Background The impressive adaptive radiation of notothenioid fishes in Antarctic waters is generally thought to have been facilitated by an evolutionary key innovation, antifreeze glycoproteins, permitting ...

Background The geographical expansion of the tick Ixodes ricinus in northern Europe is a serious concern for animal and human health. The pathogen Anaplasma phagocytophilum is transmitted by ticks and ...

Fungi are crucial components in all ecosystems, as decomposers and recyclers of organic matter, as pathogens and as beneficial symbionts with plants. Several recent studies indicate that the borders between these ecological ...

Marine coastal areas are among the most productive ecosystems in the world. Protists are an extremely diverse group of mostly unicellular microeukaryotes and includes the microalgae. They are the basis for the majority of ...

Y. ruckeri is the causative agent of enteric redmouth disease (ERM), a serious infection of marine and freshwater fish. ERM is a global problem affecting aquaculture facilities worldwide. Losses caused by ERM can reach up ...

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is one of the main causative agents of nosocomial infections and the spread of multidrug-resistant strains is rising. Therefore, novel strategies for therapy are urgently required. The outer membrane ...

Due to their antifungal activity, chitosan and its derivatives have potential to be used for treating yeast infections in humans. However, to be considered for use in human medicine, it is necessary to control and know the ...

Background The ballan wrasse (Labrus bergylta) belongs to a large teleost family containing more than 600 species showing several unique evolutionary traits such as lack of stomach and hermaphroditism. ...

Skeletal muscle is a heterogeneous tissue comprised of a variety of different cell types, including the multinucleated skeletal myofiber. Although myofibers are post-mitotic, they hold a remarkable ability to adapt new ...

Background The class Diphyllatea belongs to a group of enigmatic unicellular eukaryotes that play a key role in reconstructing the morphological innovation and diversification of early eukaryotic evolution. ...

Genome-wide association studies have helped us identify a wealth of genetic variants associated with complex human phenotypes. Because most variants explain a small portion of the total phenotypic variation, however, ...

We have previously shown that aberrant promoter methylation of ZNF331 is a potential biomarker for colorectal cancer detection with high sensitivity (71%) and specificity (98%). This finding was recently confirmed by others, ...

A new PhD-thesis at the University of Oslo have investigated how certain parasites of the genus Gyrodactylus have spread after the last ice age in Norwegian freshwater systems and how humans have affected the spread. ...

Objectives The aetiology of several human diarrhoeas has been increasingly associated with the presence of virulence factors rather than with the bacterial species hosting the virulence genes, exemplified ...

Cryptic species could represent a substantial fraction of biodiversity. However, inconsistent definitions and taxonomic treatment of cryptic species prevent informed estimates of their contribution to biodiversity and ...

Background The concept of pioneer transcription factors is emerging as an essential part of the epigenetic regulation, taking place during cell development and differentiation. However, the precise molecular ...

Over the past ten years the massive use of genomic and transcriptomic technologies has revealed groundbreaking information about the genetic drivers of cancer in general. The knowledge of these drivers is not only fundamental ...

Background Increased availability of genome assemblies for non-model organisms has resulted in invaluable biological and genomic insight into numerous vertebrates, including teleosts. Sequencing of the ...

Transmembrane proteins in the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria are almost exclusively β-barrels. They are inserted into the outer membrane by a conserved and essential protein complex called the BAM (for β-barrel ...

Comparative genomics of non-model organisms has resurrected whole genome duplication (WGD) from being viewed as a somewhat obscure process that happens in plants to a primary driver of eukaryotic diversification. The shadow ...

Many bacteria, both environmental and pathogenic, exhibit the property of autoaggregation. In autoaggregation (sometimes also called autoagglutination or flocculation), bacteria of the same type form multicellular clumps ...

Concentrations of dissolved organic matter (DOM) are increasing in a large number of lakes across the Northern hemisphere. This browning serves a dual role for biota by protecting against harmful ultraviolet radiation, ...

