Project description:Lead Exposure and Human Brain Evolution: A 2-Million-Year Perspective This study reveals that lead exposure was pervasive throughout human evolution, not just a modern phenomenon. Researchers analyzed 51 fossil teeth from multiple hominid species spanning 2+ million years across three continents, finding lead exposure evidence in 73% of specimens using advanced laser ablation mass spectrometry. The team then used human brain organoids carrying either modern or archaic (Neanderthal-like) variants of the NOVA1 gene to test lead's neurological impacts. They discovered that the archaic variant showed greater vulnerability to lead-induced disruption of FOXP2 expression—a gene crucial for speech and language development. This suggests environmental lead exposure may have created evolutionary pressure favoring the modern human NOVA1 variant, potentially giving our species advantages in communication and social cohesion. The research challenges established paradigms about both environmental toxin history and human evolution, proposing that gene-environment interactions with neurotoxins helped shape our species' cognitive development over millions of years.
Project description:Cardiac lysates prepared from left ventricles of 1-year-old female wild-type mice, mice carrying the obscurin R4344Q mutation, and mice carrying obscurin lacking the Ig58/59 domains (ΔIg58/59) were subjected to isobaric tandem-mass tagging, liquid chromatography, and mass spectrometry.
Project description:Wheat represents one of the most important cereals for mankind. However, since wheat proteins are also the causative agent of several adverse reactions, during the last decades, consumers have shown an increasing interest in the old wheat genotypes, which are generally perceived as more “natural” and healthier than the modern ones. Comparison of nutritional value for modern and old wheat genotypes is still controversial, and to evaluate the real impact of these foods on human health comparative experiments involving old and modern genotypes are desirable. The nutritional quality of grain is correlated with its proteomic composition that depends on the interplay between the genetic characteristics of the plant and external factors related to the environment. We report here the label-free shotgun quantitative comparison of the metabolic protein fractions of two old Sicilian landraces (Russello and Timilia) and the modern variety Simeto, from the 2010-11 and 2011-12 growing seasons. The overall results show that Timilia presents the major differences with respect to the other two genotypes investigated. These differences may be related to different defense mechanisms and some other peculiar properties of these genotypes. On the other hand, our results confirm previous results leading to the conclusion that with respect to a nutritional value evaluation, there is a substantial equivalence between old and modern wheat genotypes.
2021-05-13 | PXD024204 | Pride
Project description:Differential gene expression and subgenome dominance in 4 million year old allopolyploids of Nicotiana section Repandae
Project description:Comparative genomics has greatly facilitated the identification of shared as well as unique features among individual cells or tissues, and thus offers the potential to find disease markers. While proteomics is recognized for its potential to generate quantitative maps of protein expression, comparative proteomics in bacteria has been largely restricted to the comparison of single cell lines or mutant strains. In this study, we used a data independent acquisition (DIA) technique, which enables global protein quantification of large sample cohorts, to record the proteome profiles of overall 27 whole genome sequenced and transcriptionally profiled clinical isolates of the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Analysis of the proteome profiles across the 27 clinical isolates grown under planktonic and biofilm growth conditions led to the identification of a core biofilm-associated protein profile. Furthermore, we found that protein-to-mRNA ratios between different P. aeruginosa strains are well correlated, indicating conserved patterns of post-transcriptional regulation. Uncovering core regulatory pathways, which drive biofilm formation and associated antibiotic tolerance in bacterial pathogens, promise to give clues to interactions between bacterial species and their environment and could provide useful targets for new clinical interventions to combat biofilm-associated infections.
