Search Our Scientific Publications & Authors

Microbiol Res 2021 Apr 2;248:126755. Epub 2021 Apr 2.

Department of Botanical and Environmental Sciences, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, 143005, Punjab, India. Electronic address:

Plants interact with enormous biotic and abiotic components within ecosystem. For instance, microbes, insects, herbivores, animals, nematodes etc. In general, these interactions are studied independently with plants, that condenses only specific information about the interaction. Read More

FASEB J 2021 Apr;35(4):e21452

Department of Genetic Medicine and Development, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.

Despite the importance of germ cell (GC) differentiation for sexual reproduction, the gene networks underlying their fate remain unclear. Here, we comprehensively characterize the gene expression dynamics during sex determination based on single-cell RNA sequencing of 14 914 XX and XY mouse GCs between embryonic days (E) 9.0 and 16. Read More

Neurotoxicology 2021 Mar 18;84:96-104. Epub 2021 Mar 18.

Department of Molecular Biosciences, University of California-Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, Davis, CA, 95616, United States. Electronic address:

Thyroid hormones (THs) are essential for normal vertebrate development and diverse environmental chemicals are hypothesized to cause developmental toxicity by disrupting TH-mediated signaling. The larval zebrafish (Danio rerio) is an emerging in vivo model of developmental TH disruption; however, the effects of TR antagonism have not yet been studied in zebrafish. NH3, generally considered a potent and specific thyroid hormone receptor (TR) antagonist, has been used in rodents and Xenopus laevis to characterize phenotypes of TR antagonism. Read More

J Anim Ecol 2021 Mar 16. Epub 2021 Mar 16.

Department of Ecology, College of Life Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China.

Rare plant species often suffer less damage than common species because of positive density-dependent herbivory, and it has been suggested that this 'rare species advantage' fosters plant species coexistence. However, it is unknown whether rare species have an advantage when pollination interactions are also considered. We hypothesized that a 'positive density-dependent pollination success' across plant species would result in common plants experiencing higher seed set rates compared to rare species, and that positive density-dependent effects would negate or even override the positive density-dependent damage due to herbivory resulting in higher seed loss rates in common plant species. Read More

Proc Biol Sci 2021 Mar 10;288(1946):20202908. Epub 2021 Mar 10.

Department of Biology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA.

A central problem in evolutionary biology is to identify the forces that maintain genetic variation for fitness in natural populations. Sexual antagonism, in which selection favours different variants in males and females, can slow the transit of a polymorphism through a population or can actively maintain fitness variation. The amount of sexually antagonistic variation to be expected depends in part on the genetic architecture of sexual dimorphism, about which we know relatively little. Read More

J Exp Biol 2021 Mar 9. Epub 2021 Mar 9.

Department of Environmental and Biological Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu, Finland.

Heat tolerance of heart rate in fish is suggested to be limited by impaired electrical excitation of the ventricle due to the antagonistic effects of high temperature on Na (I) and K (I) ion currents (I is depressed at high temperatures while I is resistant to them). To examine the role of Na channel proteins in heat tolerance of I, we compared temperature-dependencies of zebrafish ( warm-dwelling subtropical species) and rainbow trout ( cold-active temperate species) ventricular I, and I generated by the cloned zebrafish and rainbow trout Na1.4 and Na1. Read More

Int J Mol Sci 2021 Feb 23;22(4). Epub 2021 Feb 23.

Centre de Recherche des Cordeliers, INSERM, Sorbonne Université, USPC, Université Paris Descartes, Université Paris Diderot, 75006 Paris, France.

Mutations in the Na-K-2Cl co-transporter NKCC2 lead to type I Bartter syndrome, a life-threatening kidney disease. We previously showed that export from the ER constitutes the limiting step in NKCC2 maturation and cell surface expression. Yet, the molecular mechanisms involved in this process remain obscure. Read More

Mol Genet Metab Rep 2021 Jun 22;27:100731. Epub 2021 Feb 22.

Department of Pediatrics, Amsterdam University Medical Centres, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Background: Creatine transporter deficiency (CTD) is an X-linked form of intellectual disability (ID) caused by mutations. Limited information exists on the adult course of CTD, and there are no treatment studies in adults.

