Mutant analyses reveal different functions of fgfr1 in medaka and zebrafish despite conserved ligand–receptor relationships

AbstractMedaka (Oryzias latipes) is a small freshwater teleost that provides an excellent developmental genetic model complementary to zebrafish. Our recent mutagenesis screening using medaka identified headfish (hdf) which is characterized by the absence of trunk and tail structures with nearly normal head including the midbrain–hindbrain boundary (MHB). Positional-candidate cloning revealed that the hdf mutation causes a functionally null form of Fgfr1. The fgfr1hdf is thus the first fgf receptor mutant in fish. Although FGF signaling has been implicated in mesoderm induction, mesoderm is induced normally in the fgfr1hdf mutant, but subsequently, mutant embryos fail to maintain the mesoderm, leading to defects in mesoderm derivatives, especially in trunk and tail. Furthermore, we found that morpholino knockdown of medaka fgf8 resulted in a phenotype identical to the fgfr1hdf mutant, suggesting that like its mouse counterpart, Fgf8 is a major ligand for Fgfr1 in medaka early embryogenesis. Intriguingly, Fgf8 and Fgfr1 in zebrafish are also suggested to form a major ligand–receptor pair, but their function is much diverged, as the zebrafish fgfr1 morphant and zebrafish fgf8 mutant acerebellar (ace) only fail to develop the MHB, but develop nearly unaffected trunk and tail. These results provide evidence that teleost fish have evolved divergent functions of Fgf8–Fgfr1 while maintaining the ligand–receptor relationships. Comparative analysis using different fish is thus invaluable for shedding light on evolutionary diversification of gene function

Children’s and adolescents’ rising animal-source food intakes in 1990–2018 were impacted by age, region, parental education and urbanicity

Animal-source foods (ASF) provide nutrition for children and adolescents’ physical and cognitive development. Here, we use data from the Global Dietary Database and Bayesian hierarchical models to quantify global, regional and national ASF intakes between 1990 and 2018 by age group across 185 countries, representing 93% of the world’s child population. Mean ASF intake was 1.9 servings per day, representing 16% of children consuming at least three daily servings. Intake was similar between boys and girls, but higher among urban children with educated parents. Consumption varied by age from 0.6 at <1 year to 2.5 servings per day at 15–19 years. Between 1990 and 2018, mean ASF intake increased by 0.5 servings per week, with increases in all regions except sub-Saharan Africa. In 2018, total ASF consumption was highest in Russia, Brazil, Mexico and Turkey, and lowest in Uganda, India, Kenya and Bangladesh. These findings can inform policy to address malnutrition through targeted ASF consumption programmes.publishedVersio

Incident type 2 diabetes attributable to suboptimal diet in 184 countries

The global burden of diet-attributable type 2 diabetes (T2D) is not well established. This risk assessment model estimated T2D incidence among adults attributable to direct and body weight-mediated effects of 11 dietary factors in 184 countries in 1990 and 2018. In 2018, suboptimal intake of these dietary factors was estimated to be attributable to 14.1 million (95% uncertainty interval (UI), 13.8–14.4 million) incident T2D cases, representing 70.3% (68.8–71.8%) of new cases globally. Largest T2D burdens were attributable to insufficient whole-grain intake (26.1% (25.0–27.1%)), excess refined rice and wheat intake (24.6% (22.3–27.2%)) and excess processed meat intake (20.3% (18.3–23.5%)). Across regions, highest proportional burdens were in central and eastern Europe and central Asia (85.6% (83.4–87.7%)) and Latin America and the Caribbean (81.8% (80.1–83.4%)); and lowest proportional burdens were in South Asia (55.4% (52.1–60.7%)). Proportions of diet-attributable T2D were generally larger in men than in women and were inversely correlated with age. Diet-attributable T2D was generally larger among urban versus rural residents and higher versus lower educated individuals, except in high-income countries, central and eastern Europe and central Asia, where burdens were larger in rural residents and in lower educated individuals. Compared with 1990, global diet-attributable T2D increased by 2.6 absolute percentage points (8.6 million more cases) in 2018, with variation in these trends by world region and dietary factor. These findings inform nutritional priorities and clinical and public health planning to improve dietary quality and reduce T2D globally.publishedVersio

