Theme 8- Public Understanding of Science

In Vitro Cellular &; Developmental Biology - Plant -     

Comparative Phylogeography Highlights the Double-Edged Sword of Climate Change Faced by Arctic- and Alpine-Adapted Mammals

Recent studies suggest that alpine and arctic organisms may have distinctly different phylogeographic histories from temperate or tropical taxa, with recent range contraction into interglacial refugia as opposed to post-glacial expansion out of refugia. We use a combination of phylogeographic inference, demographic reconstructions, and hierarchical Approximate Bayesian Computation to test for phylodemographic concordance among five species of alpine-adapted small mammals in eastern Beringia. These species (Collared Pikas, Hoary Marmots, Brown Lemmings, Arctic Ground Squirrels, and Singing Voles) vary in specificity to alpine and boreal-tundra habitat but share commonalities (e.g., cold tolerance and nunatak survival) that might result in concordant responses to Pleistocene glaciations. All five species contain a similar phylogeographic disjunction separating eastern and Beringian lineages, which we show to be the result of simultaneous divergence. Genetic diversity is similar within each haplogroup for each species, and there is no support for a post-Pleistocene population expansion in eastern lineages relative to those from Beringia. Bayesian skyline plots for four of the five species do not support Pleistocene population contraction. Brown Lemmings show evidence of late Quaternary demographic expansion without subsequent population decline. The Wrangell-St. Elias region of eastern Alaska appears to be an important zone of recent secondary contact for nearctic alpine mammals. Despite differences in natural history and ecology, similar phylogeographic histories are supported for all species, suggesting that these, and likely other, alpine- and arctic-adapted taxa are already experiencing population and/or range declines that are likely to synergistically accelerate in the face of rapid climate change. Climate change may therefore be acting as a double-edged sword that erodes genetic diversity within populations but promotes divergence and the generation of biodiversity.     

Extracellular and Intracellular Polyphenol Oxidases Cause Opposite Effects on Sensitivity of Streptomyces to Phenolics: A Case of Double-Edged Sword

Many but not all species of Streptomyces species harbour a bicistronic melC operon, in which melC2 encodes an extracellular tyrosinase (a polyphenol oxidase) and melC1 encodes a helper protein. On the other hand, a melC-homologous operon (melD) is present in all sequenced Streptomyces chromosomes and could be isolated by PCR from six other species tested. Bioinformatic analysis showed that melC and melD have divergently evolved toward different functions. MelD2, unlike tyrosinase (MelC2), is not secreted, and has a narrower substrate spectrum. Deletion of melD caused an increased sensitivity to several phenolics that are substrates of MelD2. Intracellularly, MelD2 presumably oxidizes the phenolics, thus bypassing spontaneous copper-dependent oxidation that generates DNA-damaging reactive oxygen species. Surprisingly, melC⁺ strains were more sensitive rather than less sensitive to phenolics than melC ⁻ strains. This appeared to be due to conversion of the phenolics by MelC2 to more hydrophobic and membrane-permeable quinones. We propose that the conserved melD operon is involved in defense against phenolics produced by plants, and the sporadically present melC operon probably plays an aggressive role in converting the phenolics to the more permeable quinones, thus fending off less tolerant competing microbes (lacking melD) in the phenolic-rich rhizosphere.     

Exploiting Cell Death Pathways by an E. coli Cytotoxin: Autophagy as a Double-Edged Sword for the Host

Cytotoxic necrotizing factor 1 is a bacterial protein toxin from Escherichia coli that is able to activate the Rho GTPases and to hinder apoptosis and mitotic catastrophe. Upon exposure to toxin, cells undergo a complex framework of changes, including cytoskeleton remodeling and multinucleation. These cells also show a high survival rate for long periods of time and improve both their macropinocytotic scavenging activities and microautophagy. Only at the very end, probably when “feeding” materials are exhausted, they do these cells die by autophagy. Taking into account the complex role of bacterial protein toxins in the infectious processes, we indicate the CNF1 activity as a Janus-faced paradigm of those bacteria that hijack cell fate to their own benefit. This could somehow be linked to the hypothesized connection between certain bacterial toxins and cancer onset.

Addendum to:

Is the Rac GTPase-Activating Toxin CNF1 a Smart Hijacker of Host Cell Fate?

W. Malorni and C. Fiorentini

FASEB J 2006; 20:606-9     

Burnout: From Popular Culture to Psychiatric Diagnosis in Sweden

This article aims to understand how burn-out became an object of thought, through the study of certain processes of legitimization. It traces the genealogy of the burn-out concept from the initial article from 1974, via its confirmation as a “disease” in the 1980s, to its appearance as a legitimate diagnosis in Sweden in 1997. The theoretical framework is that of applied metaphysics, which means a study on how a specific phenomenon came into being. Consequently, I take departure from ontology in motion with an approach that concerns the legitimization processes. The conclusion will show the underlying processes of legitimization in relation to the making of a psychiatric object of thought in Swedish society.     

Mass Mediations: New Approaches to Popular Culture in the Middle East and Beyond; New Media in the Muslim World: The Emerging Public Sphere

Mass Mediations: New Approaches to Popular Culture in the Middle East and Beyond. Walter Armbrust. ed. Berkeley. University of California Press, 2000. 378 pp.
New Media in the Muslim World: The Emerging Public Sphere. Dale Eickelman and Jon W. Anderson. eds. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1999. 213 pp.     

Understanding Quantitative Genetics in the Systems Biology Era

Biology is now entering the new era of systems biology and exerting a growing influence on the future development of various disciplines within life sciences. In early classical and molecular periods of Biology, the theoretical frames of classical and molecular quantitative genetics have been systematically established, respectively. With the new advent of systems biology, there is occurring a paradigm shift in the field of quantitative genetics. Where and how the quantitative genetics would develop after having undergone its classical and molecular periods? This is a difficult question to answer exactly. In this perspective article, the major effort was made to discuss the possible development of quantitative genetics in the systems biology era, and for which there is a high potentiality to develop towards "systems quantitative genetics". In our opinion, the systems quantitative genetics can be defined as a new discipline to address the generalized genetic laws of bioalleles controlling the heritable phenotypes of complex traits following a new dynamic network model. Other issues from quantitative genetic perspective relating to the genetical genomics, the updates of network model, and the future research prospects were also discussed.