Portman DS (2024) Curr Biol "Behavioral evolution: No sex please, we're hermaphrodites."

Portman DS

[Curr Biol, 2024]

Many 'hard-wired', innate animal behaviors are related to reproduction. So what happens when reproductive systems evolve? New research in nematodes has identified principles underlying the co-evolution of reproductive strategy and sexual behavior, revealing some surprises and raising intriguing new questions.

Sardella R et al. (2014) J Chromatogr A "Chromatographic separation of free dafachronic acid epimers with a novel triazole click quinidine-based chiral stationary phase."

Lindner W, Carotti A, Gioiello A, Lisanti A, Natalini B, Ianni F, Sardella R

[J Chromatogr A, 2014]

For the first time, a successful chromatographic method based on the use of a novel triazole click quinidine (QD) derivative anion-exchange chiral stationary phase (CSP) is applied for the epimer separation of dafachronic acids ((4)- and (7)-DAs). The use of a polar-ionic eluent system consisting of 18mM AcOH in ACN furnished an excellent separation of both (4)- (=1.19, RS=2.52) and (7)-DA (=1.14, RS=2.06) C-25 epimer couples. The pool of data collected during the chromatographic analyses revealed the prominent role of anion-exchange interactions in governing the analyte (SA) retention and also indicated the occurrence of stereoselective H-bond contacts with the chiral selector (SO) substructural motifs. In any case, molecular modelling studies corroborate the need for sufficient spatial freedom for optimum binding between the SO and the SAs which seems less the case for the immobilised SO unit of the commercialized QD-based CSP.

Languillat G et al. (1977) Rev Epidemiol Sante Publique "[Etiological study of low fertility in eastern Gaboon. III. Filarial endemicity (Loa loa, D. perstans). Prevalence of microfilariae in hydroceles (author's transl)]."

Beauvais B, Tursz A, Lariviere M, Garin Y, Languillat G

[Rev Epidemiol Sante Publique, 1977]

During an inquiry performed in Gaboon the prevalence of hydroceles had led to puncture systematically every vaginal flow. 68 fluids were so collected at the end of the inquiry. Subsequently the statistical analysis of the results in men seems to suggest a correlation between microfilaremia (Loa loa and D. perstans) and the prevalence of hydroceles. Microfilariae were found in 77% according to the following distribution: Loa loa seldom diagnosed in this kind of flow were detected in 10%; D. perstans although never reported so far in hydrocele fluids appeared to be present in 62%. O. volvulus more currently referred to in hydrocele liquids were scarcely traced.

Ashrafi K (2022) Cell Host Microbe "Better living through communal eating."

Ashrafi K

[Cell Host Microbe, 2022]

Caenorhabditis elegans do not grow on either Staphylococcus saprophyticus or heat-killed Escherichia coli, but do so when exposed to both. In this issue of Cell Host & Microbe, Geng and colleagues have identified E.coli-derived signals as well as the host's neural and innate immunity pathways that promote digestion of S.saprophyticus.

Hardin JD (2000) Science "Development. A degrading way to make an organ."

Hardin JD

[Science, 2000]

Building an organ is a precise business. Organ rudiments must often navigate through a complex, three-dimensional terrain as their shape is transformed, and they must do so in a way that is carefully orchestrated with other concurrent developmental events. Many organ rudiments develop as tubular structures that are elaborated as the rudiment grows...

Rezvoy C et al. (2007) Bioinformatics "MareyMap: an R-based tool with graphical interface for estimating recombination rates."

Rezvoy C, Charif D, Marais GA, Gueguen L

[Bioinformatics, 2007]

SUMMARY: comparing genetic and physical maps (the so-called Marey map approach) is still the most widely used approach to estimate genome-wide recombination rates. Remarkably, there is no available bioinformatics tool specifically devoted to Marey map approach. Here we developed such a tool called MareyMap based on GNU R and Tcl/Tk. MareyMap offers a user-friendly graphical interface and includes useful features such as data cleaning process, sophisticated interpolation methods to estimate local rates, possibility of complex queries, various range of import - export files. Moreover, MareyMap comes with ready-to-use maps for human, Drosophila, C. elegans and Arabidopsis. MareyMap has been made so that it can be easily upgraded with new data and interpolation methods. AVAILABILITY: http://pbil.univ-lyon1.fr/software/mareymap/

Lawrence CJ et al. (2004) J Cell Biol "A standardized kinesin nomenclature."

