Identification of a Cytotoxic Form of Dimeric Interleukin-2 in Murine Tissues

Interleukin-2 (IL-2) is a multi-faceted cytokine, known for promoting proliferation, survival, and cell death depending on the cell type and state. For example, IL-2 facilitates cell death only in activated T cells when antigen and IL-2 are abundant. The availability of IL-2 clearly impacts this process. Our laboratory recently demonstrated that IL-2 is retained in blood vessels by heparan sulfate, and that biologically active IL-2 is released from vessel tissue by heparanase. We now demonstrate that heparanase digestion also releases a dimeric form of IL-2 that is highly cytotoxic to cells expressing the IL-2 receptor. These cells include “traditional” IL-2 receptor-bearing cells such as lymphocytes, as well as those less well known for IL-2 receptor expression, such as epithelial and smooth muscle cells. The morphologic changes and rapid cell death induced by dimeric IL-2 imply that cell death is mediated by disruption of membrane permeability and subsequent necrosis. These findings suggest that IL-2 has a direct and unexpectedly broad influence on cellular homeostatic mechanisms in both immune and non-immune systems

Postmating Female Control: 20 Years of Cryptic Female Choice

Cryptic female choice (CFC) represents postmating intersexual selection arising from female-driven mechanisms at or after mating that bias sperm use and impact male paternity share. Although biologists began to study CFC relatively late, largely spurred by Eberhard's book published 20 years ago, the field has grown rapidly since then. Here, we review empirical progress to show that numerous female processes offer potential for CFC, from mating through to fertilization, although seldom has CFC been clearly demonstrated. We then evaluate functional implications, and argue that, under some conditions, CFC might have repercussions for female fitness, sexual conflict, and intersexual coevolution, with ramifications for related evolutionary phenomena, such as speciation. We conclude by identifying directions for future research in this rapidly growing field

Flatworms flatten to size up each other

When copulations are costly, fertilization is reciprocal and fecundity is positively related to size, hermaphrodites are expected to favour large partners, leading to size-assortative mating. Size-related mate choice has, however, never been observed in hermaphrodites. In the flatworm Dugesia gonocephala copulations cost time and are reciprocal, and size is a positive predictor of female fecundity. Every copulation is preceded by a phase in which one partner glides on top of the other and both spread out and flatten, suggesting that partners assess each other's size. A total of 124 copulating pairs collected on four different dates, proved that mating is size-assorted in the field. In experiments with groups, more copulations took place between equally sized individuals than were expected when matings were random. In experiments with pairs, partners of different size exhibited twice as many mating attempts for the first copulation than did partners of the same size. We conclude that D. gonocephala employs a unique kind of pre-copulatory 'flattening' behaviour as a mechanism to signal as well as to assess relative size. This does not only confirm that hermaphrodites can mate assortatively when certain assumptions are met, it also proves that even lower invertebrates can show active mate choice

In vivo quantification of particle based and gene based MRI reporters in the rodent brain

Rangarajan J.R., Vande Velde G., Guglielmetti C., Vreys R., Verhoye M., Dresselaers T., Van Der Linden A., Himmelreich U., Maes F., ''In vivo quantification of particle based and gene based MRI reporters in the rodent brain'', ISMRM 19th annual meeting & exhibition, pp. 3706, May 7-13, 2011, Montréal, Québec, Canada.status: publishe