Harnessing information encoded in environmental DNA (eDNA) in marine waters has the potential to revolutionize marine biomonitoring. Whether using organism-specific quantitative PCR assays or metabarcoding in conjunction with amplicon sequencing, scientists have illustrated that realistic organism censuses can be inferred from eDNA. The next step is establishing ways to link information obtained from eDNA analyses to actual organism abundance. This is only possible by understanding the processes that control eDNA concentrations. The present study uses mesocosm experiments to study the persistence of eDNA in marine waters and explore the role of sunlight in modulating eDNA persistence. We seeded solute-permeable dialysis bags with water containing indigenous eDNA and suspended them in a large tank containing seawater. Bags were subjected to two treatments: half the bags were suspended near the water surface where they received high doses of sunlight, and half at depth where they received lower doses of sunlight. Bags were destructively sampled over the course of 87 hours. eDNA was extracted from water samples and used as template for a Scomber japonicus qPCR assay and a marine fish-specific 12S rRNA PCR assay. The latter was subsequently sequenced using a metabarcoding approach. S. japonicus eDNA, as measured by qPCR, exhibited first order decay with a rate constant ~0.01 hr -1 with no difference in decay rate constants between the two experimental treatments. eDNA metabarcoding identified 190 organizational taxonomic units (OTUs) assigned to varying taxonomic ranks. There was no difference in marine fish communities as measured by eDNA metabarcoding between the two experimental treatments, but there was an effect of time. Given the differences in UVA and UVB fluence received by the two experimental treatments, we conclude that sunlight is not the main driver of fish eDNA decay in the experiments. However, there are clearly temporal effects that need to be considered when interpreting information obtained using eDNA approaches.

The novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, has spread into a pandemic since its emergence in Wuhan, China in December of 2019. This has been facilitated by its high transmissibility within the human population and its ability to remain viable on inanimate surfaces for an extended period. To address the latter, we examined the effect of simulated sunlight on the viability of SARS-CoV-2 spiked into tissue culture medium or mucus. The study revealed that inactivation took 37 minutes in medium and 107 minutes in mucus. These times-to-inactivation were unexpected since they are longer than have been observed in other studies. From this work, we demonstrate that sunlight represents an effective decontamination method but the speed of decontamination is variable based on the underlying matrix. This information has an important impact on the development of infection prevention and control protocols to reduce the spread of this deadly pathogen.

The Chernobyl accident represents a long-term experiment on the effects of exposure to ionizing radiation at the ecosystem level. Though studies of these effects on plants and animals are abundant, the study of how Chernobyl radiation levels affect prokaryotic and eukaryotic microbial communities is practically non-existent, except for a few reports on human pathogens or soil microorganisms. Environments enduring extreme desiccation and UV radiation, such as sunlight exposed biofilms could in principle select for organisms highly resistant to ionizing radiation as well.

Even though the uptake and assimilation of organic compounds by phytoplankton has been long recognized, very little is still known about its potential ecological role in natural marine communities and whether it varies depending on the light regimes the algae experience. We combined measurements of size-fractionated assimilation of trace additions of (3)H-leucine and (35)S-dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) with microautoradiography to assess the extent and relevance of osmoheterotrophy in summer phytoplankton assemblages from Arctic and Antarctic waters, and the role of solar radiation on it was further investigated by exposing samples to different radiation spectra. Significant assimilation of both substrates occurred in the size fraction containing most phytoplankton (>5 µm), sunlight exposure generally increasing (35)S-DMSP-sulfur assimilation and decreasing (3)H-leucine assimilation. Microautoradiography revealed that the capacity to take up both organic substrates seemed widespread among different polar algal phyla, particularly in pennate and centric diatoms, and photosynthetic dinoflagellates. Image analysis of the microautoradiograms showed for the first time interspecific variability in the uptakes of (35)S-DMSP and (3)H-leucine by phytoplankton depending on the solar spectrum. Overall, these results suggest that the role of polar phytoplankton in the utilization of labile dissolved organic matter may be significant under certain conditions and further confirm the relevance of solar radiation in regulating heterotrophy in the pelagic ocean.

