Environmental seasonality on predator-prey systems under nutrient and toxicant constraints.

Bioaccumulation of toxicants in aquatic food webs can pose risks to ecosystem function and human health. Toxicant models of aquatic ecosystems can be improved by incorporating realistic environmental impacts such as nutrient availability and seasonality. It is well known that the carrying capacity of predator-prey systems can vary seasonally due to environmental cycles resulting from natural and human activities. As such, incorporating seasonal variation in the carrying capacity of a predator-prey system provides a better understanding of the underlying population dynamics bioaccumulation of toxicants. Here, we develop a seasonally varied predator-prey model subject to concurrent nutrient and toxicant stressors. We investigate the effects of seasonality on population dynamics to increase understanding of the complex governing processes of the trophic transfer of nutrients, energy, and toxicants. We observe that the strength of seasonality can shift solutions from periodic to quasi-periodic and models that neglect environmental seasonality may be under-predicting adverse effects of toxicity.

Hypoxia-related gene expression in porcine skeletal muscle tissues at different altitude.

Hypoxia influences many physiological processes, such as respiration, cardiovascular, neurophysiology, and digestion. Skeletal muscle is an important motor organ, which relies on oxygen of oxidation; however, the study of hypoxia in skeletal muscle is lacking. In order to understand the effect of hypoxia on skeletal muscle, we determined the expression level of four hypoxia-related genes (ADAM17, ARG2, MMP, and HIF1A) in two distinct skeletal muscle tissues from Tibetan pigs that live at different altitudes (500 and 3650 m). Consistent with the well-characterized role of four hypoxia-related genes in the adaptation to high altitude, we found that, compared with the plain pigs, the plateau pigs had higher mRNA abundances of the four genes and lower myofiber ratio in skeletal muscle. The negative correlation between the myofiber ratio and mRNA abundance of the four hypoxia-related genes highlights their critical roles in skeletal muscle. These findings may be important for understanding skeletal muscle adaptation to high altitude and hypoxia-related muscle diseases in humans.

Effectiveness of microsatellite and single nucleotide polymorphism markers for parentage analysis in European domestic pigs.

Parentage analysis and individual identification are recent, promising methods that have been applied to evolutionary and ecological studies, as well as conservation management. Parental exclusion relying on polymorphic microsatellites has been used worldwide in parentage determination, while the low mutation rate and genotyping error rate of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) make them another important marker for pedigree tracing. Here, we compared the effectiveness of microsatellites and SNP markers in European pigs. We also measured and presented the minimum and optimal criteria for SNP markers to be used in paternity and identity analysis. Our findings may contribute to the development of techniques for future molecular evolution and conservation studies, as well as breeding programs.

Promoter and first exon methylation regulate porcine FASN gene expression.

DNA methylation is a stable epigenetic mark mediating gene expression. Methylation is crucial for diverse biological processes, including aging and embryo development. FASN (fatty acid synthase) plays an important role in de novo lipogenesis, through catalyzing the reductive synthesis of long-chain fatty acids. In this study, we investigated the FASN gene expression pattern and corresponding DNA methylation status in the inner layer of backfat from Jinhua pigs at different developmental stages. Our results showed that FASN gene expression increases with age and is positively associated with adipocyte volume (r = 0.98, P < 0.01). In addition, the DNA methylation level for the first exon (0.11, CGI 3) of the FASN gene is approximately 8-fold lower than levels for its promoter (0.94, CGI 1&2) (two-way ANOVA, PCGI < 0.01). The association analysis revealed that both promoter (r = -0.944, P < 0.01) and first exon methylation (r = -0.774, P < 0.01) are significantly and negatively correlated with FASN gene expression. Our results will benefit future investigations of the epigenetic mechanism underlying FASN gene expression.

High resolution screening of plant natural product extracts for estrogen receptor alpha and beta binding activity using an online HPLC-MS biochemical detection system.

