During maternal-to-embryonic transition control of embryonic development gradually switches from maternal RNAs and proteins stored in the oocyte to gene products generated after embryonic genome ...activation (EGA). Detailed insight into the onset of embryonic transcription is obscured by the presence of maternal transcripts. Using the bovine model system, we established by RNA sequencing a comprehensive catalogue of transcripts in germinal vesicle and metaphase II oocytes, and in embryos at the four-cell, eight-cell, 16-cell, and blastocyst stages. These were produced by in vitro fertilization of Bos taurus taurus oocytes with sperm from a Bos taurus indicus bull to facilitate parent-specific transcriptome analysis. Transcripts from 12.4 to 13.7 × 103 different genes were detected in the various developmental stages. EGA was analyzed by (i) detection of embryonic transcripts, which are not present in oocytes; (ii) detection of transcripts from the paternal allele; and (iii) detection of primary transcripts with intronic sequences. These strategies revealed (i) 220, (ii) 937, and (iii) 6,848 genes to be activated from the four-cell to the blastocyst stage. The largest proportion of gene activation i.e., (i) 59%, (ii) 42%, and (iii) 58% was found in eight-cell embryos, indicating major EGA at this stage. Gene ontology analysis of genes activated at the four-cell stage identified categories related to RNA processing, translation, and transport, consistent with preparation for major EGA. Our study provides the largest transcriptome data set of bovine oocyte maturation and early embryonic development and detailed insight into the timing of embryonic activation of specific genes.
Efforts to improve photosynthetic efficiency should result in increased rates of carbon assimilation in crop plants in the next few decades. Translation of increased assimilation into higher ...productivity will require a greater understanding of the relationship between assimilation and growth. In this review, we discuss new progress in understanding how carbon is provided for metabolism and growth at night. In Arabidopsis leaves, the circadian clock controls the rate of degradation of starch to ensure an optimal carbon supply and hence continued growth during the night. These discoveries shed new light on the integration of carbon assimilation and growth over the light-dark cycle. They reveal the importance of considering the carbon economy of the whole plant in attempting to increase crop productivity.
Plant growth is driven by photosynthetic carbon fixation during the day. Some photosynthate is accumulated, often as starch, to support nocturnal metabolism and growth at night. The rate of starch ...degradation in Arabidopsis leaves at night is essentially linear, and is such that almost all of the starch is used by dawn. We have investigated the timer that matches starch utilization to the duration of the night. The rate of degradation adjusted immediately and appropriately to an unexpected early onset of night. Starch was still degraded in an appropriate manner when the preceding light period was interrupted by a period of darkness. However, when Arabidopsis was grown in abnormal day lengths (28 h or 17 h) starch was exhausted ∼24 h after the last dawn, irrespective of the actual dawn. A mutant lacking the LHY and CCA1 clock components exhausted its starch at the dawn anticipated by its fast-running circadian clock, rather than the actual dawn. Reduced growth of wild-type plants in 28-h days and lhy/cca1 mutants in 24-h days was attributable to the inappropriate rate of starch degradation and the consequent carbon starvation at the end of night. Thus, starch degradation is under circadian control to ensure that carbohydrate availability is maintained until the next anticipated dawn, and this control is necessary for maintaining plant productivity.
This book examines the responsible sourcing of raw materials within global value chains. With the need for a vast amount of additional raw materials to enable the global green energy transition, it ...examines the current responsible sourcing landscape, with the aim of bringing clarity and harmony to theories and practices that are characterized by systemic fragmentation. Normative elements are introduced to create a framework for a functioning responsible sourcing system built around the behavioural change of supply chain actors. Drawing from state of the art conceptual ideas and practical experience, an impactful and economically viable approach to the responsible sourcing of raw material is presented. This book sets out a vision of global value chains based on environmental, societal, and economic sustainability. It will be relevant to researchers, policymakers, and practitioners interested in resource economics and sustainable value chains. This is an open access book.
► A comprehensive quality assessment strategy for long-term eddy-covariance measurement is developed. ► Fundamentally based tests and algorithms are applied. ► This strategy comprises tests on ...high-frequency data, tests on fluxes and quantification of uncertainty. ► Its robustness and effectiveness is demonstrated for five test data sets. ► The resulting data quality assessment parameters are compared with alternative approaches.
Eddy-covariance measurements are performed at several hundred sites all over the world on a long-term basis. The gathered data are used to characterise ecosystem exchanges of trace gases, water and energy and to validate or constrain process-based models. There is an increasing demand on standardised and comprehensive quality flagging and uncertainty quantification of these fluxes. In this paper, we review established quality assessment procedures and present a comprehensive newly composed strategy emphasising tests on high-frequency raw data, expanding existing tests on statistics, fluxes and corrections, plus quantification of errors. Moreover, representativity of fluxes is checked by footprint analysis. This strategy is applied within the recently launched TERENO network of ecosystem observatories, and its robustness is demonstrated for data acquired with different measurement set-ups. Four test data sets from TERENO and one data set from CarboEurope-IP were subjected to this quality assessment. The presented strategy is compared with established quality assessment schemes, and it is demonstrated that unrealistic fluxes are now efficiently excluded while retaining the largest possible amount of high quality data. Additionally, the algorithms applied provide comprehensive, reproducible, qualitative and quantitative uncertainty estimates for users of eddy-covariance flux data.
