TY  - JOUR
A1  - Xu, Ying
T1  - Study on transport mechanism of m5C-edited mRNAs
Y1  - 2022
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Reeg, Jette
A1  - Strigl, Lea
A1  - Jeltsch, Florian
T1  - Agricultural buffer zone thresholds to safeguard functional bee diversity
BT  - Insights from a community modeling approach
JF  - Ecology and Evolution
N2  - Wild bee species are important pollinators in agricultural landscapes. However, population decline was reported over the last decades and is still ongoing. While agricultural intensification is a major driver of the rapid loss of pollinating species, transition zones between arable fields and forest or grassland patches, i.e., agricultural buffer zones, are frequently mentioned as suitable mitigation measures to support wild bee populations and other pollinator species. Despite the reported general positive effect, it remains unclear which amount of buffer zones is needed to ensure a sustainable and permanent impact for enhancing bee diversity and abundance. To address this question at a pollinator community level, we implemented a process-based, spatially explicit simulation model of functional bee diversity dynamics in an agricultural landscape. More specifically, we introduced a variable amount of agricultural buffer zones (ABZs) at the transition of arable to grassland, or arable to forest patches to analyze the impact on bee functional diversity and functional richness. We focused our study on solitary bees in a typical agricultural area in the Northeast of Germany. Our results showed positive effects with at least 25% of virtually implemented agricultural buffer zones. However, higher amounts of ABZs of at least 75% should be considered to ensure a sufficient increase in Shannon diversity and decrease in quasi-extinction risks. These high amounts of ABZs represent effective conservation measures to safeguard the stability of pollination services provided by solitary bee species. As the model structure can be easily adapted to other mobile species in agricultural landscapes, our community approach offers the chance to compare the effectiveness of conservation measures also for other pollinator communities in future.
KW  - agricultural landscape
KW  - buffer zones
KW  - community model
KW  - functional traits
KW  - solitary bees
KW  - spatially explicit
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.8748
SN  - 2045-7758
VL  - 12
SP  - 1
EP  - 17
PB  - Wiley Online Library
CY  - Hoboken, New Jersey, USA
ET  - 3
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Kaunath, Vera
A1  - Eccard, Jana
T1  - Light Attraction in Carabid Beetles
BT  - Comparison Among Animals From the Inner City and a Dark Sky Reserve
JF  - Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution
N2  - Artificial light at night (ALAN) is altering the behaviour of nocturnal animals in a manifold of ways. Nocturnal invertebrates are particularly affected, due to their fatal attraction to ALAN. This selective pressure has the potential to reduce the strength of the flight-to-light response in insects, as shown recently in a moth species. Here we investigated light attraction of ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae).We compared among animals (three genera) from a highly light polluted (HLP) grassland in the centre of Berlin and animals collected at a low-polluted area in a Dark Sky Reserve (DSR), captured using odour bait. In an arena setting tested at night time, HLP beetles (n = 75 across all genera) showed a reduced attraction towards ALAN. Tested during daytime, HLP beetles were less active in an open field test (measured as latency to start moving), compared to DSR (n = 143). However, we did not observe a reduced attraction towards ALAN within the species most common at both sides, Calathus fuscipes (HLP = 37, DSR = 118 individuals) indicating that not all species may be equally affected by ALAN. Reduced attraction to ALAN in urban beetles may either be a result of phenotypic selection in each generation removing HLP individuals that are attracted to light, or an indication for ongoing evolutionary differentiation among city and rural populations in their light response. Reduced attraction to light sources may directly enhance survival and reproductive success of urban individuals. However, decrease in mobility may negatively influence dispersal, reproduction and foraging success, highlighting the selective pressure that light pollution may have on fitness, by shaping and modifying the behaviour of insects.
KW  - light pollution
KW  - artificial light at night (ALAN)
KW  - Carabidae beetles
KW  - environmental change
KW  - Illuminance
KW  - solar powered light-emitting diode
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2022.751288
SN  - 2296-701X
N1  - VK and JE designed the experimental set up and research question. VK performed the animal trapping, experiments and hence, data collection, and organizing of the database. Both authors performed the statistical analyses and contributed to discussion, manuscript revision, read, and approved the submitted version.
VL  - 10
PB  - Frontiers Media
CY  - Lausanne, Schweiz
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Tiedemann, Kim
A1  - Iobbi-Nivol, Chantal
A1  - Leimkühler, Silke
T1  - The Role of the Nucleotides in the Insertion of the bis-Molybdopterin Guanine Dinucleotide Cofactor into apo-Molybdoenzymes
JF  - Molecules
N2  - The role of the GMP nucleotides of the bis-molybdopterin guanine dinucleotide (bis-MGD) cofactor of the DMSO reductase family has long been a subject of discussion. The recent characterization of the bis-molybdopterin (bis-Mo-MPT) cofactor present in the E. coli YdhV protein, which differs from bis-MGD solely by the absence of the nucleotides, now enables studying the role of the nucleotides of bis-MGD and bis-MPT cofactors in Moco insertion and the activity of molybdoenzymes in direct comparison. Using the well-known E. coli TMAO reductase TorA as a model enzyme for cofactor insertion, we were able to show that the GMP nucleotides of bis-MGD are crucial for the insertion of the bis-MGD cofactor into apo-TorA.
KW  - bis-MGD
KW  - chaperone
KW  - molybdenum cofactor
KW  - TMAO reductase
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules27092993
SN  - 1420-3049
VL  - 27
SP  - 1
EP  - 15
PB  - MDPI
CY  - Basel, Schweiz
ET  - 9
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Weithoff, Guntram
A1  - Bell, Elanor Margaret
T1  - Complex Trophic Interactions in an Acidophilic Microbial Community
JF  - Microorganisms
N2  - Extreme habitats often harbor specific communities that differ substantially from non-extreme habitats. In many cases, these communities are characterized by archaea, bacteria and protists, whereas the number of species of metazoa and higher plants is relatively low. In extremely acidic habitats, mostly prokaryotes and protists thrive, and only very few metazoa thrive, for example, rotifers. Since many studies have investigated the physiology and ecology of individual species, there is still a gap in research on direct, trophic interactions among extremophiles. To fill this gap, we experimentally studied the trophic interactions between a predatory protist (Actinophrys sol, Heliozoa) and its prey, the rotifers Elosa woralli and Cephalodella sp., the ciliate Urosomoida sp. and the mixotrophic protist Chlamydomonas acidophila (a green phytoflagellate, Chlorophyta). We found substantial predation pressure on all animal prey. High densities of Chlamydomonas acidophila reduced the predation impact on the rotifers by interfering with the feeding behaviour of A. sol. These trophic relations represent a natural case of intraguild predation, with Chlamydomonas acidophila being the common prey and the rotifers/ciliate and A. sol being the intraguild prey and predator, respectively. We further studied this intraguild predation along a resource gradient using Cephalodella sp. as the intraguild prey. The interactions among the three species led to an increase in relative rotifer abundance with increasing resource (Chlamydomonas) densities. By applying a series of laboratory experiments, we revealed the complexity of trophic interactions within a natural extremophilic community.
KW  - acid mine drainage
KW  - extremophiles
KW  - food web
KW  - heliozoa
KW  - intraguild predation
KW  - mining lakes
KW  - Rotifera
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms10071340
SN  - 2076-2607
VL  - 10
SP  - 1
EP  - 10
PB  - MDPI
CY  - Basel, Schweiz
ET  - 7
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Mitic, Kristina
A1  - Grafe, Marianne
A1  - Batsios, Petros
A1  - Meyer, Irene
T1  - Partial Disassembly of the Nuclear Pore Complex Proteins during Semi-Closed Mitosis in Dictyostelium discoideum
JF  - Cells
N2  - Dictyostelium cells undergo a semi-closed mitosis, during which the nuclear envelope (NE) persists; however, free diffusion between the cytoplasm and the nucleus takes place. To permit the formation of the mitotic spindle, the nuclear envelope must be permeabilized in order to allow diffusion of tubulin dimers and spindle assembly factors into the nucleus. In Aspergillus, free diffusion of proteins between the cytoplasm and the nucleus is achieved by a partial disassembly of the nuclear pore complexes (NPCs) prior to spindle assembly. In order to determine whether this is also the case in Dictyostelium, we analysed components of the NPC by immunofluorescence microscopy and live cell imaging and studied their behaviour during interphase and mitosis. We observed that the NPCs are absent from the contact area of the nucleoli and that some nucleoporins also localize to the centrosome and the spindle poles. In addition, we could show that, during mitosis, the central FG protein NUP62, two inner ring components and Gle1 depart from the NPCs, while all other tested NUPs remained at the NE. This leads to the conclusion that indeed a partial disassembly of the NPCs takes place, which contributes to permeabilisation of the NE during semi-closed mitosis.
KW  - nuclear pore complex
KW  - nucleoporins
KW  - semi-closed mitosis
KW  - centrosome
KW  - Dictyostelium
Y1  - 2021
U6  - https://doi.org/10.3390/cells11030407
SN  - 2073-4409
VL  - 11
IS  - 3
PB  - MDPI
CY  - Basel
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Arnold, Patrick
A1  - Rutschmann, Sereina
T1  - UCE sequencing-derived mitogenomes reveal the timing of mitochondrial replacement in Malagasy shrew tenrecs (Afrosoricida, Tenrecidae, Microgale)
JF  - Mammalian biology = Zeitschrift für Säugetierkunde
N2  - Malagasy shrew tenrecs (Microgale) have increasingly been used to study speciation genetics over the last years. A previous study recently uncovered gene flow between the Shrew-toothed shrew tenrec (M. soricoides) and sympatric southern population of the Pale shrew tenrec (M. fotsifotsy). This gene flow has been suggested to be accompanied by complete mitochondrial replacement in M. fotsifotsy. To explore the temporal framework of this replacement, we assembled mitogenomes from publicly available sequencing data of ultra-conserved elements. We were able to assemble complete and partial mitogenomes for 19 specimens from five species of shrew tenrecs, which represents a multifold increase in mitogenomic resources available for all tenrecs. Phylogenetic inferences and sequence simulations support the close relationship between the mitochondrial lineages of M. soricoides and the southern population of M. fotsifotsy. Based on the nuclear divergence of northern and southern populations of M. fotsifotsy and the mitochondrial divergence between the latter and M. soricoides, there was a mean time window for replacement of similar to 350,000 years. This timeframe implies that the effective size of the ancestral M. fotsifotsy southern population was less 70,000.
KW  - Microgale
KW  - Tenrecs
KW  - Gene flow
KW  - Mitochondrial replacement
KW  - Madagascar
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1007/s42991-022-00246-2
SN  - 1616-5047
SN  - 1618-1476
VL  - 102
IS  - 2
SP  - 531
EP  - 536
PB  - Springer
CY  - Heidelberg
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Heinze, Johannes
T1  - Correction to: Heinze, Johannes: Herbivory by aboveground insects impacts plant root morphological traits. - Plant Ecology. - 221 (2020). - S. 725 - 732
JF  - Plant ecology : an international journal
Y1  - 2021
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-021-01194-6
SN  - 1385-0237
SN  - 1573-5052
VL  - 223
IS  - 115
PB  - Springer
CY  - Dordrecht
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Kath, Nadja Jeanette
A1  - Gaedke, Ursula
A1  - van Velzen, Ellen
T1  - The double-edged sword of inducible defences: costs and benefits of maladaptive switching from the individual to the community level
JF  - Scientific Reports
N2  - Phenotypic plasticity can increase individual fitness when environmental conditions change over time. Inducible defences are a striking example, allowing species to react to fluctuating predation pressure by only expressing their costly defended phenotype under high predation risk. Previous theoretical investigations have focused on how this affects predator–prey dynamics, but the impact on competitive outcomes and broader community dynamics has received less attention. Here we use a small food web model, consisting of two competing plastic autotrophic species exploited by a shared consumer, to study how the speed of inducible defences across three trade-off constellations affects autotroph coexistence, biomasses across trophic levels, and temporal variability. Contrary to the intuitive idea that faster adaptation increases autotroph fitness, we found that higher switching rates reduced individual fitness as it consistently provoked more maladaptive switching towards undefended phenotypes under high predation pressure. This had an unexpected positive impact on the consumer, increasing consumer biomass and lowering total autotroph biomass. Additionally, maladaptive switching strongly reduced autotroph coexistence through an emerging source-sink dynamic between defended and undefended phenotypes. The striking impact of maladaptive switching on species and food web dynamics indicates that this mechanism may be of more critical importance than previously recognized.
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-13895-7
SN  - 2045-2322
VL  - 12
SP  - 1
EP  - 14
PB  - Springer Nature
CY  - London
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Schlägel, Ulrike E.
A1  - Mädlow, Wolfgang
T1  - All-season space use by non-native resident Mandarin Ducks (Aix galericulata) in northeastern Germany
JF  - Journal of ornithology / publ. by Deutsche Ornithologen-Gesellschaft
N2  - Patterns of space use are often subject to large temporal and individual-level variation, due to seasonality in behaviour and environmental conditions as well as age- or sex-specific needs. Especially in temperate regions, seasonality likely influences space use even in non-migratory birds. In waterfowl of the family Anatidae, however, few studies have analyzed space use of the same individuals across the full annual cycle. We used a resident population of Mandarin Ducks (Aix galericulata) in northeast Germany to study their year-round space use in relation to season, sex, and age. We marked 172 birds with colour rings and surveyed relevant water bodies for re-encounters for several years. As space-use patterns we derived home ranges from minimum convex polygons and the number of water bodies used by individual birds. Our analysis revealed that individuals shifted their space use between seasons, in particular extending their home ranges during the non-breeding season. Between years, in contrast, birds tended to show season-specific site fidelity. Sex differences were apparent during both breeding and non-breeding season, males consistently having larger home ranges and using slightly more water bodies. No difference was found between first-year and adult birds. Our study demonstrates that mark-resighting can provide valuable information about space use in species with suitable behaviour and readily accessible habitat. In such cases, it may be a valid alternative to more expensive GPS-tracking or short-term manual radio telemetry, particularly within citizen-science projects.
N2  - Raumnutzungsmuster von Vögeln zeigen häufig große zeitliche und individuelle Variationen in Abhängigkeit vom saisonalen Verhalten und von Umweltbedingungen, aber auch alters- und geschlechtsspezifischen Ansprüchen. In gemäßigten Klimazonen können jahreszeitliche Einflussfaktoren die Raumnutzung auch von nicht ziehenden Arten bestimmen. Für Entenvögel (Anatidae) liegen bisher jedoch nur wenige Studien vor, die die Raumnutzung von Individuen über den gesamten Jahresverlauf hinweg betrachten. Wir untersuchten die ganzjährige Raumnutzung einer Standvogel-Population der Mandarinente (Aix galericulata) in Abhängigkeit von Jahreszeit, Geschlecht und Alter der Vögel. Wir markierten 172 Vögel mit Farbringen und kontrollierten mehrere Jahre lang die relevanten Gewässer, um Ringablesungen zu erzielen. Zur Analyse der Raumnutzung ermittelten wir Minimum-Convex-Polygone und die Anzahl der von den einzelnen Individuen genutzten Gewässer. Unsere Auswertung zeigte, dass die von den Vögeln genutzten Aktionsräume sich mit den Jahreszeiten veränderten. Insbesondere vergrößerte sich das besuchte Gebiet außerhalb der Brutzeit. Beim Vergleich mehrerer Jahre tendierten die Vögel zu einer saisonspezifischen Gebietstreue. Geschlechterunterschiede zeigten sich sowohl innerhalb als auch außerhalb der Brutzeit, wobei die Männchen stets größere Gebiete und eine größere Zahl an Gewässern nutzten. Zwischen Vögeln im ersten Lebensjahr und Adulten wurden keine Unterschiede gefunden. Unsere Untersuchung zeigt, dass Farbberingungsprogramme wertvolle Informationen zur Raumnutzung bei Arten liefern können, deren Verhalten dafür geeignet ist und die in gut zugänglichen Lebensräumen vorkommen. In diesen Fällen kann die Farbberingung eine geeignete Alternative zur teureren GPS- oder manuellen Telemetrie sein, vor allem wenn die vereinte Kraft von Amateurornithologen in die Untersuchungen einbezogen werden kann.
KW  - Anatidae
KW  - Aix galericulata
KW  - Home range
KW  - Site fidelity
KW  - Movement
KW  - Seasonality
Y1  - 2021
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-021-01932-7
SN  - 2193-7192
SN  - 2193-7206
VL  - 163
IS  - 1
SP  - 71
EP  - 82
PB  - Springer
CY  - Berlin
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Nakamura, Yasunori
A1  - Steup, Martin
A1  - Colleoni, Christophe
A1  - Iglesias, Alberto A.
A1  - Bao, Jinsong
A1  - Fujita, Naoko
A1  - Tetlow, Ian
T1  - Molecular regulation of starch metabolism
JF  - Plant molecular biology : an international journal of fundamental research and genetic engineering
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1007/s11103-022-01253-0
SN  - 0167-4412
SN  - 1573-5028
VL  - 108
IS  - 4-5
SP  - 289
EP  - 290
PB  - Springer
CY  - Dordrecht
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Kath, Nadja Jeanette
A1  - Gaedke, Ursula
A1  - van Velzen, Ellen
T1  - The double-edged sword of inducible defences: costs and benefits of maladaptive switching from the individual to the community level
JF  - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe
N2  - Phenotypic plasticity can increase individual fitness when environmental conditions change over time. Inducible defences are a striking example, allowing species to react to fluctuating predation pressure by only expressing their costly defended phenotype under high predation risk. Previous theoretical investigations have focused on how this affects predator–prey dynamics, but the impact on competitive outcomes and broader community dynamics has received less attention. Here we use a small food web model, consisting of two competing plastic autotrophic species exploited by a shared consumer, to study how the speed of inducible defences across three trade-off constellations affects autotroph coexistence, biomasses across trophic levels, and temporal variability. Contrary to the intuitive idea that faster adaptation increases autotroph fitness, we found that higher switching rates reduced individual fitness as it consistently provoked more maladaptive switching towards undefended phenotypes under high predation pressure. This had an unexpected positive impact on the consumer, increasing consumer biomass and lowering total autotroph biomass. Additionally, maladaptive switching strongly reduced autotroph coexistence through an emerging source-sink dynamic between defended and undefended phenotypes. The striking impact of maladaptive switching on species and food web dynamics indicates that this mechanism may be of more critical importance than previously recognized.
T3  - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe - 1288 
Y1  - 2022
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-572006
SN  - 1866-8372
IS  - 1288
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Agne, Stefanie
A1  - Preick, Michaela
A1  - Straube, Nicolas
A1  - Hofreiter, Michael
T1  - Simultaneous Barcode Sequencing of Diverse Museum Collection Specimens Using a Mixed RNA Bait Set
JF  - Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution
N2  - A growing number of publications presenting results from sequencing natural history collection specimens reflect the importance of DNA sequence information from such samples. Ancient DNA extraction and library preparation methods in combination with target gene capture are a way of unlocking archival DNA, including from formalin-fixed wet-collection material. Here we report on an experiment, in which we used an RNA bait set containing baits from a wide taxonomic range of species for DNA hybridisation capture of nuclear and mitochondrial targets for analysing natural history collection specimens. The bait set used consists of 2,492 mitochondrial and 530 nuclear RNA baits and comprises specific barcode loci of diverse animal groups including both invertebrates and vertebrates. The baits allowed to capture DNA sequence information of target barcode loci from 84% of the 37 samples tested, with nuclear markers being captured more frequently and consensus sequences of these being more complete compared to mitochondrial markers. Samples from dry material had a higher rate of success than wet-collection specimens, although target sequence information could be captured from 50% of formalin-fixed samples. Our study illustrates how efforts to obtain barcode sequence information from natural history collection specimens may be combined and are a way of implementing barcoding inventories of scientific collection material.
