ZNF703 gene copy number and protein expression in breast cancer; associations with proliferation, prognosis and luminal subtypes.

Purpose: Amplification of 8p12 is frequent in breast cancer and associated with poor prognosis in luminal subtypes. ZNF703 has been identified as the driver gene of proliferation in the A1 amplicon situated in 8p12. In this study, the aims were to investigate associations between ZNF703 copy number alterations and molecular subtypes, proliferation and prognosis, and using immunohistochemistry, examine associations between ZNF703 copy number and ZNF703 protein expression.

Uncultured and Account for Major Acetate Assimilation in a Coastal Marine Sediment.

Acetate is a key intermediate in anaerobic mineralization of organic matter in marine sediments. Its turnover is central to carbon cycling, however, the relative contribution of different microbial populations to acetate assimilation in marine sediments is unknown. To quantify acetate assimilation by abundant bacterial populations, we incubated coastal marine sediments with C-labeled acetate and flow-sorted cells that had been labeled and identified by fluorescence hybridization.

Activity and community structures of sulfate-reducing microorganisms in polar, temperate and tropical marine sediments.

Temperature has a fundamental impact on the metabolic rates of microorganisms and strongly influences microbial ecology and biogeochemical cycling in the environment. In this study, we examined the catabolic temperature response of natural communities of sulfate-reducing microorganisms (SRM) in polar, temperate and tropical marine sediments. In short-term sediment incubation experiments with (35)S-sulfate, we demonstrated how the cardinal temperatures for sulfate reduction correlate with mean annual sediment temperatures, indicating specific thermal adaptations of the dominant SRM in each of the investigated ecosystems.

Effects of freeze-thaw cycles on anaerobic microbial processes in an Arctic intertidal mud flat.

Insight into the effects of repeated freezing and thawing on microbial processes in sediments and soils is important for understanding sediment carbon cycling at high latitudes acutely affected by global warming. Microbial responses to repeated freeze-thaw conditions were studied in three complementary experiments using arctic sediment collected from an intertidal flat that is exposed to seasonal freeze-thaw conditions (Ymerbukta, Svalbard, Arctic Ocean). The sediment was subjected to oscillating freeze-thaw incubations, either gradual, from -5 to 4 degrees C, or abrupt, from -20 to 10 degrees C.