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Genetic variability is essential for adaptation and could be acquired via hybridization with a closely related lineage. We use ants to investigate thermal adaptation and the link between temperature and genetic variation arising from hybridization. We test for differences in cold and heat tolerance between Finnish Formica polyctena and Formica aquilonia wood ants and their naturally occurring hybrids. Using workers, we find that the parental individuals differ in both cold and heat tolerances and express thermal limits that reflect their global distributions. Hybrids, however, cannot combine thermal tolerance of parental species as they have the same heat tolerance as F. polyctena but not the same cold tolerance as F. aquilonia. We then focus on a single hybrid population to investigate the relationship between temperature variation and genetic variation across 16 years using reproductive individuals. On the basis of the thermal tolerance results, we expected the frequency of putative F. polyctena alleles to increase in warm years and F. aquilonia alleles to increase in cold years. We find support for this in hybrid males but not in hybrid females. These results contribute to understanding the outcomes of hybridization, which may be sex specific or depend on the environment. Furthermore, genetic variability resulting from hybridization could help hybrid wood ants cope with changing thermal conditions.

Services have long been perceived as playing a secondary role in world trade. In particular, the role of services trade policies and multilateral services commitments often tends to be downplayed. However, in value added terms, services account for about 50% of world trade and are significant in exports of countries of all levels of development. In addition, cross-border trade is expanding as a result of technological advances, and the supply of services by foreign affiliates (mode 3) exceeds trade through other modes of supply. Services trade policies, which cover a wide range of 'inside-the-border' measures, are an important determinant of foreign direct investment, economy-wide productivity, manufacturing competitiveness and exports, and flows of services value added. This paper underscores, on the basis of recent services data and a growing body of research on the impact of services policies, the role of services trade in economic development, trade integration, and inclusiveness. It argues that the limited attention given to services trade policies and to international commitments is increasingly out of step with the role of services in the global economy. Indeed, services trade policies are often restrictive and multinational commitments are generally modest. Taking steps to raise the profile of services trade within government policy-making would help close this gap and highlight the contribution of services trade policy to a wide range of broader national objectives that have an important services dimension, whether SME and gender policy, or the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The existence of former glacial lakes remains poorly documented in the remote regions of the Canadian Shield where the dense forest cover and poor access complicate classical mapping methods. Here we use a high-resolution Digital Elevation Model (DEM; 1 m/pixel) based on LiDAR data to map Quaternary deposits and landforms in the vicinity of the Gouin reservoir in the Laurentian Highlands of Quebec (Canada). A total of 598 raised shorelines were identified, providing new evidence for the presence of a large proglacial lake – Lake Obedjiwan – that formed in front of the northward retreating Laurentide ice sheet margin during the last deglaciation, a few kilometers east of the larger Lake Ojibway that covered extensive areas in northern Ontario and Quebec. The elevation of shorelines outlines a tilted water plane that depicts the influence of the glacio-isostatic adjustment across the basin, with shorelines ranging from 409 m in the south to 439 m in the north. The calculated uplift gradient of 0.78 m/km indicates that the lake developed during the early stages of the deglaciation. Our reconstruction constrains the full areal extent and maximum elevation of the lake, which covered an area of 1800 km2 and reached an elevation of 450 m. It also indicates that Lake Obedjiwan developed independently from Lake Ojibway. The lake-surface elevation was controlled by an outlet located in the southeastern part of the basin where a topographic depression lying at an elevation of 390 m routed meltwater overflow southward through the Saint-Maurice River and into the St. Lawrence River. Another important outlet is located in the northernmost part of the basin and ice retreat beyond this topographic depression (427 m) caused the drawdown of the Lake Obedjiwan, which drained westward into Lake Ojibway. This discharge added around 19 km3 of meltwater, an event that likely impacted the hydrological budget and sedimentology of Lake Ojibway. The results suggest that other glacial lakes probably developed along the southern LIS ice margin and that the approach developed in this study may contribute to the refinement of their areal coverage and improve paleogeographic reconstructions.

Research Group Presentation at the 2021 Virtual Association of Biomolecular Resource Facilities (ABRF) Annual Meeting. One of the primary missions of the Proteomics Research Group (PRG) is education and outreach through multi-laboratory studies. Here we discuss the status of past, present and future studies. The data from 45 participants in the 2019 DIA study is available on MassIVE, described on bioRxiv, and is currently in review. Last fall we engaged the community in a "bridge" study, resulting in 32 labs conducting beer proteomics and returning data, including that of a control beer. Finally, we are planning our next study that will focus on glycoproteomic methods and analysis. These studies highlight the engagement of the ABRF community, and future opportunities.