KW  - target capture
KW  - type specimens
KW  - molecular species identification
KW  - museum specimens
KW  - cross-species capture
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2022.909846
SN  - 2296-701X
VL  - 10
PB  - Frontiers Media S.A.
CY  - Lausanne, Schweiz
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Apriyanto, Ardha
A1  - Ajambang, Walter
T1  - Transcriptomic dataset for early inflorescence stages of oil palm in response to defoliation stress
JF  - Data in Brief
N2  - Oil palm breeding and seed development have been hindered due to the male parent's incapacity to produce male inflorescence as a source of pollen under normal conditions. On the other hand, a young oil palm plantation has a low pollination rate due to a lack of male flowers. These are the common problem of sex ratio in the oil palm industry. Nevertheless, the regulation of sex ratio in oil palm plants is a complex mechanism and remains an open question until now. Researchers have previously used complete defoliation to induce male inflorescences, but the biological and molecular mechanisms underlying this morphological change have yet to be discovered. Here, we present an RNA-seq dataset from three early stages of an oil palm inflorescence under normal conditions and complete defoliation stress. This transcriptomic dataset is a valuable resource to improve our understanding of sex determination mechanisms in oil palm inflorescence.
KW  - Complete defoliation
KW  - Flower development
KW  - Leaf axil
KW  - NGS
KW  - RNA-seq
KW  - Sex
KW  - determination
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dib.2022.107914
SN  - 2352-3409
VL  - 41
PB  - Elsevier
CY  - Amsterdam
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Parry, Victor
A1  - Schlägel, Ulrike E.
A1  - Tiedemann, Ralph
A1  - Weithoff, Guntram
T1  - Behavioural Responses of Defended and Undefended Prey to Their Predator
BT  - A Case Study of Rotifera
JF  - Biology
N2  - Predation is a strong species interaction causing severe harm or death to prey. Thus, prey species have evolved various defence strategies to minimize predation risk, which may be immediate (e.g., a change in behaviour) or transgenerational (morphological defence structures). We studied the behaviour of two strains of a rotiferan prey (Brachionus calyciflorus) that differ in their ability to develop morphological defences in response to their predator Asplanchna brightwellii. Using video analysis, we tested: (a) if two strains differ in their response to predator presence and predator cues when both are undefended; (b) whether defended individuals respond to live predators or their cues; and (c) if the morphological defence (large spines) per se has an effect on the swimming behaviour. We found a clear increase in swimming speed for both undefended strains in predator presence. However, the defended specimens responded neither to the predator presence nor to their cues, showing that they behave indifferently to their predator when they are defended. We did not detect an effect of the spines on the swimming behaviour. Our study demonstrates a complex plastic behaviour of the prey, not only in the presence of their predator, but also with respect to their defence status.
KW  - animal behaviour
KW  - transgenerational response
KW  - Brachionus calyciflorus
KW  - Asplanchna brightwellii
KW  - video analysis
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.3390/biology11081217
SN  - 2079-7737
VL  - 11
IS  - 8
PB  - MDPI
CY  - Basel, Schweiz
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Wicaksono, Wisnu Adi
A1  - Braun, Maria
A1  - Bernhardt, Jörg
A1  - Riedel, Katharina
A1  - Cernava, Tomislav
A1  - Berg, Gabriele
T1  - Trade-off for survival
BT  - microbiome response to chemical exposure combines activation of intrinsic resistances and adapted metabolic activity
JF  - Environment international : a journal of science, technology, health, monitoring and policy
N2  - The environmental micmbiota is increasingly exposed to chemical pollution. While the emergence of multi-resistant pathogens is recognized as a global challenge, our understanding of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) development from native microbiomes and the risks associated with chemical exposure is limited. By implementing a lichen as a bioindicator organism and model for a native microbiome, we systematically examined responses towards antimicrobials (colistin, tetracycline, glyphosate, and alkylpyrazine). Despite an unexpectedly high resilience, we identified potential evolutionary consequences of chemical exposure in terms of composition and functioning of native bacterial communities. Major shifts in bacterial composition were observed due to replacement of naturally abundant taxa; e.g. Chthoniobacterales by Pseudomonadales. A general response, which comprised activation of intrinsic resistance and parallel reduction of metabolic activity at RNA and protein levels was deciphered by a multi-omics approach. Targeted analyses of key taxa based on metagenome-assembled genomes reflected these responses but also revealed diversified strategies of their players. Chemical-specific responses were also observed, e.g., glyphosate enriched bacterial r-strategists and activated distinct ARGs. Our work demonstrates that the high resilience of the native micmbiota toward antimicrobial exposure is not only explained by the presence of antibiotic resistance genes but also adapted metabolic activity as a trade-off for survival. Moreover, our results highlight the importance of native microbiomes as important but so far neglected AMR reservoirs. We expect that this phenomenon is representative for a wide range of environmental microbiota exposed to chemicals that potentially contribute to the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria from natural environments.
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2022.107474
SN  - 1873-6750
VL  - 168
PB  - Elsevier Science
CY  - Amsterdam [u.a.]
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Pawlak, Julia
A1  - Noetzel, Dominique Christian
A1  - Drago, Claudia
A1  - Weithoff, Guntram
T1  - Assessing the toxicity of polystyrene beads and silica particles on the microconsumer Brachionus calyciflorus at different timescales
JF  - Frontiers in Environmental Science
N2  - Environmental pollution by microplastics has become a severe problem in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and, according to actual prognoses, problems will further increase in the future. Therefore, assessing and quantifying the risk for the biota is crucial. Standardized short-term toxicological procedures as well as methods quantifying potential toxic effects over the whole life span of an animal are required. We studied the effect of the microplastic polystyrene on the survival and reproduction of a common freshwater invertebrate, the rotifer Brachionus calyciflorus, at different timescales. We used pristine polystyrene spheres of 1, 3, and 6 µm diameter and fed them to the animals together with food algae in different ratios ranging from 0 to 50% nonfood particles. As a particle control, we used silica to distinguish between a pure particle effect and a plastic effect. After 24 h, no toxic effect was found, neither with polystyrene nor with silica. After 96 h, a toxic effect was detectable for both particle types. The size of the particles played a negligible role. Studying the long-term effect by using life table experiments, we found a reduced reproduction when the animals were fed with 3 µm spheres together with similar-sized food algae. We conclude that the fitness reduction is mainly driven by the dilution of food by the nonfood particles rather than by a direct toxic effect.
KW  - microplastics
KW  - rotifer
KW  - freshwater
KW  - natural particle
KW  - toxicity
KW  - environmental pollution
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2022.955425
SN  - 2296-665X
SP  - 1
EP  - 11
PB  - Frontiers
CY  - Lausanne, Schweiz
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Jänicke, Clemens
A1  - Goddard, Adam
A1  - Stein, Susanne
A1  - Steinmann, Horst-Henning
A1  - Lakes, Tobia
A1  - Nendel, Claas
A1  - Müller, Daniel
T1  - Field-level land-use data reveal heterogeneous crop sequences with distinct regional differences in Germany
JF  - European journal of agronomy
N2  - Crop cultivation intensifies globally, which can jeopardize biodiversity and the resilience of cropping systems. We investigate changes in crop rotations as one intensification metric for half of the croplands in Germany with annual field-level land-use data from 2005 to 2018. We proxy crop rotations with crop sequences and compare how these sequences changed among three seven-year periods. The results reveal an overall high diversity of crop sequences in Germany. Half of the cropland has crop sequences with four or more crops within a seven-year period, while continuous cultivation of the same crop is present on only 2% of the cropland. Larger farms tend to have more diverse crop sequences and organic farms have lower shares of cereal crops. In three federal states, crop rotations became less structurally diverse over time, i.e. the number of crops and the number of changes between crops decreased. In one state, structural diversity increased and the proportion of monocropping decreased. The functional diversity of the crop sequences, which measures the share of winter and spring crops as well as the share of leaf and cereal crops per sequence, remained largely stable. Trends towards cereal-or leaf -crop dominated sequences varied between the states, and no clear overall dynamic could be observed. However, the share of winter crops per sequence decreased in all four federal states. Quantifying the dynamics of crop sequences at the field level is an important metric of land-use intensity and can reveal the patterns of land-use intensification.
KW  - crop production
KW  - crop rotation
KW  - cropping diversity
KW  - IACS
KW  - intensification
KW  - land-use intensity
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eja.2022.126632
SN  - 1161-0301
SN  - 1873-7331
VL  - 141
PB  - Elsevier
CY  - Amsterdam
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Schweigel, Ulrike
A1  - Batsios, Petros
A1  - Müller-Taubenberger, Annette
A1  - Gräf, Ralph
A1  - Grafe, Marianne
T1  - Dictyostelium spastin is involved in nuclear envelope dynamics during semi-closed mitosis
JF  - Nucleus
N2  - Dictyostelium amoebae perform a semi-closed mitosis, in which the nuclear envelope is fenestrated at the insertion sites of the mitotic centrosomes and around the central spindle during karyokinesis. During late telophase the centrosome relocates to the cytoplasmic side of the nucleus, the central spindle disassembles and the nuclear fenestrae become closed. Our data indicate that Dictyostelium spastin (DdSpastin) is a microtubule-binding and severing type I membrane protein that plays a role in this process. Its mitotic localization is in agreement with a requirement for the removal of microtubules that would hinder closure of the fenestrae. Furthermore, DdSpastin interacts with the HeH/ LEM-family protein Src1 in BioID analyses as well as the inner nuclear membrane protein Sun1, and shows subcellular co-localizations with Src1, Sun1, the ESCRT component CHMP7 and the IST1-like protein filactin, suggesting that the principal pathway of mitotic nuclear envelope remodeling is conserved between animals and Dictyostelium amoebae.
KW  - Spastin
KW  - LEM-domain
KW  - ESCRT
KW  - sun1
KW  - dictyostelium
KW  - nuclear envelope
KW  - mitosis
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1080/19491034.2022.2047289
SN  - 1949-1034
SN  - 1949-1042
VL  - 13
IS  - 1
SP  - 144
EP  - 154
PB  - Taylor & Francis Group
CY  - Philadelphia
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Tebbe, Jonas
A1  - Ottensmann, Meinolf
A1  - Havenstein, Katja
A1  - Efstratiou, Artemis
A1  - Lenz, Tobias L.
A1  - Caspers, Barbara A.
A1  - Forcada, Jaume
A1  - Tiedemann, Ralph
A1  - Hoffman, Joseph
T1  - Intronic primers reveal unexpectedly high major histocompatibility complex diversity in Antarctic fur seals
JF  - Scientific reports
N2  - The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) is a group of genes comprising one of the most important components of the vertebrate immune system. Consequently, there has been much interest in characterising MHC variation and its relationship with fitness in a variety of species. Due to the exceptional polymorphism of MHC genes, careful PCR primer design is crucial for capturing all of the allelic variation present in a given species. We therefore developed intronic primers to amplify the full-length 267 bp protein-coding sequence of the MHC class II DQB exon 2 in the Antarctic fur seal. We then characterised patterns of MHC variation among mother-offspring pairs from two breeding colonies and detected 19 alleles among 771 clone sequences from 56 individuals. The distribution of alleles within and among individuals was consistent with a single-copy, classical DQB locus showing Mendelian inheritance. Amino acid similarity at the MHC was significantly associated with genome-wide relatedness, but no relationship was found between MHC heterozygosity and genome-wide heterozygosity. Finally, allelic diversity was several times higher than reported by a previous study based on partial exon sequences. This difference appears to be related to allele-specific amplification bias, implying that primer design can strongly impact the inference of MHC diversity.
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-21658-7
SN  - 2045-2322
VL  - 12
IS  - 1
PB  - Nature Publishing Group
CY  - London
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Kiemel, Katrin
A1  - Weithoff, Guntram
A1  - Tiedemann, Ralph
T1  - DNA metabarcoding reveals impact of local recruitment, dispersal, and hydroperiod on assembly of a zooplankton metacommunity
JF  - Molecular ecology
N2  - Understanding the environmental impact on the assembly of local communities in relation to their spatial and temporal connectivity is still a challenge in metacommunity ecology. This study aims to unravel underlying metacommunity processes and environmental factors that result in observed zooplankton communities. Unlike most metacommunity studies, we jointly examine active and dormant zooplankton communities using a DNA metabarcoding approach to overcome limitations of morphological species identification. We applied two-fragment (COI and 18S) metabarcoding to monitor communities of 24 kettle holes over a two-year period to unravel (i) spatial and temporal connectivity of the communities, (ii) environmental factors influencing local communities, and (iii) dominant underlying metacommunity processes in this system. We found a strong separation of zooplankton communities from kettle holes of different hydroperiods (degree of permanency) throughout the season, while the community composition within single kettle holes did not differ between years. Species richness was primarily dependent on pH and permanency, while species diversity (Shannon Index) was influenced by kettle hole location. Community composition was impacted by kettle hole size and surrounding field crops. Environmental processes dominated temporal and spatial processes. Sediment communities showed a different composition compared to water samples but did not differ between ephemeral and permanent kettle holes. Our results suggest that communities are mainly structured by environmental filtering based on pH, kettle hole size, surrounding field crops, and permanency. Environmental filtering based on specific conditions in individual kettle holes seems to be the dominant process in community assembly in the studied zooplankton metacommunity.
KW  - bulk DNA
KW  - dispersal
KW  - DNA-metabarcoding
KW  - environmental filtering;
KW  - metacommunity
KW  - zooplankton
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.16627
SN  - 0962-1083
SN  - 1365-294X
VL  - 32
IS  - 23
PB  - Wiley
CY  - Hoboken
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Parry, Victor
A1  - Schlägel, Ulrike E.
A1  - Tiedemann, Ralph
A1  - Weithoff, Guntram
T1  - Behavioural responses of defended and undefended prey to their predator
BT  - a case study of rotifera
JF  - Biology : open access journal
N2  - Many animals that have to cope with predation have evolved mechanisms to reduce their predation risk. One of these mechanisms is change in morphology, for example, the development of spines. These spines are induced, when mothers receive chemical signals of a predator (kairomones) and their daughters are then equipped with defensive spines. We studied the behaviour of a prey and its predator when the prey is either defended or undefended. We used common aquatic micro-invertebrates, the rotifers Brachionus calyciflorus (prey) and Asplanchna brightwellii (predator) as experimental animals. We found that undefended prey increased its swimming speed in the presence of the predator. The striking result was that the defended prey did not respond to the predator's presence. This suggests that defended prey has a different response behaviour to a predator than undefended conspecifics. Our study provides further insights into complex zooplankton predator-prey interactions. Predation is a strong species interaction causing severe harm or death to prey. Thus, prey species have evolved various defence strategies to minimize predation risk, which may be immediate (e.g., a change in behaviour) or transgenerational (morphological defence structures). We studied the behaviour of two strains of a rotiferan prey (Brachionus calyciflorus) that differ in their ability to develop morphological defences in response to their predator Asplanchna brightwellii. Using video analysis, we tested: (a) if two strains differ in their response to predator presence and predator cues when both are undefended; (b) whether defended individuals respond to live predators or their cues; and (c) if the morphological defence (large spines) per se has an effect on the swimming behaviour. We found a clear increase in swimming speed for both undefended strains in predator presence. However, the defended specimens responded neither to the predator presence nor to their cues, showing that they behave indifferently to their predator when they are defended. We did not detect an effect of the spines on the swimming behaviour. Our study demonstrates a complex plastic behaviour of the prey, not only in the presence of their predator, but also with respect to their defence status.
KW  - animal behaviour
KW  - transgenerational response
KW  - Brachionus calyciflorus
KW  - Asplanchna brightwellii
KW  - video analysis
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.3390/biology11081217
SN  - 2079-7737
VL  - 11
IS  - 8
PB  - MDPI
CY  - Basel
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Emary, Clive
A1  - Malchow, Anne-Kathleen
T1  - Stability-instability transition in tripartite merged ecological networks
JF  - Journal of mathematical biology
N2  - Although ecological networks are typically constructed based on a single type of interaction, e.g. trophic interactions in a food web, a more complete picture of ecosystem composition and functioning arises from merging networks of multiple interaction types. In this work, we consider tripartite networks constructed by merging two bipartite networks, one mutualistic and one antagonistic. Taking the interactions within each sub-network to be distributed randomly, we consider the stability of the dynamics of the network based on the spectrum of its community matrix. In the asymptotic limit of a large number of species, we show that the spectrum undergoes an eigenvalue phase transition, which leads to an abrupt destabilisation of the network as the ratio of mutualists to antagonists is increased. We also derive results that show how this transition is manifest in networks of finite size, as well as when disorder is introduced in the segregation of the two interaction types. Our random-matrix results will serve as a baseline for understanding the behaviour of merged networks with more realistic structures and/or more detailed dynamics.
KW  - Random matrices
KW  - Phase transition
KW  - Random eigenvalues
KW  - Population dynamics
KW  - Community matrix
KW  - Ecological network
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00285-022-01783-7
SN  - 0303-6812
SN  - 1432-1416
VL  - 85
IS  - 3
PB  - Springer
CY  - Heidelberg
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Schlör, Anja
A1  - Hirschberg, Stefan
A1  - Ben Amor, Ghada
A1  - Meister, Toni Luise
A1  - Arora, Prerna
A1  - Pöhlmann, Stefan
A1  - Hoffmann, Markus
A1  - Pfänder, Stephanie
A1  - Eddin, Omar Kamal
A1  - Kamhieh-Milz, Julian
A1  - Hanack, Katja
T1  - SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing camelid heavy-chain-only antibodies as powerful tools for diagnostic and therapeutic applications
JF  - Frontiers in Immunology
N2  - Introduction: The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic situation caused by SARS-CoV-2 and variants of concern such as B.1.617.2 (Delta) and recently, B.1.1.529 (Omicron) is posing multiple challenges to humanity. The rapid evolution of the virus requires adaptation of diagnostic and therapeutic applications.

