Watching sexy displays improves hatching success and offspring growth through maternal allocation

Male attractiveness can have tremendous effects on the fitness of his offspring via good genes, but also via enhanced maternal allocation of resources. Yet the proximate mechanisms influencing differential maternal allocation in relation to male sexiness are poorly known. Here, we studied the importance of visual stimulation for maternal allocation in the Houbara bustard, a vulnerable bird species bred in captivity to support wild populations. Artificial insemination allowed controlling for potential confounding factors, such as a male''s territory quality, social interactions or sperm quality/quantity, probably linked to mate attractiveness. We show that artificially inseminated females stimulated by highly displaying males increased their hatching success, owing to increased fertilization success. The females also increased the allocation of maternal androgens in their eggs, leading to an increase of circulating testosterone and growth rate in chicks. Hence, visual stimulation of the females can promote differential maternal allocation and favour offspring fitness. Our results further suggest that using artificial insemination for species conservation without appropriate stimulation of the breeding females probably has negative impacts on their breeding performance and therefore on population viability.     

Measuring the importance of competition: a new formulation of the problem

1.  Currently, there is a debate among plant ecologists on the concepts of the intensity of competition and the importance of competition, which is central to many issues of modern plant population ecology and plant community ecology.
2.  It is problematic that the current measures of intensity and importance of competition, typically, are reported as dimensionless indices because they hide the fact that both indices are functions of plant density and the level of the environmental gradient.
3.  Here, a new formulation of the concepts is suggested, which explicitly highlights the functional dependencies on plant density and the level of the environmental gradient. The new measures are a generalization of the previous indices and correspond to the previous indices in the case of a simple experimental design.
4.  The suggested measures of the intensity and importance of competition are exemplified using data from a response surface competition experiment between Agrostis capillaris and Festuca ovina along a herbicide gradient, where the expected clear effect of plant density was demonstrated.
5.   Synthesis . As the suggested measures of the intensity and importance of competition explicitly highlight the functional dependencies on plant density and the level of the environmental gradient, we think that they will help to ensure a closer connection between experimental plant ecology and the attempts to model plant populations and communities.     

Soluble HLA-G inhibits cell cycle progression in human alloreactive T lymphocytes

HLA-G is involved in regulating T cell responses. Various mechanisms have been proposed to explain the inhibition of T cell proliferation. In this context, the possible role of HLA-G in cell cycle regulation remains to be explored. Using stably transfected M8 cells expressing the secreted isoform (HLA-G5) of HLA-G, we investigated the role of HLA-G in inducing apoptosis and in controlling the cell cycle of activated T cells. Soluble HLA-G (HLA-G5) inhibited both CD4 and CD8 T cell proliferation. However, HLA-G5 did not induce T cell apoptosis, as determined by 3,3'-diethyloxacarbocyanine and propidium iodine labeling. It induced accumulation of the retinoblastoma protein, but not its phosphorylated and active form. Treatment of activated T cells with HLA-G5 also reduced the amounts of cyclin D2, E, A, and B by >80%. In contrast, it induced an accumulation of p27kip, but not p21cip, in activated T cells. HLA-G does not induce apoptosis of alloreactive T cells, but induces p27kip1 and inhibits cell cycle progression.     

Tightening of the ATP-binding sites induces the opening of P2X receptor channels

The opening of ligand-gated ion channels in response to agonist binding is a fundamental process in biology. In ATP-gated P2X receptors, little is known about the molecular events that couple ATP binding to channel opening. In this paper, we identify structural changes of the ATP site accompanying the P2X2 receptor activation by engineering extracellular zinc bridges at putative mobile regions as revealed by normal mode analysis. We provide evidence that tightening of the ATP sites shaped like open 'jaws' induces opening of the P2X ion channel. We show that ATP binding favours jaw tightening, whereas binding of a competitive antagonist prevents gating induced by this movement. Our data reveal the inherent dynamic of the binding jaw, and provide new structural insights into the mechanism of P2X receptor activation.     