Reconstruction of Holocene Optimum paleoclimatic variations using long-chain n-alkanes and alkenones in sediments from Dabusu Lake, northeastern China

Long-chain n-alkanes and alkenones were analyzed in sediments from Dabusu Lake, northeastern China, from ca. 7.2-4.5 kyr BP (the Holocene Optimum) and the present. Long-chain n-alkanes are derived from leaf waxes of terrestrial vascular plants and aquatic macrophytes. Using n-alkane proxies such as Paq and average chain length (ACL) indices, variations in paleovegetation were reconstructed. The Paq values were generally low, indicating that aquatic macrophytes were a minor floral component in Dabusu Lake. The ACL data indicated that forest/ grassland mixed vegetation occurred around the lake. From the alkenone distribution patterns (C-37/C-38, C-40/C-37, and %C-37: 4 ratios), the main alkenone producers were inferred to be Group II producers, especially Ruttnera lamellosa. We estimated water temperatures based on alkenone unsaturation indices (U-37(K) and UK37K") using the temperature calibrations obtained from culture strains of R. lamellosa. The variation pattern of the U-37(K")-based water temperatures was almost similar to that of the U-37(K)-based pattern, although some spikes differed between the temperatures based on the two indices. The U-37(K')'-based water temperatures were lower from 7.2 to 6.2 kyr BP, and subsequently increased after 6.2 kyr BP. The alkenone-based temperatures were highest from 5.5 to 5.3 kyr BP, indicating that this maximal stage was the Holocene Thermal Maximum in the Dabusu region. The markedly decreasing spikes of UK''37-based water temperatures in our study likely corresponded to the cooling events during the Holocene Optimum, as previously reported, especially Asian monsoon events (AM) 1 and Bond event 4 (BE4). Also, the increasing spike (7.2 kyr BP) in temperatures was possibly associated with the warming regime just after AM2. Moreover, the rapid increasing spikes of alkenone-based temperatures corresponded to those of Paq at 7.2 kyr BP (just after AM2) and 6.4 kyr BP. These results imply that the rapid warming reconstructed using alkenone-based temperatures might have resulted in increased precipitation around the lake at these ages, especially just after the AM2 cooling

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Article Change of the unsaturation degree of alkenone and alkenoate during acclimation to salinity change in Emiliania huxleyi and Gephyrocapsa oceanica with reference to palaeosalinity indicator. (NIES-838) were grown at 20ºC under various salinity conditions ranging from 15‰ to 34‰, and were analyzed for long-chain (C 37 -C 39 ) alkenones and (C 37 -C 38 ) alkyl alkenoates. In both E. huxleyi EH2 and G. oceanica GO1, there were no tetra-unsaturated (C 37:4 ) alkenones, which were frequently identifi ed at low salinity waters in literatures. The alkenone unsaturation index (U k&apos; 37 ) in E. huxleyi clearly changed under lower salinities such as 27‰ and 32‰, while the values in G. oceanica were almost constant in various salinities. From these results, the U k&apos; 37 variations affected by salinity should be paid attention in paleotemperature reconstruction from natural samples that E. huxleyi predominates, especially in lower saline environments. Interestingly, our culture experiments also showed that the alkenone chain-length ratio (K 37 /K 38 ) for E. huxleyi and G. oceanica increased with decreasing salinities, although the ranges of these variations were small. These results suggest that the K 37 /K 38 values were affected by the cellular and physiological factors in a single haptophyte cell, although this value varies mainly depending on the changes of haptophyte species and/or strains in natural environments. Hence, we suggest that the K 37 /K 38 ratio can be more reliable as a paleosalinity indicator