Baculoviruses are a family of insect-specific pathogenic viruses can persist outside for long periods through the formation of occlusion bodies. In spite of this ability, the UV of sunlight is an essential factor that limits the survival of baculoviruses outside the host. In the current study, we compared the UV tolerance of two strains of Lymantria dispar multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus (LdMNPV), which were isolated in spatially different regions (LdMNPV-27/0 in Western Siberia (Russia) and LdMNPV-45/0 in North America (USA)) and dramatically differ in their potency. We exposed the studied strains to sunlight in an open area for 0.25, 0.5, 1, and 2 hours and later perorally inoculated host larvae with the same doses of virus (5x105) and with doses leading to same effect (LD90). We observed that strain LdMNPV-45/0, which previously showed high virulence against L. dispar larvae, was more sensitive to UV irradiation (estimated as the relative rate of inactivation (r, h -1) and as the half-life of the virus (τ1/2, h)) compared to LdMNPV-27/0. Exposure to sunlight induced a significant delay of LdMNPV-45/0-induced pathogenesis already after 0.25 h of sunlight exposure, while for LdMNPV-27/0 this delay was occurred only after 2 h exposure in spite of used concentrations. We also compared the sequences of the main structural proteins of the studied strains as UV light contributes not only to genome damage in viruses but also to structural protein damage. The most prominent genetic difference between the structural proteins of the strains was related to the loss of the virus enhancin factor-1 (vef-1) gene in the LdMNPV-27/0 strain. Thus initially highly potent viral strain (such as LdMNPV-45/0) is not recommend to use in the regions (or forest stand density) with high UV load. The role of virus enhancin factor-1 in baculovirus tolerance to UV needs for following studies.

In recent years, the interest on the effects of the specific wavelengths of the light spectrum on growth and metabolism of plants has been increasing markedly. The present study covers the effect of modified sunlight conditions on the accumulation of anthocyanin pigments in two Vaccinium species: the European wild bilberry (V. myrtillus L.) and the cultivated highbush blueberry (V. corymbosum L.).

In plant factories, measurements of plant conditions are necessary at an early stage of growth to predict harvest times of high value-added crops. Moreover, harvest qualities depend largely on environmental stresses that elicit plant hormone responses. However, the complexities of plant hormone networks have not been characterized under nonstress conditions. In the present study, we determined temporal expression profiles of all genes and then focused on plant hormone pathways using RNA-Seq analyses of gene expression in tomato leaves every 2 h for 48 h. In these experiments, temporally expressed genes were found in the hormone synthesis pathways for salicylic acid, abscisic acid, ethylene, and jasmonic acid. The timing of CAB expression 1 (TOC1) and abscisic acid insensitive 1 (ABA1) and open stomata 1 (OST1) control gating stomata. In this study, compare with tomato and Arabidopsis thaliana, expression patterns of TOC1 have similarity. In contrast, expression patterns of tomato ABI1 and OST1 had expression peak at different time. These findings suggest that the regulation of gating stomata does not depend predominantly on TOC1 and significantly reflects the extracellular environment. The present data provide new insights into relationships between temporally expressed plant hormone-related genes and clock genes under normal sunlight conditions.

Sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum), one of the most popular cultivated herbs worldwide, displays a number of varieties differing in several characteristics, such as the color of the leaves. The development of a reference transcriptome for sweet basil, and the analysis of differentially expressed genes in acyanic and cyanic cultivars exposed to natural sunlight irradiance, has interest from horticultural and biological point of views. There is still great uncertainty about the significance of anthocyanins in photoprotection, and how green and red morphs may perform when exposed to photo-inhibitory light, a condition plants face on daily and seasonal basis. We sequenced the leaf transcriptome of the green-leaved Tigullio (TIG) and the purple-leaved Red Rubin (RR) exposed to full sunlight over a four-week experimental period. We assembled and annotated 111,007 transcripts. A total of 5,468 and 5,969 potential SSRs were identified in TIG and RR, respectively, out of which 66 were polymorphic in silico. Comparative analysis of the two transcriptomes showed 2,372 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) clustered in 222 enriched Gene ontology terms. Green and red basil mostly differed for transcripts abundance of genes involved in secondary metabolism. While the biosynthesis of waxes was up-regulated in red basil, the biosynthesis of flavonols and carotenoids was up-regulated in green basil. Data from our study provides a comprehensive transcriptome survey, gene sequence resources and microsatellites that can be used for further investigations in sweet basil. The analysis of DEGs and their functional classification also offers new insights on the functional role of anthocyanins in photoprotection.

