Phylogeny and ultrastructure of Miliammina fusca: evidence for secondary loss of calcification in a Miliolid Foraminifer

The classification of the Foraminifera, a widely distributed group of largely marine protists, has traditionally been based on morphological characters. The most important of these are the composition and structure of the shell or "test." Here, we use both phylogenetic analysis of the genes for small subunit rRNA and beta-tubulin and ultrastructural analysis to document a reversion in wall type from more derived calcareous tests to an agglutinated test. These data indicate that the genus Miliammina, and possibly other members of the Rzehakinidae, should be placed in the Order Miliolida as opposed to their current assignment in Order Textulariida. We also address the effects this reversion may have had on the ability of rzehakinacids to effectively colonize marginal marine environments. Finally, the hypothesis that some multilocular agglutinated foraminiferans descended from calcareous lineages has implications for interpretation of the foraminiferal fossil record.     

Generation of cloned transgenic pigs rich in omega-3 fatty acids

Meat products are generally low in omega-3 (n-3) fatty acids, which are beneficial to human health. We describe the generation of cloned pigs that express a humanized Caenorhabditis elegans gene, fat-1, encoding an n-3 fatty acid desaturase. The hfat-1 transgenic pigs produce high levels of n-3 fatty acids from n-6 analogs, and their tissues have a significantly reduced ratio of n-6/n-3 fatty acids (P < 0.001).     

Adjusting neurophysiological computations in the adult olfactory bulb

The olfactory bulb receives signals from olfactory sensory neurons and conveys them to higher centers. The mapping of the sensory inputs generates a reproducible spatial pattern in the glomerular layer of the olfactory bulb for each odorant. Then, this restricted activation is transformed into highly distributed patterns by lateral interactions between relay neurons and local interneurons. Thus, odor information processing requires the spatial patterning of both sensory inputs and synaptic interactions. In other words, odor representation is highly dynamic and temporally orchestrated. Here, we describe how the local inhibitory network shapes the global oscillations and the precise synchronization of relay neurons. We discuss how local inhibitory interneurons transpose the spatial dimension into temporal patterning. Remarkably, this transposition is not fixed but highly flexible to continuously optimize olfactory information processing.     

A Salmonella type III secretion effector interacts with the mammalian serine/threonine protein kinase PKN1

Essential to salmonellae pathogenesis is an export device called the type III secretion system (TTSS), which mediates the transfer of bacterial effector proteins from the bacterial cell into the host cell cytoplasm. Once inside the host cell, these effectors are then capable of altering a variety of host cellular functions in order to promote bacterial survival and colonization. SspH1 is a Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium TTSS effector that localizes to the mammalian nucleus and down-modulates production of proinflammatory cytokines by inhibiting nuclear factor (NF)-kappaB-dependent gene expression. To identify mammalian binding partners of SspH1 a yeast two-hybrid screen against a human spleen cDNA library was performed. It yielded a serine/threonine protein kinase called protein kinase N 1 (PKN1). The leucine-rich repeat domain of SspH1 was demonstrated to mediate this interaction and also inhibition of NF-kappaB-dependent gene expression. This suggested that PKN1 may play a role in modulation of the NF-kappaB signalling pathway. Indeed, we found that expression of constitutively active PKN1 in mammalian cells results in a decrease, while depletion of PKN1 by RNA interference causes an increase in NF-kappaB-dependent reporter gene expression. These data indicate that SspH1 may inhibit the host's inflammatory response by interacting with PKN1.     

Assigning sex to pre-adult stalk-eyed flies using genital disc morphology and X chromosome zygosity

Background  

In stalk-eyed flies (Diopsidae) the eyes and antennae are laterally displaced at the ends of elongated eyestalks. Eyespan and the degree of sexual dimorphism in eyespan vary considerably between species and several sexually dimorphic species show sexual selection through female mate preference for males with exaggerated eyespan. The genes on which selection acts to regulate eyespan remain to be identified. This could be achieved by comparing gene expression during eyestalk development in males and females if the sex of pre-adult flies could be reliably assigned. Here we describe two techniques, one morphological and one microsatellite-based, that identify the sex of stalk-eyed fly larvae and pupae.     

