GENETIC BASIS AND EVOLUTIONARY SIGNIFICANCE OF VENTRAL SKIN COLOR MARKINGS IN NORTH ATLANTIC RIGHT WHALES (EUBALAENA GLACIALIS)

Approximately one third of the North Atlantic right whale population has white ventral skin patches. Most white-marked animals have both a belly and a chin patch, and the distribution of white pigment suggests that the patches represent a single ventral marking that varies in size and location. Population frequencies and cow-calf inheritance patterns indicate that the white mark is an autosomal recessive trait. There is no evidence to suggest that ventral coloration patterns are currently under selection. White-marked and black cows appear to experience similar levels of reproductive success based on calving intervals and length of sighting histories. Also, white-marked animals were equally common among cows and nulliparous adult females and among live vs. dead animals. Male reproductive success could not be tested because calf paternity is not known; white-marked and black males exhibit similar survival rates. White-marked cows were more common among females that took some or all of their calves to the Bay of Fundy summer nursery area compared to females that did not visit Fundy. This suggests that female habitat-use patterns may influence nuclear gene flow. Increased sample sizes and additional markers are needed to further investigate gene flow.     

Functional implications of the microbial community structure of undefined mesophilic starter cultures

This review describes the recent advances made in the studies of the microbial community of complex and undefined cheese starter cultures. We report on work related to the composition of the cultures at the level of genetic lineages, on the presence and activity of bacteriophages and on the population dynamics during cheese making and during starter culture propagation. Furthermore, the link between starter composition and starter functionality will be discussed. Finally, recent advances in predictive metabolic modelling of the multi-strain cultures will be discussed in the context of microbe-microbe interactions.     

Dorsal skin color patterns among southern right whales (Eubalaena australis): genetic basis and evolutionary significance.

Distribution and inheritance of dorsal skin color markings among two populations of southern right whales (Eubalaena australis) suggest that two genes influence dorsal skin color. The grey-morph and partial-grey-morph phenotypes (previously known as partial albino and grey-blaze, respectively) appear to be controlled by an X-linked gene, whereas the white blaze appears controlled by an autosomal gene (recessive phenotype). Calving intervals, calf size, and length of sighting history data suggest that partial-grey-morph, white-blaze, and black cows experience similar levels of reproductive success. Grey-morph cows (XgXg) are rare or absent in the two populations, but this was not unexpected given observed population frequencies of grey-morph males (XgY) and partial-grey-morph females (XGXg). The proportion of partial-grey-morph calves produced by black cows (XGXG) suggests that the reproductive success of grey-morph males was equal to that of black males, however, larger sample sizes are required to determine whether grey-morph males tend to have shorter sighting histories. The reproductive success of white-blaze males appeared similar to that of black males among whales off Argentina. There were significantly fewer white-blaze calves than expected off South Africa, which could be due to white-blaze males experiencing reduced reproductive success or to sighting blases that result in white-marked calves being misidentified as black calves. The relative frequencies of both types of dorsal color markings varied between the South African and Argentinian right whale populations, suggesting limited nuclear gene flow between these populations; analyses using other nuclear markers are under way to confirm the extent of gene flow.     

Low production of reactive oxygen species in granulocytes is associated with organ damage in systemic lupus erythematosus

Introduction

Polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN) are main effector cells in the acute immune response. While the specific role of PMN in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and autoimmunity is still unclear, their importance in chronic inflammation is gaining more attention. Here we investigate aspects of function, bone marrow release and activation of PMN in patients with SLE.

Methods

The following PMN functions and subsets were evaluated using flow cytometry; (a) production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) after ex vivo stimulation with phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) or Escherichia coli (E. coli); (b) capacity to phagocytose antibody-coated necrotic cell material; (c) PMN recently released from bone marrow, defined as percentage of CD10⁻D16^low in peripheral blood, and (d) PMN activation markers; CD11b, CD62L and C5aR.

Results

SLE patients (n = 92) showed lower ROS production compared with healthy controls (n = 38) after activation ex vivo. The ROS production was not associated with corticosteroid dose or other immunotherapies. PMA induced ROS production was significantly reduced in patients with severe disease. In contrast, neither ROS levels after E. coli activation, nor the capacity to phagocytose were associated with disease severity. This suggests that decreased ROS production after PMA activation is a sign of changed PMN behaviour rather than generally impaired functions. The CD10⁻CD16^low phenotype constitute 2% of PMN in peripheral blood of SLE patients compared with 6.4% in controls, indicating a decreased release of PMN from the bone marrow in SLE. A decreased expression of C5aR on PMN was observed in SLE patients, pointing towards in vivo activation.

Conclusions

Our results indicate that PMN from SLE patients have altered function, are partly activated and are released abnormally from bone marrow. The association between low ROS formation in PMN and disease severity is consistent with findings in other autoimmune diseases and might be considered as a risk factor.     

Intradiscal application of rhBMP-7 does not induce regeneration in a canine model of spontaneous intervertebral disc degeneration

IntroductionStrategies for biological repair and regeneration of the intervertebral disc (IVD) by cell and tissue engineering are promising, but few have made it into a clinical setting. Recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein 7 (rhBMP-7) has been shown to stimulate matrix production by IVD cells in vitro and in vivo in animal models of induced IVD degeneration. The aim of this study was to determine the most effective dose of an intradiscal injection of rhBMP-7 in a spontaneous canine IVD degeneration model for translation into clinical application for patients with low back pain.MethodsCanine nucleus pulposus cells (NPCs) were cultured with rhBMP-7 to assess the anabolic effect of rhBMP-7 in vitro, and samples were evaluated for glycosaminoglycan (GAG) and DNA content, histology, and matrix-related gene expression. Three different dosages of rhBMP-7 (2.5 μg, 25 μg, and 250 μg) were injected in vivo into early degenerated IVDs of canines, which were followed up for six months by magnetic resonance imaging (T2-weighted images, T1rho and T2 maps). Post-mortem, the effects of rhBMP-7 were determined by radiography, computed tomography, and macroscopy, and by histological, biochemical (GAG, DNA, and collagen), and biomolecular analyses of IVD tissue.ResultsIn vitro, rhBMP-7 stimulated matrix production of canine NPCs as GAG deposition was enhanced, DNA content was maintained, and gene expression levels of ACAN and COL2A1 were significantly upregulated. Despite the wide dose range of rhBMP-7 (2.5 to 250 μg) administered in vivo, no regenerative effects were observed at the IVD level. Instead, extensive extradiscal bone formation was noticed after intradiscal injection of 25 μg and 250 μg of rhBMP-7.ConclusionsAn intradiscal bolus injection of 2.5 μg, 25 μg, and 250 μg rhBMP-7 showed no regenerative effects in a spontaneous canine IVD degeneration model. In contrast, intradiscal injection of 250 μg rhBMP-7, and to a lesser extent 25 μg rhBMP-7, resulted in extensive extradiscal bone formation, indicating that a bolus injection of rhBMP-7 alone cannot be used for treatment of IVD degeneration in human or canine patients.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13075-015-0625-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Chemical approaches for the construction of multi-enzyme reaction systems

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