Trans-Generational Effect of Maternal Lactation during Pregnancy: A Holstein Cow Model

Epigenetic regulation in mammals begins in the first stages of embryogenesis. This prenatal programming determines, in part, phenotype expression in adult life. Some species, particularly dairy cattle, are conceived during the maternal lactation, which is a period of large energy and nutrient needs. Under these circumstances, embryo and fetal development compete for nutrients with the mammary gland, which may affect prenatal programming and predetermine phenotype at adulthood. Data from a specialized dairy breed were used to determine the transgenerational effect when embryo development coincides with maternal lactation. Longitudinal phenotypic data for milk yield (kg), ratio of fat-protein content in milk during first lactation, and lifespan (d) from 40,065 cows were adjusted for environmental and genetic effects using a Bayesian framework. Then, the effect of different maternal circumstances was determined on the residuals. The maternal-related circumstances were 1) presence of lactation, 2) maternal milk yield level, and 3) occurrence of mastitis during embryogenesis. Females born to mothers that were lactating while pregnant produced 52 kg (MonteCarlo standard error; MCs.e. = 0.009) less milk, lived 16 d (MCs.e. = 0.002) shorter and were metabolically less efficient (+0.42% milk fat/protein ratio; MCs.e.<0.001) than females whose fetal life developed in the absence of maternal lactation. The greater the maternal milk yield during embryogenesis, the larger the negative effects of prenatal programming, precluding the offspring born to the most productive cows to fully express their potential additive genetic merit during their adult life. Our data provide substantial evidence of transgenerational effect when pregnancy and lactation coincide. Although this effect is relatively low, it should not be ignored when formulating rations for lactating and pregnant cows. Furthermore, breeding, replacement, and management strategies should also take into account whether the individuals were conceived during maternal lactation because, otherwise, their performance may deviate from what it could be expected.     

Changes in the Brown Seaweed Ascophyllum Nodosum (L.) Le Jol. Plant Morphology and Biomass Produced by Cutter Rake Harvests in Southern New Brunswick, Canada

Shoots and clumps of shoots of the commercial brown seaweed Ascophyllum nodosum (“rockweed”) add to the benthic complexity of the intertidal environment, providing an important habitat for invertebrates and vertebrates. To protect the structure of this habitat, management plans for the rockweed harvest of southern New Brunswick include restrictions on gear type and exploitation rates limited to 17% of the harvestable biomass. However, owing to physical and environmental factors, the harvest is not homogeneous, creating patches of exploitation ranging from 15 to 50%.A direct relationship existed between clump vulnerability, weight and length in a controlled harvest at 50% exploitation within 8 m by 8 m plots. At this exploitation rate, the gear rarely impacted clumps below 50 g or 60 cm in length. Clumps larger than 300 g and 130 cm were reduced by up to 55% of their length and 78% of their biomass. The overall impacts of the harvest on intertidal habitat is however of short duration as biomass recovers after a year of the experimental harvest. The rapid recovery is mostly due to a stimulation of growth and branching of the suppressed shoots of the clumps. Some harvested plots showed biomass even higher than initial levels, suggesting an increase in productivity at least during the first year after the harvest.     

Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress and Autophagy in Homocystinuria Patients with Remethylation Defects

Proper function of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and mitochondria is crucial for cellular homeostasis, and dysfunction at either site as well as perturbation of mitochondria-associated ER membranes (MAMs) have been linked to neurodegenerative and metabolic diseases. Previously, we have observed an increase in ROS and apoptosis levels in patient-derived fibroblasts with remethylation disorders causing homocystinuria. Here we show increased mRNA and protein levels of Herp, Grp78, IP₃R1, pPERK, ATF4, CHOP, asparagine synthase and GADD45 in patient-derived fibroblasts suggesting ER stress and calcium perturbations in homocystinuria. In addition, overexpressed MAM-associated proteins (Grp75, σ-1R and Mfn2) were found in these cells that could result in mitochondrial calcium overload and oxidative stress increase. Our results also show an activation of autophagy process and a substantial degradation of altered mitochondria by mitophagy in patient-derived fibroblasts. Moreover, we have observed that autophagy was partially abolished by antioxidants suggesting that ROS participate in this process that may have a protective role. Our findings argue that alterations in Ca²⁺ homeostasis and autophagy may contribute to the development of this metabolic disorder and suggest a therapeutic potential in homocystinuria for agents that stabilize calcium homeostasis and/or restore the proper function of ER-mitochondria communications.     

