TY - JOUR A1 - Bühning, Martin A1 - Valleriani, Angelo A1 - Leimkühler, Silke T1 - The role of SufS is restricted to Fe-S cluster biosynthesis in escherichia coli JF - Biochemistry N2 - In Escherichia coli, two different systems that are important for the coordinate formation of Fe–S clusters have been identified, namely, the ISC and SUF systems. The ISC system is the housekeeping Fe–S machinery, which provides Fe–S clusters for numerous cellular proteins. The IscS protein of this system was additionally revealed to be the primary sulfur donor for several sulfur-containing molecules with important biological functions, among which are the molybdenum cofactor (Moco) and thiolated nucleosides in tRNA. Here, we show that deletion of central components of the ISC system in addition to IscS leads to an overall decrease in Fe–S cluster enzyme and molybdoenzyme activity in addition to a decrease in the number of Fe–S-dependent thiomodifications of tRNA, based on the fact that some proteins involved in Moco biosynthesis and tRNA thiolation are Fe–S-dependent. Complementation of the ISC deficient strains with the suf operon restored the activity of Fe–S-containing proteins, including the MoaA protein, which is involved in the conversion of 5′GTP to cyclic pyranopterin monophosphate in the fist step of Moco biosynthesis. While both systems share a high degree of similarity, we show that the function of their respective l-cysteine desulfurase IscS or SufS is specific for each cellular pathway. It is revealed that SufS cannot play the role of IscS in sulfur transfer for the formation of 2-thiouridine, 4-thiouridine, or the dithiolene group of molybdopterin, being unable to interact with TusA or ThiI. The results demonstrate that the role of the SUF system is exclusively restricted to Fe–S cluster assembly in the cell. Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.biochem.7b00040 SN - 0006-2960 VL - 56 SP - 1987 EP - 2000 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Heim, Olga A1 - Lenski, Johannes A1 - Schulze, Jelena A1 - Jung, Kirsten A1 - Kramer-Schadt, Stephanie A1 - Eccard, Jana A1 - Voigt, Christian C. T1 - The relevance of vegetation structures and small water bodies for bats foraging above farmland JF - Basic and applied ecology : Journal of the Gesellschaft für Ökologie N2 - Bats are known to forage and commute close to vegetation structures when moving across the agricultural matrix, but the role of isolated landscape elements in arable fields for bat activity is unknown. Therefore, we investigated the influence of small isolated ponds which lie within arable fields close to vegetation structures on the flight and foraging activity of bats. Additionally, we compared species-specific activity measures between forest edges and linear structures such as hedgerows. We repeatedly recorded bat activity using passive acoustic monitoring along 20 transects extending from the vegetation edge up to 200 m into the arable field (hereafter: edge-field interface) with a small pond present at five transects per edge type (linear vs. forest). Using generalized linear mixed effect models, we analyzed the effects of edge type, pond presence and the season on species-specific flight and foraging activity within the edge-field interface. We found a higher flight activity of Nyctalus noctula and Pipistrellus pygmaeus above the arable field when a pond was present. Furthermore, Pipistrellus nathusii and Pipistrellus pipistrellus foraged more frequently at forest edges than at linear structures (e.g. hedgerows). Additionally, we found three major patterns of seasonal variation in the activity of bats along the edge-field interface. This study highlights the species-specific and dynamic use of forest and hedgerow or tree line edges by bats and their importance for different bat species in the agricultural landscape. Further, additional landscape elements such as small isolated ponds within arable fields might support the activity of bats above the open agricultural landscape, thereby facilitating agroecosystem functioning. Therefore, additional landscape elements within managed areas should be restored and protected against the conversion into arable land and better linked to surrounding landscape elements in order to efficiently support bats within the agroecosystem. KW - Hedgerow KW - Forest edge KW - Pond KW - European bats KW - Agricultural landscape KW - Wind turbines Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.baae.2017.12.001 SN - 1439-1791 SN - 1618-0089 VL - 27 SP - 9 EP - 19 PB - Elsevier GMBH CY - München ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Skłodowski, Kamil A1 - Riedelsberger, Janin A1 - Raddatz, Natalia A1 - Riadi, Gonzalo A1 - Caballero, Julio A1 - Chérel, Isabelle A1 - Schulze, Waltraud A1 - Graf, Alexander A1 - Dreyer, Ingo T1 - The receptor-like pseudokinase MRH1 interacts with the voltage-gated potassium channel AKT2 JF - Scientific reports N2 - The potassium channel AKT2 plays important roles in phloem loading and unloading. It can operate as inward-rectifying