The biocultural origins and dispersal of domestic chickens

SignificanceChickens are the world's most numerous domestic animal. In order to understand when, where, and how they first became associated with human societies, we critically assessed the domestic status of chicken remains described in >600 sites in 89 countries, and evaluated zoogeographic, morphological, osteometric, stratigraphic, contextual, iconographic, and textual data. Although previous studies have made claims for an early origin of chickens, our results suggest that unambiguous chickens were not present until ∼1650 to 1250 BCE in central Thailand. A correlation between early chickens and the first appearance of rice and millet cultivation suggests that the production and storage of these cereals may have acted as a magnet, thus initiating the chicken domestication process

Wool sheep and purple snails - Long‐term continuity of animal exploitation in ancient Meninx (Jerba/Tunisia)

Archaeological research at the ancient city of Meninx in Jerba, Tunisia, carried out by the Institut National du Patrimoine Tunisie and Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU) produced more than 10,000 faunal specimens and shed light on subsistence activities spanning from the fourth century BCE until the seventh century CE. Despite its highly diverse fauna totalling at least 69 species of mammals, birds, reptiles, fish and molluscs, domestic livestock formed the mainstay of the economy at Meninx. Throughout site occupation and compared with contemporaneous sites in coastal Tunisia and Libya, sheep were of prime importance at Meninx. Diachronic demographic profiling illustrates an emphasis on the production of wool for making textiles. Together with the ubiquitous presence of crushed banded dye‐murex (Hexaplex trunculus) shells implying exploitation of purple dyes, we assume that both activities were integrated into a single chaîne opératoire for making purple‐dyed fabrics that were traded across the Mediterranean from Punic until Late Roman times. Zooarchaeological findings also suggest that during the Byzantine Period, this major economic activity came to a standstill, with people returning to more self‐sufficient subsistence strategies. An intersite comparison furthermore revealed that high proportions of ovicaprines are a typical feature of Punic–Roman sites in Jerba. But even at the height of Roman power in the region, autochthonous husbandry traditions continued to exist on the island, as illustrated by the fauna from Henchir Bourgou

Distinct 5-methylcytosine profiles in poly(A) RNA from mouse embryonic stem cells and brain

Abstract Background Recent work has identified and mapped a range of posttranscriptional modifications in mRNA, including methylation of the N6 and N1 positions in adenine, pseudouridylation, and methylation of carbon 5 in cytosine (m5C). However, knowledge about the prevalence and transcriptome-wide distribution of m5C is still extremely limited; thus, studies in different cell types, tissues, and organisms are needed to gain insight into possible functions of this modification and implications for other regulatory processes. Results We have carried out an unbiased global analysis of m5C in total and nuclear poly(A) RNA of mouse embryonic stem cells and murine brain. We show that there are intriguing differences in these samples and cell compartments with respect to the degree of methylation, functional classification of methylated transcripts, and position bias within the transcript. Specifically, we observe a pronounced accumulation of m5C sites in the vicinity of the translational start codon, depletion in coding sequences, and mixed patterns of enrichment in the 3\u2032 UTR. Degree and pattern of methylation distinguish transcripts modified in both embryonic stem cells and brain from those methylated in either one of the samples. We also analyze potential correlations between m5C and micro RNA target sites, binding sites of RNA binding proteins, and N 6-methyladenosine. Conclusion Our study presents the first comprehensive picture of cytosine methylation in the epitranscriptome of pluripotent and differentiated stages in the mouse. These data provide an invaluable resource for future studies of function and biological significance of m5C in mRNA in mammals

Henchir Bourgou (Djerba, Tunesien): Stratigraphie und Fundvorlage einer Sondage im Zentrum der antiken Siedlung (8. Jh. v. Chr. – 2. Jh. n. Chr.)

