Father-Son Chats: Inheriting Stress through Sperm RNA

Although mounting evidence in mammals suggests that certain ancestral environmental exposures can influence the phenotype in future generations, mechanisms underlying such intergenerational information transfer remain unclear. A recent report suggests that RNA isolated from sperm can inform offspring of a father’s history of early life trauma (Gapp et al., 2014)

Molecular Interaction Studies of Aqueous Acetonitrile Solutions Using Ultrasonic Technique

Density (ρ), viscosity (η) and ultrasonic velocity (u) of aqueous acetonitrile solutions were measured as functions of concentration at 308.15K. The measured data of ρ, η and u have been used to calculate various acoustical and thermodynamic parameters viz. adiabatic compressibility (β ad ), intermolecular free length (L f ), acoustic impedance (Z), relaxation time (τ), rao’s constant (R M ), wada’s constant (W), free volume (V f ), absorption coefficient (α/f 2 ), gibb’s free energy (∆G), relative association (R a ) and available volume (V a ). These parameters help out in elucidating the molecular association in the mixture. The variation of these parameters with concentration of solute indicates the nature of interaction present in the binary mixtur

Studies on Training Systems and NAA Application on Bell Pepper Production in Polyhouse

Capsicum (Capsicum annuum L.) is an important off-season vegetable crops grown in the mid-hills of Himachal Pradesh. Production and productivity of this crop is low because of high flower and fruit drop. The present investigation was carried out to find out the best training system and an appropriate concentration of naphthalene acetic acid (NAA). Two-stem training system was the best for most traits except, number of flowers per plant and days to first picking which were best under control, i.e., on plants not trained at all. Two sprays of NAA @ 15 ppm proved best for plant height, total number of flowers per plant, per cent flower drop, per cent fruit set, days to first picking, number of fruits per plant, fruit weight and total yield per plant

Small RNAs are trafficked from the epididymis to developing mammalian sperm [preprint]

RNAs present in mature mammalian sperm are delivered to the zygote at fertilization, where they have the potential to affect early development. The biogenesis of the small RNA payload of mature sperm is therefore of great interest, as it may be a target of signaling pathways linking paternal conditions to offspring phenotype. Recent studies have suggested the surprising hypothesis that the small RNA payload carried by mature sperm may include RNAs that were not synthesized during testicular spermatogenesis, but that are instead delivered to sperm during the process of post-testicular maturation in the epididymis. To further test this hypothesis, we characterized small RNA dynamics during testicular and post-testicular germ cell maturation in mice. We show that purified testicular germ cell populations, including mature testicular spermatozoa, carry extremely low levels of tRNA fragments (tRFs), and that tRFs become highly abundant only after sperm have entered the epididiymis. The process of small RNA delivery to sperm can be recapitulated in vitro, as caput epididymosomes deliver small RNAs including tRFs and microRNAs to mature testicular spermatozoa. Finally, to definitively identify the tissue of origin for small RNAs in sperm, we carried out tissue-specific metabolic labeling of RNAs in intact mice, finding that mature sperm carry small RNAs that were originally synthesized in the somatic cells of the epididymis. Taken together, our data demonstrates that soma-germline small RNA transfer occurs in male mammals, most likely via vesicular transport from the epididymis to maturing sperm

Population differentiation in dromedarian camel: a comparative study of camel inhabiting extremes of geographical distribution

Abstract: The camel has not been subject to selective pressures and is not differentiated. The present study was undertaken to evaluate differentiation of camels inhabiting the extreme geographical habitats for the species. In this paper we compared the camel populations of India and Southern region of Africa to adjudge the differentiation between the two populations. Utilizing 12 microsatellite loci it has been demonstrated that the populations i.e., of India and South Africa are very well differentiated. The camel population of India shows differentiation among themselves owing to selection pressure and breeding for specific economic traits/parameters like carting, baggage, riding etc. The differentiation among the two camel populations was 23% while that of among population, within the two groups was 11%. A small group of Bactrian camel exhibited closeness to hill camels. Based on the published literature and in the present study it is evident that there is a general trend of increased population differentiation from South region of Africa to Indian subcontinent with India having highly differentiated populations

