Functional Exploration of the Adult Ovarian Granulosa Cell Tumor-Associated Somatic FOXL2 Mutation p.Cys134Trp (c.402C>G)

Background

The somatic mutation in the FOXL2 gene c.402C>G (p.Cys134Trp) has recently been identified in the vast majority of adult ovarian granulosa cell tumors (OGCTs) studied. In addition, this mutation seems to be specific to adult OGCTs and is likely to be a driver of malignant transformation. However, its pathogenic mechanisms remain elusive.

Methodology/Principal Findings

We have sequenced the FOXL2 open reading frame in a panel of tumor cell lines (NCI-60, colorectal carcinoma cell lines, JEG-3, and KGN cells). We found the FOXL2 c.402C>G mutation in the adult OGCT-derived KGN cell line. All other cell lines analyzed were negative for the mutation. In order to gain insights into the pathogenic mechanism of the p.Cys134Trp mutation, the subcellular localization and mobility of the mutant protein were studied and found to be no different from those of the wild type (WT). Furthermore, its transactivation ability was in most cases similar to that of the WT protein, including in conditions of oxidative stress. A notable exception was an artificial promoter known to be coregulated by FOXL2 and Smad3, suggesting a potential modification of their interaction. We generated a 3D structural model of the p.Cys134Trp variant and our analysis suggests that homodimer formation might also be disturbed by the mutation.

Conclusions/Significance

Here, we confirm the specificity of the FOXL2 c.402C>G mutation in adult OGCTs and begin the exploration of its molecular significance. This is the first study demonstrating that the p.Cys134Trp mutant does not have a strong impact on FOXL2 localization, solubility, and transactivation abilities on a panel of proven target promoters, behaving neither as a dominant-negative nor as a loss-of-function mutation. Further studies are required to understand the specific molecular effects of this outstanding FOXL2 mutation.     

Ectomycorrhizal fungi are shared between seedlings and adults in a monodominant Gilbertiodendron dewevrei rain forest in Cameroon

Ectomycorrhizal networks may facilitate the establishment and survival of seedlings regenerating under the canopies of tropical forests and are often invoked as a potential contributor to monodominance. We identified ectomycorrhizal fungi in a monodominant Gilbertiodendron dewevrei (Fabaceae) rain forest in Cameroon, using sporocarps and ectomycorrhizae of three age categories (seedlings, intermediate trees, and large trees) and tentatively revealed nutrient transfer through ectomycorrhizal networks by measuring spontaneous isotopic (¹³C and ¹⁵N) abundances in seedlings. Sporocarp surveys revealed fewer ectomycorrhizal fungal taxa (59 species from 1030 sporocarps) than molecular barcoding of ectomycorrhizal roots (75 operational taxonomic units from 828 ectomycorrhizae). Our observations suggest that ectomycorrhizal fungal diversity is similar to that in other mixed tropical forests and provide the first report of the Tuber‐Helvella lineage in a tropical forest. Despite some differences, all age categories of G. dewevrei had overlapping ectomycorrhizal fungal communities, with families belonging to Thelephoraceae, Russulaceae, Sebacinaceae, Boletaceae, and Clavulinaceae. Of the 49 operational taxonomic units shared by the three age categories (65.3% of the ectomycorrhizal fungal community), 19 were the most abundant on root tips of all categories (38.7% of the shared taxa), supporting the likelihood of ectomycorrhizal networks. However, we obtained no evidence for nutrient transfer from trees to seedlings. We discuss the composition of the ectomycorrhizal fungal community among the G. dewevrei age categories and the possible role of common ectomycorrhizal networks in this rain forest.     

A New LxxxA Motif in the Transmembrane Helix3 of Maize Aquaporins Belonging to the Plasma Membrane Intrinsic Protein PIP2 Group Is Required for Their Trafficking to the Plasma Membrane

