Genome Dynamics and Temperature Adaptation During Experimental Evolution of Obligate Intracellular Bacteria.

Evolution experiments with free-living microbes have radically improved our understanding of genome evolution and how microorganisms adapt. Yet there is a paucity of such research focusing on strictly host-associated bacteria, even though they are widespread in nature. Here, we used the Acanthamoeba symbiont Protochlamydia amoebophila, a distant relative of the human pathogen Chlamydia trachomatis and representative of a large group of protist-associated environmental chlamydiae, as a model to study how obligate intracellular symbionts evolve and adapt to elevated temperature, a prerequisite for the pivotal evolutionary leap from protist to endothermic animal hosts.

Playing alone: can game design elements satisfy user needs in gamified mHealth services?

Chronic health conditions have necessitated the need for behavioral interventions (such as exercise programs) outside of clinical contexts, increasingly managed through technology such as mobile health (mHealth) services. Gamification has emerged as a promising tool to facilitate greater engagement in these services; however, no studies investigate the links between specific game design elements (GDEs) and psychological or behavioral outcomes within a health context. This domain is motivationally complex and has shown resistance to the satisfaction of social (relatedness) needs, presenting a challenge to the design of gamification products for health promotion.

Carbon-dependent growth, community structure and methane oxidation performance of a soil-derived methanotrophic mixed culture.

Soil-borne methane-oxidizing microorganisms act as a terrestrial methane (CH4) sink and are potentially useful in decreasing global CH4 emissions. Understanding the ecophysiology of methanotrophs is crucial for a thorough description of global carbon cycling. Here, we report the in situ balance of soils from abandoned landfills, meadows and wetlands, their capacities to produce and oxidize CH4 at laboratory-scale and the isolation of a soil-borne methanotrophic-heterotrophic mixed culture that was used for carbon (C1 and C2) feeding experiments.

Molecular causes of an evolutionary shift along the parasitism-mutualism continuum in a bacterial symbiont.

Symbiosis with microbes is a ubiquitous phenomenon with a massive impact on all living organisms, shaping the world around us today. Theoretical and experimental studies show that vertical transmission of symbionts leads to the evolution of mutualistic traits, whereas horizontal transmission facilitates the emergence of parasitic features. However, these studies focused on phenotypic data, and we know little about underlying molecular changes at the genomic level.

Variant profiling of evolving prokaryotic populations.

Genomic heterogeneity of bacterial species is observed and studied in experimental evolution experiments and clinical diagnostics, and occurs as micro-diversity of natural habitats. The challenge for genome research is to accurately capture this heterogeneity with the currently used short sequencing reads. Recent advances in NGS technologies improved the speed and coverage and thus allowed for deep sequencing of bacterial populations.

Understanding caregivers' intentions for their child to walk to school: Further application of the theory of planned behavior.

Increases in childhood obesity have coincided with declines in active transportation to school. This research builds on largely atheoretical extant literature examining factors that influence walk-to-school behavior through application of the theory of planned behavior (TPB). Understanding caregivers' decision for their child to walk to/from school is key to developing interventions to promote this cost-effective and accessible health behavior.

A Chemical Biology Study of Human Pluripotent Stem Cells Unveils HSPA8 as a Key Regulator of Pluripotency.

Chemical biology methods such as high-throughput screening (HTS) and affinity-based target identification can be used to probe biological systems on a biomacromolecule level, providing valuable insights into the molecular mechanisms of those systems. Here, by establishing a human embryonal carcinoma cell-based HTS platform, we screened 171,077 small molecules for regulators of pluripotency and identified a small molecule, Displurigen, that potently disrupts hESC pluripotency by targeting heat shock 70-kDa protein 8 (HSPA8), the constitutively expressed member of the 70-kDa heat shock protein family, as elucidated using affinity-based target identification techniques and confirmed by loss-of-function and gain-of-function assays. We demonstrated that HSPA8 maintains pluripotency by binding to the master pluripotency regulator OCT4 and facilitating its DNA-binding activity.

Draft Genome Sequence of "Candidatus Hepatoplasma crinochetorum" Ps, a Bacterial Symbiont in the Hepatopancreas of the Terrestrial Isopod Porcellio scaber.

"Candidatus Hepatoplasma crinochetorum" Ps is an extracellular symbiont residing in the hepatopancreas of the terrestrial isopod Porcellio scaber. Its genome is highly similar to that of the close relative "Ca. Hepatoplasma crinochetorum" Av from Armadillidium vulgare.

Differential segmentation responses to an alcohol social marketing program.

Objective: This study seeks to establish whether meaningful subgroups exist within a 14-16 year old adolescent population and if these segments respond differently to the Game On: Know Alcohol (GOKA) intervention, a school-based alcohol social marketing program.

Methodology: This study is part of a larger cluster randomized controlled evaluation of the GOKA program implemented in 14 schools in 2013/2014. TwoStep cluster analysis was conducted to segment 2,114 high school adolescents (14-16 years old) on the basis of 22 demographic, behavioral, and psychographic variables.

Expressional and functional variation of horizontally acquired cellulases in the nematode Pristionchus pacificus.

Various whole genome-sequencing projects in the nematode phylum have revealed the widespread occurrence of horizontal gene transfer from different sources. Pristionchus pacificus was the first non-plant parasitic nematode that was found to contain cellulase genes in its genome and to have cellulolytic activity when grown in a monoxenic culture on Escherichia coli. The P.

Horizontal gene transfer of microbial cellulases into nematode genomes is associated with functional assimilation and gene turnover.

Background: Natural acquisition of novel genes from other organisms by horizontal or lateral gene transfer is well established for microorganisms. There is now growing evidence that horizontal gene transfer also plays important roles in the evolution of eukaryotes. Genome-sequencing and EST projects of plant and animal associated nematodes such as Brugia, Meloidogyne, Bursaphelenchus and Pristionchus indicate horizontal gene transfer as a key adaptation towards parasitism and pathogenicity.

The Pristionchus pacificus genome provides a unique perspective on nematode lifestyle and parasitism.

Here we present a draft genome sequence of the nematode Pristionchus pacificus, a species that is associated with beetles and is used as a model system in evolutionary biology. With 169 Mb and 23,500 predicted protein-coding genes, the P. pacificus genome is larger than those of Caenorhabditis elegans and the human parasite Brugia malayi.