X-Chromosome Association Study in Latin American Cohorts Identifies New Loci in Parkinson Disease.

Sex differences in Parkinson Disease (PD) risk are well-known. However, it is still unclear the role of sex chromosomes in the development and progression of PD. We performed the first X-chromosome Wide Association Study (XWAS) for PD risk in Latin American individuals.

Gene expression in diapausing rotifer eggs in response to divergent environmental predictability regimes.

In unpredictable environments in which reliable cues for predicting environmental variation are lacking, a diversifying bet-hedging strategy for diapause exit is expected to evolve, whereby only a portion of diapausing forms will resume development at the first occurrence of suitable conditions. This study focused on diapause termination in the rotifer Brachionus plicatilis s.s.

Ecological genomics of adaptation to unpredictability in experimental rotifer populations.

Elucidating the genetic basis of phenotypic variation in response to different environments is key to understanding how populations evolve. Facultatively sexual rotifers can develop adaptive responses to fluctuating environments. In a previous evolution experiment, diapause-related traits changed rapidly in response to two selective regimes (predictable vs unpredictable) in laboratory populations of the rotifer Brachionus plicatilis.

An MLSA approach for the taxonomic update of the Splendidus clade, a lineage containing several fish and shellfish pathogenic Vibrio spp.

A multilocus sequence analysis was undertaken in order to redefine the Splendidus clade of the genus Vibrio, a large group of species containing several pathogenic members that affect fish and shellfish, and are difficult to identify through both phenotypic and genotypic approaches. The study included analysis of partial sequences of recA, gyrB, mreB, rpoD and pyrH genes, as well as the 16S rRNA gene. Seventeen type strain species were included that were complemented with other reference strains and a collection of isolates tentatively identified as members of this clade, as well as a set of other Vibrio species.

A genome-wide association study of asthma symptoms in Latin American children.

Background: Asthma is a chronic disease of the airways and, despite the advances in the knowledge of associated genetic regions in recent years, their mechanisms have yet to be explored. Several genome-wide association studies have been carried out in recent years, but none of these have involved Latin American populations with a high level of miscegenation, as is seen in the Brazilian population.

Methods: 1246 children were recruited from a longitudinal cohort study in Salvador, Brazil.