bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Lizard colour plasticity tracks background seasonal changes
Authors: Pellitteri-Rosa Daniele , Gazzola Andrea , Todisco Simone , Mastropasqua Fabio , Liuzzi Cristiano 
Published: December 2019

AbstractEnvironmental heterogeneity on spatial and temporal scale fosters organism’s capacity to plastically alter coloration. Predation risk might favour the evolution of phenotypic plasticity in colour patterns, as individuals, which change colour throughout the year, could be able to improve their fitness. Here we explored the change in dorsal pigmentation of the Italian wall lizard (Podarcis siculus campestris) along three time points (March, July and October) during the period of activity. Lizard dorsal pictures were collected on the field, with the support of a reference chart to quantitatively estimate chromatic variables (hue, saturation and value, HSV). At the same time, pictures of grassy coverings (the most representative portion of the environment subjected to normal seasonal change), were collected. Our findings show that lizards are capable of altering dorsal coloration during seasonal change. They vary from green, at the onset of spring, to brownish in the middle of summer, and greyish colour in October. This modification closely followed environmental background colour variation and enhanced lizard crypsis during each season.
SLC2A knockout mice deficient in ascorbic acid synthesis recapitulate aspects of arterial tortuosity syndrome and display mitochondrial respiration defects
Authors: Boel Annekatrien , Burger Joyce , Vanhomwegen Marine , Beyens Aude , Renard Marjolijn , Barnhoorn Sander , Casteleyn Christophe , Reinhardt Dieter P. , Descamps Benedicte , Vanhove Christian , van der Pluijm Ingrid , Coucke Paul , Willaert Andy , Essers Jeroen , Callewaert Bert 
Published: December 2019

AbstractArterial tortuosity syndrome (ATS) is a recessively inherited connective tissue disorder, mainly characterized by tortuosity and aneurysm formation of the major arteries. ATS is caused by loss-of-function mutations inSLC2A10, encoding the facilitative glucose transporter GLUT10. Former studies implicate GLUT10 in transport of dehydroascorbic acid, the oxidized form of ascorbic acid (AA). Mouse models carrying homozygousSlc2a10missense mutations do not recapitulate the human phenotype. Since mice, in contrast to humans, are able to intracellularly synthesize AA, we generated a novel ATS mouse model, deficient forSlc2a10as well asGulo, which encodes for L-gulonolactone oxidase, an enzyme catalyzing the final step in AA biosynthesis in rodents.Gulo;Slc2a10knock-out mice show mild phenotypic anomalies, which were absent in single knock-out controls. WhileGulo;Slc2a10knock-out mice do not fully phenocopy human ATS, histological and immunocytochemical analysis revealed compromised extracellular matrix formation. TGFβ signaling remained unaltered, while mitochondrial function was compromised in smooth muscle cells derived fromGulo;Slc2a10knock-out mice. Altogether, our data add evidence that ATS is an ascorbate compartmentalization disorder, but additional factors underlying the observed phenotype in humans remain to be determined.
Flavor-specific enhancement of electronic cigarette liquid consumption and preference in mice
Authors: Wong AL , McElroy SM , Robinson JM , Mulloy SM , El Banna FK , Harris AC , LeSage MG , Lee AM 
Published: December 2019