Global gene expression was analyzed in the berry skin of two red grape cultivars, which can ('Jingyan') or cannot ('Jingxiu') synthesize anthocyanins after sunlight exclusion from fruit set until maturity. Gene transcripts responding to sunlight exclusion in 'Jingyan' were less complex than in 'Jingxiu'; 528 genes were induced and 383 repressed in the former, whereas 2655 genes were induced and 205 suppressed in 'Jingxiu'. They were regulated either in the same or opposing manner in the two cultivars, or in only one cultivar. In addition to VvUFGT and VvMYBA1, some candidate genes (e.g. AOMT, GST, and ANP) were identified which are probably involved in the differential responses of 'Jingxiu' and 'Jingyan' to sunlight exclusion. In addition, 26 MYB, 14 bHLH and 23 WD40 genes responded differently to sunlight exclusion in the two cultivars. Interestingly, all of the 189 genes classified as being relevant to ubiquitin-dependent protein degradation were down-regulated by sunlight exclusion in 'Jingxiu', but the majority (162) remained unchanged in 'Jingyan' berry skin. It would be of interest to determine the precise role of the ubiquitin pathway following sunlight exclusion, particularly the role of COP9 signalosome, cullins, RING-Box 1, and COP1-interacting proteins. Only a few genes in the light signal system were found to be regulated by sunlight exclusion in either or both cultivars. This study provides a valuable overview of the transcriptome changes and gives insight into the genetic background that may be responsible for sunlight-dependent versus -independent anthocyanin biosynthesis in berry skin.

Dandruff is a skin condition that affects the scalp of up to half the world's population, it is characterised by an itchy, flaky scalp and is associated with colonisation of the skin by Malassezia spp. Management of this condition is typically via antifungal therapies, however the precise role of microbes in the aggravation of the condition are incompletely characterised. Here, a combination of 454 sequencing and qPCR techniques were used to compare the scalp microbiota of dandruff and non-dandruff affected Chinese subjects. Based on 454 sequencing of the scalp microbiome, the two most abundant bacterial genera found on the scalp surface were Cutibacterium (formerly Propionibacterium) and Staphylococcus, while Malassezia was the main fungal inhabitant. Quantitative PCR (qPCR) analysis of four scalp taxa (M. restricta, M. globosa, C. acnes and Staphylococcus spp.) believed to represent the bulk of the overall population was additionally carried out. Metataxonomic and qPCR analyses were performed on healthy and lesional buffer scrub samples to facilitate assessment of whether the scalp condition is associated with differential microbial communities on the sampled skin. Dandruff was associated with greater frequencies of M. restricta and Staphylococcus spp. compared with the healthy population (p<0.05). Analysis also revealed the presence of an unclassified fungal taxon that could represent a novel Malassezia species.

Preservatives play an essentially role in ensuring that cosmetic formulations remain safe for use via control of microbial contamination. Commonly used preservatives include organic acids, alcohols and phenols and these play an essential role in controlling the growth of bacteria, fungi and moulds in substrates that can potentially act as a rich food source for microbial contaminants. Whilst the activity of these compounds is clear, both in vitro and in formulation, little information exists on the potential impact that common preservative systems, in full formulation, have on the skin's resident microbiome. Dysbiosis of the skin's microbiome has been associated with a number of cosmetic conditions but there currently are no in vivo studies investigating the potential for preservative ingredients, when included in personal care formulations under normal use conditions, to impact the cutaneous microbiome. Here we present an analysis of four in vivo studies that examine the impact of different preservation systems in full formulation, in different products formats, with varying durations of application. This work demonstrates that despite the antimicrobial efficacy of the preservatives in vitro, the skin microbiome is not impacted by preservative containing products in vivo.

