The marine microalgae
(CCMP1779) is a prolific producer of oil and is considered a viable and sustainable resource for biofuel feedstocks. Nitrogen (N) availability has a strong impact on the ...physiological status and metabolism of microalgal cells, but the exact nature of this response is poorly understood. To fill this gap we performed transcriptomic profiling combined with cellular and molecular analyses of
CCMP1779 during the transition from quiescence to autotrophy. N deprivation-induced quiescence was accompanied by a strong reorganization of the photosynthetic apparatus and changes in the lipid homeostasis, leading to accumulation of triacylglycerol. Cell cycle activation and re-establishment of photosynthetic activity observed in response to resupply of the growth medium with N were accompanied by a rapid degradation of triacylglycerol stored in lipid droplets (LDs). Besides observing LD translocation into vacuoles, we also provide evidence for direct interaction between the LD surface protein (
LDSP) and AUTOPHAGY-RELATED8 (
ATG8) protein and show a role of microlipophagy in LD turnover in
CCMP1779. This knowledge is crucial not only for understanding the fundamental mechanisms controlling the cellular energy homeostasis in microalgal cells but also for development of efficient strategies to achieve higher algal biomass and better microalgal lipid productivity.
Rapid nanoscale imaging of the bulk heterojunction layer in organic solar cells is essential to the continued development of high-performance devices. Unfortunately, commonly used imaging techniques ...such as tunneling electron microscopy (TEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) suffer from significant drawbacks. For instance, assuming domain identity from phase contrast or topographical features can lead to inaccurate morphological conclusions. Here we demonstrate a technique known as photo-induced force microscopy (PiFM) for imaging organic solar cell bulk heterojunctions with nanoscale chemical specificity. PiFM is a relatively recent scanning probe microscopy technique that combines an AFM tip with a tunable infrared laser to induce a dipole for chemical imaging. Coupling the nanometer resolution of AFM with the chemical specificity of a tuned IR laser, we are able to spatially map the donor and acceptor domains in a model all-polymer bulk heterojunction with resolution approaching 10 nm. Domain size from PiFM images is compared to bulk-averaged results from resonant soft X-ray scattering, indicating excellent quantitative agreement. Further, we demonstrate that in our all-polymer system, the AFM topography, AFM phase, and PiFM show poor correlation, highlighting the need to move beyond standard AFM for morphology characterization of bulk heterojunctions.
•Fish oil products from a large database largely meet regulatory oxidation limits.•Fish oil products have oxidation results comparable to other dietary oils.•Some flavourings can interfere with the ...p-anisidine value method in oils.
Fish oil (FO) products constitute good sources of omega-3 fats. Oxidation data from a large third-party database of 1900 + globally-sourced FO samples were assessed. In FO products, for peroxide value (PV), 13.9% exceeded 5 mEq O2/kg (2.2% >10); for acid value (AcV) 2.1% exceeded 3 mg KOH/g, while for p-anisidine value (pAV) in unflavoured oils, 6.1% exceeded 20, (3.8% >30), and 8.8% exceeded TOTOX limits (26). Additionally, we compared FO with other dietary oils. The FO median PV was similar to those of algal and sunflower oils, 4.8-fold greater than krill oil, and 5.2-fold less than extra-virgin olive oil. The median pAV differed non-significantly among oils. The FO median AcV was similar to those of algal and extra-virgin olive oils, 3.4-fold greater than sunflower oil, and 11.9-fold less than krill oil. This study has provided new insight that retail FO products predominantly meet regulatory guidelines and are comparable in oxidative status to other dietary oils.
The hepatokine follistatin is elevated in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) and promotes hyperglycemia in mice. Here we explore the relationship of plasma follistatin levels with incident T2D and ...mechanisms involved. Adjusted hazard ratio (HR) per standard deviation (SD) increase in follistatin levels for T2D is 1.24 (CI: 1.04-1.47, p < 0.05) during 19-year follow-up (n = 4060, Sweden); and 1.31 (CI: 1.09-1.58, p < 0.01) during 4-year follow-up (n = 883, Finland). High circulating follistatin associates with adipose tissue insulin resistance and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (n = 210, Germany). In human adipocytes, follistatin dose-dependently increases free fatty acid release. In genome-wide association study (GWAS), variation in the glucokinase regulatory protein gene (GCKR) associates with plasma follistatin levels (n = 4239, Sweden; n = 885, UK, Italy and Sweden) and GCKR regulates follistatin secretion in hepatocytes in vitro. Our findings suggest that GCKR regulates follistatin secretion and that elevated circulating follistatin associates with an increased risk of T2D by inducing adipose tissue insulin resistance.
Herein, we report an all-polymer solar cell with a PCE of over 5% fabricated with non-halogenated solvent. Our method of polymer side-chain engineering using polystyrene enhanced the solubility of ...polymers in toluene. The phase separation size of the polymer–polymer blend was controlled by tuning the additive concentration. Three different additives were employed and studied. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest performing all-polymer solar cell fabricated with both non-halogenated solvent and non-halogenated additive, which highlights its potential toward environmentally friendly manufacturing of all-polymer organic solar cells.