AbstractBackgroundThe use of electronic cigarettes has increased over the past decade. To determine how the abuse liability of electronic cigarette liquids (e-liquids) differs from nicotine alone, and to determine the impact of flavor, we compared nicotine-containing fruit- and tobacco-flavored e-liquids, and their nicotine-free versions, to nicotine alone in mouse models of oral consumption, reward and aversion.MethodsAdult male C57BL/6J mice voluntarily consumed oral nicotine, equivalent nicotine concentrations of fruit- and tobacco-flavored e-liquid, and equivalent dilutions of the nicotine-free versions in 2-bottle choice tests. Conditioned place preference and place aversion were assessed with peripherally administered e-liquids or nicotine. Serum nicotine and cotinine levels were measured after subcutaneous injections of e-liquid or nicotine.ResultsMice showed higher consumption and preference for the fruit-flavored e-liquid compared with nicotine alone. This increase was not due to the flavor itself as consumption of the nicotine-free fruit-flavored e-liquid was not elevated until the highest concentration tested. The increased consumption and preference were not observed with the tobacco-flavored e-liquid. The conditioned place preference, place aversion and nicotine pharmacokinetics of the fruit-flavored e-liquid were not significantly different from nicotine alone.ConclusionsOur data suggest that fruit, but not tobacco flavor, increased the oral consumption of e-liquid compared with nicotine alone. Moreover, this enhancement was not due to increased consumption of the flavor itself, altered rewarding or aversive properties after peripheral administration, or altered pharmacokinetics. This flavor-specific enhancement suggests that some flavors may lead to higher nicotine intake and increased use of e-liquids compared with nicotine alone.HighlightsFruit flavor, but not tobacco flavor, enhances e-liquid consumption and preferenceThe nicotine-free flavored e-liquid is not preferred over nicotine aloneConditioning rewarding and aversive effects are equal between nicotine and e-liquid
First isolation and characterisation of Alongshan virus in Russia
Authors: Kholodilov Ivan S. , Litov Alexander G. , Klimentov Alexander S. , Belova Oxana A. , Polienko Alexandra E. , Nikitin Nikolai A. , Shchetinin Alexey M. , Ivannikova Anna Y. , Bell-Sakyi Lesley , Yakovlev Alexander S. , Bugmyrin Sergey V. , Bespyatova Liubov A. , Gmyl Larissa V. , Luchinina Svetlana V. , Gmyl Anatoly P. , Gushchin Vladimir A. , Karganova Galina G. 
Published: December 2019

AbstractIn recent decades, many new flavi-like viruses have been discovered predominantly in different invertebrates and, as was recently shown, some of them may cause disease in humans. The Jingmen tick virus (JMTV) group holds a special place among flavi-like viruses because, in contrast to the “classic” flaviviruses and other flavi-like viruses, they have a segmented ssRNA(+) genome. Two segments of the JMTV genome have homology with regions of the flavivirus genome encoding polymerase and helicase-protease proteins. JMTVs have several open reading frames (ORF) in segments encoding glycoprotein(s) and capsid protein and these ORF are specific only to them. JMTVs greatly differ in virion size.We isolated three strains of Alongshan virus (ALSV), which is a representative of the JMTV group, from adultIxodes persulcatusticks collected in two geographically-separated Russian regions in the tick cell line IRE/CTVM19. One of the strains persisted in the IRE/CTVM19 cells without cytopathic effect for three years. Most virions purified from tick cells were spherical with a diameter of approximately 40.5 nm. In addition, we found smaller particles of approximately 13.1 nm in diameter. We obtained full genome sequences of all four segments of two of the isolated ALSV strains, and partial sequences of one segment from the third strain. Phylogenetic analysis on genome segment 2 of the JMTV group clustered our novel strains with other ALSV strains. We found evidence for the existence of a novel upstream ORF in the glycoprotein-coding segment of ALSV and other members of the JMTV group.Significance StatementWe isolated three strains of Alongshan virus (ALSV) from adultIxodes persulcatusticks from two geographically separate areas of Russia in theIxodes ricinustick cell line IRE/CTVM19. One of the strains persisted in the IRE/CTVM19 cells without cytopathic effect for three years. Our study confirmed the value of tick cell lines in virus isolation and maintenance of persistent infection. The majority of virions of the ALSV strain Miass527 were enveloped spherical particles with a diameter of 40.5±3.7 nm. We found evidence for the existence of a novel upstream ORF in the glycoprotein-coding segment of ALSV and other members of the Jingmen tick virus group.
A synthetic Calvin cycle enables autotrophic growth in yeast
Authors: Gassler Thomas , Sauer Michael , Gasser Brigitte , Mattanovich Diethard , Steiger Matthias G. 
Published: December 2019

