Imprinting in birds

Imprint je poseban proces učenja koji se događa u vremenski ograničenom periodu tijekom ontogeneze koji se naziva kritični period. Postoje dvije vrste imprinta: filijalni i spolni imprint. Konrad Lorenz radio je istraživanje filijalnog imprinta na mladim divljim guskama i zaključio da se ptice mogu utisnuti na roditelje, ali i pripadnike drugih vrsta, nežive predmete ili čovjeka. Eckhard Hess je u svojem istraživanju na divljim patkama zaključio da su oni pačići, koji su se utisnuli 13-16 sati nakon izlijeganja, pokazivali konstantnu maksimalnu snagu imprinta. Također je došao i do saznanja da snaga imprinta ovisi o stupnju uloženog napora pačića kada su pratili objekt imprinta. U istraživanju spolnog imprinta kod ptica odgajanih od strane drugih vrsta, na temelju rezultata zaključeno je da je učinak na spolni imprint različiti kod različitih vrsta. Kod velike sjenice zbog, nepravilnog spolnog imprinta, jako je smanjen reproduktivni uspjeh. Spolni imprint nije imao veliki utjecaj kod plave sjenice, dok kod vrste Ficedula hypoleuca uopće nisu zamijećeni znakovi spolnog imprinta. Ficedula hypoleuca je solitarna vrsta, a kod solitarnih vrsta odabir partnera nije toliko ovisan o spolnom imprintu nego o činjenici da one nemaju dovoljno socijalnih kontakata s pripadnicima drugih vrsta. Daljnja istraživanja ove teme vrlo su bitna za uzgoj ptica u zatočeništvu kako bi im se osigurao pravilan spolni imprint, a na taj način i omogućio normalan život kada se reintroduciraju u divljinu.Imprinting is a special kind of learning that occurs only during a restricted time in ontogeny called the critical period. There are two types of imprinting: filial and sexual imprinting. Konrad Lorenz studied filial imprinting on greylag goose. He concluded that birds can imprint on their parents, on members of another species, on inanimate objects or humans. Eckhard Hess concluded in his research on mallard ducks that those ducklings that imprinted 13-16 hours after hatching made a maximum score of imprinting. He also discovered that the strength of the imprinting is dependent on the effort exerted by duckling in following the imprinting object. The cross-fostering study of sexual imprinting, in wich nestling birds were raised by parents of a different species, shows that the impact of sexual imprinting is not constant across species. The cross-fostered great tits were strongly mis-imprinted on the blue tit host. That can explain the low pairing success in great tits. Sexual imprinting didn't have a major impact on pairing success of cross-fostered blue tits. Ficedula hypoleuca didn't seem to be sexually imprinted on their hosts at all. In solitarily living species like Ficedula hypoleuca, identification of a suitable mate depend less on a sexual imprinting and more in a fact that they have less social contact with other species. Further studies on the matther of imprinting are important for breeding birds in captivity in order to ensure a proper sexual imprinting for them and thereby enable a normal life when they return to the wild

