Project description:Anthropogenic nutrient inputs alter soil biodiversity; however, it remains largely unknown whether changes in soil microeukaryotes (fungi and protists) are primarily driven by direct effects, such as modifications in soil properties, or by indirect effects, such as plant diversity loss. To disentangle these mechanisms, we investigated the long-term effects (11 years) of fertilization and manipulated plant diversity (1, 2, or 4 plant species) on soil microeukaryote communities in a temperate grassland experiment using long-amplicon rRNA sequencing. Our results indicate that fertilization generally had a stronger influence on microeukaryote communities than plant species richness. Fertilization altered the community composition of fungi and protists, increased OTU richness by 20.8% and 52.7%, respectively, and shifted community dominance from fungi to protists. Regarding plant diversity, we observed an effect exclusively on the protist community. Changes were primarily explained by increased plant biomass (driven by both fertilization and plant diversity) and by higher soil phosphorus and lower soil pH levels (driven exclusively by fertilization). Regarding life strategies, we observed synergistic treatment effects: fertilization primarily enhanced fungal saprophytes (only richness), fungal animal pathogens, and protist consumers, whereas plant diversity affected phototrophic protists (reduction) and protist animal pathogens (enhancement). Notably, fertilization and plant diversity decline together led to a cumulative increase in fungal plant pathogens. In conclusion, we highlight that fertilisation alone has a significant effect on soil microeukaryotes, while the additional decline in plant diversity affects different soil groups that are not directly affected by fertilisation. This synergistic pattern indicates that fertilization can influence the entire microeukaryote community through direct and indirect mechanisms, with a cumulative enhancement on certain groups, such as plant pathogens.
Project description:We carried out an in-depth analysis of the monthly variations of a temperate grassland ecosystem to examine a range of biotic and abiotic factors that underpin soil respiration changes in response to warming.
Project description:Global warming has shifted climate zones poleward or upward. However, understanding the responses and mechanism of microbial community structure and functions relevant to natural climate zone succession is challenged by the high complexity of microbial communities. Here, we examined soil microbial community in three broadleaved forests located in the Wulu Mountain (WLM, temperate climate), Funiu Mountain (FNM, at the border of temperate and subtropical climate zones), or Shennongjia Mountain (SNJ, subtropical climate).Soils were characterized for geochemistry, Illumina sequencing was used to determine microbial taxonomic communities and GeoChips 5.0 were used to determine microbial functional genes.
Project description:Genome-wide association studies have identified over 70 common variants that are associated with breast cancer risk. Most of these variants map to non-protein-coding regions; several map to gene deserts, regions of several hundred kb lacking protein-coding genes. We hypothesized that gene deserts harbour long-range regulatory elements that can physically interact with target genes to influence their expression. To test this, we developed Capture Hi-C (CHi-C), which by incorporating a sequence capture step into a Hi-C protocol, allows high-resolution analysis of targeted regions of the genome. We used CHi-C to investigate long-range interactions at three breast cancer gene deserts mapping to 2q35, 8q24.21 and 9q31.2. We identified interaction peaks between putative regulatory elements ("bait fragments") within the captured regions and "targets" that included both protein-coding genes and long non-coding (lnc)RNAs, over distances of 6.6 kb to 2.6 Mb. Target protein-coding genes were IGFBP5, KLF4, NSMCE2 and MYC; target lncRNAs included DIRC3, PVT1 and CCDC26. For two gene deserts we were able to define a set of SNPs that were correlated with the published risk variant and that clustered within the bait end of an interaction peak. Preliminary functional analyses implicate one SNP (rs12613955; 2q35) as a potentially functional variant. Capture Hi-C was carried out in BT483, SUM44, and GM06990 cell lines to investigate breast cancer risk loci 2q35, 8q24.21 and 9q31.2.
Project description:Genome-wide association studies have identified over 70 common variants that are associated with breast cancer risk. Most of these variants map to non-protein-coding regions; several map to gene deserts, regions of several hundred kb lacking protein-coding genes. We hypothesized that gene deserts harbour long-range regulatory elements that can physically interact with target genes to influence their expression. To test this, we developed Capture Hi-C (CHi-C), which by incorporating a sequence capture step into a Hi-C protocol, allows high-resolution analysis of targeted regions of the genome. We used CHi-C to investigate long-range interactions at three breast cancer gene deserts mapping to 2q35, 8q24.21 and 9q31.2. We identified interaction peaks between putative regulatory elements ("bait fragments") within the captured regions and "targets" that included both protein-coding genes and long non-coding (lnc)RNAs, over distances of 6.6 kb to 2.6 Mb. Target protein-coding genes were IGFBP5, KLF4, NSMCE2 and MYC; target lncRNAs included DIRC3, PVT1 and CCDC26. For two gene deserts we were able to define a set of SNPs that were correlated with the published risk variant and that clustered within the bait end of an interaction peak. Preliminary functional analyses implicate one SNP (rs12613955; 2q35) as a potentially functional variant.