bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Treatment of waste stabilization pond effluent using natural zeolite for irrigation potential
Authors: Meiramkulova Kulyash , Mkilima Timoth , Kydyrbekova Aliya , Bukenova Elmira , Meirbekov Abdilda , Saspugayeva Gulnur , Adilbektegi Gulmira , Beisembayeva Kulzhan , Tazhkenova Gaukhar 
Published: October 2021

AbstractDirect utilization of treated effluent from natural treatment systems for irrigation can be challenging on sensitive plants due to high levels of salinity. Post-treatment of such an effluent prior to its applicability in irrigation can be of significant importance. In this study, the wastewater from a natural treatment plant was treated using a lab-scale filtration system with zeolite as a filter material. Three different column depths (0.5 m, 0.75 m, and 1 m) were used to investigate the effect of column depth on the treatment efficiency of the media. The suitability of the raw wastewater and the treated effluent from each column for irrigation purposes was investigated. The water quality parameters investigated were; electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved solids (TDS), sodium (Na+), calcium (Ca2+), and magnesium (Mg2+). From the analysis results, it was observed that the column depth had a significant influence on the removal efficiency of the pollutants. Where the removal efficiency was observed to be increasing with the increase in the column depth. The highest removal efficiency (94.58%) was achieved from the combination of electrical conductivity and 1 m column depth, while the lowest removal efficiency (10.05%) was observed from the combination of calcium and 0.5 m column depth. The raw wastewater fell mostly into a “very high” hazard, which is class four (C4) based on electrical conductivity and class four (S4) based sodium adsorption ratio; making it unsuitable for irrigation purposes. However, the status improved after the treatment using different column depths.
Designing Biological Micro-Sensors with Chiral Nematic Liquid Crystal Droplets
Authors: Honaker Lawrence W. , Chen Chang , Dautzenberg Floris M.H. , Brugman Sylvia , Deshpande Siddharth 
Published: October 2021

ABSTRACTBiosensing using liquid crystals has a tremendous potential by coupling the high degree of sensitivity of their alignment to their surroundings with clear optical feedback. Many existing set-ups use birefringence of nematic liquid crystals, which severely limits straightforward and frugal implementation into a sensing platform due to the sophisticated optical set-ups required. In this work, we instead utilize chiral nematic liquid crystal micro-droplets, which show strongly reflected structural colour, as sensing platforms for surface active agents. We systematically quantify the optical response of closely related biological amphiphiles and find unique optical signatures for each species. We detect signatures across a wide range of concentrations (from μM to mM), with fast response times (from seconds to minutes). The striking optical response is a function of the adsorption of surfactants in a non-homogeneous manner and the topology of the liquid crystal orientation at the interface requiring a scattering, multidomain structure, which we observe to be different between molecules. We show lab-on-a-chip capability of our method by drying droplets in high-density two-dimensional arrays and simply hydrating the chip to detect dissolved analytes. Finally, we show proof-of-principle in vivo biosensing in the intestinal tracts of live zebrafish larvae, demonstrating CLC droplets show a clear and differential optical response between healthy and inflamed tissues. Our unique approach has great potential in developing on-site detection platforms and detecting biological amphiphiles in living organisms.
The Wernicke conundrum revisited: evidence from connectome-based lesion-symptom mapping
Authors: Matchin William , den Ouden Dirk-Bart , Hickok Gregory , Hillis Argye E. , Bonilha Leonardo , Fridriksson Julius 
Published: October 2021

