Glycosylation and immunocytochemistry of binucleate cells in pronghorn (Antilocapra americana, Antilocapridae) show features of both Giraffidae and Bovidae

Although the pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) resembles an antelope, its nearest relatives are the giraffe and okapi. In this study we have examined the placentae of 6 pronghorns using lectin- and immunocytochemistry to identify giraffid and bovid features. Binucleate cells (BNC) of the placenta exhibited features intermediate between those of the giraffe and bovine; Dolichos biflorus agglutinin binding – strong in the bovine BNC and absent in the giraffe – was evident in only a subpopulation of BNC while binding to blood vessels, as in the giraffe. Binding of Phytolacca americana agglutinin resembled that of the giraffe and okapi whereas many other glycans were found in all four clades. PAG antigens were similar to bovine and okapi but not giraffe. In summary, although the pronghorn outwardly resembles an antelope, placental BNC show giraffid features. Although each clade has its own individual characteristics, there are far more similarities than differences between them, emphasizing the common ancestry of all four clades

Perturbation of placental protein glycosylation by endoplasmic reticulum stress promotes maladaptation of maternal hepatic glucose metabolism

Placental hormones orchestrate maternal metabolic adaptations to support pregnancy. We hypothesized that placental ER stress, which characterizes early-onset pre-eclampsia (ePE), compromises glycosylation, reducing hormone bioactivity and these maladaptations predispose the mother to metabolic disease in later life. We demonstrate ER stress reduces the complexity and sialylation of trophoblast protein N-glycosylation, while aberrant glycosylation of vascular endothelial growth factor reduced its bioactivity. ER stress alters the expression of 66 of the 146 genes annotated with “protein glycosylation” and reduces the expression of sialyltransferases. Using mouse placental explants, we show ER stress promotes the secretion of mis-glycosylated glycoproteins. Pregnant mice carrying placentas with junctional zone-specific ER stress have reduced blood glucose, anomalous hepatic glucose metabolism, increased cellular stress and elevated DNA methyltransferase 3A. Using pregnancy-specific glycoproteins as a readout, we also demonstrate aberrant glycosylation of placental proteins in women with ePE, thus providing a mechanistic link between ePE and subsequent maternal metabolic disorders

Boundaries of Semantic Distraction: Dominance and Lexicality Act at Retrieval

Three experiments investigated memory for semantic information with the goal of determining boundary conditions for the manifestation of semantic auditory distraction. Irrelevant speech disrupted the free recall of semantic category-exemplars to an equal degree regardless of whether the speech coincided with presentation or test phases of the task (Experiment 1) and occurred regardless of whether it comprised random words or coherent sentences (Experiment 2). The effects of background speech were greater when the irrelevant speech was semantically related to the to-be-remembered material, but only when the irrelevant words were high in output dominance (Experiment 3). The implications of these findings in relation to the processing of task material and the processing of background speech is discussed

Hormonal signaling in cnidarians : do we understand the pathways well enough to know whether they are being disrupted?

Author Posting. © The Author, 2006. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Springer for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Ecotoxicology 16 (2007): 5-13, doi:10.1007/s10646-006-0121-1.Cnidarians occupy a key evolutionary position as basal metazoans and are ecologically important as predators, prey and structure-builders. Bioregulatory molecules (e.g., amines, peptides and steroids) have been identified in cnidarians, but cnidarian signaling pathways remain poorly characterized. Cnidarians, especially hydras, are regularly used in toxicity testing, but few studies have used cnidarians in explicit testing for signal disruption. Sublethal endpoints developed in cnidarians include budding, regeneration, gametogenesis, mucus production and larval metamorphosis. Cnidarian genomic databases, microarrays and other molecular tools are increasingly facilitating mechanistic investigation of signaling pathways and signal disruption. Elucidation of cnidarian signaling processes in a comparative context can provide insight into the evolution and diversification of metazoan bioregulation. Characterizing signaling and signal disruption in cnidarians may also provide unique opportunities for evaluating risk to valuable marine resources, such as coral reefs

Genetic copy number variants, cognition and psychosis: a meta-analysis and a family study

