Tsetse fly (Glossina pallidipes) midgut responses to Trypanosoma brucei challenge

Abstract Background Tsetse flies (Glossina spp.) are the prominent vector of African trypanosome parasites (Trypanosoma spp.) in sub-Saharan Africa, and Glossina pallidipes is the most widely distributed species in Kenya. This species displays strong resistance to infection by parasites, which are typically eliminated in the midgut shortly after acquisition from the mammalian host. Although extensive molecular information on immunity for the related species Glossina morsitans morsitans exists, similar information is scarce for G. pallidipes. Methods To determine temporal transcriptional responses of G. pallidipes to Trypanosoma brucei brucei challenge, we conducted Illumina based RNA-seq on midgut organ and carcass from teneral females G. pallidipes at 24 and 48 h post-challenge (hpc) with T. b. brucei relative to their respective controls that received normal blood meals (without the parasite). We used a suite of bioinformatics tools to determine differentially expressed and enriched transcripts between and among tissues, and to identify expanded transcripts in G. pallidipes relative to their orthologs G. m. morsitans. Results Midgut transcripts induced at 24 hpc encoded proteins were associated with lipid remodelling, proteolysis, collagen metabolism, apoptosis, and cell growth. Midgut transcripts induced at 48 hpc encoded proteins linked to embryonic growth and development, serine endopeptidases and proteosomal degradation of the target protein, mRNA translation and neuronal development. Temporal expression of immune responsive transcripts at 48 relative to 24 hpc was pronounced, indicative of a gradual induction of host immune responses the following challenge. We also searched for G. m. morsitans orthologous groups that may have experienced expansions in the G. pallidipes genome. We identified ten expanded groups in G. pallidipes with putative immunity-related functions, which may play a role in the higher refractoriness exhibited by this species. Conclusions There appears to be a lack of strong immune responses elicited by gut epithelia of teneral adults. This in combination with a compromised peritrophic matrix at this stage during the initial phase of T. b. brucei challenge may facilitate the increased parasite infection establishment noted in teneral flies relative to older adults. Although teneral flies are more susceptible than older adults, the majority of tenerals are still able to eliminate parasite infections. Hence, robust responses elicited at a later time point, such as 72 hpc, may clear parasite infections from the majority of flies. The expanded G. m. morsitans orthologous groups in G. pallidipes may also be functionally associated with the enhanced refractoriness to trypanosome infections reported in G. pallidipes relative to G. m. morsitans

Molecular Line Observations of the Small Protostellar Group L1251B

We present molecular line observations of L1251B, a small group of pre- and protostellar objects, and its immediate environment in the dense C18O core L1251E. These data are complementary to near-infrared, submillimeter and millimeter continuum observations reported by Lee et al. (2006, ApJ, 648, 491; Paper I). The single-dish data of L1251B described here show very complex kinematics including infall, rotation and outflow motions, and the interferometer data reveal these in greater detail. Interferometer data of N2H+ 1-0 suggest a very rapidly rotating flattened envelope between two young stellar objects, IRS1 and IRS2. Also, interferometer data of CO 2-1 resolve the outflow associated with L1251B seen in single-dish maps into a few narrow and compact components. Furthermore, the high resolution data support recent theoretical studies of molecular depletions and enhancements that accompany the formation of protostars within dense cores. Beyond L1251B, single-dish data are also presented of a dense core located ~150" to the east that, in Paper I, was detected at 850 micron but has no associated point sources at near- and mid-infrared wavelengths. The relative brightness between molecules, which have different chemical timescales, suggests it is less chemically evolved than L1251B. This core may be a site for future star formation, however, since line profiles of HCO+, CS, and HCN show asymmetry with a stronger blue peak, which is interpreted as an infall signature.Comment: 46 pages, 18 figures. Accepted for publication in Ap

Identification of discriminative imaging proteomics associations in Alzheimer's Disease via a novel sparse correlation model

Brain imaging and protein expression, from both cerebrospinal fluid and blood plasma, have been found to provide complementary information in predicting the clinical outcomes of Alzheimer's disease (AD). But the underlying associations that contribute to such a complementary relationship have not been previously studied yet. In this work, we will perform an imaging proteomics association analysis to explore how they are related with each other. While traditional association models, such as Sparse Canonical Correlation Analysis (SCCA), can not guarantee the selection of only disease-relevant biomarkers and associations, we propose a novel discriminative SCCA (denoted as DSCCA) model with new penalty terms to account for the disease status information. Given brain imaging, proteomic and diagnostic data, the proposed model can perform a joint association and multi-class discrimination analysis, such that we can not only identify disease-relevant multimodal biomarkers, but also reveal strong associations between them. Based on a real imaging proteomic data set, the empirical results show that DSCCA and traditional SCCA have comparable association performances. But in a further classification analysis, canonical variables of imaging and proteomic data obtained in DSCCA demonstrate much more discrimination power toward multiple pairs of diagnosis groups than those obtained in SCCA

