Project description:Global biodiversity is affected by numerous environmental drivers. Yet, the extent to which global environmental changes contribute to changes in local diversity is poorly understood. We investigated biodiversity changes in a meta-analysis of 39 resurvey studies in European temperate forests (3988 vegetation records in total, 17-75 years between the two surveys) by assessing the importance of (i) coarse-resolution (i.e., among sites) vs. fine-resolution (i.e., within sites) environmental differences and (ii) changing environmental conditions between surveys. Our results clarify the mechanisms underlying the direction and magnitude of local-scale biodiversity changes. While not detecting any net local diversity loss, we observed considerable among-site variation, partly explained by temporal changes in light availability (a local driver) and density of large herbivores (a regional driver). Furthermore, strong evidence was found that presurvey levels of nitrogen deposition determined subsequent diversity changes. We conclude that models forecasting future biodiversity changes should consider coarse-resolution environmental changes, account for differences in baseline environmental conditions and for local changes in fine-resolution environmental conditions.
Project description:Liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) of protein solutions is increasingly recognised as an important phenomenon in cell biology and biotechnology. However, opalescence and concentration fluctuations render LLPS difficult to study, particularly when characterising the kinetics of the phase transition and layer separation. Here, we demonstrate the use of a probe molecule trifluoroethanol (TFE) to characterise the kinetics of protein LLPS by NMR spectroscopy. The chemical shift and linewidth of the probe molecule are sensitive to local protein concentration, with this sensitivity resulting in different characteristic signals arising from the dense and lean phases. Monitoring of these probe signals by conventional bulk-detection 19F NMR reports on the formation and evolution of both phases throughout the sample, including their concentrations and volumes. Meanwhile, spatially-selective 19F NMR, in which spectra are recorded from smaller slices of the sample, was used to track the distribution of the different phases during layer separation. This experimental strategy enables comprehensive characterisation of the process and kinetics of LLPS, and may be useful to study phase separation in protein systems as a function of their environment.
Project description:enterospheres (FEnS) from six aborted fetal’ small intestines, ranging in gestational age from 11 to 22.5 weeks ), and from adult duodenum AEnS were generated based on previously developed protocols for human organoids cultures . We sought to compare the global gene expression profile of FEnS and AEnS by whole transcriptome shotgun sequencing (WTSS) analysis. We evaluated FEnS (N=6) and AEnS (N=3) samples at a low passage, ranging from P6 to P14.
Project description:In temperate estuaries of the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence, intermittent seasonal anoxia coupled with phytoplankton blooms is a regular occurrence in watersheds dominated by agricultural land use. To examine the spatial relationship between dissolved oxygen and phytoplankton throughout the estuary to assist in designing monitoring programs, oxygen depth profiles and chlorophyll measurements were taken bi-weekly from May to December in 18 estuaries. In five of those estuaries, dissolved oxygen data loggers were set to measure oxygen at hourly intervals and at multiple locations within the estuary the subsequent year. The primary hypothesis was that dissolved oxygen in the upper estuary (first 10% of estuary area) is predictive of dissolved oxygen mid-estuary (50% of estuary area). The second hypothesis was that hypoxia/superoxia in the estuary is influenced by temperature and tidal flushing. Oxygen depth profiles conducted in the first year of study provided preliminary support that dissolved oxygen in the upper estuary was related to dissolved oxygen throughout the estuary. However, dissolved oxygen from loggers deployed at 10% and 50% of estuary area did not show as strong a correlation as expected (less than half the variance explained). The strength of the correlation declined towards the end of summer. Spatial decoupling of oxygen within the estuary suggested influence of local conditions. Chlorophyll concentration seemed also to be dependent on local conditions as it appeared to be coupled with the presence of sustained anoxia in the upper estuary with blooms typically occurring within 7 to 14 days of anoxia. The practical implication for oxygen monitoring is that one location within the most severely impacted part of the estuary is not sufficient to fully evaluate the severity of eutrophication effects.