AbstractWernicke’s area has been assumed since the 1800s to be the primary region supporting word and sentence comprehension. However, Mesulam et al. (2015; 2019) raised what they termed the ‘Wernicke conundrum’, noting widespread variability in the anatomical definition of this area and presenting data from primary progressive aphasia that challenged this classical assumption. To resolve the conundrum, they posited a ‘double disconnection’ hypothesis: that word and sentence comprehension deficits in stroke-based aphasia result from disconnection of anterior temporal and inferior frontal regions from other parts of the brain due to white matter damage, rather than dysfunction of Wernicke’s area itself. To test this hypothesis, we performed lesiondeficit correlations, including connectome-based lesion-symptom mapping, in four large, partially overlapping groups of English-speaking chronic left hemisphere stroke survivors. After removing variance due to object recognition and associative semantic processing, the same middle and posterior temporal lobe regions were implicated in both word comprehension deficits and complex noncanonical sentence comprehension deficits. Connectome lesion-symptom mapping revealed similar temporal-occipital white matter disconnections for impaired word and noncanonical sentence comprehension, including the temporal pole. We found an additional significant temporal-parietal disconnection for noncanonical sentence comprehension deficits, which may indicate a role for phonological working memory in processing complex syntax, but no significant frontal disconnections. Moreover, damage to these middle-posterior temporal lobe regions was associated with both word and noncanonical sentence comprehension deficits even when accounting for variance due to the strongest anterior temporal and inferior frontal white matter disconnections, respectively. Our results largely agree with the classical notion that Wernicke’s area, defined here as middle superior temporal gyrus and middle-posterior superior temporal sulcus, supports both word and sentence comprehension, suggest a supporting role for temporal pole in both word and sentence comprehension, and speak against the hypothesis that comprehension deficits in Wernicke’s aphasia result from double disconnection.
Distinct Representations of Body and Head motion are Dynamically Encoded by Purkinje cell Populations in the Macaque Cerebellum
Authors: Zobeiri Omid A. , Cullen Kathleen E. 
Published: October 2021

AbstractThe ability to accurately control our posture and perceive spatial orientation during self-motion requires knowledge of the motion of both the head and body. However, whereas the vestibular sensors and nuclei directly encode head motion, no sensors directly encode body motion. Instead, the integration of vestibular and neck proprioceptive inputs is necessary to transform vestibular information into the body-centric reference frame required for postural control. The anterior vermis of the cerebellum is thought to play a key role in this transformation, yet how its Purkinje cells integrate these inputs or what information they dynamically encode during self-motion remains unknown. Here we recorded the activity of individual anterior vermis Purkinje cells in alert monkeys during passively applied whole-body, body-under-head, and head-on-body rotations. Most neurons dynamically encoded an intermediate representation of self-motion between head and body motion. Notably, these neurons responded to both vestibular and neck proprioceptive stimulation and showed considerable heterogeneity in their response dynamics. Furthermore, their vestibular responses demonstrated tuning in response to changes in head-on-body position. In contrast, a small remaining percentage of neurons sensitive only to vestibular stimulation unambiguously encoded head-in-space motion across conditions. Using a simple population model, we establish that combining responses from 40 Purkinje cells can explain the responses of their target neurons in deep cerebellar nuclei across all self-motion conditions. We propose that the observed heterogeneity in Purkinje cells underlies the cerebellum’s capacity to compute the dynamic representation of body motion required to ensure accurate postural control and perceptual stability in our daily lives.
Trimeric Photosystem I facilitates energy transfer from phycobilisomes in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803
Authors: Akhtar Parveen , Biswas Avratanu , Balog-Vig Fanny , Domonkos Ildikó , Kovács László , Lambrev Petar H. 
Published: October 2021