Methods: We report two half-brothers with CTD, 36 and 31 years at intervention start. Read More

J Appl Microbiol 2021 Mar 4. Epub 2021 Mar 4.

Department of Food Microbiology and Hygiene, Institute of Nutritional and Food Science, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany.

Aims: The purpose of this study was to detect growth enhancing or inhibiting activity between bacterial populations from raw milk under different conditions (temperature, medium).

Methods And Results: The interference of 24 raw milk isolates on growth of each other and on Listeria monocytogenes, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis and Micrococcus luteus was screened by drop assay and for selected pairs in co-cultivation experiments. By drop assay, antibacterial activity was observed for 40% of the strains. Read More

J Virol 2021 Mar 3. Epub 2021 Mar 3.

Division of Veterinary Medicine, Paul Ehrlich Institute, Langen, Germany

Transcriptional profiling provides global snapshots of virus-mediated cellular reprogramming, which can simultaneously encompass pro- and antiviral components. To determine early transcriptional signatures associated with HCV infection of authentic target cells, we performed ex vivo infections of adult primary human hepatocytes (PHHs) from seven donors. Longitudinal sampling identified minimal gene dysregulation at six hours post infection (hpi). Read More

Biol Lett 2021 Mar 3;17(3):20200915. Epub 2021 Mar 3.

Department of Biology, Section for Evolutionary Ecology, Lund University, Lund 223 62, Sweden.

Intralocus sexual conflict arises when the expression of shared alleles at a single locus generates opposite fitness effects in each sex (i.e. sexually antagonistic alleles), preventing each sex from reaching its sex-specific optimum. Read More

ISME J 2021 Mar 1. Epub 2021 Mar 1.

Boyce Thompson Institute, Ithaca, NY, USA.

Extraradical hyphae (ERH) of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) extend from plant roots into the soil environment and interact with soil microbial communities. Evidence of positive and negative interactions between AMF and soil bacteria point to functionally important ERH-associated communities. To characterize communities associated with ERH and test controls on their establishment and composition, we utilized an in-growth core system containing a live soil-sand mixture that allowed manual extraction of ERH for 16S rRNA gene amplicon profiling. Read More

Personal Disord 2021 Feb 18. Epub 2021 Feb 18.

Department of Psychology.

Although many processes might contribute to the self-perpetuating nature of antagonistic personality, we proposed and tested the "antagonism-confirmation" perspective on this phenomenon. This perspective states that antagonistic personality is based in tendencies to confirm (vs. disconfirm) the self's beliefs about its personality. Read More

Appl Environ Microbiol 2021 Feb 12. Epub 2021 Feb 12.

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN

There are many hydrated surface niches that are neither static nor continuously flowing that are colonized by microbes such as bacteria. Such periodic hydrodynamic regimes are distinct from aquatic systems where microbial dissemination is reasonably predicted by assuming continuous flow or static systems where motile microbes largely control their own fate. Here we show how non-motile bacteria exhibit rapid, dispersive bursts of movement over surfaces using transient confluent hydration from the environment, which we term "surface hydrodispersion" where cells traverse thousands of cell lengths within minutes. Read More

Sci Total Environ 2021 Jun 20;772:145243. Epub 2021 Jan 20.

University of California Los Angeles, United States of America.

Ecological systems are subjected to multiple stressors that can interact in complex ways resulting in "ecological surprises". We examine the pivotal role of 'control' assignment in the categorization of stressors into five classes: additive, +synergistic, -synergistic, +antagonistic, and -antagonistic. We demonstrate if an alternate treatment can reasonably be considered the experimental control, nonlinear interaction classifications change, both in sign (+/-) and in direction (synergistic/antagonistic). Read More

Plast Reconstr Surg 2021 Feb;147(2):268e-278e

From the Department of Plastic Surgery, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.

Background: Synkinetic patients often fail to produce a satisfactory smile because of antagonistic action of a hypertonic depressor anguli oris muscle and concomitantly weak depressor labii inferioris muscle. This study investigated their neurovascular anatomy to partially explain this paradoxical depressor anguli oris hypertonicity and depressor labii inferioris hypotonicity and delineated consistent anatomical landmarks to assist in depressor anguli oris muscle injection and myectomy.