Background The expansion of offshore oil exploration increases the risk of marine species being exposed to oil pollution in currently pristine areas. The adverse effects of oil exposure through toxic ...

In this thesis, a general phosphoproteomics workflow was established by careful evaluation of the different steps for phosphopeptide enrichment. In addition, the application of two different collision energies for MS2 ...

Albumin and IgG have remarkably long serum half-lives due to pH-dependent FcRn-mediated cellular recycling that rescues both ligands from intracellular degradation. Furthermore, increase in half-lives of IgG and albumin-based ...

Background Emergence of tick-borne diseases is impacting humans and livestock across the Northern Hemisphere. There are, however, large regional variations in number of cases of tick-borne diseases. Some ...

Background Marine threespine sticklebacks colonized and adapted to brackish and freshwater environments since the last Pleistocene glacial. Throughout the Holarctic, three lateral plate morphs are observed; ...

Background Understanding the effects of habitat modification on the feeding strategies of threatened species is essential to designing effective conservation management plans. Bale monkeys (Chlorocebus ...

The genomic landscape of a hybrid species is marked by alternating regions of parental inheritance and areas of genomic constraint which form reproductive barriers. A PhD candidate at the University of Oslo has explored ...

In the last decades, limnic water bodies in the Northern hemisphere have experienced a noticeable browning, i.e., increasing levels of dissolved organic matter (DOM). While the effects on primary producers is usually ...

Silicon is often regarded as a likely candidate to replace graphite as the main active anode material in next-generation lithium ion batteries; however, a number of problems impacting its cycle stability have limited its ...

The last few years have seen the arrival of new effective cancer therapies which is directed at the immune system rather than the cancer cells directly. One type of cancer immunotherapies is the so-called checkpoint ...

1. Fencing is a contentious issue due to its impact on conservation. The Danish government aims to establish a 70 km fence towards the border of Germany and the agricultural ministry of Bulgaria erected 133 km fences along ...

Adaptive radiation is the evolution of ecological and phenotypical diversity. It arises via ecological opportunity that promotes the exploration of underutilized or novel niches mediating specialization and reproductive ...

Species occurrence data records the location and time of an encounter with a species, and is valuable for many aspects of ecological and evolutionary analyses. A key distinction within species occurrence data is between ...

Background The gelada monkey (Theropithecus gelada), endemic to the Ethiopian highlands, is the only graminivorous primate, i.e., it feeds mainly on grasses and sedges. In spite of known dental, manual, ...

Background Species with a restricted geographic distribution, and highly specialized habitat and dietary requirements, are particularly vulnerable to extinction. The Bale monkey (Chlorocebus djamdjamensis) ...

Storage of human retinal pigment epithelium (hRPE) can contribute to the advancement of cell-based RPE replacement therapies. The present study aimed to improve the quality of stored hRPE cultures by identifying storage ...

Background Environmental DNA (eDNA) monitoring is growing increasingly popular in aquatic systems as a valuable complementary method to conventional monitoring. However, such tools have not yet been ...

Aim: Skeletal muscle is a heterogeneous tissue containing several different cell types, and only about 40%‐50% of the cell nuclei within the tissue belong to myofibres. Existing technology, attempting to distinguish myonuclei ...

Male birdsongs function as territory defence and/or mate attraction. Females may use different song characteristics in choosing a male, such as a song’s complexity. Such is the case for the open-ended learning pied flycatcher ...

Fish in aquaculture is known to ingest less feed after exposure to stressors such as handling, crowding, vaccination and transportation. In scientific studies, this phenomenon has been ascribed to an appetite-reducing ...

In this doctoral work, Ingvild Gudim and co-workers have studied a network of proteins that transfer electrons to each other. They have shown that even if these proteins are structurally similar and have the same function, ...