ABSTRACTIn cyanobacteria, phycobilisomes serve as peripheral light-harvesting complexes of the two photosystems, extending their antenna size and the wavelength range of photons available for photosynthesis. The abundance of phycobilisomes, the number of phycobiliproteins they contain, and their light-harvesting function are dynamically adjusted in response to the physiological conditions. Phycobilisomes are also thought to be involved in state transitions that maintain the excitation balance between the two photosystems. Unlike its eukaryotic counterpart, PSI is trimeric in many cyanobacterial species and the physiological significance of this is not well understood. Here we compared the composition and light-harvesting function of phycobilisomes in cells of Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803, which has primarily trimeric PSI, and the ΔpsaL mutant unable to form trimers. We also investigated a mutant additionally lacking the PsaJ and PsaF subunits of PSI. Both strains with monomeric PSI accumulated significantly more allophycocyanin per chlorophyll, indicating higher abundance of phycobilisomes. On the other hand, a higher phycocyanin:allophycocyanin ratio in WT suggests larger phycobilisomes or the presence of APC-less phycobilisomes (CpcL-type), that are not assembled in cells with monomeric PSI. Steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy at room temperature and 77 K revealed that PSII receives more energy from the phycobilisomes at the expense of PSI in cells with monomeric PSI, regardless of the presence of PsaF. Taken together, these results show that the oligomeric state of PSI has an impact on the excitation energy flow in Synechocystis.One-sentence summaryCyanobacterial mutants with monomeric PSI show changes in the composition and abundance of phycobilisomes and in the excitation energy transfer to PSII and PSI.
SCARECROW maintains the stem cell niche in Arabidopsis root by ensuring telomere integrity
Authors: Wang Bingxin , Shi Xiaowen , Gao Jingbo , Liao Rui , Fu Jing , Bai Juan , Cui Hongchang 
Published: October 2021

AbstractStem cells are the ultimate source of the cells in various tissues and organs, and thus are essential to postembryonic plant growth and development. SCARECROW (SCR) is a plant-specific transcription regulator well known for its role in stem-cell renewal in plant roots, but the mechanism by which SCR exerts this function is still unclear. To address this question, we carried out a genetic screen for mutants that no longer express SCR in the stem-cell niche in the Arabidopsis root, and one of the mutants is characterized herein. Using marker-assisted mapping, whole genome sequencing, and complementation tests, we pinpointed the causal mutation in this mutant at TEN1, which encodes telomere-end protecting factor. By sequence alignment of TEN1 homologs in a wide range of eukaryotes, we identified two novel motifs. The importance of these motifs was examined through site-directed mutagenesis of a conserved amino acid, and through complementation tests, which showed that G100 is required for TEN1 stability. Interestingly, we found that TEN1 expression was dramatically reduced in the scr mutant. Two components in the same protein complex as TEN1, STN1 and CTC1, were found to be also dramatically downregulated in scr, as well as telomerase. Further studies showed that loss of STN1, CTC1 and telomerase also caused defects in the root stem cells. In line with these findings, the scr mutant was hypersensitive to DNA damage reagents such as Zeocin. These results together suggest that SCR maintains root stem cells by promoting expression of genes that ensures genome integrity.One sentence summaryThis study reveals a role for the root development regulator SCARECROW in maintaining the expression of telomere-end protecting factors and a connection between genome integrity and stem-cell maintenance in Arabidopsis root.
Copper microRNAs govern the formation of giant feeding cells induced by the root knot nematode Meloidogyne incognita in Arabidopsis thaliana
Authors: Noureddine Yara , da Rocha Martine , Thomine Sébastien , Quentin Michaël , Abad Pierre , Favery Bruno , Jaubert-Possamai Stéphanie 
Published: October 2021

