Measuring the Public Value of a Land-Grant University

Land-grant institutions are dependent on public funding to achieve their tripartite mission of teaching, research, and extension. This public support or the “public value” for land-grant institutions is crucial for the continued development and improvement of services and programs. The purpose of this study was to gather the perceptions and opinions of the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences’ (IFAS) key stakeholders regarding its public value. The sample (N = 707) included community leaders and agricultural producers across the state. Nearly two-thirds had used IFAS programs or services and the majority reported being either very familiar or somewhat familiar with IFAS. Public value was measured using a constructed index. Results found that respondents who used IFAS programs or services provided a higher public value score than those who had not. Also, as respondents indicated higher levels of familiarity, the public value score increased. The type of respondent (i.e. producer or leader) was not a significant predictor of public value score. Overall, respondents indicated the most support for teaching, followed by research and extension. The results from this study provide justif ication for the continued support of IFAS programs and services. To ensure continued success, more must be done to encourage support for the three areas of IFAS among stakeholder groups. Future research should be conducted in other states to assess the public value of land-grant institutions and each component of the tripartite mission

Selected Consumers\u27 Evaluations of Genetically Modified Food Labels

Genetically modified (GM) organisms are commonplace in modern agricultural practice. However, polls and surveys have indicated a lack of consumer acceptance of GM ingredients and a desire to see such products identified through the use of labels. In this study, three focus groups composed of consumers in two northwest Arkansas counties evaluated and discussed four genetically modified food labels developed through the use of the Elaboration Likelihood Model, a persuasive communication theory. Findings revealed that participants want labels on food containing GM ingredients. Participants agreed on two features that a GM food label should have: contact information and an identifying symbol. They felt that this label should appear on the front of the package or near the nutrition information. Participants also wanted more consumer education about GM foods and indicated that any label adopted in the future should identify them as such. Further qualitative and quantitative research on consumer preferences regarding GM food labels and the design of such labels is needed

Conversations with Gatekeepers: An Exploratory Study of Agricultural Publication Editors\u27 Decisions to Publish Risk Coverage

The United States’ agriculture industry is impacted by numerous financial, human, legal, and production risks. These risks are frequently reported in mass media and agricultural publications. Farmers often use agricultural magazines to help them make production decisions and learn about new technology, which both involve some element of risk. Gatekeeping is the process of determining what information is included in media coverage in which editors serve as gatekeepers and make decisions regarding what topics to report. The purpose of this study was to discover how agricultural publication editors, in their role as gatekeepers, make decisions regarding coverage of risk related to agriculture and to explore the forces that influence this coverage. Researchers interviewed seven purposively selected editors of national or regional agricultural magazines. The findings indicated that the editors conceptualize risk in agriculture differently from how agricultural risks are reported in the mainstream media for the more general public; many emphasized the issues in terms of marketing or financial risk. Editors emphasized that they report on risk from an action angle, providing advice or information on how to mitigate the risk. The public’s perception of agriculture, advertisers, and personal topic preferences were cited as influencers of their risk coverage. When covering risk stories, agricultural publication editors prefer journalists who can write well and have an agricultural background or knowledge of the industry. Future research should be conducted to expand on the results from this exploratory study

Selective Inhibition of p300 HAT Blocks Cell Cycle Progression, Induces Cellular Senescence, and Inhibits the DNA Damage Response in Melanoma Cells

Epigenetic events, including covalent post-translational modifications of histones, have been demonstrated to have critical roles in tumor development and progression. The transcriptional coactivator p300/CBP possesses both histone acetyltransferase (HAT) activity and scaffolding properties that directly influence the transcriptional activation of targeted genes. We have used a potent and specific inhibitor of p300/CBP HAT activity, C646, in order to evaluate the functional contributions of p300/CBP HAT to tumor development and progression. Here we report that C646 inhibits the growth of human melanoma and other tumor cells and promotes cellular senescence. Global assessment of the p300 HAT transcriptome in human melanoma identified functional roles in promoting cell cycle progression, chromatin assembly, and activation of DNA repair pathways through direct transcriptional regulatory mechanisms. In addition, C646 is shown to promote sensitivity to DNA damaging agents, leading to the enhanced apoptosis of melanoma cells after combination treatment with cisplatin. Together, our data suggest that p300 HAT activity mediates critical growth regulatory pathways in tumor cells and may serve as a potential therapeutic target for melanoma and other malignancies by promoting cellular responses to DNA damaging agents that are currently ineffective against specific cancers