Die antike Siedlung Henchir Bourgou auf Djerba (Tunesien) ist seit 2017 Gegenstand gemeinsamer Forschungen des tunesischen Institut National du Patrimoine (INP) und des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts (DAI). Der vorliegende Beitrag ist die Publikation der Ergebnisse einer ersten Sondage im Zentrum des Siedlungsareals. Die Schichtenabfolge und die Baubefunde von den ersten Siedlungsphasen im 8. Jh. v. Chr. bis zu den letzten Spuren einer intensiven Besiedlung an der höchsten Stelle des Siedlungsareals in der letzten Hälfte des 2. Jhs. n. Chr., geben gemeinsam mit der vorgelegten Fundkeramik und begleitenden naturwissenschaftlichen Untersuchungen einen ersten Überblick über die Siedlungs- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte von Henchir Bourgou.The ancient settlement of Henchir Bourgou/Djerba (Tunisia) has been the focus of joint research by the Tunisian Institut National du Patrimoine (INP) and the German Archaeological Institute (DAI) since 2017. The article summarizes the results of a first sondage in the centre of the settlement area. The sequence of layers and the building features from the first settlement phases in the 8th century B.C. to the last traces of intensive occupation at the highest point of the settlement area in the last half of the 2nd century A.D., together with the find pottery and accompanying scientific investigations, provide a first overview of the settlement and economic history of Henchir Bourgou

Leitplanken gegen Studiengebühren und Bremer Finanzausgleichs-Tricksereien

Methylated cytosines in total poly(A) ESC RNA. (XLSX 761 kb

The biometry of prehistoric Alpine sheep: exploring four millennia of human-sheep interaction by means of osteometry

Trixl, Simon (2022): The biometry of prehistoric Alpine sheep: exploring four millennia of human-sheep interaction by means of osteometry. Anthropozoologica 57 (4): 117-139, DOI: 10.5252/anthropozoologica2022v57a

Carbon storage and CO2 emission potentials of peat soils under forestes in Tyrol

Moore sind einzigartige 6kosysteme, die besonders hinsichtlich der Archivfunktion, des Wasser- und N\ue4hrstoffhaushaltes, der historischen Nutzungsm\uf6glichkeiten und der Funktion als Kohlenstoffsenke f\ufcr die Wissenschaft, aber auch f\ufcr die gesamte Bev\uf6lkerung von gro fem Interesse sind (vgl. Succow & Joosten 2001; Dier fen & Dier fen 2008). Grunds\ue4tzlich wird von Mooren immer dann gesprochen, wenn Torf gebildet wird oder oberfl\ue4chlich ansteht (Succow & Joosten 2001, S. 2). 30 % des weltweiten Bodenkohlenstoffes sind in Mooren gespeichert, was diese 6kosysteme zu einem der effizientesten Kohlenstoffspeicherst\ue4tten macht (vgl. Dr\uf6sler 2009, S. 60). Dies ist besonders bemerkenswert, ruft man sich vor Augen, dass lediglich 3 % der weltweiten Landoberfl\ue4chen von Mooren eingenommen wird (Succow 2001, S. 2). Gr\ufcnig (2010, S. 5) und Niedermair et al. (2011, S. 13) gehen davon aus, dass in 6sterreich ca. 90 % der urspr\ufcnglichen Moorfl\ue4chen entw\ue4ssert und prim\ue4r f\ufcr landwirtschaftliche Zwecke genutzt werden. Zus\ue4tzlich kann davon ausgegangen werden, dass zwei Drittel der noch naturnahen Moore mittlerweile auch gest\uf6rt sind. In der Moorstrategie 6sterreich 2030+ werden Grundlagen, Ziele und Ma fnahmen erkl\ue4rt, welche helfen sollen diese sensiblen 6kosysteme besser sch\ufctzen zu k\uf6nnen. Des Weiteren wird angegeben, dass es unter anderem zu Mooren unter W\ue4ldern wenig, bis keine Daten und Informationen hinsichtlich des Erhaltungszustandes und Kohlenstoffspeicherverm\uf6gens gibt. Aus diesem Grund soll die vorliegende Arbeit versuchen, diese Fragestellungen f\ufcr das Bundesland Tirol zu bearbeiten.There is no doubt, that reducing the current global warming is one of the greatest social challenges of this century. This task is incredibly hard to master and only reducing our CO2 emission is probably not enough. Therefore, it is essential that we must look after the world\u2019s largest terrestrial carbon reservoir, the soil. In particular, the organic peat soil is a predominant factor in terms of storing huge amounts of carbon. As long as these carbon stores function under natural conditions, peat soil acts as a carbon sink. Due to inappropriate usage based on draining them for primary agriculture, these sinks can transform into greenhouse gas sources. About five percent of anthropogenic CO2 emissions worldwide are related to draining peat soils for agricultural usage. Only three percent of the worlds land surface is covered by peatland, which corresponds to about four million square kilometres. In Austria, the area covered by peatland for agricultural usage is relatively insignificant compared to other soils, but they can make up to 50 % of the agricultural CO2 emissions. In order to reduce anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, these peatlands must be rewetted if they were drained, or kept under natural conditions, to ensure the function of peatlands as carbon sinks. Unfortunately, there is very little information about such peat soils and especially about peat soils under forests. There is hardly any information at all. The existing studies mainly focus on natural peatlands or those under primarily agricultural usage. Therefore, there is also no reliable knowledge about the third dimension (thickness of peat soils) and their CO2 emission potentials. With that in mind, the main research questions are: i) Is there any information and data about peatland and peat soils under forests in Tyrol? ii) How accurate are the existing datasets, compared to actual peatlands? iii) How much potential peatland and peat soil is there under forests in Tyrol? iv) How high is the carbon storage capacity and the CO2 emission potential of peatlands and peat soils in the first metre under forests in Tyrol?Simon Trixl, BSc.Summary in englischer SpracheMasterarbeit Universit\ue4t Innsbruck 202