A problem that many labs face is the long analysis time required by chromatography. The introduction of hybrid ion mobility-TOF mass spectrometers has proven advantageous in retaining peak capacity when chromatographic times are shortened, due to the extra dimension of separation afforded by the ion mobility (IM) device. We investigated the utility of cIM for peptide separation under fast chromatographic conditions and by direct infusion to determine if the chromatographic separation time could be reduced or eliminated, and still retain the peak capacity for intact proteins and digests. An enolase tryptic digest and peptide P1 (HHHHHHIIKIIK) were used as model systems in this study. Experiments were performed on a cyclic ion mobility-enabled quadrupole time-of-flight (Q-cIM-oa ToF) mass spectrometer. . The cIM device has a circular path that provides a longer, higher mobility resolution separation path (1m) whilst a multi-pass capability provides significantly higher path length and hence resolution over a reduced (selected) mobility range. Data were acquired in both infusion and LC-MS modes. The enolase digest was used as a model system for the separation of peptides by rapid LC-MS. 82 % sequence coverage was obtained with a gradient of less than 3 minutes, afforded by the enhanced mobility and TOF resolution. Partially and fully co-eluting species were separated by a single pass through the cIM device, even with this short chromatographic gradient, useful for data-independent LC-MS workflows. We used the model peptide P1 to also assess hydrogen/deuterium back exchange within the cIM device. The deuterium level in the peptide changed depending on the number of passes in the IM device: more passes resulted in decreased average deuterium. This work will demonstrate how ion mobility MS and multiple stages of IM can dramatically increase peak capacity without additional separation time while adding new structural information to separated proteins and peptides.

Medicinal plants are rich source of pharmaceutically active peptides and proteins. Momordica charantia, a traditional medicinal plant commonly known as bitter melon, is a member of a family Cucurbitaceae and has been explored for various human diseases such as diabetes, peptic ulcer, malaria, infectious diseases, and cancer. Yet, to date only a handful of studies are available related to the therapeutic potential of Momordica charantia seed proteins. In present study, a novel trypsin inhibitor McTI was purified by 2D-LC technique from ammonium sulphate precipitated crude seed proteins of Momordica charantia. The crude seed proteins and gel filtration fractions were explored for their cytotoxic response against MDA-MB-231 cells. Later, for deeper understanding, complete amino acid sequence of McTI was established by Edman protein sequencing and 3D structure was predicted by comparative homology modeling using template trypsin inhibitor 3 from spiny bitter cucumber. In silico molecular docking and dynamic simulation experiments were also performed to study the interaction of McTI with bovine trypsin. The results revealed that McTI is a 30 amino acids peptide having a molecular mass of 3388.4 Da and showed sequence similarity with previously reported cystine knot trypsin inhibitors from plant. McTI is a disulfide rich peptide having 6 cysteine residues that can form 3 disulfide bonds (Cys3-Cys20, Cys10-Cys22 and Cys16-Cys28). Six hydrogen bond interactions of McTI with bovine trypsin were observed in molecular docking whereas, additional hydrogen bond interactions were noticed in molecular dynamic simulation studies. In cytotoxicity analysis against MDA-MB-231 cells, crude seed proteins and F12 exhibited a significant dose dependent response with an IC 50 values of 82.10 ± 6.46 µg/ml and 81.13 ± 4.26, respectively. These findings suggest Momordica charantia proteins as a possible anticancer agent. Furthermore, McTI is a valuable addition in the squash inhibitor family.

Proteomic studies often employ multi-dimensional analytical methods such as nano-LC-ESI-MS/MS to simplify the sample complexity. The time and expertise required to implement LCMS methods can be a barrier to integrating targeted proteomics within translational research programs. We present a robust method that combines multiplexed immuno-affinity capture with MALDI MS, called Affi-BAMS. This platform enables development of highly specific assays for simultaneous profiling of multiple analytes. The workflow utilizes enrichment on single beads that contain one antibody, having enough binding capacity to quantify within 3 orders of magnitude. Multiplexing is achieved by combining assay beads with different specificities. Assay beads are spatially arrayed and captured peptides are eluted into individual micro-wells. The resulting array of micro-spots contain concentrated analytes for direct measurement by MALDI MS. While both intact proteins and protein fragments can be monitored by Affi-BAMS, we focused this work for bottom-up and middle-down proteomics. We illustrate Affi-BAMS assays to several protein targets associated with progression of Alzheimer's disease. Examples include a multiplexed assay for beta-amyloid to monitor fifteen C-terminal fragments, localized within the region of aa672 - aa711 (including AB1-38, AB1-40, AB1-42 & APP669-711). We have also configured assays to monitor twelve different regions of tau (MAPT), spanning from the N-terminus to the C-terminus, including assays for both total and known phosphorylation sites. Lastly, we demonstrate how Affi-BAMS can be used to monitor epigenetic marks on Histone H3 in normal and disease brain. The unique features of this technology include multiplexing capacity that exceeds the current limit of bead-based sandwich immunoassay platforms and the ability to independently screen multiple sites within a single protein. This platform should aid protein panel profiling across a wide range of research applications.

