BH3‐only proteins are part of a regulatory network that control the sustained signalling of the unfolded protein response sensor IRE1α

Correction to: The EMBO Journal (2012) 31: 2322–2335. DOI 10.1038/emboj.2012.84 ¦ Published online 17 April 2012 Figure 4A. Original.Source data are available online for this figure. Figure 4A. Corrected. Source data are available online for this figure. The journal was alerted to the claim that the IRE input panels are identical in Figure 1G. Since the IRE input panels show a high degree of similarity, the source data for both panels are published with this notice for the avoidance of doubt.The HSP90 blot looks very similar in Fig 3F and Fig S4A. The authors confirmed that they had stripped and re‐probed the original HSP90 blot in Fig 3F and Fig S4A. Specifically, the membrane was probed with antibodies to IRE1, and HSP90, and then re‐probed with anti‐PERK antibodies. For that reason, HSP90 was presented in both figures because it is the same experiment. In the source data published with this correction, the authors have marked the original data with contrast boxes and arrows to indicate which blots were presented in the figure. The legends have been updated to state that a control originating from one blot is displayed in both figures.The authors acknowledge that they had removed one set of experimental conditions with wild‐type parental DKO cells when preparing Fig 4A and state that this does not change the conclusions of the figure. The figure is herewith updated with a demarcating line and source data for the full experiment is published with this notice.All authors agree with this corrigendum. The authors apologize for any confusion caused by these errors.     

Pliocene ostracods of Southwestern Europe

This paper analyzes the lithostratigraphic features and ostracod associations of the Pliocene deposits located in the western sector of the Guadalquivir basin (SW Spain). A regressive cycle is defined by the vertical distribution of five main facies (FA-1 to FA-5), which were deposited in upper bathyal to fluvial palaeoenvironments. The broad palaeontological record is utilized to draw a general outline of the food chain in each palaeoenvironment. A comparison with the Pliocene ostracod distribution of southeastern Spain, southwestern France and Portugal permits to define a common ostracod biozonation for southwestern Europe during this period. Four main marine biozones are distinguished: (a): Pontocythere elongata biozone (infralittoral); (b): Costa edwardsii biozone (shallow circalittoral); (c): Bosquetina carinella biozone (deep circalittoral); and (d): Henryhowella asperrima biozone (upper bathyal). Freshwater, brackish and lower bathyal/abyssal species are very scarce in this area during this period.     

Arabidopsis ANTR1 is a thylakoid Na+-dependent phosphate transporter: functional characterization in Escherichia coli

In this study, the putative anion transporter 1 (ANTR1) from Arabidopsis thaliana was shown to be localized to the chloroplast thylakoid membrane by Western blotting with two different peptide-specific antibodies. ANTR1 is homologous to the type I of mammalian Na+-dependent inorganic phosphate (Pi) transporters. The function of ANTR1 as a Na+-dependent Pi transporter was demonstrated by heterologous expression and uptake of radioactive Pi into Escherichia coli cells. The expression of ANTR1 conferred increased growth rates to the transformed cells and stimulated Pi uptake in a pH- and Na+-dependent manner as compared with the control cells. Among various tested effectors, Pi was the preferred substrate. Although it competed with the uptake of Pi, glutamate was not transported by ANTR1 into E. coli. In relation to its function as a Pi transporter, several physiological roles for ANTR1 in the thylakoid membrane are proposed, such as export of Pi produced during nucleotide metabolism in the thylakoid lumen back to the chloroplast stroma and balance of the trans-thylakoid H+ electrochemical gradient storage.     

Regulation of sulphur assimilation in lettuce plants in the presence of selenium

Selenium (Se) is considered an essential trace element for animals because of its nutritional and clinical value, including its special relevance in cancer prevention, and thus Se is at present used in biofortification programmes. However, possible effects of Se application on S metabolism and plant growth are still not clear. Thus, we analysed the effect that Se application in two different forms (selenate versus selenite) exerts on the S metabolism in lettuce plants grown for 66 days. Our results indicate that the application of selenite as opposed to selenate does not affect the foliar concentration of S. With respect to different enzymes in charge of sulphate (SO₄²⁻) assimilation, the ATP-sulphurylase activity varies only with the application of different rates of selenate, while the activity of O-acetylserine(thiol)lyase (OAS-TL) and serine-acetyltransferase (SAT) increase in activity mainly when selenite is applied. Finally, the concentration of cysteine (Cys) and total thiols (SH-total), fundamentally in the selenate treatments, increased with shoot biomass. In conclusion, this study confirms that the form and application rate of Se affects S assimilation, selenate being the more suitable form to improve effectiveness of the biofortification programme with this trace element.     

Chromatin assembly controls replication fork stability

During DNA replication, the advance of replication forks is tightly connected with chromatin assembly, a process that can be impaired by the partial depletion of histone H4 leading to recombinogenic DNA damage. Here, we show that the partial depletion of H4 is rapidly followed by the collapse of unperturbed and stalled replication forks, even though the S‐phase checkpoints remain functional. This collapse is characterized by a reduction in the amount of replication intermediates, but an increase in single Ys relative to bubbles, defects in the integrity of the replisome and an accumulation of DNA double‐strand breaks. This collapse is also associated with an accumulation of Rad52‐dependent X‐shaped molecules. Consistently, a Rad52‐dependent—although Rad51‐independent—mechanism is able to rescue these broken replication forks. Our findings reveal that correct nucleosome deposition is required for replication fork stability, and provide molecular evidence for homologous recombination as an efficient mechanism of replication fork restart.     

Interleukin-23 is critical for full-blown expression of a non-autoimmune destructive arthritis and regulates interleukin-17A and RORγt in γδ T cells

Introduction  

Interleukin (IL)-23 is essential for the development of various experimental autoimmune models. However, the role of IL-23 in non-autoimmune experimental arthritis remains unclear. Here, we examined the role of IL-23 in the non-autoimmune antigen-induced arthritis (AIA) model. In addition, the regulatory potential of IL-23 in IL-17A and retinoic acid-related orphan receptor gamma t (RORγt) expression in CD4⁺ and TCRγδ⁺ T cells was evaluated systemically as well as at the site of inflammation.     

Assessment of Metal Availability in Soils from a Pb-Zn Mine Site of South-Central Spain

Heavy metal pollution of the soils around an abandoned Pb-Zn mine site located in the Alcudia Valley (South Central Spain) have been characterized by analysis of extractable and total metal concentrations in 60 samples of arable, pasture, and mine lands. The samples showed a broad range of size-particle distribution, cation exchange capacity, and pH values as well as high levels of total metal concentrations (up to 98510 mg kg^?1 of Pb, up to 20912 mg kg^?1 of Zn, and up to 61 mg kg^?1 of Cd). In order to assess the potential availability of metals the metal partitioning in two different soil size fractions (<2 mm and <63 μm) was determined using EDTA and CaCl₂ as sequestering reagents. The average contents of Pb, Zn, and Cd in the <63 μm particle size fraction for both extractions were higher than those of the <2 mm fraction due to the high metal adsorption capacity of the fine soil particles. Concentrations of heavy metals extracted by CaCl₂ were up to three orders of magnitude lower than those extracted by EDTA, because CaCl₂ only extracts the easily mobile fraction. Metal concentrations extracted by both procedures in the two granulometric fractions increased with total metal concentrations, thus increasing the potential environmental risk associated to heavy metal pollution.