Channels of Evolution: Unveiling Evolutionary Patterns in Diatom Ca2+ Signalling.

Diatoms are important primary producers in marine and freshwater environments, but little is known about the signalling mechanisms they use to detect changes in their environment. All eukaryotic organisms use Ca2+ signalling to perceive and respond to environmental stimuli, employing a range of Ca2+-permeable ion channels to facilitate the movement of Ca2+ across cellular membranes. We investigated the distribution of different families of Ca2+ channels in diatom genomes, with comparison to other members of the stramenopile lineage. The four-domain voltage-gated Ca2+ channels (Cav) are present in some centric diatoms but almost completely absent in pennate diatoms, whereas single-domain voltage-gated EukCatA channels were found in all diatoms. Glutamate receptors (GLRs) and pentameric ligand-gated ion channels (pLGICs) also appear to have been lost in several pennate species. Transient receptor potential (TRP) channels are present in all diatoms, but have not undergone the significant expansion seen in brown algae. All diatom species analysed lacked the mitochondrial uniporter (MCU), a highly conserved channel type found in many eukaryotes, including several stramenopile lineages. These results highlight the unique Ca2+-signalling toolkit of diatoms and indicate that evolutionary gains or losses of different Ca2+ channels may contribute to differences in cellular-signalling mechanisms between species.

["No discussions about discharge of semen!" : The wild life of the urologist Felix Schlagintweit (1868-1950)]. / "Man lasse sich ja nicht auf Diskussionen über 'Samenverluste' ein" : Das wilde Leben des Urologen Felix Schlagintweit (1868­1950).

Felix Schlagintweit worked in a medical clinic, was co-owner of a sanatorium, had a private practice and wrote fictional books. He massively improved diagnostic methods (e.g., cystoscope) and was interested in psychoanalysis. He rejected the effectiveness of surgical treatment alone and also sole use of psychosomatics. In his view, conservative treatment options were often at least as effective. Because Schlagintweit refused to take part in national socialism, he was purged from professional discourse after 1933 and was only later were his contributions to the history of urology rediscovered.

Grain yield trade-offs in spike-branching wheat can be mitigated by elite alleles affecting sink capacity and post-anthesis source activity.

Introducing variations in inflorescence architecture, such as the 'Miracle-Wheat' (Triticum turgidum convar. compositum (L.f.) Filat.) with a branching spike, has relevance for enhancing wheat grain yield. However, in the spike-branching genotypes, the increase in spikelet number is generally not translated into grain yield advantage because of reduced grains per spikelet and grain weight. Here, we investigated if such trade-offs might be a function of source-sink strength by using 385 recombinant inbred lines developed by intercrossing the spike-branching landrace TRI 984 and CIRNO C2008, an elite durum (T. durum L.) cultivar; they were genotyped using the 25K array. Various plant and spike architectural traits, including flag leaf, peduncle, and spike senescence rate, were phenotyped under field conditions for 2 consecutive years. On chromosome 5AL, we found a new modifier QTL for spike branching, branched headt3 (bht-A3), which was epistatic to the previously known bht-A1 locus. Besides, bht-A3 was associated with more grains per spikelet and a delay in flag leaf senescence rate. Importantly, favourable alleles, viz. bht-A3 and grain protein content (gpc-B1) that delayed senescence, are required to improve grain number and grain weight in the spike-branching genotypes. In summary, achieving a balanced source-sink relationship might minimize grain yield trade-offs in Miracle-Wheat.

[Innovations from the Baltic Sea region: Nils Alwall, Lembit Norviit, Adolfs Martins Steins and the artificial kidney]. / Innovationen im Ostseeraum: Nils Alwall, Lembit Norviit, Adolfs Martins Steins und die künstliche Niere.

