Reproductive biology of female blue shark <Emphasis Type="Italic">Prionace glauca</Emphasis> in the southeastern Pacific Ocean

Polyandry is extremely common across a wide range of organisms. In promiscuous mating systems, females are often sexually harassed by males, but at the same time obtain benefits from multiple mating. It remains unclear whether polyandry is exclusively imposed by males or is also promoted by females. Here, we investigated this question by recording the time spent by female guppies near a single male or a group of males with similar size and colour patterns over three consecutive days. We accounted for the effect of shoaling by using a control treatment where a group of females was used instead of a group of males. Results showed that females spent significantly more time near the group of males, but not with the group of females. In the presence of a group of males, total female mating preference time did not change over the course of the study, but rather shifted from spending more time near the single male at the beginning of the experiment to spending more time near the group of males. The consequence of this female preference for associating with a group of males in a non-experimental setup would be to promote multiple mating. Our result indicates that polyandry in guppies is at least partially encouraged by females, and not entirely a consequence of male sexual behaviour.     

Chimeric contribution of human extended pluripotent stem cells to monkey embryos ex vivo

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Human Stn1 protects telomere integrity by promoting efficient lagging-strand synthesis at telomeres and mediating C-strand fill-in

Telomere maintenance is critical for genome stability. The newly-identified Ctc1/Stn1/Ten1 complex is important for telomere maintenance, though its precise role is unclear. We report here that depletion of hStn1 induces catastrophic telomere shortening, DNA damage response, and early senescence in human somatic cells. These phenotypes are likely due to the essential role of hStn1 in promoting efficient replication of lagging-strand telomeric DNA. Downregulation of hStn1 accumulates single-stranded G-rich DNA specifically at lagging-strand telomeres, increases telomere fragility, hinders telomere DNA synthesis, as well as delays and compromises telomeric C-strand synthesis. We further show that hStn1 deficiency leads to persistent and elevated association of DNA polymerase α (polα) to telomeres, suggesting that hStn1 may modulate the DNA synthesis activity of polα rather than controlling the loading of polα to telomeres. Additionally, our data suggest that hStn1 is unlikely to be part of the telomere capping complex. We propose that the hStn1 assists DNA polymerases to efficiently duplicate lagging-strand telomeres in order to achieve complete synthesis of telomeric DNA, therefore preventing rapid telomere loss.     

The Caenorhabditis elegans Elongator Complex Regulates Neuronal α-tubulin Acetylation

Although acetylated α-tubulin is known to be a marker of stable microtubules in neurons, precise factors that regulate α-tubulin acetylation are, to date, largely unknown. Therefore, a genetic screen was employed in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans that identified the Elongator complex as a possible regulator of α-tubulin acetylation. Detailed characterization of mutant animals revealed that the acetyltransferase activity of the Elongator is indeed required for correct acetylation of microtubules and for neuronal development. Moreover, the velocity of vesicles on microtubules was affected by mutations in Elongator. Elongator mutants also displayed defects in neurotransmitter levels. Furthermore, acetylation of α-tubulin was shown to act as a novel signal for the fine-tuning of microtubules dynamics by modulating α-tubulin turnover, which in turn affected neuronal shape. Given that mutations in the acetyltransferase subunit of the Elongator (Elp3) and in a scaffold subunit (Elp1) have previously been linked to human neurodegenerative diseases, namely Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Familial Dysautonomia respectively highlights the importance of this work and offers new insights to understand their etiology.     

Lipids,lipid metabolism and Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus pathogenesis

Lipids are essential for mammalian cells to maintain many physiological functions. Emerging evidence has shown that cancer cells can develop specific alterations in lipid biosynthesis and metabolism to facilitate their survival and various malignant behaviors. To date, the precise role of cellular lipids and lipid metabolism in viral oncogenesis is still largely unclear with only a handful of literature covering this topic to implicate lipid metabolism in oncogenic virus associated pathogenesis. In this review, we focus on the role of lipid biosynthesis and metabolism in the pathogenesis of the Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus, a common causative factor for cancers arising in the immunocompromised settings.

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Microbial production of 2,3-butanediol from Jerusalem artichoke tubers by <Emphasis Type="Italic">Klebsiella pneumoniae</Emphasis>

2,3-Butanediol is one of the promising bulk chemicals with wide applications. Its fermentative production has attracted great interest due to the high end concentration. However, large-scale production of 2,3-butanediol requires low-cost substrate and efficient fermentation process. In the present study, 2,3-butanediol production by Klebsiella pneumoniae from Jerusalem artichoke tubers was successfully performed, and various technologies, including separate hydrolysis and fermentation (SHF) and simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF), were investigated. The concentration of target products reached 81.59 and 91.63 g/l, respectively after 40 h in batch and fed-batch SSF processes. Comparing with fed-batch SHF, the fed-batch SSF provided 30.3% higher concentration and 83.2% higher productivity of target products. The results showed that Jerusalem artichoke tuber is a favorable substrate for 2,3-butanediol production, and the application of fed-batch SSF for its conversion can result in a more cost-effective process.