Caenorhabditis Elegans as a Model for Environmental Epigenetics.

Purpose Of Review: The burgeoning field of environmental epigenetics has revealed the malleability of the epigenome and uncovered numerous instances of its sensitivity to environmental influences; however, pinpointing specific mechanisms that tie together environmental triggers, epigenetic pathways, and organismal responses has proven difficult. This article describes how Caenorhabditis elegans can fill this gap, serving as a useful model for the discovery of molecular epigenetic mechanisms that are conserved in humans.

Recent Findings: Recent results show that environmental stressors such as methylmercury, arsenite, starvation, heat, bacterial infection, and mitochondrial inhibitors can all have profound effects on the epigenome, with some insults showing epigenetic and organismal effects for multiple generations.

Making waves: Public health risks from arsenic in Mexico's water extraction practices.

In response to water scarcity in Mexico´s urban areas, authorities have implemented significant measures to increase water access, primarily by overexploiting groundwater resources. However, this approach has unintentionally worsened human exposure to groundwater arsenic consumption, which is part of a broader phenomenon known as environmental problem shifting. This paper examines the public health implications of arsenic contamination in Mexico's groundwater.

Protection over restoration to ensure water sustainability.

Plastics pollution, persistent chemical contamination and inadequately treated wastewater are three key aspects that hinder access to safe and affordable water for all. We argue that a strong priority on pollution avoidance, research for remediation, and tighter regulation and monitoring must be implemented to make progress.

Analyzing high-throughput assay data to advance the rapid screening of environmental chemicals for human reproductive toxicity.

While high-throughput (HTP) assays have been proposed as platforms to rapidly assess reproductive toxicity, there is currently a lack of established assays that specifically address germline development/function and fertility. We assessed the applicability domains of yeast (S. cerevisiae) and nematode (C.

Rapid identification of reproductive toxicants among environmental chemicals using an in vivo evaluation of gametogenesis in budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Infertility affects ∼12 % of couples, with environmental chemical exposure as a potential contributor. Of the chemicals that are actively manufactured, very few are assessed for reproductive health effects. Rodents are commonly used to evaluate reproductive effects, which is both costly and time consuming.

Oligomycin-producing sp. newly isolated from Swiss soils efficiently protect against .

Unlabelled: is a necrotrophic phytopathogen able to attack more than 200 different plant species causing strong yield losses worldwide. Many synthetic fungicides have been developed to control this disease, resulting in the rise of fungicide-resistance strains. The aim of this study was to identify strains showing antagonistic activity against to contribute to plant protection in an environmentally friendly way.

Screening and characterization of 133 physiologically-relevant environmental chemicals for reproductive toxicity.

Reproduction is a functional outcome that relies on complex cellular, tissue, and organ interactions that span the developmental period to adulthood. Thus, the assessment of its disruption by environmental chemicals would benefit significantly from scalable and innovative approaches to testing using functionally comparable reproductive models such as the nematode C. elegans.

Comprehensive mass spectrometric metabolomic profiling of a chemically diverse collection of plants of the Celastraceae family.

Natural products exhibit interesting structural features and significant biological activities. The discovery of new bioactive molecules is a complex process that requires high-quality metabolite profiling data to properly target the isolation of compounds of interest and enable their complete structural characterization. The same metabolite profiling data can also be used to better understand chemotaxonomic links between species.

Inter- and trans-generational impacts of environmental exposures on the germline resolved at the single-cell level.

Reproduction is a remarkably intricate process involving the interaction of multiple cell types and organ systems unfolding over long periods of time and that culminates with the production of gametes. The initiation of germ cell development takes place during embryogenesis but only completes decades later in humans. The complexity inherent to reproduction and its study has long hampered our ability to decipher how environmental agents disrupt this process.

A Sample-Centric and Knowledge-Driven Computational Framework for Natural Products Drug Discovery.

The ENPKG framework organizes large heterogeneous metabolomics data sets as a knowledge graph, offering exciting opportunities for drug discovery and chemodiversity characterization.

