L'accès des Chinoises au microcrédit en zone rurale et périurbaine: Un outil de lutte contre la subordination des femmes?

Taking out a microcredit gives women the opportunity to start or to develop micro-enterprises and, by doing so, it enables them to empower themselves. At least this is how microcredit is presented at a global level and spread throughout the world by many practitioners and experts of international organisations. But what about the People’s Republic of China: Does this also apply there, both in discourse and in practice? This question is all the more relevant today because until now the impact of economic modernization on the status of Chinese women has been rather paradoxical. A multi-sited ethnographic study that was conducted among promoters and female borrowers in seven microcredit institutions put into perspective the globalized and Chinese discourse on women empowerment through microcredit with the local realities. This study revealed many discrepancies that are characteristic of Chinese microfinance in general and of Chinese women’s access to microcredit in rural and suburban areas in particular. These discrepancies are the result of a Chinese social, political, and economical context as well as of a global environment that is not in favour of improving the socioeconomic status of women. Far from fighting women’s subordination, women’s access to microcredit – being caught in the traps of gender relationships – appears to be rather distorted and even misused in favour of the service of local economic development and, therefore, of social stability. This thesis shows how Chinese and globalized discourse on women empowerment through microcredit fits into a neoliberal (and patriarchal) view of the societies that it reproduces and feeds.Contracter un microcrédit permet aux femmes de démarrer ou développer une micro-entreprise et, de cette manière, de gagner en autonomie. C’est ainsi, à l’échelle globale, que le microcrédit est présenté et diffusé aux quatre coins du globe par de nombreux patriciens et experts d’organisations internationales. Qu’en est-il en République Populaire de Chine, dans les discours comme dans les faits ? Cette question apparaît d’autant plus pertinente que, jusqu’à présent, les effets de la modernisation économique sur le statut des femmes chinoises se sont révélés paradoxaux. Une étude ethnographique multi-située auprès de promoteurs de microcrédits et d’emprunteuses au sein de sept organismes de microcrédit a permis de mettre en perspective les discours globalisé et chinois sur l’autonomisation des femmes par le microcrédit avec les réalités locales. Il en ressort de nombreux décalages caractérisant la microfinance chinoise en général et l’accès des Chinoises au microcrédit en zone rurale et périurbaine en particulier qui incombent à un contexte social, politique et économique chinois et à un environnement global défavorables à l’amélioration du statut socioéconomique des femmes par le microcrédit. Loin de lutter contre la subordination des femmes, leur accès au microcrédit, pris dans les rets des rapports sociaux de sexe, se révèle détourné voire instrumentalisé au service du développement de l’économie locale et ainsi du maintien de la stabilité sociale. Cette thèse montre comment le discours chinois et globalisé sur l’autonomisation des femmes par le microcrédit s’inscrit dans une vision néolibérale (et patriarcale) des sociétés qu’il reproduit et alimente

DNA Display III. Solid-Phase Organic Synthesis on Unprotected DNA

DNA-directed synthesis represents a powerful new tool for molecular discovery. Its ultimate utility, however, hinges upon the diversity of chemical reactions that can be executed in the presence of unprotected DNA. We present a solid-phase reaction format that makes possible the use of standard organic reaction conditions and common reagents to facilitate chemical transformations on unprotected DNA supports. We demonstrate the feasibility of this strategy by comprehensively adapting solid-phase 9-fluorenylmethyoxycarbonyl–based peptide synthesis to be DNA-compatible, and we describe a set of tools for the adaptation of other chemistries. Efficient peptide coupling to DNA was observed for all 33 amino acids tested, and polypeptides as long as 12 amino acids were synthesized on DNA supports. Beyond the direct implications for synthesis of peptide–DNA conjugates, the methods described offer a general strategy for organic synthesis on unprotected DNA. Their employment can facilitate the generation of chemically diverse DNA-encoded molecular populations amenable to in vitro evolution and genetic manipulation

Effects of DNA and protein size on substrate cleavage by human tyrosyl-DNA phosphodiesterase 1