channel that allows H+-ATPase-energized K+ uptake. Moreover, through reversible post-translational modifications it can also function as an open, K+-selective channel, which taps a ‘potassium battery’, providing additional energy for transmembrane transport processes. Knowledge about proteins involved in the regulation of the operational mode of AKT2 is very limited. Here, we employed a large-scale yeast two-hybrid screen in combination with fluorescence tagging and null-allele mutant phenotype analysis and identified the plasma membrane localized receptor-like kinase MRH1/MDIS2 (AT4G18640) as interaction partner of AKT2. The phenotype of the mrh1-1 knockout plant mirrors that of akt2 knockout plants in energy limiting conditions. Electrophysiological analyses showed that MRH1/MDIS2 failed to exert any functional regulation on AKT2. Using structural protein modeling approaches, we instead gathered evidence that the putative kinase domain of MRH1/MDIS2 lacks essential sites that are indispensable for a functional kinase suggesting that MRH1/MDIS2 is a pseudokinase. We propose that MRH1/MDIS2 and AKT2 are likely parts of a bigger protein complex. MRH1 might help to recruit other, so far unknown partners, which post-translationally regulate AKT2. Additionally, MRH1 might be involved in the recognition of chemical signals. Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/srep44611 SN - 2045-2322 VL - 7 PB - Nature Publishing Group CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Falk, Thomas A1 - Kirk, Michael A1 - Lohmann, Dirk A1 - Kruger, Bertus A1 - Hüttich, Christian A1 - Kamukuenjandje, Richard T1 - The profits of excludability and transferability in redistributive land reform in central Namibia JF - Development Southern Africa N2 - Policies which redistribute property rights to land can improve the well-being of rural households and can have overall growth effects. In many cases, however, land reforms are driven mainly by politically justified objectives. Under such circumstances, little emphasis is placed on whether and, if so, how property rights can increase productivity. Following 18 years of land reform implementation in Namibia, we evaluated 65 beneficiaries in Namibia. We assess to which degree land rights affects their farm income. The study focuses on Namibia’s two main commercial land reform instruments, namely the Farm Unit Resettlement Scheme and the Affirmative Action Loan Scheme. We find evidence that the majority of land reform projects are not profitable. Further, our study confirms the importance of the right to restrict land access compared with the right to transfer. The long-term leasehold contract seemingly provides sufficient incentives to make productive use of the land. KW - Redistributive land reform KW - property rights KW - farm productivity KW - pastoralism KW - Namibia Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1080/0376835X.2016.1269633 SN - 0376-835X SN - 1470-3637 VL - 34 SP - 314 EP - 329 PB - Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group CY - Abingdon ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ruelens, Philip A1 - Zhang, Zhicheng A1 - van Mourik, Hilda A1 - Maere, Steven A1 - Kaufmann, Kerstin A1 - Geuten, Koen T1 - The Origin of Floral Organ Identity Quartets JF - The plant cell N2 - The origin of flowers has puzzled plant biologists ever since Darwin referred to their sudden appearance in the fossil record as an abominable mystery. Flowers are considered to be an assembly of protective, attractive, and reproductive male and female leaf-like organs. Their origin cannot be understood by a morphological comparison to gymnosperms, their closest relatives, which develop separate male or female cones. Despite these morphological differences, gymnosperms and angiosperms possess a similar genetic toolbox consisting of phylogenetically related MADS domain proteins. Using ancestral MADS domain protein reconstruction, we trace the evolution of organ identity quartets along the stem lineage of crown angiosperms. We provide evidence that current floral quartets specifying male organ identity, which consist of four types of subunits, evolved from ancestral complexes of two types of subunits through gene duplication and integration of SEPALLATA proteins just before the origin of flowering plants. Our results suggest that protein interaction changes underlying this compositional shift were the result of a gradual and reversible evolutionary trajectory. Modeling shows that such compositional changes may have facilitated the evolution of the perfect, bisexual flower. Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.16.00366 SN - 1040-4651 SN - 1532-298X VL - 29 IS - 2 SP - 229 EP - 242 PB - American Society of Plant Physiologists CY - Rockville ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Edenius, Lars A1 - Choi, Chang-Yong A1 - Heim, Wieland A1 - Jaakkonen, Tuomo A1 - De Jong, Adriaan A1 - Ozaki, Kiyoaki A1 - Roberge, Jean-Michel T1 - The next common and widespread bunting to go? BT - global population decline in the Rustic Bunting Emberiza rustica JF - Bird conservation international N2 - Populations of several long-distance migratory songbirds in Eurasia are in peril, drastically illustrated by the recent range-wide population collapse in the Yellow-breasted Bunting Emberiza aureola. There are signals of a strong decline also in the Rustic Bunting E. rustica, but no range-wide assessment of population trends in this superabundant and widespread bunting species has yet been undertaken. The conservation status of Rustic Bunting is ‘Least Concern’ on the global IUCN Red List, but it has recently been upgraded to ‘Vulnerable’ on the European Red List. To assess the Rustic Bunting’s global conservation status we compiled, for the first time, population data across its breeding and wintering ranges. The analysis reveals a 75–87% decline in overall population size over the last 30 years and a 32–91% decline over the last 10 years. The trend estimates indicate that the long-term (30-year) range-wide population decline in the Rustic Bunting is of similar magnitude to two well-known examples of declining species within the same genus, the Yellow-breasted Bunting and the Ortolan Bunting E. hortulana. The magnitude of the range-wide population decline over the last 10 years suggests that the Rustic Bunting could be upgraded from ‘Least Concern’ to ‘Vulnerable’ or ‘Endangered’ on the IUCN global Red List. Agricultural intensification in the wintering range and intensified levels of disturbance, including logging and fire, in the breeding range could be important drivers of the range-wide population decline, and persecution could also contribute. Untangling threat factors and their interactions on Rustic Bunting is necessary for conservation, but hampered by our currently limited understanding of the relationships between population dynamics and different threats. Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1017/S0959270916000046 SN - 0959-2709 SN - 1474-0001 VL - 27 IS - 1 SP - 35 EP - 44 PB - Cambridge Univ. Press CY - New York ER - TY - GEN A1 - Gonzalez-Fortes, Gloria M. A1 - Tassi, Francesca A1 - Ghirotto, Silvia A1 - Henneberger, Kirstin A1 - Hofreiter, Michael A1 - Barbujani, Guido T1 - The Neolithic transition at the Western edge of Europe T2 - American journal of physical anthropology Y1 - 2017 SN - 0002-9483 SN - 1096-8644 VL - 162 SP - 198 EP - 198 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Friemel, Martin A1 - Marelja, Zvonimir A1 - Li, Kuanyu A1 - Leimkühler, Silke T1 - The N-Terminus of Iron-Sulfur Cluster Assembly Factor ISD11 Is Crucial for Subcellular Targeting and Interaction with L-Cysteine Desulfurase NFS1 JF - Biochemistry N2 - Assembly of iron sulfur (FeS) clusters is an important process in living cells. The initial sulfur mobilization step for FeS cluster biosynthesis is catalyzed by L-cysteine desulfurase NFS1, a reaction that is localized in mitochondria in humans. In humans, the function of NFS1 depends on the ISD11 protein, which is required to stabilize its structure. The NFS1/ISD11 complex further interacts with scaffold protein ISCU and regulator protein frataxin, thereby forming a quaternary complex for FeS cluster formation. It has been suggested that the role of ISD11 is not restricted to its role in stabilizing the structure of NFS1, because studies of single-amino acid variants of ISD11 additionally demonstrated its importance for the correct assembly of the quaternary complex. In this study, we are focusing on the N-terminal region of ISD11 to determine the role of N-terminal amino acids in the formation of the complex with NFS1 and to reveal the mitochondria) targeting sequence for subcellular localization. Our in vitro studies with the purified proteins and in vivo studies in a cellular system show that the first 10 N-terminal amino acids of ISD11 are indispensable for the activity of NFS1 and especially the conserved "LYR" motif is essential for the role of ISD11 in forming a stable and active complex with NFS1. Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.biochem.6b01239 SN - 0006-2960 VL - 56 SP - 1797 EP - 1808 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Weithoff, Guntram A1 - Taube, Anne A1 - Bolius, Sarah T1 - The invasion success of the cyanobacterium Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii in experimental mesocosms BT - genetic identity, grazing loss, competition and biotic resistance JF - Aquatic Invasions N2 - The potentially toxic, invasive cyanobacterium Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii, originating from sub-tropical regions, has spread into temperate climate zones in almost all continents. Potential factors in its success are temperature, light and nutrient levels. Grazing losses through zooplankton have been measured in the laboratory but are typically not regarded as a factor in (failed) invasion success. In some potentially suitable lakes, C. raciborskii has never been found, although it is present in water bodies close by. Therefore, we tested the invasive potential of three