Center of pressure palindromes reveals a wobbling standing balance in scoliotic girls.

Background: This study characterized the center of pressure planar displacement by palindromic strings. The objective is to test if the center of pressure pathway of able-bodied girls and those with a moderate and severe scoliosis displayed similar palindromic tendencies.

Methods: The center of pressure excursions of 21 able-bodied girls were compared to 14 girls with a moderate scoliosis and 14 girls with severe one.

The MMACHC variant c.158T>C: Mild clinical and biochemical phenotypes and marked hydroxocobalamin response in cblC patients.

Mutations in MMACHC cause cobalamin C disease (cblC, OMIM 277400), the commonest inborn error of vitamin B metabolism. In cblC, deficient activation of cobalamin results in methylcobalamin and adenosylcobalamin deficiency, elevating methylmalonic acid (MMA) and total plasma homocysteine (tHcy). We retrospectively reviewed the medical files of seven cblC patients: three compound heterozygotes for the MMACHC (NM_015506.

microbeMASST: a taxonomically informed mass spectrometry search tool for microbial metabolomics data.

microbeMASST, a taxonomically informed mass spectrometry (MS) search tool, tackles limited microbial metabolite annotation in untargeted metabolomics experiments. Leveraging a curated database of >60,000 microbial monocultures, users can search known and unknown MS/MS spectra and link them to their respective microbial producers via MS/MS fragmentation patterns. Identification of microbe-derived metabolites and relative producers without a priori knowledge will vastly enhance the understanding of microorganisms' role in ecology and human health.

Comparative metabolomic study of fungal foliar endophytes and their long-lived host : a model for exploring the chemodiversity of host-microbe interactions.

Introduction: In contrast to the dynamics observed in plant/pathogen interactions, endophytic fungi have the capacity to establish enduring associations within their hosts, leading to the development of a mutually beneficial relationship that relies on specialized chemical interactions. Research indicates that the presence of endophytic fungi has the ability to significantly modify the chemical makeup of the host organism. Our hypothesis proposes the existence of a reciprocal exchange of chemical signals between plants and fungi, facilitated by specialized chemical processes that could potentially manifest within the tissues of the host.

Metabolic memory of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol exposure in pluripotent stem cells and primordial germ cells-like cells.

Cannabis, the most consumed illicit psychoactive drug in the world, is increasingly used by pregnant women. However, while cannabinoid receptors are expressed in the early embryo, the impact of phytocannabinoids exposure on early embryonic processes is lacking. Here, we leverage a stepwise in vitro differentiation system that captures the early embryonic developmental cascade to investigate the impact of exposure to the most abundant phytocannabinoid, Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC).

Comparative genomic and metabolomic study of three Streptomyces sp. differing in biological activity.

The Streptomyces genus is known to produce many specialized metabolites of value for medicine, but the potential of these metabolites in agronomy remains largely unexplored. In this study, we investigated three phylogenetically closely related Streptomyces strains (B5, B91, and B135) isolated from three distinct soil samples in Sudan. Despite belonging to the same species, these strains exhibited different ranges of Phytophthora infestans inhibition.

Metabolomics in Ecology and Bioactive Natural Products Discovery: Challenges and Prospects for a Comprehensive Study of the Specialised Metabolome.

Metabolomics is playing an increasingly prominent role in chemical ecology and in the discovery of bioactive natural products (NPs). The identification of metabolites is a common/central objective in both research fields. NPs have significant biological properties and play roles in multiple chemical-ecological interactions.

Indigenous Voices in Psychedelic Therapy: Experiential Learnings from a Community-Based Group Psychedelic Therapy Program.

Novel and traditional psychedelic medicines are attracting interest as potential treatments of mental illness. Before psychedelic therapies can be made available in culturally safe and effective ways to diverse peoples, the field must grapple with the complex legacies of colonialism and ongoing clashes between biomedical and Indigenous Ways of Knowing. This article presents results of a pilot program offering group-based therapy augmented by three sessions of ketamine at a psychedelic dose, for a group of Indigenous participants.