The Spitzer c2d Survey of Nearby Dense Cores. V. Discovery of a VeLLO in the "Starless" Dense Core L328

This paper reports the discovery of a Very Low Luminosity Object (VeLLO) in the "starless" dense core L328, using the Spitzer Space Telescope and ground based observations from near-infrared to millimeter wavelengths. The Spitzer 8 micron image indicates that L328 consists of three subcores of which the smallest one may harbor a source, L328-IRS while two other subcores remain starless. L328-IRS is a Class 0 protostar according to its bolometric temperature (44 K) and the high fraction ~72 % of its luminosity emitted at sub-millimeter wavelengths. Its inferred "internal luminosity" (0.04 - 0.06 Lsun) using a radiative transfer model under the most plausible assumption of its distance as 200 pc is much fainter than for a typical protostar, and even fainter than other VeLLOs studied previously. Note, however, that its inferred luminosity may be uncertain by a factor of 2-3 if we consider two extreme values of the distance of L328-IRS (125 or 310 pc). Low angular resolution observations of CO do not show any clear evidence of a molecular outflow activity. But broad line widths toward L328, and Spitzer and near-infrared images showing nebulosity possibly tracing an outflow cavity, strongly suggest the existence of outflow activity. Provided that an envelope of at most ~0.1 Msunis the only mass accretion reservoir for L328-IRS, and the star formation efficiency is close to the canonical value ~30%, L328-IRS has not yet accreted more than 0.05 Msun. At the assumed distance of 200 pc, L328-IRS is destined to be a brown dwarf.Comment: 29 pages, 8 figures, 1 table, to be published in Astrophysical Journa

Tissue-specific network-based genome wide study of amygdala imaging phenotypes to identify functional interaction modules

Motivation: Network-based genome-wide association studies (GWAS) aim to identify functional modules from biological networks that are enriched by top GWAS findings. Although gene functions are relevant to tissue context, most existing methods analyze tissue-free networks without reflecting phenotypic specificity. Results: We propose a novel module identification framework for imaging genetic studies using the tissue-specific functional interaction network. Our method includes three steps: (i) re-prioritize imaging GWAS findings by applying machine learning methods to incorporate network topological information and enhance the connectivity among top genes; (ii) detect densely connected modules based on interactions among top re-prioritized genes; and (iii) identify phenotype-relevant modules enriched by top GWAS findings. We demonstrate our method on the GWAS of [18F]FDG-PET measures in the amygdala region using the imaging genetic data from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, and map the GWAS results onto the amygdala-specific functional interaction network. The proposed network-based GWAS method can effectively detect densely connected modules enriched by top GWAS findings. Tissue-specific functional network can provide precise context to help explore the collective effects of genes with biologically meaningful interactions specific to the studied phenotype

Submillimetre observations of WISE-selected high-redshift, luminous, dusty galaxies

We present SCUBA-2 850um submillimetre (submm) observations of the fields of 10 dusty, luminous galaxies at z ~ 1.7 - 4.6, detected at 12um and/or 22um by the WISE all-sky survey, but faint or undetected at 3.4um and 4.6um; dubbed hot, dust-obscured galaxies (Hot DOGs). The six detected targets all have total infrared luminosities greater than 10^13 L_sun, with one greater than 10^14 L_sun. Their spectral energy distributions (SEDs) are very blue from mid-infrared to submm wavelengths and not well fitted by standard AGN SED templates, without adding extra dust extinction to fit the WISE 3.4um and 4.6um data. The SCUBA-2 850um observations confirm that the Hot DOGs have less cold and/or more warm dust emission than standard AGN templates, and limit an underlying extended spiral or ULIRG-type galaxy to contribute less than about 2% or 55% of the typical total Hot DOG IR luminosity, respectively. The two most distant and luminous targets have similar observed submm to mid-infrared ratios to the rest, and thus appear to have even hotter SEDs. The number of serendipitous submm galaxies (SMGs) detected in the 1.5-arcmin-radius SCUBA-2 850um maps indicates there is a significant over-density of serendipitous sources around Hot DOGs. These submm observations confirm that the WISE-selected ultra-luminous galaxies have very blue mid-infrared to submm SEDs, suggesting that they contain very powerful AGN, and are apparently located in unusual arcmin-scale overdensities of very luminous dusty galaxies.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, 3 tables, accepted for publication in MNRA