Hirokawa N, McIntosh JR, Goodson HV, Reddy AS, Lawrence CJ, Okada Y, Cleveland DW, Miki H, Schliwa M, Endow SA, Malmberg RL, Mitchison TJ, Scholey JM, Wordeman L, Vale RD, Dawe RK, Christie KR, Howard J, Goldstein LS, Saxton WM, Dawson SC, Walczak CE

[J Cell Biol, 2004]

In recent years the kinesin superfamily has become so large that several different naming schemes have emerged, leading to confusion and miscommunication. Here, we set forth a standardized kinesin nomenclature based on 14 family designations. The scheme unifies all previous phylogenies and nomenclature proposals, while allowing individual sequence names to remain the same, and for expansion to occur as new sequences are discovered.

Kapitonov VV et al. (2001) Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A "Rolling-circle transposons in eukaryotes."

Kapitonov VV, Jurka J

[Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 2001]

All eukaryotic DNA transposons reported so far belong to a single category of elements transposed by the so-called "cut-and-paste" mechanism. Here, we report a previously unknown category of eukaryotic DNA transposons. Helitron, which transpose by rolling-circle replication. Autonomous Helitrons encode a 5 ' -to-3 ' DNA helicase and nuclease/ligase similar to those encoded by known rolling-circle replicons. Helitron-like transposons have conservative 5 ' -TC and CTRR-3 ' termini and do not have terminal inverted repeats. They contain 16- to 20-bp hairpins separated by 10-12 nucleotides from the 3 ' -end and transpose precisely between the 5 ' -A and T-3 ', with no modifications of the AT target sites. Together with their multiple diverged nonautonomous descendants, Helitrons constitute approximate to2% of both the Arabidopsis thaliana and Caenorhabditis elegans genomes and also colonize the Oriza sativa genome. Sequence conservation suggests that Helitrons continue to be transposed.

Schmidt J et al. (2018) Adv Exp Med Biol "Animal Models of Machado-Joseph Disease."

Schmidt J, Schmidt T

[Adv Exp Med Biol, 2018]

Animal models are an important tool to study the pathophysiology of Machado-Joseph Disease (MJD). So far, animal models using simple organisms (like the round worm Caenorhabditis elegans or the fruit fly drosophila) but also mammalian models (mouse and even a non-human primate model) have been generated to study MJD. While simple organisms made an important contribution to the identification of pathophysiological mechanisms in MJD and were further used for modifier and screening purposes, mammalian models recapitulate major disease features of MJD in humans and are therefore a highly valuable tool for e.g. the validation of mechanisms or for pre-clinical validation of treatment approaches. Here we give an overview about the strategies which were used to model MJD and about the different models generated so far. We further highlight advantages of specific model organisms and describe the new findings which were made employing these animal models of MJD.

Horvitz HR et al. (1980) Genetics "Isolation and genetic characterization of cell-lineage mutants of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans."

Sulston JE, Horvitz HR

[Genetics, 1980]

Twenty-four mutants that alter the normally invariant post-embryonic cell lineages of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans have been isolated and genetically characterized. In some of these mutants, cell divisions fail that occur in wild-type animals; in other mutants, cells divide that do not normally do so. The mutants differ in the specificities of their defects, so that it is possible to identify mutations that affect some cell lineages but not others. These mutants define 14 complementation groups, which have been mapped. The abnormal phenotype of most of the cell-lineage mutants results from a single recessive mutation; however, the excessive cell divisions characteristic of one strain, CB1322, require the presence of two unlinked recessive mutations. All 24 cell-lineage mutants display incomplete penetrance and/or variable expressivity. Three of the mutants are suppressed by pleiotropic suppressors believed to be specific for null alleles, suggesting that their phenotypes result from the complete absence of gene activity.