Lipid And Oxylipin Profiles During Aging And Sprout Development In Potato Tubers (Solanum Tuberosum L.)

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Ecological networks of grassland plants and arthropods

Doctor of PhilosophyDivision of BiologyAnthony JoernJohn BlairEcological communities are comprised both of species and their interactions. The importance of species interactions is embraced by ecological network analysis, a framework used to identify non-random patterns in species interactions, and the consequences of these patterns for maintaining species diversity. Here, I investigated environmental drivers of the structure of plant-pollinator and plant-herbivore networks. Specifically, I asked: (1) Do global-scale climate gradients shape mutualistic and antagonistic networks? (2) At a landscape scale (within a 3,487 ha research site), how do contrasting regimes of major grassland disturbances - fire frequency and grazing by bison (Bison bison) - shape plant-pollinator network structure? (3) How do fire and grazing affect plant-grasshopper network structure? And, (4) What is the role of plant species diversity in determining plant-herbivore network structure? At the global scale, variability in temperature was the key climatic factor regulating both antagonistic and mutualistic network structural properties. At the landscape scale, fire and grazing had major consequences for plant-pollinator and plant-herbivore communities. In particular, bison grazing increased network complexity and resistance to species loss for both plant-pollinator and plant-herbivore systems. Results from an experimental grassland restoration that manipulated plant diversity suggest that plant diversity directly affects plant-herbivore structure and increases network stability. Collectively, these results suggest that environmental gradients and plant species diversity regulate the network structure of ecological communities. Determining how the structure of ecological interactions change with environmental conditions and species diversity improves our ability to identify vulnerable communities, and to predict responses of biodiversity to global change

Comparative Lipidomic Analysis Reveals Heat Stress Responses of Two Soybean Genotypes Differing in Temperature Sensitivity

Heat-induced changes in lipidome and their influence on stress adaptation are not well-defined in plants. We investigated if lipid metabolic changes contribute to differences in heat stress responses in a heat-tolerant soybean genotype DS25-1 and a heat-susceptible soybean genotype DT97-4290. Both genotypes were grown at optimal temperatures (OT; 30/20 °C) for 15 days. Subsequently, half of the plants were exposed to heat stress (38/28 °C) for 11 days, and the rest were kept at OT. Leaf samples were collected for lipid and RNA extractions on the 9th and 11th days of stress, respectively. We observed a decline in the lipid unsaturation level due to a decrease in the polyunsaturated linolenic acid (18:3) content in DS25-1. When examined under OT conditions, DS25-1 and DT97-4290 showed no significant differences in the expression pattern of the Fatty Acid Desaturase (FAD) 2-1A, FAD2-2B, FAD2-2C, FAD3A genes. Under heat stress conditions, substantial reductions in the expression levels of the FAD3A and FAD3B genes, which convert 18:2 lipids to 18:3, were observed in DS25-1. Our results suggest that decrease in levels of lipids containing 18:3 acyl chains under heat stress in DS25-1 is a likely consequence of reduced FAD3A and FAD3B expression, and the decrease in 18:3 contributes to DS25-1′s maintenance of membrane functionality and heat tolerance

Evidence for non-exponential elastic proton proton differential cross-section at low vertical bar t vertical bar and √ s = 8 TeV by TOTEM

The TOTEM experiment has made a precise measurement of the elastic proton proton differential cross-section at the centre-of-mass energy root s = 8 TeV based on a high-statistics data sample obtained with the beta* = 90 m optics. Both the statistical and systematic uncertainties remain below 1%, except for the t-independent contribution from the overall normalisation. This unprecedented precision allows to exclude a purely exponential differential cross-section in the range of four-momentum transfer squared 0.027 <vertical bar t vertical bar <0.2 GeV2 with a significance greater than 7 sigma. Two extended parametrisations, with quadratic and cubic polynomials in the exponent, are shown to be well compatible with the data. Using them for the differential cross-section extrapolation to t = 0, and further applying the optical theorem, yields total cross-section estimates of (101.5 +/- 2.1) mb and (101.9 +/- 2.1) mb, respectively, in agreement with previous TOTEM measurements. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.Peer reviewe

A comparison of different Malaise trap types

Recent reports on insect decline have highlighted the need for long-term data on insect communities towards identifying their trends and drivers. With the launch of many new insect monitoring schemes to investigate insect communities over large spatial and temporal scales, Malaise traps have become one of the most important tools due to the broad spectrum of species collected and reduced capture bias through passive sampling of insects day and night. However, Malaise traps can vary in size, shape, and colour, and it is unknown how these differences affect biomass, species richness, and composition of trap catch, making it difficult to compare results between studies. We compared five Malaise trap types (three variations of the Townes and two variations of the Bartak Malaise trap) to determine their effects on biomass and species richness as identified by metabarcoding. Insect biomass varied by 20%–55%, not strictly following trap size but varying with trap type. Total species richness was 20%–38% higher in the three Townes trap models compared to the Bartak traps. Bartak traps captured lower richness of highly mobile taxa but increased richness of ground-dwelling taxa. The white roofed Townes trap captured a higher richness of pollinators. We find that biomass, total richness, and taxa group specific richness are all sensitive to Malaise trap type. Trap type should be carefully considered and aligned to match monitoring and research questions. Additionally, our estimates of trap type effects can be used to adjust results to facilitate comparisons across studies

Identification of plasma lipid biomarkers for prostate cancer by lipidomics and bioinformatics