Objectives: In this study, we describe camelid heavy-chain-only antibodies (hcAb) as useful tools for novel in vitro diagnostic assays and for therapeutic applications due to their neutralizing capacity.

Methods: Five antibody candidates were selected out of a naïve camelid library by phage display and expressed as full length IgG2 antibodies. The antibodies were characterized by Western blot, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays, surface plasmon resonance with regard to their specificity to the recombinant SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein and to SARS-CoV-2 virus-like particles. Neutralization assays were performed with authentic SARS-CoV-2 and pseudotyped viruses (wildtype and Omicron).

Results: All antibodies efficiently detect recombinant SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein and SARS-CoV-2 virus-like particles in different ELISA setups. The best combination was shown with hcAb B10 as catcher antibody and HRP-conjugated hcAb A7.2 as the detection antibody. Further, four out of five antibodies potently neutralized authentic wildtype SARS-CoV-2 and particles pseudotyped with the SARS-CoV-2 Spike proteins of the wildtype and Omicron variant, sublineage BA.1 at concentrations between 0.1 and 0.35 ng/mL (ND50).

Conclusion: Collectively, we report novel camelid hcAbs suitable for diagnostics and potential therapy.
KW  - camelid heavy-chain-only antibodies
KW  - single domain antibodies
KW  - nanobodies
KW  - SARS-CoV-2
KW  - neutralization
KW  - Omicron
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2022.930975
SN  - 1664-3224
SP  - 1
EP  - 14
PB  - Frontiers Media SA
CY  - Lausanne, Schweiz
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Engel, Robert
A1  - Micheel, Burkhard
A1  - Hanack, Katja
T1  - Three-dimensional cell culture approach for in vitro immunization and the production of monoclonal antibodies
JF  - Biomedical materials : materials for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine
N2  - The generation of monoclonal antibodies using an in vitro immunization approach is a promising alternative to conventional hybridoma technology. As recently published, the in vitro approach enables an antigen-specific activation of B lymphocytes within 10-12 d followed by immortalization and subsequent selection of hybridomas. This in vitro process can be further improved by using a three-dimensional surrounding to stabilize the complex microenvironment required for a successful immune reaction. In this study, the suitability of Geltrex as a material for the generation of monoclonal antigen-specific antibodies by in vitro immunization was analyzed. We could show that dendritic cells, B cells, and T cells were able to travel through and interact inside of the matrix, leading to the antigen-specific activation of T and B cells. For cell recovery and subsequent hybridoma technique the suitability of dispase and Corning cell recovery solution (CRS) was compared. In our experiments, the use of dispase resulted in a severe alteration of cell surface receptor expression patterns and significantly higher cell death, while we could not detect an adverse effect of Corning CRS. Finally, an easy approach for high-density cell culture was established by printing an alginate ring inside a cell culture vessel. The ring was filled with Geltrex, cells, and medium to ensure a sufficient supply during cultivation. Using this approach, we were able to generate monoclonal hybridomas that produce antigen-specific antibodies against ovalbumin and the SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein.
KW  - monoclonal antibody
KW  - hybridoma technology
KW  - in vitro immunization
KW  - 3D
KW  - cell culture
KW  - Geltrex
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-605X/ac7b00
SN  - 1748-6041
SN  - 1748-605X
VL  - 17
IS  - 5
PB  - Inst. of Physics
CY  - London
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Czarnecka, Malgorzata
A1  - Weichelt, Ulrike
A1  - Rödiger, Stefan
A1  - Hanack, Katja
T1  - Novel Anti Double-Stranded Nucleic Acids Full-Length Recombinant Camelid Heavy-Chain Antibody for the Detection of miRNA
JF  - International Journal of Molecular Sciences
N2  - The discovery that certain diseases have specific miRNA signatures which correspond to disease progression opens a new biomarker category. The detection of these small non-coding RNAs is performed routinely using body fluids or tissues with real-time PCR, next-generation sequencing, or amplification-based miRNA assays. Antibody-based detection systems allow an easy onset handling compared to PCR or sequencing and can be considered as alternative methods to support miRNA diagnostic in the future. In this study, we describe the generation of a camelid heavy-chain-only antibody specifically recognizing miRNAs to establish an antibody-based detection method. The generation of nucleic acid-specific binders is a challenge. We selected camelid binders via phage display, expressed them as VHH as well as full-length antibodies, and characterized the binding to several miRNAs from a signature specific for dilated cardiomyopathy. The described workflow can be used to create miRNA-specific binders and establish antibody-based detection methods to provide an additional way to analyze disease-specific miRNA signatures.
KW  - antibody
KW  - camelid antibody
KW  - heavy-chain-only antibody
KW  - miRNA
KW  - nucleic acids
KW  - novel biomarkers
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms23116275
SN  - 1422-0067
VL  - 23
SP  - 1
EP  - 18
PB  - MDPI
CY  - Basel, Schweiz
ET  - 11
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Bognár, Zsófia
A1  - Supala, Eszter
A1  - Yarman, Aysu
A1  - Zhang, Xiaorong
A1  - Bier, Frank Fabian
A1  - Scheller, Frieder W.
A1  - Gyurcsanyi, Róbert E.
T1  - Peptide epitope-imprinted polymer microarrays for selective protein recognition
BT  - application for SARS-CoV-2 RBD protein
JF  - Chemical science / RSC, Royal Society of Chemistry
N2  - We introduce a practically generic approach for the generation of epitope-imprinted polymer-based microarrays for protein recognition on surface plasmon resonance imaging (SPRi) chips. The SPRi platform allows the subsequent rapid screening of target binding kinetics in a multiplexed and label-free manner. The versatility of such microarrays, both as synthetic and screening platform, is demonstrated through developing highly affine molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) for the recognition of the receptor binding domain (RBD) of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. A characteristic nonapeptide GFNCYFPLQ from the RBD and other control peptides were microspotted onto gold SPRi chips followed by the electrosynthesis of a polyscopoletin nanofilm to generate in one step MIP arrays. A single chip screening of essential synthesis parameters, including the surface density of the template peptide and its sequence led to MIPs with dissociation constants (K-D) in the lower nanomolar range for RBD, which exceeds the affinity of RBD for its natural target, angiotensin-convertase 2 enzyme. Remarkably, the same MIPs bound SARS-CoV-2 virus like particles with even higher affinity along with excellent discrimination of influenza A (H3N2) virus. While MIPs prepared with a truncated heptapeptide template GFNCYFP showed only a slightly decreased affinity for RBD, a single mismatch in the amino acid sequence of the template, i.e. the substitution of the central cysteine with a serine, fully suppressed the RBD binding.
Y1  - 2021
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1039/d1sc04502d
SN  - 2041-6539
VL  - 13
IS  - 5
SP  - 1263
EP  - 1269
PB  - Royal Society of Chemistry
CY  - Cambridge
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Kiemel, Katrin
A1  - Gurke, Marie
A1  - Paraskevopoulou, Sofia
A1  - Havenstein, Katja
A1  - Weithoff, Guntram
A1  - Tiedemann, Ralph
T1  - Variation in heat shock protein 40 kDa relates to divergence in thermotolerance among cryptic rotifer species
JF  - Scientific reports
N2  - Genetic divergence and the frequency of hybridization are central for defining species delimitations, especially among cryptic species where morphological differences are merely absent. Rotifers are known for their high cryptic diversity and therefore are ideal model organisms to investigate such patterns. Here, we used the recently resolved Brachionus calyciflorus species complex to investigate whether previously observed between species differences in thermotolerance and gene expression are also reflected in their genomic footprint. We identified a Heat Shock Protein gene (HSP 40 kDa) which exhibits cross species pronounced sequence variation. This gene exhibits species-specific fixed sites, alleles, and sites putatively under positive selection. These sites are located in protein binding regions involved in chaperoning and may therefore reflect adaptive diversification. By comparing three genetic markers (ITS, COI, HSP 40 kDa), we revealed hybridization events between the cryptic species. The low frequency of introgressive haplotypes/alleles suggest a tight, but not fully impermeable boundary between the cryptic species.
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-27137-3
SN  - 2045-2322
VL  - 12
IS  - 1
PB  - Macmillan Publishers Limited
CY  - London
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Kiemel, Katrin
A1  - Gurke, Marie
A1  - Paraskevopoulou, Sofia
A1  - Havenstein, Katja
A1  - Weithoff, Guntram
A1  - Tiedemann, Ralph
T1  - Variation in heat shock protein 40 kDa relates to divergence in thermotolerance among cryptic rotifer species
JF  - Scientific Reports
N2  - Genetic divergence and the frequency of hybridization are central for defining species delimitations, especially among cryptic species where morphological differences are merely absent. Rotifers are known for their high cryptic diversity and therefore are ideal model organisms to investigate such patterns. Here, we used the recently resolved Brachionus calyciflorus species complex to investigate whether previously observed between species differences in thermotolerance and gene expression are also reflected in their genomic footprint. We identified a Heat Shock Protein gene (HSP 40 kDa) which exhibits cross species pronounced sequence variation. This gene exhibits species-specific fixed sites, alleles, and sites putatively under positive selection. These sites are located in protein binding regions involved in chaperoning and may therefore reflect adaptive diversification. By comparing three genetic markers (ITS, COI, HSP 40 kDa), we revealed hybridization events between the cryptic species. The low frequency of introgressive haplotypes/alleles suggest a tight, but not fully impermeable boundary between the cryptic species.
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-27137-3
SN  - 2045-2322
VL  - 12
PB  - Springer Nature
CY  - London
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Fiorini, Vanina D.
A1  - Domínguez, Marisol
A1  - Reboreda, Juan C.
A1  - Swaddle, John P.
T1  - A recent invasive population of the European starling sturnus vulgaris has lower genetic diversity and higher fluctuating asymmetry than primary invasive and native populations
JF  - Biological invasions : unique international journal uniting scientists in the broad field of biological invasions
N2  - Fluctuating asymmetries (FA) are small stress-induced random deviations from perfect symmetry that arise during the development of bilaterally symmetrical traits. One of the factors that can reduce developmental stability of the individuals and cause FA at a population level is the loss of genetic variation. Populations of founding colonists frequently have lower genetic variation than their ancestral populations that could be reflected in a higher level of FA. The European starling (Sturnus vulgaris) is native to Eurasia and was introduced successfully in the USA in 1890 and Argentina in 1983. In this study, we documented the genetic diversity and FA of starlings from England (ancestral population), USA (primary introduction) and Argentina (secondary introduction). We predicted the Argentinean starlings would have the highest level of FA and lowest genetic diversity of the three populations. We captured wild adult European starlings in England, USA, and Argentina, measured their mtDNA diversity and allowed them to molt under standardized conditions to evaluate their FA of primary feathers. For genetic analyses, we extracted DNA from blood samples of individuals from Argentina and USA and from feather samples from individuals from England and sequenced the mitochondrial control region. Starlings in Argentina showed the highest composite FA and exhibited the lowest haplotype and nucleotide diversity. The USA population showed a level of FA and genetic diversity similar to the native population. Therefore, the level of asymmetry and genetic diversity found among these populations was consistent with our predictions based on their invasion history.
KW  - Exotic bird species
KW  - Fluctuating asymmetry
KW  - Genetic variability
KW  - Sturnus
KW  - vulgaris
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-021-02653-x
SN  - 1387-3547
SN  - 1573-1464
VL  - 24
IS  - 2
SP  - 437
EP  - 448
PB  - Springer
CY  - Dordrecht
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Hoffmann, Julia
A1  - Hölker, Franz
A1  - Eccard, Jana
T1  - Welcome to the dark side
BT  - partial nighttime illumination affects night-and daytime foraging behavior of a small mammal
JF  - Frontiers in ecology and evolution
N2  - Differences in natural light conditions caused by changes in moonlight are known to affect perceived predation risk in many nocturnal prey species. As artificial light at night (ALAN) is steadily increasing in space and intensity, it has the potential to change movement and foraging behavior of many species as it might increase perceived predation risk and mask natural light cycles. We investigated if partial nighttime illumination leads to changes in foraging behavior during the night and the subsequent day in a small mammal and whether these changes are related to animal personalities. We subjected bank voles to partial nighttime illumination in a foraging landscape under laboratory conditions and in large grassland enclosures under near natural conditions. We measured giving-up density of food in illuminated and dark artificial seed patches and video recorded the movement of animals. While animals reduced number of visits to illuminated seed patches at night, they increased visits to these patches at the following day compared to dark seed patches. Overall, bold individuals had lower giving-up densities than shy individuals but this difference increased at day in formerly illuminated seed patches. Small mammals thus showed carry-over effects on daytime foraging behavior due to ALAN, i.e., nocturnal illumination has the potential to affect intra- and interspecific interactions during both night and day with possible changes in personality structure within populations and altered predator-prey dynamics.
KW  - light pollution
KW  - inter-individual differences
KW  - animal personality
KW  - Myodes glareolus
KW  - ALAN
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2021.779825
SN  - 2296-701X
VL  - 9
PB  - Frontiers Media
CY  - Lausanne
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Scharf, Christina
A1  - Weinelt, Ferdinand Anton
A1  - Schroeder, Ines
A1  - Paal, Michael
A1  - Weigand, Michael
A1  - Zoller, Michael
A1  - Irlbeck, Michael
A1  - Kloft, Charlotte
A1  - Briegel, Josef
A1  - Liebchen, Uwe
T1  - Does the cytokine adsorber CytoSorb (R) reduce vancomycin exposure in critically ill patients with sepsis or septic shock?
BT  - a prospective observational study
JF  - Annals of intensive care
N2  - Background: 
Hemadsorption of cytokines is used in critically ill patients with sepsis or septic shock. Concerns have been raised that the cytokine adsorber CytoSorb (R) unintentionally adsorbs vancomycin. This study aimed to quantify vancomycin elimination by CytoSorb (R) . 

Methods: 
Critically ill patients with sepsis or septic shock receiving continuous renal replacement therapy and CytoSorb (R) treatment during a prospective observational study were included in the analysis. Vancomycin pharmacokinetics was characterized using population pharmacokinetic modeling. Adsorption of vancomycin by the CytoSorb (R) was investigated as linear or saturable process. The final model was used to derive dosing recommendations based on stochastic simulations. 

Results:
20 CytoSorb (R) treatments in 7 patients (160 serum samples/24 during CytoSorb (R)-treatment, all continuous infusion) were included in the study. A classical one-compartment model, including effluent flow rate of the continuous hemodialysis as linear covariate on clearance, best described the measured concentrations (without CytoSorb (R)). Significant adsorption with a linear decrease during CytoSorb (R) treatment was identified (p <0.0001) and revealed a maximum increase in vancomycin clearance of 291% (initially after CytoSorb (R) installation) and a maximum adsorption capacity of 572 mg. For a representative patient of our cohort a reduction of the area under the curve (AUC) by 93 mg/L*24 h during CytoSorb (R) treatment was observed. The additional administration of 500 mg vancomycin over 2 h during CytoSorb (R) attenuated the effect and revealed a negligible reduction of the AUC by 4 mg/L*24h.

Conclusion: 
We recommend the infusion of 500 mg vancomycin over 2 h during CytoSorb (R) treatment to avoid subtherapeutic concentrations.
KW  - Vancomycin
KW  - Critically ill patients
KW  - CytoSorb (R)
KW  - Sepsis;
KW  - Pharmacokinetics
KW  - Adsorption
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1186/s13613-022-01017-5
SN  - 2110-5820
VL  - 12
IS  - 1
PB  - Springer
CY  - Heidelberg
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Pohle, Lara
A1  - Hosoya, Georg
A1  - Pohle, Jennifer
A1  - Meyer-Jenßen, Lars
T1  - The relationship between early childhood teachers' instructional quality and children's mathematics development
JF  - Learning and instruction : the journal of the European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction
N2  - This study examined how early childhood (EC) teachers' instructional quality predicted children's development in mathematics across two measurement occasions. Therefore, EC teachers' (n = 25) instructional quality was assessed using one standardized observation instrument covering both domain-specific and general aspects of instructional quality. Additionally, data on children's (n = 208) outcome in early number skills was collected applying a standardized test. Multilevel structural equation modeling was used accounting for nested data. Children's age and the average size of preschool groups were controlled for. Results revealed that EC teachers' instructional quality predicted children's development but was not associated with their initial achievement. The findings suggest that instruments covering domain-specific and general aspects might be helpful in order to measure EC teachers' instructional quality in mathematics and predict children's learning growth. Understanding the mechanisms between instructional quality and children's development may help EC teachers to enhance their math teaching in practice.
KW  - Early childhood education
KW  - Early childhood teachers
KW  - Instructional
KW  - quality
KW  - Early mathematics development
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2022.101636
SN  - 0959-4752
SN  - 1873-3263
VL  - 82
PB  - Elsevier
CY  - Oxford
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Foerster, Verena
A1  - Asrat, Asfawossen
A1  - Ramsey, Christopher Bronk
A1  - Brown, Erik T.
A1  - Chapot, Melissa S.
A1  - Deino, Alan
A1  - Düsing, Walter
A1  - Grove, Matthew
A1  - Hahn, Annette
A1  - Junginger, Annett
A1  - Kaboth-Bahr, Stefanie
A1  - Lane, Christine S.
A1  - Opitz, Stephan
A1  - Noren, Anders
A1  - Roberts, Helen M.
A1  - Stockhecke, Mona
A1  - Tiedemann, Ralph
A1  - Vidal, Celine M.
A1  - Vogelsang, Ralf
A1  - Cohen, Andrew S.
A1  - Lamb, Henry F.
A1  - Schaebitz, Frank
A1  - Trauth, Martin H.
T1  - Pleistocene climate variability in eastern Africa influenced hominin evolution
JF  - Nature geoscience
N2  - Despite more than half a century of hominin fossil discoveries in eastern Africa, the regional environmental context of hominin evolution and dispersal is not well established due to the lack of continuous palaeoenvironmental records from one of the proven habitats of early human populations, particularly for the Pleistocene epoch. Here we present a 620,000-year environmental record from Chew Bahir, southern Ethiopia, which is proximal to key fossil sites. Our record documents the potential influence of different episodes of climatic variability on hominin biological and cultural transformation. The appearance of high anatomical diversity in hominin groups coincides with long-lasting and relatively stable humid conditions from similar to 620,000 to 275,000 years bp (episodes 1-6), interrupted by several abrupt and extreme hydroclimate perturbations. A pattern of pronounced climatic cyclicity transformed habitats during episodes 7-9 (similar to 275,000-60,000 years bp), a crucial phase encompassing the gradual transition from Acheulean to Middle Stone Age technologies, the emergence of Homo sapiens in eastern Africa and key human social and cultural innovations. Those accumulative innovations plus the alignment of humid pulses between northeastern Africa and the eastern Mediterranean during high-frequency climate oscillations of episodes 10-12 (similar to 60,000-10,000 years bp) could have facilitated the global dispersal of H. sapiens.
KW  - Evolutionary ecology
KW  - Limnology
KW  - Palaeoclimate
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-022-01032-y
SN  - 1752-0894
SN  - 1752-0908
VL  - 15
IS  - 10
SP  - 805
EP  - 811
PB  - Nature Publ. Group
CY  - London
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Zhang, Shanshan
A1  - Liu, Yue
A1  - Machatschek, Rainhard Gabriel
A1  - Lendlein, Andreas
T1  - Ultrathin collagen type I films formed at the air-water interface
JF  - MRS advances : a journal of the Materials Research Society (MRS)
N2  - Collagen-based biomaterials with oriented fibrils have shown great application potential in medicine. However, it is still challenging to control the type I collagen fibrillogenesis in ultrathin films. Here, we report an approach to produce cohesive and well-organized type I collagen ultrathin films of about 10 nm thickness using the Langmuir-Blodgett technique. Ellipsometry, rheology, and Brewster angle microscopy are applied to investigate in situ how the molecules behave at the air-water interface, both at room temperature and 37 degrees C. The interfacial storage modulus observed at room temperature vanishes upon heating, indicating the existence and disappearance of the network structure in the protein nanosheet. The films were spanning over holes as large as 1 mm diameter when transferred at room temperature, proving the strong cohesive interactions. A highly aligned and fibrillar structure was observed by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and optical microscopy.
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1557/s43580-021-00160-8
SN  - 2059-8521
VL  - 7
IS  - 4
SP  - 56
EP  - 62
PB  - Springer Nature Switzerland AG
CY  - Cham
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Olimi, Expedito
A1  - Kusstatscher, Peter
A1  - Wicaksono, Wisnu Adi
A1  - Abdelfattah, Ahmed
A1  - Cernava, Tomislav
A1  - Berg, Gabriele
T1  - Insights into the microbiome assembly during different growth stages and storage of strawberry plants
JF  - Environmental microbiome
N2  - Background: Microbiome assembly was identified as an important factor for plant growth and health, but this process is largely unknown, especially for the fruit microbiome. Therefore, we analyzed strawberry plants of two cultivars by focusing on microbiome tracking during the different growth stages and storage using amplicon sequencing, qPCR, and microscopic approaches. <br /> Results: Strawberry plants carried a highly diverse microbiome, therein the bacterial families Sphingomonadaceae (25%), Pseudomonadaceae (17%), and Burkholderiaceae (11%); and the fungal family Mycosphaerella (45%) were most abundant. All compartments were colonized by high number of bacteria and fungi (10(7)-10(10) marker gene copies per g fresh weight), and were characterized by high microbial diversity (6049 and 1501 ASVs); both were higher for the belowground samples than in the phyllosphere. Compartment type was the main driver of microbial diversity, structure, and abundance (bacterial: 45%; fungal: 61%) when compared to the cultivar (1.6%; 2.2%). Microbiome assembly was strongly divided for belowground habitats and the phyllosphere; only a low proportion of the microbiome was transferred from soil via the rhizosphere to the phyllosphere. During fruit development, we observed the highest rates of microbial transfer from leaves and flowers to ripe fruits, where most of the bacteria occured inside the pulp. In postharvest fruits, microbial diversity decreased while the overall abundance increased. Developing postharvest decay caused by Botrytis cinerea decreased the diversity as well, and induced a reduction of potentially beneficial taxa. <br /> Conclusion: Our findings provide insights into microbiome assembly in strawberry plants and highlight the importance of microbe transfer during fruit development and storage with potential implications for food health and safety.
KW  - Fragaria x ananassa
KW  - Microbiome assembly
KW  - Fruit pathogens
KW  - Bacterial
KW  - communities
KW  - Fungal communities
KW  - Amplicon sequencing
KW  - CLSM
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1186/s40793-022-00415-3
SN  - 2524-6372
VL  - 17
IS  - 1
PB  - BMC
CY  - London
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Çabuk, Uğur
A1  - Ünlü, Ercan Selçuk
T1  - A combined de novo assembly approach increases the quality of prokaryotic draft genomes
JF  - Folia microbiologica : international journal for general, environmental and applied microbiology, and immunology
N2  - Next-generation sequencing methods provide comprehensive data for the analysis of structural and functional analysis of the genome. The draft genomes with low contig number and high N50 value can give insight into the structure of the genome as well as provide information on the annotation of the genome. In this study, we designed a pipeline that can be used to assemble prokaryotic draft genomes with low number of contigs and high N50 value. We aimed to use combination of two de novo assembly tools (SPAdes and IDBA-Hybrid) and evaluate the impact of this approach on the quality metrics of the assemblies. The followed pipeline was tested with the raw sequence data with short reads (< 300) for a total of 10 species from four different genera. To obtain the final draft genomes, we firstly assembled the sequences using SPAdes to find closely related organism using the extracted 16 s rRNA from it. IDBA-Hybrid assembler was used to obtain the second assembly data using the closely related organism genome. SPAdes assembler tool was implemented using the second assembly, produced by IDBA-hybrid as a hint. The results were evaluated using QUAST and BUSCO. The pipeline was successful for the reduction of the contig numbers and increasing the N50 statistical values in the draft genome assemblies while preserving the coverage of the draft genomes.
KW  - De novo assembly
KW  - Prokaryotes
KW  - Bacteria
KW  - NGS
KW  - Short reads
KW  - Draft genome
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1007/s12223-022-00980-7
SN  - 0015-5632
SN  - 1874-9356
VL  - 67
SP  - 801
EP  - 810
PB  - Springer
CY  - Dordrecht
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Iltis, Peter W.
A1  - Frahm, Jens
A1  - Voit, Dirk
A1  - Wood, Danielle
A1  - Taylor, Scott
T1  - Oral cavity movements of the tongue during large interval slurs in high-level horn players br a descriptive study
JF  - Medical problems of performing artists
N2  - OBJECTIVE: 
Recent publications describing lingual movement strategies within the oral cavity of brass players have established the existence of efficient and predictable movement patterns in healthy performers for a variety of performance tasks. In this study we extend the research to include the playing of large interval slurs in horn players. 

METHODS: 
Real-time MRI films at 40-msec resolution were simultaneously obtained in the sagittal
and coronal planes in 9 professional horn players as they performed 2 repetitions each of 3 slur sequences spanning 1 octave, 1 octave + 3rd, and 1 octave + 5th at a mezzo forte dynamic level. Nine profile lines were overlaid on the images allowing the measurement of dorsal tongue edge movement using a customized MATLAB toolkit. Movement along lines representing the anterior, middle, and posterior oral cavity in the sagittal plane, as well as the vertical height of an air channel observed in the coronal plane, are reported. 

