Chromatin-binding protein PHF6 regulates activity-dependent transcriptional networks to promote hunger response

Understanding the mechanisms of activity-dependent gene transcription underlying adaptive behaviors is challenging at neuronal-subtype resolution. Using cell-type specific molecular analysis in agouti-related peptide (AgRP) neurons, we reveal that the profound hunger-induced transcriptional changes greatly depend on plant homeodomain finger protein 6 (PHF6), a transcriptional repressor enriched in AgRP neurons. Loss of PHF6 in the satiated mice results in a hunger-state-shifting transcriptional profile, while hunger fails to further induce a rapid and robust activity-dependent gene transcription in PHF6-deficient AgRP neurons. We reveal that PHF6 binds to the promoters of a subset of immediate-early genes (IEGs) and that this chromatin binding is dynamically regulated by hunger state. Depletion of PHF6 decreases hunger-driven feeding motivation and makes the mice resistant to body weight gain under repetitive fasting-refeeding conditions. Our work identifies a neuronal subtype-specific transcriptional repressor that modulates transcriptional profiles in different nutritional states and enables adaptive eating behavior

The Ninth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: First Spectroscopic Data from the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey III (SDSS-III) presents the first spectroscopic data from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS). This ninth data release (DR9) of the SDSS project includes 535,995 new galaxy spectra (median z=0.52), 102,100 new quasar spectra (median z=2.32), and 90,897 new stellar spectra, along with the data presented in previous data releases. These spectra were obtained with the new BOSS spectrograph and were taken between 2009 December and 2011 July. In addition, the stellar parameters pipeline, which determines radial velocities, surface temperatures, surface gravities, and metallicities of stars, has been updated and refined with improvements in temperature estimates for stars with T_eff<5000 K and in metallicity estimates for stars with [Fe/H]>-0.5. DR9 includes new stellar parameters for all stars presented in DR8, including stars from SDSS-I and II, as well as those observed as part of the SDSS-III Sloan Extension for Galactic Understanding and Exploration-2 (SEGUE-2). The astrometry error introduced in the DR8 imaging catalogs has been corrected in the DR9 data products. The next data release for SDSS-III will be in Summer 2013, which will present the first data from the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) along with another year of data from BOSS, followed by the final SDSS-III data release in December 2014.Comment: 9 figures; 2 tables. Submitted to ApJS. DR9 is available at http://www.sdss3.org/dr

The Eleventh and Twelfth Data Releases of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: Final Data from SDSS-III

The third generation of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-III) took data from 2008 to 2014 using the original SDSS wide-field imager, the original and an upgraded multi-object fiber-fed optical spectrograph, a new near-infrared high-resolution spectrograph, and a novel optical interferometer. All of the data from SDSS-III are now made public. In particular, this paper describes Data Release 11 (DR11) including all data acquired through 2013 July, and Data Release 12 (DR12) adding data acquired through 2014 July (including all data included in previous data releases), marking the end of SDSS-III observing. Relative to our previous public release (DR10), DR12 adds one million new spectra of galaxies and quasars from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) over an additional 3000 deg2 of sky, more than triples the number of H-band spectra of stars as part of the Apache Point Observatory (APO) Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE), and includes repeated accurate radial velocity measurements of 5500 stars from the Multi-object APO Radial Velocity Exoplanet Large-area Survey (MARVELS). The APOGEE outputs now include the measured abundances of 15 different elements for each star. In total, SDSS-III added 5200 deg2 of ugriz imaging; 155,520 spectra of 138,099 stars as part of the Sloan Exploration of Galactic Understanding and Evolution 2 (SEGUE-2) survey; 2,497,484 BOSS spectra of 1,372,737 galaxies, 294,512 quasars, and 247,216 stars over 9376 deg2; 618,080 APOGEE spectra of 156,593 stars; and 197,040 MARVELS spectra of 5513 stars. Since its first light in 1998, SDSS has imaged over 1/3 of the Celestial sphere in five bands and obtained over five million astronomical spectra. \ua9 2015. The American Astronomical Society

Protein Kinase A-mediated 14-3-3 Association Impedes Human Dapper1 to Promote Dishevelled Degradation*

Wnt signaling regulates embryo development and tissue homeostasis, and its deregulation leads to an array of diseases, including cancer. Dapper1 has been shown to be a key negative regulator of Wnt signaling. However, its function and regulation remain poorly understood. In this study, we report that 14-3-3β interacts with human Dapper1 (hDpr1). The interaction is dependent on protein kinase A (PKA)-mediated phosphorylation of hDpr1 at Ser-237 and Ser-827. 14-3-3β binding attenuates the ability of hDpr1 to promote Dishevelled (Dvl) degradation, thus enhancing Wnt signaling. We further provide evidence that PKA-mediated Dpr1 phosphorylation may contribute to growth and tumor formation of colon cancer Caco2 cells. Finally, we show that cyclooxygenase-2 expression and PKA activation are positively correlated with Dvl protein levels in colon cancer samples. Together, our findings establish a novel layer of regulation of Wnt signaling by PKA via the 14-3-3-Dpr1-Dvl axis