Lysates of Methylococcus capsulatus Bath induce a lean-like microbiota, intestinal FoxP3+RORγt+IL-17+ Tregs and improve metabolism

Interactions between host and gut microbial communities are modulated by diets and play pivotal roles in immunological homeostasis and health. We show that exchanging the protein source in a high fat, high sugar, westernized diet from casein to whole-cell lysates of the non-commensal bacterium Methylococcus capsulatus Bath is sufficient to reverse western diet-induced changes in the gut microbiota to a state resembling that of lean, low fat diet-fed mice, both under mild thermal stress (T22 °C) and at thermoneutrality (T30 °C). Concomitant with microbiota changes, mice fed the Methylococcus-based western diet exhibit improved glucose regulation, reduced body and liver fat, and diminished hepatic immune infiltration. Intake of the Methylococcu-based diet markedly boosts Parabacteroides abundances in a manner depending on adaptive immunity, and upregulates triple positive (Foxp3+RORγt+IL-17+) regulatory T cells in the small and large intestine. Collectively, these data point to the potential for leveraging the use of McB lysates to improve immunometabolic homeostasis.publishedVersio

Methanotrophy, Methylotrophy, the Human Body and Disease

Methylotrophic Bacteria use one-carbon (C1) compounds as their carbon source. They have been known to be associated to the human body for almost 20 years as part of the normal flora and were identified as pathogens in the early 1990s in end-stage HIV patients and chemotherapy patients. In this chapter, I look at C1 compounds in the human body and exposure from the environment and then consider Methylobacterium spp. and Methylorubrum spp. in terms of infections, its role in breast and bowel cancers; Methylococcus capsulatus and its role in inflammatory bowel disease, and Brevibacterium casei and Hyphomicrobium sulfonivorans as part of the normal human flora. I also consider the abundance of methylotrophs from the Actinobacteria being identified in human studies and the potential bias of the ionic strength of culture media and the needs for future work. Within the scope of future work, I consider the need for the urgent assessment of the pathogenic, oncogenic, mutagenic and teratogenic potential of Methylobacterium spp. and Methylorubrum spp. and the need to handle them at higher containment levels until more data are available

Southwest Norway at the Pleistocene/ Holocene Transition: Landscape Development, Colonization, Site Types, Settlement Patterns

This is an electronic version of an article published in the Norwegian Archaeological Review© 2003 Copyright Taylor & Francis; Norwegian Archaeological Review is available online at http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00293650307293.This article contributes a western Norwegian perspective to the ongoing debate on the timing and nature of the earliest colonization of northern Europe. Despite there being a theoretical possibility of Late Glacial settlement, currently available data indicate a populating of the area around the termination of the Pleistocene ca. 10,000 (uncalibrated) yr BP. The earliest radiocarbon date in southwest Norway so far, 9750 BP, is only a terminus ante quem. Environmental, economic, technological and social factors involved as a result of the colonization process are discussed briefly, and trends in the archaeological record are emphasized and commented on. The economy reflected by the first complete annual subsistence patterns is interpreted as having been logistically mobile, highly adaptive and generally of opportunistic character. Particular attention is paid to Early Preboreal coastal and inland settlement of the ‘Boknafjord’ and ‘Myrvatn/Fløyrlivatn’ groups, the latter characterized by well-preserved site structures such as tent rings and hearths providing high-resolution radiocarbon dates and palaeobotanical evidence

Tsunami from the Storegga Landslide

The Storegga tsunami was generated by the Storegga landslide off the Norwegian coast about 8150 years ago. The tsunami deposits show that the coasts of Scotland, Norway, Shetland, Faroe Islands and possibly also Eastern Greenland and Denmark was inundated, and that the tsunami ran up to heights ranging from 3 to more than 20 meters above sea level of that time. The Storegga tsunami is important for two reasons: First, it shows that big tsunamis have happened along passive margins and outside of the Pacific Ocean. Second, it is the only slide-generated tsunami of a basin-wide range where the run-up has been mapped out in the field and the tsunami simulated with numerical models