Loss of myosin VI expression affects acrosome/acroplaxome complex morphology during mouse spermiogenesis†.

During spermiogenesis in mammals, actin filaments and a variety of actin-binding proteins are involved in the formation and function of highly specialized testis-specific structures. Actin-based motor proteins, such as myosin Va and VIIa, play a key role in this complex process of spermatid transformation into mature sperm. We have previously demonstrated that myosin VI (MYO6) is also expressed in mouse testes. It is present in actin-rich structures important for spermatid development, including one of the earliest events in spermiogenesis-acrosome formation. Here, we demonstrate using immunofluorescence, cytochemical, and ultrastructural approaches that MYO6 is involved in maintaining the structural integrity of these specialized actin-rich structures during acrosome biogenesis in mouse. We show that MYO6 together with its binding partner TOM1/L2 is present at/around the spermatid Golgi complex and the nascent acrosome. Depletion of MYO6 in Snell's waltzer mice causes structural disruptions of the Golgi complex and affects the acrosomal granule positioning within the developing acrosome. In summary, our results suggest that MYO6 plays an anchoring role during the acrosome biogenesis mainly by tethering of different cargo/membranes to highly specialized actin-related structures

Diverse functions of myosin VI in spermiogenesis.

Spermiogenesis is the final stage of spermatogenesis, a differentiation process during which unpolarized spermatids undergo excessive remodeling that results in the formation of sperm. The actin cytoskeleton and associated actin-binding proteins play crucial roles during this process regulating organelle or vesicle delivery/segregation and forming unique testicular structures involved in spermatid remodeling. In addition, several myosin motor proteins including MYO6 generate force and movement during sperm differentiation. MYO6 is highly unusual as it moves towards the minus end of actin filaments in the opposite direction to other myosin motors. This specialized feature of MYO6 may explain the many proposed functions of this myosin in a wide array of cellular processes in animal cells, including endocytosis, secretion, stabilization of the Golgi complex, and regulation of actin dynamics. These diverse roles of MYO6 are mediated by a range of specialized cargo-adaptor proteins that link this myosin to distinct cellular compartments and processes. During sperm development in a number of different organisms, MYO6 carries out pivotal functions. In Drosophila, the MYO6 ortholog regulates actin reorganization during spermatid individualization and male KO flies are sterile. In C. elegans, the MYO6 ortholog mediates asymmetric segregation of cytosolic material and spermatid budding through cytokinesis, whereas in mice, this myosin regulates assembly of highly specialized actin-rich structures and formation of membrane compartments to allow the formation of fully differentiated sperm. In this review, we will present an overview and compare the diverse function of MYO6 in the specialized adaptations of spermiogenesis in flies, worms, and mammals

Diverse functions of myosin VI in spermiogenesis.

Spermiogenesis is the final stage of spermatogenesis, a differentiation process during which unpolarized spermatids undergo excessive remodeling that results in the formation of sperm. The actin cytoskeleton and associated actin-binding proteins play crucial roles during this process regulating organelle or vesicle delivery/segregation and forming unique testicular structures involved in spermatid remodeling. In addition, several myosin motor proteins including MYO6 generate force and movement during sperm differentiation. MYO6 is highly unusual as it moves towards the minus end of actin filaments in the opposite direction to other myosin motors. This specialized feature of MYO6 may explain the many proposed functions of this myosin in a wide array of cellular processes in animal cells, including endocytosis, secretion, stabilization of the Golgi complex, and regulation of actin dynamics. These diverse roles of MYO6 are mediated by a range of specialized cargo-adaptor proteins that link this myosin to distinct cellular compartments and processes. During sperm development in a number of different organisms, MYO6 carries out pivotal functions. In Drosophila, the MYO6 ortholog regulates actin reorganization during spermatid individualization and male KO flies are sterile. In C. elegans, the MYO6 ortholog mediates asymmetric segregation of cytosolic material and spermatid budding through cytokinesis, whereas in mice, this myosin regulates assembly of highly specialized actin-rich structures and formation of membrane compartments to allow the formation of fully differentiated sperm. In this review, we will present an overview and compare the diverse function of MYO6 in the specialized adaptations of spermiogenesis in flies, worms, and mammals