Imprinting in birds

Imprint je poseban proces učenja koji se događa u vremenski ograničenom periodu tijekom ontogeneze koji se naziva kritični period. Postoje dvije vrste imprinta: filijalni i spolni imprint. Konrad Lorenz radio je istraživanje filijalnog imprinta na mladim divljim guskama i zaključio da se ptice mogu utisnuti na roditelje, ali i pripadnike drugih vrsta, nežive predmete ili čovjeka. Eckhard Hess je u svojem istraživanju na divljim patkama zaključio da su oni pačići, koji su se utisnuli 13-16 sati nakon izlijeganja, pokazivali konstantnu maksimalnu snagu imprinta. Također je došao i do saznanja da snaga imprinta ovisi o stupnju uloženog napora pačića kada su pratili objekt imprinta. U istraživanju spolnog imprinta kod ptica odgajanih od strane drugih vrsta, na temelju rezultata zaključeno je da je učinak na spolni imprint različiti kod različitih vrsta. Kod velike sjenice zbog, nepravilnog spolnog imprinta, jako je smanjen reproduktivni uspjeh. Spolni imprint nije imao veliki utjecaj kod plave sjenice, dok kod vrste Ficedula hypoleuca uopće nisu zamijećeni znakovi spolnog imprinta. Ficedula hypoleuca je solitarna vrsta, a kod solitarnih vrsta odabir partnera nije toliko ovisan o spolnom imprintu nego o činjenici da one nemaju dovoljno socijalnih kontakata s pripadnicima drugih vrsta. Daljnja istraživanja ove teme vrlo su bitna za uzgoj ptica u zatočeništvu kako bi im se osigurao pravilan spolni imprint, a na taj način i omogućio normalan život kada se reintroduciraju u divljinu.Imprinting is a special kind of learning that occurs only during a restricted time in ontogeny called the critical period. There are two types of imprinting: filial and sexual imprinting. Konrad Lorenz studied filial imprinting on greylag goose. He concluded that birds can imprint on their parents, on members of another species, on inanimate objects or humans. Eckhard Hess concluded in his research on mallard ducks that those ducklings that imprinted 13-16 hours after hatching made a maximum score of imprinting. He also discovered that the strength of the imprinting is dependent on the effort exerted by duckling in following the imprinting object. The cross-fostering study of sexual imprinting, in wich nestling birds were raised by parents of a different species, shows that the impact of sexual imprinting is not constant across species. The cross-fostered great tits were strongly mis-imprinted on the blue tit host. That can explain the low pairing success in great tits. Sexual imprinting didn't have a major impact on pairing success of cross-fostered blue tits. Ficedula hypoleuca didn't seem to be sexually imprinted on their hosts at all. In solitarily living species like Ficedula hypoleuca, identification of a suitable mate depend less on a sexual imprinting and more in a fact that they have less social contact with other species. Further studies on the matther of imprinting are important for breeding birds in captivity in order to ensure a proper sexual imprinting for them and thereby enable a normal life when they return to the wild

Glycosylation of IgG associates with hypertension and type 2 diabetes mellitus comorbidity in the Chinese Muslim ethnic minorities and the Han Chinese

Objectives: Hypertension and type 2 diabetes mellitus comorbidity (HDC) is common, which confers a higher risk of cardiovascular disease than the presence of either condition alone. Describing the underlying glycomic changes of immunoglobulin G (IgG) that predispose individuals to HDC may help develop novel protective immune-targeted and anti-inflammatory therapies. Therefore, we investigated glycosylation changes of IgG associated with HDC. Methods: The IgG N-glycan profiles of 883 plasma samples from the three northwestern Chinese Muslim ethnic minorities and the Han Chinese were analyzed by ultra-performance liquid chromatography instrument. Results: We found that 12 and six IgG N-glycan traits showed significant associations with HDC in the Chinese Muslim ethnic minorities and the Han Chinese, respectively, after adjustment for potential confounders and false discovery rate. Adding the IgG N-glycan traits to the baseline models, the area under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUCs) of the combined models differentiating HDC from hypertension (HTN), type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), and healthy individuals were 0.717, 0.747, and 0.786 in the pooled samples of Chinese Muslim ethnic minorities, and 0.828, 0.689, and 0.901 in the Han Chinese, respectively, showing improved discriminating performance than both the baseline models and the glycan-based models. Conclusion: Altered IgG N-glycan profiles were shown to associate with HDC, suggesting the involvement of inflammatory processes of IgG glycosylation. The alterations of IgG N-glycome, illustrated here for the first time in HDC, demonstrate a biomarker potential, which may shed light on future studies investigating their potential for monitoring or preventing the progression from HTN or T2DM towards HDC

Defining the genetic control of human blood plasma N-glycome using genome-wide association study

Glycosylation is a common post-translational modification of proteins. Glycosylation is associated with a number of human diseases. Defining genetic factors altering glycosylation may provide a basis for novel approaches to diagnostic and pharmaceutical applications. Here we report a genome-wide association study of the human blood plasma N-glycome composition in up to 3811 people measured by Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography (UPLC) technology. Starting with the 36 original traits measured by UPLC, we computed an additional 77 derived traits leading to a total of 113 glycan traits. We studied associations between these traits and genetic polymorphisms located on human autosomes. We discovered and replicated 12 loci. This allowed us to demonstrate an overlap in genetic control between total plasma protein and IgG glycosylation. The majority of revealed loci contained genes that encode enzymes directly involved in glycosylation (FUT3/FUT6, FUT8, B3GAT1, ST6GAL1, B4GALT1, ST3GAL4, MGAT3 and MGAT5) and a known regulator of plasma protein fucosylation (HNF1A). However, we also found loci that could possibly reflect other more complex aspects of glycosylation process. Functional genomic annotation suggested the role of several genes including DERL3, CHCHD10, TMEM121, IGH and IKZF1. The hypotheses we generated may serve as a starting point for further functional studies in this research area