In connection with the construction of one of the first practical dialysis machines, medical historians emphasize the work of the Swedish physician Nils Alwall. Together with his colleagues, he developed a device in the 1940s that could implement the combination of dialysis and ultrafiltration with membranes (cellophane tubes). Little known is the involvement of the physicians Lembit Norviit from Estonia and Adolfs Martins Steins from Latvia, both coauthors of the influential research article Clinical extracorporeal dialysis of blood with artificial kidney that was published in The Lancet in 1948 and the transfer of knowledge between Estonian, Latvian and Swedish researchers.

No correlation between amylase/trypsin-inhibitor content and amylase inhibitory activity in hexaploid and tetraploid wheat species.

Wheat amylase/trypsin-inhibitors (ATI) are known triggers for wheat-related disorders. The aims of our study were to determine (1) the inhibitory activity against different α-amylases, (2) the content of albumins and globulins (ALGL) and total ATI and (3) to correlate these parameters in wholegrain flour of hexaploid, tetraploid and diploid wheat species. The amount of ATI within the ALGL fraction varied from 0.8% in einkorn to 20% in spelt. ATI contents measured with reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) revealed similar contents (1.2-4.2 mg/g) compared to the results determined by LC-MS/MS (0.2-5.2 mg/g) for all wheat species except einkorn. No correlation was found between ALGL content and inhibitory activity. In general, hexaploid cultivars of spelt and common wheat had the highest inhibitory activities, showing values between 897 and 3564 AIU/g against human salivary α-amylase. Tetraploid wheat species durum and emmer had lower activities (170-1461 AIU/g), although a few emmer cultivars showed similar activities at one location. In einkorn, no inhibitory activity was found. No correlation was observed between the ATI content and the inhibitory activity against the used α-amylases, highlighting that it is very important to look at the parameters separately.

The Antioxidant Potential of Various Wheat Crusts Correlates with AGE Content Independently of Acrylamide.

Epidemiological studies have indicated that the consumption of whole-grain products is associated with a reduced risk of cardiovascular diseases, type II diabetes, and cancer. In the case of bread, high amounts of antioxidants and advanced glycation end products (AGEs) are formed during baking by the Maillard reaction in the bread crust; however, the formation of potentially harmful compounds such as acrylamide also occurs. This study investigated the antioxidant responses of different soluble extracts from whole-grain wheat bread crust extracts (WBCEs) in the context of the asparagine, AGE, and acrylamide content. For that, we analyzed nine bread wheat cultivars grown at three different locations in Germany (Hohenheim, Eckartsweier, and Oberer Lindenhof). We determined the asparagine content in the flour of the 27 wheat cultivars and the acrylamide content in the crust, and measured the antioxidant potential using the induced expression of the antioxidant genes GCLM and HMOX1 in HeLa cells. Our study uncovered, for the first time, that the wheat crust's antioxidant potential correlates with the AGE content, but not with the acrylamide content. Mass spectrometric analyses of WBCEs for identifying AGE-modified proteins relevant to the antioxidant potential were unsuccessful. However, we did identify the wheat cultivars with a high antioxidant potential while forming less acrylamide, such as Glaucus and Lear. Our findings indicate that the security of BCEs with antioxidative and cardioprotective potential can be improved by choosing the right wheat variety.

Challenges facing sustainable protein production: Opportunities for cereals.

Rising demands for protein worldwide are likely to drive increases in livestock production, as meat provides ∼40% of dietary protein. This will come at a significant environmental cost, and a shift toward plant-based protein sources would therefore provide major benefits. While legumes provide substantial amounts of plant-based protein, cereals are the major constituents of global foods, with wheat alone accounting for 15-20% of the required dietary protein intake. Improvement of protein content in wheat is limited by phenotyping challenges, lack of genetic potential of modern germplasms, negative yield trade-offs, and environmental costs of nitrogen fertilizers. Presenting wheat as a case study, we discuss how increasing protein content in cereals through a revised breeding strategy combined with robust phenotyping could ensure a sustainable protein supply while minimizing the environmental impact of nitrogen fertilizer.