RESULTS: 
Both sagittal and coronal views demonstrate patterned tongue movements that narrow and widen the air channel during ascending and descending slurs, respectively. The magnitude of these movements is greater during larger intervals, though not perfectly consistent within each slur sequence. Additionally, the tongue position during notes
tends to drift in the direction of the subsequent note in each sequence. We suggest that the observed movements may help to modulate air speed through the lips, possible attenuating embouchure muscle tension changes by assisting changes in lip vibration frequency.
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.21091/mppa.2022.2014
SN  - 0885-1158
SN  - 1938-2766
VL  - 3
IS  - 2
SP  - 89
EP  - 97
PB  - Science & Medicine, Inc.
CY  - Narberth
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Laun, Konstantin
A1  - Duffus, Benjamin R.
A1  - Wahlefeld, Stefan
A1  - Katz, Sagie
A1  - Belger, Dennis Heinz
A1  - Hildebrandt, Peter
A1  - Mroginski, Maria Andrea
A1  - Leimkühler, Silke
A1  - Zebger, Ingo
T1  - Infrared spectroscopy flucidates the inhibitor binding sites in a metal-dependent formate dehydrogenase
JF  - Chemistry - a European journal
N2  - Biological carbon dioxide (CO2) reduction is an important step by which organisms form valuable energy-richer molecules required for further metabolic processes. The Mo-dependent formate dehydrogenase (FDH) from Rhodobacter capsulatus catalyzes reversible formate oxidation to CO2 at a bis-molybdopterin guanine dinucleotide (bis-MGD) cofactor. To elucidate potential substrate binding sites relevant for the mechanism, we studied herein the interaction with the inhibitory molecules azide and cyanate, which are isoelectronic to CO2 and charged as formate. We employed infrared (IR) spectroscopy in combination with density functional theory (DFT) and inhibition kinetics. One distinct inhibitory molecule was found to bind to either a non-competitive or a competitive binding site in the secondary coordination sphere of the active site. Site-directed mutagenesis of key amino acid residues in the vicinity of the bis-MGD cofactor revealed changes in both non-competitive and competitive binding, whereby the inhibitor is in case of the latter interaction presumably bound between the cofactor and the adjacent Arg587.
KW  - CO2 reduction
KW  - DFT
KW  - formate oxidation
KW  - inhibition kinetics
KW  - IR
KW  - spectroscopy
KW  - molybdoenzyme
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1002/chem.202201091
SN  - 0947-6539
SN  - 1521-3765
PB  - Wiley-VCH
CY  - Weinheim
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Klauschies, Toni
A1  - Isanta-Navarro, Jana
T1  - The joint effects of salt and 6PPD contamination on a freshwater herbivore
JF  - The science of the total environment : an international journal for scientific research into the environment and its relationship with man
N2  - Using sodium chloride (NaCl) for de-icing roads is known to have severe consequences on freshwater organisms when washed into water bodies. N-(1,3-dimethylbutyl)-N '-phenyl-p-phenylenediamine, also known as 6PPD, is an antiozonant mainly found in automobile tire rubber to prevent ozone mediated cracking or wear-out. Especially the ozonated derivate, 6PPD-quinone, which is washed into streams after storm events, has been found to be toxic for coho salmon. Studies on other freshwater organisms could not confirm those findings, pointing towards distinct species-specific differences. Storm events result in greater run-offs from all water-soluble contaminants into freshwater bodies, potentially enhancing the concentrations of both chloride and 6PPD during winter. Here we show that these two contaminants have synergistic negative effects on the population growth of the rotifer Brachionus calyciflorus, a common freshwater herbivore. Hence, while only high concentrations of 6PPD and even higher concentrations of 6PPD-quinone, beyond environmentally relevant concentrations, had lethal effects on rotifers, the addition of NaCl enhanced the sensitivity of the rotifers towards the application of 6PPD so that their negative effects were more pronounced at lower concentrations. Similarly, 6PPD increased the lethal effect of NaCl. Our results support the species-specific toxicity of 6PPD and demonstrate a synergistic effect of the antiozonant on the toxicity of other environmentally relevant stressors, such as road salt contamination.
KW  - Anthropogenic impact
KW  - Car tire rubber
KW  - Environmental stressor
KW  - Rotifer
KW  - Sodium chloride
KW  - 6PPD quinone
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154675
SN  - 0048-9697
SN  - 1879-1026
VL  - 829
PB  - Elsevier
CY  - Amsterdam
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Andrade, Luis
A1  - Lu, Yunlong
A1  - Cordeiro, Andre
A1  - Costa, João M. F.
A1  - Wigge, Philip Anthony
A1  - Saibo, Nelson J. M.
A1  - Jaeger, Katja E.
T1  - The evening complex integrates photoperiod signals to control flowering in rice
JF  - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America : PNAS
N2  - Plants use photoperiodism to activate flowering in response to a particular daylength. In rice, flowering is accelerated in short-day conditions, and even a brief exposure to light during the dark period (night-break) is sufficient to delay flowering. Although many of the genes involved in controlling flowering in rice have been uncovered, how the long- and short-day flowering pathways are integrated, and the mechanism of photoperiod perception is not understood. While many of the signaling components controlling photoperiod-activated flowering are conserved between Arabidopsis and rice, flowering in these two systems is activated by opposite photoperiods. Here we establish that photoperiodism in rice is controlled by the evening complex (EC). We show that mutants in the EC genes LUX ARRYTHMO (LUX) and EARLY FLOWERING3 (ELF3) paralogs abolish rice flowering. We also show that the EC directly binds and suppresses the expression of flowering repressors, including PRR37 and Ghd7. We further demonstrate that light acts via phyB to cause a rapid and sustained posttranslational modification of ELF3-1. Our results suggest a mechanism by which the EC is able to control both long- and short-day flowering pathways.
KW  - rice
KW  - flowering
KW  - ELF3
KW  - LUX
KW  - Evening Complex
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2122582119
SN  - 0027-8424
SN  - 1091-6490
VL  - 119
IS  - 26
PB  - National Acad. of Sciences
CY  - Washington
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Fujihara, Kenji M.
A1  - Zhang, Bonnie Z.
A1  - Jackson, Thomas D.
A1  - Ogunkola, Moses
A1  - Nijagal, Brunda
A1  - Milne, Julia V.
A1  - Sallman, David A.
A1  - Ang, Ching-Seng
A1  - Nikolic, Iva
A1  - Kearney, Conor J.
A1  - Hogg, Simon J.
A1  - Cabalag, Carlos S.
A1  - Sutton, Vivien R.
A1  - Watt, Sally
A1  - Fujihara, Asuka T.
A1  - Trapani, Joseph A.
A1  - Simpson, Kaylene J.
A1  - Stojanovski, Diana
A1  - Leimkühler, Silke
A1  - Haupt, Sue
A1  - Phillips, Wayne A.
A1  - Clemons, Nicholas J.
T1  - Eprenetapopt triggers ferroptosis, inhibits NFS1 cysteine desulfurase, and synergizes with serine and glycine dietary restriction
JF  - Science Advances
N2  - The mechanism of action of eprenetapopt (APR-246, PRIMA-1MET) as an anticancer agent remains unresolved, al-though the clinical development of eprenetapopt focuses on its reported mechanism of action as a mutant-p53 reactivator. Using unbiased approaches, this study demonstrates that eprenetapopt depletes cellular antioxidant glutathione levels by increasing its turnover, triggering a nonapoptotic, iron-dependent form of cell death known as ferroptosis. Deficiency in genes responsible for supplying cancer cells with the substrates for de novo glutathione synthesis (SLC7A11, SHMT2, and MTHFD1L), as well as the enzymes required to synthesize glutathione (GCLC and GCLM), augments the activity of eprenetapopt. Eprenetapopt also inhibits iron-sulfur cluster biogenesis by limit-ing the cysteine desulfurase activity of NFS1, which potentiates ferroptosis and may restrict cellular proliferation. The combination of eprenetapopt with dietary serine and glycine restriction synergizes to inhibit esophageal xenograft tumor growth. These findings reframe the canonical view of eprenetapopt from a mutant-p53 reactivator to a ferroptosis inducer.
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abm9427
SN  - 2375-2548
VL  - 8
IS  - 37
PB  - American Assoc. for the Advancement of Science
CY  - Washington
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Mumm, Rebekka
A1  - Scheffler, Christiane
A1  - Hermanussen, Michael
T1  - Locally structured correlation (LSC) plots describe inhomogeneity in normally distributed correlated bivariate variables
JF  - Archives of Public Health
N2  - Background
The association between bivariate variables may not necessarily be homogeneous throughout the whole range of the variables. We present a new technique to describe inhomogeneity in the association of bivariate variables.

Methods
We consider the correlation of two normally distributed random variables. The 45° diagonal through the origin of coordinates represents the line on which all points would lie if the two variables completely agreed. If the two variables do not completely agree, the points will scatter on both sides of the diagonal and form a cloud. In case of a high association between the variables, the band width of this cloud will be narrow, in case of a low association, the band width will be wide. The band width directly relates to the magnitude of the correlation coefficient. We then determine the Euclidean distances between the diagonal and each point of the bivariate correlation, and rotate the coordinate system clockwise by 45°. The standard deviation of all Euclidean distances, named “global standard deviation”, reflects the band width of all points along the former diagonal. Calculating moving averages of the standard deviation along the former diagonal results in “locally structured standard deviations” and reflect patterns of “locally structured correlations (LSC)”. LSC highlight inhomogeneity of bivariate correlations. We exemplify this technique by analyzing the association between body mass index (BMI) and hip circumference (HC) in 6313 healthy East German adults aged 18 to 70 years.

Results
The correlation between BMI and HC in healthy adults is not homogeneous. LSC is able to identify regions where the predictive power of the bivariate correlation between BMI and HC increases or decreases, and highlights in our example that slim people have a higher association between BMI and HC than obese people.

Conclusion
Locally structured correlations (LSC) identify regions of higher or lower than average correlation between two normally distributed variables.
KW  - Standard deviation
KW  - Locally structured standard deviation
KW  - Locally structured correlation
KW  - Variance
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1186/s13690-021-00748-4
SN  - 0778-7367
SN  - 2049-3258
VL  - 80
PB  - Springer Nature BMC
CY  - Bruxelles
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Mumm, Rebekka
A1  - Scheffler, Christiane
A1  - Hermanussen, Michael
T1  - Locally structured correlation (LSC) plots describe inhomogeneity in normally distributed correlated bivariate variables
JF  - Archives of public health = Archives belges de santé publique = Belgisch archief voor volksgezondheid
N2  - Background
The association between bivariate variables may not necessarily be homogeneous throughout the whole range of the variables. We present a new technique to describe inhomogeneity in the association of bivariate variables. 

Methods
We consider the correlation of two normally distributed random variables. The 45 degrees diagonal through the origin of coordinates represents the line on which all points would lie if the two variables completely agreed. If the two variables do not completely agree, the points will scatter on both sides of the diagonal and form a cloud. In case of a high association between the variables, the band width of this cloud will be narrow, in case of a low association, the band width will be wide. The band width directly relates to the magnitude of the correlation coefficient. We then determine the Euclidean distances between the diagonal and each point of the bivariate correlation, and rotate the coordinate system clockwise by 45 degrees. The standard deviation of all Euclidean distances, named "global standard deviation", reflects the band width of all points along the former diagonal. Calculating moving averages of the standard deviation along the former diagonal results in "locally structured standard deviations" and reflect patterns of "locally structured correlations (LSC)". LSC highlight inhomogeneity of bivariate correlations. We exemplify this technique by analyzing the association between body mass index (BMI) and hip circumference (HC) in 6313 healthy East German adults aged 18 to 70 years. 

Results
The correlation between BMI and HC in healthy adults is not homogeneous. LSC is able to identify regions where the predictive power of the bivariate correlation between BMI and HC increases or decreases, and highlights in our example that slim people have a higher association between BMI and HC than obese people.

