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This article explores the Mary verses in Sura Maryam and how Christian traditions contributed to them. A new reading is proposed. While the impact of the gospel traditions on the Qur’anic Mary is widely recognized, some of the Christian roots of the Mary traditions have not received the attention they deserve. This paper argues that Mary in the Qur’an is both virgin mother, inspired by Luke and the Protevangelium of James, as well as a holy woman and reminiscent of tales found in Palestinian monastic literature. These tales are therefore important for the discussion of the Mary in the Qur’an as they contributed to Mary’s portrayal as an ascetic who withdraws and controls her food and communications with people.

Plants produce a diversity of secondary metabolites including volatile organic compounds. Some species show discrete variation in these volatile compounds such that individuals within a population can be grouped into distinct chemotypes. A few studies reported that volatile-mediated induced resistance is more effective between plants belonging to the same chemotype and that chemotypes are heritable. The authors concluded that the ability of plants to differentially respond to cues from related individuals that share the same chemotype is a form of kin recognition. These studies assumed plants were actively responding but did not test the mechanism of resistance. A similar result was possible through the passive adsorption and reemission of repellent or toxic VOCs by plants exposed to damage-induced plant volatiles (DIPVs). Here we conducted exposure experiments with five chemotypes of sagebrush in growth chambers; undamaged receiver plants were exposed to either filtered air or DIPVs from mechanically wounded branches. Receiver plants exposed to DIPVs experienced less herbivore damage, which was correlated with increased expression of genes involved in plant defense as well as increased emission of repellent VOCs. Plants belonging to two of the five chemotypes exhibited stronger resistance when exposed to DIPVs from plants of the same chemotypes compared to when DIPVs were from plants of a different chemotype. Moreover, some plants passively absorbed DIPVs and reemitted them, potentially conferring associational resistance. These findings support previous work demonstrating that sagebrush plants actively responded to alarm cues and that the strength of their response was dependent on the chemotypes of the plants involved. This study provides further support for kin recognition in plants but also identified volatile-mediated associational resistance as a passively-mediated additional defense mechanism in sagebrush.

Background: DNA Polymerase θ (Polθ) is active in Theta-mediated end joining (TMEJ), a repair pathway that utilizes resected 3’ ends and micro-homology sequences to repair double strand breaks. Polθ contains an N-terminal helicase domain and a C-terminal polymerase domain. The helicase domain facilitates stripping of RPA/RAD51 from single stranded DNA and is involved in DNA-end recognition, and micro-homology search and pairing. The polymerase domain performs DNA synthesis following micro-homology pairing. Lack of Polθ is synthetic lethal in homologous recombination deficient (HRD) cells. In this study, we utilized existing small molecule inhibitors targeting either helicase or polymerase domain of Polθ, to assess their translational potential in HRD in vitro cancer cell models. Methods: Small molecules inhibiting either the helicase or polymerase activity of Polθ were studied with biochemical and cellular assays. For the biochemical studies, recombinant helicase or polymerase domains were purified. The helicase activity of Polθ was analyzed using ADP-Glo and the polymerase activity by primer extension assay. Binding assays confirmed inhibitor binding to recombinant proteins. To study inhibitor efficacy in cellular models, we probed cell viability of BRCA2-deficient cell lines. Results: Both helicase and polymerase inhibitors showed good potency in inhibiting Polθ enzymatic activity in ATPase or primer extension assays, respectively, with IC50 values in low-nanomolar range. However, the viability of BRCA2-deficient cell lines was not significantly affected after treatment with either helicase or polymerase inhibitors. The measured compound properties (stability, efflux, solubility) did not explain the lack of efficacy in cellular viability assays. Combining Polθ inhibitor treatment with ionizing radiation led to a modest enhancement of radiation-induced decrease in cell viability. Conclusions: Recently, significant advances have been made in Polθ inhibitor development prompted by the synthetic lethal interaction between Polθ and HRD discovered in several screening efforts. Both helicase and polymerase inhibitors are highly potent in biochemical assays. However, without exogenous genotoxic stress, the potential of Polθ inhibitors as therapeutic target may not be reached in vitro. Additional studies are required to understand the translational gap between biochemical and biological read-outs. Citation Format: Johanna K. Ahlskog, Antti Pohjakallio, Ralf Paul, Martin Augustin, Elisabeth Schneider, Sakshi Johri, Tuomas Tervahauta, Hans-Georg Beisel, Lars Neumann, Julia Lindqvist, Anu Moilanen. Comparative study of Polθ helicase and polymerase inhibitor biochemical and cellular potency [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2023; Part 1 (Regular and Invited Abstracts); 2023 Apr 14-19; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(7_Suppl):Abstract nr 6179.

