Finally, Marriage Pays Off: Marital Status and Breast Cancer Survival

The American Cancer Society\u27s (2006) estimate for new breast cancer cases in the United States in 2006 is 214,640. Of these, 1,720 are estimated to be male and 212,920 are estimated to be female. The estimate for deaths caused by breast cancer is 41,430. Four hundred and sixty of those deaths are estimated to be male and 40,970 are estimated to be female. The estimate of new breast cancer cases in Minnesota is 3,070. Two hundred and fifty deaths are estimated. From birth to age 39, one woman in 231 will get breast cancer. From ages 40 to 59, one in 25 women will get breast cancer. From ages 60 to 79, one in 15 women will get breast cancer (Breastcancer.org, 2006). Breast cancer is the second highest cause of death for women with cancer after lung cancer. It is responsible for 15% of all deaths from cancer. Breast cancer is the leading site for new breast cancer cases at 31% of all new cancer cases. Since 20% of all breast cancer cases are thought to be preventable, researchers are studying lifestyle choices and patterns - including marital status - for their influence on outcomes. The purpose of this study was to examine outcomes post-breast cancer treatment for single women versus married women

Characterization of the Microbial Community and Activity of Nitrate-Reducing, Benzene-Degrading Enrichment Cultures

Benzene is a natural component of crude oil. It is highly toxic, carcinogenic, and persistent contaminant. This work studied anaerobic benzene-degrading, nitrate-reducing enrichment cultures that were previously cultivated for over twenty years. Amplicon sequencing of nitrate-reducing cultures amended with benzene and benzene degradation intermediates provided evidence for a process by which Peptococcaceae is responsible for initial substitution of the benzene ring, followed by further degradation by Azoarcus. A qPCR study found an increase in copy number of Peptococcaceae and the abcA subunit of a putative anaerobic benzene carboxylase (Abc) associated with Peptococcaceae was correlated with benzene degradation. Further study of an Azoarcus-enrichment culture found that it was capable of degrading the BTEX compounds, but only under limited conditions. Finally, a metagenome was assembled for the benzene-degrading, nitrate-reducing culture. Annotation of metatranscriptome data to this metagenome provided further evidence for carboxylation of the benzene ring by Peptococcaceae.M.A.S

Characterizing biofilms and their associated biosignatures in an Arctic hypersaline cold spring Mars analog

The last surface-level aqueous environments on Mars were likely sulfurous brines that formed as the climate cooled and large bodies of water receded during the transition from the wet Noachian to the dry Hesperian (4.1 – 3.0 Gya). To understand the diversity of microorganisms that could have inhabited such environments and their associated biosignatures, we turn to analogous environments on Earth. Here we investigated biofilm communities and their associated biosignatures at Gypsum Hill, (GH), a perennial cold spring system located at nearly 80°N on Axel Heiberg Island in the Canadian high Arctic. The biofilms develop during the summer months alongside the oligotrophic and sulphur rich GH brines and spread out along the flood plains formed by meltwater and spring run-off. Our objective was to link the microbial community structure of the biofilms to geochemical changes across the GH site as an analog to the micro-niches that could have formed during the recession of an ancient Martian Ocean. We collected 14 morphologically distinct biofilms over two field season and found that minor variations in chemistry between proximal sites impacted community structure. 16S amplicon sequencing revealed that biofilms closest to outflow channels were dominated by sulfur oxidizing bacteria, suggesting that primary production may be driven by chemolithoautotrophy. The community structure shifted towards more heterotrophic and phototrophic populations the further the biofilms appeared from a spring source. Microbial eukaryotes at the GH site were investigated for the first time through 18S sequencing with diatoms and photoautotrophic algae dominating all biofilms. Lastly, we linked the biofilm communities to potential biosignatures by examining lipid profiles to help guide the search and identification of potential remnants of hypothetical ancient Martian life.

Characterizing biofilms and their associated biosignatures in an Arctic hypersaline cold spring Mars analog

The last surface-level aqueous environments on Mars were likely sulfurous brines that formed as the climate cooled and large bodies of water receded during the transition from the wet Noachian to the dry Hesperian (4.1 – 3.0 Gya). To understand the diversity of microorganisms that could have inhabited such environments and their associated biosignatures, we turn to analogous environments on Earth. Here we investigated biofilm communities and their associated biosignatures at Gypsum Hill, (GH), a perennial cold spring system located at nearly 80°N on Axel Heiberg Island in the Canadian high Arctic. The biofilms develop during the summer months alongside the oligotrophic and sulphur rich GH brines and spread out along the flood plains formed by meltwater and spring run-off. Our objective was to link the microbial community structure of the biofilms to geochemical changes across the GH site as an analog to the micro-niches that could have formed during the recession of an ancient Martian Ocean. We collected 14 morphologically distinct biofilms over two field season and found that minor variations in chemistry between proximal sites impacted community structure. 16S amplicon sequencing revealed that biofilms closest to outflow channels were dominated by sulfur oxidizing bacteria, suggesting that primary production may be driven by chemolithoautotrophy. The community structure shifted towards more heterotrophic and phototrophic populations the further the biofilms appeared from a spring source. Microbial eukaryotes at the GH site were investigated for the first time through 18S sequencing with diatoms and photoautotrophic algae dominating all biofilms. Lastly, we linked the biofilm communities to potential biosignatures by examining lipid profiles to help guide the search and identification of potential remnants of hypothetical ancient Martian life.