Background The emergence of high throughput technologies that produce vast amounts of genomic data, such as next-generation sequencing (NGS) are transforming biological research. The processing of high throughput datasets typically involves many different computational programs, each of which performs a specific step in a pipeline. Given the wide range of applications and organizational infrastructures, there is a great need for a highly parallel, flexible, portable, and reproducible data processing frameworks. Several platforms currently exist for the design and execution of complex pipelines. Unfortunately, current platforms lack the necessary combination of parallelism, portability, flexibility and/or reproducibility. To address these shortcomings, workflow frameworks that provide a platform to develop and portable pipelines have recently arisen. We complement these new platforms by providing a graphical user interface to create, maintain, and execute complex pipelines. To simplify development, maintenance, and execution of complex data processing pipelines we created DolphinNext. DolphinNext facilitates building and deployment of complex pipelines using a modular approach implemented in a graphical interface that relies on the powerful NextFlow workflow framework by providing 1. A drag and drop user interface that visualizes pipelines and allows users to create pipelines without familiarity in underlying programming languages. 2. Modules to execute and monitor pipelines in distributed computing environments such as high-performance clusters and/or cloud 3. Reproducible pipelines with version tracking and stand-alone versions that can be run independently. 4. Modular process design with process revisioning support to increase reusability and pipeline development efficiency. 5. Pipeline sharing with GitHub and automated testing 6. Extensive reports with R-markdown and shiny support for interactive data visualization and analysis.

With the advancements in single-cell sequencing technologies, it is now possible to interrogate thousands of cells in a single experiment for studying genetic variability. Single-Cell DNA platforms like Tapestri is susceptible to errors primarily from PCR and sequencing with rates ranging from 0.5% - 2%. This makes variant calling and minimal residual disease detection challenging. To address these challenges, we developed a novel consensus sequence-based method for correcting the errors, reduce false-positive rates and predict true variants. First, we build a consensus sequence from several reads to predict the correct sequence. The initial layers learn the motifs and local sequence contexts in classifying the patterns. The output of this network is a probability distribution over possible bases and the prediction is the base with highest probability. The bases in the reads are subsequently corrected to the predicted base from the first step model. After error correcting the reads, we used the variants called by Genome Analysis Toolkit to feed into a multi-class classifier network. Our features consist of percent of cells mutated, and the different genotype features including depth, AF and quality of each variant in these cells. The truth labels are generated using tapestri instrument from multiple experiments with known truth. We trained the network on over 200k cells from 13 samples and tested on a larger set of samples. Class imbalance was handled using upsampling the truth data. Our training samples include diverse samples from cell mixtures at various dilution uptill 0.1% and clinical samples processed through tapestri instrument and sequenced on a diverse set of sequencers including miseq and novaseq. With our 2-step error correction and variant prediction model, we significantly improved our median PPV 2-3 fold at 0.5% LOD. This will enable researchers in finding the rare subclone for characterizing MRD.