[Early origins of a physician specializing in sexual medicine from the urological perspective : Max Marcuse (1877-1963)-"physician for skin and urinary diseases"]. / Frühe Quellen eines Sexualmediziners aus urologischer Sicht : Max Marcuse 1877­1963: "Arzt für Haut- und Harnleiden".

The development of sexual medicine starts in Europe in parallel to the evolving clinical specialties urology, venerology, gynecology, neurology/psychiatry, and internal medicine at the end of the 19th century in Berlin. For this reason, we find many examples of fruitful collaboration but also in segregation from each other in defining the new specialties. Max Marcuse, the only one of the well-known Berlin specialists Ivan Bloch, Magnus Hirschfeld, and Albert Moll to survive the Holocaust, was able to publish articles in Palestine and Israel from the 1930s to the 1960s. This year is the 60th anniversary of his death.

[Carl Arthur Kollmann: urologist, venereologist and puppeteer from Leipzig]. / Carl Arthur Kollmann: Urologe, Venerologe und Puppenspieler in Leipzig.

While Felix Martin Oberländer (born in Dresden, Saxony, Germany) is remembered in German-speaking urology and abroad, and his name has been honored since 1997 with an award named after him, the memory and knowledge of Arthur Kollmann of Leipzig (Saxony, Germany) seems to have been nearly forgotten within urology in Germany and abroad. However, the memory of him in other fields of science in which he was involved, e.g., puppets and puppetry-based research, remain vivid up to now.

From farm to fork: future supply chains need to measure and trade nutrient content.

In the future, 8-10 billion people will need to be fed by our agriculture and food production system. Moreover, currently up to five billion people are already affected by malnutrition including undernutrition, inadequate consumption of micronutrients, and overweight. A healthy and sustainable diet will therefore play a pivotal role in our future, but most food products are traded and consumed based only on techno-functional or gustatory properties. We wish to stimulate a debate on the urgent need for multidisciplinary research and education to realize future diets with enhanced nutritional profiles. In particular, there is a need to better measure and understand the factors that influence the nutrients of food products along the global supply chains.

Reference proteomes of five wheat species as starting point for future design of cultivars with lower allergenic potential.

Wheat is an important staple food and its processing quality is largely driven by proteins. However, there is a sizable number of people with inflammatory reactions to wheat proteins, namely celiac disease, wheat allergy and the syndrome of non-celiac wheat sensitivity. Thus, proteome profiles should be of high importance for stakeholders along the wheat supply chain. We applied liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry-based proteomics to establish the flour reference proteome for five wheat species, ancient to modern, each based on 10 cultivars grown in three diverse environments. We identified at least 2540 proteins in each species and a cluster analyses clearly separated the species based on their proteome profiles. Even more, >50% of proteins significantly differed between species - many of them implicated in products' quality, grain-starch synthesis, plant stress regulation and proven or potential allergic reactions in humans. Notably, the expression of several important wheat proteins was found to be mainly driven by genetics vs. environmental factors, which enables selection and refinement of improved cultivars for the wheat supply chain as long as rapid test methods will be developed. Especially einkorn expressed 5.4 and 7.2-fold lower quantities of potential allergens and immunogenic amylase trypsin inhibitors, respectively, than common wheat, whereas potential allergen content was intermediate in tetraploid wheat species. This urgently warrants well-targeted clinical studies, where the developed reference proteomes will help to design representative test diets.

[The genesis of informed consent in the context of medical research ethics 1900-1931]. / Die Genese des Informed Consent im Kontext der medizinischen Forschungsethik 1900­1931.

At the turn of the 20th century, the problem of human experimentation and the need to obtain consent became more important among medical practitioners and the general public. The case of the venereologist Albert Neisser, among others, is used to trace the development of research ethics standards in Germany between the end of the 19th century and 1931. The concept of informed consent, which originated in research ethics, is also of central importance in clinical ethics today.

Mineral and Phytic Acid Content as Well as Phytase Activity in Flours and Breads Made from Different Wheat Species.

