Sox21b underlies the rapid diversification of a novel male genital structure between Drosophila species

The emergence and diversification of morphological novelties is a major feature of animal evolution. However, relatively little is known about the genetic basis of the evolution of novel structures and the mechanisms underlying their diversification. The epandrial posterior lobes of male genitalia are a novelty of particular Drosophila species. The lobes grasp the female ovipositor and insert between her abdominal tergitesand, therefore, are important for copulation and species recognition. The posterior lobes likely evolved from co-option of a Hox-regulated gene network from the posterior spiracles and have sincediversified in morphology in the D.simulans clade, in particular, over the last 240,000 years, drivenby sexual selection. The genetic basis of this diversification is polygenic but, to the best ofour knowledge, none of the causative genes have been identified. Identifying the genes underlyingthe diversification of these secondary sexual structures is essential to understanding theevolutionary impact on copulation and species recognition. Here, we show that Sox21b negatively regulates posterior lobe size. This is consistent with expanded Sox21b expression in D.mauritiana, which develops smaller posterior lobes than D.simulans. We tested this by generating reciprocal hemizygotes and confirmed that changes in Sox21b underlie posterior lobe evolution between these species. Furthermore, we found that posterior lobe size differences caused by the species-specific allele of Sox21b significantly affect copulation duration. Taken together, our study reveals the genetic basis for the sexual-selection-driven diversification of a novel morphological structure and its functional impact on copulatory behavior. [Abstract copyright: Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Prevalent mutator genotype identified in fungal pathogen Candida glabrata promotes multi-drug resistance.

The fungal pathogen Candida glabrata has emerged as a major health threat since it readily acquires resistance to multiple drug classes, including triazoles and/or echinocandins. Thus far, cellular mechanisms promoting the emergence of resistance to multiple drug classes have not been described in this organism. Here we demonstrate that a mutator phenotype caused by a mismatch repair defect is prevalent in C. glabrata clinical isolates. Strains carrying alterations in mismatch repair gene MSH2 exhibit a higher propensity to breakthrough antifungal treatment in vitro and in mouse models of colonization, and are recovered at a high rate (55% of all C. glabrata recovered) from patients. This genetic mechanism promotes the acquisition of resistance to multiple antifungals, at least partially explaining the elevated rates of triazole and multi-drug resistance associated with C. glabrata. We anticipate that identifying MSH2 defects in infecting strains may influence the management of patients on antifungal drug therapy

Domain growth and aging scaling in coarsening disordered systems

Using extensive Monte Carlo simulations we study aging properties of two disordered systems quenched below their critical point, namely the two-dimensional random-bond Ising model and the three-dimensional Edwards-Anderson Ising spin glass with a bimodal distribution of the coupling constants. We study the two-times autocorrelation and space-time correlation functions and show that in both systems a simple aging scenario prevails in terms of the scaling variable $L(t)/L(s)$, where $L$ is the time-dependent correlation length, whereas $s$ is the waiting time and $t$ is the observation time. The investigation of the space-time correlation function for the random-bond Ising model allows us to address some issues related to superuniversality.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figures, to appear in European Physical Journal

tartan underlies the evolution of male Drosophila genital morphology

Male genital structures are among the most rapidly evolving morphological traits and are often the only features that can distinguish closely related species. This process is thought to be driven by sexual selection and may reinforce species separation. However, while the genetic bases of many phenotypic differences have been identified, we still lack knowledge about the genes underlying evolutionary differences in male genital organs and organ size more generally. The claspers (surstyli) are periphallic structures that play an important role in copulation in insects. Here, we show that divergence in clasper size and bristle number between Drosophila mauritiana and Drosophila simulans is caused by evolutionary changes in tartan (trn), which encodes a transmembrane leucine-rich repeat domain protein that mediates cell–cell interactions and affinity. There are no fixed amino acid differences in trn between D. mauritiana and D. simulans, but differences in the expression of this gene in developing genitalia suggest that cis-regulatory changes in trn underlie the evolution of clasper morphology in these species. Finally, analyses of reciprocal hemizygotes that are genetically identical, except for the species from which the functional allele of trn originates, determined that the trn allele of D. mauritiana specifies larger claspers with more bristles than the allele of D. simulans. Therefore, we have identified a gene underlying evolutionary change in the size of a male genital organ, which will help to better understand not only the rapid diversification of these structures, but also the regulation and evolution of organ size more broadly

Unravelling the genetic basis for the rapid diversification of male genitalia between Drosophila species

In the last 240,000 years, males of the Drosophila simulans species clade have evolved striking differences in the morphology of their epandrial posterior lobes and claspers (surstyli). These appendages are used for grasping the female during mating and so their divergence is most likely driven by sexual selection. Mapping studies indicate a highly polygenic and generally additive genetic basis for these morphological differences. However, we have limited understanding of the gene regulatory networks that control the development of genital structures and how they evolved to result in this rapid phenotypic diversification. Here, we used new D. simulans/D. mauritiana introgression lines on chromosome 3L to generate higher resolution maps of posterior lobe and clasper differences between these species. We then carried out RNA-seq on the developing genitalia of both species to identify the expressed genes and those that are differentially expressed between the two species. This allowed us to test the function of expressed positional candidates during genital development in D. melanogaster. We identified several new genes involved in the development and possibly the evolution of these genital structures, including the transcription factors Hairy and Grunge. Furthermore, we discovered that during clasper development Hairy negatively regulates tartan (trn), a gene known to contribute to divergence in clasper morphology. Taken together, our results provide new insights into the regulation of genital development and how this has evolved between species