Conclusion
Locally structured correlations (LSC) identify regions of higher or lower than average correlation between two normally distributed variables.
KW  - Standard deviation
KW  - Locally structured standard deviation
KW  - Locally
KW  - structured correlation
KW  - Variance
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1186/s13690-021-00748-4
SN  - 0778-7367
SN  - 2049-3258
VL  - 80
IS  - 1
PB  - BMC
CY  - London
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Sauter, Tilman
A1  - Kratz, Karl
A1  - Farhan, Muhammad
A1  - Heuchel, Matthias
A1  - Lendlein, Andreas
T1  - Design and fabrication of fiber mesh actuators
JF  - Applied materials today
N2  - Soft actuator performance can be tuned by chemistry or mechanical manipulation, but this adjustability is limited especially in view of their growing technological relevance. Inspired from textile engineering, we designed and fabricated fiber mesh actuators and introduced new features like anisotropic behavior and soft-tissue like elastic deformability. Design criteria for the meshes are the formation of fiber bundles, the angle between fiber bundles in different stacked layers and covalent crosslinks forming within and between fibers at their interfacial contact areas. Through crosslinking the interfiber bond strength increased from a bond transmitting neither axial nor rotational loads (pin joint) to a bond strength capable of both (welded joint). For non-linear elastic stiffening, stacked fiber bundles with four embracing fibers were created forming microstructural rhombus shapes. Loading the rhombus diagonally allowed generation of “soft tissue”-like mechanics. By adjustment of stacking angles, the point of strong increase in stress is tuned. While the highest stresses are observed in aligned and crosslinked fiber mats along the direction of the fiber, the strongest shape-memory actuation behavior is found in randomly oriented fiber mats. Fiber mesh actuators controlled by temperature are of high significance as soft robot skins and as for active patches supporting tissue regeneration.
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apmt.2022.101562
SN  - 2352-9407
VL  - 29
PB  - Elsevier
CY  - Amsterdam
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Hermanussen, Michael
A1  - Erofeev, Sergei
A1  - Scheffler, Christiane
T1  - The socio-endocrine regulation of human growth
JF  - Acta paediatrica : nurturing the child
N2  - Aim Growth is a multifarious phenomenon that has been studied by nutritionists, economists, paediatric endocrinologists; archaeologists, child psychologists and other experts. Yet, a unifying theory of understanding growth regulation is still lacking. Method Critical review of the literature. Results We summarise evidence linking social competition and its effect on hierarchies in social structures, with the neuronal networks of the ventromedial hypothalamus and body size. The endocrine signalling system regulating growth hormone, Insulin-like-Growth-Factor1 and skeletal growth, is well conserved in the evolution of vertebrata for some 400 million years. The link between size and status permits adaptive plasticity, competitive growth and strategic growth adjustments also in humans. Humans perceive size as a signal of dominance with tallness being favoured and particularly prevalent in the upper social classes. Conclusion Westernised societies are competitive. People are tall, and "open to change." Social values include striving for status and prestige implying socio-economic domination. We consider the transition of political and social values following revolutions and civil wars, as key elements that interact with the evolutionarily conserved neuroendocrine competence for adaptive developmental plasticity, overstimulate the hypothalamic growth regulation and finally lead to the recent historic increases in average height.
KW  - competitive growth
KW  - developmental plasticity
KW  - evolution
KW  - growth
KW  - hormone-releasing hormone
KW  - strategic growth adjustments
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1111/apa.16504
SN  - 0803-5253
SN  - 1651-2227
PB  - Wiley
CY  - Hoboken
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Baral, Hans Otto
A1  - Rönsch, Peter
A1  - Richter, Udo
A1  - Urban, Alexander
A1  - Kruse, Julia
A1  - Bemmann, Martin
A1  - Kummer, Volker
A1  - Javier Valencia, Francisco
A1  - Huth, Wolfgang
T1  - Schroeteria decaisneana, S. poeltii, and Ciboria ploettneriana (Sclerotiniaceae, Helotiales, Ascomycota), three parasites on Veronica seeds
BT  - first report of teleomorphs in Schroeteria
JF  - Mycological progress : international journal of the German Mycological Society
N2  - Ciboria ploettneriana, Schroeteria decaisneana, and S. poeltii produce morphologically very similar apothecia emerging from fallen stromatized seeds of Veronica spp., the former two on V. hederifolia agg. in temperate central Europe and S. poeltii on V. cymbalaria in mediterranean southern Europe. They are described and illustrated in detail based on fresh collections or moist chamber cultures of infected seeds. A key is provided to differentiate the three species from their teleomorphs. For the first time, connections between two teleomorphs and two Schroeteria anamorphs are reported. Members of the anamorph-typified genus Schroeteria are known as host-specific plant parasites that infect seeds of different Veronica spp. In earlier times, they were classified in the Ustilaginales (Basidiomycota), but since more than 30 years, they are referred to as false smut fungi producing smut-like chlamydospores, based on light microscopic and ultrastructural studies which referred them to the Sclerotiniaceae (Helotiales). During the present study, rDNA sequences were obtained for the first time from chlamydospores of Schroeteria bornmuelleri (on V. rubrifolia), S. decaisneana (on V. hederifolia), S. delastrina (generic type, on V. arvensis), and S. poeltii (on V. cymbalaria) and from apothecia of C. ploettneriana, S. decaisneana, and S. poeltii. As a result, the anamorph-teleomorph connection could be established for S. decaisneana and S. poeltii by a 100% ITS similarity, whereas C. ploettneriana could not be connected to a smut-like anamorph. Ciboria ploettneriana in the here-redefined sense clustered in our combined phylogenetic analyses of ITS and LSU in relationship of Sclerotinia s.l., Botrytis, and Myriosclerotinia rather than Ciboria, but its placement was not supported. Its affiliation in Ciboria was retained until a better solution is found. Also Schroeteria poeltii clustered unresolved in this relationship but with a much higher molecular distance. The remaining three Schroeteria spp. formed a strongly supported monophyletic group, here referred to as "Schroeteria core clade", which clustered with medium to high support as a sister clade of Monilinia jezoensis, a member of the Monilinia alpina group of section Disjunctoriae. We observed ITS distances of 5-6.3% among members of the Schroeteria core clade, but 13.8-14.7% between this clade and S. poeltii, which appears to be correlated with the deviating chlamydospore morphology of S. poeltii. Despite its apparent paraphyly, Schroeteria is accepted here in a wide sense as a genus distinct from Monilinia, particularly because of its very special anamorphs. A comparable heterogeneity in rDNA analyses was observed in Monilinia and other genera of Sclerotiniaceae. Such apparent heterogeneity should be met with skepticism, however, because the inclusion of protein-coding genes in phylogenetic analyses resulted in a monophyletic genus Monilinia. More sclerotiniaceous taxa should be analysed for protein-coding genes in the future, including Schroeteria. Four syntype specimens of Ciboria ploettneriana in B were reexamined in the present study, revealing a mixture of the two species growing on V. hederifolia agg. Based on its larger ascospores in comparison with S. decaisneana, a lectotype is proposed for C. ploettneriana.
KW  - anamorph-teleomorph connection
KW  - plant parasite
KW  - false smut fungi
KW  - seed
KW  - infection
KW  - Veronica hederifolia
KW  - Veronica cymbalaria
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1007/s11557-021-01742-4
SN  - 1617-416X
SN  - 1861-8952
VL  - 21
IS  - 1
SP  - 359
EP  - 407
PB  - Springer
CY  - Berlin ; Heidelberg
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Bergholz, Kolja
A1  - Sittel, Lara-Pauline
A1  - Ristow, Michael
A1  - Jeltsch, Florian
A1  - Weiss, Lina
T1  - Pollinator guilds respond contrastingly at different scales to landscape parameters of land-use intensity
JF  - Ecology and evolution
N2  - Land-use intensification is the main factor for the catastrophic decline of insect pollinators. However, land-use intensification includes multiple processes that act across various scales and should affect pollinator guilds differently depending on their ecology. We aimed to reveal how two main pollinator guilds, wild bees and hoverflies, respond to different land-use intensification measures, that is, arable field cover (AFC), landscape heterogeneity (LH), and functional flower composition of local plant communities as a measure of habitat quality. We sampled wild bees and hoverflies on 22 dry grassland sites within a highly intensified landscape (NE Germany) within three campaigns using pan traps. We estimated AFC and LH on consecutive radii (60-3000 m) around the dry grassland sites and estimated the local functional flower composition. Wild bee species richness and abundance was positively affected by LH and negatively by AFC at small scales (140-400 m). In contrast, hoverflies were positively affected by AFC and negatively by LH at larger scales (500-3000 m), where both landscape parameters were negatively correlated to each other. At small spatial scales, though, LH had a positive effect on hoverfly abundance. Functional flower diversity had no positive effect on pollinators, but conspicuous flowers seem to attract abundance of hoverflies. In conclusion, landscape parameters contrarily affect two pollinator guilds at different scales. The correlation of landscape parameters may influence the observed relationships between landscape parameters and pollinators. Hence, effects of land-use intensification seem to be highly landscape-specific.
KW  - hoverflies
KW  - landscape homogenization
KW  - plant functional trait
KW  - syrphids
KW  - wild bees
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.8708
SN  - 2045-7758
VL  - 12
IS  - 3
PB  - Wiley
CY  - Hoboken
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Bergholz, Kolja
A1  - Sittel, Lara-Pauline
A1  - Ristow, Michael
A1  - Jeltsch, Florian
A1  - Weiß, Lina
T1  - Pollinator guilds respond contrastingly at different scales to landscape parameters of land-use intensity
JF  - Ecology and Evolution
N2  - Land-use intensification is the main factor for the catastrophic decline of insect pollinators. However, land-use intensification includes multiple processes that act across various scales and should affect pollinator guilds differently depending on their ecology. We aimed to reveal how two main pollinator guilds, wild bees and hoverflies, respond to different land-use intensification measures, that is, arable field cover (AFC), landscape heterogeneity (LH), and functional flower composition of local plant communities as a measure of habitat quality. We sampled wild bees and hoverflies on 22 dry grassland sites within a highly intensified landscape (NE Germany) within three campaigns using pan traps. We estimated AFC and LH on consecutive radii (60–3000 m) around the dry grassland sites and estimated the local functional flower composition. Wild bee species richness and abundance was positively affected by LH and negatively by AFC at small scales (140–400 m). In contrast, hoverflies were positively affected by AFC and negatively by LH at larger scales (500–3000 m), where both landscape parameters were negatively correlated to each other. At small spatial scales, though, LH had a positive effect on hoverfly abundance. Functional flower diversity had no positive effect on pollinators, but conspicuous flowers seem to attract abundance of hoverflies. In conclusion, landscape parameters contrarily affect two pollinator guilds at different scales. The correlation of landscape parameters may influence the observed relationships between landscape parameters and pollinators. Hence, effects of land-use intensification seem to be highly landscape-specific.
KW  - hoverflies
KW  - landscape homogenization
KW  - plant functional trait
KW  - syrphids
KW  - wild bees
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.8708
SN  - 2045-7758
VL  - 12
IS  - 3
PB  - John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
CY  - Hoboken (New Jersey)
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Eccard, Jana
A1  - Herde, Antje
A1  - Schuster, Andrea C.
A1  - Liesenjohann, Thilo
A1  - Knopp, Tatjana
A1  - Heckel, Gerald
A1  - Dammhahn, Melanie
T1  - Fitness, risk taking, and spatial behavior covary with boldness in experimental vole populations
JF  - Ecology And Evolution
N2  - Individuals of a population may vary along a pace-of-life syndrome from highly fecund, short-lived, bold, dispersive “fast” types at one end of the spectrum to less fecund, long-lived, shy, plastic “slow” types at the other end. Risk-taking behavior might mediate the underlying life history trade-off, but empirical evidence supporting this hypothesis is still ambiguous. Using experimentally created populations of common voles (Microtus arvalis)—a species with distinct seasonal life history trajectories—we aimed to test whether individual differences in boldness behavior covary with risk taking, space use, and fitness. We quantified risk taking, space use (via automated tracking), survival, and reproductive success (via genetic parentage analysis) in 8 to 14 experimental, mixed-sex populations of 113 common voles of known boldness type in large grassland enclosures over a significant part of their adult life span and two reproductive events. Populations were assorted to contain extreme boldness types (bold or shy) of both sexes. Bolder individuals took more risks than shyer ones, which did not affect survival. Bolder males but not females produced more offspring than shy conspecifics. Daily home range and core area sizes, based on 95% and 50% Kernel density estimates (20 ± 10 per individual, n = 54 individuals), were highly repeatable over time. Individual space use unfolded differently for sex-boldness type combinations over the course of the experiment. While day ranges decreased for shy females, they increased for bold females and all males. Space use trajectories may, hence, indicate differences in coping styles when confronted with a novel social and physical environment. Thus, interindividual differences in boldness predict risk taking under near-natural conditions and have consequences for fitness in males, which have a higher reproductive potential than females. Given extreme inter- and intra-annual fluctuations in population density in the study species and its short life span, density-dependent fluctuating selection operating differently on the sexes might maintain (co)variation in boldness, risk taking, and pace-of-life.
KW  - animal personality
KW  - automated radio telemetry
KW  - behavioral type
KW  - fitness
KW  - home range
KW  - Microtus arvalis
KW  - parentage
KW  - reproductive success
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.8521
SN  - 2045-7758
SP  - 1
EP  - 15
PB  - John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
CY  - Vereinigte Staaten
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Hoffmann, Julia
A1  - Hölker, Franz
A1  - Eccard, Jana
T1  - Welcome to the Dark Side
BT  - Partial Nighttime Illumination Affects Night-and Daytime Foraging Behavior of a Small Mammal
JF  - Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution
N2  - Differences in natural light conditions caused by changes in moonlight are known to affect perceived predation risk in many nocturnal prey species. As artificial light at night (ALAN) is steadily increasing in space and intensity, it has the potential to change movement and foraging behavior of many species as it might increase perceived predation risk and mask natural light cycles. We investigated if partial nighttime illumination leads to changes in foraging behavior during the night and the subsequent day in a small mammal and whether these changes are related to animal personalities. We subjected bank voles to partial nighttime illumination in a foraging landscape under laboratory conditions and in large grassland enclosures under near natural conditions. We measured giving-up density of food in illuminated and dark artificial seed patches and video recorded the movement of animals. While animals reduced number of visits to illuminated seed patches at night, they increased visits to these patches at the following day compared to dark seed patches. Overall, bold individuals had lower giving-up densities than shy individuals but this difference increased at day in formerly illuminated seed patches. Small mammals thus showed carry-over effects on daytime foraging behavior due to ALAN, i.e., nocturnal illumination has the potential to affect intra- and interspecific interactions during both night and day with possible changes in personality structure within populations and altered predator-prey dynamics.
KW  - light pollution
KW  - inter-individual differences
KW  - animal personality
KW  - Myodes glareolus
KW  - ALAN
Y1  - 2021
U6  - https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2021.779825
SN  - 2296-701X
VL  - 9
PB  - Frontiers Media
CY  - Lausanne
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Stripp, Sven T.
A1  - Duffus, Benjamin R.
A1  - Fourmond, Vincent
A1  - Leger, Christophe
A1  - Leimkühler, Silke
A1  - Hirota, Shun
A1  - Hu, Yilin
A1  - Jasniewski, Andrew
A1  - Ogata, Hideaki
A1  - Ribbe, Markus W.
T1  - Second and outer coordination sphere effects in nitrogenase, hydrogenase, formate dehydrogenase, and CO dehydrogenase
JF  - Chemical reviews : CR
N2  - Gases like H-2, N-2, CO2, and CO are increasingly recognized as critical feedstock in "green" energy conversion and as sources of nitrogen and carbon for the agricultural and chemical sectors. However, the industrial transformation of N-2, CO2, and CO and the production of H-2 require significant energy input, which renders processes like steam reforming and the Haber-Bosch reaction economically and environmentally unviable. Nature, on the other hand, performs similar tasks efficiently at ambient temperature and pressure, exploiting gas-processing metalloenzymes (GPMs) that bind low-valent metal cofactors based on iron, nickel, molybdenum, tungsten, and sulfur. Such systems are studied to understand the biocatalytic principles of gas conversion including N-2 fixation by nitrogenase and H-2 production by hydrogenase as well as CO2 and CO conversion by formate dehydrogenase, carbon monoxide dehydrogenase, and nitrogenase. In this review, we emphasize the importance of the cofactor/protein interface, discussing how second and outer coordination sphere effects determine, modulate, and optimize the catalytic activity of GPMs. These may comprise ionic interactions in the second coordination sphere that shape the electron density distribution across the cofactor, hydrogen bonding changes, and allosteric effects. In the outer coordination sphere, proton transfer and electron transfer are discussed, alongside the role of hydrophobic substrate channels and protein structural changes. Combining the information gained from structural biology, enzyme kinetics, and various spectroscopic techniques, we aim toward a comprehensive understanding of catalysis beyond the first coordination sphere.
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemrev.1c00914
SN  - 0009-2665
SN  - 1520-6890
VL  - 122
IS  - 14
SP  - 11900
EP  - 11973
PB  - American Chemical Society
CY  - Washington, DC
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Ristow, Michael
A1  - Panitsa, Maria
A1  - Meyer, Stefan
A1  - Bergmeier, Erwin
T1  - Factors of detection deficits in vascular plant inventories - an island case study
JF  - Diversity
N2  - The degree of completeness of large-scale floristic inventories is often difficult to judge. We compared prior vascular plant species inventories of the Mediterranean island of Limnos (North Aegean, Greece) with 231 recent records from 2016-2021. Together with the recent records, the known number of vascular plant species on the island is 960 native taxa, 63 established neophytes, and 27 species of as yet casual status for a total of 1050 taxa. We looked at a number of traits (plant family, size, flower color, perceptibility, habitat, reproduction period, rarity, and status) to investigate whether they were overrepresented in the dataset of the newly found taxa. Overrepresentation was found in some plant families (e.g., Poaceae and Chenopodiaceae) and for traits such as hydrophytic life form, unobtrusive flower color, coastal as well as agricultural and ruderal habitats, and late (summer/autumn) reproduction period. Apart from the well-known fact of esthetic bias, we found evidence for ecological and perceptibility biases. Plant species inventories based on prior piecemeal collated data should focus on regionally specific species groups and underrepresented and rare habitats.
KW  - Aegean flora
KW  - floristic survey
KW  - Mediterranean island
KW  - perceptibility
KW  - habitat
KW  - plant traits
KW  - rarity
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.3390/d14040303
SN  - 1424-2818
VL  - 14
IS  - 4
PB  - MDPI
CY  - Basel
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Agarwal, Saloni
A1  - Warmt, Christian
A1  - Henkel, Jörg
A1  - Schrick, Livia
A1  - Nitsche, Andreas
A1  - Bier, Frank Fabian
T1  - Lateral flow-based nucleic acid detection of SARS-CoV-2 using enzymatic incorporation of biotin-labeled dUTP for POCT use
JF  - Analytical and bioanalytical chemistry : a merger of Fresenius' journal of analytical chemistry, Analusis and Quimica analitica
N2  - The degree of detrimental effects inflicted on mankind by the COVID-19 pandemic increased the need to develop ASSURED (Affordable, Sensitive, Specific, User-friendly, Rapid and Robust, Equipment-free, and Deliverable) POCT (point of care testing) to overcome the current and any future pandemics. Much effort in research and development is currently advancing the progress to overcome the diagnostic pressure built up by emerging new pathogens. LAMP (loop-mediated isothermal amplification) is a well-researched isothermal technique for specific nucleic acid amplification which can be combined with a highly sensitive immunochromatographic readout via lateral flow assays (LFA). Here we discuss LAMP-LFA robustness, sensitivity, and specificity for SARS-CoV-2 N-gene detection in cDNA and clinical swab-extracted RNA samples. The LFA readout is designed to produce highly specific results by incorporation of biotin and FITC labels to 11-dUTP and LF (loop forming forward) primer, respectively. The LAMP-LFA assay was established using cDNA for N-gene with an accuracy of 95.65%. To validate the study, 82 SARS-CoV-2-positive RNA samples were tested. Reverse transcriptase (RT)-LAMP-LFA was positive for the RNA samples with an accuracy of 81.66%; SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA was detected by RT-LAMP-LFA for as low as CT-33. Our method reduced the detection time to 15 min and indicates therefore that RT-LAMP in combination with LFA represents a promising nucleic acid biosensing POCT platform that combines with smartphone based semi-quantitative data analysis.
KW  - Point of care testing (POCT)
KW  - Lateral flow assay (LFA)
KW  - COVID-19
KW  - Reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP);
KW  - SARS-CoV-2 N-gene
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-022-03880-4
SN  - 1618-2642
SN  - 1618-2650
VL  - 414
IS  - 10
SP  - 3177
EP  - 3186
PB  - Springer
CY  - Heidelberg
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Lischeid, Gunnar
A1  - Webber, Heidi
A1  - Sommer, Michael
A1  - Nendel, Claas
A1  - Ewert, Frank
T1  - Machine learning in crop yield modelling
BT  - A powerful tool, but no surrogate for science
JF  - Agricultural and forest meteorology
N2  - Provisioning a sufficient stable source of food requires sound knowledge about current and upcoming threats to agricultural production. To that end machine learning approaches were used to identify the prevailing climatic and soil hydrological drivers of spatial and temporal yield variability of four crops, comprising 40 years yield data each from 351 counties in Germany. Effects of progress in agricultural management and breeding were subtracted from the data prior the machine learning modelling by fitting smooth non-linear trends to the 95th percentiles of observed yield data. An extensive feature selection approach was followed then to identify the most relevant predictors out of a large set of candidate predictors, comprising various soil and meteorological data. Particular emphasis was placed on studying the uniqueness of identified key predictors. Random Forest and Support Vector Machine models yielded similar although not identical results, capturing between 50% and 70% of the spatial and temporal variance of silage maize, winter barley, winter rapeseed and winter wheat yield. Equally good performance could be achieved with different sets of predictors. Thus identification of the most reliable models could not be based on the outcome of the model study only but required expert's judgement. Relationships between drivers and response often exhibited optimum curves, especially for summer air temperature and precipitation. In contrast, soil moisture clearly proved less relevant compared to meteorological drivers. In view of the expected climate change both excess precipitation and the excess heat effect deserve more attention in breeding as well as in crop modelling.
KW  - Crop modelling
KW  - Machine learning
KW  - Random forests
KW  - Support vector
KW  - machine
KW  - Feature selection
KW  - Equivocality
Y1  - 2021
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2021.108698
SN  - 0168-1923
SN  - 1873-2240
VL  - 312
PB  - Elsevier
CY  - Amsterdam
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Pan, Xuefeng
A1  - Sarhan, Radwan Mohamed
A1  - Kochovski, Zdravko
A1  - Chen, Guosong
A1  - Taubert, Andreas
A1  - Mei, Shilin
A1  - Lu, Yan
T1  - Template synthesis of dual-functional porous MoS2 nanoparticles with photothermal conversion and catalytic properties
JF  - Nanoscale
N2  - Advanced catalysis triggered by photothermal conversion effects has aroused increasing interest due to its huge potential in environmental purification. 
In this work, we developed a novel approach to the fast degradation of 4-nitrophenol (4-Nip) using porous MoS2 nanoparticles as catalysts, which integrate the intrinsic catalytic property of MoS2 with its photothermal conversion capability. 
Using assembled polystyrene-b-poly(2-vinylpyridine) block copolymers as soft templates, various MoS 2 particles were prepared, which exhibited tailored morphologies (e.g., pomegranate-like, hollow, and open porous structures). 
The photothermal conversion performance of these featured particles was compared under near-infrared (NIR) light irradiation. 
Intriguingly, when these porous MoS2 particles were further employed as catalysts for the reduction of 4-Nip, the reaction rate constant was increased by a factor of 1.5 under NIR illumination. 
We attribute this catalytic enhancement to the open porous architecture and light-to-heat conversion performance of the MoS2 particles. This contribution offers new opportunities for efficient photothermal-assisted catalysis.
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1039/d2nr01040b
SN  - 2040-3372
VL  - 14
IS  - 18
SP  - 6888
EP  - 6901
PB  - RSC Publ. (Royal Society of Chemistry)
CY  - Cambridge
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Biermann, Robin Tim
A1  - Bach, Linh T.
A1  - Kläring, Hans-Peter
A1  - Baldermann, Susanne
A1  - Börnke, Frederik
A1  - Schwarz, Dietmar
T1  - Discovering tolerance-A computational approach to assess abiotic stress tolerance in tomato under greenhouse conditions
JF  - Frontiers in sustainable food systems
N2  - Modern plant cultivars often possess superior growth characteristics, but within a limited range of environmental conditions. Due to climate change, crops will be exposed to distressing abiotic conditions more often in the future, out of which heat stress is used as example for this study. To support identification of tolerant germplasm and advance screening techniques by a novel multivariate evaluation method, a diversity panel of 14 tomato genotypes, comprising Mediterranean landraces of Solanum lycopersicum, the cultivar "Moneymaker" and Solanum pennellii LA0716, which served as internal references, was assessed toward their tolerance against long-term heat stress. After 5 weeks of growth, young tomato plants were exposed to either control (22/18 degrees C) or heat stress (35/25 degrees C) conditions for 2 weeks. Within this period, water consumption, leaf angles and leaf color were determined. Additionally, gas exchange and leaf temperature were investigated. Finally, biomass traits were recorded. The resulting multivariate dataset on phenotypic plasticity was evaluated to test the hypothesis, that more tolerant genotypes have less affected phenotypes upon stress adaptation. For this, a cluster-analysis-based approach was developed that involved a principal component analysis (PCA), dimension reduction and determination of Euclidean distances. These distances served as measure for the phenotypic plasticity upon heat stress. Statistical evaluation allowed the identification and classification of homogeneous groups consisting each of four putative more or less heat stress tolerant genotypes. The resulting classification of the internal references as "tolerant" highlights the applicability of our proposed tolerance assessment model. PCA factor analysis on principal components 1-3 which covered 76.7% of variance within the phenotypic data, suggested that some laborious measure such as the gas exchange might be replaced with the determination of leaf temperature in larger heat stress screenings. Hence, the overall advantage of the presented method is rooted in its suitability of both, planning and executing screenings for abiotic stress tolerance using multivariate phenotypic data to overcome the challenge of identifying abiotic stress tolerant plants from existing germplasms and promote sustainable agriculture for the future.
KW  - abiotic stress
KW  - breeding
KW  - heat stress
KW  - phenotyping
KW  - Solanum
KW  - lycopersicum
KW  - screening
KW  - stress tolerance
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2022.878013
SN  - 2571-581X
VL  - 6
PB  - Frontiers Media
CY  - Lausanne
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Ralevski, Alexandra
A1  - Apelt, Federico
A1  - Olas, Justyna Jadwiga
A1  - Müller-Röber, Bernd
A1  - Rugarli, Elena I.
A1  - Kragler, Friedrich
A1  - Horvath, Tamas L.
T1  - Plant mitochondrial FMT and its mammalian homolog CLUH controls development and behavior in Arabidopsis and locomotion in mice
JF  - Cellular and molecular life sciences
N2  - Mitochondria in animals are associated with development, as well as physiological and pathological behaviors. Several conserved mitochondrial genes exist between plants and higher eukaryotes. Yet, the similarities in mitochondrial function between plant and animal species is poorly understood. Here, we show that FMT (FRIENDLY MITOCHONDRIA) from Arabidopsis thaliana, a highly conserved homolog of the mammalian CLUH (CLUSTERED MITOCHONDRIA) gene family encoding mitochondrial proteins associated with developmental alterations and adult physiological and pathological behaviors, affects whole plant morphology and development under both stressed and normal growth conditions. FMT was found to regulate mitochondrial morphology and dynamics, germination, and flowering time. It also affects leaf expansion growth, salt stress responses and hyponastic behavior, including changes in speed of hyponastic movements. Strikingly, Cluh(+/-) heterozygous knockout mice also displayed altered locomotive movements, traveling for shorter distances and had slower average and maximum speeds in the open field test. These observations indicate that homologous mitochondrial genes may play similar roles and affect homologous functions in both plants and animals.
KW  - Arabidopsis thaliana
KW  - Mitochondria
KW  - FMT
KW  - Hyponasty
KW  - Mice
KW  - CLUH;
KW  - Locomotion
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00018-022-04382-3
SN  - 1420-682X
SN  - 1420-9071
VL  - 79
IS  - 6
PB  - Springer International Publishing AG
CY  - Cham (ZG)
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Bapolisi, Alain Murhimalika
A1  - Kielb, Patrycja
A1  - Bekir, Marek
A1  - Lehnen, Anne-Catherine
A1  - Radon, Christin
A1  - Laroque, Sophie
A1  - Wendler, Petra
A1  - Müller-Werkmeister, Henrike
A1  - Hartlieb, Matthias
T1  - Antimicrobial polymers of linear and bottlebrush architecture
BT  - Probing the membrane interaction and physicochemical properties
JF  - Macromolecular rapid communications : publishing the newsletters of the European Polymer Federation
N2  - Polymeric antimicrobial peptide mimics are a promising alternative for the future management of the daunting problems associated with antimicrobial resistance. However, the development of successful antimicrobial polymers (APs) requires careful control of factors such as amphiphilic balance, molecular weight, dispersity, sequence, and architecture. While most of the earlier developed APs focus on random linear copolymers, the development of APs with advanced architectures proves to be more potent. It is recently developed multivalent bottlebrush APs with improved antibacterial and hemocompatibility profiles, outperforming their linear counterparts. Understanding the rationale behind the outstanding biological activity of these newly developed antimicrobials is vital to further improving their performance. This work investigates the physicochemical properties governing the differences in activity between linear and bottlebrush architectures using various spectroscopic and microscopic techniques. Linear copolymers are more solvated, thermo-responsive, and possess facial amphiphilicity resulting in random aggregations when interacting with liposomes mimicking Escheria coli membranes. The bottlebrush copolymers adopt a more stable secondary conformation in aqueous solution in comparison to linear copolymers, conferring rapid and more specific binding mechanism to membranes. The advantageous physicochemical properties of the bottlebrush topology seem to be a determinant factor in the activity of these promising APs.
KW  - antimicrobial polymers
KW  - bottlebrush copolymers
KW  - liposomes
KW  - membrane
KW  - interactions
KW  - quartz crystal microbalance
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1002/marc.202200288
SN  - 1521-3927
SN  - 1022-1336
VL  - 43
IS  - 19
PB  - Wiley-VCH
CY  - Weinheim
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Mendes Ferreira, Clara
A1  - Dammhahn, Melanie
A1  - Eccard, Jana
T1  - Forager-mediated cascading effects on food resource species diversity
JF  - Ecology and Evolution
N2  - Perceived predation risk varies in space and time. Foraging in this landscape of fear alters forager-resource interactions via cascading nonconsumptive effects. Estimating these indirect effects is difficult in natural systems. Here, we applied a novel measure to quantify the diversity at giving-up density that allows to test how spatial variation in perceived predation risk modifies the diversity of multispecies resources at local and regional spatial levels. Furthermore, we evaluated whether the nonconsumptive effects on resource species diversity can be explained by the preferences of foragers for specific functional traits and by the forager species richness. We exposed rodents of a natural community to artificial food patches, each containing an initial multispecies resource community of eight species (10 items each) mixed in sand. We sampled 35 landscapes, each containing seven patches in a spatial array, to disentangle effects at local (patch) and landscape levels. We used vegetation height as a proxy for perceived predation risk. After a period of three nights, we counted how many and which resource species were left in each patch to measure giving-up density and resource diversity at the local level (alpha diversity) and the regional level (gamma diversity and beta diversity). Furthermore, we used wildlife cameras to identify foragers and assess their species richness. With increasing vegetation height, i.e., decreasing perceived predation risk, giving-up density, and local alpha and regional gamma diversity decreased, and patches became less similar within a landscape (beta diversity increased). Foragers consumed more of the bigger and most caloric resources. The higher the forager species richness, the lower the giving-up density, and alpha and gamma diversity. Overall, spatial variation of perceived predation risk of foragers had measurable cascading effects on local and regional resource species biodiversity, independent of the forager species. Thus, nonconsumptive predation effects modify forager-resource interactions and might act as an equalizing mechanism for species coexistence.
KW  - coexistence
KW  - functional traits
KW  - giving-up density
KW  - landscape of fear
KW  - perceived predation risk
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9523
SN  - 2045-7758
VL  - 12
IS  - 11
PB  - John Wiley & Sons
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Berg, Gabriele
A1  - Cernava, Tomislav
T1  - The plant microbiota signature of the Anthropocene as a challenge for microbiome research
JF  - Microbiome
N2  - Background: 
One promise of the recently presented microbiome definition suggested that, in combination with unifying concepts and standards, microbiome research could be important for solving new challenges associated with anthropogenic-driven changes in various microbiota. With this commentary we want to further elaborate this suggestion, because we noticed specific signatures in microbiota affected by the Anthropocene.

Results: 
Here, we discuss this based on a review of available literature and our own research targeting exemplarily the plant microbiome. It is not only crucial for plants themselves but also linked to planetary health. We suggest that different human activities are commonly linked to a shift of diversity and evenness of the plant microbiota, which is also characterized by a decrease of host specificity, and an increase of r-strategic microbes, pathogens, and hypermutators. The resistome, anchored in the microbiome, follows this shift by an increase of specific antimicrobial resistance (AMR) mechanisms as well as an increase of plasmid-associated resistance genes. This typical microbiome signature of the Anthropocene is often associated with dysbiosis and loss of resilience, and leads to frequent pathogen outbreaks. Although several of these observations are already confirmed by meta-studies, this issue requires more attention in upcoming microbiome studies. 