Wheat is of high importance for a healthy and sustainable diet for the growing world population, partly due to its high mineral content. However, several minerals are bound in a phytate complex in the grain and unavailable to humans. We performed a series of trials to compare the contents of minerals and phytic acid as well as phytase activity in several varieties from alternative wheat species spelt, emmer and einkorn with common wheat. Additionally, we investigated the potential of recent popular bread making recipes in German bakeries to reduce phytic acid content, and thus increase mineral bioavailability in bread. For all studied ingredients, we found considerable variance both between varieties within a species and across wheat species. For example, whole grain flours, particularly from emmer and einkorn, appear to have higher mineral content than common wheat, but also a higher phytic acid content with similar phytase activity. Bread making recipes had a greater effect on phytic acid content in the final bread than the choice of species for whole grain flour production. Recipes with long yeast proofing or sourdough and the use of whole grain rye flour in a mixed wheat bread minimized the phytic acid content in the bread. Consequently, optimizing food to better nourish a growing world requires close collaboration between research organizations and practical stakeholders ensuring a streamlined sustainable process from farm to fork.

[Gentle hands bring relief. Thure Brandt's massage as a contemporary document and starting aid for urology]. / Zarte Hände bringen Erleichterung. Thure-Brandt-Massage als Zeitdokument und Gründungshilfe für die Urologie.

Naturopathy and urology have little overlap in the present day, but in the Victorian era it was genital massage that made it clear to the medical profession that training specialized in diseases of the abdomen was necessary for physicians, otherwise patients would seek out lay healers and not clinics. This massage was developed in the 1850s by the Swedish officer Thure Brandt. It remained part of German medical practice until after World War II.

Large-scale genotyping and phenotyping of a worldwide winter wheat genebank for its use in pre-breeding.

Plant genetic resources (PGR) stored at genebanks are humanity's crop diversity savings for the future. Information on PGR contrasted with modern cultivars is key to select PGR parents for pre-breeding. Genotyping-by-sequencing was performed for 7,745 winter wheat PGR samples from the German Federal ex situ genebank at IPK Gatersleben and for 325 modern cultivars. Whole-genome shotgun sequencing was carried out for 446 diverse PGR samples and 322 modern cultivars and lines. In 19 field trials, 7,683 PGR and 232 elite cultivars were characterized for resistance to yellow rust - one of the major threats to wheat worldwide. Yield breeding values of 707 PGR were estimated using hybrid crosses with 36 cultivars - an approach that reduces the lack of agronomic adaptation of PGR and provides better estimates of their contribution to yield breeding. Cross-validations support the interoperability between genomic and phenotypic data. The here presented data are a stepping stone to unlock the functional variation of PGR for European pre-breeding and are the basis for future breeding and research activities.

Genomics-informed prebreeding unlocks the diversity in genebanks for wheat improvement.

The great efforts spent in the maintenance of past diversity in genebanks are rationalized by the potential role of plant genetic resources (PGR) in future crop improvement-a concept whose practical implementation has fallen short of expectations. Here, we implement a genomics-informed prebreeding strategy for wheat improvement that does not discriminate against nonadapted germplasm. We collect and analyze dense genetic profiles for a large winter wheat collection and evaluate grain yield and resistance to yellow rust (YR) in bespoke core sets. Breeders already profit from wild introgressions but PGR still offer useful, yet unused, diversity. Potential donors of resistance sources not yet deployed in breeding were detected, while the prebreeding contribution of PGR to yield was estimated through 'Elite × PGR' F1 crosses. Genomic prediction within and across genebanks identified the best parents to be used in crosses with elite cultivars whose advanced progenies can outyield current wheat varieties in multiple field trials.

[Granting of venia legendi as an indicator of specialization : Victor von Ivánchich de Margita (1812-1892) "Lecturer for surgery of the urogenital organs" in Vienna in 1851]. / Die Erteilung der Venia legendi als Gradmesser einer einsetzenden Fachdifferenzierung : Victor von Ivánchich de Margita (1812­1892) "Docent für die Chirurgie der Harnorgane" in Wien, 1851.

