New Synthesis: Animal Communication Mediated by Microbes: Fact or Fantasy?

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A nontoxic polypeptide oligomer with a fungicide potency under agricultural conditions which is equal or greater than that of their chemical counterparts

Research ArticleThere are literally hundreds of polypeptides described in the literature which exhibit fungicide activity. Tens of them have had attempted protection by patent applications but none, as far as we are aware, have found application under real agricultural conditions. The reasons behind may be multiple where the sensitivity to the Sun UV radiation can come in first place. Here we describe a multifunctional glyco-oligomer with 210 kDa which is mainly composed by a 20 kDa polypeptide termed Blad that has been previously shown to be a stable intermediary product of β-conglutin catabolism. This oligomer accumulates exclusively in the cotyledons of Lupinus species, between days 4 and 12 after the onset of germination. Blad-oligomer reveals a plethora of biochemical properties, like lectin and catalytic activities, which are not unusual per si, but are remarkable when found to coexist in the same protein molecule. With this vast range of chemical characteristics, antifungal activity arises almost as a natural consequence. The biological significance and potential technological applications of Blad-oligomer as a plant fungicide to agriculture, its uniqueness stems from being of polypeptidic in nature, and with efficacies which are either equal or greater than the top fungicides currently in the market are addressedinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

“Microbiota, symbiosis and individuality summer school” meeting report

How does microbiota research impact our understanding of biological individuality? We summarize the interdisciplinary summer school on “Microbiota, symbiosis and individuality: conceptual and philosophical issues” (July 2019), which was supported by a European Research Council starting grant project “Immunity, DEvelopment, and the Microbiota” (IDEM). The summer school centered around interdisciplinary group work on four facets of microbiota research: holobionts, individuality, causation, and human health. The conceptual discussion of cutting-edge empirical research provided new insights into microbiota and highlights the value of incorporating into meetings experts from other disciplines, such as philosophy and history of science

Using fish models to investigate the links between microbiome and social behaviour: the next step for translational microbiome research?

Recent research has revealed surprisingly important connections between animals’ microbiome and social behaviour. Social interactions can affect the composition and function of the microbiome; conversely, the microbiome affects social communication by influencing the hosts’ central nervous system and peripheral chemical communication. These discoveries set the stage for novel research focusing on the evolution and physiology of animal social behaviour in relation to microbial transmission strategies. Here, we discuss the emerging roles of teleost fish models and their potential for advancing research fields, linked to sociality and microbial regulation. We argue that fish models, such as the zebrafish (Danio rerio, Cyprinidae), sticklebacks (‎Gasterosteidae), guppies (Poeciliidae) and cleaner–client dyads (e.g., obligate cleaner fish from the Labridae and Gobiidae families and their visiting clientele), will provide valuable insights into the roles of microbiome in shaping social behaviour and vice versa, while also being of direct relevance to the food and ornamental fish trades. The diversity of fish behaviour warrants more interdisciplinary research, including microbiome studies, which should have a strong ecological (field‐derived) approach, together with laboratory‐based cognitive and neurobiological experimentation. The implications of such integrated approaches may be of translational relevance, opening new avenues for future investigation using fish models

Inherited Genetic Variants Associated with Occurrence of Multiple Primary Melanoma