An atlas of cell types in the mouse epididymis and vas deferens

Following testicular spermatogenesis, mammalian sperm continue to mature in a long epithelial tube known as the epididymis, which plays key roles in remodeling sperm protein, lipid, and RNA composition. To understand the roles for the epididymis in reproductive biology, we generated a single-cell atlas of the murine epididymis and vas deferens. We recovered key epithelial cell types including principal cells, clear cells, and basal cells, along with associated support cells that include fibroblasts, smooth muscle, macrophages and other immune cells. Moreover, our data illuminate extensive regional specialization of principal cell populations across the length of the epididymis. In addition to region-specific specialization of principal cells, we find evidence for functionally specialized subpopulations of stromal cells, and, most notably, two distinct populations of clear cells. Our dataset extends on existing knowledge of epididymal biology, and provides a wealth of information on potential regulatory and signaling factors that bear future investigation

A synthetic biology approach to probing nucleosome symmetry

The repeating subunit of chromatin, the nucleosome, includes two copies of each of the four core histones, and several recent studies have reported that asymmetrically-modified nucleosomes occur at regulatory elements in vivo. To probe the mechanisms by which histone modifications are read out, we designed an obligate pair of H3 heterodimers, termed H3X and H3Y, which we extensively validated genetically and biochemically. Comparing the effects of asymmetric histone tail point mutants with those of symmetric double mutants revealed that a single methylated H3K36 per nucleosome was sufficient to silence cryptic transcription in vivo. We also demonstrate the utility of this system for analysis of histone modification crosstalk, using mass spectrometry to separately identify modifications on each H3 molecule within asymmetric nucleosomes. The ability to generate asymmetric nucleosomes in vivo and in vitro provides a powerful and generalizable tool to probe the mechanisms by which H3 tails are read out by effector proteins in the cell

Eligibility of cardiac arrest patients for extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation and their clinical characteristics:a retrospective two-centre study

BACKGROUND AND IMPORTANCE: Sudden cardiac arrest has a high incidence and often leads to death. A treatment option that might improve the outcomes in refractory cardiac arrest is Extracorporeal Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (ECPR).OBJECTIVES: This study investigates the number of in-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA) and out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) patients eligible to ECPR and identifies clinical characteristics that may help to identify which patients benefit the most from ECPR.DESIGN, SETTINGS AND PARTICIPANTS: A retrospective two-centre study was conducted in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. All IHCA and OHCA patients between 1 January 2017 and 1 January 2020 were screened for eligibility to ECPR. The primary outcome was the percentage of patients eligible to ECPR and patients treated with ECPR. The secondary outcome was the comparison of the clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients eligible to ECPR treated with conventional Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CCPR) vs. those of patients treated with ECPR.MAIN RESULTS: Out of 1246 included patients, 412 were IHCA patients and 834 were OHCA patients. Of the IHCA patients, 41 (10.0%) were eligible to ECPR, of whom 20 (48.8%) patients were actually treated with ECPR. Of the OHCA patients, 83 (9.6%) were eligible to ECPR, of whom 23 (27.7%) were actually treated with ECPR. In the group IHCA patients eligible to ECPR, no statistically significant difference in survival was found between patients treated with CCPR and patients treated with ECPR (hospital survival 19.0% vs. 15.0% respectively, 4.0% survival difference 95% confidence interval -21.3 to 28.7%). In the group OHCA patients eligible to ECPR, no statistically significant difference in-hospital survival was found between patients treated with CCPR and patients treated with ECPR (13.3% vs. 21.7% respectively, 8.4% survival difference 95% confidence interval -30.3 to 10.2%).CONCLUSION: This retrospective study shows that around 10% of cardiac arrest patients are eligible to ECPR. Less than half of these patients eligible to ECPR were actually treated with ECPR in both IHCA and OHCA.</p

Metabolic Inputs into the Epigenome

A number of molecular pathways play key roles in transmitting information in addition to the genomic sequence-epigenetic information-from one generation to the next. However, so-called epigenetic marks also impact an enormous variety of physiological processes, even under circumstances that do not result in heritable consequences. Perhaps inevitably, the epigenetic regulatory machinery is highly responsive to metabolic cues, as, for example, central metabolites are the substrates for the enzymes that catalyze the deposition of covalent modifications on histones, DNA, and RNA. Interestingly, in addition to the effects that metabolites exert over biological regulation in somatic cells, over the past decade multiple studies have shown that ancestral nutrition can alter the metabolic phenotype of offspring, raising the question of how metabolism regulates the epigenome of germ cells. Here, we review the widespread links between metabolism and epigenetic modifications, both in somatic cells and in the germline