A Retinoic Acid Responsive Hoxa3 Transgene Expressed in Embryonic Pharyngeal Endoderm, Cardiac Neural Crest and a Subdomain of the Second Heart Field

A transgenic mouse line harbouring a β-galacdosidase reporter gene controlled by the proximal 2 kb promoter of Hoxa3 was previously generated to investigate the regulatory cues governing Hoxa3 expression in the mouse. Examination of transgenic embryos from embryonic day (E) 8.0 to E15.5 revealed regionally restricted reporter activity in the developing heart. Indeed, transgene expression specifically delineated cells from three distinct lineages: a subpopulation of the second heart field contributing to outflow tract myocardium, the cardiac neural crest cells and the pharyngeal endoderm. Manipulation of the Retinoic Acid (RA) signaling pathway showed that RA is required for correct expression of the transgene. Therefore, this transgenic line may serve as a cardiosensor line of particular interest for further analysis of outflow tract development

Hey Teacher, Don’t Leave Them Kids Alone: Action Is Better for Memory than Reading

There is no consensus on how the enactment effect (EE), although it is robust, enhances memory. Researchers are currently investigating the cognitive processes underlying this effect, mostly during adulthood; the link between EE and crucial function identified in adulthood such as episodic memory and binding process remains elusive. Therefore, this study aims to verify the existence of EE in 6–10 years old and assess cognitive functions potentially linked to this effect in order to shed light on the mechanisms underlying the EE during childhood. Thirty-five children (15 second graders and 20 fifth graders) were included in this study. They encoded 24 action phrases from a protocol adapted from Hainselin et al. (2014). Encoding occurred under four conditions: Verbal Task, Listening Task, Experimenter-Performed Task, and Subject-Performed Task. Memory performance was assessed for free and cued recall, as well as source memory abilities. ANOVAS were conducted to explore age-related effects on the different scores according to encoding conditions. Correlations between EE scores (Subject-Performed Task/Listening Task) and binding memory scores (short-term binding and episodic memory) were run. Both groups benefited from EE. However, in both groups, performance did not significantly differ between Subject-Performed Task and Experimenter-Performed Task. A positive correlation was found between EE and episodic memory score for second graders and a moderate negative correlation was found between EE and binding scores for fifth graders. Our results confirm the existence of EE in 6 and 10 year olds, but they do not support the multimodal theory (Engelkamp, 2001) or the “glue” theory (Kormi-Nouri and Nilsson, 2001). This suggests instead that episodic memory might not underlie EE during early childhood

Letter from Sarah Forrer, Dayton, OH to Augusta Bruen, 1862 July 6

Use of data from crossbred animals for a genomic evaluation of pure line layer. XIth European symposium on poultry genetics (ESPG

Genetic Ablation of MiR-22 Fosters Diet-Induced Obesity and NAFLD Development

miR-22 is one of the most abundant miRNAs in the liver and alterations of its hepatic expression have been associated with the development of hepatic steatosis and insulin resistance, as well as cancer. However, the pathophysiological roles of miR-22-3p in the deregulated hepatic metabolism with obesity and cancer remains poorly characterized. Herein, we observed that alterations of hepatic miR-22-3p expression with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in the context of obesity are not consistent in various human cohorts and animal models in contrast to the well-characterized miR-22-3p downregulation observed in hepatic cancers. To unravel the role of miR-22 in obesity-associated NAFLD, we generated constitutive Mir22 knockout (miR-22KO) mice, which were subsequently rendered obese by feeding with fat-enriched diet. Functional NAFLD- and obesity-associated metabolic parameters were then analyzed. Insights about the role of miR-22 in NAFLD associated with obesity were further obtained through an unbiased proteomic analysis of miR-22KO livers from obese mice. Metabolic processes governed by miR-22 were finally investigated in hepatic transformed cancer cells. Deletion of Mir22 was asymptomatic when mice were bred under standard conditions, except for an onset of glucose intolerance. However, when challenged with a high fat-containing diet, Mir22 deficiency dramatically exacerbated fat mass gain, hepatomegaly, and liver steatosis in mice. Analyses of explanted white adipose tissue revealed increased lipid synthesis, whereas mass spectrometry analysis of the liver proteome indicated that Mir22 deletion promotes hepatic upregulation of key enzymes in glycolysis and lipid uptake. Surprisingly, expression of miR-22-3p in Huh7 hepatic cancer cells triggers, in contrast to our in vivo observations, a clear induction of a Warburg effect with an increased glycolysis and an inhibited mitochondrial respiration. Together, our study indicates that miR-22-3p is a master regulator of the lipid and glucose metabolism with differential effects in specific organs and in transformed hepatic cancer cells, as compared to non-tumoral tissue