Recent studies including genome-wide association studies have identified several putative low-penetrance susceptibility loci for melanoma. We sought to determine their generalizability to genetic predisposition for multiple primary melanoma in the international population-based Genes, Environment, and Melanoma (GEM) Study. GEM is a case-control study of 1,206 incident cases of multiple primary melanoma and 2,469 incident first primary melanoma participants as the control group. We investigated the odds of developing multiple primary melanoma for 47 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) from 21 distinct genetic regions previously reported to be associated with melanoma. ORs and 95% CIs were determined using logistic regression models adjusted for baseline features (age, sex, age by sex interaction, and study center). We investigated univariable models and built multivariable models to assess independent effects of SNPs. Eleven SNPs in 6 gene neighborhoods (TERT/CLPTM1L, TYRP1, MTAP, TYR, NCOA6, and MX2) and a PARP1 haplotype were associated with multiple primary melanoma. In a multivariable model that included only the most statistically significant findings from univariable modeling and adjusted for pigmentary phenotype, back nevi, and baseline features, we found TERT/CLPTM1L rs401681 (P = 0.004), TYRP1 rs2733832 (P = 0.006), MTAP rs1335510 (P = 0.0005), TYR rs10830253 (P = 0.003), and MX2 rs45430 (P = 0.008) to be significantly associated with multiple primary melanoma while NCOA6 rs4911442 approached significance (P = 0.06). The GEM study provides additional evidence for the relevance of these genetic regions to melanoma risk and estimates the magnitude of the observed genetic effect on development of subsequent primary melanoma

Disentangling a Holobiont – Recent Advances and Perspectives in Nasonia Wasps

The parasitoid wasp genus Nasonia (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea) is a well-established model organism for insect development, evolutionary genetics, speciation, and symbiosis. The host-microbiota assemblage which constitutes the Nasonia holobiont (a host together with all of its associated microbes) consists of viruses, two heritable bacterial symbionts and a bacterial community dominated in abundance by a few taxa in the gut. In the wild, all four Nasonia species are systematically infected with the obligate intracellular bacterium Wolbachia and can additionally be co-infected with Arsenophonus nasoniae. These two reproductive parasites have different transmission modes and host manipulations (cytoplasmic incompatibility vs. male-killing, respectively). Pioneering studies on Wolbachia in Nasonia demonstrated that closely related Nasonia species harbor multiple and mutually incompatible Wolbachia strains, resulting in strong symbiont-mediated reproductive barriers that evolved early in the speciation process. Moreover, research on host-symbiont interactions and speciation has recently broadened from its historical focus on heritable symbionts to the entire microbial community. In this context, each Nasonia species hosts a distinguishable community of gut bacteria that experiences a temporal succession during host development and members of this bacterial community cause strong hybrid lethality during larval development. In this review, we present the Nasonia species complex as a model system to experimentally investigate questions regarding: (i) the impact of different microbes, including (but not limited to) heritable endosymbionts, on the extended phenotype of the holobiont, (ii) the establishment and regulation of a species-specific microbiota, (iii) the role of the microbiota in speciation, and (iv) the resilience and adaptability of the microbiota in wild populations subjected to different environmental pressures. We discuss the potential for easy microbiota manipulations in Nasonia as a promising experimental approach to address these fundamental aspects

Incidence of hospital contacts with acute kidney injury after initiation of second-generation antipsychotics in older adults:a Danish population-based cohort study

PURPOSE: To investigate the association between acute kidney injury (AKI) and use of second-generation antipsychotics (SGA) in older adults. METHODS: In a population-based cohort study using Danish national registries, new users of SGAs (aged ≥ 65) were identified during 2005–2015. Each SGA user was matched to 10 population controls on age, sex, and the SGA initiation date. The outcome was incident AKI within 90 days after the index date. Cox regression was used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs), adjusting for potential confounders. RESULTS: In the study, 36,581 new SGA users and 365,810 controls were included. The 90-day incidence rate of AKI was 4.38 and 1.70 per 1000 person-years among SGA users and controls, respectively, corresponding to a crude HR of 2.57 (1.79–3.68). The fully adjusted HR (aHR) was 1.43 (0.89–2.27) for all SGAs. The risk differed among individual drugs with aHRs for olanzapine 3.50 (1.20–10.23), quetiapine 1.62 (0.81–3.26), and risperidone 0.68 (0.28–1.64). In sensitivity analyses, the aHR declined to 1.24 (0.95–1.61) at 1-year follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: Olanzapine use was associated with a significantly increased 90-day AKI risk. For quetiapine, the risk was elevated but not significant, and risperidone had no association. CIs were wide and confounder adjustment largely impacted the estimates. Main limitations included residual confounding and incomplete recording of AKI diagnoses. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00228-022-03339-6