Project description:The African elephant (Loxodonta africana) is experiencing serious challenges to optimal reproduction in captivity. The physiological and molecular basis of this impaired fertility remains unknown. A functional link between nutritional status, body condition score and fertility is well established in humans and many other species, where adipose tissue production of the hormone leptin has emerged as a crucial reproductive regulator. This report forms the basis for future studies to address the effect of nutrient composition and body condition on captive and wild elephants.
Project description:Contrast the genomes of different elephants species to find genetic differences underlying species differences like immune system differences that impact disease resistance.
Project description:<p>A genome-wide analysis of genetic structure, gene flow, and natural selection was conducted in populations in the endemic Burkitt lymphoma (eBL) belt in Ghana and Northern Uganda, both subject to a high incidence of falciparum malaria and eBL. These populations have different ethnolinguistic ancestries and are located 2400 miles apart in sub-Saharan Africa. We characterized genetic composition of these populations in the context of 22 additional African populations and present evidence for gene flow events that occurred in the last 3000 years, possibly related to regional migrations in Western Africa and major migrations involving Nilotic, Cushitic, and Bantu groups. The Ugandan population was comprised of 758 children (mean age ~7 years) from 17 Western Nilo-Saharan tribes. The current dataset includes 561 healthy children and 197 children with eBL from northern Uganda.</p>
Project description:The crisis of biodiversity loss in the present era requires new tools for studying non-model organisms. Elephants are both an endangered species and excellent models for studying complex phenotypes including body size, social behavior, and longevity. Here we report here the first derivation of (Elephas maximus) induced pluripotent stem cells (emiPSCs). We achieved emiPSCs using two approaches: (1) a two-step process of chemical-media induction and colony selection followed by overexpression of elephant transcription factors; and (2) a one-step process with the same transgenes but without the chemical induction step and including an additional HRAS mutant transgene, HRASG12V. For both protocols, we inhibited TP53 expansion genes, which are hypothesized to confer unique cancer resistance in elephants. To confirm their reprogrammed state, we generated a functional genomics catalog of the modified cells with RNA-seq, ATAC-seq, and single-molecule direct RNA-sequencing. While these emiPSCs are transgene-dependent, we inactivated them to differentiate emiPSCs into all three germ layers via tri-lineage differentiation, embryoid body generation, and direct differentiation into putative cell types from all three layers. These methods will open new frontiers for cellular models of non-model organisms, including for genetic rescue and conservation.
Project description:Transcriptome profiling of pyrethroid resistant field populations of Anopheles funestus across Uganda and neighboring Kenya from Uganda and Kenya compared to a susceptible lab strain FANG
