Discriminant ability for caries risk of modified colorimetric tests

Objetive: The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between the caries risk in children over a two-year period and their baseline caries status, salivary levels of mutans streptococci and lactobacilli, and results of the Alban test and modifications thereof using different substrates. Study design: Ninety-five children aged 6-7 were examined in Granada (southern Spain) for dental caries at baseline and every six months. Stimulated saliva was sampled and inoculated in 7 colorimetric tests based on Snyder's medium with different sugars and polyalcohols. A mutans streptococci and lactobacilli count was performed (Dentocult SM strip® and Dentocult LB®). Caries risk proportions were contrasted against the potential predictor variables, i.e., basal caries history and salivary tests, by means of the Mantel Haenszel test for linear association, based on a chi-square distribution with 1 degree of freedom (df). Results: Caries index, lactobacillus count and colorimetric tests showed significant, but limited, and non-different discriminant abilities. Increasing values of all predictor variables, except for Dentocult SM®, were related to increasing caries risk proportions. Conclusion: Colorimetric test results and caries history showed similar correlation values as caries predictors. © Medicina Oral S. L

Data from: Linking DNA methylation with performance in a woody plant species

Epigenetic factors are increasingly being viewed as important mechanisms in organism performance. However, advances in plant epigenetics rely mostly on studies of short-lived model or cultivated species and there is a current gap in knowledge on wild plants, especially on woody plant species, that still needs to be addressed via empirical studies. Through a greenhouse experiment we compared the genetic (microsatellites) and epigenetic (methylation-sensitive amplified polymorphisms) variation in mother plants and their open-pollinated offspring of the Mediterranean woody plant Pistacia lentiscus. We also assessed whether the inherited DNA methylation patterns were related to the early offspring performance. Our results revealed (i) higher levels of relative DNA methylation in mother plants than in their offspring, although the amount of methylation in the offspring was remarkable; (ii) a significant relationship between relative methylation levels between the two life stages; (iii) a high epigenetic structure among families that was decoupled to the genetic structure; and (iv) a significant relationship between the relative DNA methylation levels and seedling phenotypic trait variation with higher levels of methylation in the genome being associated to a poorer performance. Our results stress the impact that epigenetic inheritance might have in evolution through its influence in seedling development, and that epigenetic effects can be detected even at early stages of the life cycle of woody long-lived species

AlbaladejoRG_Pistacia

Zip file contains each of the datasets that accompany: Albaladejo et al. 2019 (https://doi.org/10.1007/s11295-019-1325-x) Linking DNA methylation with performance in a woody plant species. See README for variable definitions