Article
Pediatrics
Alicija Vileito, Christian V. Hulzebos, Mona C. Toet, Dyvonne H. Baptist, Eduard A. A. Verhagen, Marion J. Siebelink
Summary: Neonatal organ and tissue donation is not common in the Netherlands, partly due to low awareness of this option. A study on two NICUs in the country found that a small proportion of term-born neonates were suitable for organ donation, while a higher proportion could donate tissue. Increasing awareness about neonatal donation could help identify more potential donors.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PEDIATRICS
(2021)
Review
Parasitology
Jenna Oberstaller, Thomas D. Otto, Julian C. Rayner, John H. Adams
Summary: Genome-scale mutagenesis screens have been completed in three species of apicomplexan parasites, leading to the identification of core essential genes and potential areas for new interventions across the phylum Apicomplexa.
TRENDS IN PARASITOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Plant Sciences
Francisco Jacome-Blasquez, Minsung Kim
Summary: Several Kalanchoe species reproduce asexually by forming plantlets in the leaf crenulations. Shoot meristemless (STM) gene, which mediates shoot apical meristem (SAM) functions, is involved in Kalanchoe plantlet formation. The genetic regulatory network for establishing and maintaining plantlet primordia in Kalanchoe remains elusive.
FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Leopold Parts, Amandine Batte, Maykel Lopes, Michael W. Yuen, Meredith Laver, Bryan-Joseph San Luis, Jia-Xing Yue, Carles Pons, Elise Eray, Patrick Aloy, Gianni Liti, Jolanda van Leeuwen
Summary: The consequences of mutations depend on the genetic background in which they occur, with gene function loss being tolerated in some backgrounds but lethal in others. Genetic variation in different yeast strains can suppress fitness defects in certain genes, driven by gain-of-function of a single modifier gene. This suggests that a significant portion of monogenic diseases may be managed by modulating other gene products.
MOLECULAR SYSTEMS BIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Genetics & Heredity
Judith Habicher, Gaurav K. Varshney, Laura Waldmann, Daniel Snitting, Amin Allalou, Hanqing Zhang, Abdurrahman Ghanem, Caroline Ohman Magi, Tabea Dierker, Lena Kjellen, Shawn M. M. Burgess, Johan Ledin
Summary: The study focuses on the effects of knocking out genes involved in the biosynthesis of chondroitin/dermatan sulfate (CS/DS) proteoglycans in zebrafish. It is found that single gene knockouts have minimal impact on zebrafish morphology and viability, but combining multiple knockout genes leads to craniofacial abnormalities. These findings provide insights into the role of CS/DS in the development of the head skeleton and offer a potential model for studying human diseases related to CS/DS biosynthesis.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Jay Vornhagen, Emily K. Roberts, Lavinia Unverdorben, Sophia Mason, Alieysa Patel, Ryan Crawford, Caitlyn L. Holmes, Yuang Sun, Alexandra Teodorescu, Evan S. Snitkin, Lili Zhao, Patricia J. Simner, Pranita D. Tamma, Krishna Rao, Keith S. Kaye, Michael A. Bachman
Summary: This study identifies several genes reproducibly associated with progression to infection in patients colonized by diverse Klebsiella. Patient variables, such as comorbidities, partially explain which patients will progress to Klebsiella infection, with colonization of the gut acting as a reservoir. Little is known, however, regarding Klebsiella genes that may increase risk of disease in colonized individuals.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Mio Iwasaki, Yuka Kawahara, Chikako Okubo, Tatsuya Yamakawa, Michiko Nakamura, Tsuyoshi Tabata, Yohei Nishi, Megumi Narita, Akira Ohta, Hirohide Saito, Takuya Yamamoto, Masato Nakagawa, Shinya Yamanaka, Kazutoshi Takahashi
Summary: By combining transcriptome and proteome profiling, this study reveals the crucial role of posttranscriptionally regulated genes in the survival of iPSCs, especially those genes specifically necessary for iPSC survival.
