An integrated systems approach for understanding cellular responses to gamma radiation

Cellular response to stress entails complex mRNA and protein abundance changes, which translate into physiological adjustments to maintain homeostasis as well as to repair and minimize damage to cellular components. We have characterized the response of the halophilic archaeon Halobacterium salinarum NRC-1 to (60)Co ionizing gamma radiation in an effort to understand the correlation between genetic information processing and physiological change. The physiological response model we have constructed is based on integrated analysis of temporal changes in global mRNA and protein abundance along with protein–DNA interactions and evolutionarily conserved functional associations. This systems view reveals cooperation among several cellular processes including DNA repair, increased protein turnover, apparent shifts in metabolism to favor nucleotide biosynthesis and an overall effort to repair oxidative damage. Further, we demonstrate the importance of time dimension while correlating mRNA and protein levels and suggest that steady-state comparisons may be misleading while assessing dynamics of genetic information processing across transcription and translation

Astrophysical and Astrobiological Implications of Gamma-Ray Burst Properties

Combining results for the local cosmic rate and mean peak luminosity of GRBs with the cosmic history of the star formation rate, we provide estimates for the local GRB rate per unit blue luminosity in galaxies. We find a typical GRB rate per unit B luminosity of 2.4x10^-17 h_{70}^2/Lsun/yr. The corresponding mean rate in the Milky Way is 5.5x10^-7 h_{70}^2/yr. We conclude: 1) the ratio of supernova rate to isotropic equivalent GRB rate is large: more than 6000 SNIbc per GRB or 30,000 SNII per GRB. GRBs could arise in a large fraction of black hole-forming events only with collimation in the range 0.01 - 0.001 and a steep enough slope of the IMF; 2) GRBs cannot account for the majority of large HI holes observed in galaxies; 3) the probability that the solar system was exposed to a fluence large enough to melt the chondrules during the first 10^7 yr of solar system history is negligibly small; 4) Even for very opaque atmospheres, a significant fraction of the GRB energy is transmitted as UV lines due to excitation by secondary electrons. For eukaryotic-like organisms in thin atmospheres (e.g. contemporary Mars), or for UV line exposure in thick atmospheres (e.g. Earth), biologically significant events occur at a rate of about 100--500 /Gyr. The direct contribution of these "jolts" to mutational evolution may, however, be negligible because of the short duration of the GRBs. Evolutionary effects due to partial sterilizations and to longer-lived disruptions of atmospheric chemistry should be more important. (Abridged)Comment: 36 pages, no figures Accepted by Astrophysical Journal Oct. 2001. First submitted December,1999. Substantially rewritten discussion of burst source count distributions and of biological implication

Coordination of frontline defense mechanisms under severe oxidative stress

Inference of an environmental and gene regulatory influence network (EGRINOS) by integrating transcriptional responses to H2O2 and paraquat (PQ) has revealed a multi-tiered oxidative stress (OS)-management program to transcriptionally coordinate three peroxidase/catalase enzymes, two superoxide dismutases, production of rhodopsins, carotenoids and gas vesicles, metal trafficking, and various other aspects of metabolism.ChIP-chip, microarray, and survival assays have validated important architectural aspects of this network, identified novel defense mechanisms (including two evolutionarily distant peroxidase enxymes), and showed that general transcription factors of the transcription factor B family have an important function in coordinating the OS response (OSR) despite their inability to directly sense ROS.A comparison of transcriptional responses to sub-lethal doses of H2O2 and PQ with predictions of these responses made by an EGRIN model generated earlier from responses to other environmental factors has confirmed that a significant fraction of the OSR is made up of a generalized component that is also observed in response to other stressors.Analysis of active regulons within environment and gene regulatory influence network for OS (EGRINOS) across diverse environmental conditions has identified the specialized component of oxidative stress response (OSR) that is triggered by sub-lethal OS, but not by other stressors, including sub-inhibitory levels of redox-active metals, extreme changes in oxygen tension, and a sub-lethal dose of γ rays

Across the tree of life, radiation resistance is governed by antioxidant Mn2+, gauged by paramagnetic resonance

Despite concerted functional genomic efforts to understand the complex phenotype of ionizing radiation (IR) resistance, a genome sequence cannot predict whether a cell is IR-resistant or not. Instead, we report that absorption-display electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy of nonirradiated cells is highly diagnostic of IR survival and repair efficiency of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) caused by exposure to gamma radiation across archaea, bacteria, and eukaryotes, including fungi and human cells. IR-resistant cells, which are efficient at DSB repair, contain a high cellular content of manganous ions (Mn2+) in high-symmetry (H) antioxidant complexes with small metabolites (e.g., orthophosphate, peptides), which exhibit narrow EPR signals (small zero-field splitting). In contrast, Mn2+ ions in IR-sensitive cells, which are inefficient at DSB repair, exist largely as low-symmetry (L) complexes with substantially broadened spectra seen with enzymes and strongly chelating ligands. The fraction of cellular Mn2+ present as H-complexes (H-Mn2+), as measured by EPR of live, nonirradiated Mn-replete cells, is now the strongest known gauge of biological IR resistance between and within organisms representing all three domains of life: Antioxidant H-Mn2+ complexes, not antioxidant enzymes (e.g., Mn superoxide dismutase), govern IR survival. As the pool of intracellular metabolites needed to form H-Mn2+ complexes depends on the nutritional status of the cell, we conclude that IR resistance is predominantly a metabolic phenomenon. In a cross-kingdom analysis, the vast differences in taxonomic classification, genome size, and radioresistance between cell types studied here support that IR resistance is not controlled by the repertoire of DNA repair and antioxidant enzymes