Methods: Ten hemifaces from five fresh human cadavers were dissected to delineate the neurovascular supply of the depressor anguli oris and depressor labii inferioris muscles in addition to the depressor anguli oris muscle relation to consistent anatomical landmarks. Read More

ISME J 2021 Jan 15. Epub 2021 Jan 15.

Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Ic2 Liverpool Science Park, 146 Brownlow Hill, Liverpool, L3 5RF, UK.

Bacterial endosymbiosis has been instrumental in eukaryotic evolution, and includes both mutualistic, dependent and parasitic associations. Here we characterize an intracellular bacterium inhabiting the flagellated protist Bodo saltans (Kinetoplastida). We present a complete bacterial genome comprising a 1. Read More

Nat Ecol Evol 2021 03 11;5(3):338-349. Epub 2021 Jan 11.

Division of Evolutionary Biology, Faculty of Biology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich, Munich, Germany.

Adaptive divergence is the key evolutionary process generating biodiversity by means of natural selection. Yet, the conditions under which it can arise in the presence of gene flow remain contentious. To address this question, we subjected 132 sexually reproducing fission yeast populations, sourced from two independent genetic backgrounds, to disruptive ecological selection and manipulated the level of migration between environments. Read More

Int J Mol Sci 2021 Jan 8;22(2). Epub 2021 Jan 8.

Institute for Clinical and Molecular Virology, Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Schlossgarten 4, 91054 Erlangen, Germany.

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is a human pathogenic herpesvirus associated with a variety of clinical symptoms. Current antiviral therapy is not always effective, so that improved drug classes and drug-targeting strategies are needed. Particularly host-directed antivirals, including pharmaceutical kinase inhibitors (PKIs), may help to overcome problems of drug resistance. Read More

Arthritis Res Ther 2021 01 6;23(1). Epub 2021 Jan 6.

Division of Rheumatology, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Washington, 750 Republican St, Seattle, WA, 98109, USA.

Background: CD40-CD40L is a key co-stimulatory pathway for B cell activation. As such, its blockade can inhibit pathogenic B cell responses in autoimmune diseases, such as Sjogren's syndrome (SjS) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). In this study, we examined the in vitro effects of KPL-404, a humanized anti-CD40 monoclonal antibody (Ab), on primary human B cells derived from either healthy donors (HD) or autoimmune patients and compared them to the effects of G28-5, a partially antagonistic anti-CD40 antibody. Read More

Neurol Res 2020 Dec 29:1-9. Epub 2020 Dec 29.

Department of Neurology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences , Beijing, China.

: In addition to the split hand sign, other split phenomena of different muscles also exist in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). We analyzed the incidence of split phenomena in multiple antagonistic muscle groups in ALS patients and explored whether clinical factors affected their occurrence. : 618 ALS patients were included from a single ALS center. Read More

Biosystems 2021 Mar 25;201:104333. Epub 2020 Dec 25.

Molecular and Computational Biology Section, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, 90089, USA. Electronic address:

In modern cells, chromosomal genes composed of DNA encode multi-subunit protein/RNA complexes that catalyze the replication of the chromosome and cell. One prevailing theory for the origin of life posits an early stage involving self-replicating macromolecules called replicators, which can be considered genes capable of self-replication. One prevailing theory for the genetics of aging in humans and other organisms is antagonistic pleiotropy, which posits that a gene can be beneficial in one context, and detrimental in another context. Read More

Front Cell Neurosci 2020 1;14:600777. Epub 2020 Dec 1.

Department of Neurobiology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States.

Feedback inhibition by horizontal cells regulates rod and cone photoreceptor calcium channels that control their release of the neurotransmitter glutamate. This inhibition contributes to synaptic gain control and the formation of the center-surround antagonistic receptive fields passed on to all downstream neurons, which is important for contrast sensitivity and color opponency in vision. In contrast to the plasmalemmal GABA transporter found in non-mammalian horizontal cells, there is evidence that the mechanism by which mammalian horizontal cells inhibit photoreceptors involves the of the inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA. Read More

J Evol Biol 2021 Mar 24;34(3):501-511. Epub 2020 Dec 24.