Time sequence of cancer occurrence. Implications in low level radiation risk assessment

A total of 8,229 C57 Black mice of both sexes were randomly assigned to various groups. In some groups, mice aged 33 +/- 3 days were submitted to either sham, neutron or cobalt external radiation at 32, 45, 63, 88 and 123 mGy or at 18, 25, 36 and 51 cGy dose levels, respectively. In other groups, mice either at birth or weaning, were injected with tritiated thymidine or tritiated water, or were given tritiated water as drinking water for the entire lifespan. The main purpose of the experiment was to investigate the low dose-response relationship of cancer induction, especially leukemogenesis and to evaluate the excess risk, using actuarial age-specific rates. Following neutron or cobalt exposure, the phenotypic occurrence of lymphocytic lymphomas was earlier in appearance and higher in yield during the first decades of lifespan in irradiated groups versus matching controls, whereas such occurrence was markedly lower in yield at a later age. Under parallel experimental conditions, induction of reticulum cell lymphomas, however, was uniformly enhanced throughout the entire lifespan. Induction rates of all tumors (reticular and solid) pooled were significantly increased, and more so following cobalt than neutron irradiation. In mice injected with tritiated thymidine, the overall tumor incidence was increased monotonically throughout the lifespan. In mice exposed to tritiated water, the incidence of lymphocytic lymphomas was markedly increased throughout the lifespan, whereas no such effect was observed for reticulum cell tumors. In the light of tumor data analysis, it appears that selection of a particular type of tumor as a dependent variable for dose-response assessment cannot disregard the primary modulation of the whole tumor spectrum, In C57 Black murine leukemogenesis, the shape and structure of the dose-response regression curve over the entire lifespan dose not fit the linear-quadratic model. It is, however, theorized that our data are consistent with the two-mutation clonal expansion model, assuming creation of initiated cells which are added to the pool of spontaneously occurring initiated cells and implying that the excess risk is initially high at early age and then decreases with increasing age following exposure. It is concluded that murine radiocarcinogenesis investigation may contribute to improving the assessment as well as understanding the underlying mechanisms of low level radiation hazards.     

Insufficient uracil supply in fully aerobic chemostat cultures of Saccharomyces cerevisiae leads to respiro-fermentative metabolism and double nutrient-limitation

A combination of chemostat cultivation and a defined medium was used to demonstrate that uracil limitation leads to a drastic alteration in the physiology of auxotrophic cells of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Under this condition, the carbon source is dissimilated mainly to ethanol and acetate, even in fully aerobic cultures grown at 0.1 h^?1, which is far below the critical dilution rate. Differently from nitrogen-, sulphur-, or phosphate-limited cultures, uracil limitation leads to residual sugar (either glucose or sucrose) concentrations below 2 mM, which characterizes a situation of double-limitation: by the carbon source and by uracil. Furthermore, the specific rates of CO₂ production and O₂ consumption are increased when compared to the corresponding prototrophic strain. We conclude that when auxotrophic strains are to be used for quantitative physiological studies, special attention must be paid to the cultivation conditions, mainly regarding medium formulation, in order to avoid limitation of growth by the auxotrophic nutrient.     