Medical imaging of pulmonary disease in SARS-CoV-2-exposed non-human primates

Chest X-ray (CXR), computed tomography (CT), and positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT) are noninvasive imaging techniques widely used in human and veterinary pulmonary research and medicine. These techniques have recently been applied in studies of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)-exposed non-human primates (NHPs) to complement virological assessments with meaningful translational readouts of lung disease. Our review of the literature indicates that medical imaging of SARS-CoV-2-exposed NHPs enables high-resolution qualitative and quantitative characterization of disease otherwise clinically invisible and potentially provides user-independent and unbiased evaluation of medical countermeasures (MCMs). However, we also found high variability in image acquisition and analysis protocols among studies. These findings uncover an urgent need to improve standardization and ensure direct comparability across studies

Detailed Analysis of a Contiguous 22-Mb Region of the Maize Genome

Most of our understanding of plant genome structure and evolution has come from the careful annotation of small (e.g., 100 kb) sequenced genomic regions or from automated annotation of complete genome sequences. Here, we sequenced and carefully annotated a contiguous 22 Mb region of maize chromosome 4 using an improved pseudomolecule for annotation. The sequence segment was comprehensively ordered, oriented, and confirmed using the maize optical map. Nearly 84% of the sequence is composed of transposable elements (TEs) that are mostly nested within each other, of which most families are low-copy. We identified 544 gene models using multiple levels of evidence, as well as five miRNA genes. Gene fragments, many captured by TEs, are prevalent within this region. Elimination of gene redundancy from a tetraploid maize ancestor that originated a few million years ago is responsible in this region for most disruptions of synteny with sorghum and rice. Consistent with other sub-genomic analyses in maize, small RNA mapping showed that many small RNAs match TEs and that most TEs match small RNAs. These results, performed on ∼1% of the maize genome, demonstrate the feasibility of refining the B73 RefGen_v1 genome assembly by incorporating optical map, high-resolution genetic map, and comparative genomic data sets. Such improvements, along with those of gene and repeat annotation, will serve to promote future functional genomic and phylogenomic research in maize and other grasses

Validation of human telomere length multi-ancestry meta-analysis association signals identifies POP5 and KBTBD6 as human telomere length regulation genes

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have become well-powered to detect loci associated with telomere length. However, no prior work has validated genes nominated by GWAS to examine their role in telomere length regulation. We conducted a multi-ancestry meta-analysis of 211,369 individuals and identified five novel association signals. Enrichment analyses of chromatin state and cell-type heritability suggested that blood/immune cells are the most relevant cell type to examine telomere length association signals. We validated specific GWAS associations by overexpressing KBTBD6 or POP5 and demonstrated that both lengthened telomeres. CRISPR/Cas9 deletion of the predicted causal regions in K562 blood cells reduced expression of these genes, demonstrating that these loci are related to transcriptional regulation of KBTBD6 and POP5. Our results demonstrate the utility of telomere length GWAS in the identification of telomere length regulation mechanisms and validate KBTBD6 and POP5 as genes affecting telomere length regulation

Validation of Human Telomere Length Multi-Ancestry Meta-Analysis Association Signals Identifies POP5 and KBTBD6 as Human Telomere Length Regulation Genes

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have become well-powered to detect loci associated with telomere length. However, no prior work has validated genes nominated by GWAS to examine their role in telomere length regulation. We conducted a multi-ancestry meta-analysis of 211,369 individuals and identified five novel association signals. Enrichment analyses of chromatin state and cell-type heritability suggested that blood/immune cells are the most relevant cell type to examine telomere length association signals. We validated specific GWAS associations by overexpressing KBTBD6 or POP5 and demonstrated that both lengthened telomeres. CRISPR/Cas9 deletion of the predicted causal regions in K562 blood cells reduced expression of these genes, demonstrating that these loci are related to transcriptional regulation of KBTBD6 and POP5. Our results demonstrate the utility of telomere length GWAS in the identification of telomere length regulation mechanisms and validate KBTBD6 and POP5 as genes affecting telomere length regulation

Genetic determinants of telomere length from 109,122 ancestrally diverse whole-genome sequences in TOPMed

Genetic studies on telomere length are important for understanding age-related diseases. Prior GWAS for leukocyte TL have been limited to European and Asian populations. Here, we report the first sequencing-based association study for TL across ancestrally-diverse individuals (European, African, Asian and Hispanic/Latino) from the NHLBI Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine (TOPMed) program. We used whole genome sequencing (WGS) of whole blood for variant genotype calling and the bioinformatic estimation of telomere length in n=109,122 individuals. We identified 59 sentinel variants (p-value OBFC1indicated the independent signals colocalized with cell-type specific eQTLs for OBFC1 (STN1). Using a multi-variant gene-based approach, we identified two genes newly implicated in telomere length, DCLRE1B (SNM1B) and PARN. In PheWAS, we demonstrated our TL polygenic trait scores (PTS) were associated with increased risk of cancer-related phenotypes