Heart development in fibronectin-null mice is governed by a genetic modifier on chromosome four

Absence of the fibronectin (FN) gene leads to early embryonic lethality in both 129S4 and C57BL/6J strains due to severe cardiovascular defects. However, heart development is arrested at different stages in these embryos depending on the genetic background. In the majority of 129S4 FN-null embryos, heart progenitors remain at their anterior bilateral positions and fail to fuse at the midline to form a heart tube. However, on the C57BL/6J genetic background, cardiac development progresses further and results in a centrally positioned and looped heart. To find factor(s) involved in embryonic heart formation and governing the extent of heart development in FN-null embryos in 129S4 and C57BL/6J strains, we performed genetic mapping and haplotype analyses. These analyses lead to identification of a significant linkage to a 1-Mbp interval on chromosome four. Microarray analysis and sequencing identified 21 genes in this region, including five that are differentially expressed between the strains, as potential modifiers. Since none of these genes was previously known to play a role in heart development, one or more of them is likely to be a novel modifier affecting cardiac development. Identification of the modifier would significantly enhance our understanding of the molecular underpinning of heart development and disease.     

Quantifying heritable variation in fitness-related traits of wild,farmed and hybrid Atlantic salmon families in a wild river environment

Farmed fish are typically genetically different from wild conspecifics. Escapees from fish farms may contribute one-way gene flow from farm to wild gene pools, which can depress population productivity, dilute local adaptations and disrupt coadapted gene complexes. Here, we reanalyse data from two experiments (McGinnity et al., 1997, 2003) where performance of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) progeny originating from experimental crosses between farm and wild parents (in three different cohorts) were measured in a natural stream under common garden conditions. Previous published analyses focussed on group-level differences but did not account for pedigree structure, as we do here using modern mixed-effect models. Offspring with one or two farm parents exhibited poorer survival in their first and second year of life compared with those with two wild parents and these group-level inferences were robust to excluding outlier families. Variation in performance among farm, hybrid and wild families was generally similar in magnitude. Farm offspring were generally larger at all life stages examined than wild offspring, but the differences were moderate (5–20%) and similar in magnitude in the wild versus hatchery environments. Quantitative genetic analyses conducted using a Bayesian framework revealed moderate heritability in juvenile fork length and mass and positive genetic correlations (>0.85) between these morphological traits. Our study confirms (using more rigorous statistical techniques) previous studies showing that offspring of wild fish invariably have higher fitness and contributes fresh insights into family-level variation in performance of farm, wild and hybrid Atlantic salmon families in the wild. It also adds to a small, but growing, number of studies that estimate key evolutionary parameters in wild salmonid populations. Such information is vital in modelling the impacts of introgression by escaped farm salmon.     

Self-renewing Pten-/- TP53-/- protospheres produce metastatic adenocarcinoma cell lines with multipotent progenitor activity

Prostate cancers of luminal adenocarcinoma histology display a range of clinical behaviors. Although most prostate cancers are slow-growing and indolent, a proportion is aggressive, developing metastasis and resistance to androgen deprivation treatment. One hypothesis is that a portion of aggressive cancers initiate from stem-like, androgen-independent tumor-propagating cells. Here we demonstrate the in vitro creation of a mouse cell line, selected for growth as self-renewing stem/progenitor cells, which manifests many in vivo properties of aggressive prostate cancer. Normal mouse prostate epithelium containing floxed Pten and TP53 alleles was subjected to CRE-mediated deletion in vitro followed by serial propagation as protospheres. A polyclonal cell line was established from dissociated protospheres and subsequently a clonal daughter line was derived. Both lines demonstrate a mature luminal phenotype in vitro. The established lines contain a stable minor population of progenitor cells with protosphere-forming ability and multi-lineage differentiation capacity. Both lines formed orthotopic adenocarcinoma tumors with metastatic potential to lung. Intracardiac inoculation resulted in brain and lung metastasis, while intra-tibial injection induced osteoblastic bone formation, recapitulating the bone metastatic phenotype of human prostate cancer. The cells showed androgen receptor dependent growth in vitro. Importantly, in vivo, the deprivation of androgens from established orthotopic tumors resulted in tumor regression and eventually castration-resistant growth. These data suggest that transformed prostate progenitor cells preferentially differentiate toward luminal cells and recapitulate many characteristics of the human disease.     

Beta1 integrins regulate mammary gland proliferation and maintain the integrity of mammary alveoli

Integrin-extracellular matrix interactions play important roles in the coordinated integration of external and internal cues that are essential for proper development. To study the role of beta1 integrin in the mammary gland, Itgbeta1(flox/flox) mice were crossed with WAPiCre transgenic mice, which led to specific ablation of beta1 integrin in luminal alveolar epithelial cells. In the beta1 integrin mutant mammary gland, individual alveoli were disorganized resulting from alterations in cell-basement membrane associations. Activity of focal adhesion kinase (FAK) was also decreased in mutant mammary glands. Luminal cell proliferation was strongly inhibited in beta1 integrin mutant glands, which correlated with a specific increase of p21 Cip1 expression. In a p21 Cip1 null background, there was a partial rescue of BrdU incorporation, providing in vivo evidence linking p21 Cip1 to the proliferative defect observed in beta1 integrin mutant glands. A connection between p21 Cip1 and beta1 integrin as well as FAK was also established in primary mammary cells. These results point to the essential role of beta1 integrin signaling in mammary epithelial cell proliferation.     