different isolates introduced into natural plankton communities using laboratory mesocosm experiments under three grazing levels: ambient zooplankton densities, removal of large species using 100 mu m mesh and a ca. doubling of large species. Three C. raciborskii isolates originating from the same geographic region (North-East Germany) were added separately to the four replicates of each treatment and kept in semi-continuous cultures for 21 days. Two isolates disappeared from the mesocosms and were also not viable in filtered lake water indicating that the lake water itself or the switch from culture medium to lake water led to the decay of the inoculated C. raciborskii. Only one out of the three isolates persisted in the plankton communities at a rather low level and only in the treatment without larger zooplankton. This result demonstrates that under potentially suitable environmental conditions, top-down control from zooplankton might hamper the establishment of C. raciborskii. Non-metric multidimensional scaling showed distinct variation in resident phytoplankton communities between the different grazing levels, thus differential grazing impact shaped the resident community in different ways allowing C. raciborskii only to invade under competitive (= low grazing pressure) conditions. Furthermore, even after invasion failure, the temporary presence of C. raciborskii influenced the phytoplankton community. KW - alien species KW - Cyanobacteria KW - competitive resistance KW - consumptive resistance KW - herbivory KW - harmful algae KW - microbial invasion Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3391/ai.2017.12.3.07 SN - 1798-6540 SN - 1818-5487 VL - 12 SP - 333 EP - 341 PB - Regional Euro-Asian Biological Invasions centre-reabic CY - Helsinki ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Estendorfer, Jennifer A1 - Stempfhuber, Barbara A1 - Haury, Paula A1 - Vestergaard, Gisle A1 - Rillig, Matthias C. A1 - Joshi, Jasmin Radha A1 - Schröder, Peter A1 - Schloter, Michael T1 - The Influence of Land Use Intensity on the Plant-Associated Microbiome of Dactylis glomerata L. JF - Frontiers in plant science N2 - In this study, we investigated the impact of different land use intensities (LUI) on the root-associated microbiome of Dactylis glomerata (orchardgrass). For this purpose, eight sampling sites with different land use intensity levels but comparable soil properties were selected in the southwest of Germany. Experimental plots covered land use levels from natural grassland up to intensively managed meadows. We used 16S rRNA gene based barcoding to assess the plant-associated community structure in the endosphere, rhizosphere and bulk soil of D. glomerata. Samples were taken at the reproductive stage of the plant in early summer. Our data indicated that roots harbor a distinct bacterial community, which clearly differed from the microbiome of the rhizosphere and bulk soil. Our results revealed Pseudomonadaceae, Enterobacteriaceae and Comamonadaceae as the most abundant endophytes independently of land use intensity. Rhizosphere and bulk soil were dominated also by Proteobacteria, but the most abundant families differed from those obtained from root samples. In the soil, the effect of land use intensity was more pronounced compared to root endophytes leading to a clearly distinct pattern of bacterial communities under different LUI from rhizosphere and bulk soil vs. endophytes. Overall, a change of community structure on the plant-soil interface was observed, as the number of shared OTUs between all three compartments investigated increased with decreasing land use intensity. Thus, our findings suggest a stronger interaction of the plant with its surrounding soil under low land use intensity. Furthermore, the amount and quality of available nitrogen was identified as a major driver for shifts in the microbiome structure in all compartments. KW - Dactylis glomerata KW - land use change KW - endophytes KW - rhizosphere KW - soil microbiome KW - biodiversity Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2017.00930 SN - 1664-462X VL - 8 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Fer, Istem A1 - Tietjen, Britta A1 - Jeltsch, Florian A1 - Wolff, Christian Michael T1 - The influence of El Nino-Southern Oscillation regimes on eastern African vegetation and its future implications under the RCP8.5 warming scenario JF - Biogeosciences N2 - The El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is the main driver of the interannual variability in eastern African rainfall, with a significant impact on vegetation and agriculture and dire consequences for food and social security. In this study, we identify and quantify the ENSO contribution to the eastern African rainfall variability to forecast future eastern African vegetation response to rainfall variability related to a predicted intensified ENSO. To differentiate the vegetation variability due to ENSO, we removed the ENSO signal from the climate data using empirical orthogonal teleconnection (EOT) analysis. Then, we