Crossing the pond: genetic assignment detects lobster hybridisation.

American lobsters (Homarus americanus) imported live into Europe as a seafood commodity have occasionally been released or escaped into the wild, within the range of an allopatric congener, the European lobster (H. gammarus). In addition to disease and competition, introduced lobsters threaten native populations through hybridisation, but morphological discriminants used for species identification are unable to discern hybrids, so molecular methods are required. We tested an array of 79 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for their utility to distinguish 1,308 H. gammarus from 38 H. americanus and 30 hybrid offspring from an American female captured in Sweden. These loci provide powerful species assignment in Homarus, enabling the robust identification of hybrid and American individuals among a survey of European stock. Moreover, a subset panel of the 12 most powerful SNPs is sufficient to separate the two pure species, even when tissues have been cooked, and can detect the introduced component of hybrids. We conclude that these SNP loci can unambiguously identify hybrid lobsters that may be undetectable via basic morphology, and offer a valuable tool to investigate the prevalence of cryptic hybridisation in the wild. Such investigations are required to properly evaluate the potential for introgression of alien genes into European lobster populations.

Supplementation with fatty acids influences the airway nitric oxide and inflammatory markers in patients with cystic fibrosis.

OBJECTIVES: To obtain a balance in the fatty acid (FA) metabolism is important for the inflammatory response and of special importance in cystic fibrosis (CF), which is characterized by impaired FA metabolism, chronic inflammation, and infection in the airways. Nitric oxide (NO) has antimicrobial properties and low nasal (nNO) and exhaled NO (FENO), commonly reported in CF that may affect bacterial status. The present study investigates the effect of different FA blends on nNO and FENO and immunological markers in patients with CF. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Forty-three patients with CF and "severe" mutations were consecutively enrolled in a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled study with 3 FA blends containing mainly n-3 or n-6 FA or saturated FA acting as placebo. FENO, nNO, serum phospholipid concentrations of FA, and biomarkers of inflammation were measured before and after 3 months of supplementation. RESULTS: Thirty-five patients in clinically stable condition completed the study. The serum phospholipid FA pattern changed significantly in all 3 groups. An increase of the n-6 FA, arachidonic acid, was associated with a decrease of FENO and nNO. The inflammatory biomarkers, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, and interleukin-8 decreased after supplementation with n-3 FA and erythrocyte sedimentation rate increased after supplementation with n-6 FA. CONCLUSIONS: This small pilot study indicated that the composition of dietary n-3 and n-6 FA influenced the inflammatory markers in CF. FENO and nNO were influenced by changes in the arachidonic acid concentration, supporting previous studies suggesting that both the lipid abnormality and the colonization with Pseudomonas influenced NO in the airways.

Fatty acid pattern in serum is associated with bone mineralisation in healthy 8-year-old children.

Animal studies have shown that fatty acids (FA) are important for normal bone development. Human data are scanty and mostly related to diseases. We hypothesised that serum FA pattern might be related to bone mineralisation in healthy children. Serum phospholipid FA pattern was studied in relation to bone parameters in eighty-five healthy Caucasian 8-year-olds. Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry and blood sampling for analysis of serum phospholipid FA by capillary GLC were performed on the same day. SFA concentrations were associated with bone mineral density (BMD) of the hip, lumbar spine and total body. There was a general trend that linoleic acid (LA; 18 : 2n-6) was negatively associated with BMD, since that was found both for the LA concentration, the total n-6 concentration and the ratio of n-6:n-3 FA. Arachidonic acid (AA; 20 : 4n-6) was positively correlated with bone mineral content (BMC) and BMD of total body, as was the corresponding z-score and the AA:LA ratio. Both saturated and polyunsaturated serum phospholipid FA were associated with BMC and BMD in healthy children. LA and AA were found to inversely influence bone mineralisation and the association with the n-6:n-3 ratio suggested that this balance might also be of importance. The general trend of a negative influence of high n-6 FA concentrations on bone mineralisation might be of concern in relation to the changes in the Western diet. Longitudinal studies are necessary to verify if different bone compartments and different grades of modelling are related to different FA patterns.