Seroprevalence of 34 Human Papillomavirus Types in the German General Population

The natural history of infections with many human papillomavirus (HPV) types is poorly understood. Here, we describe for the first time the age- and sex-dependent antibody prevalence for 29 cutaneous and five mucosal HPV types from 15 species within five phylogenetic genera (alpha, beta, gamma, mu, nu) in a general population. Sera from 1,797 German adults and children (758 males and 1,039 females) between 1 and 82 years (median 37 years) were analysed for antibodies to the major capsid protein L1 by Luminex-based multiplex serology. The first substantial HPV antibody reactions observed already in children and young adults are those to cutaneous types of the genera nu (HPV 41) and mu (HPV 1, 63). The antibody prevalence to mucosal high-risk types, most prominently HPV 16, was elevated after puberty in women but not in men and peaked between 25 and 34 years. Antibodies to beta and gamma papillomaviruses (PV) were rare in children and increased homogeneously with age, with prevalence peaks at 40 and 60 years in women and 50 and 70 years in men. Antibodies to cutaneous alpha PV showed a heterogeneous age distribution. In summary, these data suggest three major seroprevalence patterns for HPV of phylogenetically distinct genera: antibodies to mu and nu skin PV appear early in life, those to mucosal alpha PV in women after puberty, and antibodies to beta as well as to gamma skin PV accumulate later in life

Epigenetic variability among saffron crocus (Crocus sativus L.) accessions characterized by different phenotypes.

Saffron (Crocus sativus L.) is a sterile triploid (2n=3x=24), initially assumed to be of autotriploid origin, although a growing number of evidences support alloploidy as the most probable mechanism to have occurred. The crop vegetatively multiplies year by year by means of corms. Corm multiplication does not generate genome variations with the exception of some spontaneous mutations that in a triploid saffron population are not easily detectable. At the present time, the real level of genetic variability inside saffron is still debated and in literature it is possible to recover contradictory articles providing contrasting results about if the species is monomorphic or not. In a preliminary characterisation of 50 saffron accessions of the WSCC (World Saffron and Crocus Collection, located in the Bank of Plant Germplasm of Cuenca), characters related to phenology (date of sprouting and flowering, duration of flowering), floral morphology (length and width of tepals, and length of stamen filaments and anthers) and saffron production (percentage of flowering corms, number of flowers per corm, saffron spice weight per flower) were measured and a big variation detected. This raises the question about the origin of such variability, and, considering that gene expression can be influenced both by genetic and epigenetic changes, epigenetic variation could be a possible origin of the alternative phenotypes. In order to have a deeper insight in the epigenetic of saffron, the present study was devoted to the analysis of the cytosine methylation among saffron accessions with different geographic origin and cultivated for at least three consecutive years in the same conditions inside the saffron “CrocusBank” collection. The analysis of the methylation was carried out by using the High C+G Patch (HCGP) Filtration method coupled with high throughput sequencing. The accessions have been selected based on geographic origin, different phenotypes, and different agronomic characters and were characterized by high or low saffron production, early and late flowering time. The presence of high epigenetic variability in DNA regions associated with gene expression was detected. Finally, in order to gain information on the stability along the years of the epigenetic in a vegetatively propagated plant, saffron epigenetics of 17 different accessions stored in the “CrocusBank” collection was analysed in 4 consecutive years from 2013 to 2016. Each accession, despite the cultivation in proximity in the same field and despite the presence of intra- and inter-accession variability, tended to maintain a proper epigenotype clearly different from the other accessions