simulated the ecosystem carbon and water fluxes under the historical climate without components related to ENSO teleconnections. We found ENSO-driven patterns in vegetation response and confirmed that EOT analysis can successfully produce coupled tropical Pacific sea surface temperature-eastern African rainfall teleconnection from observed datasets. We further simulated eastern African vegetation response under future climate change as it is projected by climate models and under future climate change combined with a predicted increased ENSO intensity. Our EOT analysis highlights that climate simulations are still not good at capturing rainfall variability due to ENSO, and as we show here the future vegetation would be different from what is simulated under these climate model outputs lacking accurate ENSO contribution. We simulated considerable differences in eastern African vegetation growth under the influence of an intensified ENSO regime which will bring further environmental stress to a region with a reduced capacity to adapt effects of global climate change and food security. Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-4355-2017 SN - 1726-4170 SN - 1726-4189 VL - 14 IS - 18 SP - 4355 EP - 4374 PB - Copernicus CY - Katlenburg-Lindau ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schall, Peter A1 - Gossner, Martin M. A1 - Heinrichs, Steffi A1 - Fischer, Markus A1 - Boch, Steffen A1 - Prati, Daniel A1 - Jung, Kirsten A1 - Baumgartner, Vanessa A1 - Blaser, Stefan A1 - Böhm, Stefan A1 - Buscot, Francois A1 - Daniel, Rolf A1 - Goldmann, Kezia A1 - Kaiser, Kristin A1 - Kahl, Tiemo A1 - Lange, Markus A1 - Müller, Jörg Hans A1 - Overmann, Jörg A1 - Renner, Swen C. A1 - Schulze, Ernst-Detlef A1 - Sikorski, Johannes A1 - Tschapka, Marco A1 - Türke, Manfred A1 - Weisser, Wolfgang W. A1 - Wemheuer, Bernd A1 - Wubet, Tesfaye A1 - Ammer, Christian T1 - The impact of even-aged and uneven-aged forest management on regional biodiversity of multiple taxa in European beech forests JF - Journal of applied ecology : an official journal of the British Ecological Society N2 - 1. For managed temperate forests, conservationists and policymakers favour fine-grained uneven-aged (UEA) management over more traditional coarse-grained even-aged (EA) management, based on the assumption that within-stand habitat heterogeneity enhances biodiversity. There is, however, little empirical evidence to support this assumption. We investigated for the first time how differently grained forest management systems affect the biodiversity of multiple above- and below-ground taxa across spatial scales. 2. We sampled 15 taxa of animals, plants, fungi and bacteria within the largest contiguous beech forest landscape of Germany and classified them into functional groups. Selected forest stands have been managed for more than a century at different spatial grains. The EA (coarse-grained management) and UEA (fine-grained) forests are comparable in spatial arrangement, climate and soil conditions. These were compared to forests of a nearby national park that have been unmanaged for at least 20years. We used diversity accumulation curves to compare -diversity for Hill numbers D-0 (species richness), D-1 (Shannon diversity) and D-2 (Simpson diversity) between the management systems. Beta diversity was quantified as multiple-site dissimilarity. 3. Gamma diversity was higher in EA than in UEA forests for at least one of the three Hill numbers for six taxa (up to 77%), while eight showed no difference. Only bacteria showed the opposite pattern. Higher -diversity in EA forests was also found for forest specialists and saproxylic beetles. 4. Between-stand -diversity was higher in EA than in UEA forests for one-third (all species) and half (forest specialists) of all taxa, driven by environmental heterogeneity between age-classes, while -diversity showed no directional response across taxa or for forest specialists. 5. Synthesis and applications. Comparing EA and uneven-aged forest management in Central European beech forests, our results show that a mosaic of different age-classes is more important for regional biodiversity than high within-stand heterogeneity. We suggest reconsidering the current trend of replacing even-aged management in temperate forests. Instead, the variability of stages and stand structures should be increased to promote landscape-scale biodiversity. KW - beta diversity KW - forest specialists KW - gamma diversity KW - heterogeneity KW - Hill numbers KW - saproxylic beetles KW - spatial grain KW - species accumulation curve KW - species richness KW - species turnover Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.12950 SN - 0021-8901 SN - 1365-2664 VL - 55 IS - 1 SP - 267 EP - 278 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - von Loeffelholz, Christian A1 - Lieske, Stefanie A1 - Neuschaefer-Rube, Frank A1 - Willmes, Diana M. A1 - Raschzok, Nathanael A1 - Sauer, Igor M. A1 - König, Jörg A1 - Fromm, Martin F. A1 - Horn, Paul A1 - Chatzigeorgiou, Antonios A1 - Pathe-Neuschaefer-Rube, Andrea