Lewis epitopes on outer membrane vesicles of relevance to Helicobacter pylori pathogenesis

BACKGROUND: Helicobacter pylori extrudes protein- and lipopolysaccharide-enriched outer membrane vesicles from its cell surface which have been postulated to act to deliver virulence factors to the host. Lewis antigen expression by lipopolysaccharide of H. pylori cells has been implicated in a number of pathogenic roles. The aim of this study was to further characterize the expression of lipopolysaccharide on the surface of these outer membrane vesicles and, in particular, expression of Lewis antigens and their association with antibody production in the host. MATERIALS AND METHODS: H. pylori strains were examined for outer membrane vesicle production using transmission electron microscopy and Lewis antigen expression probed using immunoelectron microscopy. Sera from patients were analyzed for cross-reacting anti-Lewis antibodies and, subsequently, absorbed using outer membrane vesicle preparations to remove the cross-reacting antibodies. RESULTS: The formation of outer membrane vesicles by H. pylori was observed in both in vitro and in vivo samples. Furthermore, vesicles were produced following culture in either liquid or solid medium by all strains examined. Moreover, we observed the presence of Lewis epitopes on outer membrane vesicles using immunoelectron microscopy and immunoblotting. Circulating anti-Lewis antibodies were found in the sera of gastric cancer patients but not in the sera of H. pylori-negative control subjects. Absorption of patient sera with outer membrane vesicles decreased the levels of anti-Lewis autoantibodies. CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrate the ability of H. pylori to generate outer membrane vesicles bearing serologically recognizable Lewis antigens on lipopolysaccharide molecules which may contribute to the chronic immune stimulation of the host. The ability of these vesicles to absorb anti-Lewis autoantibodies indicates that they may, in part, play a role in putative autoimmune aspects of H. pylori pathogenesis.     

The Ras and Rho GTPases genetically interact to co-ordinately regulate cell polarity during development in Penicillium marneffei

Ras and Rho GTPases have been examined in a wide variety of eukaryotes and play varied and often overlapping roles in cell polarization and development. Studies in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and mammalian cells have defined some of the central activities of these GTPases. However, these paradigms do not explain the role of these proteins in all eukaryotes. Unlike yeast, but like more complex eukaryotes, filamentous fungi have Rac-like proteins in addition to Ras and Cdc42. To investigate the unique functions of these proteins and determine how they interact to co-ordinately regulate morphogenesis during growth and development we undertook a genetic analysis of GTPase function by generating double mutants of the Rho GTPases cflA and cflB and the newly isolated Ras GTPase rasA from the dimorphic pathogenic fungus, Penicillium marneffei. P. marneffei growth at 25 degrees C is as multinucleate, septate, branched hyphae which are capable of undergoing asexual development (conidiation), while at 37 degrees C, uninucleate pathogenic yeast cells which divide by fission are produced. Here we show that RasA (Ras) acts upstream of CflA (Cdc42) to regulate germination of spores and polarized growth of both hyphal and yeast cells, while also exhibiting CflA-independent activities. CflA (Cdc42) and CflB (Rac) co-ordinately control hyphal cell polarization despite also having unique roles in regulating conidial germination and polarized growth of yeast cells (CflA) and polarized growth of conidiophore cell types and hyphal branching (CflB).     

Selective ablation of alphav integrins in the central nervous system leads to cerebral hemorrhage, seizures, axonal degeneration and premature death

Mouse embryos genetically null for all alphav integrins develop intracerebral hemorrhage owing to defective interactions between blood vessels and brain parenchymal cells. Here, we have used conditional knockout technology to address whether the cerebral hemorrhage is due to primary defects in vascular or neural cell types. We show that ablating alphav expression in the vascular endothelium has no detectable effect on cerebral blood vessel development, whereas deletion of alphav expression in central nervous system glial cells leads to embryonic and neonatal cerebral hemorrhage. Conditional deletion of alphav integrin in both central nervous system glia and neurons also leads to cerebral hemorrhage, but additionally to severe neurological defects. Approximately 30% of these mutants develop seizures and die by 4 weeks of age. The remaining mutants survive for several months, but develop axonal deterioration in the spinal cord and cerebellum, leading to ataxia and loss of hindlimb coordination. Collectively, these data provide evidence that alphav integrins on embryonic central nervous system neural cells, particularly glia, are necessary for proper cerebral blood vessel development, and also reveal a novel function for alphav integrins expressed on axons in the postnatal central nervous system.     

Layilin, a cell surface hyaluronan receptor, interacts with merlin and radixin

Layilin is a widely expressed integral membrane hyaluronan receptor, originally identified as a binding partner of talin located in membrane ruffles. We have identified merlin, the neurofibromatosis type 2 tumor suppressor protein and radixin, as other interactors with the carboxy-terminal domain of layilin. We show that the carboxy-terminal domain of layilin is capable of binding to the amino-terminal domain of radixin. An interdomain interaction between the amino- and the carboxy-terminal domains of radixin inhibits its ability to bind to layilin. In the presence of acidic phospholipids, the interdomain interaction of radixin is inhibited and layilin can bind to full-length radixin. In contrast, layilin binds both full-length and amino-terminal merlin-GST fusion proteins without a requirement for phospholipids. Furthermore, layilin antibody can immunoprecipitate merlin, confirming association in vivo between these two proteins, which also display similar subcellular localizations in ruffling membranes. No interaction was observed between layilin and ezrin or layilin and moesin. These findings expand the known binding partners of layilin to include other members of the talin/band 4.1/ERM (ezrin, radixin, and moesin) family of cytoskeletal-membrane linker molecules. This in turn suggests that layilin may mediate signals from extracellular matrix to the cell cytoskeleton via interaction with different intracellular binding partners and thereby be involved in the modulation of cortical structures in the cell.