The effects of fermentation and enzymatic treatment of pea on nutrient digestibility and growth performance of broilers

Dieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich.This publication is with permission of the rights owner freely accessible due to an Alliance licence and a national licence (funded by the DFG, German Research Foundation) respectively.The present study examined the impacts of native, fermented or enzymatically treated peas (Pisum sativum L.) inclusion in broiler diets, on growth performance and nutrient digestibility. For the fermentation process, Madonna pea was mixed with water (1/1) containing 2.57×108 Bacillus subtilis (GalliPro®) spores/kg pea and then, incubated for 48 h at 30 °C. For the enzymatic treatment process, the used water for dough production contained three enzymes, AlphaGalTM (α-galactosidase), RONOZYME® ProAct and VP (protease and pectinases respectively – DSM, Switzerland) and the pea dough incubated for 24 h at 30°C. Nine corn-wheat-soybean diets were formulated by supplying 10%, 20% and 30% of the required CP with either native, fermented or enzymatically treated peas. Performance was recorded weekly and at the end of the experiment (day 35), apparent ileal digestibility (AID) of CP, amino acids (AA), crude fat, starch, Ca, P and K were determined. Data were subjected to ANOVA using GLM procedure with a 3×3 factorial arrangement of treatments. Both processes reduced α-galactosides, phytate, trypsin inhibitor activity and resistant starch in peas. Increasing levels of pea products up to 300 g/kg diet, reduced BW gain and feed intake (P⩽0.05). Broilers fed diets containing enzymatically treated pea had the best feed conversion ratio at day 35. Different types of pea product and their inclusion levels had no effect on AID of all nutrients. The interaction between type of the pea products and inclusion levels was significant for AID of starch. For native pea diets, 10% group showed similar AID of starch to 20% native pea but it had higher AID than 30% native pea. For fermented and enzymatically treated groups, all three levels displayed similar AID of starch. In conclusion, enzymatic treatment and fermentation could improve the nutritional quality of pea. Inclusion of enzymatically treated pea in broiler diets could improve broiler performance compared with other pea products while, it displayed neither positive nor negative impact on nutrient digestibility. The present findings indicate the feasibility of these processes, particularly enzymatic treatment, for improving the nutritional quality of pea as a protein source for broiler nutrition

An evaluation of oligonucleotide-based therapeutic strategies for polyQ diseases

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>RNA interference (RNAi) and antisense strategies provide experimental therapeutic agents for numerous diseases, including polyglutamine (polyQ) disorders caused by CAG repeat expansion. We compared the potential of different oligonucleotide-based strategies for silencing the genes responsible for several polyQ diseases, including Huntington's disease and two spinocerebellar ataxias, type 1 and type 3. The strategies included nonallele-selective gene silencing, gene replacement, allele-selective SNP targeting and CAG repeat targeting.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Using the patient-derived cell culture models of polyQ diseases, we tested various siRNAs, and antisense reagents and assessed their silencing efficiency and allele selectivity. We showed considerable allele discrimination by several SNP targeting siRNAs based on a weak G-G or G-U pairing with normal allele and strong G-C pairing with mutant allele at the site of RISC-induced cleavage. Among the CAG repeat targeting reagents the strongest allele discrimination is achieved by miRNA-like functioning reagents that bind to their targets and inhibit their translation without substantial target cleavage. Also, morpholino analog performs well in mutant and normal allele discrimination but its efficient delivery to cells at low effective concentration still remains a challenge.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Using three cellular models of polyQ diseases and the same experimental setup we directly compared the performance of different oligonucleotide-based treatment strategies that are currently under development. Based on the results obtained by us and others we discussed the advantages and drawbacks of these strategies considering them from several different perspectives. The strategy aimed at nonallele-selective inhibiting of causative gene expression by targeting specific sequence of the implicated gene is the easiest to implement but relevant benefits are still uncertain. The gene replacement strategy that combines the nonallele-selective gene silencing with the expression of the exogenous normal allele is a logical extension of the former and it deserves to be explored further. Both allele-selective RNAi approaches challenge cellular RNA interference machinery to show its ability to discriminate between similar sequences differing in either single base substitutions or repeated sequence length. Although both approaches perform well in allele discrimination most of our efforts are focused on repeat targeting due to its potentially higher universality.</p

Click communication in wild harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena)