Febrile seizures: traffic slows in the heat

Febrile seizures, which occur in young children, have long been known to have a major inherited component. Mutations in some genes that encode sodium channel and GABA(A) receptor subunits have been found in a few families affected by febrile seizures. These mutations account only for a minority of cases, and much remains to be learnt about the molecular architecture of febrile seizures. A rare inherited cause--a mutation in the GABA(A) receptor subunit GABRG2 gene--has been recently shown to cause a temperature-dependent intracellular trafficking defect. This is an important step in unravelling the molecular pathogenesis of this common childhood disorder.     

Comparison of a Salmonella typhimurium proteome defined by shotgun proteomics directly on an LTQ-FT and by proteome pre-fractionation on an LCQ-DUO.

Shotgun proteomics is rapidly becoming one of the most efficient and popular tools to examine protein expression in cells. Numerous laboratories now have a wide array of low- and high-performance mass spectrometry instrumentation necessary to complete proteome-wide projects. Often these laboratories have time and financial constraints that prohibit all projects from being conducted on high-performance state-of-the-art mass spectrometers. Here, we compare shotgun proteomic results using a direct 'lyse, digest and analyse' approach on a high-performance mass spectrometer (i.e. the LTQ-FT) with the results from a much lower-performance instrument (i.e. the LCQ-DUO) where, for the latter, various traditional protein pre-fractionation steps and gas-phase fractionation were used to increase the proteome coverage. Our results demonstrate that shotgun proteomic analyses conducted on the lower-performance LCQ-DUO mass spectrometer could adequately characterize a PhoP constitutive strain of Salmonella typhimurium if proteome pre-fractionation steps and gas-phase fractionation were included.     

Novel IL10 gene family associations with systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis

Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) is the most common cause of chronic childhood disability and encompasses a number of disease subgroups. In this study we have focused on systemic JIA (sJIA), which accounts for approximately 11% of UK JIA cases. This study reports the investigation of three members of the IL10 gene family as candidate susceptibility loci in children with sJIA. DNA from 473 unaffected controls and 172 patients with sJIA was genotyped for a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in IL19 and IL20 and two SNPs in IL10. We examined evidence for association of the four SNPs by single marker and haplotype analysis. Significant differences in allele frequency were observed between cases and controls, for both IL10-1082 (p = 0.031) and IL20-468 (p = 0.028). Furthermore, examination of the haplotypes of IL10-1082 and IL20-468 revealed greater evidence for association (global p = 0.0006). This study demonstrates a significant increased prevalence of the low expressing IL10-1082 genotype in patients with sJIA. In addition, we show a separate association with an IL20 polymorphism, and the IL10-1082A/IL20-468T haplotype. The two marker 'A-T' haplotype confers an odds ratio of 2.24 for sJIA. This positive association suggests an important role for these cytokines in sJIA pathogenesis.     

Euler buckling-induced folding and rotation of red blood cells in an optical trap

We investigate the physics of an optically driven micromotor of biological origin. When a single, live red blood cell (RBC) is placed in an optical trap, the normal biconcave disc shape of the cell is observed to fold into a rod-like shape. If the trapping laser beam is circularly polarized, the folded RBC rotates. A model based on geometric considerations, using the concept of buckling instabilities, captures the folding phenomenon; the rotation of the cell is rationalized using the Poincaré sphere. Our model predicts that (i) at a critical power of the trapping laser beam the RBC shape undergoes large fluctuations, and (ii) the torque that is generated is proportional to the power of the laser beam. These predictions are verified experimentally. We suggest a possible mechanism for the emergence of birefringent properties in the RBC in the folded state.