Development of microsatellite markers and assembly of the plastid genome in Cistanthe longiscapa (Montiaceae) based on low-coverage whole genome sequencing.

Cistanthe longiscapa is an endemic annual herb and characteristic element of the Chilean Atacama Desert. Principal threats are the destruction of its seed deposits by human activities and reduced germination rates due to the decreasing occurrence of precipitation events. To enable population genetic and phylogeographic analyses in this species we performed paired-end shotgun sequencing (2x100 bp) of genomic DNA on the Illumina HiSeq platform and identified microsatellite (SSR) loci in the resulting sequences. From 29 million quality-filtered read pairs we obtained 549,174 contigs (average length 614 bp; N50 = 904). Searching for SSRs revealed 10,336 loci with microsatellite motifs. Initially, we designed primers for 96 loci, which were tested for PCR amplification on three C. longiscapa individuals. Successfully amplifying loci were further tested on eight individuals to screen for length variation in the resulting amplicons, and the alleles were exemplarily sequenced to infer the basis for the observed length variation. Finally we arrived at 26 validated SSR loci for population studies in C. longiscapa, which resulted in 146 bi-allelic SSR markers in our test sample of eight individuals. The genomic sequences were also used to assemble the plastid genome of C. longiscapa, which provides an additional set of maternally inherited genetic markers.

Postmenopausal women have an increased maximal platelet reactivity compared to men despite dual antiplatelet therapy.

Dual antiplatelet medication with acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) and clopidogrel is the main therapy for patients with stable coronary vessel disease (CVD) after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Despite platelet inhibition subgroups of patients have been shown to exhibit an increase of risk for adverse cardiovascular events. The aim of our study was to elucidate the influence of sex on platelet reactivity in patients with CVD under medication with ASA and clopidogrel. Two hundred and thirty patients with CVD on combined therapy with ASA (100 mg/day) and clopidogrel (75 mg/day) were included into our study. These patients were divided into a male (n = 128) and female (n = 102) group. Platelet reactivity was assessed by impedance aggregometry. Women demonstrated a significantly higher thrombin receptor-activating peptide (TRAP)-induced platelet reactivity than men (male 79.43 ± 28.55 U vs. female 89.3 ± 30.69 U; P < 0.05). The ADP-induced (male 19.81 ± 15.51 U vs. female 23.73 ± 17.68 U; P > 0.05) or arachidonic acid-induced (male 10.3 ± 12.87 U vs. female 12.76 ± 14.44 U; P > 0.05) platelet aggregation did not differ significantly between women and men. A multivariate linear regression model revealed female sex to be a significant prognostic marker for an increased TRAP-induced platelet reactivity, independent of the ASA and clopidogrel-associated platelet function inhibition. Sex differences did not influence the effectiveness of ASA or clopidogrel-mediated platelet function inhibition. Nevertheless, women had a significantly increased maximal platelet reactivity compared to men despite antiplatelet therapy.

Interferon-alpha stimulation of liver cells enhances hepatitis delta virus RNA editing in early infection.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: RNA editing controls the formation of hepatitis-delta-antigen-S and -L and therefore plays a central role in the hepatitis-delta-virus (HDV) life-cycle. Editing is catalyzed by the enzyme Adenosine-deaminase-acting-on-RNA1 (ADAR1) of which two different forms, ADAR1-L and ADAR1-S, exist. As ADAR1-L is induced by interferon (IFN)-alpha, we examined the influence of IFN-alpha-stimulation of host cells on HDV-RNA editing. METHODS: Editing was studied in Huh-7-cells transfected with HDV-RNA on days 7, 14, 21 and 28 after transfection. ADAR1-L mRNA was measured by RT-PCR. RESULTS: IFN-alpha-treatment led to a 5-fold higher expression of ADAR1-L and to an increase in editing from 14+/-2% (SD) in unstimulated controls to 27+/-4% (SD) on day 7 after transfection. Editing further increases over time to the same maximum level of 35% in IFN-alpha-treated as well as untreated cells. CONCLUSIONS: By IFN-alpha-stimulation both ADAR1-L expression and editing are increased in Huh-7-cells at day 7, and the maximum level of edited antigenomes is reached earlier with IFN-alpha-treatment as compared to untreated cells. Thus, ADAR1-L appears to be able to increase editing, but the HDV genome apparently has an intrinsic negative feed-back regulation mechanism that limits editing to roughly a third of the genomes.