The primary cilium is a signaling organelle present on the cell surface of most eukaryotic cells. The organelle integrates several signaling pathways important for biological processes such as tissue homeostasis and embryonic ...

Interactions between birds and fish are often overlooked in aquatic ecosystems. We studied the influence of Atlantic salmon and brown trout on the breeding population size and reproductive output of the white-throated ...

Studying the ecology and measuring levels of population genetic diversity are important steps for assessing the conservation status and implementing appropriate conservation strategies for rare or endangered plant species. ...

Objective: A major goal in systems neuroscience is to determine the causal relationship between neural activity and behavior. To this end, methods that combine monitoring neural activity, behavioral tracking, and targeted ...

There is a quest for production of soluble protein of high quality for the study of T-cell receptors (TCRs), but expression often results in low yields of functional molecules. In this study, we used an E. coli chaperone-assisted ...

The effect of poly(2-ethyl-butyl cyanoacrylate) nanoparticles containing the cytotoxic drug cabazitaxel was studied in three breast cancer cell lines and one basal-like patient-derived xenograft model grown in the mammary ...

Much research on large herbivore movement has focused on the annual scale to distinguish between resident and migratory tactics, commonly assuming that individuals are sedentary at the within-season scale. However, apparently ...

The astonishing diversity of life we see around us is shaped by the interactions between organisms and the environment. How this happen over long time has been a lasting interest of evolutionary biology, and is even more ...

The integrated stress response (ISR) has been associated with malignancy in cancer cells, with evidence for the eIF2α kinases PERK and GCN2 having important roles in tumor survival. For GCN2, this association has been ...

Despite half-a-century of research since the seminal work of Hubel and Wiesel, the role of the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (dLGN) in shaping the visual signals is not properly understood. Placed on route from retina ...

Sensitivity to environmental stressors largely depend on the genetic complement of the organism. Recent sequencing and assembly of teleost fish genomes enable us to trace the evolution of defense genes in the largest and ...

Intense selective harvest of large mammals who carry the largest weapons may lead to an evolutionary shrinkage of those weapons. Currently, evidence suggesting evolutionary effects of harvest is limited to a few species ...

Removing individuals from a wild population can affect the availability of prospective mates and the outcome of competitive interactions, with subsequent effects on mating patterns and sexual selection. Consequently, the ...

The algae Hydrurus foetidus (Villars) Trevisan is native to polar and peri-glacial freshwater rivers in Norway and similar regions around the world, where it plays a crucial role as a primary producer of energy whilst ...

The genetic impact of farmed fish escaping aquaculture is a highly debated issue. However, non-target species, such as cleaner fish used to remove sea lice from farmed fish, are rarely considered. Here, we report that wild ...

1. Surveillance of wildlife diseases is logistically difficult, and imperfect detection is a recurrent challenge for disease estimation. Using citizen science can increase sample sizes, but it is associated with a cost in ...

Visually evoked signals in the retina pass through the dorsal geniculate nucleus (dLGN) on the way to the visual cortex. This is however not a simple feedforward flow of information: there is a significant feedback from ...

1. Decomposer communities perform an essential ecosystem function by recycling nutrients. However, the effect of higher trophic levels on microbial decomposer communities and rate of decomposition is poorly understood. We ...

Coexistence in the same habitat of closely related yet genetically different populations is a phenomenon that challenges our understanding of local population structure and adaptation. Identifying the underlying mechanisms ...

Enteric redmouth disease caused by the pathogen Yersinia ruckeri is a significant problem for fish farming around the world. Despite its importance, only a few virulence factors of Y. ruckeri have been identified and studied ...

Management of large carnivores is among the most controversial topics in natural resource administration. Regulated hunting is a centrepiece of many carnivore management programmes and, although a number of hunting effects ...

Studies of the effects of habitat fragmentation and degradation on primate positional behavior, strata use, and substrate utilization offer valuable insights into the behavioral and ecological flexibility of primates whose ...