AbstractmiR408 and miR398 are two conserved microRNAs which expression is activated by the SPL7 transcription factor in response to copper starvation. We identified these two microRNAs families as upregulated in Arabidopsis thaliana and Solanum lycopersicum roots infected by root-knot nematodes. These endoparasites induce the dedifferentiation of a few root cells and the reprogramming of their gene expression to generate giant feeding cells. By combining functional approaches, we deciphered the signaling cascade involving these microRNAs, their regulator and their targets. MIR408 expression was located within nematode-induced feeding cells in which it co-localised with SPL7 expression and was regulated by copper. Moreover, infection assays with mir408 and spl7 KO mutants or lines expressing targets rendered resistant to cleavage by miR398 demonstrated the essential role of the SPL7/MIR408/MIR398 module in the formation of giant feeding cells. Our findings reveals how perturbation of plant copper homeostasis, via the SPL7/MIR408/MIR398 module, governs the formation of nematode-induced feeding cells.
Genomic analysis of a parasite invasion: colonization of the Americas by the blood fluke, Schistosoma mansoni
Authors: Platt Roy N. , Le Clec’h Winka , Chevalier Frédéric D. , McDew-White Marina , LoVerde Philip T. , de Assis Rafael R. , Oliveira Guilherme , Kinunghi Safari , Djirmay Amadou Garba , Steinauer Michelle L. , Gouvras Anouk , Rabone Muriel , Allan Fiona , Webster Bonnie L. , Webster Joanne P. , Emery Aidan , Rollinson David , Anderson Timothy J. C. 
Published: October 2021

AbstractSchistosoma mansoni, a snail-vectored, blood fluke that infects humans, was introduced into the Americas from Africa during the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. As this parasite shows strong specificity to the snail intermediate host, we expected that adaptation to S. American Biomphalaria spp. snails would result in population bottlenecks and strong signatures of selection. We scored 475,081 single nucleotide variants (SNVs) in 143 S. mansoni from the Americas (Brazil, Guadeloupe, and Puerto Rico) and Africa (Cameroon, Niger, Senegal, Tanzania, and Uganda), and used these data to ask: (i) Was there a population bottleneck during colonization? (ii) Can we identify signatures of selection associated with colonization? And (iii) what were the source populations for colonizing parasites? We found a 2.4-2.9-fold reduction in diversity and much slower decay in linkage disequilibrium (LD) in parasites from East to West Africa. However, we observed similar nuclear diversity and LD in West Africa and Brazil, suggesting no strong bottlenecks and limited barriers to colonization. We identified five genome regions showing selection in the Americas, compared with three in West Africa and none in East Africa, which we speculate may reflect adaptation during colonization. Finally, we infer that unsampled African populations from central African regions between Benin and Angola, with contributions from Niger, are likely the major source(s) for Brazilian S. mansoni. The absence of a bottleneck suggests that this is a rare case of a serendipitous invasion, where S. mansoni parasites were preadapted to the Americas and were able to establish with relative ease.
In pursuit of biomarkers for predicting susceptibility to activity-based anorexia (ABA) in adolescent female rats
Authors: Milton Laura K , Patton Timothy , O’Keeffe Meredith , Oldfield Brian J , Foldi Claire J 
Published: October 2021

AbstractAnorexia nervosa (AN) has high rates of mortality and low rates of recovery, with outcomes that worsen with illness duration. Improved early intervention strategies are required and identifying risk factors that contribute to the development of AN is critical to their implementation. The development of AN often follows a pre-existing diagnosis of anxiety disorders and obsessive-compulsive disorder and substantial genetic overlap between these conditions suggest common underlying features may predict vulnerability to AN. Moreover, patients with AN have increased levels of circulating proinflammatory cytokines, which may be involved in susceptibility to pathological weight loss considering that children with immune dysfunction have a higher risk of subsequent AN diagnoses.Here, we used the activity-based anorexia (ABA) model to examine whether baseline levels of locomotion, anxiety-like behaviour, compulsive behaviour, and circulating immune markers predict the subsequent development of pathological weight loss in adolescent female rats. While none of these primary features were shown to differentiate rats that went on to be susceptible or resistant to weight loss in ABA, increased locomotion and anxiety-like behaviour were both associated with the extent of weight loss in susceptible but not resistant animals. Intriguingly, behaviour related to poor decision-making in a situation of conflict was shown to predict vulnerability to ABA. Future research using the ABA model to uncover early predictors of AN should focus on translationally relevant assays of decision-making and cognitive behaviour, dysfunction of which may not only predispose animals to ABA but may also represent an endophenotype linking anorectic, anxiety-like and compulsive behaviour.
Trisomy 21 increases microtubules and disrupts centriolar satellite localization
Authors: McCurdy Bailey L. , Jewett Cayla E. , Stemm-Wolf Alexander J. , Duc Huy Nguyen , Joshi Molishree , Espinosa Joaquin M. , Prekeris Rytis , Pearson Chad G. 
Published: October 2021