Tyrosyl-DNA phosphodiesterase 1 (TDP1) catalyzes the hydrolysis of phosphodiester linkages between a DNA 3′ phosphate and a tyrosine residue as well as a variety of other DNA 3′ substituents, and has been implicated in the repair of covalent complexes involving eukaryotic type IB topoisomerases. To better understand the substrate features that are recognized by TDP1, the size of either the DNA or protein component of the substrate was varied. Competition experiments and gel shift analyses comparing a series of substrates with DNA lengths increasing from 6 to 28 nucleotides indicated that, contrary to predictions based on the crystal structure of the protein, the apparent affinity for the substrate increased as the DNA length was increased over the entire range tested. It has previously been found that a substrate containing the full-length native form of human topoisomerase I protein is not cleaved by TDP1. Protein-oligonucleotide complexes containing either a 53 or 108 amino acid long topoisomerase I-derived peptide were efficiently cleaved by TDP1, but like the full length protein, a substrate containing a 333 amino acid topoisomerase I fragment was resistant to cleavage. Consistent with these results, evidence is presented that processing by the proteasome is required for TDP1 cleavage in vivo

Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase and XPF–ERCC1 participate in distinct pathways for the repair of topoisomerase I-induced DNA damage in mammalian cells

Poly(ADP-Ribose) (PAR) polymerase (PARP) inhibitors represent a promising class of novel anticancer agents. The present study explores the molecular rationale for combining veliparib (ABT-888) with camptothecin (CPT) and its clinical derivatives, topotecan and irinotecan. ABT-888 inhibited PAR induction by CPT and increased CPT-induced cell killing and histone γH2AX. Increased DNA breaks by ABT-888 were not associated with a corresponding increase of topoisomerase I cleavage complexes and were further increased by inactivation of tyrosyl-DNA phosphodiesterase 1. SiRNA knockdown for the endonuclease XPF–ERCC1 reduced the ABT-888-induced γH2AX response in non-replicating and replicating cells but enhanced the antiproliferative effect of ABT-888 in CPT-treated cells. Our findings indicate the involvement of XPF–ERCC1 in inducing γH2AX response and repairing topoisomerase I-induced DNA damage as an alternative pathway from PARP and tyrosyl-DNA phosphodiesterase 1

SUMO-Targeted Ubiquitin Ligase, Rad60, and Nse2 SUMO Ligase Suppress Spontaneous Top1–Mediated DNA Damage and Genome Instability

Through as yet undefined proteins and pathways, the SUMO-targeted ubiquitin ligase (STUbL) suppresses genomic instability by ubiquitinating SUMO conjugated proteins and driving their proteasomal destruction. Here, we identify a critical function for fission yeast STUbL in suppressing spontaneous and chemically induced topoisomerase I (Top1)–mediated DNA damage. Strikingly, cells with reduced STUbL activity are dependent on tyrosyl–DNA phosphodiesterase 1 (Tdp1). This is notable, as cells lacking Tdp1 are largely aphenotypic in the vegetative cell cycle due to the existence of alternative pathways for the removal of covalent Top1–DNA adducts (Top1cc). We further identify Rad60, a SUMO mimetic and STUbL-interacting protein, and the SUMO E3 ligase Nse2 as critical Top1cc repair factors in cells lacking Tdp1. Detection of Top1ccs using chromatin immunoprecipitation and quantitative PCR shows that they are elevated in cells lacking Tdp1 and STUbL, Rad60, or Nse2 SUMO ligase activity. These unrepaired Top1ccs are shown to cause DNA damage, hyper-recombination, and checkpoint-mediated cell cycle arrest. We further determine that Tdp1 and the nucleotide excision repair endonuclease Rad16-Swi10 initiate the major Top1cc repair pathways of fission yeast. Tdp1-based repair is the predominant activity outside S phase, likely acting on transcription-coupled Top1cc. Epistasis analyses suggest that STUbL, Rad60, and Nse2 facilitate the Rad16-Swi10 pathway, parallel to Tdp1. Collectively, these results reveal a unified role for STUbL, Rad60, and Nse2 in protecting genome stability against spontaneous Top1-mediated DNA damage