The long noncoding RNA mimi scaffolds neuronal granules to maintain nervous system maturity

RNA binding proteins and messenger RNAs (mRNAs) assemble into ribonucleoprotein granules that regulate mRNA trafficking, local translation, and turnover. The dysregulation of RNA-protein condensation disturbs synaptic plas-ticity and neuron survival and has been widely associated with human neurological disease. Neuronal granules are thought to condense around particular proteins that dictate the identity and composition of each granule type. Here, we show in Drosophila that a previously uncharacterized long noncoding RNA, mimi, is required to scaffold large neuronal granules in the adult nervous system. Neuronal ELAV-like proteins directly bind mimi and mediate granule assembly, while Staufen maintains condensate integrity. mimi granules contain mRNAs and proteins involved in synaptic processes; granule loss in mimi mutant flies impairs nervous system maturity and neuropeptide-mediated signaling and causes phenotypes of neurodegeneration. Our work reports an architectural RNA for a neuronal granule and provides a handle to interrogate functions of a condensate independently of those of its constituent proteins

CAPRI enables comparison of evolutionary conserved RNA interacting regions

RNA-protein complexes play essential regulatory roles at nearly all levels of gene expression. Using in vivo crosslinking and RNA capture, we report a comprehensive RNA-protein interactome in a metazoan at four levels of resolution: single amino acids, domains, proteins and multisubunit complexes. We devise CAPRI, a method to map RNA-binding domains (RBDs) by simultaneous identification of RNA interacting crosslinked peptides and peptides adjacent to such crosslinked sites. CAPRI identifies more than 3000 RNA proximal peptides in Drosophila and human proteins with more than 45% of them forming new interaction interfaces. The comparison of orthologous proteins enables the identification of evolutionary conserved RBDs in globular domains and intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs). By comparing the sequences of IDRs through evolution, we classify them based on the type of motif, accumulation of tandem repeats, conservation of amino acid composition and high sequence divergence

The Development of a Point of Care Clinical Guidelines Mobile Application Following a User-Centred Design Approach

This paper describes the development of a point of care clinical guidelines mobile application. A user-centred design approach was utilised to inform the design of a smartphone application, this included: Observations; a survey; focus groups and an analysis of popular apps utilised by clinicians in a UK NHS Trust. Usability testing was conducted to inform iterations of the application, which presents clinicians with a variety of integrated tools to aid in decision making and information retrieval. The study found that clinicians use a mixture of technology to retrieve information, which is often inefficient or has poor usability. It also shows that smartphone application development for use in UK hospitals needs to consider the variety of users and their clinical knowledge and work pattern. This study highlights the need for applying user-centred design methods in the design of information presented to clinicians and the need for clinical information delivery that is efficient and easy to use at the bedside

RNA nucleation by MSL2 induces selective X chromosome compartmentalization

Confinement of the X chromosome to a territory for dosage compensation is a prime example of how subnuclear compartmental-ization is used to regulate transcription at the megabase scale. In Drosophila melano-gaster, two sex-specific non-coding RNAs (roX1 and roX2) are transcribed from the X chromosome. They associate with the male-specific lethal (MSL) complex, which acetylates histone H4 lysine 16 and thereby induces an approximately twofold increase in expression of male X-linked genes. Current models suggest that X-over-autosome specificity is achieved by the recognition of cis-regulatory DNA high-affinity sites (HAS) by the MSL2 subunit. However, HAS motifs are also found on autosomes, indicating that additional factors must stabilize the association of the MSL complex with the X chromosome. Here we show that the low-complexity C-terminal domain (CTD) of MSL2 renders its recruitment to the X chromosome sensitive to roX non-coding RNAs. roX non-coding RNAs and the MSL2 CTD form a stably condensed state, and functional analyses in Drosophila and mammalian cells show that their interactions are crucial for dosage compensation in vivo. Replacing the CTD of mammalian MSL2 with that from Drosophila and expressing roX in cis is sufficient to nucleate ectopic dosage compensation in mammalian cells. Thus, the condensing nature of roX-MSL2CTD is the primary determinant for specific compartmentalization of the X chromosome in Drosophila

Abstracts of Scientifica 2022

This book contains the abstracts of the papers presented at Scientifica 2022, Organized by the Sancheti Institute College of Physiotherapy, Pune, Maharashtra, India, held on 12–13 March 2022. This conference helps bring researchers together across the globe on one platform to help benefit the young researchers. There were six invited talks from different fields of Physiotherapy and seven panel discussions including over thirty speakers across the globe which made the conference interesting due to the diversity of topics covered during the conference. Conference Title:  Scientifica 2022Conference Date: 12–13 March 2022Conference Location: Sancheti Institute College of PhysiotherapyConference Organizer: Sancheti Institute College of Physiotherapy, Pune, Maharashtra, Indi