Project description:Species expand their geographic distribution when environmental conditions are favorable or when mutations arise that allow them to live in previously unfavorable conditions. The European wasp spider, Argiope bruennichi, has expanded its range poleward, and populations at the northern edge show higher tolerance to cold and are genetically differentiated from the core populations. We aimed to investigate the degree and limits of plasticity in a recently cold-adapted Estonian population by exposing overwintering juveniles (spiderlings) to three fixed winter regimes over the course of three months. These regimes differed in absolute and relative day and night temperature: cold (5°C day, −15°C night), moderate (5°C day, −5°C night), and warm (15°C day, −5°C night). We expected a differential response to the winter regimes in survival, lipid content, metabolites, and gene expression patterns. The survival probability of the spiderlings decreased over winter by approximately 20% and their lipid content by 28%, with no significant differences between groups. Spiderlings also did not differ in content of saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids per dry weight. However, in spiderlings exposed to the warm winter regime, short-chain omega-3 PUFAs were less abundant (~57%) and long-chain omega-3 PUFAs more abundant (~66%) compared to the other regimes. The gene expression response was low under the cold regime and much higher under the warm regime, as compared to the moderate regime. The affected pathways suggest a more pronounced stress response under warmer winter temperatures. Taken together, our findings demonstrate that A. bruennichi spiderlings from a northern population can endure very different winter regimes. However, the observed physiological responses to the warmer regime suggest metabolic costs that may reduce spiderling survival probability after emergence from the egg sac. We conclude that, despite remarkable tolerance to different winter regimes, warmer winters have nuanced effects on spiderling physiology beyond survival probability.

Project description:We investigate the hypothesis that consistent changes in the human gut microbiome are associated with Crohn's disease, a form of inflammatory bowel disease, and that altered microbiota contributes to pathogenesis. Analysis of this problem is greatly complicated by the fact that multiple factors influence the composition of the gut microbiota, including diet, host genotype, and disease state. For example, data from us and others document a drastic impact of diet on the composition of the gut microbiome. No amount of sequencing will yield a useful picture of the role of the microbiota in disease if samples are confounded with uncontrolled variables. We aim to characterize the composition of the gut microbiome while controlling for diet, host genotype, and disease state. Diet is controlled by analyzing children treated for Crohn's disease by placing them on a standardized elemental diet, and by testing effects of different diets on the gut microbiome composition in adult volunteers. Genotype is analyzed by large scale SNP genotyping, which is already underway and separately funded--team member Hakon Hakonarson is currently genotyping 50 children a week at ~half a million loci each and investigating connections with inflammatory bowel disease. Clinical status is ascertained in the very large IBD practice in the UPenn/CHOP hospital system. Effects of diet, host genotype, and disease state on the gut microbiome are summarized in a multivariate model, allowing connections between microbiome and disease to be assessed free of confounding factors. This project is divided into four sub-studies. In the Fecal Storage Methods (FSM) study, methods of stool storage and DNA extraction are compared to examine their impact on DNA sequence analysis results. The Controlled Feeding Experiment (CaFE) addresses the effects of controlled diets on the gut microbiome. In the Cross-sectional Study of Diet and Stool Microbiome Composition (COMBO), the effects of diet analyzed using surveys and deep sequencing of stool specimens. The fourth study, Pediatric Longitudinal Study of Elemental Diet and Stool Microbiome Composition (PLEASE), examines the effects of an elemental diet treatment on pediatric patients diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), particularly Crohn's disease. <ul> <li>Fecal Storage Methods (FSM): Cross-sectional study</li> <li>Controlled Feeding Experiment (CaFE): Controlled trial</li> <li>Cross-sectional Study of Diet and Stool Microbiome Composition (COMBO): Cross-sectional study</li> <li>Pediatric Longitudinal Study of Elemental Diet and Stool Microbiome Composition (PLEASE): Longitudinal cohort study</li> </ul>

			Action	DRS
	SRR23080309_1.fastq.gz	Fastqsanger.gz
	SRR23080309_2.fastq.gz	Fastqsanger.gz

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