Refine
Has Fulltext
- no (5)
Document Type
- Article (5)
Language
- English (5)
Is part of the Bibliography
- yes (5)
Keywords
- Arabidopsis thaliana (1)
- Biodiversity (1)
- Childhood traits and disorders (1)
- Consortium (1)
- Ecosystem (1)
- Environmental DNA (1)
- Genetics (1)
- H3K4 methylation (1)
- HSF (1)
- IOPS (1)
Alpine ecosystems on the Tibetan Plateau are being threatened by ongoing climate warming and intensified human activities. Ecological time-series obtained from sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA) are essential for understanding past ecosystem and biodiversity dynamics on the Tibetan Plateau and their responses to climate change at a high taxonomic resolution. Hitherto only few but promising studies have been published on this topic. The potential and limitations of using sedaDNA on the Tibetan Plateau are not fully understood. Here, we (i) provide updated knowledge of and a brief introduction to the suitable archives, region-specific taphonomy, state-of-the-art methodologies, and research questions of sedaDNA on the Tibetan Plateau; (ii) review published and ongoing sedaDNA studies from the Tibetan Plateau; and (iii) give some recommendations for future sedaDNA study designs. Based on the current knowledge of taphonomy, we infer that deep glacial lakes with freshwater and high clay sediment input, such as those from the southern and southeastern Tibetan Plateau, may have a high potential for sedaDNA studies. Metabarcoding (for microorganisms and plants), metagenomics (for ecosystems), and hybridization capture (for prehistoric humans) are three primary sedaDNA approaches which have been successfully applied on the Tibetan Plateau, but their power is still limited by several technical issues, such as PCR bias and incompleteness of taxonomic reference databases. Setting up high-quality and open-access regional taxonomic reference databases for the Tibetan Plateau should be given priority in the future. To conclude, the archival, taphonomic, and methodological conditions of the Tibetan Plateau are favorable for performing sedaDNA studies. More research should be encouraged to address questions about long-term ecological dynamics at ecosystem scale and to bring the paleoecology of the Tibetan Plateau into a new era.
Plants can be primed by a stress cue to mount a faster or stronger activation of defense mechanisms upon subsequent stress. A crucial component of such stress priming is the modified reactivation of genes upon recurring stress; however, the underlying mechanisms of this are poorly understood. Here, we report that dozens of Arabidopsis thaliana genes display transcriptional memory, i.e. stronger upregulation after a recurring heat stress, that lasts for at least 3 days. We define a set of transcription factors involved in this memory response and show that the transcriptional memory results in enhanced transcriptional activation within minutes of the onset of a heat stress cue. Further, we show that the transcriptional memory is active in all tissues. It may last for up to a week, and is associated during this time with histone H3 lysine 4 hypermethylation. This transcriptional memory is cis-encoded, as we identify a promoter fragment that confers memory onto a heterologous gene. In summary, heat-induced transcriptional memory is a widespread and sustained response, and our study provides a framework for future mechanistic studies of somatic stress memory in higher plants.
The Early Growth Genetics (EGG) and EArly Genetics and Lifecourse Epidemiology (EAGLE) consortia
(2019)
The impact of many unfavorable childhood traits or diseases, such as low birth weight and mental disorders, is not limited to childhood and adolescence, as they are also associated with poor outcomes in adulthood, such as cardiovascular disease. Insight into the genetic etiology of childhood and adolescent traits and disorders may therefore provide new perspectives, not only on how to improve wellbeing during childhood, but also how to prevent later adverse outcomes. To achieve the sample sizes required for genetic research, the Early Growth Genetics (EGG) and EArly Genetics and Lifecourse Epidemiology (EAGLE) consortia were established. The majority of the participating cohorts are longitudinal population-based samples, but other cohorts with data on early childhood phenotypes are also involved. Cohorts often have a broad focus and collect(ed) data on various somatic and psychiatric traits as well as environmental factors. Genetic variants have been successfully identified for multiple traits, for example, birth weight, atopic dermatitis, childhood BMI, allergic sensitization, and pubertal growth. Furthermore, the results have shown that genetic factors also partly underlie the association with adult traits. As sample sizes are still increasing, it is expected that future analyses will identify additional variants. This, in combination with the development of innovative statistical methods, will provide detailed insight on the mechanisms underlying the transition from childhood to adult disorders. Both consortia welcome new collaborations. Policies and contact details are available from the corresponding authors of this manuscript and/or the consortium websites.
Applications with different characteristics in the cloud may have different resources preferences. However, traditional resource allocation and scheduling strategies rarely take into account the characteristics of applications. Considering that an I/O-intensive application is a typical type of application and that frequent I/O accesses, especially small files randomly accessing the disk, may lead to an inefficient use of resources and reduce the quality of service (QoS) of applications, a weight allocation strategy is proposed based on the available resources that a physical server can provide as well as the characteristics of the applications. Using the weight obtained, a resource allocation and scheduling strategy is presented based on the specific application characteristics in the data center. Extensive experiments show that the strategy is correct and can guarantee a high concurrency of I/O per second (IOPS) in a cloud data center with high QoS. Additionally, the strategy can efficiently improve the utilization of the disk and resources of the data center without affecting the service quality of applications.
Context: Relations between fibroblast growth factor-23 (FGF-23), soluble alpha-klotho (s-alpha-klotho), and kidney function in chronic kidney disease (CKD) are still unclear. Especially the role of s-alpha-klotho requires further study.
Objectives: Our objectives were to analyze the relation of s-alpha-klotho to estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), FGF-23, and other parameters of calcium-phosphate metabolism and to investigate the response of s-alpha-klotho to cholecalciferol.
Patients, Design, and Setting: Twenty-four CKD (stage 1-5) patients participated in this 8-week randomized controlled trial (vitamin D and chronic renal insufficiency).
Interventions: Interventions included 40 000 IU cholecalciferol or placebo weekly.
Main Outcome Measure: S-alpha-klotho was determined by ELISA with antihuman klotho antibodies 67G3 and 91F1.
Results: For all patients, s-alpha-klotho concentrations did not differ between CKD stages. When patients were subdivided based on FGF-23 concentrations, a positive association of s-alpha-klotho with eGFR became apparent in patients with lower than median FGF-23 concentrations but not in those above median value. Patients with s-alpha-klotho below 204 pg/mL showed higher age, lower phosphate clearance, and lower bone-specific alkaline phosphatase compared with patients with higher s-alpha-klotho. Treatment with cholecalciferol significantly increased 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D. The increase of FGF-23 had only borderline significance. There was no significant effect of high-dose cholecalciferol administration for 8 weeks on plasma s-alpha-klotho.
Conclusions: CKD patients with s-alpha-klotho below 204 pg/mL had higher age, lower phosphate clearance, and lower bone-specific alkaline phosphatase. An association of s-alpha-klotho with eGFR was observed only in the presence of close to normal, but not high, FGF-23 concentrations. Cholecalciferol treatment did not change s-alpha-klotho concentrations.