The data collection was funded by the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) under contract “Cluster 7 - Effects of underwater noise on marine vertebrates” and “UWE - Under Water Experiments”. FHJ was supported by the Office of Naval Research (N00014-1410410), the Carlsberg Foundation (CF15-0915) and an AIAS-COFUND fellowship from Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies. MJ was supported by the Marine Alliance for Science and Technology Scotland (MASTS) and by a Marie Curie-Sklodowska award.Social delphinids employ a vocal repertoire of clicks for echolocation and whistles for communication. Conversely, the less social and acoustically cryptic harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) only produce narrow-band high-frequency (NBHF) clicks with properties that appear poorly suited for communication. Nevertheless, these small odontocetes likely mediate social interactions, such as mate choice and mother-calf contact, with sound. Here, we deployed six tags (DTAG3) on wild porpoises in Danish waters for a total of 96 hours to investigate if the patterns and use of stereotyped NBHF click trains are consistent with a communication function. We show that wild porpoises produce frequent (up to 27 min-1), high-repetition rate click series with repetition rates and output levels different from those of foraging buzzes. These sounds are produced in bouts and frequently co-occur with emission of similar sounds by nearby conspecifics, audible on the tags for >10% of the time. These results suggest that social interactions are more important to this species than their limited social encounters at the surface may indicate and that these interactions are mediated by at least two broad categories of calls composed of short, high-repetition rate click trains that may encode information via the repetition rate of their stereotyped NBHF clicks.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Single-Cell Transcriptional and Epigenetic Profiles of Male Breast Cancer Nominate Salient Cancer-Specific Enhancers

Male breast cancer represents about 1% of all breast cancer diagnoses and, although there are some similarities between male and female breast cancer, the paucity of data available on male breast cancer makes it difficult to establish targeted therapies. To date, most male breast cancers (MBCs) are treated according to protocols established for female breast cancer (FBC). Thus, defining the transcriptional and epigenetic landscape of MBC with improved resolution is critical for developing better avenues for therapeutic intervention. In this study, we present matched transcriptional (scRNA-seq) and epigenetic (scATAC-seq) profiles at single-cell resolution of two treatment naïve MBC tumors processed immediately after surgical resection. These data enable the detection of differentially expressed genes between male and female breast tumors across immune, stromal, and malignant cell types, to highlight several genes that may have therapeutic implications. Notably, MYC target genes and mTORC1 signaling genes were significantly upregulated in the malignant cells of MBC compared to the female counterparts. To understand how the regulatory landscape of MBC gives rise to these male-specific gene expression patterns, we leveraged the scATAC-seq data to systematically link changes in chromatin accessibility to changes in gene expression within each cell type. We observed cancer-specific rewiring of several salient enhancers and posit that these enhancers have a higher regulatory load than lineage-specific enhancers. We highlight two examples of previously unannotated cancer-cell-specific enhancers of ANXA2 and PRDX4 gene expression and show evidence for super-enhancer regulation of LAMB3 and CD47 in male breast cancer cells. Overall, this dataset annotates clinically relevant regulatory networks in male breast tumors, providing a useful resource that expands our current understanding of the gene expression programs that underlie the biology of MBC

Enhancer RNA Transcription Is Essential for a Novel CSF1 Enhancer in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

Enhancers are critical regulatory elements in the genome that help orchestrate spatiotemporal patterns of gene expression during development and normal physiology. In cancer, enhancers are often rewired by various genetic and epigenetic mechanisms for the activation of oncogenes that lead to initiation and progression. A key feature of active enhancers is the production of non-coding RNA molecules called enhancer RNAs, whose functions remain unknown but can be used to specify active enhancers de novo. Using a combination of eRNA transcription and chromatin modifications, we have identified a novel enhancer located 30 kb upstream of Colony Stimulating Factor 1 (CSF1). Notably, CSF1 is implicated in the progression of breast cancer, is overexpressed in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) cell lines, and its enhancer is primarily active in TNBC patient tumors. Genomic deletion of the enhancer (via CRISPR/Cas9) enabled us to validate this regulatory element as a bona fide enhancer of CSF1 and subsequent cell-based assays revealed profound effects on cancer cell proliferation, colony formation, and migration. Epigenetic silencing of the enhancer via CRISPR-interference assays (dCas9-KRAB) coupled to RNA-sequencing, enabled unbiased identification of additional target genes, such as RSAD2, that are predictive of clinical outcome. Additionally, we repurposed the RNA-guided RNA-targeting CRISPR-Cas13 machinery to specifically degrade the eRNAs transcripts produced at this enhancer to determine the consequences on CSF1 mRNA expression, suggesting a post-transcriptional role for these non-coding transcripts. Finally, we test our eRNA-dependent model of CSF1 enhancer function and demonstrate that our results are extensible to other forms of cancer. Collectively, this work describes a novel enhancer that is active in the TNBC subtype, which is associated with cellular growth, and requires eRNA transcripts for proper enhancer function. These results demonstrate the significant impact of enhancers in cancer biology and highlight their potential as tractable targets for therapeutic intervention