Defining features of the practice of global health research: an examination of 14 global health research teams

Objectives: This paper strives to develop a pragmatic view of the scope of practice and core characteristics of global health research (GHR) by examining the activities of 14 Canadian-funded global health teams that were in the process of implementing research programs. Methods: Information was collected by a reflective exploration of team proposals and progress reports, a content analysis of the outputs from an all-team meeting and review of the literature. Results: Teams adopted equity-centered, problem-focused, systems-based approaches intended to find upstream determinants that could make people more resilient to social and ecological factors impacting their health. Long-term visions and time frames were needed to develop and solidify fully functional interdisciplinary, multinational, multicultural partnerships. The implementation of research into practice was a motivating factor for all teams, but to do this, they recognized the need for evidence-based advice on how to best do this. Traditional measures of biomedical research excellence were necessary but not sufficient to encompass views of excellence of team-based interdisciplinary research, which includes features like originality, coherence and cumulative contributions to fields of study, acceptance by peers and success in translating research into gains in health status. An innovative and nuanced approached to GHR ethics was needed to deal with some unique ethical issues because the needs for GHR were not adequately addressed by institutional biomedical research ethics boards. Core competencies for GHR researchers were a blend of those needed for health promotion, population health, international development, sustainable development, and systems science. Discussion: Developing acceptable and meaningful ways to evaluate the short-term contributions for GHR and forecast its long-term impacts is a strategic priority needed to defend decisions being made in GHR development. Planning and investing to support the underlying GHR elements and competencies that allow for adaptive, innovative, and supportive research partnerships to achieve ‘health for all’ are more likely to have long-term impacts than building research strategies around specific diseases of interest

Transitory Microbial Habitat in the Hyperarid Atacama Desert

Traces of life are nearly ubiquitous on Earth. However, a central unresolved question is whether these traces always indicate an active microbial community or whether, in extreme environments, such as hyperarid deserts, they instead reflect just dormant or dead cells. Although microbial biomass and diversity decrease with increasing aridity in the Atacama Desert, we provide multiple lines of evidence for the presence of an at times metabolically active, microbial community in one of the driest places on Earth. We base this observation on four major lines of evidence: a physico-chemical characterization of the soil habitability after an exceptional rain event, identified biomolecules indicative of potentially active cells [e.g., presence of ATP, phospholipid fatty acids (PLFAs), metabolites, and enzymatic activity], measurements of in situ replication rates of genomes of uncultivated bacteria reconstructed from selected samples, and microbial community patterns specific to soil parameters and depths. We infer that the microbial populations have undergone selection and adaptation in response to their specific soil microenvironment and in particular to the degree of aridity. Collectively, our results highlight that even the hyperarid Atacama Desert can provide a habitable environment for microorganisms that allows them to become metabolically active following an episodic increase in moisture and that once it decreases, so does the activity of the microbiota. These results have implications for the prospect of life on other planets such as Mars, which has transitioned from an earlier wetter environment to today's extreme hyperaridity. [Abstract copyright: Copyright © 2018 the Author(s). Published by PNAS.

The Atacama Rover Astrobiology Drilling Studies (ARADS) Project

With advances in commercial space launch capabilities and reduced costs to orbit, humans may arrive on Mars within a decade. Both to preserve any signs of past (and extant) martian life and to protect the health of human crews (and Earth's biosphere), it will be necessary to assess the risk of cross-contamination on the surface, in blown dust, and into the near-subsurface (where exploration and resource-harvesting can be reasonably anticipated). Thus, evaluating for the presence of life and biosignatures may become a critical-path Mars exploration precursor in the not-so-far future, circa 2030. This Special Collection of papers from the Atacama Rover Astrobiology Drilling Studies (ARADS) project describes many of the scientific, technological, and operational issues associated with searching for and identifying biosignatures in an extreme hyperarid region in Chile's Atacama Desert, a well-studied terrestrial Mars analog environment. This paper provides an overview of the ARADS project and discusses in context the five other papers in the ARADS Special Collection, as well as prior ARADS project results.ARADS was a project under the auspices of the NASA Planetary Science and Technology Through Analog Research (NNH14ZDA001N-PSTAR) Program led by Dr. Mary Voytek. Support of the SOLID/LDChip instruments came from Grant No. RTI2018-094368-B-I00 (SOLID) and MDM-2017-0737 under the Unidad de Excelencia “Maria de Maeztu” Centro de Astrobiología (CSIC-INTA) program by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation/State Agency of Research (MCIN/AEI/5 10.13039/501100011033) and also with support from “ERDF: A way of making Europe”. We are grateful for the support of Prof. Luis Caceres and students, and the kind use of the former research station facility at Estacion Yungay, supported with institutional resources of the University of Antofagasta.Peer reviewe

A genomic analysis of the archaeal system Ignicoccus hospitalis-Nanoarchaeum equitans

Sequencing of the complete genome of Ignicoccus hospitalis gives insight into its association with another species of Archaea, Nanoarchaeum equitans