AbstractThe methylotrophic yeast Pichia pastoris is frequently used for heterologous protein production and it assimilates methanol efficiently via the xylulose-5-phosphate pathway. This pathway is entirely localized in the peroxisomes and has striking similarities to the Calvin-Benson-Bassham (CBB) cycle, which is used by a plethora of organisms like plants to assimilate CO2 and is likewise compartmentalized in chloroplasts. By metabolic engineering the methanol assimilation pathway of P. pastoris was re-wired to a CO2 fixation pathway resembling the CBB cycle. This new yeast strain efficiently assimilates CO2 into biomass and utilizes it as its sole carbon source, which changes the lifestyle from heterotrophic to autotrophic.In total eight genes, including genes encoding for RuBisCO and phosphoribulokinase, were integrated into the genome of P. pastoris, while three endogenous genes were deleted to block methanol assimilation. The enzymes necessary for the synthetic CBB cycle were targeted to the peroxisome. Methanol oxidation, which yields NADH, is employed for energy generation defining the lifestyle as chemoorganoautotrophic. This work demonstrates that the lifestyle of an organism can be changed from chemoorganoheterotrophic to chemoorganoautotrophic by metabolic engineering. The resulting strain can grow exponentially and perform multiple cell doublings on CO2 as sole carbon source with a µmax of 0.008 h−1.Graphical Abstract
Arabidopsis ROOT PHOTOTROPISM2 is a Light-Dependent Dynamic Modulator of Phototropin1
Authors: Kimura Taro , Tsuchida-Mayama Tomoko , Imai Hirotatsu , Okajima Koji , Ito Kosuke , Sakai Tatsuya 
Published: December 2019

ABSTRACTArabidopsis thaliana phototropin1 (phot1) is a blue-light photoreceptor, i.e. a blue-light-activated Ser/Thr-protein kinase that mediates various light responses including phototropism. Phot1 functions in hypocotyl phototropism dependent on the light induction of ROOT PHOTOTROPISM2 (RPT2) proteins within a broad range of blue light intensities. It is not yet known however how RPT2 contributes to the photosensory adaptation of phot1 to high intensity blue light and the second positive phototropism. We here show that RPT2 suppresses the activity of phot1. Yeast two-hybrid analysis indicated RPT2 binding to the LOV1 (light, oxygen or voltage sensing 1) domain of phot1 required for its high photosensitivity. Our biochemical analyses revealed that RPT2 inhibits the autophosphorylation of phot1, suggesting that it suppresses the photosensitivity and/or kinase activity of phot1 through the inhibition of LOV1 function. We found for the first time that RPT2 proteins are degraded via a ubiquitin-proteasome pathway when phot1 is inactive and stabilized under blue-light conditions in a phot1-dependent manner. We propose that RPT2 is a molecular rheostat that maintains a moderate activation level of phot1 under any light intensity conditions.
Exploring the Changing Landscape of Cell-to-Cell Variation After CTCF Knockdown via Single Cell RNA-seq
Authors: Wang Wei , Ren Gang , Hong Ni , Jin Wenfei 
Published: December 2019

AbstractBackgroundCCCTC-Binding Factor (CTCF), also known as 11-zinc finger protein, participates in many cellular processes, including insulator activity, transcriptional regulation and organization of chromatin architecture. Based on single cell flow cytometry and single cell RNA-FISH analyses, our previous study showed that deletion of CTCF binding site led to a significantly increase of cellular variation of its target gene. However, the effect of CTCF on genome-wide landscape of cell-to-cell variation is unclear.ResultsWe knocked down CTCF in EL4 cells using shRNA, and conducted single cell RNA-seq on both wild type (WT) cells and CTCF-Knockdown (CTCF-KD) cells using Fluidigm C1 system. Principal component analysis of single cell RNA-seq data showed that WT and CTCF-KD cells concentrated in two different clusters on PC1, indicating gene expression profiles of WT and CTCF-KD cells were systematically different. Interestingly, GO terms including regulation of transcription, DNA binding, Zinc finger and transcription factor binding were significantly enriched in CTCF-KD-specific highly variable genes, indicating tissue-specific genes such as transcription factors were highly sensitive to CTCF level. The dysregulation of transcription factors potentially explain why knockdown of CTCF lead to systematic change of gene expression. In contrast, housekeeping genes such as rRNA processing, DNA repair and tRNA processing were significantly enriched in WT-specific highly variable genes, potentially due to a higher cellular variation of cell activity in WT cells compared to CTCF-KD cells. We further found cellular variation-increased genes were significantly enriched in down-regulated genes, indicating CTCF knockdown simultaneously reduced the expression levels and increased the expression noise of its regulated genes.ConclusionsTo our knowledge, this is the first attempt to explore genome-wide landscape of cellular variation after CTCF knockdown. Our study not only advances our understanding of CTCF function in maintaining gene expression and reducing expression noise, but also provides a framework for examining gene function.
Linking servant leadership to employee creativity
Authors: Yang Jin , Ma Cuiping , Gu Jibao , Liu Hefu 
Published: December 2019