Sarcopenic dysphagia (SD) is swallowing difficulty associated with loss of generalized skeletal muscles and swallowing‐related muscles. Diagnostic criteria for SD were suggested, yet there is a ...variability in instruments and cut-offs used. The aim of the current review is to critically evaluate tools used in diagnosis of sarcopenic dysphagia in the elderly. Comprehensive review of the literature was performed. Studies were qualitatively evaluated for the diagnostic tools used to make a diagnosis of “sarcopenic dysphagia” and compared to the known diagnostic criteria for SD and other accepted measures. Fourteen studies (
N
= 10,282) were selected from a search yield of 331 de-duplicated studies. Ninety-three percent of studies (13/14) were conducted in Japan. All subjects included were over the age of 65 years old (mean, 76.5 years). Various tools were used to assess sarcopenia including handgrip strength (14/14 of studies), followed by skeletal muscle mass/index (7/14), tongue pressure, gait speed, and calf circumference in 5/14 studies. The most commonly tool used for dysphagia and/or swallowing dysfunction was the food level intake scale (5/14 of studies) followed by the functional oral intake scale (3/14). The 100-mL water swallow test was used in 2 of the 14 included SD studies. Fiberoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing, videofluoroscopic swallowing study, EAT-10 questionnaire, and standardized swallow assessment were each used in only one SD study. Further research is required to validate SD diagnostic tools, establish cut-offs in different populations, and investigate their role in screening of dysphagia and swallowing dysfunction in the elderly.
Статья прослеживает динамику использования и роль иностранных языков в русской литературе в XVIII–XX веках. Обсуждаются факторы, регулирующие отношение к иностранным языкам, в диапазоне от ...индивидуальных до культурно-исторических. В центре внимания оказываются изменения вектора культурной ориентации как совокупность разнородных явлений.
We comprehensively profiled intracellular and ECM proteomes of S. aureus flow biofilms and complemented these data by metabolic footprint analysis and phenotypic assays. We show that moonlighting, ...secreted virulence factors and ribosomal proteins within the ECM contribute to biofilm stabilization. Mechanistically, we propose that these alkaline proteins get protonated in an acidified ECM (because of the release of acids upon fermentation) mediating electrostatic interactions with anionic cell surface components, eDNA, and metabolites, which leads to cell aggregation and ECM stabilization.
Display omitted
Highlights
•Establishment of a flow system allowing multi-omics analysis of S. aureus biofilms.•Biofilm proteome profiling (intracellular and ECM) plus metabolic footprint analysis.•Virulence factors and ribosomal proteins stabilize the ECM as moonlighting proteins.•They act as electrostatic bridges between anionic cell surfaces, eDNA and metabolites.
Staphylococcus aureus is the causative agent of various biofilm-associated infections in humans causing major healthcare problems worldwide. This type of infection is inherently difficult to treat because of a reduced metabolic activity of biofilm-embedded cells and the protective nature of a surrounding extracellular matrix (ECM). However, little is known about S. aureus biofilm physiology and the proteinaceous composition of the ECM. Thus, we cultivated S. aureus biofilms in a flow system and comprehensively profiled intracellular and extracellular (ECM and flow-through (FT)) biofilm proteomes, as well as the extracellular metabolome compared with planktonic cultures. Our analyses revealed the expression of many pathogenicity factors within S. aureus biofilms as indicated by a high abundance of capsule biosynthesis proteins along with various secreted virulence factors, including hemolysins, leukotoxins, and lipases as a part of the ECM. The activity of ECM virulence factors was confirmed in a hemolysis assay and a Galleria mellonella pathogenicity model. In addition, we uncovered a so far unacknowledged moonlighting function of secreted virulence factors and ribosomal proteins trapped in the ECM: namely their contribution to biofilm integrity. Mechanistically, it was revealed that this stabilizing effect is mediated by the strong positive charge of alkaline virulence factors and ribosomal proteins in an acidic ECM environment, which is caused by the release of fermentation products like formate, lactate, and acetate because of oxygen limitation in biofilms. The strong positive charge of these proteins most likely mediates electrostatic interactions with anionic cell surface components, eDNA, and anionic metabolites. In consequence, this leads to strong cell aggregation and biofilm stabilization. Collectively, our study identified a new molecular mechanism during S. aureus biofilm formation and thus significantly widens the understanding of biofilm-associated S. aureus infections - an essential prerequisite for the development of novel antimicrobial therapies.
Adaptive plasticity in stress responses is a key element of plant survival strategies. For instance, moderate heat stress (HS) primes a plant to acquire thermotolerance, which allows subsequent ...survival of more severe HS conditions. Acquired thermotolerance is actively maintained over several days (HS memory) and involves the sustained induction of memory-related genes. Here we show that FORGETTER3/ HEAT SHOCK TRANSCRIPTION FACTOR A3 (FGT3/HSFA3) is specifically required for physiological HS memory and maintaining high memory-gene expression during the days following a HS exposure. HSFA3 mediates HS memory by direct transcriptional activation of memory-related genes after return to normal growth temperatures. HSFA3 binds HSFA2, and in vivo both proteins form heteromeric complexes with additional HSFs. Our results indicate that only complexes containing both HSFA2 and HSFA3 efficiently promote transcriptional memory by positively influencing histone H3 lysine 4 (H3K4) hyper-methylation. In summary, our work defines the major HSF complex controlling transcriptional memory and elucidates the in vivo dynamics of HSF complexes during somatic stress memory.
PDF
