Four loci explain 83% of size variation in the horse

Horse body size varies greatly due to intense selection within each breed. American Miniatures are less than one meter tall at the withers while Shires and Percherons can exceed two meters. The genetic basis for this variation is not known. We hypothesize that the breed population structure of the horse should simplify efforts to identify genes controlling size. In support of this, here we show with genome-wide association scans (GWAS) that genetic variation at just four loci can explain the great majority of horse size variation. Unlike humans, which are naturally reproducing and possess many genetic variants with weak effects on size, we show that horses, like other domestic mammals, carry just a small number of size loci with alleles of large effect. Furthermore, three of our horse size loci contain the LCORL, HMGA2 and ZFAT genes that have previously been found to control human height. The LCORL/NCAPG locus is also implicated in cattle growth and HMGA2 is associated with dog size. Extreme size diversification is a hallmark of domestication. Our results in the horse, complemented by the prior work in cattle and dog, serve to pinpoint those very few genes that have played major roles in the rapid evolution of size during domestication.     

Cultivation of newly isolated microalgae Coelastrum sp. in wastewater for simultaneous CO2 fixation,lipid production and wastewater treatment

Bioprocess and Biosystems Engineering - Cultivation of microalgae in wastewater is a promising and cost-effective approach for both CO2 biofixation and wastewater remediation. In this study, a new...     

Effects of Synbiotics and Probiotics Supplementation on Serum Levels of Endotoxin,Heat Shock Protein 70 Antibodies and Inflammatory Markers in Hemodialysis Patients: a Randomized Double-Blinded Controlled Trial

Probiotics and Antimicrobial Proteins - The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of probiotic and synbiotic supplementation on serum inflammatory markers, endotoxin, and anti-HSP70 in...     

Transgenic Tobacco Plants Expressing a Dimeric Single-chain Variable Fragment (scFv) Antibody Against <Emphasis Type="Italic">Salmonella enterica</Emphasis> Serotype Paratyphi B

Transgenic tobacco plants were produced that express an anti-Salmonella enterica single-chain variable fragment (scFv) antibody that binds to the lipopolysaccharide (LPS) of S. enterica Paratyphi B. The coding sequence of this scFv was optimized for expression in tobacco, synthesized and subsequently placed behind three different promoters: an enhanced tobacco constitutive ubiquitous promoter (EntCUP4), and single- and double-enhancer versions of the Cauliflower Mosaic Virus 35S promoter (CaMV 35S). These chimeric genes were introduced into Nicotiana tabacum cv. 81V9 by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation and 50 primary transgenic (T₀) plants per construct were produced. Among these plants, 23 were selected for the ability to express active scFv as determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using S. enterica LPS as antigen. Expanded bed adsorption-immobilized metal affinity chromatography (EBA-IMAC) was used to purify 41.7 μg of scFv/g from leaf tissue. Gel filtration and surface plasmon resonance (SPR) analyses demonstrated that the purified scFv was active as a dimer or higher-order multimer. In order to identify T₁ plants suitable for development of homozygous lines with heritable scFv expression, kanamycin-resistance segregation analyses were performed to determine the number of T-DNA loci in each T₀ plant, and quantitative ELISA and immunoblot analyses were used to compare expression of active and total anti-Salmonella scFv, respectively, in the T₁ generation. As S. enterica causes millions of enteric fevers and hundreds of thousands of deaths worldwide each year, large-scale production and purification of this scFv will have potential for uses in diagnosis and detection, as a therapeutic agent, and in applications such as water system purification.     

Effect of Synbiotic and Probiotic Supplementation on Serum Levels of Endothelial Cell Adhesion Molecules in Hemodialysis Patients: a Randomized Control Study

Probiotics and Antimicrobial Proteins - The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of synbiotic and probiotic supplementation on serum vascular dysfunction and necrosis markers in...