Aquaporins play important roles in maintaining plant water status under challenging environments. The regulation of aquaporin density in cell membranes is essential to control transcellular water flows. This work focuses on the maize (Zea mays) plasma membrane intrinsic protein (ZmPIP) aquaporin subfamily, which is divided into two sequence-related groups (ZmPIP1s and ZmPIP2s). When expressed alone in mesophyll protoplasts, ZmPIP2s are efficiently targeted to the plasma membrane, whereas ZmPIP1s are retained in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). A protein domain-swapping approach was utilized to demonstrate that the transmembrane domain3 (TM3), together with the previously identified N-terminal ER export diacidic motif, account for the differential localization of these proteins. In addition to protoplasts, leaf epidermal cells transiently transformed by biolistic particle delivery were used to confirm and refine these results. By generating artificial proteins consisting of a single transmembrane domain, we demonstrated that the TM3 of ZmPIP1;2 or ZmPIP2;5 discriminates between ER and plasma membrane localization, respectively. More specifically, a new LxxxA motif in the TM3 of ZmPIP2;5, which is highly conserved in plant PIP2s, was shown to regulate its anterograde routing along the secretory pathway, particularly its export from the ER.Aquaporins are of major importance to plant physiology, being essential for the regulation of transcellular water movement during growth and development (Maurel et al., 2008; Gomes et al., 2009; Heinen et al., 2009; Prado and Maurel, 2013; Chaumont and Tyerman, 2014). Aquaporins are small membrane proteins consisting of six transmembrane (TM) domains connected by five loops (A–E), and N and C termini facing the cytosol (Fig. 1A). They assemble as homotetramers and/or heterotetramers in the membrane, with each monomer acting as an independent water channel (Murata et al., 2000; Fetter et al., 2004; Gomes et al., 2009). Aquaporins form a highly divergent protein family in plants (Chaumont et al., 2001; Johanson et al., 2001), and this work focuses on the maize (Zea mays) plasma membrane intrinsic protein (ZmPIP) family (Chaumont et al., 2001). The regulation of the subcellular localization of these proteins is a key process controlling their density in the plasma membrane (PM) and, hence, their physiological roles (Hachez et al., 2013).Open in a separate windowFigure 1.Swapping TM3 of ZmPIP2;5 with that of ZmPIP1;2 retains the protein in intracellular structures. A, Cartoons representing the chimeric proteins composed of ZmPIP2;5, in which each TM has been replaced by the corresponding TM from ZmPIP1;2. All proteins are drawn with the cytosolic domains facing down. ZmPIP2;5 and ZmPIP1;2 portions are shown in black and white, respectively. All chimeras were fused to the C terminus of mYFP, which is not displayed for clarity purposes. B, Confocal microscopy images of maize mesophyll protoplasts transiently coexpressing mYFP-tagged ZmPIP2;5-PIP1;2 TM chimeric proteins (green) and the ER marker mCFP:HDEL (cyan). FM4-64 was added as a PM marker (red). Arrowheads in image 13 indicate accumulation of the protein in punctate structures that are not labeled by mCFP:HDEL. The localization patterns of the proteins of interest are representative of a total of at least 22 cells from three independent experiments. C, Confocal microscopy images of a maize mesophyll protoplast transiently expressing mYFP:ZmPIP2;5-TM3_PIP1;2 (green) and ST:mCFP (magenta). Arrowheads indicate colocalization in Golgi stacks. The images are representative of a total of 17 cells from two independent experiments. Bar = 5 µm.PIP aquaporins cluster in two groups (PIP1s and PIP2s), which are highly conserved across species (Kammerloher et al., 1994; Chaumont et al., 2000, 2001; Johanson et al., 2001; Anderberg et al., 2012). We previously showed that the maize PIP1 and PIP2 isoforms exhibit different water channel activities when expressed in Xenopus laevis oocytes, with only PIP2s increasing the membrane water permeability coefficient (P_f; Chaumont et al., 2000). However, when ZmPIP1 and ZmPIP2 are coexpressed, the isoforms physically interact to modify their stability and trafficking to the oocyte membrane, and synergistically increase the oocyte P_f (Fetter et al., 2004). Similar synergistic interactions between PIP1s and PIP2s have been reported in numerous plant species (Temmei et al., 2005; Mahdieh et al., 2008; Vandeleur et al., 2009; Bellati et al., 2010; Ayadi et al., 2011; Horie et al., 2011; Yaneff et al., 2014).PIPs were originally thought to be exclusively localized in the PM and were named accordingly (Kammerloher et al., 1994). However, recent experiments have shown that not all PIPs are located to the PM under all conditions, and that regulation of PIP subcellular localization is a highly dynamic process involving protein interactions (Boursiac et al., 2005, 2008; Zelazny et al., 2007, 2009; Uehlein et al., 2008; Besserer et al., 2012; Luu et al., 2012). When expressed singly in maize leaf mesophyll protoplasts, fluorescently tagged ZmPIP1s and ZmPIP2s differ in their subcellular localization. ZmPIP1s are retained in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), whereas ZmPIP2s are targeted to the PM (Zelazny et al., 2007). However, upon coexpression, ZmPIP1s are relocalized from the ER to the PM, where they perfectly colocalize with ZmPIP2s. This relocalization results from their physical interaction as demonstrated by Förster resonance energy transfer/fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy and immunoprecipitation experiments (Zelazny et al., 2007). These results indicate that ZmPIP2s, but not ZmPIP1s, possess signals that allow them to be delivered to the PM, and that hetero-oligomerization is required for ZmPIP1 trafficking to the PM. Interestingly, a diacidic motif (DxE, Asp-any amino acid-Glu) located in the N terminus of ZmPIP2;4, ZmPIP2;5, and Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) AtPIP2;1 was shown to be required to exit the ER (Zelazny et al., 2009; Sorieul et al., 2011). Diacidic motifs interact with Secretory protein24, which is thought to be the main cargo-selection protein of the Coat proteinII complex that mediates vesicle formation at ER export sites (Miller et al., 2003). However, not all PM-localized PIP2s contain a diacidic ER export signal (Zelazny et al., 2009). In addition, swapping the N-terminal region of ER-retained ZmPIP1;2 with that of PM-localized ZmPIP2;5, which contains the functional diacidic motif, is not sufficient to trigger ER export of the protein (Zelazny et al., 2009). This result suggests that other export signals might be present in PIP2s and/or ER retention signals might be present in PIP1s elsewhere than in the N terminus.To identify new signals regulating ZmPIP1 and ZmPIP2 protein trafficking along the secretory pathway, we used a protein domain swapping-based approach and identified the TM3 as an important region that discriminates between ER-retained ZmPIP1;2 and PM-localized ZmPIP2;5. Specific mutations in the TM3 region of ZmPIP2;5 allowed the identification of a new ZmPIP2-conserved LxxxA motif, which regulates its export from the ER.     

