Immunomodulating Lactobacilli in Chicken

__Abstract__ The gastro-intestinal (GI) tract of a chicken starts with the beak, followed by the esophagus and crop, proventriculus (glandular stomach), gizzard (muscular stomach), duodenum, ileum, a pair of blind elongated caeca, colon and ending in the cloaca. The GI-tract consists of a large, single cell layer of epithelial cells surface and a complex microflora that symbiotically interacts with the host. The surface is enlarged by the folds in the mucosal surface which are covered with villi, which in turn are covered by microvilli. For humans the surface of the skin is about 2 m2, while the gut surface is 150-200m2 (about the size of a tennis court). For chickens, these numbers are not available, but the ratio probably is also 100 times the skin surface. Villi are present throughout the small and large intestine. They are longest in the duodenum, but gradually shorten and thicken towards the colon. In the first part of the cloaca they are stumpy and rounded. Villi are present in the caeca also, becoming flattened toward the blind end

Integrated analysis of environmental and genetic influences on cord blood DNA methylation in new-borns

Epigenetic processes, including DNA methylation (DNAm), are among the mechanisms allowing integration of genetic and environmental factors to shape cellular function. While many studies have investigated either environmental or genetic contributions to DNAm, few have assessed their integrated effects. Here we examine the relative contributions of prenatal environmental factors and genotype on DNA methylation in neonatal blood at variably methylated regions (VMRs) in 4 independent cohorts (overall n = 2365). We use Akaike’s information criterion to test which factors best explain variability of methylation in the cohort-specific VMRs: several prenatal environmental factors (E), genotypes in cis (G), or their additive (G + E) or interaction (GxE) effects. Genetic and environmental factors in combination best explain DNAm at the majority of VMRs. The CpGs best explained by either G, G + E or GxE are functionally distinct. The enrichment of genetic variants from GxE models in GWAS for complex disorders supports their importance for disease risk

A genome-wide association study of depressive symptoms

Background: Depression is a heritable trait that exists on a continuum of varying severity and duration. Yet, the search for genetic variants associated with depression has had few successes. We exploit the entire continuum of depression to find common variants for depressive symptoms. Methods: In this genome-wide association study, we combined the results of 17 population-based studies assessing depressive symptoms with the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale. Replication of the independent top hits (p<1×10-5) was performed in five studies assessing depressive symptoms with other instruments. In addition, we performed a combined meta-analysis of all 22 discovery and replication studies. Results: The discovery sample comprised 34,549 individuals (mean age of 66.5) and no loci reached genome-wide significance (lowest p = 1.05×10-7). Seven independent single nucleotide polymorphisms were considered for replication. In the replication set (n = 16,709), we found suggestive association of one single nucleotide polymorphism with depressive symptoms (rs161645, 5q21, p = 9.19×10-3). This 5q21 region reached genome-wide significance (p = 4.78×10-8) in the overall meta-analysis combining discovery and replication studies (n = 51,258). Conclusions: The results suggest that only a large sample comprising more than 50,000 subjects may be sufficiently powered to detect genes for depressive symptoms