Das Pepsin verschiedener Vertebraten

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Maged1, a new regulator of skeletal myogenic differentiation and muscle regeneration

Background  

In normal adult skeletal muscle, cell turnover is very slow. However, after an acute lesion or in chronic pathological conditions, such as primary myopathies, muscle stem cells, called satellite cells, are induced to proliferate, then withdraw definitively from the cell cycle and fuse to reconstitute functional myofibers.     

ADAM33 Gene Polymorphisms and Mortality. A Prospective Cohort Study

The ADAM33 gene is associated with the pathophysiology of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and atherosclerosis. In this study we investigated all-cause, COPD and cardiovascular mortality, in relation to single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in ADAM33 (Q_1, S_1, S_2, T_1 and T_2) that were genotyped in 1,390 subjects from the Vlagtwedde/Vlaardingen cohort. Participants were examined at entry in 1989/1990 and followed up till evaluation of the vital status on December 31^st, 2008. Using Cox proportional hazards regression we estimated the risk of the SNPs in relation to mortality, adjusting for gender, age, FEV₁, height, place of residence and packyears of smoking. Additionally, we performed stratified analyses according to gender and smoking habits. After 18 years, 284 (20.4%) subjects had died (107 due to cardiovascular disease and 20 due to COPD). Individuals homozygous for the minor allele of SNP T_2 had an increased risk of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality compared to wild types: hazard ratio 3.6 (95% confidence interval 2.0 to 6.7) and 3.4 (1.2 to 9.5) respectively. Individuals homozygous for the minor allele of S_1, S_2, T_2 or Q_1 had a significantly increased risk of COPD mortality. In stratified analyses the risk of all-cause mortality associated with SNP T_2 did not change: females 3.5 (1.5 to 8.3), males 3.1 (1.2 to 7.6), never smokers 3.8 (0.9 to 16.3), ever smokers 3.6 (1.8 to 7.2). This study shows for the first time that ADAM33 is a pleiotropic gene that is associated with all-cause, COPD and cardiovascular mortality, independent of potential confounders.     

A new Ingolfiellid (Crustacea,Amphipoda, Ingolfiellidae) from an anchialine pool on Abd?al?Kuri?Island,Socotra Archipelago,Yemen

Ingolfiella arganoi sp. n. from Abd al Kuri Island in the Arabian Sea is described from two specimens, a male and a female. The western shore of the Indian Ocean was hitherto a vacant spot in the distribution of circumtropical shallow marine interstitial ingolfiellids and therefore the location of the new species fills a meaningful gap in the geography of the family. Morphologically, the new species shows close affinities with Ingolfiella xarifae from the Maldives.     

Evolution of SINE S1 retroposons in Cruciferae plant species

The S1 element is a plant short interspersed element (SINE) that was first described and studied in Brassica napus. In this work, we investigated the distribution and the molecular phylogeny of the S1 element within the Cruciferae (= Brassicaceae). S1 elements were found to be widely distributed within the Cruciferae, especially in species of the tribe Brassiceae. The molecular phylogeny of S1 elements in eight Cruciferae species (Brassica oleracea, Brassica rapa, Brassica napus, Brassica nigra, Sinapis, arvensis, Sinapis pubescens, Coincya monensis, and Vella spinosa) was inferred using 14-36 elements per species. Significant neighbor-joining and maximum-parsimony phylogenetic clusters, supported by high bootstrap P values and/or represented in 100% of the most-parsimonious trees, were observed for each species. Most of these clusters probably correspond to recent species-specific bursts of S1 amplification. Since these species diverged recently, S1 amplification in Cruciferae plants is proposed to be a highly dynamic process that could contribute to genome rearrangements and eventually lead to reproductive isolation. S1 sequence analysis also revealed putative gene conversion events that occurred between different S1 elements of a given species. These events suggest that gene conversion is a minor but significant component of the molecular drive governing S1 concerted evolution.      

SSU Ribosomal DNA-Based Monitoring of Nematode Assemblages Reveals Distinct Seasonal Fluctuations within Evolutionary Heterogeneous Feeding Guilds

Soils are among the most complex, diverse and competitive habitats on Earth and soil biota are responsible for ecosystem services such as nutrient cycling, carbon sequestration and remediation of freshwater. The extreme biodiversity prohibits the making of a full inventory of soil life. Hence, an appropriate indicator group should be selected to determine the biological condition of soil systems. Due to their ubiquity and the diverse responses to abiotic and biotic changes, nematodes are suitable indicators for environmental monitoring. However, the time-consuming microscopic analysis of nematode communities has limited the scale at which this indicator group is used. In an attempt to circumvent this problem, a quantitative PCR-based tool for the detection of a consistent part of the soil nematofauna was developed based on a phylum-wide molecular framework consisting of 2,400 full-length SSU rDNA sequences. Taxon-specific primers were designed and tested for specificity. Furthermore, relationships were determined between the quantitative PCR output and numbers of target nematodes. As a first field test for this DNA sequence signature-based approach, seasonal fluctuations of nematode assemblages under open canopy (one field) and closed canopy (one forest) were monitored. Fifteen taxa from four feeding guilds (covering ∼ 65% of the free-living nematode biodiversity at higher taxonomical level) were detected at two trophic levels. These four feeding guilds are composed of taxa that developed independently by parallel evolution and we detected ecologically interpretable patterns for free-living nematodes belonging to the lower trophic level of soil food webs. Our results show temporal fluctuations, which can be even opposite within taxa belonging to the same guild. This research on nematode assemblages revealed ecological information about the soil food web that had been partly overlooked.