Purpose
This paper aims to put forth a model that accounts for the effect of servant leadership on employee creativity from a social identity perspective. Specifically, this paper aims to examine team identification as the mediating mechanism by which servant leadership influence employee creativity. This paper also intends to investigate the moderating influences of horizontal and vertical collectivism on the effectiveness of servant leadership on follower team identification.

Design/methodology/approach
Servant leadership, team identification, collectivism (consisted of horizontal and vertical collectivism) and employee creativity were assessed in an empirical study based on a sample of 451 employees from 11 banks in China.

Findings
Drawing on social identity theory, this study found that follower team identification partially mediates the relationship between servant leadership and employee creativity. In addition, results showed that horizontal collectivism moderates the relationship between servant leadership and follower team identification; the relationship was more positive when horizontal collectivism was high, rather than low; vertical collectivism also moderates the relationship between servant leadership and follower team identification; the relationship was more positive when vertical collectivism was low, rather than high. However, results of this study indicated that the moderated mediation effects of team identification on the relationship between servant leadership and employee creativity are nonsignificant.

Practical implications
First, this research affirmed the need to promote servant leadership in employment settings. Second, managers’ understandings of the instrumental role of servant leadership in showing interpersonal acceptance, offering encouragement and support and expressing trust would prove to be valuable because it could enhance employee creativity. Finally, the findings from this study should help managers gain a better understanding of the contextual factors.

Originality/value
The first contribution of the current study was to identify team identification as an important psychological process that can link servant leadership to employee creativity. Another important contribution of the current research was the identification of the boundary conditions (e.g. horizontal and vertical collectivism).
System dynamics analysis of supply chain financial management during capacity expansion
Authors: Oleghe Omogbai 
Published: December 2019

Purpose
This study aims to describe in detail, a system dynamics-based study that was used to show how a large vertically integrated aquaculture company should approach its stepwise capacity expansion program, without undermining its financial performance or affecting the performance of the value chain.

Design/methodology/approach
The company and its aquaculture value chain are used as case study. A system dynamics model is developed on the basis of generic end-to-end agribusiness and aquaculture supply chain models. The model includes the unique dynamics relating to an aquaculture supply chain. Also modelled is the working capital management rules of the company, with the effects of the capacity expansion program on its working capital, market share and its supply chain obligations. The model is used to determine the long-term impact of the company’s working capital management under different modes of financing and rate of expanding the capacity.

Findings
For a large vertically integrated company that wants to increase its capacity, there is a systematic approach to working capital management that can be used to avoid financial distress or value chain distortion.

Research limitations/implications
Extended the scope of system dynamics modelling within multiple disciplines, namely, agribusiness supply chain finance, supply chain capacity investment, financial management in large companies, supply chain working capital management and aquaculture value chain.

Practical implications
The developed model can be used to manage supply chain working capital in large vertically integrated agribusinesses, and also to assess supply chain financial risk.