Article Open Access Published: 27 July 2020 Genetic copy number variants, cognition and psychosis: a meta-analysis and a family study Johan H. Thygesen, Amelia Presman, […]Elvira Bramon Molecular Psychiatry (2020)Cite this article 561 Accesses 10 Altmetric Metricsdetails Abstract The burden of large and rare copy number genetic variants (CNVs) as well as certain specific CNVs increase the risk of developing schizophrenia. Several cognitive measures are purported schizophrenia endophenotypes and may represent an intermediate point between genetics and the illness. This paper investigates the influence of CNVs on cognition. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of the literature exploring the effect of CNV burden on general intelligence. We included ten primary studies with a total of 18,847 participants and found no evidence of association. In a new psychosis family study, we investigated the effects of CNVs on specific cognitive abilities. We examined the burden of large and rare CNVs (>200 kb, <1% MAF) as well as known schizophrenia-associated CNVs in patients with psychotic disorders, their unaffected relatives and controls (N = 3428) from the Psychosis Endophenotypes International Consortium (PEIC). The carriers of specific schizophrenia-associated CNVs showed poorer performance than non-carriers in immediate (P = 0.0036) and delayed (P = 0.0115) verbal recall. We found suggestive evidence that carriers of schizophrenia-associated CNVs had poorer block design performance (P = 0.0307). We do not find any association between CNV burden and cognition. Our findings show that the known high-risk CNVs are not only associated with schizophrenia and other neurodevelopmental disorders, but are also a contributing factor to impairment in cognitive domains such as memory and perceptual reasoning, and act as intermediate biomarkers of disease risk

Cognitive functioning throughout adulthood and illness stages in individuals with psychotic disorders and their unaffected siblings

Important questions remain about the profile of cognitive impairment in psychotic disorders across adulthood and illness stages. The age-associated profile of familial impairments also remains unclear, as well as the effect of factors, such as symptoms, functioning, and medication. Using cross-sectional data from the EU-GEI and GROUP studies, comprising 8455 participants aged 18 to 65, we examined cognitive functioning across adulthood in patients with psychotic disorders (n = 2883), and their unaffected siblings (n = 2271), compared to controls (n = 3301). An abbreviated WAIS-III measured verbal knowledge, working memory, visuospatial processing, processing speed, and IQ. Patients showed medium to large deficits across all functions (ES range = –0.45 to –0.73, p < 0.001), while siblings showed small deficits on IQ, verbal knowledge, and working memory (ES = –0.14 to –0.33, p < 0.001). Magnitude of impairment was not associated with participant age, such that the size of impairment in older and younger patients did not significantly differ. However, first-episode patients performed worse than prodromal patients (ES range = –0.88 to –0.60, p < 0.001). Adjusting for cannabis use, symptom severity, and global functioning attenuated impairments in siblings, while deficits in patients remained statistically significant, albeit reduced by half (ES range = –0.13 to –0.38, p < 0.01). Antipsychotic medication also accounted for around half of the impairment in patients (ES range = –0.21 to –0.43, p < 0.01). Deficits in verbal knowledge, and working memory may specifically index familial, i.e., shared genetic and/or shared environmental, liability for psychotic disorders. Nevertheless, potentially modifiable illness-related factors account for a significant portion of the cognitive impairment in psychotic disorders

Genome Sequence of the Pea Aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum

Aphids are important agricultural pests and also biological models for studies of insect-plant interactions, symbiosis, virus vectoring, and the developmental causes of extreme phenotypic plasticity. Here we present the 464 Mb draft genome assembly of the pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum. This first published whole genome sequence of a basal hemimetabolous insect provides an outgroup to the multiple published genomes of holometabolous insects. Pea aphids are host-plant specialists, they can reproduce both sexually and asexually, and they have coevolved with an obligate bacterial symbiont. Here we highlight findings from whole genome analysis that may be related to these unusual biological features. These findings include discovery of extensive gene duplication in more than 2000 gene families as well as loss of evolutionarily conserved genes. Gene family expansions relative to other published genomes include genes involved in chromatin modification, miRNA synthesis, and sugar transport. Gene losses include genes central to the IMD immune pathway, selenoprotein utilization, purine salvage, and the entire urea cycle. The pea aphid genome reveals that only a limited number of genes have been acquired from bacteria; thus the reduced gene count of Buchnera does not reflect gene transfer to the host genome. The inventory of metabolic genes in the pea aphid genome suggests that there is extensive metabolite exchange between the aphid and Buchnera, including sharing of amino acid biosynthesis between the aphid and Buchnera. The pea aphid genome provides a foundation for post-genomic studies of fundamental biological questions and applied agricultural problems