Myosin VI maintains the actin-dependent organization of the tubulobulbar complexes required for endocytosis during mouse spermiogenesis

Myosin VI (MYO6) is an actin-based motor that has been implicated in a wide range of cellular processes, including endocytosis and the regulation of actin dynamics. MYO6 is crucial for actin/membrane remodeling during the final step of Drosophila spermatogenesis, and MYO6-deficient males are sterile. This protein also localizes to actin-rich structures involved in mouse spermiogenesis. Although loss of MYO6 in Snell’s waltzer knock-out (KO) mice causes several defects and show reduced male fertility, no studies have been published to address the role of MYO6 in sperm development in mouse. Here we demonstrate that MYO6 and some of its binding partners are present at highly specialized actin-based structures, the apical tubulobulbar complexes (TBCs), which mediate endocytosis of the intercellular junctions at the Sertoli cell-spermatid interface, an essential process for sperm release. Using electron and light microscopy and biochemical approaches we show that MYO6, GIPC1 and TOM1/L2 form a complex in testis and localize predominantly to an early endocytic APPL1-positive compartment of the TBCs that is distinct from EEA1-positive early endosomes. These proteins also associate with the TBC actin-free bulbular region. Finally, our studies using testis from Snell’s waltzer males show that loss of MYO6 causes disruption of the actin cytoskeleton and disorganization of the TBCs, and leads to defects in the distribution of the MYO6-positive early APPL1-endosomes. Taken together, we report here for the first time that lack of MYO6 in mouse testis reduces male fertility and disrupts spatial organization of the TBC-related endocytic compartment during the late phase of spermiogenesis.This project was supported by PRELUDIUM grant from National Science Centre (Poland), the grant number 2017/25/N/NZ3/00487 (to P.Z.); ETIUDA doctoral scholarship from National Science Centre (Poland), the grant number 2018/28/T/NZ3/00002 (to P.Z.); a travelling fellowship funded by The Company of Biologists, the grant number JCSTF-171105 (to P.Z.), and a Medical Research Council grant, grant number MR/K000888/1 (to F.B.

PFTAIRE Kinase L63 Interactor 1A (Pif1A Protein) Is Required for Actin Cone Movement during Spermatid Individualization in Drosophila melanogaster

A useful model for determining the mechanisms by which actin and actin binding proteins control cellular architecture is the Drosophila melanogaster process of spermatogenesis. During the final step of spermatogenesis, 64 syncytial spermatids individualized as stable actin cones move synchronously down the axonemes and remodel the membranes. To identify new genes involved in spermatid individualization, we screened a collection of Drosophila male-sterile mutants and found that, in the line Z3-5009, actin cones formed near to the spermatid nuclei but failed to move, resulting in failed spermatid individualization. However, we show by phalloidin actin staining, electron microscopy and immunocytochemical localization of several actin binding proteins that the early cones had normal structure. We sequenced the genome of the Z3-5009 line and identified mutations in the PFTAIRE kinase L63 interactor 1A (Pif1A) gene. Quantitative real-time PCR showed that Pif1A transcript abundance was decreased in the mutant, and a transgene expressing Pif1A fused to green fluorescent protein (GFP) was able to fully rescue spermatid individualization and male fertility. Pif1A-GFP localized to the front of actin cones before initiation of movement. We propose that Pif1A plays a pivotal role in directing actin cone movement

Cold atoms meet lattice gauge theory

The central idea of this review is to consider quantum field theory models relevant for particle physics and replace the fermionic matter in these models by a bosonic one. This is mostly motivated by the fact that bosons are more ‘accessible’ and easier to manipulate for experimentalists, but this ‘substitution’ also leads to new physics and novel phenomena. It allows us to gain new information about among other things confinement and the dynamics of the deconfinement transition. We will thus consider bosons in dynamical lattices corresponding to the bosonic Schwinger or Z2 Bose–Hubbard models. Another central idea of this review concerns atomic simulators of paradigmatic models of particle physics theory such as the Creutz–Hubbard ladder, or Gross–Neveu–Wilson and Wilson–Hubbard models. This article is not a general review of the rapidly growing field—it reviews activities related to quantum simulations for lattice field theories performed by the Quantum Optics Theory group at ICFO and their collaborators from 19 institutions all over the world. Finally, we will briefly describe our efforts to design experimentally friendly simulators of these and other models relevant for particle physics. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Quantum technologies in particle physics’