Conclusions: 
Our commentary aims to inspire holistic studies for the development of solutions to restore and save microbial diversity for ecosystem functioning as well as the closely connected planetary health.
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1186/s40168-021-01224-5
SN  - 2049-2618
VL  - 10
IS  - 1
PB  - BMC
CY  - London
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Eccard, Jana
A1  - Mendes Ferreira, Clara
A1  - Peredo Arce, Andres
A1  - Dammhahn, Melanie
T1  - Top-down effects of foraging decisions on local, landscape and regional biodiversity of resources (DivGUD)
JF  - Ecology letters
N2  - Foraging by consumers acts as a biotic filtering mechanism for biodiversity at the trophic level of resources. Variation in foraging behaviour has cascading effects on abundance, diversity, and functional trait composition of the community of resource species. Here we propose diversity at giving-up density (DivGUD), i.e. when foragers quit exploiting a patch, as a novel concept and simple measure quantifying cascading effects at multiple spatial scales. In experimental landscapes with an assemblage of plant seeds, patch residency of wild rodents decreased local alpha-DivGUD (via elevated mortality of species with large seeds) and regional gamma-DivGUD, while dissimilarity among patches in a landscape (beta-DivGUD) increased. By linking theories of adaptive foraging behaviour with community ecology, DivGUD allows to investigate cascading indirect predation effects, e.g. the ecology-of-fear framework, feedbacks between functional trait composition of resource species and consumer communities, and effects of inter-individual differences among foragers on the biodiversity of resource communities.
KW  - biodiversity
KW  - cascading effects
KW  - foraging behaviour
KW  - functional traits
KW  - giving-up density
KW  - landscape of fear
KW  - optimal foraging
KW  - patch use
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13901
SN  - 1461-0248
VL  - 25
IS  - 1
SP  - 3
EP  - 16
PB  - Wiley-Blackwell
CY  - Oxford [u.a.]
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Azcorra, Hugo
A1  - Dickinson, Federico
A1  - Mendez-Dominguez, Nina
A1  - Mumm, Rebekka
A1  - Valentín, Graciela
T1  - Development of birthweight and length for gestational age and sex references in Yucatan, Mexico
JF  - American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council
N2  - Objective To develop sex- and gestational age specific reference percentiles and curves for birth weight and length for Yucatec neonates using data from birth registers of infants born during 2015-2019. Material and methods Observational, descriptive, epidemiologic study in a 5-year period including every registered birth in the state of Yucatan, Mexico using birth registries. A total of 158 432 live, physically healthy singletons (76 442 females and 81 990 males) between 25 and 42 weeks of gestation were included in the analysis. We used the LMS method to construct smoothed reference centiles (3rd, 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, 95th, and 97th) and curves for males and females separately. Results Mean maternal age was 26 (SD = 6.22) years. Fifty-two percent of births occurred by vaginal delivery, 37% were firstborn and similar proportions were second (33%) and third or more (30%) born. 5.5% of newborns included in the references corresponds to neonates born before 37 weeks of gestation (5.9% boys and 5.1% girls). In both sexes, the percentage of infants with a birthweight less than 2500 g was 6.7%. The birthweight at the 50th percentile for males and females at 40 weeks of gestation in this cohort was 3256 and 3167 g, respectively, and the corresponding values for birth length were 50.23 and 49.84 cm (mean differences between sexes: 89 g and 0.40 cm, respectively). Conclusion The reference percentile and curves developed in this study are useful for research purposes and can help health practitioners to assess the biological status of infants born in Yucatan.
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.23732
SN  - 1042-0533
SN  - 1520-6300
VL  - 34
IS  - 6
PB  - Wiley
CY  - Hoboken
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Eccard, Jana
T1  - Can rolling composite wildflower blocks increase biodiversity in agricultural landscapes better than wildflowers strips?
JF  - Journal of applied ecology : an official journal of the British Ecological Society
N2  - Biodiversity and abundance of wildlife has dramatically declined in agricultural landscapes. Sown, short-lived wildflower (WF) strips along the margins of crop fields are a widespread and often subsidised in agri-environmental schemes, intended to enhance biodiversity, provide refuges for wild plant and arthropod populations and to provide ecosystem services to crops. Meanwhile, WF elements are also criticised, since their functionality decreases with plant succession, the removal of aged WF strip poses an ecological trap for the attracted arthropod populations and only common and mobile species benefit. Further, insects in WF strips are impacted by pesticides from agricultural fields due to shared boundaries with crop fields and by edge effects. The performance of the measure could be improved by combining several WF strips of different successional stages, each harbouring a unique community of plants and arthropods, into persistent, composite WF block, where successional stages exist in parallel. Monitoring data on many taxa in the literature shows, that a third of species are temporarily present in an ageing WF stip, thus offering composite WF blocks should increase cumulative species richness by 28%-39% compared to annual richness in WF strips. Persistence of composite WF blocks would offer reliable refuge for animal and plant populations, also supporting their predators and herbivores. Further, WF blocks have less boundaries to crops compared to WF strips of the same area, and are less impacted by edge effects and pesticides. Policy implications. Here I suggest a change of conservation practice changing from successional WF strips to composite WF blocks. By regular removal and replacement of aged WF strips either within the block (rotational) or at its margins (rolling), the habitat heterogeneity in composite WF block could be perpetuated. Rolling composite WF blocks change locations over years, and the original location can be reconverted to arable land while a nearby WF block is still available to wildlife. A change in agricultural schemes would be necessary, since in some European countries clustered WF strips are explicitly not subsidised.
KW  - AES
KW  - agriculture
KW  - biodiversity
KW  - CAP
KW  - conservation scheme
KW  - field margins
KW  - insects
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.14147
SN  - 0021-8901
SN  - 1365-2664
VL  - 59
IS  - 5
SP  - 1172
EP  - 1177
PB  - Wiley-Blackwell
CY  - Oxford
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Kiemel, Katrin
A1  - De Cahsan, Binia
A1  - Paraskevopoulou, Sofia
A1  - Weithoff, Guntram
A1  - Tiedemann, Ralph
T1  - Mitochondrial genomes of the freshwater monogonont rotifer Brachionus fernandoi and of two additional B. calyciflorus sensu stricto lineages from Germany and the USA (Rotifera, Brachionidae)
JF  - Mitochondrial DNA. Part B-Resources
N2  - The Brachionus calyciflorus species complex was recently subdivided into four species, but genetic resources to resolve phylogenetic relationships within this complex are still lacking. We provide two complete mitochondrial (mt) genomes from B. calyciflorus sensu stricto (Germany, USA) and the mt coding sequences (cds) from a German B. fernandoi. Phylogenetic analysis placed our B. calyciflorus sensu stricto strains close to the published genomes of B. calyciflorus, forming the putative sister species to B. fernandoi. Global representatives of B. calyciflorus sensu stricto (i.e. Europe, USA, and China) are genetically closer related to each other than to B. fernandoi (average pairwise nucleotide diversity 0.079 intraspecific vs. 0.254 interspecific).
KW  - Mitogenome
KW  - cryptic species
KW  - Brachionus calyciflorus s
KW  - Brachionus
KW  - fernandoi
KW  - monogonont rotifer
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1080/23802359.2022.2060765
SN  - 2380-2359
VL  - 7
IS  - 4
SP  - 646
EP  - 648
PB  - Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group
CY  - Abingdon
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Prüfer, Mareike
A1  - Wenger, Christian
A1  - Bier, Frank Fabian
A1  - Laux, Eva-Maria
A1  - Hölzel, Ralph
T1  - Activity of AC electrokinetically immobilized horseradish peroxidase
JF  - Electrophoresis : microfluidics, nanoanalysis & proteomics
N2  - Dielectrophoresis (DEP) is an AC electrokinetic effect mainly used to manipulate cells. Smaller particles, like virions, antibodies, enzymes, and even dye molecules can be immobilized by DEP as well. In principle, it was shown that enzymes are active after immobilization by DEP, but no quantification of the retained activity was reported so far. In this study, the activity of the enzyme horseradish peroxidase (HRP) is quantified after immobilization by DEP. For this, HRP is immobilized on regular arrays of titanium nitride ring electrodes of 500 nm diameter and 20 nm widths. The activity of HRP on the electrode chip is measured with a limit of detection of 60 fg HRP by observing the enzymatic turnover of Amplex Red and H2O2 to fluorescent resorufin by fluorescence microscopy. The initial activity of the permanently immobilized HRP equals up to 45% of the activity that can be expected for an ideal monolayer of HRP molecules on all electrodes of the array. Localization of the immobilizate on the electrodes is accomplished by staining with the fluorescent product of the enzyme reaction. The high residual activity of enzymes after AC field induced immobilization shows the method's suitability for biosensing and research applications.
KW  - AC electrokinetics
KW  - dielectrophoresis
KW  - enzyme activity
KW  - immobilization;
KW  - nanoelectrodes
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1002/elps.202200073
SN  - 0173-0835
SN  - 1522-2683
SP  - 1920
EP  - 1933
PB  - Wiley
CY  - Hoboken
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Delker, Carolin
A1  - Quint, Marcel
A1  - Wigge, Philip Anthony
T1  - Recent advances in understanding thermomorphogenesis signaling
JF  - Current opinion in plant biology
N2  - Plants show remarkable phenotypic plasticity and are able to adjust their morphology and development to diverse environmental stimuli. Morphological acclimation responses to elevated ambient temperatures are collectively termed thermomorphogenesis. In Arabidopsis thaliana, morphological changes are coordinated to a large extent by the transcription factor PHYTOCHROME-INTERACTING FACTOR 4 (PIF4), which in turn is regulated by several thermosensing mechanisms and modulators. Here, we review recent advances in the identification of factors that regulate thermomorphogenesis of Arabidopsis seedlings by affecting PIF4 expression and PIF4 activity. We summarize newly identified thermosensing mechanisms and highlight work on the emerging topic of organ- and tissue-specificity in the regulation of thermomorphogenesis.
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pbi.2022.102231
SN  - 1369-5266
SN  - 1879-0356
VL  - 68
PB  - Elsevier
CY  - London
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Kernecker, Maria
A1  - Fienitz, Meike
A1  - Nendel, Claas
A1  - Paetzig, Marlene
A1  - Walzl, Karin Pirhofer
A1  - Raatz, Larissa
A1  - Schmidt, Martin
A1  - Wulf, Monika
A1  - Zscheischler, Jana
T1  - Transition zones across agricultural field boundaries for integrated landscape research and management of biodiversity and yields
JF  - Ecological solutions and evidence
N2  - Biodiversity conservation and agricultural production have been largely framed as separate goals for landscapes in the discourse on land use. Although there is an increasing tendency to move away from this dichotomy in theory, the tendency is perpetuated by the spatially explicit approaches used in research and management practice. Transition zones (TZ) have previously been defined as areas where two adjacent fields or patches interact, and so they occur abundantly throughout agricultural landscapes. Biodiversity patterns in TZ have been extensively studied, but their relationship to yield patterns and social-ecological dimensions has been largely neglected. Focusing on European, temperate agricultural landscapes, we outline three areas of research and management that together demonstrate how TZ might be used to facilitate an integrated landscape approach: (i) plant and animal species' use and response to boundaries and the resulting effects on yield, for a deeper understanding of how landscape structure shapes quantity and quality of TZ; (ii) local knowledge on field or patch-level management and its interactions with biodiversity and yield in TZ, and (iii) conflict prevention and collaborative management across land-use boundaries.
KW  - ecotones
KW  - field boundaries
KW  - functional traits
KW  - landscape complexity;
KW  - land-use conflicts
KW  - local knowledge
KW  - spillovers
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1002/2688-8319.12122
SN  - 2688-8319
VL  - 3
IS  - 1
PB  - Wiley
CY  - Hoboken
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Voigt, Christian C.
A1  - Kaiser, Klara
A1  - Look, Samantha
A1  - Scharnweber, Inga Kristin
A1  - Scholz, Carolin
T1  - Wind turbines without curtailment produce large numbers of bat fatalities throughout their lifetime
BT  - a call against ignorance and neglect
JF  - Global ecology and conservation
N2  - Bats are protected by national and international legislation in European countries, yet many species, particularly migratory aerial insectivores, collide with wind turbines which counteracts conservation efforts. Within the European Union it is legally required to curtail the operation of wind turbines at periods of high bat activity, yet this is not practiced at old wind turbines. Based on data from the national carcass repository in Germany and from our own carcass searches at a wind park with three turbines west of Berlin, we evaluated the magnitude of bat casualties at old, potentially poor-sited wind turbines operating without curtailment. We report 88 documented bat carcasses collected by various searchers over the 20-year operation period of this wind park from 2001 to 2021. Common noctule bats (Nyctalus noctula) and common pipistrelles (Pipistrellus pipistrellus) were most often found dead at these turbines. Our search campaign in August and September 2021 yielded a total of 18 carcasses. We estimated that at least 209 bats were likely killed during our field survey, yielding more than 70 casualties/wind turbine or 39 casualties/ MW in two months. Since our campaign covered only part of the migration season, we consider this value as an underestimate. The 20-year period of the wind park emphasises the substantial impact old turbines may have on bat individuals and populations when operating without curtailments. We call for reconsidering the operation procedures of old wind turbines to stop the continuous loss of bats in Germany and other countries where turbine curtailments are even less practiced than in Germany.
KW  - green-green dilemma
KW  - wind energy bat conflict
KW  - wildlife casualties
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2022.e02149
SN  - 2351-9894
VL  - 37
PB  - Elsevier
CY  - Amsterdam
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Wendland, Mirko
A1  - Glowinski, Ingrid
T1  - Professionsorientierung von Praxisphasen – Ergebnisse einer Fragenbogenstudie
JF  - Professionalisierung in Praxisphasen : Ergebnisse der Lehrerbildungsforschung an der Universität Potsdam (Potsdamer Beiträge zur Lehrerbildung und Bildungsforschung ; 2)
N2  - Die Professionsorientierung der Lehramtsstudiengänge ist ein zentrales Anliegen der universitären Potsdamer Lehrkräftebildung. Seit 1999 finden Evaluationen zur Professionsorientierung statt, die Diskrepanzen zwischen der gewünschten und der erfahrenen Professionsorientierung durch die Studierenden aufzeigen. Im Wintersemester 2013/14 wurden neue Studiengänge an der Universität Potsdam eingeführt. Inwieweit damit auch eine stärkere Professionsorientierung und ein stärkerer Berufsbezug erfolgt ist, ist bislang ungeklärt. In einer Onlinebefragung im Dezember 2018 wurden Studierende der Lehramtsstudiengänge der Universität Potsdam gebeten, die inhaltliche Gestaltung der Lehramtsstudiengänge sowie die Professionsorientierung der Praxisphasen, die Betreuung und Beratung im Rahmen der Praktika, den Nutzen der Praktika für Studium und Beruf und ihre Lehrer:innenkompetenz einzuschätzen. Der Beitrag stellt erste empirische Analysen dar und diskutiert Anregungen zur Weiterentwicklung der Studiengänge mit Bezug auf die Praxisstudien.
N2  - The professional orientation of the teacher training courses is a central concern of Potsdam University’s teacher training programme. Evaluations on professional orientation have been carried out since 1999. These studies repeatedly revealed discrepancies between the desired and the experienced professional orientation of the students. In winter semester 2013/14 new courses of study were introduced. It has not yet been clarified, to what extent this has led to a stronger professional orientation and a stronger occupational orientation. In an online survey in December 2018, students of the teacher education courses (at the University of Potsdam) were asked to assess the professional orientation of the courses and the practical phases, the support and advice within the framework of the internships, the benefits of the internships for study and career and their teacher competence. The article presents first empirical analyses and discusses suggestions for the further development of the degree programmes with reference to the practical studies.
Y1  - 2022
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-570876
SN  - 978-3-86956-508-8
SN  - 2626-3556
SN  - 2626-4722
IS  - 2
SP  - 287
EP  - 321
PB  - Universitätsverlag Potsdam
CY  - Potsdam
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Novine, Masiar
A1  - Mattsson, Cecilie Cordua
A1  - Groth, Detlef
T1  - Network reconstruction based on synthetic data generated by a Monte Carlo approach
JF  - Human biology and public health
N2  - Background: Network models are useful tools for researchers to simplify and understand investigated systems. Yet, the assessment of methods for network construction is often uncertain. Random resampling simulations can aid to assess methods, provided synthetic data exists for reliable network construction.

Objectives: We implemented a new Monte Carlo algorithm to create simulated data for network reconstruction, tested the influence of adjusted parameters and used simulations to select a method for network model estimation based on real-world data. We hypothesized, that reconstructs based on Monte Carlo data are scored at least as good compared to a benchmark.

Methods: Simulated data was generated in R using the Monte Carlo algorithm of the mcgraph package. Benchmark data was created by the huge package. Networks were reconstructed using six estimator functions and scored by four classification metrics. For compatibility tests of mean score differences, Welch’s t-test was used. Network model estimation based on real-world data was done by stepwise selection.

Samples: Simulated data was generated based on 640 input graphs of various types and sizes. The real-world dataset consisted of 67 medieval skeletons of females and males from the region of Refshale (Lolland) and Nordby (Jutland) in Denmark.

Results: Results after t-tests and determining confidence intervals (CI95%) show, that evaluation scores for network reconstructs based on the mcgraph package were at least as good compared to the benchmark huge. The results even indicate slightly better scores on average for the mcgraph package.

Conclusion: The results confirmed our objective and suggested that Monte Carlo data can keep up with the benchmark in the applied test framework. The algorithm offers the feature to use (weighted) un- and directed graphs and might be useful for assessing methods for network construction.
KW  - Monte Carlo method
KW  - network reconstruction
KW  - mcgraph
KW  - random sampling
KW  - linear enamel hypoplasia
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.52905/hbph2021.3.26
SN  - 2748-9957
VL  - 2021
IS  - 3, Summer School Supplement
PB  - Universitätsverlag Potsdam
CY  - Potsdam
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Wilke, Liza
A1  - Boeker, Sonja
A1  - Mumm, Rebecca
A1  - Groth, Detlef
T1  - The Social status influences human growth
BT  - A summary and analysis of historical data from German school girls in 1914 with comparison to modern references
JF  - Human biology and public health
N2  - Background: In the animal kingdom body size is often linked to dominance and subsequently the standing in social hierarchy. Similarly, human growth has been associated and linked to socioeconomic factors, including one’s social status. This has already been proposed in the early 1900s where data on young German school girls from different social strata have been compared.

Objectives: This paper aims to summarize and analyze these results and make them accessible for non-German speakers. The full English translation of the historic work of Dikanski (Dikanski, 1914) is available as a supplement. Further, this work aims to compare the historical data with modern references, to test three hypotheses: (1) higher social class is positively associated with body height and weight, (2) affluent people from the used historical data match modern references in weight and height and (3) weight distributions are skewed in both modern and historical populations.

Methods: Comparison of historical data from 1914 with WHO and 1980s German data. The data sets, for both body weight and height for 6.0- and 7.0-year-old girls, were fitted onto centile curves and quantile correlation coefficients were calculated.

Results: In historical data social status is positively associated with body height and weight while both are also normally distributed, which marks a significant difference to modern references.