Phenotypic plasticity allows organisms to respond to changing environments throughout their lifetime, but these changes are rarely reversible. Exceptions occur in relatively long-lived vertebrate ...species that exhibit seasonal plasticity in brain size, although similar changes have not been identified in short-lived species, such as insects. Here, we investigate brain plasticity in reproductive workers of the ant
. Unlike most ant species, workers of
are capable of sexual reproduction, and they compete in a dominance tournament to establish a group of reproductive workers, termed 'gamergates'. We demonstrated that, compared to foragers, gamergates exhibited a 19% reduction in brain volume in addition to significant differences in behaviour, ovarian status, venom production, cuticular hydrocarbon profile, and expression profiles of related genes. In experimentally manipulated gamergates, 6-8 weeks after being reverted back to non-reproductive status their phenotypes shifted to the forager phenotype across all traits we measured, including brain volume, a trait in which changes were previously shown to be irreversible in honeybees and
. Brain plasticity in
is therefore more similar to that found in some long-lived vertebrates that display reversible changes in brain volume throughout their lifetimes.
Albuterol, a bronchodilator medication, is the first-line therapy for asthma worldwide. There are significant racial/ethnic differences in albuterol drug response.
To identify genetic variants ...important for bronchodilator drug response (BDR) in racially diverse children.
We performed the first whole-genome sequencing pharmacogenetics study from 1,441 children with asthma from the tails of the BDR distribution to identify genetic association with BDR.
We identified population-specific and shared genetic variants associated with BDR, including genome-wide significant (P < 3.53 × 10
) and suggestive (P < 7.06 × 10
) loci near genes previously associated with lung capacity (DNAH5), immunity (NFKB1 and PLCB1), and β-adrenergic signaling (ADAMTS3 and COX18). Functional analyses of the BDR-associated SNP in NFKB1 revealed potential regulatory function in bronchial smooth muscle cells. The SNP is also an expression quantitative trait locus for a neighboring gene, SLC39A8. The lack of other asthma study populations with BDR and whole-genome sequencing data on minority children makes it impossible to perform replication of our rare variant associations. Minority underrepresentation also poses significant challenges to identify age-matched and population-matched cohorts of sufficient sample size for replication of our common variant findings.
The lack of minority data, despite a collaboration of eight universities and 13 individual laboratories, highlights the urgent need for a dedicated national effort to prioritize diversity in research. Our study expands the understanding of pharmacogenetic analyses in racially/ethnically diverse populations and advances the foundation for precision medicine in at-risk and understudied minority populations.
Translating all-polymer solar cells from spin-coating to scalable roll-to-roll-compatible fabrication techniques is a critical step toward the application of organic photovoltaics at a scale. ...Techniques to control polymer crystallization and phase separation during solution printing are essential to obtain high-performance printed organic solar cells. Here, we demonstrate a novel solvent additive approach employing trace amounts of phthalates as additives to control polymer crystallinity and suppress unfavorable phase separation in a representative PTB7-Th/P(NDI2OD-2T) all-polymer solar cell. The best-performing additive increased the blade-coated device performance from 2.09 to 4.50% power conversion efficiency, an over twofold improvement, mitigating the loss in performance that is typically observed during process transfer from spin-coating to blade-coating. It is suggested that the improved device performance stems from a finer polymer phase-separation size and overall improved active layer morphology, evidenced by device characterization data and indirectly supported by grazing incidence wide-angle X-ray scattering analyses. Real-time X-ray diffraction measurements during blade-coating provide mechanistic insights and suggest that the dioctyl phthalate additive may act as a compatibilizer, reducing the demixing of the donor and acceptor polymer during film formation, enabling a smaller phase separation and improved performance. The structural diversity of the class of phthalate additives makes this simple yet effective concept promising for translating other all-polymer material systems to blade-coating and other scalable printing techniques.
Zinc-finger nucleases (ZFNs) drive highly efficient genome editing by generating a site-specific DNA double-strand break (DSB) at a predetermined site in the genome. Subsequent repair of this break ...via the nonhomologous end-joining (NHEJ) or homology-directed repair (HDR) pathways results in targeted gene disruption or gene addition, respectively. Here, we report that ZFNs can be engineered to induce a site-specific DNA single-strand break (SSB) or nick. Using the CCR5-specific ZFNs as a model system, we show that introduction of a nick at this target site stimulates gene addition using a homologous donor template but fails to induce significant levels of the small insertions and deletions (indels) characteristic of repair via NHEJ. Gene addition by these CCR5-targeted zinc finger nickases (ZFNickases) occurs in both transformed and primary human cells at efficiencies of up to ∼1%-8%. Interestingly, ZFNickases targeting the AAVS1 "safe harbor" locus revealed similar in vitro nicking activity, a marked reduction of indels characteristic of NHEJ, but stimulated far lower levels of gene addition-suggesting that other, yet to be identified mediators of nick-induced gene targeting exist. Introduction of site-specific nicks at distinct endogenous loci provide an important tool for the study of DNA repair. Moreover, the potential for a SSB to direct repair pathway choice (i.e., HDR but not NHEJ) may prove advantageous for certain therapeutic applications such as the targeted correction of human disease-causing mutations.
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