Department of Zoology, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.

Phenotypic evolution driven by sexual selection can impact the fitness of individuals and thus population performance through multiple mechanisms, but it is unresolved how and when sexual selection affects offspring production by females. We examined the effects of sexual selection on offspring production by females using replicated experimental evolutionary lines of Callosobruchus chinensis that were kept under polygamy (with sexual selection) or monogamy (without sexual selection) for 21 generations. We found that polygamous-line pairs produced more offspring than monogamous-line pairs, because polygamous-line beetles evolved to be larger than monogamous-line beetles, and larger females were more fecund. Read More

Optom Vis Sci 2020 12;97(12):1053-1060

Department of Optics, Palacký University Olomouc, Olomouc, Czech Republic.

Significance: Both foveal and peripheral contour interactions are based on, as yet, unexplained neural mechanisms. Our results show that, unlike foveal contour interaction, peripheral contour interaction cannot be explained on the basis of the antagonistic structure of neural receptive fields.

Purpose: Foveal contour interaction is markedly reduced for mesopic compared with photopic targets. Read More

J Sex Med 2021 01 26;18(1):4-16. Epub 2020 Nov 26.

Department of Philosophy, Sociology, Education and Applied Psychology - School of Psychology, University of Padua, Padua, Italy. Electronic address:

Background: Social constrictions or the lack of a clear awareness about one's sexual orientation may influence the ability of individuals to explicitly declare their sexual preferences. Thus, the actual prevalence of males' sexual attraction toward adult males, which is estimated by studies relying only on explicit questionnaires, may be biased. Conversely, the implicit measurement of androphilia may be a promising method to obtain more reliable data. Read More

Neuropharmacology 2021 02 16;183:108406. Epub 2020 Nov 16.

Department of Biological Regulation, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, 7610001, Israel; Department of Pharmacology, Biomedical Science Institute, University of São Paulo, 05508-000, São Paulo, SP, Brazil. Electronic address:

Hemopressin (PVNFKFLSH in rats, and PVNFKLLSH in humans and mice), a fragment derived from the α-chain of hemoglobin, was the first peptide described to have type 1 cannabinoid receptor activity. While hemopressin was shown to have inverse agonist/antagonistic activity, extended forms of hemopressin (i.e. Read More

Exp Biol Med (Maywood) 2021 Feb 16;246(4):467-482. Epub 2020 Nov 16.

Department of Molecular Genetics, Biochemistry and Microbiology, University of Cincinnati, College of Medicine, Cincinnati, Ohio 45267, USA.

Heparin and heparan sulfate (HS) are highly sulfated polysaccharides covalently bound to cell surface proteins, which directly interact with many extracellular proteins, including the transforming growth factor-β (TGFβ) family ligand antagonist, follistatin 288 (FS288). Follistatin neutralizes the TGFβ ligands, myostatin and activin A, by forming a nearly irreversible non-signaling complex by surrounding the ligand and preventing interaction with TGFβ receptors. The FS288-ligand complex has higher affinity than unbound FS288 for heparin/HS, which accelerates ligand internalization and lysosomal degradation; however, limited information is available for how FS288 interactions with heparin affect ligand binding. Read More

Sci Total Environ 2021 Mar 5;761:143316. Epub 2020 Nov 5.

Environmental Safety Group, Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) Europe, Saarbrucken 66123, Germany. Electronic address:

Haloacetonitriles are emerging disinfection by-products that can be detected in various aquatic environments. They are cytotoxic, genotoxic, mutagenic, and tumorigenic in vitro and in vivo, but their endocrine-disrupting potency remains unknown. In this study, we examined the agonistic and antagonistic estrogenic and androgenic activities of haloacetonitriles, as well as their cytotoxicity, using a yeast-based reporter assay. Read More

Phytopathology 2020 Nov 11. Epub 2020 Nov 11.

Simon Fraser University, 1763, Biological Sciences, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada;

Biological control of plant diseases is important in organic greenhouse vegetable production where fungicide use is limited. Organic producers employ microbially-diverse substrates, including composts, as media for plant growth. Previous research into the impact of vermicompost on the efficacy of applied biocontrol agents is limited. Read More