Project description:Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are bio-based, biodegradable polyesters that can be produced from organic-rich waste streams using mixed microbial cultures. To maximize PHA production, mixed microbial cultures may be enriched for PHA-producing bacteria with a high storage capacity through the imposition of cyclic, aerobic feast-famine conditions in a sequencing batch reactor (SBR). Though enrichment SBRs have been extensively investigated a bulk solutions-level, little evidence at the proteome level is available to describe the observed SBR behavior to guide future SBR optimization strategies. As such, the purpose of this investigation was to characterize proteome dynamics of a mixed microbial culture in an SBR operated under aerobic feast-famine conditions using fermented dairy manure as the feedstock for PHA production. At the beginning of the SBR cycle, excess PHA precursors were provided to the mixed microbial culture (i.e., feast), after which followed a long duration devoid of exogenous substrate (i.e., famine). Two-dimensional electrophoresis was used to separate protein mixtures during a complete SBR cycle, and proteins of interest were identified.
Project description:After elevated and reduced incubation temperature during embryonic days (ED) 7-10 and 10-13 changes of gene expression were determined at ED 10, ED 13, and post-hatch at day (D) 35
Project description:After elevated and reduced incubation temperature during embryonic days (ED) 7-10 and 10-13 changes of gene expression were determined at ED 10, ED 13, and post-hatch at day (D) 35
Project description:Experimental design: 2 genotypes: PI- (resistant USDA Plant Introduction (PI459025B) line containing SBR Rpp4 resistance gene) & Cultivar Williams that does not have a known SBR resistance gene 2 treatments: Soybean rust (Phakopsora pachyrhizi) isolate Hawaii 94-1 & mock infection 3 replications 6 time points: 12, 24, 72, 144, 216 and 288 hours after inoculation TOTAL: 72 Affymetrix GeneChip(R) Soybean Genome Arrays Mock treatment: 0.01% Tween 20 Hawaii 94-1 treatment: 500,000 spores per ml in 0.01% Tween 20 ****[PLEXdb(http://www.plexdb.org) has submitted this series at GEO on behalf of the original contributor, Steve Whitham. The equivalent experiment is GM37 at PLEXdb.]
Project description:<p>Excoriation disorder (ED), also known as neurotic excoriations, is a psychocutaneous disorder characterized by repetitive, compulsive picking of the skin leading to secondary tissue damage. ED carries an estimated prevalence of 1.4%, and is associated with significant social dysfunction, as patients often spend several hours each day performing compulsive behaviors leading to absence from work, school or other social events. Despite the significant impact on quality of life, there is still a lack of understanding of the factors involved in disease precipitation or progression, highlighting a need for identification of novel biomarkers of disease. The study of metabolic alterations, through plasma metabolomics, may lead to a greater understanding of disease pathogenesis, as metabolic alterations have been identified in related conditions such as obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and in animal models of compulsive behavior. However, the metabolomic abnormalities present in ED have yet to be described. The purpose of this study is to perform an untargeted comparative plasma metabolomics analysis on ED patients and healthy controls to characterize the metabolic alterations in ED. Mass spectrometry quantified 76 total metabolites, 20 of which were identified as significantly different between ED and healthy controls, with four being increased and 16 being decreased in ED.</p><p><br></p>
Project description:Adaptive immunity plays a key role in osteoporosis in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM); eldecalcitol (ED-71) is a novel active vitamin D analog, but its specific immunological mechanisms in ameliorating diabetic osteoporosis has not been well defined. In a T2DM mouse model, ED-71 attenuated bone loss and marrow adiposity. Simultaneously, it rectified imbalanced glucose homeostasis and dyslipidemia, ameliorated pancreatic β-cell damage and hepatic glycolipid metabolism disorder. Subsequently, in T2DM mice injected with CD25, we observed that the beneficial effects of ED-71 mentioned earlier were partially contingent on the Treg subsets ratio. Mechanistically, ED-71 promoted the differentiation of CD4+ T cells into Treg subsets, facilitating Ca2+ influx and the expression of ORAI1 and STIM1, pivotal proteins in store-operated Ca2+ entry (SOCE). The SOCE inhibitor, 2-APB, partially attenuated the positive effects of ED-71 observed in the above results. Together, these findings unveil ED-71 regulates SOCE-mediated Treg cell differentiation, accomplishing the dual purpose of simultaneously ameliorating diabetic osteoporosis and glucolipid metabolic disorders.