The microbial community structure and nitrogen cycle of high-altitude pristine saline lakes on the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau.

The nitrogen (N) cycle is the foundation of the biogeochemistry on Earth and plays a crucial role in global climate stability. It is one of the most important nutrient cycles in high-altitude lakes. The biogeochemistry of nitrogen is almost entirely dependent on redox reactions mediated by microorganisms.

Thanos: An R Package for the Gene-Centric Analysis of Functional Potential in Metagenomic Samples.

As the amount of metagenomic sequencing continues to increase, there is a growing need for tools that help biologists make sense of the data. Specifically, researchers are often interested in the potential of a microbial community to carry out a metabolic reaction, but this analysis requires knitting together multiple software tools into a complex pipeline. Thanos offers a user-friendly R package designed for the pathway-centric analysis and visualization of the functions encoded within metagenomic samples.

The Length of the Expressed 3' UTR Is an Intermediate Molecular Phenotype Linking Genetic Variants to Complex Diseases.

In the last decades, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have uncovered tens of thousands of associations between common genetic variants and complex diseases. However, these statistical associations can rarely be interpreted functionally and mechanistically. As the majority of the disease-associated variants are located far from coding sequences, even the relevant gene is often unclear.

A functional strategy to characterize expression Quantitative Trait Loci.

The study of genetic variation has been revolutionized by the advent of high-throughput technologies able to determine the complete genomic sequence of thousands of individuals. Understanding the functional relevance of variants is, however, still a difficult task, especially when focusing on non-coding variants. Most of the variants associated with disease by Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS) are indeed non-coding, and presumably exert their effects by altering gene regulation.

Analysis of volatile compounds in powdered milk for infant nutrition by direct desorption (CIS4-TDU) and GC-MS.

Direct thermal desorption coupled with the Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (TDU-CIS4-GC-MS) technique applied to powdered milk was used as a novel approach for the characterization and quantification, as relative abundance, of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The aim of this study was to exploit the potential applications and setup conditions of the CIS4-TDU-GC-MS technique for the identification of oxidized or non-oxidized samples of powdered milk for infant nutrition, subjected to accelerated aging through the changes in their VOCs profile over time. Thermal desorption at 30°C and subsequent cryotrapping at -40°C with a Gerstel Liner-in-Liner system allowed a direct thermal desorption and cryotrapping of VOCs without any memory effect, thus avoiding sample preparation and contamination.