Review: Organophosphonates: occurrence, synthesis and biodegradation by microorganisms

The organophosphonates are biogenic and xenobiotic compounds characterized by the presence of a stable carbon to phosphorus (C-P) bond. The C-P bond imparts upon these molecules a relative resistance to (bio)degradation and fears have been expressed over their environmental recalcitrance and possible ecotoxicity, as more than 20×103 tonnes of these compounds enter the environment annually in the U.S.A. and western Europe alone (Egli, 1988). Biodegradation of organophosphonates is generally accepted to be dependent upon the phosphate status of the cell, with biodegradation occurring only under conditions of phosphate limitation. In recent years, however, several novel bacteria capable of completely mineralizing both natural and man-made organophosphonates have been isolated. These organisms represent a departure, both at a physiological and genetic level, from the accepted consensus that organophosphonates are utilized only phosphorus sources. This review covers all aspects of our knowledge of organophosphonate metabolism over the last 50 years, concentrating on the advances made in the last 10 years.     

EST-derived SSR markers from defined regions of the wheat genome to identify Lophopyrum elongatum specific loci.

Lophopyrum elongatum, a close relative of wheat, provides a source of novel genes for wheat improvement. Molecular markers were developed to monitor the introgression of L. elongatum chromosome segments into hexaploid wheat. Existing simple sequence repeats (SSRs) derived from genomic libraries were initially screened for detecting L. elongatum loci in wheat, but only 6 of the 163 markers tested were successful. To increase detection of L. elongatum specific loci, 165 SSRs were identified from wheat expressed sequence tags (ESTs), where their chromosomal positions in wheat were known from deletion bin mapping. Detailed sequence analysis identified 41 SSRs within this group as potentially superior in their ability to detect L. elongatum loci. BLASTN alignments were used to position primers within regions of the ESTs that have sequence conservation with at least 1 similar EST from another cereal species. The targeting of primers in this manner enabled 14 L. elongatum markers from 41 wheat ESTs to be identified, whereas only 2 from 124 primers designed in random positions flanking SSRs detected L. elongatum loci. Addition and ditelosomic lines were used to assign all 22 markers to specific chromosome locations in L. elongatum. Nine of these SSR markers were assigned to homoeologous chromosome locations based on their similar position in hexaploid wheat. The remaining markers mapped to other L. elongatum chromosomes indicating a degree of chromosome rearrangements, paralogous sequences and (or) sequence variation between the 2 species. The EST-SSR markers were also used to screen other wheatgrass species indicating further chromosome rearrangements and (or) sequence variation between wheatgrass genomes. This study details methodologies for the generation of SSRs for detecting L. elongatum loci.     

Molecular mapping the presence of druggable targets in preinvasive and precursor breast lesions: A comprehensive review of biomarkers related to therapeutic interventions

The analysis of clinical breast samples using biomarkers is integral to current breast cancer management. Currently, a limited number of targeted therapies are standard of care in breast cancer treatment. However, these targeted therapies are only suitable for a subset of patients and resistance may occur. Strategies to prevent the occurrence of invasive lesions are required to reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with the development of cancer. In theory, application of targeted therapies to pre-invasive lesions will prevent their progression to invasive lesions with full malignant potential. The diagnostic challenge for pathologists is to make interpretative decisions on early detected pre-invasive lesions. Overall, only a small proportion of these pre-invasive lesions will progress to invasive carcinoma and morphological assessment is an imprecise and subjective means to differentiate histologically identical lesions with varying malignant potential. Therefore differential biomarker analysis in pre-invasive lesions may prevent overtreatment with surgery and provide a predictive indicator of response to therapy. There follows a review of established and emerging potential druggable targets in pre-invasive lesions and correlation with lesion morphology.     

An overview of malaria transmission from the perspective of Amazon Anopheles vectors

In the Americas, areas with a high risk of malaria transmission are mainly located in the Amazon Forest, which extends across nine countries. One keystone step to understanding the Plasmodium life cycle in Anopheles species from the Amazon Region is to obtain experimentally infected mosquito vectors. Several attempts to colonise Ano- pheles species have been conducted, but with only short-lived success or no success at all. In this review, we review the literature on malaria transmission from the perspective of its Amazon vectors. Currently, it is possible to develop experimental Plasmodium vivax infection of the colonised and field-captured vectors in laboratories located close to Amazonian endemic areas. We are also reviewing studies related to the immune response to P. vivax infection of Anopheles aquasalis, a coastal mosquito species. Finally, we discuss the importance of the modulation of Plasmodium infection by the vector microbiota and also consider the anopheline genomes. The establishment of experimental mosquito infections with Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium yoelii and Plasmodium berghei parasites that could provide interesting models for studying malaria in the Amazonian scenario is important. Understanding the molecular mechanisms involved in the development of the parasites in New World vectors is crucial in order to better determine the interaction process and vectorial competence.     