Keratins are cytoskeletal proteins that hierarchically arrange into filaments, starting with the dimer sub-unit. They are integral to the structural support of cells, in skin, hair and nails. In skin, keratin is thought to play a critical role in conferring the barrier properties and elasticity of skin. In general, the keratin dimer is broadly described by a tri-domain structure: a head, a central rod and a tail. As yet, no atomistic-scale picture of the entire dimer structure exists; this information is pivotal for establishing molecular-level connections between structure and function in intermediate filament proteins. The roles of the head and tail domains in facilitating keratin filament assembly and function remain as open questions. To address these, we report results of molecular dynamics simulations of the entire epithelial human K1/K10 keratin dimer. Our findings comprise: (1) the first three-dimensional structural models of the complete dimer unit, comprising of the head, rod and tail domains; (2) new insights into the chirality of the rod-domain twist gained from analysis of the full domain structure; (3) evidence for tri-subdomain partitioning in the head and tail domains; and, (4) identification of the residue characteristics that mediate non-covalent contact between the chains in the dimer. Our findings are immediately applicable to other epithelial keratins, such as K8/K18 and K5/K14, and to intermediate filament proteins in general.

Many pinniped species perform a specific dive type, referred to as a 'drift dive', where they drift passively through the water column. This dive type has been suggested to function as a resting/sleeping or food processing dive, and can be used as an indication of feeding success by calculating the daily change in vertical drift rates over time, which reflects the relative fluctuations in buoyancy of the animal as the proportion of lipids in the body change. Northwest Atlantic hooded seals perform drift dives at regular intervals throughout their annual migration across the Northwest Atlantic Ocean. We found that the daily change in drift rate varied with geographic location and the time of year and that this differed between sexes. Positive changes in buoyancy (reflecting increased lipid stores) were evident throughout their migration range and although overlapping somewhat, they were not statistically associated with high use areas as indicated by First Passage Time (FPT). Differences in the seasonal fluctuations of buoyancy between males and females suggest that they experience a difference in patterns of energy gain and loss during winter and spring, associated with breeding. The fluctuations in buoyancy around the moulting period were similar between sexes.

In this study, we evaluated the growth of Pleurotus ostreatus PLO6 using oxo-biodegradable plastics as a carbon and energy source. Oxo-biodegradable polymers contain pro-oxidants that accelerate their physical and biological degradation. These polymers were developed to decrease the accumulation of plastic waste in landfills. To study the degradation of the plastic polymers, oxo-biodegradable plastic bags were exposed to sunlight for up to 120 days, and fragments of these bags were used as substrates for P. ostreatus. We observed that physical treatment alone was not sufficient to initiate degradation. Instead, mechanical modifications and reduced titanium oxide (TiO2) concentrations caused by sunlight exposure triggered microbial degradation. The low specificity of lignocellulolytic enzymes and presence of endomycotic nitrogen-fixing microorganisms were also contributing factors in this process.

Exposure to bright light such as sunlight elicits a sneeze or prickling sensation in about one of every four individuals. This study presents the first scientific examination of this phenomenon, called 'the photic sneeze reflex'.

Asarum heterotropoides Fr. var. mandshuricum (Maxim) Kitag (Chinese wild ginger) is an important medicinal herb. Essential oil extracted from its roots is the key ingredient and is mainly composed of phenylpropanoid compounds. As a skiophyte plant, light is a crucial factor for A. heterotropoides var. mandshuricum growth and metabolism. To investigate the effects of light irradiation on the essential oil biosynthesis in A. heterotropoides var. mandshuricum, the plants were cultivated in four light irradiation treatments (100, 50, 24 and 12% full sunlight). The photosynthetic capacity, essential oil content and composition, activities of several enzymes and levels of some secondary metabolites involved in the shikimic acid and cinnamic acid pathways were analyzed. The leaf mass per area, average diurnal net photosynthetic rate, and the essential oil content increased significantly with increasing light intensity. Phenylalanine, cinnamic acid, and p-coumaric acid in the cinnamic acid pathway were at their highest levels in plants cultivated in 100% full sunlight. The highest content of shikimic acid in the shikimic acid pathway was obtained in plants grown in 50% sunlight transmittance. The activity of the enzymes 3-Deoxy-D-arabino-heptulosonate-7-phosphate synthase, phenylalanine ammonia lyase, cinnamate-4-hydroxylase and 4-coumarate:CoA ligase increased proportionally with light intensity. Overall, we conclude that high light irradiation promotes high net photosynthetic rate, high activity of enzymes and high amounts of phenylpropanoid precursor metabolites leading to significant biosynthesis of essential oil in A. heterotropoides var. mandshuricum.