Epoxycarotenoid cleavage by NCED5 fine-tunes ABA accumulation and affects seed dormancy and drought tolerance with other NCED family members

Carotenoid cleavage, catalyzed by the 9-cis-epoxycarotenoid dioxygenase (NCED) constitutes a key step in the regulation of ABA biosynthesis. In Arabidopsis, this enzyme is encoded by five genes. NCED3 has been shown to play a major role in the regulation of ABA synthesis in response to water deficit, whereas NCED6 and NCED9 have been shown to be essential for the ABA production in the embryo and endosperm that imposes dormancy. Reporter gene analysis was carried out to determine the spatiotemporal pattern of NCED5 and NCED9 gene expression. GUS activity from the NCED5 promoter was detected in both the embryo and endosperm of developing seeds with maximal staining after mid-development. NCED9 expression was found at early stages in the testa outer integument layer 1, and after mid-development in epidermal cells of the embryo, but not in the endosperm. In accordance with its temporal- and tissue-specific expression, the phenotypic analysis of nced5 nced6 nced9 triple mutant showed the involvement of the NCED5 gene, together with NCED6 and NCED9, in the induction of seed dormancy. In contrast to nced6 and nced9, however, nced5 mutation did not affect the gibberellin required for germination. In vegetative tissues, combining nced5 and nced3 mutations reduced vegetative growth, increased water loss upon dehydration, and decreased ABA levels under both normal and stressed conditions, as compared with nced3. NCED5 thus contributes, together with NCED3, to ABA production affecting plant growth and water stress tolerance.     

Crystal Structure of ATVORF273, a New Fold for a Thermo- and Acido-Stable Protein from the Acidianus Two-Tailed Virus

Acidianus two-tailed virus (ATV) infects crenarchaea of the genus Acidianus living in terrestrial thermal springs at extremely high temperatures and low pH. ATV is a member of the Bicaudaviridae virus family and undergoes extra-cellular development of two tails, a process that is unique in the viral world. To understand this intriguing phenomenon, we have undertaken structural studies of ATV virion proteins and here we present the crystal structure of one of these proteins, ATV. ATV forms tetramers in solution and a molecular envelope is provided for the tetramer, computed from small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) data. The crystal structure has properties typical of hyperthermostable proteins, including a relatively high number of salt bridges. However, the protein also exhibits flexible loops and surface pockets. Remarkably, ATV displays a new protein fold, consistent with the absence of homologues of this protein in public sequence databases.     

Experimental study on the influence of bioturbation performed by Nephtys caeca (Fabricius) and Nereis virens (Sars) annelidae on the distribution of dinoflagellate cysts in the sediment

Dinoflagellates include noxious microalgae responsible for the formation of toxic red tides and the poisoning of molluscs and crustaceans, resulting in important economic losses. As a consequence, the life cycle of these algae has been extensively studied, but the dormancy phase (cyst) in the sediment record is little known. In the intertidal zone, bioturbation, an important biological process resulting from the activities of benthic fauna, significantly influences the movement of particles in the sediments. Laboratory experiments have allowed comparing and quantifying the movements of fluorescent microspheres resulting from the activity of two polychaetes annelidae, Nereis virens and Nephtys caeca. The particles, which simulate 45 µm diameter dinoflagellate cysts, are deposited in flat aquaria at the surface or deep in the sediment. Photographs of the aquaria were taken at regular intervals, to observe, in a non-destructive manner, the movement of the particles and to calculate, using adapted software, the optical reworking coefficient (ORC) over time. A difference appears between the movements of the particles generated by both species of polychaetes. Nereis virens create “permanent” galleries that carry the microspheres deeply in the sediment during the digging, bioirrigation and feeding, and Nephtys caeca homogenize the particles in the first centimetres of sediment during its erratic movements. The study shows that the bioturbation generated by these organisms can modify the distribution of the 45 µm diameter dinoflagellate cysts in the sedimentary column, burying them or raising them back to the water-sediment interface.