Blind normalization of public high-throughput databases.

The rise of high-throughput technologies in the domain of molecular and cell biology, as well as medicine, has generated an unprecedented amount of quantitative high-dimensional data. Public databases at present make a wealth of this data available, but appropriate normalization is critical for meaningful analyses integrating different experiments and technologies. Without such normalization, meta-analyses can be difficult to perform and the potential to address shortcomings in experimental designs, such as inadequate replicates or controls with public data, is limited.

Structural determinants of criticality in biological networks.

Many adaptive evolutionary systems display spatial and temporal features, such as long-range correlations, typically associated with the critical point of a phase transition in statistical physics. Empirical and theoretical studies suggest that operating near criticality enhances the functionality of biological networks, such as brain and gene networks, in terms for instance of information processing, robustness, and evolvability. While previous studies have explained criticality with specific system features, we still lack a general theory of critical behavior in biological systems.

Structural chromosome abnormalities, increased DNA strand breaks and DNA strand break repair deficiency in dermal fibroblasts from old female human donors.

Dermal fibroblasts provide a paradigmatic model of cellular adaptation to long-term exogenous stress and ageing processes driven thereby. Here we addressed whether fibroblast ageing analysedex vivo entails genome instability. Dermal fibroblasts from human female donors aged 20-67 years were studied in primary culture at low population doubling.

Inadequate mito-biogenesis in primary dermal fibroblasts from old humans is associated with impairment of PGC1A-independent stimulation.

Extrinsic skin ageing converges on the dermis, a post-mitotic tissue compartment consisting of extracellular matrix and long-lived fibroblasts prone to damage accumulation and maladaptation. Aged human fibroblasts exhibit mitochondrial and nuclear dysfunctions, which may be a cause or consequence of ageing. We report on a systematic study of human dermal fibroblasts retrieved from female donors aged 20-67 years and analysed ex vivo at low population doubling precluding replicative senescence.

The bouquet of grapevine (Vitis vinifera L. cv. Cabernet Sauvignon) flowers arises from the biosynthesis of sesquiterpene volatiles in pollen grains.

Terpenoid volatiles are important information molecules that enable pollinators to locate flowers and may protect reproductive tissues against pathogens or herbivores. Inflorescences of grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) are composed of tiny green flowers that produce an abundance of sesquiterpenoid volatiles.