In-situ observations using tagged animals

Marine mammals help gather information on some of the harshest environments on the planet, through the use of miniaturized ocean sensors glued on their fur. Since 2004, hundreds of diving marine animals, mainly Antarctic and Arctic seals, have been fitted with a new generation of Argos tags developed by the Sea Mammal Research Unit of the University of St Andrews in Scotland, UK. These tags investigate the at-sea ecology of these animals while simultaneously collecting valuable oceanographic data. Some of the study species travel thousands of kilometres continuously diving to great depths (up to 2100 m). The resulting data are now freely available to the global scientific community at http://www.meop.net. Despite great progress in their reliability and data accuracy, the current generation of loggers while approaching standard ARGO quality specifications have yet to match them. Yet, improvements are underway; they involve updating the technology, implementing a more systematic phase of calibration and taking benefit of the recently acquired knowledge on the dynamical response of sensors. Together these efforts are rapidly transforming animal tagging into one of the most important sources of oceanographic data in polar regions and in many coastal areas.Publisher PDFNon peer reviewe

Etude du déséquilibre de liaison dans des lignées de poules de types génétiques "ponte" et "chair"

International audienceLa structure du déséquilibre de liaison (DL) au sein des populations en sélection impacte fortement la précision obtenue lors des études de cartographie de QTL ou lors de l'évaluation génomique des reproducteurs. Chez les oiseaux, la structure hétérogène du génome nécessite de décrire précisément le DL pour optimiser la sélection. L'utilisation des puces SNP haute densité pour le génotypage des populations de volailles est une opportunité pour approfondir notre connaissance de la structure du DL de ces populations. L'objectif de cette étude est d'acquérir une connaissance haute résolution de la structure du DL au sein de populations de poules de types ponte et chair. Nous avons analysé les génotypes (puce 600 K Affymetrix® Axiom® HD SNP) de 1541 animaux issus de 3 populations. L'étendue et le niveau du DL ont été estimés par le r 2 moyen à distance physique donnée entre SNP. Cette étude met en évidence des différences importantes de structure du DL entre lignées et entre chromosomes. L'étendue et le niveau du DL sont plus importants dans les lignées de type ponte ou pour les macro-chromosomes et le chromosome Z. Ce niveau important de DL peut faciliter la détection de QTL sur ces chromosomes, mais peut également compliquer la localisation fine de polymorphismes causaux. A l'inverse, le faible niveau de DL observé sur les micro-chromosomes nécessite l'utilisation d'une forte densité de SNP pour détecter une association avec un phénotype, mais devrait permettre la cartographie fine d'un polymorphisme causal. Ces différences sont à prendre en considération pour définir une stratégie de génotypage économique et efficace pour la cartographie fine de QTL ou l'évaluation génomique. ABSTRACT A Linkage disequilibrium study in layers and broiler commercial chicken populations. Knowledge of the linkage disequilibrium (LD) pattern is useful in animal genetic studies as it underlies mapping studies and genomic selection. This is all the more important in birds given the heterogeneous structure of the avian karyotype. Recently, the availability of the high density 600 K Affymetrix® Axiom® HD SNP genotyping array allowed to assess an in-depth knowledge of the LD pattern in chicken genome. The aim of the present study was to assess a higher resolution of the LD pattern in chicken genome in layer and broiler lines. In this study, we analyzed genotypes of 1541 animals from layers and broiler commercial populations to characterize their LD pattern. LD was measured by the average r 2 value at a given physical distance between SNP. LD extended over a larger region for layer lines than for broiler line. Most differences between lines appeared at small interval distances (< 0.5Mb). LD extent and decay differed considerably between chromosomes categories. Average r 2 values were higher for Z chromosome than for macro, intermediates and micro-chromosomes. The extent of useful LD observed for autosomal chromosomes was at least tenfold longer for layer lines than for broiler. Finally, this study shed light on high LD for Z chromosome. The differences in LD pattern observed between chromosomes and chicken lines should be taken into account to define an economically efficient genotyping strategy