Intense photon emission induced by fracture of γ–irradiated Dy‐, Tm‐, Sm‐ and Mn‐doped CaSO4 single crystals

When an γ‐irradiated Dy‐, Tm‐, Sm‐ or Mn‐doped CaSO₄ crystal is impulsively deformed, two peaks appear in the ML intensity versus time curve, whereby the first ML peak is found in the deformation region and the second in the post‐deformation region of the crystals. In this study, intensities I_m1 and I_m2 corresponding to first and second ML peaks, respectively, increased linearly with an impact velocity v₀ of the piston used to deform the crystals, and times t_m1 and t_m2 corresponding to the first and second ML peaks, respectively, decreased with impact velocity. Total ML intensity initially increased with impact velocity and then reached a saturation value for higher values of impact velocity. ML intensity increased with increasing γ‐doses and size of crystals. Results showed that the electric field produced as a result of charging of newly‐created surfaces caused tunneling of electrons to the valence band of the hole‐trapping centres. The free holes generated moved in the valence band and their subsequent recombination with electron trapping centres released energy, thereby resulting in excitation of luminescent centres. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effects of climate change on the delivery of soil‐mediated ecosystem services within the primary sector in temperate ecosystems: a review and New Zealand case study

Future human well‐being under climate change depends on the ongoing delivery of food, fibre and wood from the land‐based primary sector. The ability to deliver these provisioning services depends on soil‐based ecosystem services (e.g. carbon, nutrient and water cycling and storage), yet we lack an in‐depth understanding of the likely response of soil‐based ecosystem services to climate change. We review the current knowledge on this topic for temperate ecosystems, focusing on mechanisms that are likely to underpin differences in climate change responses between four primary sector systems: cropping, intensive grazing, extensive grazing and plantation forestry. We then illustrate how our findings can be applied to assess service delivery under climate change in a specific region, using New Zealand as an example system. Differences in the climate change responses of carbon and nutrient‐related services between systems will largely be driven by whether they are reliant on externally added or internally cycled nutrients, the extent to which plant communities could influence responses, and variation in vulnerability to erosion. The ability of soils to regulate water under climate change will mostly be driven by changes in rainfall, but can be influenced by different primary sector systems' vulnerability to soil water repellency and differences in evapotranspiration rates. These changes in regulating services resulted in different potentials for increased biomass production across systems, with intensively managed systems being the most likely to benefit from climate change. Quantitative prediction of net effects of climate change on soil ecosystem services remains a challenge, in part due to knowledge gaps, but also due to the complex interactions between different aspects of climate change. Despite this challenge, it is critical to gain the information required to make such predictions as robust as possible given the fundamental role of soils in supporting human well‐being.     

Selected anthropometric variables and aerobic fitness as predictors of cardiovascular disease risk in children

The aim of this study was to assess the suitability of body mass index, waist circumference, waist-to-height ratio and aerobic fitness as predictors of cardiovascular risk factor clustering in children. A cross-sectional study was conducted with 290 school boys and girls from 6 to 10 years old, randomly selected. Blood was collected after a 12-hour fasting period. Blood pressure, waist circumference (WC), height and weight were evaluated according to international standards. Aerobic fitness (AF) was assessed by the 20-metre shuttle-run test. Clustering was considered when three of these factors were present: high systolic or diastolic blood pressure, high low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, high triglycerides, high plasma glucose, high insulin concentrations and low high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol. A ROC curve identified the cut-off points of body mass index (BMI), WC, waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) and AF as predictors of risk factor clustering. BMI, WC and WHR resulted in significant areas under the ROC curves, which was not observed for AF. The anthropometric variables were good predictors of cardiovascular risk factor clustering in both sexes, whereas aerobic fitness should not be used to identify cardiovascular risk factor clustering in these children.     

Meta-analysis of Correlated Traits via Summary Statistics from GWASs with an Application in Hypertension

Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have identified many genetic variants underlying complex traits. Many detected genetic loci harbor variants that associate with multiple—even distinct—traits. Most current analysis approaches focus on single traits, even though the final results from multiple traits are evaluated together. Such approaches miss the opportunity to systemically integrate the phenome-wide data available for genetic association analysis. In this study, we propose a general approach that can integrate association evidence from summary statistics of multiple traits, either correlated, independent, continuous, or binary traits, which might come from the same or different studies. We allow for trait heterogeneity effects. Population structure and cryptic relatedness can also be controlled. Our simulations suggest that the proposed method has improved statistical power over single-trait analysis in most of the cases we studied. We applied our method to the Continental Origins and Genetic Epidemiology Network (COGENT) African ancestry samples for three blood pressure traits and identified four loci (CHIC2, HOXA-EVX1, IGFBP1/IGFBP3, and CDH17; p < 5.0 × 10⁻⁸) associated with hypertension-related traits that were missed by a single-trait analysis in the original report. Six additional loci with suggestive association evidence (p < 5.0 × 10⁻⁷) were also observed, including CACNA1D and WNT3. Our study strongly suggests that analyzing multiple phenotypes can improve statistical power and that such analysis can be executed with the summary statistics from GWASs. Our method also provides a way to study a cross phenotype (CP) association by using summary statistics from GWASs of multiple phenotypes.