Differential Expressed Genes Identified Between African American and European American Keloid Fibroblasts

Keloids are benign fibroproliferative tumors due to dysregulation of collagen remodeling and abnormal wound healing. Although worldwide, there is a higher incidence of keloid disease (KD) in skin of color, little is known about this predisposition. In this study, we used one tissue micro array slide comprised of six AA and 6 EA punch biopsies of primary untreated keloid tissue from the head and neck area was created, following the NanoString® DSP Technology Access Program protocol. The GeoMx Human Whole Transcriptome Atlas Assay was performed, using morphology marker FAP. Polygonal region of interests selection strategy for Fibroblast Activation Protein (FAP) positive cells was conducted. Univariate analysis was performed, using linear regression models to identify differentially expressed genes (DEG) at a false discovery rate (FDR) of 0.05. Ingenuity pathway analysis (IPA) software was used to determine DEG pathway enrichment. 1,450 DEG were identified (p-va

Past and Future Grand Challenges in Marine Ecosystem Ecology

International audienceFrontiers in Marine Science launched the Marine EcosystemsEcology (FMARS-MEE) section in2014, with a paper that identified eight grand challenges for the discipline (Borja, 2014). Sincethen, this section has published a total of 370 papers, including 336 addressing aspects of thosechallenges. As editors of the journal, with a wide range of marine ecology expertise, we felt it wastimely to evaluate research advances related to those challenges; and to update the scope of thesection to reflect the grand challenges we envision for the next 10 years. This output will matchwith the United Nations (UN) Decade on Oceans Science for Sustainable Development (DOSSD;Claudet et al., 2020), UN Decade of Ecosystems Restoration (DER;Young and Schwartz, 2019), andthe UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs;Visbeck et al., 2014

Thermal tolerance and thermal preference of the copepod Tigriopus californicus are insensitive to dissolved oxygen levels

Shifting climate patterns may impose novel combinations of abiotic conditions on animals, yet understanding of the present-day interactive effects of multiple stressors remains under-developed. We tested the theory of oxygen capacity limited thermal tolerance (OCLTT) and preference in the copepod Tigriopus californicus, a species that inhabits splashpools along rocky coastlines where diel fluctuations of temperature and dissolved oxygen (DO) are substantial. To examine thermal tolerance, egg-mass bearing females were exposed to a 5.5h heat ramp to peak temperatures of 34 - 38°C crossed with each of four oxygen levels: 22, 30, 100 and 250% saturation. The survival of females (four days post-exposure) decreased at higher temperatures but was independent of DO. We quantified behavioral preference of females who were exposed to one of 7 combinations of gradients of temperatures (11-37°C) and oxygen saturation (17 - 206%). Overall, females avoided extremely high temperatures regardless of the DO levels. This pattern was more pronounced when low DO levels coincided with high temperatures. Interestingly, when there was no thermal gradient, the distribution of females shifted toward high DO levels, especially at the constant high temperature. These results question the generality of prevailing theories of OCLTT and raise the possibility of microhabitat selection being used even within tiny splashpool environments to avoid physiologically stressful conditions. Our results emphasize the need to explicitly test interactive effects of multiple factors that may covary in current and future environments

Heat tolerance and thermal preference of the copepod Tigriopus californicus are insensitive to ecologically relevant dissolved oxygen levels

Shifting climate patterns may impose novel combinations of abiotic conditions on animals, yet understanding of the present-day interactive effects of multiple stressors remains under-developed. We tested the oxygen and capacity limited thermal tolerance (OCLTT) hypothesis and quantified environmental preference of the copepod Tigriopus californicus, which inhabits rocky-shore splashpools where diel fluctuations of temperature and dissolved oxygen (DO) are substantial. Egg-mass bearing females were exposed to a 5 h heat ramp to peak temperatures of 34.1-38.0 °C crossed with each of four oxygen levels: 22, 30, 100 and 250% saturation (4.7-5.3, 5.3-6.4, 21.2-21.3, and 50.7-53.3 kPa). Survival decreased at higher temperatures but was independent of DO. The behavioral preference of females was quantified in seven combinations of gradients of both temperature (11-37 °C) and oxygen saturation (17-206% or 3.6-43.6 kPa). Females avoided high temperatures regardless of DO levels. This pattern was more pronounced when low DO coincided with high temperature. In uniform temperature treatments, the distribution shifted toward high DO levels, especially in uniform high temperature, confirming that Tigriopus can sense environmental pO. These results question the ecological relevance of OCLTT for Tigriopus and raise the possibility of microhabitat selection being used within splashpool environments to avoid physiologically stressful combinations of conditions