Antioxidants successfully reduce ROS production in propionic acidemia fibroblasts

Propionic acidemia (PA), caused by a deficiency of the mitochondrial biotin dependent enzyme propionyl-CoA carboxylase (PCC) is one of the most frequent organic acidurias in humans. Most PA patients present in the neonatal period with metabolic acidosis and hyperammonemia, developing different neurological symptoms, movement disorders and cardiac complications. There is strong evidence indicating that oxidative damage could be a pathogenic factor in neurodegenerative, mitochondrial and metabolic diseases. Recently, we identified an increase in ROS levels in PA patients-derived fibroblasts. Here, we analyze the capability of seven antioxidants to scavenge ROS production in PA patients’ cells. Tiron, trolox, resveratrol and MitoQ significantly reduced ROS content in patients and controls’ fibroblasts. In addition, changes in the expression of two antioxidant enzymes, superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase, were observed in PA patients-derived fibroblasts after tiron and resveratrol treatment. Our results in PA cellular models establish the proof of concept of the potential of antioxidants as an adjuvant therapy for PA and pave the way for future assessment of antioxidant strategies in the murine model of PA.     

An evaluation of the mortality of the brown seaweed <Emphasis Type="Italic">Ascophyllum nodosum</Emphasis> (L.) Le Jol. produced by cutter rake harvests in southern New Brunswick,Canada

Ascophyllum nodosum (rockweed) landings in the Atlantic Maritime provinces of Canada totalled 36,500 wet tonnes in 2009. Due to the relative slow growth, stochastic recruitment, and the importance of habitat protection, strict harvest regulations are in place in the region to maintain the integrity of this resource. Special harvesting rakes have been designed to cut the plants and not to dislodge the clumps and their holdfasts from the substratum. However, for various reasons, close to 6% of the biomass harvested annually contains holdfast material. This proportion is closely monitored by the province as it is assumed to represent clump mortality. However, due to the complex structure of A. nodosum clumps, this relationship with mortality is not simple. A study was carried out to evaluate the real impact of this detachment on the A. nodosum population of southern New Brunswick in 2004. The structure of harvested A. nodosum clumps with associated holdfast material was analyzed and compared to non-harvested clumps from the same harvest area. Results showed that when a rake strips a clump, it only detaches 17.4% of the holdfast surface, leaving 36.8% of the plant biomass and 80.3% of the shoot density intact. An analysis of storm-cast material from the same study area showed a similar effect in the clump structure, although the incidence of holdfast in the detached biomass could be as high as 30%. Due to the high biomass detached each year by coastal storms in New Brunswick, their impact on the A. nodosum resource is 21 times higher than the annual harvest.     

A fatal mitochondrial disease is associated with defective NFU1 function in the maturation of a subset of mitochondrial Fe-S proteins

We report on ten individuals with a fatal infantile encephalopathy and/or pulmonary hypertension, leading to death before the age of 15 months. Hyperglycinemia and lactic acidosis were common findings. Glycine cleavage system and pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (PDHC) activities were low. Homozygosity mapping revealed a perfectly overlapping homozygous region of 1.24 Mb corresponding to chromosome 2 and led to the identification of a homozygous missense mutation (c.622G > T) in NFU1, which encodes a conserved protein suggested to participate in Fe-S cluster biogenesis. Nine individuals were homozygous for this mutation, whereas one was compound heterozygous for this and a splice-site (c.545 + 5G > A) mutation. The biochemical phenotype suggested an impaired activity of the Fe-S enzyme lipoic acid synthase (LAS). Direct measurement of protein-bound lipoic acid in individual tissues indeed showed marked decreases. Upon depletion of NFU1 by RNA interference in human cell culture, LAS and, in turn, PDHC activities were largely diminished. In addition, the amount of succinate dehydrogenase, but no other Fe-S proteins, was decreased. In contrast, depletion of the general Fe-S scaffold protein ISCU severely affected assembly of all tested Fe-S proteins, suggesting that NFU1 performs a specific function in mitochondrial Fe-S cluster maturation. Similar biochemical effects were observed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae upon deletion of NFU1, resulting in lower lipoylation and SDH activity. Importantly, yeast Nfu1 protein carrying the individuals' missense mutation was functionally impaired. We conclude that NFU1 functions as a late-acting maturation factor for a subset of mitochondrial Fe-S proteins.