Conclusion: Social status is positively associated with height, signaling social dominance, making children of affluent classes taller. Children from the historical data do not reach the average height of modern children, even under the best environmental conditions. The children of the upper social class were not skewed in weight distribution, although they had the means to become as obese as modern children.
KW  - Just so stories
KW  - Summer Schools
KW  - questioning solutions
KW  - repetition
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.52905/hbph2021.3.22
SN  - 2748-9957
VL  - 2021
IS  - 3, Summer School Supplement
PB  - Universitätsverlag Potsdam
CY  - Potsdam
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Andersson, Matilda L.
A1  - Scharnweber, Inga Kristin
A1  - Eklöv, Peter
T1  - The interaction between metabolic rate, habitat choice, and resource use in a polymorphic freshwater species
JF  - Ecology and evolution
N2  - Resource polymorphism is common across taxa and can result in alternate ecotypes with specific morphologies, feeding modes, and behaviors that increase performance in a specific habitat. This can result in high intraspecific variation in the expression of specific traits and the extent to which these traits are correlated within a single population. Although metabolic rate influences resource acquisition and the overall pace of life of individuals it is not clear how metabolic rate interacts with the larger suite of traits to ultimately determine individual fitness. We examined the relationship between metabolic rates and the major differences (habitat use, morphology, and resource use) between littoral and pelagic ecotypes of European perch (Perca fluviatilis) from a single lake in Central Sweden. Standard metabolic rate (SMR) was significantly higher in pelagic perch but did not correlate with resource use or morphology. Maximum metabolic rate (MMR) was not correlated with any of our explanatory variables or with SMR. Aerobic scope (AS) showed the same pattern as SMR, differing across habitats, but contrary to expectations, was lower in pelagic perch. This study helps to establish a framework for future experiments further exploring the drivers of intraspecific differences in metabolism. In addition, since metabolic rates scale with temperature and determine predator energy requirements, our observed differences in SMR across habitats will help determine ecotype-specific vulnerabilities to climate change and differences in top-down predation pressure across habitats.
KW  - intraspecific variation
KW  - metabolic rate
KW  - morphometrics
KW  - Perca
KW  - fluviatilis
KW  - plasticity
KW  - resource use
KW  - respirometry
KW  - stable isotopes
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9129
SN  - 2045-7758
VL  - 12
IS  - 8
PB  - Wiley
CY  - Hoboken
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Ghafarian, Fatemeh
A1  - Wieland, Ralf
A1  - Lüttschwager, Dietmar
A1  - Nendel, Claas
T1  - Application of extreme gradient boosting and Shapley Additive explanations to predict temperature regimes inside forests from standard open-field meteorological data
JF  - Environmental modelling & software with environment data news
N2  - Forest microclimate can buffer biotic responses to summer heat waves, which are expected to become more extreme under climate warming. Prediction of forest microclimate is limited because meteorological observation standards seldom include situations inside forests. 
We use eXtreme Gradient Boosting - a Machine Learning technique - to predict the microclimate of forest sites in Brandenburg, Germany, using seasonal data comprising weather features. 
The analysis was amended by applying a SHapley Additive explanation to show the interaction effect of variables and individualised feature attributions. 
We evaluate model performance in comparison to artificial neural networks, random forest, support vector machine, and multi-linear regression. 
After implementing a feature selection, an ensemble approach was applied to combine individual models for each forest and improve robustness over a given single prediction model. 
The resulting model can be applied to translate climate change scenarios into temperatures inside forests to assess temperature-related ecosystem services provided by forests.
KW  - cooling effect
KW  - machine learning
KW  - ensemble method
KW  - ecosystem services
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2022.105466
SN  - 1364-8152
SN  - 1873-6726
VL  - 156
PB  - Elsevier
CY  - Oxford
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Lucena-Perez, María
A1  - Bazzicalupo, Enrico
A1  - Paijmans, Johanna
A1  - Kleinman-Ruiz, Daniel
A1  - Dalén, Love
A1  - Hofreiter, Michael
A1  - Delibes, Miguel
A1  - Clavero, Miguel
A1  - Godoy, José A.
T1  - Ancient genome provides insights into the history of Eurasian lynx in Iberia and Western Europe
JF  - Quaternary science reviews : the international multidisciplinary research and review journal
N2  - The Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) is one of the most widely distributed felids in the world. However, most of its populations started to decline a few millennia ago. Historical declines have been especially severe in Europe, and particularly in Western Europe, from where the species disappeared in the last few centuries. Here, we analyze the genome of an Eurasian lynx inhabiting the Iberian Peninsula 2500 ya, to gain insights into the phylogeographic position and genetic status of this extinct population. Also, we contextualize previous ancient data in the light of new phylogeographic studies of the species. Our results suggest that the Iberian population is part of an extinct European lineage closely related to the current Carpathian-Baltic lineages. Also, this sample holds the lowest diversity reported for the species so far, and similar to that of the highly endangered Iberian lynx. A combination of historical factors, such as a founder effect while colonizing the peninsula, together with intensified human impacts during the Holocene in the Cantabrian strip, could have led to a genetic impoverishment of the population and precipitated its extinction. Mitogenomic lineages distribution in space and time support the long-term coexistence of several lineages of Eurasian lynx in Western Europe with fluctuating ranges. While mitochondrial sequences related to the lineages currently found in Balkans and Caucasus were predominant during the Pleistocene, those more closely related to the lineage currently distributed in Central Europe prevailed during the Holocene. The use of ancient genomics has proven to be a useful tool to understand the biogeographic pattern of the Eurasian lynx in the past.
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2022.107518
SN  - 0277-3791
SN  - 1873-457X
VL  - 285
PB  - Elsevier
CY  - Oxford
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Ostermann-Miyashita, Emu-Felicitas
A1  - König, Hannes J.
A1  - Pernat, Nadja
A1  - Bellingrath-Kimura, Sonoko Dorothea
A1  - Hibler, Sophia
A1  - Kiffner, Christian
T1  - Knowledge of returning wildlife species and willingness to participate in citizen science projects among wildlife park visitors in Germany
JF  - People and nature
N2  - Successful conservation efforts have led to recent increases of large mammals such as European bison Bison bonasus, moose Alces alces and grey wolf Canis lupus and their return to former habitats in central Europe. 
While embraced by some, the recovery of these species is a controversial topic and holds potential for human-wildlife conflicts. 
Involving the public has been suggested to be an effective method for monitoring wildlife and mitigating associated conflicts. 
To assess two interrelated prerequisites for engaging people in Citizen Science (CS)-knowledge of returning species and respondents' readiness to participate in CS activities for monitoring and managing these species-we conducted a survey (questionnaire) in two wildlife parks located in different states of Germany. 
Based on 472 complete questionnaires, we developed generalized linear models to understand how sociodemographic variables and exposure to the species affected visitors' knowledge of each species, and to investigate if sociodemographic variables and knowledge influenced the likelihood of visitors to participate in CS activities. 
Almost all visitors were aware of the returning wolf population, while knowledge and awareness about bison and moose were significantly lower. 
Knowledge of the two herbivores differed geographically (higher knowledge of moose in the north-eastern state), possibly indicating a positive association between exposure to the species and knowledge. 
However, models generally performed poorly in predicting knowledge about wildlife, suggesting that such specific knowledge is insufficiently explained by sociodemographic variables. Our model, which explained stated willingness in CS indicated that younger participants and those with higher knowledge scores in the survey were more willing to engage in CS activities. 
Overall, our analyses highlight how exposure to large mammals, knowledge about wildlife and human demographics are interrelated-insights that are helpful for effectively recruiting citizen scientists for wildlife conservation. 
Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.
KW  - environmental awareness
KW  - human-animal relationships
KW  - human-wildlife conflicts
KW  - social-ecological system
KW  - wildlife conservation
KW  - wildlife knowledge
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.10379
SN  - 2575-8314
VL  - 4
IS  - 5
SP  - 1201
EP  - 1215
PB  - British Ecological Society; Wiley
CY  - London; Hoboken, NJ
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Velzen, Ellen van
A1  - Gaedke, Ursula
A1  - Klauschies, Toni
T1  - Quantifying the capacity for contemporary trait changes to drive intermittent predator-prey cycles
JF  - Ecological monographs : a publication of the Ecological Society of America
N2  - A large and growing body of theory has demonstrated how the presence of trait variation in prey or predator populations may affect the amplitude and phase of predator-prey cycles. Less attention has been given to so-called intermittent cycles, in which predator-prey oscillations recurrently disappear and re-appear, despite such dynamics being observed in empirical systems and modeling studies. A comprehensive understanding of the conditions under which trait changes may drive intermittent predator-prey dynamics, as well as their potential ecological implications, is therefore missing. Here we provide a first systematic analysis of the eco-evolutionary conditions that may give rise to intermittent predator-prey cycles, investigating 16 models that incorporate different types of trait variation within prey, predators, or both. Our results show that intermittent dynamics often arise through predator-prey coevolution, but only very rarely when only one trophic level can adapt. Additionally, the frequency of intermittent cycles depends on the source of trait variation (genetic variation or phenotypic plasticity) and the genetic architecture (Mendelian or quantitative traits), with intermittency occurring most commonly through Mendelian evolution, and very rarely through phenotypic plasticity. Further analysis identified three necessary conditions for when trait variation can drive intermittent cycles. First, the intrinsic stability of the predator-prey system must depend on the traits of prey, predators, or both. Second, there must be a mechanism causing the recurrent alternation between stable and unstable states, leading to a "trait" cycle superimposed on the population dynamics. Finally, these trait dynamics must be significantly slower than the predator-prey cycles. We show how these conditions explain all the abovementioned patterns. We further show an important unexpected consequence of these necessary conditions: they are most easily met when intraspecific trait variation is at high risk of being lost. As trait diversity is positively associated with ecosystem functioning, this can have potentially severe negative consequences. This novel result highlights the importance of identifying and understanding intermittent cycles in theoretical studies and natural systems. The new approach for detecting and quantifying intermittency we develop here will be instrumental in enabling future study.
KW  - eco-evolutionary feedbacks
KW  - ecosystem functioning
KW  - intraspecific trait
KW  - variation
KW  - population cycles
KW  - predator-prey dynamics
KW  - trait dynamics
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1002/ecm.1505
SN  - 1557-7015
SN  - 0012-9615
VL  - 92
IS  - 2
PB  - Wiley
CY  - New York
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Stanke, Sandra
A1  - Wenger, Christian
A1  - Bier, Frank Fabian
A1  - Hölzel, Ralph
T1  - AC electrokinetic immobilization of influenza virus
JF  - Electrophoresis : microfluids & proteomics
N2  - The use of alternating current (AC) electrokinetic forces, like dielectrophoresis and AC electroosmosis, as a simple and fast method to immobilize sub-micrometer objects onto nanoelectrode arrays is presented. Due to its medical relevance, the influenza virus is chosen as a model organism. One of the outstanding features is that the immobilization of viral material to the electrodes can be achieved permanently, allowing subsequent handling independently from the electrical setup. Thus, by using merely electric fields, we demonstrate that the need of prior chemical surface modification could become obsolete. The accumulation of viral material over time is observed by fluorescence microscopy. The influences of side effects like electrothermal fluid flow, causing a fluid motion above the electrodes and causing an intensity gradient within the electrode array, are discussed. Due to the improved resolution by combining fluorescence microscopy with deconvolution, it is shown that the viral material is mainly drawn to the electrode edge and to a lesser extent to the electrode surface. Finally, areas of application for this functionalization technique are presented.
KW  - AC electrokinetics
KW  - AC electroosmosis
KW  - dielectrophoresis
KW  - influenza virus
KW  - nanoelectrodes
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1002/elps.202100324
SN  - 0173-0835
SN  - 1522-2683
VL  - 43
IS  - 12
SP  - 1309
EP  - 1321
PB  - Wiley-Blackwell
CY  - Weinheim
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Leins, Johannes A.
A1  - Grimm, Volker
A1  - Drechsler, Martin
T1  - Large-scale PVA modeling of insects in cultivated grasslands
BT  - the role of dispersal in mitigating the effects of management schedules under climate change
JF  - Ecology and evolution
N2  - In many species, dispersal is decisive for survival in a changing climate. Simulation models for population dynamics under climate change thus need to account for this factor. Moreover, large numbers of species inhabiting agricultural landscapes are subject to disturbances induced by human land use. We included dispersal in the HiLEG model that we previously developed to study the interaction between climate change and agricultural land use in single populations. Here, the model was parameterized for the large marsh grasshopper (LMG) in cultivated grasslands of North Germany to analyze (1) the species development and dispersal success depending on the severity of climate change in subregions, (2) the additional effect of grassland cover on dispersal success, and (3) the role of dispersal in compensating for detrimental grassland mowing. Our model simulated population dynamics in 60-year periods (2020-2079) on a fine temporal (daily) and high spatial (250 x 250 m(2)) scale in 107 subregions, altogether encompassing a range of different grassland cover, climate change projections, and mowing schedules. We show that climate change alone would allow the LMG to thrive and expand, while grassland cover played a minor role. Some mowing schedules that were harmful to the LMG nevertheless allowed the species to moderately expand its range. Especially under minor climate change, in many subregions dispersal allowed for mowing early in the year, which is economically beneficial for farmers. More severe climate change could facilitate LMG expansion to uninhabited regions but would require suitable mowing schedules along the path. These insights can be transferred to other species, given that the LMG is considered a representative of grassland communities. For more specific predictions on the dynamics of other species affected by climate change and land use, the publicly available HiLEG model can be easily adapted to the characteristics of their life cycle.
KW  - bilinear interpolation
KW  - climate change
KW  - dispersal success
KW  - land use
KW  - large marsh grasshopper
KW  - spatially explicit model
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9063
SN  - 2045-7758
VL  - 12
IS  - 7
PB  - Wiley
CY  - Hoboken
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Perrella, Giorgio
A1  - Bäurle, Isabel
A1  - van Zanten, Martijn
T1  - Epigenetic regulation of thermomorphogenesis and heat stress tolerance
JF  - New phytologist : international journal of plant science
N2  - Many environmental conditions fluctuate and organisms need to respond effectively. This is especially true for temperature cues that can change in minutes to seasons and often follow a diurnal rhythm. Plants cannot migrate and most cannot regulate their temperature. Therefore, a broad array of responses have evolved to deal with temperature cues from freezing to heat stress. A particular response to mildly elevated temperatures is called thermomorphogenesis, a suite of morphological adaptations that includes thermonasty, formation of thin leaves and elongation growth of petioles and hypocotyl. Thermomorphogenesis allows for optimal performance in suboptimal temperature conditions by enhancing the cooling capacity. When temperatures rise further, heat stress tolerance mechanisms can be induced that enable the plant to survive the stressful temperature, which typically comprises cellular protection mechanisms and memory thereof. Induction of thermomorphogenesis, heat stress tolerance and stress memory depend on gene expression regulation, governed by diverse epigenetic processes. In this Tansley review we update on the current knowledge of epigenetic regulation of heat stress tolerance and elevated temperature signalling and response, with a focus on thermomorphogenesis regulation and heat stress memory. In particular we highlight the emerging role of H3K4 methylation marks in diverse temperature signalling pathways.
KW  - chromatin remodelling
KW  - elevated temperature
KW  - epigenetics
KW  - heat stress
KW  - histone modification
KW  - memory
KW  - temperature response
KW  - thermomorphogenesis
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.17970
SN  - 0028-646X
SN  - 1469-8137
VL  - 234
IS  - 4
SP  - 1144
EP  - 1160
PB  - Wiley
CY  - Hoboken
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Ehrlich, Elias
A1  - Thygesen, Uffe Høgsbro
A1  - Kiørboe, Thomas
T1  - Evolution of toxins as a public good in phytoplankton
JF  - Proceedings of the Royal Society of London : B, Biological sciences
N2  - Toxic phytoplankton blooms have increased in many waterbodies worldwide with well-known negative impacts on human health, fisheries and ecosystems. However, why and how phytoplankton evolved toxin production is still a puzzling question, given that the producer that pays the costs often shares the benefit with other competing algae and thus provides toxins as a 'public good' (e.g. damaging a common competitor or predator). Furthermore, blooming phytoplankton species often show a high intraspecific variation in toxicity and we lack an understanding of what drives the dynamics of coexisting toxic and non-toxic genotypes. Here, by using an individual-based two-dimensional model, we show that small-scale patchiness of phytoplankton strains caused by demography can explain toxin evolution in phytoplankton with low motility and the maintenance of genetic diversity within their blooms. This patchiness vanishes for phytoplankton with high diffusive motility, suggesting different evolutionary pathways for different phytoplankton groups. In conclusion, our study reveals that small-scale spatial heterogeneity, generated by cell division and counteracted by diffusive cell motility and turbulence, can crucially affect toxin evolution and eco-evolutionary dynamics in toxic phytoplankton species. This contributes to a better understanding of conditions favouring toxin production and the evolution of public goods in asexually reproducing organisms in general.
KW  - toxic algal blooms
KW  - evolution of cooperation
KW  - coexistence
KW  - patchiness in
KW  - phytoplankton
KW  - eco-evolutionary feedback
KW  - spatial pattern formation
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2022.0393
SN  - 0962-8452
SN  - 1471-2954
VL  - 289
IS  - 1977
PB  - Royal Society
CY  - London
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Cordeiro, Andre M.
A1  - Andrade, Luis
A1  - Monteiro, Catarina C.
A1  - Leitao, Guilherme
A1  - Wigge, Philip Anthony
A1  - Saibo, Nelson J. M.
T1  - Phytochrome-interacting factors
BT  - a promising tool to improve crop productivity
JF  - Journal of experimental botany
N2  - Review exploring the regulation of PHYTOCHROME-INTERACTING FACTORS by light, their role in abiotic stress tolerance and plant architecture, and their influence on crop productivity. 
Light is a key determinant for plant growth, development, and ultimately yield. Phytochromes, red/far-red photoreceptors, play an important role in plant architecture, stress tolerance, and productivity. In the model plant Arabidopsis, it has been shown that PHYTOCHROME-INTERACTING FACTORS (PIFs; bHLH transcription factors) act as central hubs in the integration of external stimuli to regulate plant development. Recent studies have unveiled the importance of PIFs in crops. They are involved in the modulation of plant architecture and productivity through the regulation of cell division and elongation in response to different environmental cues. These studies show that different PIFs have overlapping but also distinct functions in the regulation of plant growth. Therefore, understanding the molecular mechanisms by which PIFs regulate plant development is crucial to improve crop productivity under both optimal and adverse environmental conditions. In this review, we discuss current knowledge of PIFs acting as integrators of light and other signals in different crops, with particular focus on the role of PIFs in responding to different environmental conditions and how this can be used to improve crop productivity.
KW  - Cold
KW  - drought
KW  - grain size
KW  - heat
KW  - light signaling
KW  - phytochrome
KW  - PIF
KW  - plant architecture
KW  - plant breeding
KW  - plant yield
KW  - salinity
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/erac142
SN  - 0022-0957
SN  - 1460-2431
VL  - 73
IS  - 12
SP  - 3881
EP  - 3897
PB  - Oxford Univ. Press
CY  - Oxford
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Scheffler, Christiane
A1  - Hermanussen, Michael
T1  - Reply to the letter titled:  "Pathologizing normal height or identifying chronic malnutrition: Public health concerns of calling stunting normal" / by Nafis Faizi,  Mohd Yasir Zubair and Fazeelah Tasleem'. -  New York, NY [u.a.] : Wiley Interscience. - 2022. - (American Journal of Human Biology : the Official Journal of the Human Biology Council, 16 Feb 2022. - 34(2022) 5 ). - https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.23735
JF  - American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Association
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.23741
SN  - 1520-6300
VL  - 34
IS  - 5
PB  - Wiley Interscience
CY  - New York, NY [u.a.]
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Berg-Mohnicke, Michael
A1  - Nendel, Claas
T1  - A case for object capabilities as the foundation of a distributed environmental model and simulation infrastructure
JF  - Environmental modelling & software with environment data news
N2  - With the advent of increasingly powerful computational architectures, scientists use these possibilities to create simulations of ever-increasing size and complexity. Large-scale simulations of environmental systems require huge amounts of resources. Managing these in an operational way becomes increasingly complex and difficult to handle for individual scientists. State-of-the-art simulation infrastructures usually provide the necessary re-sources in a centralised setup, which often results in an all-or-nothing choice for the user. Here, we outline an alternative approach to handling this complexity, while rendering the use of high-performance hardware and large datasets still possible. It retains a number of desirable properties: (i) a decentralised structure, (ii) easy sharing of resources to promote collaboration and (iii) secure access to everything, including natural delegation of authority across levels and system boundaries. We show that the object capability paradigm will cover these issues, and present the first steps towards developing a simulation infrastructure based on these principles.
KW  - Cap'n proto
KW  - Scientific collaboration
KW  - Co -development
KW  - Communication
KW  - protocol
KW  - Object capability
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2022.105471
SN  - 1364-8152
SN  - 1873-6726
VL  - 156
PB  - Elsevier
CY  - Oxford
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Sabrowski, Wiebke
A1  - Dreymann, Nico
A1  - Möller, Anja
A1  - Czepluch, Denise
A1  - Albani, Patricia P.
A1  - Theodoridis, Dimitrios
A1  - Menger, Marcus M.
T1  - The use of high-affinity polyhistidine binders as masking probes for the selection of an NDM-1 specific aptamer
JF  - Scientific reports
N2  - The emergence of carbapenemase-producing multi-drug resistant Enterobacteriaceae poses a dramatic, world-wide health risk. Limited treatment options and a lack of easy-to-use methods for the detection of infections with multi-drug resistant bacteria leave the health-care system with a fast-growing challenge. Aptamers are single stranded DNA or RNA molecules that bind to their targets with high affinity and specificity and can therefore serve as outstanding detection probes. However, an effective aptamer selection process is often hampered by non-specific binding. When selections are carried out against recombinant proteins, purification tags (e.g. polyhistidine) serve as attractive side targets, which may impede protein target binding. In this study, aptamer selection was carried out against N-terminally hexa-histidine tagged New Delhi metallo-ss-lactamase 1. After 14 selection rounds binding to polyhistidine was detected rather than to New Delhi metallo-ss-lactamase 1. Hence, the selection strategy was changed. As one aptamer candidate showed remarkable binding affinity to polyhistidine, it was used as a masking probe and selection was restarted from selection round 10. Finally, after three consecutive selection rounds, an aptamer with specific binding properties to New Delhi metallo-ss-lactamase 1 was identified. This aptamer may serve as a much-needed detection probe for New Delhi metallo-ss-lactamase 1 expressing Enterobacteriaceae.
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-12062-2
SN  - 2045-2322
VL  - 12
IS  - 1
PB  - Macmillan Publishers Limited, part of Springer Nature
CY  - London
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Nathan, Ran
A1  - Monk, Christopher T.
A1  - Arlinghaus, Robert
A1  - Adam, Timo
A1  - Alós, Josep
A1  - Assaf, Michael
A1  - Baktoft, Henrik
A1  - Beardsworth, Christine E.
A1  - Bertram, Michael G.
A1  - Bijleveld, Allert
A1  - Brodin, Tomas
A1  - Brooks, Jill L.
A1  - Campos-Candela, Andrea
A1  - Cooke, Steven J.
A1  - Gjelland, Karl O.
A1  - Gupte, Pratik R.
A1  - Harel, Roi
A1  - Hellstrom, Gustav
A1  - Jeltsch, Florian
A1  - Killen, Shaun S.
A1  - Klefoth, Thomas
A1  - Langrock, Roland
A1  - Lennox, Robert J.
A1  - Lourie, Emmanuel
A1  - Madden, Joah R.
A1  - Orchan, Yotam
A1  - Pauwels, Ine S.
A1  - Riha, Milan
A1  - Röleke, Manuel
A1  - Schlägel, Ulrike
A1  - Shohami, David
A1  - Signer, Johannes
A1  - Toledo, Sivan
A1  - Vilk, Ohad
A1  - Westrelin, Samuel
A1  - Whiteside, Mark A.
A1  - Jaric, Ivan
T1  - Big-data approaches lead to an increased understanding of the ecology of animal movement
JF  - Science
N2  - Understanding animal movement is essential to elucidate how animals interact, survive, and thrive in a changing world. Recent technological advances in data collection and management have transformed our understanding of animal "movement ecology" (the integrated study of organismal movement), creating a big-data discipline that benefits from rapid, cost-effective generation of large amounts of data on movements of animals in the wild. These high-throughput wildlife tracking systems now allow more thorough investigation of variation among individuals and species across space and time, the nature of biological interactions, and behavioral responses to the environment. Movement ecology is rapidly expanding scientific frontiers through large interdisciplinary and collaborative frameworks, providing improved opportunities for conservation and insights into the movements of wild animals, and their causes and consequences.
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abg1780
SN  - 0036-8075
SN  - 1095-9203
VL  - 375
IS  - 6582
SP  - 734
EP  - +
PB  - American Assoc. for the Advancement of Science
CY  - Washington
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Milles, Alexander Benedikt
A1  - Dammhahn, Melanie
A1  - Jeltsch, Florian
A1  - Schlägel, Ulrike
A1  - Grimm, Volker
T1  - Fluctuations in density-dependent selection drive the evolution of a pace-of-life syndrome within and between populations
JF  - The American naturalist : a bi-monthly journal devoted to the advancement and correlation of the biological sciences
N2  - The pace-of-life syndrome (POLS) hypothesis posits that suites of traits are correlated along a slow-fast continuum owing to life history trade-offs. Despite widespread adoption, environmental conditions driving the emergence of POLS remain unclear. A recently proposed conceptual framework of POLS suggests that a slow-fast continuum should align to fluctuations in density-dependent selection. We tested three key predictions made by this framework with an ecoevolutionary agent-based population model. Selection acted on responsiveness (behavioral trait) to interpatch resource differences and the reproductive investment threshold (life history trait). Across environments with density fluctuations of different magnitudes, we observed the emergence of a common axis of trait covariation between and within populations (i.e., the evolution of a POLS). Slow-type (fast-type) populations with high (low) responsiveness and low (high) reproductive investment threshold were selected at high (low) population densities and less (more) intense and frequent density fluctuations. In support of the predictions, fast-type populations contained a higher degree of variation in traits and were associated with higher intrinsic reproductive rate (r(0)) and higher sensitivity to intraspecific competition (gamma), pointing to a universal trade-off. While our findings support that POLS aligns with density-dependent selection, we discuss possible mechanisms that may lead to alternative evolutionary pathways.
KW  - pace-of-life syndrome
KW  - density dependence
KW  - life history
KW  - trait
KW  - variation
KW  - model
KW  - personality
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1086/718473
SN  - 0003-0147
SN  - 1537-5323
VL  - 199
IS  - 4
SP  - E124
EP  - E139
PB  - Univ. of Chicago Press
CY  - Chicago
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Ghafarian, Fatemeh
A1  - Wieland, Ralf
A1  - Nendel, Claas
T1  - Estimating the Evaporative Cooling Effect of Irrigation within and above Soybean Canopy
JF  - Water
N2  - Vegetation with an adequate supply of water might contribute to cooling the land surface around it through the latent heat flux of transpiration. This study investigates the potential estimation of evaporative cooling at plot scale, using soybean as example. Some of the plants' physiological parameters were monitored and sampled at weekly intervals. A physics-based model was then applied to estimate the irrigation-induced cooling effect within and above the canopy during the middle and late season of the soybean growth period. We then examined the results of the temperature changes at a temporal resolution of ten minutes between every two irrigation rounds. During the middle and late season of growth, the cooling effects caused by evapotranspiration within and above the canopy were, on average, 4.4 K and 2.9 K, respectively. We used quality indicators such as R-squared (R-2) and mean absolute error (MAE) to evaluate the performance of the model simulation. The performance of the model in this study was better above the canopy (R-2 = 0.98, MAE = 0.3 K) than below (R-2 = 0.87, MAE = 0.9 K) due to the predefined thermodynamic condition used to estimate evaporative cooling. Moreover, the study revealed that canopy cooling contributes to mitigating heat stress conditions during the middle and late seasons of crop growth.
KW  - canopy cooling effects
KW  - shading cooling
KW  - canopy-air temperature
KW  - energy
KW  - balance
KW  - the Penman-Monteith equation
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.3390/w14030319
SN  - 2073-4441
VL  - 14
IS  - 3
PB  - MDPI
CY  - Basel
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Boeker, Sonja
A1  - Hermanussen, Michael
A1  - Scheffler, Christiane
T1  - Dental age is an independent marker of biological age
JF  - Human biology and public health
N2  - Background: Biological age markers are a crucial indicator whether children are decelerated in growth tempo. Skeletal maturation is the standard measure. Yet, it relies on exposing children to x-radiation. Dental eruption is a potential, but highly debated, radiation free alternative. 