Studying the biological role of RNA cytosine methylation

Aktuell wurden mehr als 170 Modifikationen in RNA, welche den Großteil der Stickstoffatome, einige Kohlenstoffatome als auch den Sauerstoff der 2’OH Gruppe der Ribose betreffen können, beschrieben. Interessanterweise wurden die meisten dieser Modifikationen, welche häufig Methylierungen darstellen, in sehr abundant vorkommenden RNAs untersucht. Obwohl vor einigen Dekaden Modifikationen auch in kodierenden RNAs charakterisiert wurden, war es erst mit der Entwicklung von Hochdurchsatz-Sequenzierungen möglich interne mRNA Modifikationen akkurat zu identifizieren. Generell wird angenommen, dass diese internen mRNA Modifikationen eine zusätzliche Ebene der Genregulation darstellen, wodurch sich in den letzten Jahren ein neues Gebiet in der RNA Forschung etablierte, welches man allgemein als „Epitranskriptomik“ bezeichnet. Die Methylierung von Cytosinen am fünften Kohlenstoffatom (m5C) tritt als eine universell auftretende Modifikation in höheren Eukaryoten auf und hat das Potential wichtige funktionelle Rollen im RNA Metabolismus zu übernehmen. In früheren Arbeiten mit embryonalen Stammzellen und dem Gehirn der Maus konnten wir bereits das Cytosin-Methylom in poly(A) RNAs erfolgreich charakterisieren und zeigen, dass m5C besonders in der Nähe von Translationsstartseiten und in 3‘UTRs akkumuliert, aber nicht in der kodierenden Region vorkommt. In dieser Dissertation widmete Ich mich der Identifizierung der biologischen Funktion von m5C in mRNAs aus embryonalen Stammzellen der Maus. Zusätzlich waren auch jene Enzyme von Interesse, welche 5-Methylcytosin in RNA installieren. Im ersten Schritt wurde unser Bisulfit-Sequenzierungsprotokoll optimiert, was zu einer beträchtlichen Reduktion falsch-positiv detektierter m5Cs führte. Des Weiteren konnten Beweise dafür gefunden werden, dass m5C in 5’UTRs die Translationseffizienz beeinflusst und die RNA Methyltransferase Nsun2 dabei eine wichtige Rolle übernimmt. Interessanterweise war auch für Nsun6, welche als eine tRNA Methyltransferase beschrieben wurde, eine Aktivität für bestimmte mRNAs nachweisbar. Im Zuge dieser Dissertation konnte außerdem eine Nsun3 abhängige Methylierung der mitochondrialen tRNAMet an Position C34 gezeigt werden. Ein fehlendes Nsun3 Enzym führte zu schweren Defekten in der Zellphysiologie und Differenzierung. Abschließend wurden zur exakteren Beschreibung der molekularen Umgebung bestimmter Methyltransferasen Tandemaffinitätsreinigungen für Nsun2 und Nsun3 entwickelt. Diese Arbeit soll zu einem besseren Verständnis der Rolle von m5C in der Zellphysiologie, Proteinbiosynthese und Differenzierung von embryonalen Stammzellen der Maus beisteuern und das Wissen über drei spezifische RNA Methyltransferasen erweitern.To date, more than 170 modifications in RNA have been described that are installed at the majority of nitrogens, certain carbon positions as well as the oxygen of the 2’OH ribose moiety. Interestingly, most of the discovered modifications accord for methylation and were mainly studied in highly abundant RNA species. Although many modifications have been reported in coding RNAs years ago, it was not until the last decade with the advent of high-throughput deep sequencing methods that specifically internal modifications were successfully identified and mapped. The common assumption is that these internal modifications provide an additional layer of gene regulation leading to the development of a novel field in RNA research termed epitranscriptomics. Cytosine methylation of carbon 5 (m5C) is emerging as a ubiquitously occurring modification of mRNA in higher eukaryotes with the potential for functional regulation of RNA metabolism. There are, however, controversial discussions among the epitranscriptome community about whether m5C is widespread in mRNAs or limited to a small number of modification sites. In previous work we have mapped the cytosine methylome in mRNA and nuclear RNA of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and mouse brain and found that a significant number of 5-methylcytosine (m5C) positions was located near the translational start codon or in the 3’UTR of mRNAs but was depleted from the coding sequence. In this doctoral thesis, I addressed the biological function of m5C in mRNA in mouse embryonic stem cells. Moreover, the writer enzymes that install this modification onto mRNA molecules were of particular concern in this study. As a first step, I was able to improve our bisulfite-sequencing procedure resulting in a marked decrease of false-positive m5C calls. Studying the hypothesis that m5C in 5’UTRs might contribute to translation regulation, I found evidence for a modulatory role of m5C on translation efficiency and for a function of RNA methyltransferase Nsun2 in this process. Moreover, I was able to show mRNA methylation activity for Nsun6, which was formerly described as a tRNA methyltransferase. In addition, I could demonstrate that the mitochondrial RCMT Nsun3 targets mitochondrial tRNAMet at position C34 in mESCs, and that loss of Nsun3 activity resulted in severely defects of cell physiology and differentiation. Finally, to better understand the molecular environment of cytosine methyltransferases, I developed a tandem affinity approach for the purification of Nsun2 and Nsun3 from human and mouse cells. Taken together, these findings contribute to a better understanding of the role of m5C in cell physiology, protein biosynthesis and differentiation of mouse embryonic stem cells, and they expand our knowledge on three specific m5C writer proteins.Lukas Trixl, MSc.Kumulative Dissertation aus sechs ArtikelnZusammenfassung in deutscher SpracheDissertation Medizinische Universität Innsbruck 202