Sulfur-cycling chemolithoautotrophic microbial community dominates a cold, anoxic, hypersaline Arctic spring

Abstract Background Gypsum Hill Spring, located in Nunavut in the Canadian High Arctic, is a rare example of a cold saline spring arising through thick permafrost. It perennially discharges cold (~ 7 °C), hypersaline (7–8% salinity), anoxic (~ 0.04 ppm O2), and highly reducing (~ − 430 mV) brines rich in sulfate (2.2 g.L−1) and sulfide (9.5 ppm), making Gypsum Hill an analog to putative sulfate-rich briny habitats on extraterrestrial bodies such as Mars. Results Genome-resolved metagenomics and metatranscriptomics were utilized to describe an active microbial community containing novel metagenome-assembled genomes and dominated by sulfur-cycling Desulfobacterota and Gammaproteobacteria. Sulfate reduction was dominated by hydrogen-oxidizing chemolithoautotrophic Desulfovibrionaceae sp. and was identified in phyla not typically associated with sulfate reduction in novel lineages of Spirochaetota and Bacteroidota. Highly abundant and active sulfur-reducing Desulfuromusa sp. highly transcribed non-coding RNAs associated with transcriptional regulation, showing potential evidence of putative metabolic flexibility in response to substrate availability. Despite low oxygen availability, sulfide oxidation was primarily attributed to aerobic chemolithoautotrophic Halothiobacillaceae. Low abundance and transcription of photoautotrophs indicated sulfur-based chemolithoautotrophy drives primary productivity even during periods of constant illumination. Conclusions We identified a rare surficial chemolithoautotrophic, sulfur-cycling microbial community active in a unique anoxic, cold, hypersaline Arctic spring. We detected Mars-relevant metabolisms including hydrogenotrophic sulfate reduction, sulfur reduction, and sulfide oxidation, which indicate the potential for microbial life in analogous S-rich brines on past and present Mars. Video Abstrac

Unique high Arctic methane metabolizing community revealed through in situ ¹³CH<inf>4</inf>-DNA-SIP enrichment in concert with genome binning

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Active lithoautotrophic and methane-oxidizing microbial community in an anoxic, sub-zero, and hypersaline High Arctic spring

Lost Hammer Spring, located in the High Arctic of Nunavut, Canada, is one of the coldest and saltiest terrestrial springs discovered to date. It perennially discharges anoxic (<1 ppm dissolved oxygen), sub-zero (similar to-5 degrees C), and hypersaline (similar to 24% salinity) brines from the subsurface through up to 600 m of permafrost. The sediment is sulfate-rich (1 M) and continually emits gases composed primarily of methane (similar to 50%), making Lost Hammer the coldest known terrestrial methane seep and an analog to extraterrestrial habits on Mars, Europa, and Enceladus. A multi-omics approach utilizing metagenome, metatranscriptome, and single-amplified genome sequencing revealed a rare surface terrestrial habitat supporting a predominantly lithoautotrophic active microbial community driven in part by sulfide-oxidizing Gammaproteobacteria scavenging trace oxygen. Genomes from active anaerobic methane-oxidizing archaea (ANME-1) showed evidence of putative metabolic flexibility and hypersaline and cold adaptations. Evidence of anaerobic heterotrophic and fermentative lifestyles were found in candidate phyla DPANN archaea and CG03 bacteria genomes. Our results demonstrate Mars-relevant metabolisms including sulfide oxidation, sulfate reduction, anaerobic oxidation of methane, and oxidation of trace gases (H-2, CO2) detected under anoxic, hypersaline, and sub-zero ambient conditions, providing evidence that similar extant microbial life could potentially survive in similar habitats on Mars

Additional file 1 of Sulfur-cycling chemolithoautotrophic microbial community dominates a cold, anoxic, hypersaline Arctic spring

Additional file 1: Figure S1.a. Photograph of GH-4 primary outlet and downstream channels (July 2019). A fine layer of gypsum coats the area around the springs. b. Location of the Gypsum Hill springs on Axel Heiberg Island, Nunavut, Canada (indicated with red dot). Map generated in QGIS with the Natural Earth dataset. c. Photograph of the Gypsum Hill springs area in which GH-4 is located. Photos: E. Magnuson. Figure S2. Phylogenetic tree of DsrAB sequences. Figure S3. Phylogenetic tree of DsrA sequences. Figure S4. Phylogenetic tree of DsrB sequences. Figure S5. Phylogenetic trees of DsrA and DsrB sequences. Figure S6. Relative abundance of reads in the metagenome and metatranscriptome classified by Kaiju using the NCBI non-redundant database (nr_euk). Relative abundance was averaged between replicates for both the metagenome and metatranscriptome. Figure S7. Level of taxonomic novelty of ASVs (2,885 ASVs in total). Figure S8. Spearman’s rank correlation of the top 50 most abundant taxa in the subset of thirteen 16S rRNA gene sequencing data sets with environmental parameters. Metadata for this plot is located in Table S4. Figure S9. NMDS plot with Bray Curtis dissimilarity matrix for 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequences from GH and comparable environments. Metadata for this plot is located in Table S4. Table S1. Physical and chemical parameters in GH-4. Table S2. Sequencing library statistics. Table S3. Metagenome co-assembly statistics. Table S4. Metadata for amplicon metagenome libraries used in beta diversity analysis. Table S5. Taxonomic count table used for beta diversity analysis. Table S6. List of contigs in each MAG. Table S7. MAG supplemental information. Table S8. Taxonomic classification of genes of interest with mapped transcripts. Table S9. Gene content of MAGs. Table S10. Relative expression of genes of interest in MAGs. Table S11. Total tpm per genome feature product ID. Table S12. Gene counts and relative expression of genes of interest in the metagenome. Table S13. Complete BLAST output of elemental sulfur reduction proteins queried against Desulfuromusa sp. GH17. Table S14. Relative expression of all genes