Search results for "ympäristötekijät"
showing 10 items of 58 documents
Multiple paths to cold tolerance: the role of environmental cues, morphological traits and the circadian clock gene vrille
2021
AbstractBackgroundTracing the association between insect cold tolerance and latitudinally and locally varying environmental conditions, as well as key morphological traits and molecular mechanisms, is essential for understanding the processes involved in adaptation. We explored these issues in two closely-related species, Drosophila montana and Drosophila flavomontana, originating from diverse climatic locations across several latitudes on the coastal and mountainous regions of North America. We also investigated the association between sequence variation in one of the key circadian clock genes, vrille, and cold tolerance in both species. Finally, we studied the impact of vrille on fly cold…
Do phase-dependent life history traits in cyclic voles persist in a common environment?
2019
Phenotype and life history traits of an individual are a product of environmental conditions and the genome. Environment can be current or past, which complicates the distinction between environmental and heritable effects on the phenotype in wild animals. We studied genome–environment interactions on phenotype and life history traits by transplanting bank voles (Myodes glareolus) from northern and southern populations, originating from low or high population cycle phases, to common garden conditions in large outdoor enclosures. The first experiment focused on the persistence of body traits in autumn-captured overwintering populations. The second experiment focused on population growth and …
Effect of resource availability on evolution of virulence and competition in an environmentally transmitted pathogen
2018
Understanding ecological and epidemiological factors driving pathogen evolution in contemporary time scales is a major challenge in modern health management. Pathogens that replicate outside the hosts are subject to selection imposed by ambient environmental conditions. Increased nutrient levels could increase pathogen virulence by pre-adapting for efficient use of resources upon contact to a nutrient rich host or by favouring transmission of fast-growing virulent strains. We measured changes in virulence and competition in Flavobacterium columnare, a bacterial pathogen of freshwater fish, under high and low nutrient levels. To test competition between strains in genotype mixtures, we devel…
Skin and gut microbiomes of a wild mammal respond to different environmental cues
2018
Background Animal skin and gut microbiomes are important components of host fitness. However, the processes that shape the microbiomes of wildlife are poorly understood, particularly with regard to exposure to environmental contaminants. We used 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing to quantify how exposure to radionuclides impacts the skin and gut microbiota of a small mammal, the bank vole Myodes glareolus, inhabiting areas within and outside the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (CEZ), Ukraine. Results Skin microbiomes of male bank voles were more diverse than females. However, the most pronounced differences in skin microbiomes occurred at a larger spatial scale, with higher alpha diversity in the skin m…
Soil fungi invest into asexual sporulation under resource scarcity, but trait spaces of individual isolates are unique
2022
During the last few decades, a plethora of sequencing studies provided insight into fungal community composition under various environmental conditions. Still, the mechanisms of species assembly and fungal spread in soil remain largely unknown. While mycelial growth patterns are studied extensively, the abundant formation of asexual spores is often overlooked, though representing a substantial part of the fungal life cycle relevant for survival and dispersal. Here, we explore asexual sporulation (spore abundance, size and shape) in 32 co-occurring soil fungal isolates under varying resource conditions, to answer the question whether resource limitation triggers or inhibits fungal investment…
Learning to Cycle : A Cross-Cultural and Cross-Generational Comparison
2022
BackgroundLearning to cycle is an important milestone for children, but the popularity of cycling and the environmental factors that promote the development and practice of this foundational movement skill vary among cultures and across time. This present study aimed to investigate if country of residence and the generation in which a person was born influence the age at which people learn to cycle.MethodsData were collected through an online survey between November 2019 and December 2020. For this study, a total of 9,589 responses were obtained for adults (self-report) and children (parental report) living in 10 countries (Portugal, Italy, Brazil, Finland, Spain, Belgium, United Kingdom, M…
Genetic and Environmental Effects on the Individual Variation and Continuity of Participation in Diverse Physical Activities
2021
INTRODUCTION Participation in diverse physical activities has beneficial health effects. However, little is known on how genetic and environmental factors affect this trait. Thus, we examined to what extent these factors explain participation in diverse leisure-time physical activities from late adolescence to adulthood using a twin study design. METHODS The participants were Finnish twins who reported their participation in diverse leisure-time physical activities at ages 17 (n = 5429) and 34 yr (n = 4246). The number of physical activities engaged in was analyzed using applications of structural linear modeling for twin data. RESULTS On average, the total number of physical activities eng…
The role of environmental factors for the onset of restricted mobility outside the home among older adults with osteoarthritis : a prospective cohort…
2017
Objectives The study examines how environmental factors contribute to the onset of restricted mobility outside the home among older adults with osteoarthritis. Methods This is a prospective cohort study of adults aged 50 years and older with osteoarthritis (n=1802). Logistic regression tested the association between the onset of restricted mobility outside the home and health, sociodemographic and perceived environmental barriers (hills and steep slopes, inaccessible public buildings, poor pavement condition, lack of access to public parks or sport facilities, heavy traffic or speeding cars and poor weather). The potential moderating role of environmental barriers on the association between…
Literacy skills seem to fuel literacy enjoyment, rather than vice versa
2023
Children who like to read and write tend to be better at it. This association is typically interpreted as enjoyment impacting engagement in literacy activities, which boosts literacy skills. We fitted direction-of-causation models to partial data of 3690 Finnish twins aged 12. Literacy skills were rated by the twins' teachers and literacy enjoyment by the twins themselves. A bivariate twin model showed substantial genetic influences on literacy skills (70%) and literacy enjoyment (35%). In both skills and enjoyment, shared-environmental influences explained about 20% in each. The best-fitting direction-of-causation model showed that skills impacted enjoyment, while the influence in the othe…
Incorporating Functional Genomic Information to Enhance Polygenic Signal and Identify Variants Involved in Gene-by-Environment Interaction for Young …
2018
BACKGROUND: Characterizing aggregate genetic risk for alcohol misuse and identifying variants involved in gene-by-environment (G × E) interaction effects has so far been a major challenge. We hypothesized that functional genomic information could be used to enhance detection of polygenic signal underlying alcohol misuse and to prioritize identification of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) most likely to exhibit G × E effects.METHODS: We examined these questions in the young adult FinnTwin12 sample (n = 1,170). We used genomewide association estimates from an independent sample to derive 2 types of polygenic scores for alcohol problems in FinnTwin12. Genomewide polygenic scores included…