The selfing syndrome: a model for studying the genetic and evolutionary basis of morphological adaptation in plants

Background

In angiosperm evolution, autogamously selfing lineages have been derived from outbreeding ancestors multiple times, and this transition is regarded as one of the most common evolutionary tendencies in flowering plants. In most cases, it is accompanied by a characteristic set of morphological and functional changes to the flowers, together termed the selfing syndrome. Two major areas that have changed during evolution of the selfing syndrome are sex allocation to male vs. female function and flower morphology, in particular flower (mainly petal) size and the distance between anthers and stigma.

Scope

A rich body of theoretical, taxonomic, ecological and genetic studies have addressed the evolutionary modification of these two trait complexes during or after the transition to selfing. Here, we review our current knowledge about the genetics and evolution of the selfing syndrome.

Conclusions

We argue that because of its frequent parallel evolution, the selfing syndrome represents an ideal model for addressing basic questions about morphological evolution and adaptation in flowering plants, but that realizing this potential will require the molecular identification of more of the causal genes underlying relevant trait variation.     

"Immunetworks", intersecting circuits and dynamics

This paper proposes a study of biological regulation networks based on a multi-level strategy. Given a network, the first structural level of this strategy consists in analysing the architecture of the network interactions in order to describe it. The second dynamical level consists in relating the patterns found in the architecture to the possible dynamical behaviours of the network. It is known that circuits are the patterns that play the most important part in the dynamics of a network in the sense that they are responsible for the diversity of its asymptotic behaviours. Here, we pursue further this idea and argue that beyond the influence of underlying circuits, intersections of circuits also impact significantly on the dynamics of a network and thus need to be payed special attention to. For some genetic regulation networks involved in the control of the immune system (“immunetworks”), we show that the small number of attractors can be explained by the presence, in the underlying structures of these networks, of intersecting circuits that “inter-lock”.     

HNCA+, HNCO+, and HNCACB+ experiments: improved performance by simultaneous detection of orthogonal coherence transfer pathways

Three experiments, BEST–TROSY HNCA+, HNCO+ and HNCACB+ are presented for sequential backbone resonance assignment of ¹³C, ¹⁵N labelled proteins. The novelty of these experiments with respect to conventional pulse sequences is the detection of additional orthogonal coherence transfer pathways that results in enhanced sensitivity for sequential correlations without significantly compromising the intensity of intra-residue correlation peaks. In addition, a 2-step phase cycle separates peaks originating from the orthogonal coherence transfer pathways in 2 sub-spectra, thus providing similar information as obtained from performing a pair of sequential and intra-residue correlation experiments.     

The Conserved nhaAR Operon Is Drastically Divergent between B2 and Non-B2 Escherichia coli and Is Involved in Extra-Intestinal Virulence

The Escherichia coli species is divided in phylogenetic groups that differ in their virulence and commensal distribution. Strains belonging to the B2 group are involved in extra-intestinal pathologies but also appear to be more prevalent as commensals among human occidental populations. To investigate the genetic specificities of B2 sub-group, we used 128 sequenced genomes and identified genes of the core genome that showed marked difference between B2 and non-B2 genomes. We focused on the gene and its surrounding region with the strongest divergence between B2 and non-B2, the antiporter gene nhaA. This gene is part of the nhaAR operon, which is in the core genome but flanked by mobile regions, and is involved in growth at high pH and high sodium concentrations. Consistently, we found that a panel of non-B2 strains grew faster than B2 at high pH and high sodium concentrations. However, we could not identify differences in expression of the nhaAR operon using fluorescence reporter plasmids. Furthermore, the operon deletion had no differential impact between B2 and non-B2 strains, and did not result in a fitness modification in a murine model of gut colonization. Nevertheless, sequence analysis and experiments in a murine model of septicemia revealed that recombination in nhaA among B2 strains was observed in strains with low virulence. Finally, nhaA and nhaAR operon deletions drastically decreased virulence in one B2 strain. This effect of nhaAR deletion appeared to be stronger than deletion of all pathogenicity islands. Thus, a population genetic approach allowed us to identify an operon in the core genome without strong effect in commensalism but with an important role in extra-intestinal virulence, a landmark of the B2 strains.