AbstractTrisomy 21, the cause of Down syndrome, causes a 0.5-fold protein increase of the chromosome 21-resident gene Pericentrin (PCNT) and reduces primary cilia formation and signaling. Here we investigate the mechanisms by which PCNT imbalances disrupt cilia. Using isogenic RPE-1 cells with increased chromosome 21 dosage, we find PCNT protein accumulates around the centrosome as a pericentrosomal cluster of enlarged cytoplasmic puncta that localize along and at MT ends. Cytoplasmic PCNT puncta impact the intracellular MT trafficking network required for primary cilia, as the PCNT puncta sequester cargo peripheral to centrosomes in what we call pericentrosomal crowding. The centriolar satellite proteins, PCM1, CEP131 and CEP290, important for ciliogenesis, accumulate at sites of enlarged PCNT puncta in trisomy 21 cells. Reducing PCNT when chromosome 21 ploidy is elevated is sufficient to decrease PCNT puncta, reestablish a normal density of MTs around the centrosome, restore ciliogenesis to wild type levels and decrease pericentrosomal crowding. A transient reduction in MTs also decreases pericentrosomal crowding and partially rescues ciliogenesis in trisomy 21 cells, indicating that increased PCNT leads to defects in the microtubule network deleterious to normal centriolar satellite distribution. We propose that chromosome 21 aneuploidy disrupts MT-dependent intracellular trafficking required for primary cilia.TOCMcCurdy et al explore why elevated Pericentrin in trisomy 21 negatively impacts primary cilia formation and signaling. They find that elevated Pericentrin produces more pericentrosomal puncta that associates with and increases microtubules. Changes to Pericentrin and microtubules mislocalizes centriolar satellites in a pericentrosomal crowd.
Temporal cell fate determination in the spinal cord is mediated by the duration of Notch signalling
Authors: Jacobs Craig T. , Kejriwal Aarti , Kocha Katrinka M. , Jin Kevin Y. , Huang Peng 
Published: October 2021

ABSTRACTDuring neural development, progenitor cells generate different types of neurons in specific time windows. Despite the characterisation of many of the transcription factor networks involved in these differentiation events, the mechanism behind their temporal regulation is poorly understood. To address this question, we studied the temporal differentiation of the simple lateral floor plate (LFP) domain in the zebrafish spinal cord. LFP progenitors sequentially generate early-born Kolmer-Agduhr” (KA”) interneurons and late-born V3 interneurons. Analysis using a Notch signalling reporter demonstrates that these cell populations have distinct Notch signalling profiles. Not only do V3 cells receive higher total levels of Notch response, but they collect this response over a longer duration compared to V3 cells. To test whether the duration of Notch signalling determines the temporal cell fate specification, we combined a transgene that constitutively activates Notch signalling in the ventral spinal cord with a heat shock inducible Notch signalling terminator to switch off Notch response at any given time. Sustained Notch signalling results in expanded LFP progenitors while KA” and V3 interneurons fail to specify. Early termination of Notch signalling leads to exclusively KA” cell fate, despite the high level of Notch signalling, whereas late attenuation of Notch signalling drives only V3 cell fate. This suggests that the duration of Notch signalling is instructive in cell fate specification. Interestingly, knockdown experiments reveal a role for the Notch ligand Jag2b in maintaining LFP progenitors and limiting their differentiation into KA” and V3 cells. Our results indicate that Notch signalling is required for neural progenitor maintenance while a specific attenuation timetable defines the fate of the postmitotic progeny.