Project description:<p>Patterns in functional diversity of organisms at large spatial scales can provide insight into possible responses to future climate change, but it remains a challenge to link large-scale patterns at the organismal level to their underlying physiological mechanisms. The climate variability hypothesis predicts that temperate ectotherms will be less vulnerable to climate warming than tropical ectotherms, due to their superior acclimatization capacity. However, metabolic acclimatization occurs over multiple levels of the biological hierarchy, from the enzyme and cellular level, through organ systems, to whole-organism metabolic rate. Previous studies have focused on one or a few biological hierarchy levels, leaving us without a general understanding of how metabolic acclimatization might differ between tropical and temperate species. Here, we investigate thermal acclimatization of 3 species of <em>Takydromus</em> lizards distributed along a broad latitudinal gradient in China, by studying metabolic modifications at the level of the whole organism, organ, mitochondria, metabolome and proteome. As predicted by the climate variability hypothesis, the 2 temperate species <em>T. septentrionalis</em> and <em>T. wolteri</em> had an enhanced acclimation response at the whole organism level compared to the tropical species <em>T. sexlineatus</em>, as measured by respiratory gas exchange rates. However, the mechanisms by which whole organism performance was modified was strikingly different in the 2 temperate species: widespread <em>T. septentrionalis</em> modified organ sizes, while the narrowly distributed <em>T. wolteri</em> relied on mitochondrial, proteomic and metabolomic regulation. We suggest that these 2 mechanisms of thermal acclimatization may represent general strategies used by ectotherms, with distinct ecological costs and benefits. Lacking either of these mechanisms of thermal acclimatization capacity, the tropical species is likely to have increased vulnerability to climate change.</p>
Project description:Purpose:Salinity is an important environmental factor that affects the physiological activities of fish. The goals of this study are investigating the effect of different saline-alkali stress on grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella). Methods: Grass carp individuals, averaging 12 cm in body length, were obtained from Duofu fish farm (Wuhan, China) and cultured at recirculating aquaculture system for 2 weeks before the experiment began. For the challenge, all grass carp were randomly divided into three groups, and then cultured at saline-alkali water with the concentration of 0, 3‰ and 6‰. After 30 days, some grass crap cultured at 3‰ and 6‰ saline-alkali water were injured. At the same time, gill samples of grass carp were collected from 0, 3‰ (grass carp was not injured), 3‰ (grass carp was injured), 6‰ (grass carp was not injured) and 6‰ (grass carp was injured)saline-alkali groups. Total RNA of all samples was isolated using TRIzol® Reagent (Invitrogen) according to the manufacturer's introduction. RNA integrity was assessed using an Agilent 2100 bioanalyzer (Agilent, USA). Samples with RNA integrity numbers (RINs) ≥ 7.5 were subjected to cDNA library construction using TruseqTM RNA sample prep Kit (Illumina). Results:A total of 15 were processed for transcriptome sequencing, generating 94.99Gb Clean Data. At least 5.76Gb clean data were generated for each sample with minimum 91.87% of clean data achieved quality score of Q30. Clean reads of each sample were mapped to specified reference genome. Mapping ratio ranged from 88.59% to 92.84%. The expression of genes was quantified and differentially expressed genes were identified based on their expression.Criteria for differentially expressed genes was set as Fold Change(FC)≥1.5 and Pvalue<0.05. Fold change(FC) refers to the ratio of gene expression in two samples. These DEGs were further processed for functional annotation and enrichment analysis. Conclusions: Our study represents Effects and molecular regulation mechanisms of saline-alkali stress on the healthy grass carp by using RNA-seqtechnology. Our results show that saline-alkali stress will impair the immune system of grass carp.
Project description:The Malayan pangolin (Manis javanica), an unusual mammal that is a scale-covered, toothless specialist myrmecophage, is maintained primarily through captive breeding in China. Maintaining this species in captivity is a significant challenge partly because little is known about its behavior and reproduction. The molecular mechanisms of its digestive system play a key role in the feeding and dietary husbandry of pangolins in captivity. Here, we performed the first large-scale sequencing of M. javanica transcriptomes from three digestive organs—the salivary glands, liver, and small intestine—by using Illumina HiSeq technology- to provides useful genetic resources for future functional work that may be relevant for the maintenance of captive pangolins.
Project description:The predicted increase in frequency and duration of winter warming episodes (WWEs) at the higher northern latitudes is expected to negatively impact the forage production in this region. The formation of non-permeable ice cover due to WWEs could subject the plants to hypoxic or anoxic conditions leading to severe winter damages. Knowledge about molecular mechanisms underlaying various winter stress is crucial to develop cultivars with better winter survival under changing climatic conditions. In the current study, we aimed at identifying genes involved in ice encasement stress responses in a perennial forage grass timothy and study gene expression differentiation due to field survival using timothy cultivars from diverse genetic backgrounds. The LD50 (the number of days under ice that kill 50% of the plants) varied across cultivars and origin. The expression of many genes involved in hypoxia and freezing stress responses were highly upregulated under ice encasement conditions. Functional analysis of DEGs revealed that the upregulated genes were linked to glycolysis, pyruvate metabolism, carbon metabolism, biosynthesis of amino acids while downregulated genes were related to photosynthesis, phenylpropanoid biosynthesis and flavonoid biosynthesis pathways. The results from a current study indicate a substantial overlap of ice encasement stress responses with those of hypoxic and freezing stresses. In addition, the potential strategies leading to higher ice encasement tolerance of timothy are outlined. Furthermore, differences in gene expression between field survivors and original material and the differences between ice encasement responses of northern adapted cultivar and southern adapted cultivar are briefly discussed.
Project description:The Gauging Response in Allergic Rhinitis to Sublingual and Subcutaneous Immunotherapy (GRASS) study was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of individuals with timothy grass allergy who received 2 years of placebo, subcutaneous (SCIT), or sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) and were followed for a total of 3 years. Here we utilized longitudinal transcriptomic profiling of nasal brush and peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) samples after allergen provocation collected in the GRASS study to uncover airway and systemic expression pathways mediating responsiveness to immunotherapy.
Project description:The Gauging Response in Allergic Rhinitis to Sublingual and Subcutaneous Immunotherapy (GRASS) study was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of individuals with timothy grass allergy who received 2 years of placebo, subcutaneous (SCIT), or sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) and were followed for a total of 3 years. Here we utilized longitudinal transcriptomic profiling of nasal brush and peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) samples after allergen provocation collected in the GRASS study to uncover airway and systemic expression pathways mediating responsiveness to immunotherapy.