The sequence of the mouse genome is a key informational tool for understanding the contents of the human genome and a key experimental tool for biomedical research. Here, we report the results of an international collaboration to produce a high-quality draft sequence of the mouse genome. We also present an initial comparative analysis of the mouse and human genomes, describing some of the insights that can be gleaned from the two sequences. We discuss topics including the analysis of the evolutionary forces shaping the size, structure and sequence of the genomes; the conservation of large-scale synteny across most of the genomes; the much lower extent of sequence orthology covering less than half of the genomes; the proportions of the genomes under selection; the number of protein-coding genes; the expansion of gene families related to reproduction and immunity; the evolution of proteins; and the identification of intraspecies polymorphism.

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Initial sequencing and comparative analysis of the mouse genome.

https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1097%2FWOX.0b013e3182439613.pdf

Oxidative Stress and Antioxidant Defense

6-month consequences of COVID-19 in patients discharged from hospital: a cohort study.

The use of various transgenic mouse models and analysis of human tumour biopsies has shown that bone marrow-derived myeloid cells, such as macrophages, neutrophils, eosinophils, mast cells and dendritic cells, have an important role in regulating the formation and maintenance of blood vessels in tumours. In this Review the evidence for each of these cell types driving tumour angiogenesis is outlined, along with the mechanisms regulating their recruitment and activation by the tumour microenvironment. We also discuss the therapeutic implications of recent findings that specific myeloid cell populations modulate the responses of tumours to agents such as chemotherapy and some anti-angiogenic therapies.

The role of myeloid cells in the promotion of tumour angiogenesis

IgE, mast cells, basophils, and eosinophils are essential components of allergic inflammation. Antigen-specific IgE production, with subsequent fixation of IgE to FceRI receptors on mast cells and basophils, is central to the initiation and propagation of immediate hypersensitivity reactions. Mast cells, basophils, and eosinophils are central effector cells in allergic inflammation, as well as in innate and adaptive immunity. This review highlights what is known about these components and their roles in disease pathogenesis.

/pdf/ige-mast-cells-basophils-and-eosinophils-2he7mbn0j1.pdf

IgE, Mast Cells, Basophils, and Eosinophils

Environmentally Persistent Free Radicals Modify Oxidative Stress Related Gene Expression in Well-Differentiated Human Nasal Epithelium

To assess contribution of the radicals formed from biomass burning, our recent findings toward the formation of resonantly stabilized persistent radicals from hydrolytic lignin pyrolysis in a metal-free environment are presented in detail. Such radicals have particularly been identified during fast pyrolysis of lignin dispersed into the gas phase in a flow reactor. The trapped radicals were analyzed by X-band electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and high-frequency (HF) EPR spectroscopy. To conceptualize available data, the metal-free biogenic bulky stable radicals with extended conjugated backbones are suggested to categorize as a new type of metal-free environmentally persistent free radicals (EPFRs) (bio-EPFRs). They can be originated not only from lignin/biomass pyrolysis but also during various thermal processes in combustion reactors and media, including tobacco smoke, anthropogenic sources and wildfires (forest/bushfires), and so on. The persistency of bio-EPFRs from lignin gas-phase pyrolysis was outlined with the evaluated lifetime of two groups of radicals being 33 and 143 h, respectively. The experimental results from pyrolysis of coniferyl alcohol as a model compound of lignin in the same fast flow reactor, along with our detailed potential energy surface analyses using high-level DFT and ab initio methods toward decomposition of a few other model compounds reported earlier, provide a mechanistic view on the formation of C- and O-centered radicals during lignin gas-phase pyrolysis. The preliminary measurements using HF-EPR spectroscopy also support the existence of O-centered radicals in the radical mixtures from pyrolysis of lignin possessing a high g value (2.0048).

