Travertine precipitation in the Paleoproterozoic Kuetsjärvi Sedimentary Formation, Pechenga Greenstone Belt, NE Fennoscandian Shield

PES was supported by Väisälä Foundation (Finnish Academy of Science and Letters) and the Finnish Doctoral Program in Geology. ATB was supported by NERC grant NE/G00398X/1. VAM was supported by NFR grant 191530/V30 (projects 331000 and 802795). This is a contribution (paper) # 18 to the ICDP FAR-DEEP project.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Soil bacterial community in potato tuberosphere following repeated applications of a common scab suppressive antagonist

Disease suppressive soils are important for managing soil-borne diseases that cannot be controlled with chemicals. One such disease is the potato common scab caused by Streptomyces species. Suppressiveness against common scab can develop spontaneously in fields where potato is grown for years without interruption, and this has been attributed to non-pathogenic Streptomyces strains. Streptomyces spp. have been used as inoculants in biological control, but their long-term effects have gained less attention. In our previous studies, a nonpathogenic Streptomyces strain (Str272) isolated from a potato common scab lesion suppressed common scab in field trials lasting over 5 years. In this study, bacterial communities in the tuberosphere i.e. in the soil adjacent to potato tubers, were analysed by next generation sequencing (NGS). The aim was to compare bacterial communities in untreated control plots to those in which seed tubers were treated with Str272 in one or several growing seasons. Str272 applications increased soil bacterial diversity and affected the bacterial composition in the potato tuberosphere. The most pronounced differences were observed between the untreated control and the treatments in which the antagonist had been applied in three or four consecutive years. The differences remained similar until the following growing season. Bacterial composition after repeated antagonist applications was associated with lower common scab severity. The antagonist applications had no or only slight effect on the number or abundance of OTUs belonging to Actinobacteria or Streptomyces, and no differences in quantities of pathogenic Streptomyces populations were detected by qPCR. This indicates that suppression of common scab by Str272 may not be based on direct effect on the common scab pathogens but is more likely to be associated with the alterations of the soil bacterial community. The most abundant bacteria phyla in the potato tuberosphere were Actinobacteria, Proteobacteria and Acidobacteria. However, the OTUs responding greatest to the antagonist treatments belonged to Bacterioidetes and Gemmatimonadetes. Results indicate that repeated applications of Str272 can change the bacterial community in the potato tuberosphere and lead to development of soil that is suppressive against potato common scab for several growing seasons after the last application.Peer reviewe

Stapled truncated orexin peptides as orexin receptor agonists

The peptides orexin-A and -B, the endogenous agonists of the orexin receptors, have similar 19-amino-acid C-termini which retain full maximum response as truncated peptides with only marginally reduced potency, while further N-terminal truncations successively reduce the activity. The peptides have been suggested to bind in an α‐helical conformation, and truncation beyond a certain critical length is likely to disrupt the overall helical structure. In this study, we set out to stabilize the α‐helical conformation of orexin‐A15–33 via peptide stapling at four different sites. At a suggested hinge region, we varied the length of the cross-linker as well as replaced the staple with two α-aminoisobutyric acid residues. Modifications close to the peptide C‐terminus, which is crucial for activity, were not allowed. However, central and N‐terminal modifications yielded bioactive peptides, albeit with decreased potencies. This provides evidence that the orexin receptors can accommodate and be activated by α-helical peptides. The decrease in potency is likely linked to a stabilization of suboptimal peptide conformation or blocking of peptide backbone–receptor interactions at the hinge region by the helical stabilization or the modified amino acids.Peer reviewe

MTT's berry varieties - rich in phytochemicals

The realized importance of the phytochemical quality of berries in human nutrition has given new focus and importance to berry breeding programs. The breeding work at MTT achieves to keep the inner quality of berries at high level, and even increase it, in addition to reach the agronomic breeding targets in the changing climatic conditions in the North

Palaeoproterozoic magnesite: lithological and isotopic evidence for playa/sabkha environments

Magnesite forms a series of 1- to 15-m-thick beds within the approximate to2.0 Ga (Palaeoproterozoic) Tulomozerskaya Formation, NW Fennoscandian Shield, Russia. Drillcore material together with natural exposures reveal that the 680-m-thick formation is composed of a stromatolite-dolomite-'red bed' sequence formed in a complex combination of shallow-marine and non-marine, evaporitic environments. Dolomite-collapse breccia, stromatolitic and micritic dolostones and sparry allochemical dolostones are the principal rocks hosting the magnesite beds. All dolomite lithologies are marked by delta C-13 values from +7.1 parts per thousand to +11.6 parts per thousand (V-PDB) and delta O-18 ranging from 17.4 parts per thousand to 26.3 parts per thousand (V-SMOW). Magnesite occurs in different forms: finely laminated micritic; stromatolitic magnesite; and structureless micritic, crystalline and coarsely crystalline magnesite. All varieties exhibit anomalously high delta C-13 values ranging from +9.0 parts per thousand to +11.6 parts per thousand and delta O-18 values of 20.0-25.7 parts per thousand. Laminated and structureless micritic magnesite forms as a secondary phase replacing dolomite during early diagenesis, and replaced dolomite before the major phase of burial. Crystalline and coarsely crystalline magnesite replacing micritic magnesite formed late in the diagenetic/metamorphic history. Magnesite apparently precipitated from sea water-derived brine, diluted by meteoric fluids. Magnesitization was accomplished under evaporitic conditions (sabkha to playa lake environment) proposed to be similar to the Coorong or Lake Walyungup coastal playa magnesite. Magnesite and host dolostones formed in evaporative and partly restricted environments; consequently, extremely high delta C-13 values reflect a combined contribution from both global and local carbon reservoirs. A C- 13-rich global carbon reservoir (delta C-13 at around +5 parts per thousand) is related to the perturbation of the carbon cycle at 2.0 Ga, whereas the local enhancement in C-13 (up to +12 parts per thousand) is associated with evaporative and restricted environments with high bioproductivity

Aivokasvainten hoito ja moniammatillinen neuro-onkologiaryhmä

Kallonsisäisissä kasvaimissa haasteet kuvantamisessa, molekyylipatologiassa ja hoidonvasteen arvioinnissa ovat suurempia kuin monissa yleisemmissä syövissä. Hiljattainpäivitetty molekyylimuutoksiin perustuva WHO:n keskushermoston kasvainten luokitteluon oleellinen sekä hoidon valinnassa että haittavaikutusten riskin arviossa. Neuro-onkologiaryhmässäneurokirurgi, syöpälääkäri, neurologi, neuroradiologi ja -patologi täydentävät toistensaerityisosaamista. Monialainen hoidon suunnittelu parantaa ja yhdenmukaistaa laatuaja mahdollisesti ennustetta, vaikka näyttö aikuisten glioomassa on vasta alustavaa.Ryhmän ohjeistama seuranta helpottaa ymmärtämään hoitojen vaikutusta potilaan toimintakyvynsäilyttämiseen. Samalla ryhmä saa palautetta hoidon tehosta ja viiveet vähenevät,kun koordinoidaan diagnostiikka ja hoidon toteutus kansainvälisiä ja kansallisia suosituksianoudattaen. Palaute on keskeistä neuro-onkologisen hoidon vaikuttavuuden ja laadunkehittämiselle.</p