City Library Dornbirn

Abweichender Titel nach Übersetzung der Verfasserin/des VerfassersZusammenfassung in englischer SpracheIm Zuge unterschiedlicher Analysen beschäftigt sich die Arbeit zum Neubau einer Stadtbibliothek in Dornbirn mit der Umsetzung eines Konzeptes, in dem auf logische und nachvollziehbare Art und Weise ein Gebäude entwickelt wird, das die gesellschaftlichen, kulturellen und technologischen Anforderungen einer modernen Bibliothek erfüllt und sich ästhetisch in der Umgebung platziert. Hierfür wird Abstand von klassischen Bibliotheksstrukturen genommen und stattdessen eine Kommunikationsplattform angestrebt, die ein einladender und offener Wissens- und Ideenraum für Dornbirn darstellen soll. Bürger aller Altersgruppen sollen die Möglichkeit haben, sich Wissen anzueignen und Kompetenzen in unterschiedlichen Lebensbereichen zu entwickeln.The thesis focuses on the realization of an innovative library building design, derived in the course of various experiments and analysis. The design aims to fulfill social, cultural and technological requirements in an aesthetic manner to the small community of Dornbirn. In the course of study, the platform diverged from compliance with classic spatial designs and instead aims to provide an inviting and open workspace to optimize the flow of knowledge and ideas. The motivation for this research originates in the desire for everyone to be given an equal opportunity to effortlessly acquire knowledge and develop competencies in various aspects of life.13