Characterizing prostate cancer risk through multi-ancestry genome-wide discovery of 187 novel risk variants

The transferability and clinical value of genetic risk scores (GRSs) across populations remain limited due to an imbalance in genetic studies across ancestrally diverse populations. Here we conducted a multi-ancestry genome-wide association study of 156,319 prostate cancer cases and 788,443 controls of European, African, Asian and Hispanic men, reflecting a 57% increase in the number of non-European cases over previous prostate cancer genome-wide association studies. We identified 187 novel risk variants for prostate cancer, increasing the total number of risk variants to 451. An externally replicated multi-ancestry GRS was associated with risk that ranged from 1.8 (per standard deviation) in African ancestry men to 2.2 in European ancestry men. The GRS was associated with a greater risk of aggressive versus non-aggressive disease in men of African ancestry (P = 0.03). Our study presents novel prostate cancer susceptibility loci and a GRS with effective risk stratification across ancestry groups.

Aged interleukin-10tm1Cgn chronically inflamed mice have substantially reduced fat mass, metabolic rate, and adipokines

Interleukin 10tm1Cgn (IL 10tm) mice have been utilized as a model of chronic inflammation and declining health span because of their propensity to develop chronic activation in NFkB pathways, skeletal muscle and cardiac changes, and mitochondrial dysfunction. We hypothesized that older IL 10tm frail mice would have alterations similar to frail, older humans in measured parameters of glucose metabolism, oxygen consumption (VO2), respiratory quotient (RQ), spontaneous locomotor activity, body composition and plasma adipokine levels. To test this hypothesis, we investigated these metabolic parameters in cohorts of 3, 10, and 20 month old IL 10tm female mice and age and gender matched C57Bl/6 mice. Insulin sensitivity, glucose homeostasis, locomotor activity and RQ were not significantly altered between the two strains of mice. Interestingly, old IL 10tm mice had significantly decreased VO2 when normalized by lean mass, but not when normalized by fat mass or the lean/fat mass ratio. NMR based body composition analysis and dissection weights show that fat mass is decreased with age in IL 10tm mice compared to controls. Further, plasma adiponectin and leptin were also decreased in IL 10tm.These findings suggest that frailty observed in this mouse model of chronic inflammation may in part be driven by alterations in fat mass, hormone secretion and energy metabolism.

Biodegradation of sulfosulphuron in agricultural soil by Trichoderma sp

Sulfosulphuron-degrading fungus was isolated by enrichment technique from the sulfosulphuron-contaminated soil of wheat rhizosphere. To assess the biodegradation potential of isolated Trichoderma sp., minimal potato dextrose agar broth with different levels of sulfosulphuron (up to 2 g l(-1) ) was evaluated in the growth and biotransformation experiments. ESI LC-MS/MS analysis revealed the presence of degradation products 2-amino-4,6-dimethoxypyrimidine (I) and 2-ethylsulfonyl imidazo{1,2-a} pyridine-3-sulfonamide-2-ethylsulfonyl imidazo{1,2-a} pyridine-3-sulfonamide (II) indicating the cleavage of the urea bridge and the presence of the by-product N-(4,6-dimethoxypyrimidin-2-yl)urea (III) indicating the degradation of sulfonylamide linkage. Two other metabolites, N-(4,6-dimethoxypyrimidin-2-yl)-N'-hydroxyurea (IV) and N, N'-bis(4,6-dimethoxypyrimidin-2-yl)urea (V), were also identified. From the previous reports, it was found that the degradation of sulfonyl urea herbicides took place through the chemical degradation of the sulfonylurea bridge followed by microbial degradation. During this investigation, Trichoderma sp. grew well with and degraded sulfosulphuron via both the decarboxylation on the sulphonyl urea bridge and the hydrolytic cleavage of the sulfonylamide linkage as demonstrated by the formation of metabolites. Trichoderma is nonphytopathogenic in nature, and some species of it restrict the growth of soil-dwelling phytopathogens. Therefore, it is a promising candidate for the decontamination of soil from sulfosulphuron residues.

SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY

The degradation of sulfosulphuron by any individual fungus is being reported for the first time. Trichoderma sp. isolated from wheat-rhizospheric soil could survive in minimal broth rich in sulfosulphuron. Previous reports have described the complete degradation of any sulfonyl urea herbicides by micro-organisms only after the pH-dependent chemical hydrolysis of the sulfonyl urea bridge of the herbicide. This study demonstrates the novel result that the Trichoderma sp. utilized the sulfosulphuron as a sole carbon source and degraded it by cleaving sulfonyl urea bridge and sulfonylamide linkage. Thus, the application of Trichoderma sp., which is nonphytopathogenic, has the potential to decontaminate agricultural soil from sulfosulphuron load.

Simultaneous determination of chlorimuron-ethyl and its major metabolites in soil and water by reversed phase liquid chromatography

A rapid reversed-phase HPLC method was developed for simultaneously determination of chlorimuron-ethyl and its metabolites such as ethyl-2-aminosulfonyl benzoate, 4-methoxy-6-chloro-2-amino pyrimidine and saccharin in soil and water systems by using RP18 column and methanol-water (70:30 v/v) solvent system with detection at 230 nm. The recoveries of chlorimuron-ethyl and its metabolites ranged from 80 to 95%.