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/acsomega.2c03381

Metal-Free Biomass-Derived Environmentally Persistent Free Radicals (Bio-EPFRs) from Lignin Pyrolysis

Air pollution is a known environmental health hazard. A major source of air pollution includes diesel exhaust (DE). Initially, research on DE focused on respiratory morbidities; however, more recently, exposures to DE have been associated with neurological developmental disorders and neurodegeneration. In this study, we investigated the effects of sub-chronic inhalation exposure to DE on neuroinflammatory markers in two inbred mouse strains and both sexes, including whole transcriptome examination of the medial prefrontal cortex. We exposed aged male and female C57BL/6J (B6) and DBA/2J (D2) mice to DE, which was cooled and diluted with HEPA-filtered compressed air for 2 h per day, 5 days a week, for 4 weeks. Control animals were exposed to HEPA-filtered air on the same schedule as DE-exposed animals. The prefrontal cortex was harvested and analyzed for proinflammatory cytokine gene expression (Il1β, Il6, Tnfα) and transcriptome-wide response by RNA-seq. We observed differential cytokine gene expression between strains and sexes in the DE-exposed vs. control-exposed groups for Il1β, Tnfα, and Il6. For RNA-seq, we identified 150 differentially expressed genes between air and DE treatment related to natural killer cell-mediated cytotoxicity per Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathways. Overall, our data show differential strain-related effects of DE on neuroinflammation and neurotoxicity and demonstrate that B6 are more susceptible than D2 to gene expression changes due to DE exposures than D2. These results are important because B6 mice are often used as the default mouse model for DE studies and strain-related effects of DE neurotoxicity warrant expanded studies.

/pdf/genomic-basis-for-individual-differences-in-susceptibility-3vokqzbr.pdf

Genomic Basis for Individual Differences in Susceptibility to the Neurotoxic Effects of Diesel Exhaust

COPYRIGHT © 2023 Empey, Fixman, Cormier, Kolls and Piedimonte. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. TYPE Editorial PUBLISHED 24 May 2023 DOI 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1219844

/pdf/editorial-neonatal-host-immune-responses-to-pulmonary-1ssrcu2c.pdf

Editorial: Neonatal host immune responses to pulmonary infections

Objectives. To investigate relationships between race and COVID-19 hospitalizations, intensive care unit (ICU) admissions, and mortality over time and which characteristics, may mediate COVID-19 associations. Methods. We analyzed hospital admissions, ICU admissions, and mortality among positive COVID-19 cases within the ten-hospital Franciscan Ministries of Our Lady Health System around the Mississippi River Industrial Corridor in Louisiana over four waves of the pandemic from March 1, 2020-August 31, 2021. Associations between race and each outcome were tested, and multiple mediation analysis was performed to test if other demographic, socioeconomic, or air pollution variables mediate the race-outcome relationships. Results. Race was associated with each outcome over the study duration and during most waves. Early in the pandemic, hospitalization, ICU admission, and mortality rates were greater among Black patients, but as the pandemic progressed these rates became greater in White patients. However, Black patients were still disproportionately represented in these measures. Age was a significant mediator for all outcomes across waves, while comorbidity and emissions of naphthalene and chloroprene acted as mediators for the full study period. Conclusions. The role of race evolved throughout the pandemic in Louisiana, but Black patients bore a disproportionate impact. Naphthalene and chloroprene air pollution partially explained the long-term associations. Our findings imply that air pollution might contribute to the increased COVID-19 hospitalizations and mortality among Black residents in Louisiana but likely do not explain most of the effect of race.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9347280

Stephania A. Cormier

Papers

Environmentally Persistent Free Radicals Modify Oxidative Stress Related Gene Expression in Well-Differentiated Human Nasal Epithelium

Metal-Free Biomass-Derived Environmentally Persistent Free Radicals (Bio-EPFRs) from Lignin Pyrolysis

Genomic Basis for Individual Differences in Susceptibility to the Neurotoxic Effects of Diesel Exhaust

Editorial: Neonatal host immune responses to pulmonary infections

Risk factors among Black and White COVID-19 patients from a Louisiana Hospital System, March, 2020 – August, 2021