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Introduction This study reports the incidence, anatomic location, and outcomes of graft-vs-host disease (GVHD) at a single active intestine transplant center. Methods Records were reviewed for all patients receiving an intestine transplant from 2003 to 2015. Pathology reports and pharmacy records were reviewed to establish the diagnosis, location, and therapeutic interventions for GVHD. Results A total of 236 intestine transplants were performed during the study period, with 37 patients (16%) developing GVHD. The median time to onset of disease was 83 days, with 89% of affected patients diagnosed in the first year post-transplant. Mortality for affected patients was 54% in the 1 year after GVHD diagnosis. Skin lesions were the most common manifestation of GVHD. Other sites of disease included lungs, bone marrow, oral mucosa, large intestine, and brain. The incidence of GVHD was 16% in adult patients, and slightly lower in pediatric recipients (13%). In adults, increasing graft volume (isolated vs multi-organ) and liver inclusion were associated with increasing risk of GVHD, though this was not seen in pediatric patients. Conclusion Overall, 16% of intestine transplant recipients developed GVHD. GVHD is associated with high mortality, and disease in the lungs, brain, and bone marrow was universally fatal.

Premise of the study: Utah agave (Agave utahensis) and its putative subspecies, A. utahensis subsp. kaibabensis and A. utahensis subsp. utahensis, are keystone species of the Mojave Desert and Colorado Plateau in the southwestern United States. Here we developed microsatellite markers to study population structure and genetic diversity of the two subspecies of A. utahensis. Methods and Results: We analyzed 22,386 454-pyrosequencing large contigs (>400 bp), derived from a genome reduction experiment consisting of A. utahensis accessions, for putative microsatellites. The use of unique multiplex barcodes for each of the Agave accessions allowed for the identification of putatively polymorphic microsatellites based solely on sequence alignment analysis. We report the characteristics of 11 polymorphic microsatellite loci based on a panel of 104 individuals from the two subspecies. The number of alleles per locus varied from three to eight, with an average of 5.5 alleles per locus. Observed and expected heterozygosity values ranged from 0.038 to 0.777 and 0.038 to 0.707, respectively. Conclusions: The microsatellites identified here will be invaluable for future studies of population structure, polyploidy, and genetic diversity across the species.