Ancient DNA (aDNA) has played a major role in our understanding of the past. Important advances in the sequencing and analysis of aDNA from a range of organisms have enabled a detailed understanding of processes such as past demography, introgression, domestication, adaptation and speciation. However, to date and with the notable exception of microbiomes and sediments, most aDNA studies have focused on single taxa or taxonomic groups, making the study of changes at the community level challenging. This is rather surprising because current sequencing and analytical approaches allow us to obtain and analyse aDNA from multiple source materials. When combined, these data can enable the simultaneous study of multiple taxa through space and time, and could thus provide a more comprehensive understanding of ecosystem-wide changes. It is therefore timely to develop an integrative approach to aDNA studies by combining data from multiple taxa and substrates. In this review, we discuss the various applications, associated challenges and future prospects of such an approach.

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Fungi are the most common pathogens of insects and thus important regulators of their populations. Lipid-binding aegerolysin proteins, which are commonly found in the fungal kingdom, may be involved in several biologically relevant processes including attack and defense against other organisms. Aegerolysins act alone or together with membrane-attack-complex/perforin (MACPF)-like proteins to form transmembrane pores that lead to cell lysis. We performed an in-depth bioinformatics analysis of aegerolysins in entomopathogenic fungi and selected a candidate aegerolysin, beauveriolysin A (BlyA) from Beauveria bassiana. BlyA was expressed as a recombinant protein in Escherichia coli, and purified to further determine its functional and structural properties, including lipid-binding ability. Aegerolysins were found to be encoded in genomes of entomopathogenic fungi, such as Beauveria, Cordyceps, Metarhizium and Ophiocordyceps. Detailed bioinformatics analysis revealed that they are linked to MACPF-like genes in most genomes. We also show that BlyA interacts with an insect-specific membrane lipid. These results were placed in the context of other fungal and bacterial aegerolysins and their partner proteins. We believe that aegerolysins play a role in promoting the entomopathogenic and antagonistic activity of B. bassiana, which is an active ingredient of bioinsecticides.

BackgroundSurgical trauma and cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) cause an inflammatory response, difficult to differentiate from postoperative infections. Heparin-binding protein (HBP) is released from neutrophils and has been shown to predict infection-related organ dysfunction and disease progression to severe sepsis. In order to explore the potential of HBP as a biomarker for postoperative infections and asess possible confounding effects of concomitant medications, this study aimed to investigate the pre-, intra- and postoperative dynamics of HBP in cardiac surgery with CPB.Methods Thirty patients undergoing cardiac surgery with CPB were included, of which 15 underwent coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) surgery and 15 underwent complex procedures with longer CPB duration. Ten patients undergoing lung surgery without CPB were also included as a conventional surgery reference group. HBP was measured at nine different perioperative time points.Results Our results showed that HBP levels were not affected by surgical trauma by itself. An increase in HBP levels was observed immediately following heparin administration and further increased during CPB. Prior to protaminization, we measured higher peak HBP-levels in the complex group (345.7 (287.8-472.6) ng/mL) compared with the CABG group (152.7 (85.3-204.0) ng/mL, p<0.001). HBP decreased rapidly following cessation of CPB and simultaneous protamine administration. Delay of protamine administration revealed that protamine, and not the cessation of CPB is primarily responsible for the rapidly reduced HBP concentration. At the arrival to the ICU, the median HBP levels were 24.8 (15.6-38.1) ng/mL for CABG patients compared with 50.5 (36.5-104.6) ng/mL for complex surgery patients (p=0.004). One day after surgery, HBP levels in all three groups were below the proposed cutoff of 30 ng/mL, previously found to predict development of organ dysfunction during infection, while other biomarkers for infections remained elevated.ConclusionsHBP levels are elevated by administration of heparin and the use of CPB but reduced by protamine administration. At postoperative day one, HBP levels were below the threshold for infection with organ dysfunction, indicating that postoperative HBP measurement may be a better screening tool for postoperative infections than other biomarkers of infections that remain elevated after surgery.