1. Selective hunting can affect demographic characteristics and phenotypic traits of the targeted species. Hunting systems often involve harvesting quotas based on sex, age and/or size categories to avoid selective pressure. ...

The discovery of Ice Ages is one of the most revolutionary advances made in the Earth sciences. In 1824 Danish‐Norwegian geoscientist Jens Esmark published a paper stating that there was indisputable evidence that Norway ...

Hybridization is increasingly recognized as a potent evolutionary force. Although additive genetic variation and novel combinations of parental genes theoretically increase the potential for hybrid species to adapt, few ...

Albumin has a long serum half-life due to its unique ability to bind the cellular neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn), which provides protection from intracellular degradation. The interaction can be capitalized to improve the ...

The demographic consequences of stochasticity in processes such as survival and reproduction are modulated by the heterogeneity within the population. Therefore, to study effects of stochasticity on population growth and ...

Human activities can cause habitat degradation that may alter the types and quality of available food resources and thus influence the microbiomes of wild animal populations. Furthermore, seasonal shifts in food availability ...

The human gut microbiota plays a vital role in health and disease, and microbial colonization is a key process in infant development. Here, we analyze 2684 fecal specimens from 12 infants during their first year of life, ...

The Willow Tit Poecile montanus is highly sedentary and breeding pairs remain in their exclusive areas throughout the year. During the winter, these areas are defended by small, non-kin flocks, formed as the roaming yearlings ...

Carnivore populations are declining globally due to range contraction, persecution and prey depletion. One consequence of these patterns is increased range and niche overlap with other carnivores, and thus an elevated ...

The large-bodied, terrestrial primates in the tribe Papionini are among the most intensely studied animals in the world, yet for some members of this tribe we know comparatively little about their evolutionary history and ...

Diatoms constitute a diverse lineage of unicellular organisms abundant and ecologically important in aquatic ecosystems. Compared to other protists, their biology and taxonomy are well-studied, offering the opportunity to ...

The vast majority of marine dissolved organic carbon (DOC), the largest reservoir of reduced carbon on Earth, is believed to accumulate in the abyssal layers of the ocean over timescales of decades to millennia. However, ...

A first approach to study the function of an unknown gene in bacteria is to create a knock-out of this gene. Here, we describe a robust and fast protocol for transferring gene deletion mutations from one Escherichia coli ...

Carbapenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa is defined as a “critical” priority pathogen for the development of new antibiotics. Here we report the complete genome sequence of an extensively drug-resistant, Verona ...

With the surge of GPS-technology, many studies uncovered space use of mobile animals and shed light on the underlying behavioral mechanisms of habitat selection. Habitat selection and variation in either occurrence or ...

Heme c is characterized by its covalent attachment to a polypeptide. The attachment is typically to a CXXCH motif in which the two Cys form thioether bonds with the heme, “X” can be any amino acid other than Cys, and the ...

Insufficient reference database coverage is a widely recognized limitation of molecular ecology approaches which are reliant on database matches for assignment of function or identity. Here, we use data from 65 amplicon ...

Natal dispersal is common in animals but the fitness cost of moving from the natal area is not well understood. One reason for a fitness cost is that foraging skills and prey preference learned early in life may be less ...

In historical times, plague epidemics intermittently ravaged Europe for more than 1,400 years, and still represent a threat in many countries all over the world. A debate is ongoing about the past plague, if it killed ...

Attacks by aquatic predators generate frontal water disturbances characterised by low-frequency gradients in pressure and particle motion. Low-frequency hearing is highly developed in cephalopods. Thus, we examined behavioural ...

Many organisms have several similar transporters with different affinities for the same substrate. Typically, high-affinity transporters are expressed when substrate is scarce and low-affinity ones when it is abundant. The ...

Microplastic (MP) contamination is ubiquitous in the environment and many species worldwide have been shown to contain MP. The ecological impact of MP pollution is still unknown, thus there is an urgent need for more ...