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) copy number in peripheral blood has been suggested as risk modifier in various types of cancer. However, its influence on melanoma risk is unclear. We evaluated the association between mtDNA copy number in peripheral blood and melanoma risk in 500 melanoma cases and 500 healthy controls from an ongoing melanoma study. The mtDNA copy number was measured using real-time polymerase chain reaction. Overall, mean mtDNA copy number was significantly higher in cases than in controls (1.15 vs 0.99, P<0.001). Increased mtDNA copy number was associated with a 1.45-fold increased risk of melanoma (95% confidence interval: 1.12-1.97). Significant joint effects between mtDNA copy number and variables related to pigmentation and history of sunlight exposure were observed. This study supports an association between increased mtDNA copy number and melanoma risk that is independent on the known melanoma risk factors (pigmentation and history of sunlight exposure).

Forming and comparing subjective values (SVs) of choice options is a critical stage of decision-making. Previous studies have highlighted a complex network of brain regions involved in this process by utilising a diverse range of tasks and stimuli, varying in economic, hedonic and sensory qualities. However, the heterogeneity of tasks and sensory modalities may systematically confound the set of regions mediating the SVs of goods. To identify and delineate the core brain valuation system involved in processing SV, we utilised the Becker-DeGroot-Marschak (BDM) auction, an incentivised demand-revealing mechanism which quantifies SV through the economic metric of willingness-to-pay (WTP). A coordinate-based activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis analysed twenty-four fMRI studies employing a BDM task (731 participants; 190 foci). Using an additional contrast analysis, we also investigated whether this encoding of SV would be invariant to the concurrency of auction task and fMRI recordings. A fail-safe number analysis was conducted to explore potential publication bias. WTP positively correlated with fMRI-BOLD activations in the left ventromedial prefrontal cortex with a sub-cluster extending into anterior cingulate cortex, bilateral ventral striatum, right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, right inferior frontal gyrus, and right anterior insula. Contrast analysis identified preferential engagement of the mentalizing-related structures in response to concurrent scanning. Together, our findings offer succinct empirical support for the core structures participating in the formation of SV, separate from the hedonic aspects of reward and evaluated in terms of WTP using BDM, and show the selective involvement of inhibition-related brain structures during active valuation.

Photolysis is one of the main transformation pathways for 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) released into the environment. Upon exposure to sunlight, TNT is known to undergo both oxidation and reduction reactions with release of nitrite, nitrate, and ammonium ions, followed by condensation reactions of the oxidation and reduction products. In this study, compound classes of transformation products from the aqueous and solid phase photodegradation of 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) have been identified by liquid and solid state 13C and 15N NMR. Aqueous phase experiments were performed on saturated solutions of T15NT in deionized water, natural pond water (pH = 8.3, DOC = 3.0 mg/L), pH 8.0 buffer solution, and in the presence of Suwannee River Natural Organic Matter (SRNOM; pH = 3.7), using a Pyrex-filtered medium pressure mercury lamp. Natural sunlight irradiations were performed on TNT in the solid phase and dissolved in the pond water. In deionized water, carboxylic acid, aldehyde, aromatic amine, primary amide, azoxy, nitrosophenol, and azo compounds were formed. 15N NMR spectra exhibited major peaks centered at 128 to 138 ppm, which are in the range of phenylhydroxylamine and secondary amide nitrogens. The secondary amides are proposed to represent benzanilides, which would arise from photochemical rearrangement of nitrones formed from the condensation of benzaldehyde and phenylhydroxylamine derivatives of TNT. The same compound classes were formed from sunlight irradiation of TNT in the solid phase. Whereas carboxylic acids, aldehydes, aromatic amines, phenylhydroxylamines, and amides were also formed from irradiation of TNT in pond water and in pH 8 buffer solution, azoxy and azo compound formation was inhibited. Solid state 15N NMR spectra of photolysates from the lamp irradiation of unlabeled 2,6-dinitrotoluene in deionized water also demonstrated the formation of aromatic amine, phenylhydroxylamine/ 2° amide, azoxy, and azo nitrogens.

Chloroplast genomes provide a wealth of information for evolutionary and population genetic studies. Chloroplasts play a particularly important role in the adaption for aquatic plants because they float on water and their major surface is exposed continuously to sunlight. The subfamily of Lemnoideae represents such a collection of aquatic species that because of photosynthesis represents one of the fastest growing plant species on earth.