Flash forward genetics: new twists in transcription across evolutionary boundaries

“Flash forward genetics” refers to a genetic approach based on the functional interaction of a given factor with unknown partner(s) converging on shared targets across evolutionary boundaries. A study by Li et al (2021), published in this issue of EMBO Reports, illustrates the innovative potential of the approach. The authors applied it to identify interacting factors for FOXN1, a mammalian transcription factor with a highly specialized function in hair follicle morphogenesis and thymus. The authors express FOXN1 in the Drosophila eye to perform an unbiased genetic screen in a totally heterologous system. In a remarkable tour de force, the authors identify and characterize a factor so far known for its ubiquitous function in transcription elongation, AFF4. Li et al show that AFF4 plays also a specific role in hair follicle and thymus development in the mouse overlapping with that of FOXN1

Catherine Spaak: L'invecchiamento di una diva, tra postfemminismo ed evoluzione dei media italiani

The female stardom of the so-called "golden age" of Italian cinema it is still a familiar presence in contemporary media, especially in talk-shows, reality shows, and sometimes in series and l-ms. Among these personalities, Catherine Spaak stands out for the continuity of her career and for the intellectual characterization of her public gure. Even in her latest participations to national TV shows, such as L'isola dei famosi and Un medico in famiglia, Spaak is introduced to the audience in relation to the character of rebel adolescent that made her a star in the Sixties, while in other occasions, she is compelled to discuss her aging with the public, sometimes as a way to frame her presence on screen. Drawing from Spaak's case, this contribution analyses the transformations of the discourses about gender and age in the Italian media culture. Spaak's star persona will serve as a prism to look at the adaptation of postfeminist media discourses in the Italian media and how the representations of aging intersect with wider changes in women's positionality in society and culture

Playboys and the Cosmo girls: Models of femininity in Italian men’s and women’s magazines and the popularization of feminist knowledge

This article offers a historical and textual reading of soft-core pornography in Italy by analyzing a group of men and women’s magazines, including the Italian editions of Playboy and Cosmopolitan, and the soft-core magazine for women, Libera, which was published from 1972 to 1978. As part of the ‘sexualization of western culture’ (Attwood 2009), porn produced new discourses regarding femininity, which openly challenged second-wave feminism and, at the same time, assimilated some of its aspects. Sexiness, self-care, monogamy and compulsory heterosexuality became foundational values for a new, modern, emancipated woman, one who was able to enjoy the benefits of the ‘sexual revolution’. Soft-core images also contributed to the spread of new knowledge about female sexuality, both in visual and narrative terms, and was also able to absorb some key aspects of the second-wave feminist political discourse on sexuality. In particular, the introduction of soft-core images in women’s magazines was presented as a ‘feminist move’ towards women’s empowerment. By illustrating the complex cultural function of soft-core pornography for women, this article aims to investigate the historical impact of porn in women’s lives and their relationship with popular culture

The Boom in Sex. Eroticism in Italian Cinema of the 1960s

Questo lavoro analizza il processo di progressiva sessualizzazione del cinema italiano negli anni Sessanta. Attraverso un ordine cronologico, lo studio propone una metodologia che integra gli strumenti dei film studies con quelli degli studi culturali, della history of sexuality e dei gender studies. L’obiettivo è fornire una lettura del processo di liberalizzazione delle rappresentazioni della sessualità nel cinema italiano come un elemento di un fenomeno socio culturale più ampio. Per questo la tesi integra in maniera consistente la ricostruzione della cultura cinematografica del periodo con i discorsi sulla sessualità veicolati nell’editoria di consumo, nei periodici e nei rotocalchi. Inoltre, si è posta particolare attenzione alle influenze provenienti dall’estero come prova di una crescente tendenza all’espansione transnazionale delle industrie culturali di quegli anni. Le cinque sezioni tematiche della tesi analizzano: la questione dell’emancipazione femminile e le sue rappresentazioni nei film inchiesta; la presenza nella cultura popolare e nelle commedie di argomenti psicanalitici e sessuologici; le rappresentazioni di gender e sessualità nei generi popolari; la “rivoluzione sessuale” in relazione alla nascita delle riviste per soli uomini e del “film sexy”.The thesis analyzes the process of sexualization of the Italian cinema in the sixties. Following a chronological order, the study employs a methodology which combines film studies with cultural studies, the history of sexuality and gender studies. Its ultimate aim is to read the liberalization of the representations of sex in Italian cinema as part of a wider socio-cultural process. As such, the thesis reconstructs not only the cinematic culture of the time, but moreover consistently analyzes discourses on sexuality in publishing, newspapers and the popular press. Furthermore, it investigates the foreign influences in Italian popular culture, as proof of the increasing transnational character of the cultural industries. In particular, the five main sections of the thesis focus on: the theme of women’s emancipation in the film inchiesta, the dissemination of psychoanalysis and sexology in Italian mass culture and comedy, the representations of gender and sexuality in popular film genres, the “sexual revolution” in relation to the birth of the adult-only magazines and the formation of the “sexy” film genre

(Feminist) Academic friendships: Discussing and re-thinking the labour of love

In this collaborative piece, originated from a series of conversations between the authors, we reflect on our friendship as a form of peer-to-peer mentorship and as an experience of informal collaboration. Drawing from our academic relationship, the article also makes some broader considerations on the meanings and potentials of academic friendships and how they offer an unvaluable source of mutual and self-care in the context of neoliberal academia

Interaction of the NRF2 and p63 transcription factors promotes keratinocyte proliferation in the epidermis

Epigenetic regulation of cell and tissue function requires the coordinated action of transcription factors. However, their combinatorial activities during regeneration remain largely unexplored. Here, we discover an unexpected interaction between the cytoprotective transcription factor NRF2 and p63-a key player in epithelial morphogenesis. Chromatin immunoprecipitation combined with sequencing and reporter assays identifies enhancers and promoters that are simultaneously activated by NRF2 and p63 in human keratinocytes. Modeling of p63 and NRF2 binding to nucleosomal DNA suggests their chromatin-assisted interaction. Pharmacological and genetic activation of NRF2 increases NRF2-p63 binding to enhancers and promotes keratinocyte proliferation, which involves the common NRF2-p63 target cyclin-dependent kinase 12. These results unravel a collaborative function of NRF2 and p63 in the control of epidermal renewal and suggest their combined activation as a strategy to promote repair of human skin and other stratified epithelia

Disease-related p63 DBD mutations impair DNA binding by distinct mechanisms and varying degree

: The transcription factor p63 shares a high sequence identity with the tumour suppressor p53 which manifests itself in high structural similarity and preference for DNA sequences. Mutations in the DNA binding domain (DBD) of p53 have been studied in great detail, enabling a general mechanism-based classification. In this study we provide a detailed investigation of all currently known mutations in the p63 DBD, which are associated with developmental syndromes, by measuring their impact on transcriptional activity, DNA binding affinity, zinc binding capacity and thermodynamic stability. Some of the mutations we have further characterized with respect to their ability to convert human dermal fibroblasts into induced keratinocytes. Here we propose a classification of the p63 DBD mutations based on the four different mechanisms of DNA binding impairment which we identified: direct DNA contact, zinc finger region, H2 region, and dimer interface mutations. The data also demonstrate that, in contrast to p53 cancer mutations, no p63 mutation induces global unfolding and subsequent aggregation of the domain. The dimer interface mutations that affect the DNA binding affinity by disturbing the interaction between the individual DBDs retain partial DNA binding capacity which correlates with a milder patient phenotype