A1 - Jordan, Jens A1 - Pfeiffer, Andreas F. H. A1 - Mingrone, Geltrude A1 - Bornstein, Stefan R. A1 - Stroehle, Peter A1 - Harms, Christoph A1 - Wunderlich, F. Thomas A1 - Helfand, Stephen L. A1 - Bernier, Michel A1 - de Cabo, Rafael A1 - Shulman, Gerald I. A1 - Chavakis, Triantafyllos A1 - Püschel, Gerhard Paul A1 - Birkenfeld, Andreas L. T1 - The human longevity gene homolog INDY and interleukin-6 interact in hepatic lipid metabolism BT - official journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases JF - Hepatology N2 - Reduced expression of the Indy ("I am Not Dead, Yet") gene in lower organisms promotes longevity in a manner akin to caloric restriction. Deletion of the mammalian homolog of Indy (mIndy, Slc13a5) encoding for a plasma membrane-associated citrate transporter expressed highly in the liver, protects mice from high-fat diet-induced and aging-induced obesity and hepatic fat accumulation through a mechanism resembling caloric restriction. We studied a possible role of mIndy in human hepatic fat metabolism. In obese, insulin-resistant patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, hepatic mIndy expression was increased and mIndy expression was also independently associated with hepatic steatosis. In nonhuman primates, a 2-year high-fat, high-sucrose diet increased hepatic mIndy expression. Liver microarray analysis showed that high mIndy expression was associated with pathways involved in hepatic lipid metabolism and immunological processes. Interleukin-6 (IL-6) was identified as a regulator of mIndy by binding to its cognate receptor. Studies in human primary hepatocytes confirmed that IL-6 markedly induced mIndy transcription through the IL-6 receptor and activation of the transcription factor signal transducer and activator of transcription 3, and a putative start site of the human mIndy promoter was determined. Activation of the IL-6-signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 pathway stimulated mIndy expression, enhanced cytoplasmic citrate influx, and augmented hepatic lipogenesis in vivo. In contrast, deletion of mIndy completely prevented the stimulating effect of IL-6 on citrate uptake and reduced hepatic lipogenesis. These data show that mIndy is increased in liver of obese humans and nonhuman primates with NALFD. Moreover, our data identify mIndy as a target gene of IL-6 and determine novel functions of IL-6 through mINDY. Conclusion: Targeting human mINDY may have therapeutic potential in obese patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. German Clinical Trials Register: DRKS00005450. Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/hep.29089 SN - 0270-9139 SN - 1527-3350 VL - 66 IS - 2 SP - 616 EP - 630 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Zimmermann, Heike Hildegard A1 - Raschke, Elena A1 - Epp, Laura Saskia A1 - Stoof-Leichsenring, Kathleen Rosemarie A1 - Schirrmeister, Lutz A1 - Schwamborn, Georg A1 - Herzschuh, Ulrike T1 - The history of tree and shrub taxa on Bol'shoy Lyakhovsky Island (New Siberian Archipelago) since the Last Interglacial Uncovered by Sedimentary Ancient DNA and Pollen Data JF - Genes N2 - Ecosystem boundaries, such as the Arctic-Boreal treeline, are strongly coupled with climate and were spatially highly dynamic during past glacial-interglacial cycles. Only a few studies cover vegetation changes since the last interglacial, as most of the former landscapes are inundated and difficult to access. Using pollen analysis and sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA) metabarcoding, we reveal vegetation changes on Bol’shoy Lyakhovsky Island since the last interglacial from permafrost sediments. Last interglacial samples depict high levels of floral diversity with the presence of trees (Larix, Picea, Populus) and shrubs (Alnus, Betula, Ribes, Cornus, Saliceae) on the currently treeless island. After the Last Glacial Maximum, Larix re-colonised the island but disappeared along with most shrub taxa. This was probably caused by Holocene sea-level rise, which led to increased oceanic conditions on the island. Additionally, we applied two newly developed larch-specific chloroplast markers to evaluate their potential for tracking past population dynamics from environmental samples. The novel markers were successfully re-sequenced and exhibited two variants of each marker in last interglacial samples. SedaDNA can track vegetation changes as well as genetic changes across geographic space through time and can improve our understanding of past processes that shape modern patterns. KW - sedaDNA KW - metabarcoding KW - trnL KW - single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) KW - treeline KW - MIS 5 to 1 KW - permafrost deposits KW - radiocarbon ages KW - palaeoenvironment KW - Larix Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/genes8100273 SN - 2073-4425 VL - 8 IS - 10 SP - 273 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Chang, Dan A1 - Knapp, Michael A1 - Enk, Jacob A1 - Lippold, Sebastian A1 - Kircher, Martin A1 - Lister, Adrian