Objectives: We assess the interrelationship between dental eruption and other maturational markers. We hypothesize that dental age correlates with body height and skeletal age. We further evaluate how the three different variables behave in cohorts from differing social backgrounds.

Sample and Method: Dental, skeletal and height data from the 1970s to 1990s from Guatemalan boys were converted into standard deviation scores, using external references for each measurement. The boys, aged between 7 and 12, derived from different social backgrounds (middle SES (N = 6529), low-middle SES (N = 736), low SES Ladino (N = 3653) and low SES Maya (N = 4587).

Results: Dental age shows only a weak correlation with skeletal age (0.18) and height (0.2). The distinction between cohorts differs according to each of the three measurements. All cohorts differ significantly in height. In skeletal maturation, the middle SES cohort is significantly advanced compared to all other cohorts. The periodically malnourished cohorts of low SES Mayas and Ladinos are significantly delayed in dental maturation compared to the well-nourished low-middle and middle class Ladino children.

Conclusion: Dental development is an independent system, that is regulated by different mechanisms than skeletal development and growth. Tooth eruption is sensitive to nutritional status, whereas skeletal age is more sensitive to socioeconomic background.
KW  - dental eruption
KW  - biological age
KW  - skeletal age
KW  - growth tempo
KW  - maturation
KW  - malnutrition
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.52905/hbph2021.3.24
SN  - 2748-9957
VL  - 2021
IS  - 3, Summer School Supplement
PB  - Universitätsverlag Potsdam
CY  - Potsdam
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Hermanussen, Michael
A1  - Groth, Detlef
A1  - Scheffler, Christiane
T1  - Human growth data analyses and statistics
BT  - The 4th Gülpe International Student Summer School
JF  - Human biology and public health
N2  - Students learn by repetition. Repetition is essential, but repetition needs questioning, and questioning the repertoire belongs to the essential tasks of student education. Guiding students to questioning was and is our prime motive to offer our International Student Summer Schools. The data were critically discussed among the students, in the twilight of Just So Stories, common knowledge, and prompted questioning of contemporary solutions. For these schools, the students bring their own data, carry their preliminary concepts, and in group discussions, they may have to challenge these concepts. Catch-up growth is known to affect long bone growth, but different opinions exist to what extent it also affects body proportions. Skeletal age and dental development are considered appropriate measures of maturation, but it appears that both system develop independently and are regulated by different mechanisms. Body weight distributions are assumed to be skewed, yet, historic data disproved this assumption. Many discussions focused on current ideas of global growth standards as a common yardstick for all populations world-wide, with new statistical tools being developed including network reconstruction and evaluation of the reconstructs to determine the confidence of graph prediction methods.
KW  - Just so stories
KW  - Summer Schools
KW  - questioning solutions
KW  - repetition
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.52905/hbph2021.3.29
SN  - 2748-9957
VL  - 2021
IS  - 3, Summer School Supplement
PB  - Universitätsverlag Potsdam
CY  - Potsdam
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Mumm, Rebekka
A1  - Hermanussen, Michael
T1  - The dilemma of misclassifying weight in short and in historic population
JF  - Human biology and public health
N2  - Background: Clinicians often refer anthropometric measures of a child to so-called “growth standards” and “growth references. Over 140 countries have meanwhile adopted WHO growth standards.

Objectives: The present study was conducted to thoroughly examine the idea of growth standards as a common yardstick for all populations. Weight depends on height. We became interested in whether also weight-for-height depends on height. First, we studied the age-group effect on weight-for-height. Thereafter, we tested the applicability of weight-for-height references in short and in historic populations.

Sample and Methods: We analyzed body height and body weight and weight-for-height of 3795 healthy boys and 3726 healthy girls aged 2 to 5 years measured in East-Germany between 1986 and 1990.
We chose contemporary height and weight charts from Germany, the UK, and the WHO growth chart and compared these with three geographically commensurable growth charts from the end of the 19th century.

Results: We analyzed body height and body weight and weight-for-height of 3795 healthy boys and 3726 healthy girls aged 2 to 5 years measured in East-Germany between 1986 and 1990.
We chose contemporary height and weight charts from Germany, the UK, and the WHO growth chart and compared these with three geographically commensurable growth charts of the end of the 19th century.

Conclusion: Weight-for-height depends on age and sex and apart from the nutritional state, reflects body proportion and body built particularly during infancy and early childhood. Populations with a relatively short average height are prone to high values of weight-for-height for arithmetic reasons independent of the nutritional state.
KW  - growth standards
KW  - growth references
KW  - body mass index
KW  - nutritional status
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.52905/hbph2021.3.28
SN  - 2748-9957
VL  - 2021
IS  - 3, Summer School Supplement
PB  - Universitätsverlag Potsdam
CY  - Potsdam
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Hermanussen, Michael
A1  - Scheffler, Christiane
T1  - Evidence of chronic undernutrition in late 19th century German infants of all social classes
JF  - Human biology and public health
N2  - 125 years ago, European infants grew differently from modern infants. We show weight gains of 20 healthy children weighed longitudinally from birth to age 1 year, published by Camerer in 1882. The data illustrate the historically prevalent concepts of infant nutrition practiced by German civil servants, lawyers, merchants, university professors, physicians, foresters and farmers. Breastfeeding by the mother was not truly appreciated in those days; children were often breastfed by wet nurses or received bottled milk. Bottle feeding mainly used diluted cow’s milk with some added carbohydrates, without evidence that appropriate amounts of oil, butter or other fatty components were added. French children from 1914 showed similar weight gain patterns suggesting similar feeding practices. The historical data suggest that energy deficient infant formula was fed regularly in the late 19th and early 20th century Europe, regardless of wealth and social class. The data question current concerns that temporarily feeding energy deficient infant formula may warrant serious anxieties regarding long-term cognitive, social and emotional behavioral development.
KW  - chronic undernutrition
KW  - breastfeeding
KW  - historical growth
KW  - social class
KW  - translation
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.52905/hbph2022.2.42
SN  - 2748-9957
VL  - 2022
IS  - 2
PB  - Universitätsverlag Potsdam
CY  - Potsdam
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Haueis, Lisa
A1  - Stech, Marlitt
A1  - Kubick, Stefan
T1  - A Cell-free Expression Pipeline for the Generation and Functional Characterization of Nanobodies
JF  - Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology
N2  - Cell-free systems are well-established platforms for the rapid synthesis, screening, engineering and modification of all kinds of recombinant proteins ranging from membrane proteins to soluble proteins, enzymes and even toxins. Also within the antibody field the cell-free technology has gained considerable attention with respect to the clinical research pipeline including antibody discovery and production. Besides the classical full-length monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), so-called "nanobodies" (Nbs) have come into focus. A Nb is the smallest naturally-derived functional antibody fragment known and represents the variable domain (VHH, similar to 15 kDa) of a camelid heavy-chain-only antibody (HCAb). Based on their nanoscale and their special structure, Nbs display striking advantages concerning their production, but also their characteristics as binders, such as high stability, diversity, improved tissue penetration and reaching of cavity-like epitopes. The classical way to produce Nbs depends on the use of living cells as production host. Though cell-based production is well-established, it is still time-consuming, laborious and hardly amenable for high-throughput applications. Here, we present for the first time to our knowledge the synthesis of functional Nbs in a standardized mammalian cell-free system based on Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell lysates. Cell-free reactions were shown to be time-efficient and easy-to-handle allowing for the "on demand" synthesis of Nbs. Taken together, we complement available methods and demonstrate a promising new system for Nb selection and validation.
KW  - cell-free protein synthesis
KW  - In vitro transcription
KW  - translation
KW  - nanobody
KW  - VHH
KW  - camelid
KW  - CHO cell lysate
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.3389/fbioe.2022.896763
SN  - 2296-4185
VL  - 10
PB  - Frontiers Media
CY  - Lausanne
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Dammhahn, Melanie
A1  - Lange, Pauline
A1  - Eccard, Jana
T1  - The landscape of fear has individual layers
BT  - an experimental test of among-individual differences in perceived predation risk during foraging
JF  - Oikos
N2  - Perceived predation risk varies in space and time creating a landscape of fear. This key feature of an animal's environment is classically studied as a species-specific property. However, individuals differ in how they solve the tradeoff between safety and reward and may, hence, differ consistently and predictively in perceived predation risk across landscapes. To test this hypothesis, we quantified among-individual differences in boldness and activity and exposed behaviourally phenotyped male bank voles Myodes glareolus individually to two different experimental landscapes of risks in large outdoor enclosures and provided resources as discrete food patches. We manipulated perceived predation risk via vegetation height between 2 and > 30 cm and quantified patch use indirectly via RFID-logging and giving-up densities. We statistically disentangled among-individual differences in microhabitat use from spatially varying perceived risk, i.e. landscape of fear. We found that individuals varied in mean vegetation height of their foraging microhabitats and that this microhabitat selection matched the intrinsic individual differences in perceived risk. As predicted by the patch use model, all individual's perceived higher risks when foraging in lower vegetation. However, individuals differed in their reaction norm slopes of perceived risk to vegetation height, and these differences in slopes were consistent across two different landscapes of risks and resources. We interpret these results as evidence for individual landscapes of fear, which could be predicted by among-individual differences in activity and boldness. Since perceived predation risk affects when and where to forage, among-individual differences in fear responses could act as a mode of intraspecific niche complementarity (i.e. individual niche specialization), help explain behavioural type by environment correlations, and will likely have cascading indirect effects on lower trophic levels.
KW  - activity
KW  - behavioural reaction norm
KW  - giving-up density
KW  - patch use;
KW  - optimal foraging
KW  - personality
KW  - risk allocation
KW  - rodents
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1111/oik.09124
SN  - 0030-1299
SN  - 1600-0706
VL  - 2022
IS  - 6
PB  - Wiley
CY  - Hoboken
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Krumbholz, Julia
A1  - Ishida, Keishi
A1  - Baunach, Martin
A1  - Teikari, Jonna
A1  - Rose, Magdalena M.
A1  - Sasso, Severin
A1  - Hertweck, Christian
A1  - Dittmann, Elke
T1  - Deciphering chemical mediators regulating specialized metabolism in a symbiotic cyanobacterium
JF  - Angewandte Chemie : a journal of the Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker. International edition
N2  - Genomes of cyanobacteria feature a variety of cryptic biosynthetic pathways for complex natural products, but the peculiarities limiting the discovery and exploitation of the metabolic dark matter are not well understood. Here we describe the discovery of two cell density-dependent chemical mediators, nostoclide and nostovalerolactone, in the symbiotic model strain Nostoc punctiforme, and demonstrate their pronounced impact on the regulation of specialized metabolism. Through transcriptional, bioinformatic and labeling studies we assigned two adjacent biosynthetic gene clusters to the biosynthesis of the two polyketide mediators. Our findings provide insight into the orchestration of specialized metabolite production and give lessons for the genomic mining and high-titer production of cyanobacterial bioactive compounds.
KW  - Biosynthesis
KW  - Cyanobacteria
KW  - Genomic Mining
KW  - Quorum Sensing
KW  - Specialized
KW  - Metabolism
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202204545
SN  - 1433-7851
SN  - 1521-3773
PB  - Wiley-VCH
CY  - Weinheim
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Dreymann, Nico
A1  - Wuensche, Julia
A1  - Sabrowski, Wiebke
A1  - Moeller, Anja
A1  - Czepluch, Denise
A1  - Vu Van, Dana
A1  - Füssel, Susanne
A1  - Menger, Marcus M.
T1  - Inhibition of Human Urokinase-Type Plasminogen Activator (uPA) Enzyme Activity and Receptor Binding by DNA Aptamers as Potential Therapeutics through Binding to the Different Forms of uPA
JF  - International journal of molecular sciences
N2  - Urokinase-type plasminogen activator is widely discussed as a marker for cancer prognosis and diagnosis and as a target for cancer therapies. Together with its receptor, uPA plays an important role in tumorigenesis, tumor progression and metastasis. In the present study, systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (SELEX) was used to select single-stranded DNA aptamers targeting different forms of human uPA. Selected aptamers allowed the distinction between HMW-uPA and LMW-uPA, and therefore, presumably, have different binding regions. Here, uPAapt-02-FR showed highly affine binding with a K-D of 0.7 nM for HMW-uPA and 21 nM for LMW-uPA and was also able to bind to pro-uPA with a K-D of 14 nM. Furthermore, no cross-reactivity to mouse uPA or tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA) was measured, demonstrating high specificity. Suppression of the catalytic activity of uPA and inhibition of uPAR-binding could be demonstrated through binding with different aptamers and several of their truncated variants. Since RNA aptamers are already known to inhibit uPA-uPAR binding and other pathological functions of the uPA system, these aptamers represent a novel, promising tool not only for detection of uPA but also for interfering with the pathological functions of the uPA system by additionally inhibiting uPA activity.
KW  - biomarker
KW  - cancer
KW  - cancer therapy
KW  - DNA aptamer
KW  - microscale thermophoresis (MST)
KW  - SELEX
KW  - surface plasmon resonance spectroscopy (SPR)
KW  - uPA
KW  - uPAR
KW  - urokinase
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms23094890
SN  - 1661-6596
SN  - 1422-0067
VL  - 23
IS  - 9
PB  - MDPI
CY  - Basel
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Blickensdörfer, Lukas
A1  - Schwieder, Marcel
A1  - Pflugmacher, Dirk
A1  - Nendel, Claas
A1  - Erasmi, Stefan
A1  - Hostert, Patrick
T1  - Mapping of crop types and crop sequences with combined time series of Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2 and Landsat 8 data for Germany
JF  - Remote sensing of environment : an interdisciplinary journal
N2  - Monitoring agricultural systems becomes increasingly important in the context of global challenges like climate change, biodiversity loss, population growth, and the rising demand for agricultural products. High-resolution, national-scale maps of agricultural land are needed to develop strategies for future sustainable agriculture. 

However, the characterization of agricultural land cover over large areas and for multiple years remains challenging due to the locally diverse and temporally variable characteristics of cultivated land. 
We here propose a workflow for generating national agricultural land cover maps on a yearly basis that accounts for varying environmental conditions. We tested the approach by mapping 24 agricultural land cover classes in Germany for the three years 2017, 2018, and 2019, in which the meteorological conditions strongly differed. 
We used a random forest classifier and dense time series data from Sentinel-2 and Landsat 8 in combination with monthly Sentinel-1 composites and environmental data and evaluated the relative importance of optical, radar, and environmental data. 

Our results show high overall accuracy and plausible class accuracies for the most dominant crop types across different years despite the strong inter-annual meteorological variability and the presence of drought and nondrought years. The maps show high spatial consistency and good delineation of field parcels. 
Combining optical, SAR, and environmental data increased overall accuracies by 6% to 10% compared to single sensor approaches, in which optical data outperformed SAR. Overall accuracy ranged between 78% and 80%, and the mapped areas aligned well with agricultural statistics at the regional and national level. 
Based on the multi-year dataset we mapped major crop sequences of cereals and leaf crops. Most crop sequences were dominated by winter cereals followed by summer cereals. 
Monocultures of summer cereals were mainly revealed in the Northwest of Germany. We showcased that high spatial and thematic detail in combination with annual mapping will stimulate research on crop cycles and studies to assess the impact of environmental policies on management decisions. 

Our results demonstrate the capabilities of integrated optical time series and SAR data in combination with variables describing local and seasonal environmental conditions for annual large-area crop type mapping.
KW  - agricultural land cover
KW  - analysis-ready data
KW  - time series
KW  - large-area mapping
KW  - optical remote sensing
KW  - SAR
KW  - big data
KW  - multi-sensor
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2021.112831
SN  - 0034-4257
SN  - 1879-0704
VL  - 269
PB  - Elsevier
CY  - New York
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Kühn, Elisabeth
A1  - Becker, Marc
A1  - Harpke, Alexander
A1  - Kühn, Ingolf
A1  - Kuhlicke, Christian
A1  - Schmitt, Thomas
A1  - Settele, Josef
A1  - Musche, Martin
T1  - The benefits of counting butterflies: recommendations for a successful citizen science project
JF  - Ecology and Society
N2  - Citizen science (CS) projects, being popular across many fields of science, have recently also become a popular tool to collect biodiversity data. Although the benefits of such projects for science and policy making are well understood, relatively little is known about the benefits participants get from these projects as well as their personal backgrounds and motivations. Furthermore, very little is known about their expectations. We here examine these aspects, with the citizen science project "German Butterfly Monitoring" as an example. A questionnaire was sent to all participants of the project and the responses to the questionnaire indicated the following: center dot Most transect walkers do not have a professional background in this field, though they do have a high educational level, and are close to retirement, with a high number of females; center dot An important motivation to join the project is to preserve the natural environment and to contribute to scientific knowledge; center dot Participants benefit by enhancing their knowledge about butterflies and especially their ability to identify different species (taxonomic knowledge); center dot Participants do not have specific expectations regarding the project beyond proper management and coordination, but have an intrinsic sense of working for a greater good. The willingness to join a project is higher if the project contributes to the solution of a problem discussed in the media (here, insect decline). Based on our findings from the analysis of the questionnaire we can derive a set of recommendations for establishing a successful CS project. These include the importance of good communication, e.g., by explaining what the (scientific) purpose of the project is and what problems are to be solved with the help of the data collected in the project. The motivation to join a CS project is mostly intrinsic and CS is a good tool to engage people during difficult times such as the COVID-19 pandemic, giving participants the feeling of doing something useful.
KW  - COVID-19 pandemic
KW  - gender gap
KW  - insect decline
KW  - intrinsic motivation
KW  - monitoring
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-12861-270238
SN  - 1708-3087
VL  - 27
IS  - 2
PB  - Resilience Alliance
CY  - Wolfville
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Jesus, Sonia A.
A1  - Schmidt, Anke
A1  - Fickel, Jörns
A1  - Doherr, Marcus G.
A1  - Boonprasert, Khajohnpat
A1  - Thitaram, Chatchote
A1  - Sariya, Ladawan
A1  - Ratanakron, Parntep
A1  - Hildebrandt, Thomas Bernd
T1  - Assessing coagulation parameters in healthy Asian Elephants (Elephas maximus) from European and thai populations
JF  - Animals
N2  - Simple Summary Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) are considered endangered and their population is in continuous decline. Understanding their social interactions, health, and welfare status has been a topic of intense research in recent decades. Coagulation assessments have been underutilized in wildlife but can give valuable information on individual health. This study aims to increase the knowledge of the coagulation status in healthy Asian elephants from different backgrounds and age groups, using a fast point-of-care analyzer. This tool can be further used in either routine health check-ups performed by caretakers or in a clinical emergency, such as in cases of elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus hemorrhagic disease outbreaks. We have also investigated the presence of genomic mutations in one coagulation factor-factor VII-where a disorder was previously reported in an Asian elephant. Hereby, we report new reference values for coagulation parameters, such as coagulation times and fibrinogen concentration of Asian elephants assessed in Thailand and in Europe, as well as several single point mutations found in the exons of Elephas maximus coagulation F7 gene. We found the point-of-care analyzer used in this study to be very practical and user friendly for a zoo and field environment and hope that this project will incentivize further coagulation studies in Asian elephants and in other wildlife species. The Asian elephant population is continuously declining due to several extrinsic reasons in their range countries, but also due to diseases in captive populations worldwide. One of these diseases, the elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus (EEHV) hemorrhagic disease, is very impactful because it particularly affects Asian elephant calves. It is commonly fatal and presents as an acute and generalized hemorrhagic syndrome. Therefore, having reference values of coagulation parameters, and obtaining such values for diseased animals in a very short time, is of great importance. We analyzed prothrombin time (PT), activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT), and fibrinogen concentrations using a portable and fast point-of-care analyzer (VetScan Pro) in 127 Asian elephants from Thai camps and European captive herds. We found significantly different PT and aPTT coagulation times between elephants from the two regions, as well as clear differences in fibrinogen concentration. Nevertheless, these alterations were not expected to have biological or clinical implications. We have also sequenced the coagulation factor VII gene of 141 animals to assess the presence of a previously reported hereditary coagulation disorder in Asian elephants and to investigate the presence of other mutations. We did not find the previously reported mutation in our study population. Instead, we discovered the presence of several new single nucleotide polymorphisms, two of them being considered as deleterious by effect prediction software.
KW  - coagulation
KW  - Asian elephant
KW  - EEHV
KW  - factor VII
KW  - F7 gene
KW  - prothrombin
KW  - activated PTT
KW  - fibrinogen
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12030361
SN  - 2076-2615
VL  - 12
IS  - 3
PB  - MDPI
CY  - Basel
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Stelbrink, Björn
A1  - von Rintelen, Thomas
A1  - Richter, Kirsten
A1  - Finstermeier, Knut
A1  - Frahnert, Sylke
A1  - Cracraft, Joel
A1  - Hofreiter, Michael
T1  - Insights into the geographical origin and phylogeographical patterns of Paradisaea birds-of-paradise
JF  - Zoological journal of the Linnean Society
N2  - Birds-of-paradise represent a textbook example for geographical speciation and sexual selection. Perhaps the most iconic genus is Paradisaea, which is restricted to New Guinea and a few surrounding islands. Although several species concepts have been applied in the past to disentangle the different entities within this genus, no attempt has been made so far to uncover phylogeographical patterns based on a genetic dataset that includes multiple individuals per species. Here, we applied amplicon sequencing for the mitochondrial fragment Cytb for a total of 69 museum specimens representing all seven Paradisaea species described and inferred both phylogenetic relationships and colonization pathways across the island. Our analyses show that the most recent common ancestor of the diverging lineages within Paradisaea probably originated in the Late Miocene in the eastern part of the Central Range and suggest that tectonic processes played a key role in shaping the diversification and distribution of species. All species were recovered as monophyletic, except for those within the apoda-minor-raggiana clade, which comprises the allopatric and parapatric species P. apoda, P. minor and P. raggiana. The comparatively young divergence times, together with possible instances of mitochondrial introgression and incomplete lineage sorting, suggest recent speciation in this clade.
KW  - amplicon sequencing
KW  - Cytb
KW  - historical DNA
KW  - molecular clock
KW  - molecular phylogeny
KW  - museomics
KW  - New Guinea
KW  - Paradisaeidae
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlac010
SN  - 0024-4082
SN  - 1096-3642
VL  - 196
IS  - 4
SP  - 1394
EP  - 1407
PB  - Oxford Univ. Press
CY  - Oxford
ER  -