Project description:Monitoring microbial communities can aid in understanding the state of these habitats. Environmental DNA (eDNA) techniques provide efficient and comprehensive monitoring by capturing broader diversity. Besides structural profiling, eDNA methods allow the study of functional profiles, encompassing the genes within the microbial community. In this study, three methodologies were compared for functional profiling of microbial communities in estuarine and coastal sites in the Bay of Biscay. The methodologies included inference from 16S metabarcoding data using Tax4Fun, GeoChip microarrays, and shotgun metagenomics.
Project description:In obesity, misalignment of feeding time with the light/dark environment results in disruption of peripheral circadian clocks. Conversely, restricting feeding to the active period mitigates metabolic syndrome through mechanisms that remain unknown. Here we show that adipocyte thermogenesis is essential for the healthful metabolic response to time restricted feeding. Genetic enhancement of adipocyte thermogenesis through ablation of Zfp423 attenuates obesity caused by circadian mistimed high fat diet feeding through a mechanism involving creatine metabolism. Circadian control of adipocyte creatine metabolism underlies timing of diet-induced thermogenesis, and enhancement of adipocyte circadian rhythms through overexpression of the clock activator Bmal1 ameliorates metabolic complications during diet induced obesity. These findings establish creatine mediated diet-induced thermogenesis as a bioenergetic mechanism driving metabolic benefits during time-restricted feeding.