Search results for "GENETICS"
showing 10 items of 12494 documents
Genetics and Evolution of Social Behavior in Insects
2017
The study of insect social behavior has offered tremendous insight into the molecular mechanisms mediating behavioral and phenotypic plasticity. Genomic applications to the study of eusocial insect species, in particular, have led to several hypotheses for the processes underlying the molecular evolution of behavior. Advances in understanding the genetic control of social organization have also been made, suggesting an important role for supergenes in the evolution of divergent behavioral phenotypes. Intensive study of social phenotypes across species has revealed that behavior and caste are controlled by an interaction between genetic and environmentally mediated effects and, further, tha…
Recentrifuge: Robust comparative analysis and contamination removal for metagenomics
2017
Metagenomic sequencing is becoming widespread in biomedical and environmental research, and the pace is increasing even more thanks to nanopore sequencing. With a rising number of samples and data per sample, the challenge of efficiently comparing results within a specimen and between specimens arises. Reagents, laboratory, and host related contaminants complicate such analysis. Contamination is particularly critical in low microbial biomass body sites and environments, where it can comprise most of a sample if not all. Recentrifuge implements a robust method for the removal of negative-control and crossover taxa from the rest of samples. With Recentrifuge, researchers can analyze results f…
Innovation in cardiovascular disease in Europe with focus on arrhythmias: current status, opportunities, roadblocks, and the role of multiple stakeho…
2018
The European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA) held an Innovation Forum in February 2016, to consider issues around innovation. The objective of the forum was to extend the innovation debate outside of the narrow world of arrhythmia specialists and cardiology in general, and seek input from all stakeholders including regulators, strategists, technologists, industry, academia, health providers, medical societies, payers, and patients. Innovation is indispensable for a continuing improvement in health care, preferably at higher efficacy and lower costs. It requires people who have been trained in a good scientific environment, high-quality research for achieving ground breaking inventions and t…
Oxidative stress and antioxidants in the pathophysiology of malignant melanoma.
2018
Abstract The high number of somatic mutations in the melanoma genome associated with cumulative ultra violet (UV) exposure has rendered it one of the most difficult of cancers to treat. With new treatment approaches based on targeted and immune therapies, drug resistance has appeared as a consistent problem. Redox biology, including reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (ROS and RNS), plays a central role in all aspects of melanoma pathophysiology, from initiation to progression and to metastatic cells. The involvement of melanin production and UV radiation in ROS/RNS generation has rendered the melanocytic lineage a unique system for studying redox biology. Overall, an elevated oxidative st…
Innovative and Integrated Strategies: Case Studies
2017
In this chapter, case studies related to biodeterioration, bioaerosol, biocide and biocleaning are reported. The aim is highlighting the role of biology and biotechnology tools for the preventive conservation of organic and inorganic artifacts, understanding how traditional as well as innovative methods can help the conservationists to develop integrated strategies considering works of art/environment/ humans as a dynamic system. Particularly, based on the experience acquired during the researches of Laboratory of Biology and Biotechnology for Cultural Heritage (LaBBCH), the authors suggest several approaches to reveal and identify biological systems able to induce biodeterioration of cultu…
DNA Methylation and Potential for Epigenetic Regulation in Pygospio elegans.
2015
Transitions in developmental mode are common evolutionarily, but how and why they occur is not understood. Developmental mode describes larval phenotypes, including morphology, ecology and behavior of larvae, which typically are generalized across different species. The polychaete worm Pygospio elegans is one of few species polymorphic in developmental mode, with multiple larval phenotypes, providing a possibility to examine the potential mechanisms allowing transitions in developmental mode. We investigated the presence of DNA methylation in P. elegans, and, since maternal provisioning is a key factor determining eventual larval phenotype, we compared patterns of DNA methylation in females…
In Vitro Biocompatibility Evaluation of Nine Dermal Fillers on L929 Cell Line
2020
Objective. Biomaterial research for soft tissue augmentation is an increasing topic in aesthetic medicine. Hyaluronic acid (HA) fillers are widely used for their low invasiveness and easy application to correct aesthetic defects or traumatic injuries. Some complications as acute or chronic inflammation can occur in patients following the injection. Biocompatibility assays are required for medical devices intended for human use, in order to prevent damages or injuries in the host. In this study, nine HA fillers were tested in order to evaluate their cytotoxicity and their effects on L929 cell line, according to the UNI EN ISO 10993 regulation. Methods. Extracts were prepared from nine HA fil…
Ticket to Ride: Targeting Proteins to Exosomes for Brain Delivery.
2017
Exosomes represent an attractive vehicle for the delivery of biomolecules. However, mechanisms for loading functional molecules into exosomes are relatively unexplored. Here we report the use of the evolutionarily conserved late-domain (L-domain) pathway as a mechanism for loading exogenous proteins into exosomes. We demonstrate that labeling of a target protein, Cre recombinase, with a WW tag leads to recognition by the L-domain-containing protein Ndfip1, resulting in ubiquitination and loading into exosomes. Our results show that Ndfip1 expression acts as a molecular switch for exosomal packaging of WW-Cre that can be suppressed using the exosome inhibitor GW4869. When taken up by floxed …
iSEE: Interactive SummarizedExperiment Explorer
2018
Data exploration is critical to the comprehension of large biological data sets generated by high-throughput assays such as sequencing. However, most existing tools for interactive visualisation are limited to specific assays or analyses. Here, we present the iSEE (Interactive SummarizedExperiment Explorer) software package, which provides a general visual interface for exploring data in a SummarizedExperiment object. iSEE is directly compatible with many existing R/Bioconductor packages for analysing high-throughput biological data, and provides useful features such as simultaneous examination of (meta)data and analysis results, dynamic linking between plots and code tracking for reproduci…
Tree species identity and diversity drive fungal richness and community composition along an elevational gradient in a Mediterranean ecosystem
2017
Ecological and taxonomic knowledge is important for conservation and utilization of biodiversity. Biodiversity and ecology of fungi in Mediterranean ecosystems is poorly understood. Here, we examined the diversity and spatial dis- tribution of fungi along an elevational gradient in a Mediterranean ecosystem, using DNA metabarcoding. This study provides novel information about diversity of all eco- logical and taxonomic groups of fungi along an elevational gradient in a Mediterranean ecosystem. Our analyses revealed that among all biotic and abiotic variables tested, host species identity is the main driver of the fungal richness and fungal community composition. Fungal richness was strongly…