Notes on sexual relationships and their political recognition in an intercultural context

"Thus, for this roundtable, I have come to think of three types of political recognition of same-sex sexuality. One is recognition of the political economy that makes same-sex erotic relations possible in different locations in Asia. Another is recognition of the constraints of nationalism and statism on such same-sex relations and the political opportunities opened by intercultural same-sex relations between people from different Asian (and other) national cultures. A third type of political recognition involves how Asian queer diasporas within western societies are shaping LGBTSI political agendas in those societies, and how these diasporic communities may also influence agendas for the political recognition of same-sex relationships in Asia."AsiaPacifiQueer Network, Australian National Universit

Dual Chromatin and Cytoskeletal Remodeling by SETD2

Posttranslational modifications (PTMs) of tubulin specify microtubules for specialized cellular functions and comprise what is termed a "tubulin code." PTMs of histones comprise an analogous "histone code," although the "readers, writers, and erasers" of the cytoskeleton and epigenome have heretofore been distinct. We show that methylation is a PTM of dynamic microtubules and that the histone methyltransferase SET-domain-containing 2 (SETD2), which is responsible for H3 lysine 36 trimethylation (H3K36me3) of histones, also methylates α-tubulin at lysine 40, the same lysine that is marked by acetylation on microtubules. Methylation of microtubules occurs during mitosis and cytokinesis and can be ablated by SETD2 deletion, which causes mitotic spindle and cytokinesis defects, micronuclei, and polyploidy. These data now identify SETD2 as a dual-function methyltransferase for both chromatin and the cytoskeleton and show a requirement for methylation in maintenance of genomic stability and the integrity of both the tubulin and histone codes

A CD317/tetherin–RICH2 complex plays a critical role in the organization of the subapical actin cytoskeleton in polarized epithelial cells

CD317/tetherin is a lipid raft–associated integral membrane protein with a novel topology. It has a short N-terminal cytosolic domain, a conventional transmembrane domain, and a C-terminal glycosyl-phosphatidylinositol anchor. We now show that CD317 is expressed at the apical surface of polarized epithelial cells, where it interacts indirectly with the underlying actin cytoskeleton. CD317 is linked to the apical actin network via the proteins RICH2, EBP50, and ezrin. Knocking down expression of either CD317 or RICH2 gives rise to the same phenotype: a loss of the apical actin network with concomitant loss of apical microvilli, an increase in actin bundles at the basal surface, and a reduction in cell height without any loss of tight junctions, transepithelial resistance, or the polarized targeting of apical and basolateral membrane proteins. Thus, CD317 provides a physical link between lipid rafts and the apical actin network in polarized epithelial cells and is crucial for the maintenance of microvilli in such cells

Estimation of volcanic eruption conditions for a large flank event on Elysium Mons, Mars.

Mars Orbiter Camera image (5.23 m/pixel) and topographic data from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter data are used to analyze a channel on the upper northern flank of the Elysium Mons volcano, Mars. We show that this channel is best explained as the product of the thermal erosion of the preexisting surface by a high-speed, turbulent lava flow fed from a fissure eruption. We deduce the volume eruption rate (∼3400–13,000 m3/s dense rock equivalent), the total volume of erupted lava (∼29–39 km dense rock equivalent), and the duration of the activity (40–130 days). Perhaps significantly, the erupted lava volume is essentially identical, given the uncertainties in the analysis, to the volume of the observed caldera (∼31 km3), which has implications for volume-limited eruptions on Mars and potentially for the unusual steep upper slopes of the volcano. The eruption that produced the channel appears to have been typical for Elysium Mons and implies that the other lava channels on the upper flank of the volcano may also have taken ∼1–4 months to have formed