Nitrosomonas europaea MazF Specifically Recognises the UGG Motif and Promotes Selective RNA Degradation

Toxin-antitoxin (TA) systems are implicated in prokaryotic stress adaptation. Previously, bioinformatics analysis predicted that such systems are abundant in some slowly growing chemolithotrophs; e.g., Nitrosomonas europaea. Nevertheless, the molecular functions of these stress-response modules remain largely unclear, limiting insight regarding their physiological roles. Herein, we show that one of the putative MazF family members, encoded at the ALW85_RS04820 locus, constitutes a functional toxin that engenders a TA pair with its cognate MazE antitoxin. The coordinate application of a specialised RNA-Seq and a fluorescence quenching technique clarified that a unique triplet, UGG, serves as the determinant for MazF cleavage. Notably, statistical analysis predicted that two transcripts, which are unique in the autotroph, comprise the prime targets of the MazF endoribonuclease: hydroxylamine dehydrogenase (hao), which is essential for ammonia oxidation, and a large subunit of ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (rbcL), which plays an important role in carbon assimilation. Given that N. europaea obtains energy and reductants via ammonia oxidation and the carbon for its growth from carbon dioxide, the chemolithotroph might use the MazF endoribonuclease to modulate its translation profile and subsequent biochemical reactions

The mtDNA haplogroup P of modern Asian cattle: A genetic legacy of Asian aurochs?

<div><p>Background</p><p>Aurochs (<i>Bos primigenius</i>) were distributed throughout large parts of Eurasia and Northern Africa during the late Pleistocene and the early Holocene, and all modern cattle are derived from the aurochs. Although the mtDNA haplogroups of most modern cattle belong to haplogroups T and I, several additional haplogroups (P, Q, R, C and E) have been identified in modern cattle and aurochs. Haplogroup P was the most common haplogroup in European aurochs, but so far, it has been identified in only three of >3,000 submitted haplotypes of modern Asian cattle.</p><p>Methodology</p><p>We sequenced the complete mtDNA D-loop region of 181 Japanese Shorthorn cattle and analyzed these together with representative bovine mtDNA sequences. The haplotype P of Japanese Shorthorn cattle was analyzed along with that of 36 previously published European aurochs and three modern Asian cattle sequences using the hypervariable 410 bp of the D-loop region.</p><p>Conclusions</p><p>We detected the mtDNA haplogroup P in Japanese Shorthorn cattle with an extremely high frequency (83/181). Phylogenetic networks revealed two main clusters, designated as Pa for haplogroup P in European aurochs and Pc in modern Asian cattle. We also report the genetic diversity of haplogroup P compared with the sequences of extinct aurochs. No shared haplotypes are observed between the European aurochs and the modern Asian cattle. This finding suggests the possibility of local and secondary introgression events of haplogroup P in northeast Asian cattle, and will contribute to a better understanding of its origin and genetic diversity.</p></div

Characteristics of Adverse Events Following Immunization Reporting in Children: The Japanese Adverse Drug Event Report Database

The present study aimed to describe the trends and characteristics of adverse events following immunization (AEFI) reporting for children in the Japanese Adverse Drug Event Report database (JADER). We used 6280 AEFI reports for children aged &lt;19 years among 504,407 ADR reports included in the JADER from 2004 to 2017. The number of AEFI reports gradually increased among children aged &lt;10 years and was the highest in 2011 among children aged 10&ndash;19 years. The number of suspected vaccines per AEFI report increased after 2011 among children aged &lt;10 years. The percentage of &ldquo;death&rdquo; and &ldquo;did not recover&rdquo; as AEFI outcomes reported were 4.3% and 3.7% among children aged &lt;10 years and 0.2% and 21.1% among children aged 10&ndash;19 years, respectively. The most frequently reported vaccine&ndash;reaction pair was Haemophilus influenzae type b conjugate vaccine and pyrexia among children aged &lt;10 years and recombinant adsorbed bivalent human papillomavirus-like particle vaccine and a loss of consciousness among children aged 10&ndash;19 years. It is necessary to consider the Weber effects to understand the trend and characteristics of AEFI reporting because pharmacovigilance activity regarding vaccination is not sufficient in Japan

The neighbor-joining tree of Japanese Shorthorn mtDNA complete D-loop sequences.

<p>The tree was constructed with representative sequences of the mtDNA haplogroups (T1–T4, I1–2 and P).</p