M. A1 - MacPhee, Ross D. E. A1 - Widga, Christopher A1 - Czechowski, Paul A1 - Sommer, Robert A1 - Hodges, Emily A1 - Stümpel, Nikolaus A1 - Barnes, Ian A1 - Dalén, Love A1 - Derevianko, Anatoly A1 - Germonpré, Mietje A1 - Hillebrand-Voiculescu, Alexandra A1 - Constantin, Silviu A1 - Kuznetsova, Tatyana A1 - Mol, Dick A1 - Rathgeber, Thomas A1 - Rosendahl, Wilfried A1 - Tikhonov, Alexey N. A1 - Willerslev, Eske A1 - Hannon, Greg A1 - Lalueza i Fox, Carles A1 - Joger, Ulrich A1 - Poinar, Hendrik N. A1 - Hofreiter, Michael A1 - Shapiro, Beth T1 - The evolutionary and phylogeographic history of woolly mammoths BT - a comprehensive mitogenomic analysis JF - Scientific reports N2 - Near the end of the Pleistocene epoch, populations of the woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) were distributed across parts of three continents, from western Europe and northern Asia through Beringia to the Atlantic seaboard of North America. Nonetheless, questions about the connectivity and temporal continuity of mammoth populations and species remain unanswered. We use a combination of targeted enrichment and high-throughput sequencing to assemble and interpret a data set of 143 mammoth mitochondrial genomes, sampled from fossils recovered from across their Holarctic range. Our dataset includes 54 previously unpublished mitochondrial genomes and significantly increases the coverage of the Eurasian range of the species. The resulting global phylogeny confirms that the Late Pleistocene mammoth population comprised three distinct mitochondrial lineages that began to diverge ~1.0–2.0 million years ago (Ma). We also find that mammoth mitochondrial lineages were strongly geographically partitioned throughout the Pleistocene. In combination, our genetic results and the pattern of morphological variation in time and space suggest that male-mediated gene flow, rather than large-scale dispersals, was important in the Pleistocene evolutionary history of mammoths. Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/srep44585 SN - 2045-2322 VL - 7 PB - Nature Publishing Group CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Gomula, Aleksandra A1 - Koziel, Slawomir A1 - Groth, Detlef A1 - Bielicki, Tadeusz T1 - The effect of neighboring districts on body height of Polish conscripts JF - Anthropologischer Anzeiger : journal of biological and clinical anthropology ; Mitteilungsorgan der Gesellschaft für Anthropologie N2 - The aim of the study was to investigate the correlation of heights of conscripts living in neighboring districts in Poland. The study used 10% of a nationally representative sample of 26,178 males 18.5-19.5 years old examined during the National survey of Polish conscripts conducted in 2001. The sample represented all regions and social strata of the country and included 354 different districts within 16 voivodships (provinces). Analyses were performed with the R statistical software. A small but significant correlation (0.24, p < 0.0001) was observed for height between 1st order neighboring districts. Correlations decreased with increased distances between neighboring districts, but remained significant for 7th node neighbors (0.18, p < 0.0001). Regarding voivodships (provinces), average height showed a geographical trend from the northwest (relatively tall) to the southeast (relatively short), and the correlation was stronger for first order neighboring provinces (0.796, p < 0.001). This study revealed clusters of tall people and short people, providing a support for hypothesis of the community effect in height. Small correlations between 1st order neighbors than in another country (Switzerland) may be associated with differences in geography, since in Poland there are no natural barriers (e.g., mountains) and road infrastructure is well-developed. KW - body height KW - community effect KW - Polish conscripts Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1127/anthranz/2017/0701 SN - 0003-5548 SN - 2363-7099 VL - 74 IS - 1 SP - 71 EP - 76 PB - Schweizerbart CY - Stuttgart ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Scheffler, Christiane A1 - Greil, Holle A1 - Hermanussen, Michael T1 - The association between weight, height, and head circumference reconsidered JF - Pediatric Research N2 - BACKGROUND: Under normal nutritional and health conditions, body height, weight and head circumference are significantly related. We hypothesize that the apparent general association between weight, height, and head circumference of the growing child might be misleading. METHODS: We reanalyzed data of 7,444 boys and 7,375 girls measured in East-Germany between 1986 and 1990, aged from 0 to 7 y with measurements of body length/height, leg length, sitting height, biacromial shoulder breadth, thoracic breadth, thoracic depth, thoracic circumference, body weight, head volume, percentage of body fat, and hip skinfold vertical, using principal component analysis. RESULTS: Strong associations exist between skeletal growth, fat accumulation, and head volume increments. Yet in spite of this general proportionality, skeletal growth, fat acquisition, and head growth exhibit different patterns. Three components explain between almost 60% and more than 75% of cumulative variance between birth and age 7 y. Parameters of skeletal growth predominantly load on the first component and clearly separate from indicators of fat deposition. After age of 2 y, head volume loads on a separate third component in both sexes indicating independence of head growth. CONCLUSION: Under appropriate nutritional and health circumstances, nutritional status, body size, and head circumference are not related. Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/pr.2017.3 SN - 0031-3998 SN - 1530-0447 VL - 81 SP - 825 EP - 830 PB - Nature Publ. Group CY - New York ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Lehmann, Andreas A1 - Floris, Joël A1 - Woitek, Ulrich A1 - Ruehli, Frank J. A1 - Staub, Kaspar T1 - Temporal trends, regional variation and socio-economic differences in height, BMI and body proportions among German conscripts, 1956-2010 JF - Public Health Nutrition N2 - Objective: We analyse temporal trends and regional variation among the most recent available anthropometric data from German conscription in the years 2008-2010 and their historical contextualization since 1956. Design/setting/subjects: The overall sample included German conscripts (N 13 857 313) from 1956 to 2010. Results: German conscripts changed from growing in height to growing in breadth. Over the analysed 54 years, average height of 19-year-old conscripts increased by 6.5 cm from 173.5 cm in 1956 (birth year 1937) to 180.0 cm in 2010 (birth year 1991). This increase plateaued since the 1990s (1970s birth years). The increase in average weight, however, did not lessen during the last two decades but increased in two steps: at the end of the 1980s and after 1999. The weight and BMI distributions became increasingly right-skewed, the prevalence of overweight and obesity increased from 11.6 % and 2.1 % in 1984 to 19.9 % and 8.5 % in 2010, respectively. The north-south gradient in height (north = taller) persisted during our observations. Height and weight of conscripts from East Germany matched the German average between the early 1990s and 2009. Between the 1980s and the early 1990s, the average chest circumference increased, the average difference between chest circumference when inhaling and exhaling decreased, as did leg length relative to trunk length. Conclusions: Measuring anthropometric data for military conscripts yielded year-by-year monitoring of the health status of young men at a proscribed age. Such findings contribute to a more precise identification of groups at risk and thus help with further studies and to target interventions. KW - Stature KW - Obesity KW - Secular height trend Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1017/S1368980016002408 SN - 1368-9800 SN - 1475-2727 VL - 20 IS - 3 SP - 391 EP - 403 PB - Cambridge Univ. Press CY - Cambridge ER - TY - THES A1 - Belkius, Karolina Dorota T1 - Systems biology approach to investigate the development and degradation of the photosynthetic apparatus during leaf ontogenesis in higher plants Y1 - 2017 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Machens, Fabian A1 - Balazadeh, Salma A1 - Müller-Röber, Bernd A1 - Messerschmidt, Katrin T1 - Synthetic Promoters and Transcription Factors for Heterologous Protein Expression in Saccharomyces cerevisiae JF - Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology N2 - Orthogonal systems for heterologous protein expression as well as for the engineering of synthetic gene regulatory circuits in hosts like Saccharomyces cerevisiae depend on synthetic transcription factors (synTFs) and corresponding cis-regulatory binding sites. We have constructed and characterized a set of synTFs based on either transcription activator-like effectors or CRISPR/Cas9, and corresponding small synthetic promoters (synPs) with minimal sequence identity to the host’s endogenous promoters. The resulting collection of functional synTF/synP pairs confers very low background expression under uninduced conditions, while expression output upon induction of the various synTFs covers a wide range and reaches induction factors of up to 400. The broad spectrum of expression strengths that is achieved will be useful for various experimental setups, e.g., the transcriptional balancing of expression levels within heterologous pathways or the construction of artificial regulatory networks. Furthermore, our analyses reveal simple rules that enable the tuning of synTF expression output, thereby allowing easy modification of a given synTF/synP pair. This will make it easier for researchers to construct tailored transcriptional control systems. KW - JUB1 KW - synthetic biology KW - transcriptional regulation KW - gene expression KW - synthetic circuits KW - dead Cas9 KW - chimeric transcription factors Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fbioe.2017.00063 SN - 2296-4185 VL - 5 SP - 1 EP - 11 PB - Frontiers CY - Lausanne ER -