Glycosylation of immunoglobulin G is regulated by a large network of genes pleiotropic with inflammatory diseases

Effector functions of immunoglobulin G (IgG) are regulated by the composition of a glycan moiety, thus affecting activity of the immune system. Aberrant glycosylation of IgG has been observed in many diseases, but little is understood about the underlying mechanisms. We performed a genome-wide association study of IgG N-glycosylation (N = 8090) and, using a data-driven network approach, suggested how associated loci form a functional network. We confirmed in vitro that knockdown of IKZF1 decreases the expression of fucosyltransferase FUT8, resulting in increased levels of fucosylated glycans, and suggest that RUNX1 and RUNX3, together with SMARCB1, regulate expression of glycosyltransferase MGAT3. We also show that variants affecting the expression of genes involved in the regulation of glycoenzymes colocalize with variants affecting risk for inflammatory diseases. This study provides new evidence that variation in key transcription factors coupled with regulatory variation in glycogenes modifies IgG glycosylation and has influence on inflammatory diseases

Genetic structure of Balkan Roma - analysis of mtDNA polymorphisms

U ovom radu proučavana je genetička struktura populacije balkanskih Roma da bi se utvrdile razlike u mitohondrijskom genskom nasljeđu između balkanskih Roma i Roma Bajaša iz Baranje i Međimurja. Sekvencirani su i analizirani HVS I sljedovi mitohondrijske DNA 166 pripadnika populacije balkanskih Roma, te uspoređivani s dosad objavljenim podacima o 232 Roma Bajaša iz Baranje i 152 iz Međimurja. Utvrđeno je da je haplogrupa H najzastupljenija haplogrupa u populaciji balkanskih Roma što upućuje na tok gena s geografski bliskim europskim neromskim populacijama. Druga najučestalija haplogrupa balkanskih Roma je haplogrupa M što svjedoči o prisutstvu autohtonih romskih majčinskih linija indijskog podrijetla u istraživanoj populaciji. Prema rezultatima genetičke raznolikosti, balkanski Romi sličniji su Bajašima iz Baranje nego zatvorenijoj populaciji Bajaša iz Međimurja. Provedenim Exact testom, utvrđena je statistički značajna razlika između sve tri istraživane populacije. Dobivena genetička udaljenost između dviju populacija Roma Bajaša bila je veća nego udaljenost između balkanskih Roma i bajaških Roma iz Baranje što bi moglo proizlaziti iz razdvajanja Roma Bajaša vrlo brzo nakon dolaska u ropstvo u Rumunjsku i njihovog razdvajanja prije dolaska u Hrvatsku gdje postoje kao dvije izolirane populacije.This thesis studied genetic structure of Balkan Roma to determine differences in mitochondrial genetic inheritance among Balkan Roma and Bayash Roma from Baranja and MeĎumurje. HVS I region of mitochondrial DNA was sequenced and analyzed from 166 Balkan Roma and was compared with previously published dana from 232 Bayash Roma from Baranja and 152 from MeĎimurje. It was established that haplogroup H is the most common haplogroup in the population of the Balkan Roma suggesting gene flow from geographically close European non-Roma populations. The second most common haplogroup is haplogroup M which demontrates Indian origin of studied population. According to the results of genetic diversity, Balkan Roma are more similar to the Bayash Roma from Baranja than to the more closed group of Bayash Roma from MeĎimurje. Conducted Exact test showed statistically significant difference between all three population. Genetic distance between two populations of Bayash Roma was higher than the distance between the Balkan Roma and Bayash Roma from Baranja suggesting the separation of Bayash Roma shortly after coming in Romania and their separation before arrival in Croatia, where they exist as two isolated populations