SUMOylation Represses Nanog Expression via Modulating Transcription Factors Oct4 and Sox2

Nanog is a pivotal transcription factor in embryonic stem (ES) cells and is essential for maintaining the pluripotency and self-renewal of ES cells. SUMOylation has been proved to regulate several stem cell markers' function, such as Oct4 and Sox2. Nanog is strictly regulated by Oct4/Sox2 heterodimer. However, the direct effects of SUMOylation on Nanog expression remain unclear. In this study, we reported that SUMOylation repressed Nanog expression. Depletion of Sumo1 or its conjugating enzyme Ubc9 increased the expression of Nanog, while high SUMOylation reduced its expression. Interestingly, we found that SUMOylation of Oct4 and Sox2 regulated Nanog in an opposing manner. SUMOylation of Oct4 enhanced Nanog expression, while SUMOylated Sox2 inhibited its expression. Moreover, SUMOylation of Oct4 by Pias2 or Sox2 by Pias3 impaired the interaction between Oct4 and Sox2. Taken together, these results indicate that SUMOylation has a negative effect on Nanog expression and provides new insights into the mechanism of SUMO modification involved in ES cells regulation

A Poorly Known High-Latitude Parasitoid Wasp Community: Unexpected Diversity and Dramatic Changes through Time

Climate change will have profound and unanticipated effects on species distributions. The pace and nature of this change is largely unstudied, especially for the most diverse elements of terrestrial communities – the arthropods – here we have only limited knowledge concerning the taxonomy and the ecology of these groups. Because Arctic ecosystems have already experienced significant increases in temperature over the past half century, shifts in community structure may already be in progress. Here we utilise collections of a particularly hyperdiverse insect group – parasitoid wasps (Hymenoptera; Braconidae; Microgastrinae) – at Churchill, Manitoba, Canada in the early and mid-twentieth century to compare the composition of the contemporary community to that present 50–70 years ago. Morphological and DNA barcoding results revealed the presence of 79 species of microgastrine wasps in collections from Churchill, but we estimate that 20% of the local fauna awaits detection. Species composition and diversity between the two time periods differ significantly; species that were most common in historic collections were not found in contemporary collections and vice versa. Using barcodes we compared these collections to others from across North America; contemporary Churchill species are most affiliated with more south-western collections, while historic collections were more affiliated with eastern collections. The past five decades has clearly seen a dramatic change of species composition within the area studied coincident with rising temperature

Resonances in a chaotic attractor crisis of the Lorenz Flow

Local bifurcations of stationary points and limit cycles have successfully been characterized in terms of the critical exponents of these solutions. Lyapunov exponents and their associated covariant Lyapunov vectors have been proposed as tools for supporting the understanding of critical transitions in chaotic dynamical systems. However, it is in general not clear how the statistical properties of dynamical systems change across a boundary crisis during which a chaotic attractor collides with a saddle. This behavior is investigated here for a boundary crisis in the Lorenz flow, for which neither the Lyapunov exponents nor the covariant Lyapunov vectors provide a criterion for the crisis. Instead, the convergence of the time evolution of probability densities to the invariant measure, governed by the semigroup of transfer operators, is expected to slow down at the approach of the crisis. Such convergence is described by the eigenvalues of the generator of this semigroup, which can be divided into two families, referred to as the stable and unstable Ruelle--Pollicott resonances, respectively. The former describes the convergence of densities to the attractor (or escape from a repeller) and is estimated from many short time series sampling the state space. The latter is responsible for the decay of correlations, or mixing, and can be estimated from a long times series, invoking ergodicity. It is found numerically for the Lorenz flow that the stable resonances do approach the imaginary axis during the crisis, as is indicative of the loss of global stability of the attractor. On the other hand, the unstable resonances, and a fortiori the decay of correlations, do not flag the proximity of the crisis, thus questioning the usual design of early warning indicators of boundary crises of chaotic attractors and the applicability of response theory close to such crises

Barcoding a Quantified Food Web: Crypsis, Concepts, Ecology and Hypotheses

The efficient and effective monitoring of individuals and populations is critically dependent on correct species identification. While this point may seem obvious, identifying the majority of the more than 100 natural enemies involved in the spruce budworm (Choristoneura fumiferana – SBW) food web remains a non-trivial endeavor. Insect parasitoids play a major role in the processes governing the population dynamics of SBW throughout eastern North America. However, these species are at the leading edge of the taxonomic impediment and integrating standardized identification capacity into existing field programs would provide clear benefits. We asked to what extent DNA barcoding the SBW food web would alter our understanding of the diversity and connectence of the food web and the frequency of generalists vs. specialists in different forest habitats. We DNA barcoded over 10% of the insects collected from the SBW food web in three New Brunswick forest plots from 1983 to 1993. For 30% of these specimens, we amplified at least one additional nuclear region. When the nodes of the food web were estimated based on barcode divergences (using molecular operational taxonomic units (MOTU) or phylogenetic diversity (PD) – the food web became much more diverse and connectence was reduced. We tested one measure of food web structure (the “bird feeder effect”) and found no difference compared to the morphologically based predictions. Many, but not all, of the presumably polyphagous parasitoids now appear to be morphologically-cryptic host-specialists. To our knowledge, this project is the first to barcode a food web in which interactions have already been well-documented and described in space, time and abundance. It is poised to be a system in which field-based methods permit the identification capacity required by forestry scientists. Food web barcoding provided an effective tool for the accurate identification of all species involved in the cascading effects of future budworm outbreaks. Integrating standardized barcodes within food webs may ultimately change the face of community ecology. This will be most poignantly felt in food webs that have not yet been quantified. Here, more accurate and precise connections will be within the grasp of any researcher for the first time

Proliferative and cytotoxic response of human natural killer cells exposed to transporter associated with antigen-processing-deficient cells.

In transporter associated with antigen-processing (TAP)-deficient patients affected by a severe downmodulation of human leucocyte antigen class I (HLA-I) molecules, natural killer (NK) cells have an increased expression of the inhibitory receptor CD94/NKG2A. Focusing our attention on NK cells, we have investigated the phenotype, function and proliferative response of peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBLs) derived from healthy donors after coculturing with TAP (T2)- or HLA-I-deficient (721.221) cell lines and their related HLA-I-expressing transfectants (T3 and DT360, respectively). After 4 days, NK cells cocultured with T2 cells had a threefold increased CD94 expression compared to NK cells cocultured with T3. This increase was due to proliferation of the CD56brightCD94bright subset. In contrast, expression of other inhibitory receptors [killer cell immunoglobulin (Ig)-like receptors] was variable during time and was not related to HLA-I molecules expressed by stimulating cells. Similar results were obtained using HLA-I-deficient cells (721.221). The PBLs cocultured for 4 days with T2 cells displayed enhanced cytotoxic responses. The results suggest that CD56brightCD94bright NK cells are induced to proliferate and kill in response to a TAP-deficient environment. The changes seen in the NK-cell compartment were partially contributed by T lymphocytes present in the coculture. These data could explain the increased CD94 expression and autoimmune manifestations observed in TAP-deficient patients