Dataset Information

Inter-individual differences in contamination profiles as tracer of social group association in stranded sperm whales.

ABSTRACT: Ecological and physiological factors lead to different contamination patterns in individual marine mammals. The objective of the present study was to assess whether variations in contamination profiles are indicative of social structures of young male sperm whales as they might reflect a variation in feeding preferences and/or in utilized feeding grounds. We used a total of 61 variables associated with organic compounds and trace element concentrations measured in muscle, liver, kidney and blubber gained from 24 sperm whales that stranded in the North Sea in January and February 2016. Combining contaminant and genetic data, there is evidence for at least two cohorts with different origin among these stranded sperm whales; one from the Canary Island region and one from the northern part of the Atlantic. While genetic data unravel relatedness and kinship, contamination data integrate over areas, where animals occured during their lifetime. Especially in long-lived animals with a large migratory potential, as sperm whales, contamination data may carry highly relevant information about aggregation through time and space.

SUBMITTER: Schnitzler JG

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6053436 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Inter-individual differences in contamination profiles as tracer of social group association in stranded sperm whales.

Schnitzler Joseph G JG Pinzone Marianna M Autenrieth Marijke M van Neer Abbo A IJsseldijk Lonneke L LL Barber Jonathan L JL Deaville Rob R Jepson Paul P Brownlow Andrew A Schaffeld Tobias T Thomé Jean-Pierre JP Tiedemann Ralph R Das Krishna K Siebert Ursula U

Scientific reports 20180719 1

Ecological and physiological factors lead to different contamination patterns in individual marine mammals. The objective of the present study was to assess whether variations in contamination profiles are indicative of social structures of young male sperm whales as they might reflect a variation in feeding preferences and/or in utilized feeding grounds. We used a total of 61 variables associated with organic compounds and trace element concentrations measured in muscle, liver, kidney and blubb ...[more]

PMID: 30026609

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Project description:INTRODUCTION: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory and destructive joint disease characterized by overexpression of pro-inflammatory/pro-destructive genes and other activating genes (for example, proto-oncogenes) in the synovial membrane (SM). The gene expression in disease is often characterized by significant inter-individual variances via specific synchronization/desynchronization of gene expression. To elucidate the contribution of the variance to the pathogenesis of disease, expression variances were tested in SM samples of RA patients, osteoarthritis (OA) patients, and normal controls (NCs). METHOD: Analysis of gene expression in RA, OA, and NC samples was carried out using Affymetrix U133A/B oligonucleotide arrays, and the results were validated by real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. For the comparison between RA and NC, 568 genes with significantly different variances in the two groups (P <or= 0.05; Bonferroni/Holm corrected Brown-Forsythe version of the Levene test) were selected. For the comparison between RA and OA, 333 genes were selected. By means of the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes, the pathways/complexes significantly affected by higher gene expression variances were identified in each group. RESULTS: Ten pathways/complexes significantly affected by higher gene expression variances were identified in RA compared with NC, including cytokine-cytokine receptor interactions, the transforming growth factor-beta pathway, and anti-apoptosis. Compared with OA, three pathways with significantly higher variances were identified in RA (for example, B-cell receptor signaling and vascular endothelial growth factor signaling). Functionally, the majority of the identified pathways are involved in the regulation of inflammation, proliferation, cell survival, and angiogenesis. CONCLUSION: In RA, a number of disease-relevant or even disease-specific pathways/complexes are characterized by broad intra-group inter-individual expression variances. Thus, RA pathogenesis in different individuals may depend to a lesser extent on common alterations of the expression of specific key genes, and rather on individual-specific alterations of different genes resulting in common disturbances of key pathways.

Dataset Information

Inter-individual differences in contamination profiles as tracer of social group association in stranded sperm whales.

Publications

Inter-individual differences in contamination profiles as tracer of social group association in stranded sperm whales.

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