Article
Ecology
Alana Palomino, Danya Gewurz, Lela DeVine, Ujana Zajmi, Jenifer Moralez, Fatima Abu-Rumman, Robert P. Smith, Allison J. Lopatkin
Summary: Previous studies have focused on antibiotic resistance genes in conjugative plasmids, neglecting the metabolic genes. This study found a high abundance of metabolic genes on conjugative plasmids and their associations with known antibiotic resistance genes at the strain level. In vitro characterization confirmed the phenotypic impact of these metabolic genes on antibiotic susceptibility.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Xukang Shen, Siliang Song, Chuan Li, Jianzhi Zhang
Summary: Synonymous mutations in protein-coding genes are not neutral and often result in reduced fitness and disturbed mRNA expression levels. Non-synonymous mutations have greater fitness variations across environments, which may explain the lower substitution rates compared to synonymous mutations.
Article
Biology
Franziska Gruhl, Peggy Janich, Henrik Kaessmann, David Gatfield
Summary: Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are widespread in eukaryotes and play a role in post-transcriptional gene regulation. However, studies across multiple species show that there are few orthologous circRNAs, suggesting that their emergence may have occurred independently rather than through conserved evolution. This challenges the idea of widespread functional conservation of circRNAs.
Article
Psychology, Biological
Joyce F. Benenson, Christine E. Webb, Richard W. Wrangham
Summary: Extending Campbell's (1999) Staying Alive Theory beyond aggression, this article reviews evidence that females are more self-protective than males. Many commentators have provided additional supporting data. Sex differences in life-history adaptations, the optimal relationship between survival and reproduction, and the trade-offs involved in self-protection mechanisms are important topics for further understanding.
BEHAVIORAL AND BRAIN SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Jing Zhang, Zechen Bai, Min Ouyang, Xiumei Xu, Haibo Xiong, Qiang Wang, Bernhard Grimm, Jean-David Rochaix, Lixin Zhang
Summary: Fe-S clusters are ancient and important for life processes. The biogenesis of Fe-S clusters involves iron acquisition, sulfur mobilization, and cluster formation. Two Arabidopsis DnaJ proteins, DJA6 and DJA5, play a crucial role in facilitating iron incorporation into Fe-S clusters during chloroplast Fe-S cluster biogenesis. Loss of these proteins leads to defects in chloroplast Fe-S protein accumulation and photosynthesis dysfunction. Evolutionary analysis shows that DJA6 and DJA5 are highly conserved in photosynthetic organisms and have a strong evolutionary relationship with SUFE1, SUFC, and SUFD.
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Dimitra Konsta, Jean-Louis Dufresne, Helene Chepfer, Jessica Vial, Tsuyoshi Koshiro, Hideaki Kawai, Alejandro Bodas-Salcedo, Romain Roehrig, Masahiro Watanabe, Tomoo Ogura
Summary: Several studies have shown that most climate models underestimate cloud cover and overestimate cloud reflectivity, particularly for the tropical low-level clouds. Through analyzing the characteristics of low-level tropical marine clouds simulated by six climate models, it is found that these models still exhibit a bias of too few and too bright clouds, and the reflectivity is particularly overestimated when cloud cover is low.
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2022)
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Lei Han, Tianming Lan, Yaxian Lu, Mengchao Zhou, Haimeng Li, Haorong Lu, Qing Wang, Xiuyun Li, Shan Du, Chunyu Guan, Yong Zhang, Sunil Kumar Sahu, Puyi Qian, Shaofang Zhang, Hongcheng Zhou, Wei Guo, Hongliang Chai, Sibo Wang, Quan Liu, Huan Liu, Zhijun Hou
Summary: This study reports for the first time the adaptive evolution and divergence trend of P. univalens in different hosts, revealing that metabolic adaptive evolution has occurred over the past few centuries. It is of great significance for understanding host-parasite interactions.
Article
Plant Sciences
Xiaoyu Liu, Mengjuan Tong, Aiwei Zhang, Mei Liu, Bingchun Zhao, Zhaojiao Liu, Zhouyue Li, Xu Zhu, Yi Guo, Rui Li
Summary: This study investigated the function of SEC31A and compared it with SEC31B in Arabidopsis, revealing differences in co-localization rates in pollen and pollen tubes. SEC31A and SEC31B play complementary roles in pollen development, with an essential role in gametogenesis highlighted by the study.