI 0.38-0.97) in homozygous women. The G6PD variant may cause approximately 2% (N = 0.65 million, 95% CI0.55-0.74) of African American adults with T2Dto remain undiagnosed when screened with HbA1c. Limitations include the smaller sample sizes for non-European ancestries and the inability to classify approximately one-third of the variants. Further studies in large multiethnic cohorts with HbA1c, glycemic, and erythrocytic traits are required to better determine the biological action of the unclassified variants.Conclusions: As G6PD deficiency can be clinically silent until illness strikes, we recommend investigation of the possible benefits of screening for the G6PD genotype along with using HbA1c to diagnose T2D in populations of African ancestry or groups where G6PD deficiency is common. Screening with direct glucose measurements, or genetically-informed HbA1c diagnostic thresholds in people with G6PD deficiency, may be required to avoid missed or delayed diagnoses.
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| 6. |
- Cheng, Peirui, et al.
(author)
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Highly Efficient Ruddlesden–Popper Halide Perovskite PA2MA4Pb5I16 Solar Cells
- 2018
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In: ACS Energy Letters. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 2380-8195. ; 3:8, s. 1975-1982
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Two-dimensional (2D) Ruddlesden-Popper (RP) organic-inorganic perovskites have emerged as promising candidates for solar cells with technologically relevant stability. Herein, a new RP perovskite, the fifth member («n» = 5) of the (CH3(CH2)2NH3)2(CH3NH3)n-1PbnI3n+1 family (abbreviated as PA2MA4Pb5I16), was synthesized and systematically investigated in terms of photovoltaic application. The obtained pure PA2MA4Pb5I16 crystal exhibits a direct band gap of Eg = 1.85 eV. Systematic analysis on the solid film highlights the key role of the precursor-solvent interaction in the quantum well orientation, phase purity, grain size, surface quality, and optoelectronic properties, which can be well-tuned with addition of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) into the N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) precursor solution. These findings present opportunities for designing a high-quality RP film with well-controlled quantum well orientation, micrometer-sized grains, and optoelectronic properties. As a result, we achieved power conversion efficiency (PCE) up to 10.41%.
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| 7. |
- Justice, Anne E., et al.
(author)
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Protein-coding variants implicate novel genes related to lipid homeostasis contributing to body-fat distribution
- 2019
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In: Nature Genetics. - : Nature Publishing Group. - 1061-4036 .- 1546-1718. ; 51:3, s. 452-469
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Body-fat distribution is a risk factor for adverse cardiovascular health consequences. We analyzed the association of body-fat distribution, assessed by waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for body mass index, with 228,985 predicted coding and splice site variants available on exome arrays in up to 344,369 individuals from five major ancestries (discovery) and 132,177 European-ancestry individuals (validation). We identified 15 common (minor allele frequency, MAF >= 5%) and nine low-frequency or rare (MAF < 5%) coding novel variants. Pathway/gene set enrichment analyses identified lipid particle, adiponectin, abnormal white adipose tissue physiology and bone development and morphology as important contributors to fat distribution, while cross-trait associations highlight cardiometabolic traits. In functional follow-up analyses, specifically in Drosophila RNAi-knockdowns, we observed a significant increase in the total body triglyceride levels for two genes (DNAH10 and PLXND1). We implicate novel genes in fat distribution, stressing the importance of interrogating low-frequency and protein-coding variants.
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| 8. |
- Hu, Kaibo, et al.
(author)
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Highly selective recovery of rare earth elements from mine wastewater by modifying kaolin with phosphoric acid
- 2023
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In: Separation and Purification Technology. - : Elsevier. - 1383-5866 .- 1873-3794. ; 309
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Recovery of rare earth elements (REEs) from mine wastewater is essential for maintaining rare earth reserves and sustainable application of REEs. In the present study, we prepared a phosphoric acid modified kaolin (P-K) adsorbent by a simple mechanochemical process for the selective recovery of REEs from rare earth wastewater. The impacts of phosphoric acid dosage, milling duration, initial pH, temperature, initial ion concentration, and adsorbent dosage on the selective adsorption of REEs were investigated. The findings demonstrate that the adsorption of REEs by P-K follows pseudo-second-order kinetic model and the Langmuir isotherm model, and is dominated by chemical adsorption, with a maximum adsorption capacity of 19.82 mg/g at 50 ℃. Additionally, in an original mine wastewater, the recovery rate of REEs can reach more than 90%, whereas the adsorption rates of calcium, magnesium and, ammonia nitrogen (whose concentration is 18 times that of REEs) are nearly zero, indicating that P-K has extremely high selectivity for REEs. Furthermore, the feedstock solution containing 40 mg/L of REEs may be concentrated to 3510 mg/L following enrichment treatment, and 99.9% of the REEs are eluted using a low concentration of hydrochloric acid. The findings illustrate that P-K has a wide range of potential applications in the treatment of rare earth industrial effluents.
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| 9. |
- Li, Yucheng, et al.
(author)
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Facile synthesis of a high-efficiency NiFe bimetallic catalyst without pre-reduction for the selective hydrogenation reaction of furfural
- 2022
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In: Catalysis Science & Technology. - : Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). - 2044-4753 .- 2044-4761. ; 13:2, s. 457-467
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- A high-efficiency nickel-iron bimetallic catalyst (Ni3Fe1 alloy) was synthesized by a facile solvothermal reaction and directly used in furfural hydrogenation without pre-reduction. When the total metal acetate was 6 mmol (Ni : Fe = 4 : 2) with 2 mmol sodium acetate under reaction conditions of 1 MPa H2 pressure at 130 °C for 1 h, the conversion for furfural and selectivity for furfuryl alcohol were both more than 98%. XRD, BET, H2-TPD, SEM, HRTEM, EDS, ICP-MS and ex/in situ XPS were used to characterize the catalysts. Compared to the monometallic Ni catalyst, the introduction of Fe not only enhanced the hydrogen adsorption capacity of Ni but also forms NiFe2O4 on the surface of the catalyst to protect the internal crystals from further oxidation and maintain hydrogenation ability. Moreover, the introduction of Na increased the purity of the Ni3Fe1 crystal of the catalyst and reinforced the interaction between Ni and Fe, resulting in an improvement in hydrogenation performance. Based on density functional theory (DFT) calculations, the reaction mechanism was systematically investigated. The results of five recycling tests show excellent catalyst stability. The environmentally friendly synthetic process, high stability, catalytic efficiency and the ability to function without a pre-reduction step make the nickel-iron bimetallic catalyst an ideal, commercial candidate for the furfural hydrogenation reaction.
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| 10. |
- Liu, Jinghuang, et al.
(author)
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Effect of iodine doping on photoelectric properties of perovskite-based MOS devices
- 2020
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In: Materials letters (General ed.). - : ELSEVIER. - 0167-577X .- 1873-4979. ; 261
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In this article, the PVK based metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) capacitor structures were fabricated and the photoelectric performance of the capacitor was carried out to study the intrinsic electrical characteristic of PVK with iodine doped. The electrical hysteresis of the capacitor after iodine doping becomes larger in the dark state, which indicates that the hysteresis behavior of the PVK is caused by the mobile iodine ions. The photocurrent of iodine-doped PVK is significantly greater than that of undoped PVK under illumination, which suggests that the capacitor has better response to light and the photodetectors efficiency also increase after iodine doping. Our results provide a theoretical basis for the potential application of memory devices such as memristors under dark. Meanwhile, it provides a method to improve photodetector performance by adding an appropriate amount of iodine to the PVK precursor solution. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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