Background: Lipids have critical functions in cellular energy storage, structure and signaling. Many individual lipid molecules have been associated with the evolution of prostate cancer; however, none of them has been approved to be used as a biomarker. The aim of this study is to identify lipid molecules from hundreds plasma apparent lipid species as biomarkers for diagnosis of prostate cancer. Methodology/Principal Findings: Using lipidomics, lipid profiling of 390 individual apparent lipid species was performed on 141 plasma samples from 105 patients with prostate cancer and 36 male controls. High throughput data generated from lipidomics were analyzed using bioinformatic and statistical methods. From 390 apparent lipid species, 35 species were demonstrated to have potential in differentiation of prostate cancer. Within the 35 species, 12 were identified as individual plasma lipid biomarkers for diagnosis of prostate cancer with a sensitivity above 80%, specificity above 50% and accuracy above 80%. Using top 15 of 35 potential biomarkers together increased predictive power dramatically in diagnosis of prostate cancer with a sensitivity of 93.6%, specificity of 90.1% and accuracy of 97.3%. Principal component analysis (PCA) and hierarchical clustering analysis (HCA) demonstrated that patient and control populations were visually separated by identified lipid biomarkers. RandomForest and 10-fold cross validation analyses demonstrated that the identified lipid biomarkers were able to predict unknown populations accurately, and this was not influenced by patient's age and race. Three out of 13 lipid classes, phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), ether-linked phosphatidylethanolamine (ePE) and ether-linked phosphatidylcholine (ePC) could be considered as biomarkers in diagnosis of prostate cancer. Conclusions/Significance: Using lipidomics and bioinformatic and statistical methods, we have identified a few out of hundreds plasma apparent lipid molecular species as biomarkers for diagnosis of prostate cancer with a high sensitivity, specificity and accuracy

Temperature drives variation in flying insect biomass across a German malaise trap network

1. Among the many concerns for biodiversity in the Anthropocene, recent reports of flying insect loss are particularly alarming, given their importance as pollinators, pest control agents, and as a food source. Few insect monitoring programmes cover the large spatial scales required to provide more generalizable estimates of insect responses to global change drivers. 2. We ask how climate and surrounding habitat affect flying insect biomass using data from the first year of a new monitoring network at 84 locations across Germany comprising a spatial gradient of land cover types from protected to urban and crop areas. 3. Flying insect biomass increased linearly with temperature across Germany. However, the effect of temperature on flying insect biomass flipped to negative in the hot months of June and July when local temperatures most exceeded long-term averages. 4. Land cover explained little variation in insect biomass, but biomass was lowest in forests. Grasslands, pastures, and orchards harboured the highest insect biomass. The date of peak biomass was primarily driven by surrounding land cover, with grasslands especially having earlier insect biomass phenologies. 5. Standardised, large-scale monitoring provides key insights into the underlying processes of insect decline and is pivotal for the development of climate-adapted strategies to promote insect diversity. In a temperate climate region, we find that the positive effects of temperature on flying insect biomass diminish in a German summer at locations where temperatures most exceeded long-term averages. Our results highlight the importance of local adaptation in climate change-driven impacts on insect communities

Head-group acylation of monogalactosyldiacylglycerol is a common stress response, and the acyl-galactose acyl composition varies with the plant species and applied stress

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Vu, H. S., Roth, M. R., Tamura, P., Samarakoon, T., Shiva, S., Honey, S., Lowe, K., Schmelz, E. A., Williams, T. D. and Welti, R. (2014), Head-group acylation of monogalactosyldiacylglycerol is a common stress response, and the acyl-galactose acyl composition varies with the plant species and applied stress. Physiol Plantarum, 150: 517–528. doi:10.1111/ppl.12132, which has been published in final form at http://doi.org/10.1111/ppl.12132. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.Formation of galactose-acylated monogalactosyldiacylglycerols has been shown to be induced by leaf homogenization, mechanical wounding, avirulent bacterial infection, and thawing after snap-freezing. Here, lipidomic analysis using mass spectrometry showed that galactose-acylated monogalactosyldiacylglycerols, formed in wheat (Triticum aestivum) and tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) leaves upon wounding, have acyl-galactose profiles that differ from those of wounded Arabidopsis thaliana, indicating that different plant species accumulate different acyl-galactose components in response to the same stress. Additionally, the composition of the acyl-galactose component of Arabidopsis acMGDG depends on the stress treatment. After sub-lethal freezing treatment, acMGDG contained mainly non-oxidized fatty acids esterified to galactose, whereas mostly oxidized fatty acids accumulated on galactose after wounding or bacterial infection. Compositional data are consistent with acMGDG being formed in vivo by transacylation with fatty acids from digalactosyldiacylglycerols. Oxophytodienoic acid, an oxidized fatty acid, was more concentrated on the galactosyl ring of acylated monogalactosyldiacylglycerols than in galactolipids in general. Also, oxidized fatty acid-containing acylated monogalactosyldiacylglycerols increased cumulatively when wounded Arabidopsis leaves were wounded again. These findings suggest that, in Arabidopsis, the pool of galactose-acylated monogalactosyldiacylglycerols may serve to sequester oxidized fatty acids during stress responses

First measurement of elastic, inelastic and total cross-section at √s = 13TeV by TOTEM and overview of cross-section data at LHC energies : TOTEM Collaboration

The TOTEM collaboration has measured the proton- proton total cross section at v s = 13 TeV with a luminosity- independent method. Using dedicated ss * = 90m beam optics, the Roman Pots were inserted very close to the beam. The inelastic scattering rate has been measured by the T1 and T2 telescopes during the same LHC fill. After applying the optical theorem the total proton- proton cross section is stot = (110.6 +/- 3.4) mb, well in agreement with the extrapolation from lower energies. This method also allows one to derive the luminosity- independent elastic and inelastic cross sections: sel = (31.0 +/- 1.7) mband sinel = (79.5 +/- 1.8) mb.Peer reviewe