Bedrock in arctic and subarctic regions is covered by glacial deposits making the discovery of new mineral deposits difficult. Indicator mineral methods using glacial sediment have thus been developed for mineral exploration in such drift-covered areas. However, sulfide indicator minerals have been under utilized because it was thought that they would not survive glacial transport and post-depositional oxidation during soil formation. In this contribution we show that the 0.25–1 mm non-ferromagnetic heavy mineral concentrates of Quaternary till and esker samples from the Churchill province in northern Quebec, Canada, contain thousands of pyrite and chalcopyrite grains and a few sulfarsenide grains. Accordingly, sulfide minerals do survive glacial and glaciofluvial transport, even in the relatively oxidizing environment of the eskers, and their presence indicates the potential presence of mineralized bedrock up ice. The study area is therefore ideal to test the use of sulfide mineral chemistry for mineral assessment and vectoring. The composition of the pyrite and chalcopyrite grains recovered from the glacial deposits have been determined by LA-ICP-MS and compared with known values for sulfides in magmatic and hydrothermal deposits. Although some elements (e.g. Ag, Cu, Zn, Pb, W, Ba, La, and Yb) are enriched in narrow rims on some sulfide grains, indicating their limited mobility during oxidation, most elements have not been mobilized and reflect initial sulfide compositions in bedrock sources. The binary diagram Co/Sb versus Se/As shows that most of the pyrite grains in surficial sediments are of magmatic origin although some are from hydrothermal sources. The hydrothermal pyrites are enriched in hydrothermal pathfinders (Au, Hg, Ag, Tl, Pb, Zn, Cu, and Mo). The ternary diagram Se-Cd-Ni shows that chalcopyrites from both magmatic and hydrothermal deposits are present in glacial sediments. The high Cd/Zn ratios of the hydrothermal chalcopyrites are indicative of a high crystallization temperature, typical of metamorphosed VMS or SEDEX deposits. Integrated maps combining bedrock geology, glacial transport directions, sample locations, and sulfide grain compositions and populations can be used to delineate target sectors for mineral exploration. Here sulfides have been transported over ~100 km roughly towards north, from sources in the Rachel-Laporte Zone and the Labrador Trough, where metasedimentary/metavolcanic rocks and mafic/ultramafic intrusive rocks are favorable hosts for hydrothermal and magmatic mineralization, respectively.

The last deglaciation of the Laurentide Ice Sheet in northern Quebec and Labrador led to the formation of several glacial lakes that drained into Ungava Bay and the nearby Labrador Sea. Assessing the potential impact of their drainage on ocean surface conditions and climate, however, is limited by the few existing age constraints on ice retreat and associated evolution of these lakes. Here we report 21 10Be ages from shorelines and an outburst flood landform formed by Lake Naskaupi, one of the largest glacial lakes in this region. The results indicate that the lake drained from its full extent at 8300 ± 300 a, suggesting that it may have contributed to the freshwater forcing initiated by the drainage of Lake Agassiz-Ojibway that caused the 8.2-ka cold event. Additionally, the results provide important constraints on the position of the ice margin of the Labrador Sector during its retreat across this region.

Bien que la participation sociale soit un des objectifs des services éducatifs offerts lors de la scolarisation, peu de recherches se sont penchées sur cet enjeu, et ce, plus particulièrement pour les adolescents et les jeunes adultes ayant un trouble du spectre de l’autisme (TSA). Cette recension des écrits porte sur la participation sociale de ces adolescents et jeunes adultes (14 à 21 ans) dans une perspective de résilience. Elle a pour but d’identifier des facteurs de risque susceptibles d’entraver leur participation sociale et des facteurs de protection qui peuvent la favoriser. Pour la réalisation de l’étude, 31 articles scientifiques et un chapitre de livre ont été recensés. À la lumière des résultats obtenus, la période développementale de l’adolescence représente une fenêtre d’occasions pour le développement de la participation sociale, car les adolescents et les jeunes adultes côtoient quotidiennement leurs pairs dans le milieu scolaire. À l’adolescence, le jeune se distancie de la cellule familiale pour construire son identité personnelle en établissant des liens avec ses pairs; dans cette perspective les habiletés sociales sont étroitement liées à la participation sociale. Les résultats obtenus confirment l’importance de la participation sociale pour les jeunes ayant un TSA, de même que la nécessité de soutenir cette participation sociale par l’apprentissage d’habiletés sociales et la multiplication des occasions de les mettre en pratique à l’école et dans leur collectivité. Des stratégies d’intervention à mettre en place pour accroitre la participation sociale de ces jeunes sont proposées., Although social participation is one of the objectives of educational services provided during schooling, few researches have been conducted on this issue, especially for adolescents and young adults with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). This literature review focuses on the social participation of these adolescents and young adults (aged 14 to 21) from a perspective of resilience. This research aims to identify risk factors that may hinder their social participation and the protective factors that may favor it. To conduct this study, 31 scientific articles and one book chapter were identified. Our results demonstrate that adolescence, as a developmental period, represents a window of opportunity for the development of social participation, as adolescents and young adults frequent their peers daily in the school environment. As a teenager, the youngster distances himself from the family unit to build his own identity by establishing links with his peers. From this perspective, social skills are closely linked to social participation. Our results confirm the importance of social participation for youth with ASD, as well as the need to support their social participation through the learning of social skills and the multiplication of opportunities to put them into practice at school and in the community. Intervention strategies are proposed to increase the social participation of these young people.