BackgroundThe Glanville fritillary (Melitaea cinxia) butterfly is a model system for metapopulation dynamics research in fragmented landscapes. Here, we provide a chromosome-level assembly of the butterfly's genome produced from Pacific Biosciences sequencing of a pool of males, combined with a linkage map from population crosses.ResultsThe final assembly size of 484 Mb is an increase of 94 Mb on the previously published genome. Estimation of the completeness of the genome with BUSCO indicates that the genome contains 92–94% of the BUSCO genes in complete and single copies. We predicted 14,810 genes using the MAKER pipeline and manually curated 1,232 of these gene models.ConclusionsThe genome and its annotated gene models are a valuable resource for future comparative genomics, molecular biology, transcriptome, and genetics studies on this species.

Introduction: All animals, including humans, are exposed to heavy metals which are known to accumulate in different tissues, especially in bone. During pregnancy, the maternal bone turnover is increased and the metals in the mother’s body can be mobilized into the bloodstream. Heavy metals in maternal blood are known to pass through the placenta to the fetal blood and finally, deposited to bone tissue. However, there are no studies on the concentration of metals in the fetal solid tissues and until now, the rate of metal transfer from mother to fetus is not exactly known. Materials and methods: Samples of the blood, liver, placenta, and three different bones were collected from 17 pregnant ewes and their 27 fetuses. The animals had no known exposure to heavy metals. The concentrations of Al, As, Ba, Ca, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Hg, K, Mg, Mn, Mo, Na, Ni, P, Pb, Rb, Sb, Sn, Sr, Te, Ti, Tl, V, and Zn were analyzed using ICP-MS. Results and discussion: The concentration of Sb, Sn, Te, and Tl were under the detection limit in all the samples. The other metals were found in all maternal and fetal tissues, suggesting that all detectable metals cross the placenta. Blood concentrations were low compared to solid tissue concentrations. The concentrations of essential elements varied between maternal and fetal tissues, which could be explained by biological differences. The differences in concentrations of non-essential elements between the ewe and fetuses were smaller. The most significant differences were between maternal and fetal concentrations of Ba and Sr, which is at least partly explained by the mineralization degree of the bone. Conclusion: Heavy metals accumulate in fetal solid tissues in sheep that are not directly exposed to heavy metals. Because of the differences in anatomy between human and sheep placenta, the accumulation in the tissue of human fetuses should be extrapolated cautiously. However, there might be some clinical relevance for fertile aged women who are exposed to heavy metals, such as women who work in the metal industry or who have undergone joint replacement surgery.

Objective: To examine the prevalence of sagittal relationships, asymmetries and midline shift, and their associations with temporomandibular disorders (TMD) in the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 (NFBC1966). Materials and methods: 1845 subjects participated in a clinical examination at the age of 46. Occlusal measurements were performed using 3D models. Symptoms of TMD were screened using validated questions, and signs and diagnoses of TMD were assessed using a modified protocol of the Diagnostic Criteria for TMD (DC/TMD) and questionnaires. Associations between variables of occlusion and TMD were evaluated with χ²-test and Fisher’s exact test and using logistic regression analyses, adjusted for self-reported general health, mental health, bruxism, and rheumatoid arthritis. Results: The most common sagittal relationships were Class I and normal canine relationship. Half-cusp Class II and post-normal canine relationship were more frequent in females, and Class III and pre-normal canine relationship in males. Deviations from normal cuspid or molar relationships showed a weak but statistically significant association with TMD, especially in females. Half-cusp Class II and Class II relationships were more frequent in relation to joint-related TMD signs and diagnoses while missing canines were associated with pain-related TMD diagnoses. Conclusions: The present study findings gave some indications that canine relationships are associated with pain-related TMD, whereas Angle II sagittal occlusal relations may associate with joint-related TMD. Occlusal characteristics should therefore be taken into account as one possible associating factor in subjects with TMD.