The role of Denisovan paleohabitats in shaping modern human genetic resistance to viral, bacterial, and parasitic infections.

Denisovans contributed notably to the genomes of present-day East and Southeast Asians. However, the relationship between the inhabited paleohabitats and the adaptive genetic traits related to infections in modern humans remains underexplored. This study uses geospatial techniques to analyze climatic factors associated with three Denisovan archaeological sites linked to nine specimens.

A phylogenetic approach to prioritising crop wild relatives in Brassiceae (Brassicaceae) for breeding applications.

Background And Aims: Crop wild relatives (CWRs) are key resources for enhancing agricultural resilience, providing genetic traits that can improve pest resistance, abiotic stress tolerance, and nutritional composition in domesticated crops. Within the mustard family (Brassicaceae) this is especially significant in the Brassiceae tribe, which includes economically important genera for agriculture such as Brassica and Sinapis. However, while breeding programmes have historically focused on major crops within this tribe, the potential of their wild relatives, particularly for underutilised and minor crops, remains insufficiently explored.

Clinical and metabolic phenotypes of Oxford Biobank subjects with variations in human flavin-containing monooxygenase 5 (FMO5).

Introduction: Knockout of the Fmo5 gene in mice led to a lean, slow-ageing phenotype characterised by the presence of 2,3-butanediol isomers in their urine and plasma. Oral treatment of wildtype mice with 2,3-butanediol led to a low cholesterol, low epididymal fat phenotype.

Objectives: Determine if significant, heterozygous coding variations in human FMO5 would give rise to similar clinical and metabolic phenotypes in humans, as in C57BL/6J mice with knockout of the Fmo5 gene and in particular, increased excretion of 2,3-butanediol.

Biosynthetic potential of the culturable foliar fungi associated with field-grown lettuce.

Fungal endophytes and epiphytes associated with plant leaves can play important ecological roles through the production of specialized metabolites encoded by biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs). However, their functional capacity, especially in crops like lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.), remains poorly understood.

Escherichia coli strain O55 contains two cryptic plasmids that depend on each other to replicate.

Plasmids are fundamental to molecular biology and biotechnology, playing a crucial role in bacterial evolution. Some plasmids are linked to complex cellular dynamics, including pathogenicity islands, antibiotic resistance, and gene mobilization. This study reports the isolation and sequencing of two cryptic plasmids with different electrophoretic mobilities from the Escherichia coli clinical isolate O55.