DOORS syndrome and a recurrent truncating ATP6V1B2 variant

PURPOSE: Biallelic variants in TBC1D24, which encodes a protein that regulates vesicular transport, are frequently identified in patients with DOORS (deafness, onychodystrophy, osteodystrophy, intellectual disability [previously referred to as mental retardation], and seizures) syndrome. The aim of the study was to identify a genetic cause in families with DOORS syndrome and without a TBC1D24 variant. METHODS: Exome or Sanger sequencing was performed in individuals with a clinical diagnosis of DOORS syndrome without TBC1D24 variants. RESULTS: We identified the same truncating variant in ATP6V1B2 (NM_001693.4:c.1516C>T; p.Arg506*) in nine individuals from eight unrelated families with DOORS syndrome. This variant was already reported in individuals with dominant deafness onychodystrophy (DDOD) syndrome. Deafness was present in all individuals, along with onychodystrophy and abnormal fingers and/or toes. All families but one had developmental delay or intellectual disability and five individuals had epilepsy. We also describe two additional families with DDOD syndrome in whom the same variant was found. CONCLUSION: We expand the phenotype associated with ATP6V1B2 and propose another causal gene for DOORS syndrome. This finding suggests that DDOD and DOORS syndromes might lie on a spectrum of clinically and molecularly related conditions

Application of new methods of environment analysis and assessment in landscape audits : case studies of urban areas like Czestochowa, Poland

Following the 2000 European Landscape Convention, a new act strengthening landscape protection instruments has been in force since 2015. It sets forth legal aspects of landscape shaping (Dziennik Ustaw 2015, poz. 774) and introduces landscape audits at the province level. A landscape audit consists in identification and characterization of selected landscapes, assessment of their value, selection of so-called priority landscapes and identification of threats for preservation of their value. An audit complies with GIS standards. Analyses use source materials, i.e. digital maps of physical-geographical mesoregions, current topographic maps of digital resources of cartographic databases, latest orthophotomaps and DTMs, maps of potential vegetation, geobotanic regionalization, historic-cultural regionalization and natural landscape types, documentation of historical and cultural values and related complementary resources. A special new methodology (Solon et al. 2014), developed for auditing, was tested in 2015 in an urban area (Myga-Piatek et al. 2015). Landscapes are characterized by determining their analytic (natural and cultural) and synthetic features, with particular focus on the stage of delimitation and identification of landscape units in urban areas. Czestochowa was selected as a case study due to its large natural (karst landscapes of the Czestochowa Upland, numerous forests, nature reserves) and cultural (Saint Mary’s Sanctuary, unique urban architecture) potential. Czestochowa is also a city of former iron ore and mineral resources exploitation, still active industry, dynamic urban sprawl within former farming areas, and dynamically growing tourism. Landscape delimitation and identification distinguished 75 landscape units basing on uniform landscape background (uniform cover and use of the land). Landscape assessment used a new assessment method for anthropogenic transformation of landscape – the indicator describing the correlation between the mean shape index (MSI) and the Shannon diversity index (SHDI) (Pukowiec-Kurda, Sobala 2016). Particular threats and planning suggestions, useful in development of urban areas, were presented for selected priority landscapes

Why whales are big but not bigger : physiological drivers and ecological limits in the age of ocean giants

This research was funded in part by grants from the National Science Foundation (IOS-1656676, IOS-1656656; OPP-1644209 and 07-39483), the Office of Naval Research (N000141612477), and a Terman Fellowship from Stanford University. All procedures in USA were conducted under approval of the National Marine Fisheries Service (Permits 781-1824, 16163, 14809, 16111, 19116, 15271, 20430), Canada DFO SARA/MML 2010-01/SARA-106B, National Marine Sanctuaries (MULTI-2017-007), Antarctic Conservation Act (2009-014, 2015-011) and institutional IACUC committee protocols. Fieldwork, data collection and data processing for M. densirostris were funded by the Office of Naval Research grants N00014-07-10988, N00014-07-11023, N00014-08-10990, N00014-18-1-2062, and 00014-15-1-2553, and the U.S. Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program Grant SI-1539. PLT gratefully acknowledges funding from funding the MASTS pooling initiative (The Marine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland). MASTS is funded by the Scottish Funding Council (HR09011) and contributing institutions.The largest animals are marine filter feeders, but the underlying mechanism of their large size remains unexplained. We measured feeding performance and prey quality to demonstrate how whale gigantism is driven by the interplay of prey abundance and harvesting mechanisms that increase prey capture rates and energy intake. The foraging efficiency of toothed whales that feed on single prey is constrained by the abundance of large prey, whereas filter-feeding baleen whales seasonally exploit vast swarms of small prey at high efficiencies. Given temporally and spatially aggregated prey, filter feeding provides an evolutionary pathway to extremes in body size that are not available to lineages that must feed on one prey at a time. Maximum size in filter feeders is likely constrained by prey availability across space and time.PostprintPeer reviewe