A new screening technology that combines biochemical analysis with the resolution power of high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), referred to here as high-resolution screening (HRS) technique, is described. The capability of the HRS technology to analyze biologically active compounds in complex mixtures is demonstrated by screening a plant natural product extract library for estrogen receptor (ER) alpha and beta binding activity. The simultaneous structure elucidation of biologically active components in crude extracts was achieved by operating the HRS system in combination with mass spectrometry (MS). In contrast to conventional microtiter-type bioassays, the interactions of the extracts with the ER and the employed label, coumestrol, proceeded at high speed in a closed, continuous-flow reaction detection system, which was coupled directly to the outlet of a HPLC separation column. The reaction products of this homogeneous fluorescence enhancement-type assay were detected online using a flowthrough fluorescence detector. Primary screening of the extract library was performed in the fast-flow injection analysis mode (FlowScreening) wherein the chromatographic separation system was bypassed. The library was screened at high speed, using two assay lines in parallel. A total of 98% of the identified hits were confirmed in a traditional 96-well microplate-based fluorescence polarization assay, indicating the reliability of the FlowScreening process. Active extracts were reassayed in a transcriptional activation assay in order to assess the functional activity of the bioactive extracts. Only functional active extracts were processed in the more time-consuming HRS mode, which was operated in combination with MS. Information on the number of active compounds, their retention times, the molecular masses, and the MS/MS-fingerprints as a function of their biological activity was obtained from 50% of the functional active extracts in real time. This dramatically enhances the speed of biologically active compound characterization in natural product extracts compared to traditional fractionation approaches.

Cloning and characterization of a novel human clathrin heavy chain gene (CLTCL).

An exon representing a novel clathrin heavy chain gene (CLTCL) was isolated during gene identification studies and transcription mapping of human chromosome 22. Isolation and sequencing of cDNA clones corresponding to this exon revealed extensive similarity of the predicted amino acid sequence of this gene product to those of clathrin heavy chain genes of other species. Northern blot analysis has revealed an apparent developmental expression pattern of an approximately 6-kb mRNA. The gene appears to be expressed ubiquitously in the limited number of fetal tissues that were tested, but is selectively expressed in certain adult tissues, particularly in skeletal muscle. In addition, alternative splicing of an exon was observed near the carboxyl terminus of the predicted gene product. Its location overlaps the domain putatively involved in clathrin light chain binding and is adjacent to the heavy chain self-assembly (or trimerization) region, suggesting that alternative splicing may be involved in regulating one or both of these interactions. The expression pattern of this gene, in addition to its potential role in receptor-mediated endocytosis and signal transduction, suggests that it may be important in some developmental processes. The location of CLTCL on human chromosome 22 near the region commonly deleted in DiGeorge and other apparent haploinsufficiency syndromes warrants further investigation into its relationship with these developmental disorders.

Formaldehyde levels in homes insulated with urea-formaldehyde foam.

Twenty seven UFFI homes in Colorado and Wisconsin were sampled for formaldehyde levels. The formaldehyde concentrations found in these homes averaged 0.059 ppm. Two homes were monitored for an extended period to determine the impact of ambient climatic conditions.

An expression-independent catalog of genes from human chromosome 22.

To accomplish large-scale identification of genes from a single human chromosome, exon amplification was applied to large pools of clones from a flow-sorted human chromosome 22 cosmid library. Sequence analysis of more than one-third of the 6400 cloned products identified 35% of the known genes previously localized to this chromosome, as well as several unmapped genes and randomly sequenced cDNAs. Among the more interesting sequence similarities are those that represent novel human genes that are related to others with known or putative functions, such as one exon from a gene that may represent the human homolog of Drosophila Polycomb. It is anticipated that sequences from at least half of the genes residing on chromosome 22 are contained within this exon library. This approach is expected to facilitate fine-structure physical and transcription mapping of human chromosomes, and accelerate the process of disease gene identification.