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- Inatomi, Teppei, et al.
(author)
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TFB2M and POLRMT are essential for mammalian mitochondrial DNA replication
- 2022
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In: Biochimica et Biophysica Acta. Molecular Cell Research. - : Elsevier. - 0167-4889 .- 1879-2596. ; 1869:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Two classes of replication intermediates have been observed from mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) in many mammalian tissue and cells with two-dimensional agarose gel electrophoresis. One is assigned to leading-strand synthesis in the absence of synchronous lagging-strand synthesis (strand-asynchronous replication), and the other has properties of coupled leading- and lagging-strand synthesis (strand-coupled replication). While strand-asynchronous replication is primed by long noncoding RNA synthesized from a defined transcription initiation site, little is known about the commencement of strand-coupled replication. To investigate it, we attempted to abolish strand-asynchronous replication in cultured human cybrid cells by knocking out the components of the transcription initiation complexes, mitochondrial transcription factor B2 (TFB2M/mtTFB2) and mitochondrial RNA polymerase (POLRMT/mtRNAP). Unexpectedly, removal of either protein resulted in complete mtDNA loss, demonstrating for the first time that TFB2M and POLRMT are indispensable for the maintenance of human mtDNA. Moreover, a lack of TFB2M could not be compensated for by mitochondrial transcription factor B1 (TFB1M/mtTFB1). These findings indicate that TFB2M and POLRMT are crucial for the priming of not only strand-asynchronous but also strand-coupled replication, providing deeper insights into the molecular basis of mtDNA replication initiation.
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2. |
- 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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3. |
- Larigauderie, Anne, et al.
(author)
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Biodiversity and ecosystem services science for a sustainable planet : the DIVERSITAS vision for 2012-20
- 2012
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In: Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability. - : Elsevier BV. - 1877-3435 .- 1877-3443. ; 4:1, s. 101-105
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- DIVERSITAS, the international programme on biodiversity science, is releasing a strategic vision presenting scientific challenges for the next decade of research on biodiversity and ecosystem services: Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Science for a Sustainable Planet. This new vision is a response of the biodiversity and ecosystem services scientific community to the accelerating loss of the components of biodiversity, as well as to changes in the biodiversity science-policy landscape (establishment of a Biodiversity Observing Network - GEO BON, of an Intergovernmental science-policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services - IPBES, of the new Future Earth initiative; and release of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020). This article presents the vision and its core scientific challenges.
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4. |
- Murakami, Go, et al.
(author)
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Mio - First Comprehensive Exploration of Mercury's Space Environment : Mission Overview
- 2020
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In: Space Science Reviews. - : Springer Nature. - 0038-6308 .- 1572-9672. ; 216:7
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Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Mercury has a unique and complex space environment with its weak global magnetic field, intense solar wind, tenuous exosphere, and magnetospheric plasma particles. This complex system makes Mercury an excellent science target to understand effects of the solar wind to planetary environments. In addition, investigating Mercury's dynamic magnetosphere also plays a key role to understand extreme exoplanetary environment and its habitability conditions against strong stellar winds. BepiColombo, a joint mission to Mercury by the European Space Agency and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, will address remaining open questions using two spacecraft, Mio and the Mercury Planetary Orbiter. Mio is a spin-stabilized spacecraft designed to investigate Mercury's space environment, with a powerful suite of plasma instruments, a spectral imager for the exosphere, and a dust monitor. Because of strong constraints on operations during its orbiting phase around Mercury, sophisticated observation and downlink plans are required in order to maximize science outputs. This paper gives an overview of the Mio spacecraft and its mission, operations plan, and data handling and archiving.
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