Alongside Paris, Vienna was one of the early centers of specialization and professionalization in medicine and urology in the 19th century. Especially the 2nd Vienna Medical School (Erna Lesky) with its main representatives Carl Freiherr von Rokitansky (in Czech: Karel Rokytanský; 1804-1878) and Joseph Ritter von Skoda (1895-1881) was able to create the perfect scientific environment for young students to become acquainted with new fields of research often in an interdisciplinary setting, e.g., chemistry, microscopy or pathology in combination with clinical departments like surgery. We analyze the process of habilitation using the example of a urologist to outline this process within the history of science.

No Difference in Tolerance between Wheat and Spelt Bread in Patients with Suspected Non-Celiac Wheat Sensitivity.

Individuals with suspected non-celiac wheat sensitivity (NCWS) often report better tolerance of spelt (Triticum aestivum ssp. spelta) compared to wheat (Triticum aestivum ssp. aestivum) bakery products. This experience has neither been validated nor explained on a molecular level. Therefore, we performed blinded wheat and spelt bread challenge in this patient group. Twenty-four adults with a history of NCWS but suspected spelt tolerance were challenged in a single-blinded crossover design over six weeks with six different study breads each at 300 g per day for 4 days followed by a washout phase of 3 days. Study breads comprised spelt and wheat breads made either after a traditional (T) or a current (C) recipe, resulting in four bread types plus a gluten-free bread with 1.5% added oligosaccharides (+FODMAP) and a gluten-free bread with 5% added wheat gluten (+Gluten). The main outcome parameter was the Irritable Bowel Syndrome-Severity Scoring System, which was higher than self-estimated by the participants after spelt bread consumption (p = 0.002 for T; p = 0.028 for C) and lower for wheat bread (p = 0.052 for T; p = 0.007 for C), resulting in no difference between wheat and spelt bread tolerance. The +FODMAP bread was better tolerated than both T breads (p = 0.003 for spelt; p = 0.068 for wheat) and equally well tolerated as both C breads and +Gluten breads after normalization to the washout scores. Neither signs of inflammation nor markers for intestinal barrier integrity were influenced. Our data do not confirm, on an objective basis, the differences in expected symptoms resulting from wheat and spelt products, suggesting a strong nocebo effect for wheat and a placebo effect for spelt.

Cold-induced [Ca2+]cyt elevations function to support osmoregulation in marine diatoms.

Diatoms are a group of microalgae that are important primary producers in a range of open ocean, freshwater, and intertidal environments. The latter can experience substantial long- and short-term variability in temperature, from seasonal variations to rapid temperature shifts caused by tidal immersion and emersion. As temperature is a major determinant in the distribution of diatom species, their temperature sensory and response mechanisms likely have important roles in their ecological success. We examined the mechanisms diatoms use to sense rapid changes in temperature, such as those experienced in the intertidal zone. We found that the diatoms Phaeodactylum tricornutum and Thalassiosira pseudonana exhibit a transient cytosolic Ca2+ ([Ca2+]cyt) elevation in response to rapid cooling, similar to those observed in plant and animal cells. However, [Ca2+]cyt elevations were not observed in response to rapid warming. The kinetics and magnitude of cold-induced [Ca2+]cyt elevations corresponded with the rate of temperature decrease. We did not find a role for the [Ca2+]cyt elevations in enhancing cold tolerance but showed that cold shock induces a Ca2+-dependent K+ efflux and reduces mortality of P. tricornutum during a simultaneous hypo-osmotic shock. As intertidal diatom species may routinely encounter simultaneous cold and hypo-osmotic shocks during tidal cycles, we propose that cold-induced Ca2+ signaling interacts with osmotic signaling pathways to aid in the regulation of cell volume. Our findings provide insight into the nature of temperature perception in diatoms and highlight that cross-talk between signaling pathways may play an important role in their cellular responses to multiple simultaneous stressors.