Originality/value
To enhance the model build, discrete event simulation was used to model aspects of the system. The eventual system dynamics-discrete event simulation model is a form of hybrid simulation modelling that was used to provide a deeper understanding of how supply chain financial decisions affect an entire value chain system.
Berth scheduling at marine container terminals
Authors: Kavoosi Masoud , Dulebenets Maxim A. , Abioye Olumide , Pasha Junayed , Theophilus Oluwatosin , Wang Hui , Kampmann Raphael , Mikijeljević Marko 
Published: December 2019

Purpose
Marine transportation has been faced with an increasing demand for containerized cargo during the past decade. Marine container terminals (MCTs), as the facilities for connecting seaborne and inland transportation, are expected to handle the increasing amount of containers, delivered by vessels. Berth scheduling plays an important role for the total throughput of MCTs as well as the overall effectiveness of the MCT operations. This study aims to propose a novel island-based metaheuristic algorithm to solve the berth scheduling problem and minimize the total cost of serving the arriving vessels at the MCT.

Design/methodology/approach
A universal island-based metaheuristic algorithm (UIMA) was proposed in this study, aiming to solve the spatially constrained berth scheduling problem. The UIMA population was divided into four sub-populations (i.e. islands). Unlike the canonical island-based algorithms that execute the same metaheuristic on each island, four different population-based metaheuristics are adopted within the developed algorithm to search the islands, including the following: evolutionary algorithm (EA), particle swarm optimization (PSO), estimation of distribution algorithm (EDA) and differential evolution (DE). The adopted population-based metaheuristic algorithms rely on different operators, which facilitate the search process for superior solutions on the UIMA islands.

Findings
The conducted numerical experiments demonstrated that the developed UIMA algorithm returned near-optimal solutions for the small-size problem instances. As for the large-size problem instances, UIMA was found to be superior to the EA, PSO, EDA and DE algorithms, which were executed in isolation, in terms of the obtained objective function values at termination. Furthermore, the developed UIMA algorithm outperformed various single-solution-based metaheuristic algorithms (including variable neighborhood search, tabu search and simulated annealing) in terms of the solution quality. The maximum UIMA computational time did not exceed 306 s.

Research limitations/implications
Some of the previous berth scheduling studies modeled uncertain vessel arrival times and/or handling times, while this study assumed the vessel arrival and handling times to be deterministic.

Practical implications
The developed UIMA algorithm can be used by the MCT operators as an efficient decision support tool and assist with a cost-effective design of berth schedules within an acceptable computational time.

Originality/value
A novel island-based metaheuristic algorithm is designed to solve the spatially constrained berth scheduling problem. The proposed island-based algorithm adopts several types of metaheuristic algorithms to cover different areas of the search space. The considered metaheuristic algorithms rely on different operators. Such feature is expected to facilitate the search process for superior solutions.
Measuring the subgingival microbiota in periodontitis patients: Comparison of the surface layer and the underlying layers
Authors: Liu Guojing , Chen Feng , Cai Yu , Chen Zhibin , Luan Qingxian , Yu Xiaoqian 
Published: December 2019

AbstractPeriodontitis is a major cause of tooth loss in adults that initially results from dental plaque. Subgingival plaque pathogenesis is affected by both community composition and plaque structures, although limited data are available concerning the latter. To bridge this knowledge gap, subgingival plaques were obtained using filter paper (the fourth layer) and curette (the first‐third layers) sequentially and the phylogenetic differences between the first–third layers and the fourth layer were characterized by sequencing the V3–V4 regions of 16S rRNA. A total of 11 phyla, 148 genera, and 308 species were obtained by bioinformatic analysis, and no significant differences between the operational taxonomic unit numbers were observed for these groups. In both groups, the most abundant species were Porphyromonas gingivalis and Fusobacterium nucleatum. Actinomyces naeslundii, Streptococcus intermedius, and Prevotella intermedia possessed relatively high proportions in the first–third layers; while in the fourth layer, both traditional pathogens (Treponema denticola and Campylobacter rectus) and novel pathobionts (Eubacterium saphenum, Filifactor alocis, Treponema sp. HOT238) were prominent. Network analysis showed that either of them exhibited a scale‐free property and was constructed by two negatively correlated components (the pathogen component and the nonpathogen component), while the synergy in the nonpathogen component was lower in the first–third layers than that in the fourth layer. After merging these two parts into a whole plaque group, the negative/positive correlation ratio increased. With potential connections, the first–third layers and the fourth layer showed characteristic key nodes in bacterial networks.