The H4K20 demethylase DPY-21 regulates the dynamics of condensin DC binding

Condensin is a multi-subunit SMC complex that binds to and compacts chromosomes. Here we addressed the regulation of condensin binding dynamics using C. elegans condensin DC, which represses X chromosomes in hermaphrodites for dosage compensation. We established fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) using the SMC4 homolog DPY-27 and showed that a well-characterized ATPase mutation abolishes its binding. Next, we performed FRAP in the background of several chromatin modifier mutants that cause varying degrees of X-chromosome derepression. The greatest effect was in a null mutant of the H4K20me2 demethylase DPY-21, where the mobile fraction of condensin DC reduced from ∼30% to 10%. In contrast, a catalytic mutant of dpy-21 did not regulate condensin DC mobility. Hi-C data in the dpy-21 null mutant showed little change compared to wild type, uncoupling Hi-C measured long-range DNA contacts from transcriptional repression of the X chromosomes. Together, our results indicate that DPY-21 has a non-catalytic role in regulating the dynamics of condensin DC binding, which is important for transcription repression

Forward jet production in deep inelastic ep scattering and low-x parton dynamics at HERA

Differential inclusive jet cross sections in neutral current deep inelastic ep scattering have been measured with the ZEUS detector. Three phase-space regions have been selected in order to study parton dynamics where the effects of BFKL evolution might be present. The measurements have been compared to the predictions of leading-logarithm parton shower Monte Carlo models and fixed-order perturbative QCD calculations. In the forward region, QCD calculations at order alpha_s^1 underestimate the data up to an order of magnitude at low x. An improved description of the data in this region is obtained by including QCD corrections at order alpha_s^2, which account for the lowest-order t-channel gluon-exchange diagrams, highlighting the importance of such terms in parton dynamics at low x.Comment: 25 pages, 4 figure

Measurement of (anti)deuteron and (anti)proton production in DIS at HERA

The first observation of (anti)deuterons in deep inelastic scattering at HERA has been made with the ZEUS detector at a centre-of-mass energy of 300--318 GeV using an integrated luminosity of 120 pb-1. The measurement was performed in the central rapidity region for transverse momentum per unit of mass in the range 0.3<p_T/M<0.7. The particle rates have been extracted and interpreted in terms of the coalescence model. The (anti)deuteron production yield is smaller than the (anti)proton yield by approximately three orders of magnitude, consistent with the world measurements.Comment: 26 pages, 9 figures, 5 tables, submitted to Nucl. Phys.

Anisotropic flow of charged hadrons, pions and (anti-)protons measured at high transverse momentum in Pb-Pb collisions at sNN=2.76\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=2.76 TeV

The elliptic, $v_2$, triangular, $v_3$, and quadrangular, $v_4$, azimuthal anisotropic flow coefficients are measured for unidentified charged particles, pions and (anti-)protons in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 2.76$ TeV with the ALICE detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Results obtained with the event plane and four-particle cumulant methods are reported for the pseudo-rapidity range $|\eta|<0.8$ at different collision centralities and as a function of transverse momentum, $p_{\rm T}$, out to $p_{\rm T}=20$ GeV/$c$. The observed non-zero elliptic and triangular flow depends only weakly on transverse momentum for $p_{\rm T}>8$ GeV/$c$. The small $p_{\rm T}$ dependence of the difference between elliptic flow results obtained from the event plane and four-particle cumulant methods suggests a common origin of flow fluctuations up to $p_{\rm T}=8$ GeV/$c$. The magnitude of the (anti-)proton elliptic and triangular flow is larger than that of pions out to at least $p_{\rm T}=8$ GeV/$c$ indicating that the particle type dependence persists out to high $p_{\rm T}$.Comment: 16 pages, 5 captioned figures, authors from page 11, published version, figures at http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/186

Centrality dependence of charged particle production at large transverse momentum in Pb-Pb collisions at sNN=2.76\sqrt{s_{\rm{NN}}} = 2.76 TeV

The inclusive transverse momentum ($p_{\rm T}$) distributions of primary charged particles are measured in the pseudo-rapidity range $|\eta|<0.8$ as a function of event centrality in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm{NN}}}=2.76$ TeV with ALICE at the LHC. The data are presented in the $p_{\rm T}$ range $0.15<p_{\rm T}<50$ GeV/$c$ for nine centrality intervals from 70-80% to 0-5%. The Pb-Pb spectra are presented in terms of the nuclear modification factor $R_{\rm{AA}}$ using a pp reference spectrum measured at the same collision energy. We observe that the suppression of high-$p_{\rm T}$ particles strongly depends on event centrality. In central collisions (0-5%) the yield is most suppressed with $R_{\rm{AA}}\approx0.13$ at $p_{\rm T}=6$-7 GeV/$c$. Above $p_{\rm T}=7$ GeV/$c$, there is a significant rise in the nuclear modification factor, which reaches $R_{\rm{AA}} \approx0.4$ for $p_{\rm T}>30$ GeV/$c$. In peripheral collisions (70-80%), the suppression is weaker with $R_{\rm{AA}} \approx 0.7$ almost independently of $p_{\rm T}$. The measured nuclear modification factors are compared to other measurements and model calculations.Comment: 17 pages, 4 captioned figures, 2 tables, authors from page 12, published version, figures at http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/284