Battle of Postdisaster Response and Restoration

[EN] The paper presents the results of the Battle of Postdisaster Response and Restoration (BPDRR) presented in a special session at the first International water distribution systems analysis & computing and control in the water industry (WDSA/CCWI) Joint Conference, held in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, in July 2018. The BPDRR problem focused on how to respond and restore water service after the occurrence of five earthquake scenarios that cause structural damage in a water distribution system. Participants were required to propose a prioritization schedule to fix the damages of each scenario while following restrictions on visibility/nonvisibility of damages. Each team/approach was evaluated against six performance criteria: (1) time without supply for hospital/firefighting, (2) rapidity of recovery, (3) resilience loss, (4) average time of no user service, (5) number of users without service for eight consecutive hours, and (6) water loss. Three main types of approaches were identified from the submissions: (1) general-purpose metaheuristic algorithms, (2) greedy algorithms, and (3) ranking-based prioritizations. All three approaches showed potential to solve the challenge efficiently. The results of the participants showed that for this network, the impact of a large-diameter pipe failure on the network is more significant than several smaller pipes failures. The location of isolation valves and the size of hydraulic segments influenced the resilience of the system during emergencies. On average, the interruptions to water supply (hospitals and firefighting) varied considerably among solutions and emergency scenarios, highlighting the importance of private water storage for emergencies. 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Evaluating the ε-Domination Based Multi-Objective Evolutionary Algorithm for a Quick Computation of Pareto-Optimal Solutions. Evolutionary Computation, 13(4), 501-525. doi:10.1162/106365605774666895Deuerlein J. D. Gilbert E. Abraham and O. Piller. 2018. “A greedy scheduling of post-disaster response and restoration using pressure-driven models and graph segment analysis.” In Proc. 1st Int. WDSA/CCWI 2018 Joint Conf. 14. Kingston Canada: Open Journal Systems.Deuerlein, J. W. (2008). Decomposition Model of a General Water Supply Network Graph. Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, 134(6), 822-832. doi:10.1061/(asce)0733-9429(2008)134:6(822)Di Nardo, A., Di Natale, M., Giudicianni, C., Santonastaso, G. F., & Savic, D. (2018). Simplified Approach to Water Distribution System Management via Identification of a Primary Network. Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, 144(2), 04017089. doi:10.1061/(asce)wr.1943-5452.0000885Eliades D. G. M. Kyriakou S. Vrachimis and M. M. Polycarpou. 2016. “EPANET-MATLAB toolkit: An open-source software for interfacing EPANET with MATLAB.” In Proc. 14th Int. Conf. on Computing and Control for the Water Industry (CCWI) 8. The Hague The Netherlands: International Water Conferences. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.831493.Fragiadakis, M., Christodoulou, S. E., & Vamvatsikos, D. (2013). Reliability Assessment of Urban Water Distribution Networks Under Seismic Loads. Water Resources Management, 27(10), 3739-3764. doi:10.1007/s11269-013-0378-0Gilbert, D., Abraham, E., Montalvo, I., & Piller, O. (2017). Iterative Multistage Method for a Large Water Network Sectorization into DMAs under Multiple Design Objectives. Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, 143(11), 04017067. doi:10.1061/(asce)wr.1943-5452.0000835Hill, D., Kerkez, B., Rasekh, A., Ostfeld, A., Minsker, B., & Banks, M. K. (2014). Sensing and Cyberinfrastructure for Smarter Water Management: The Promise and Challenge of Ubiquity. 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Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, 134(6), 556-568. doi:10.1061/(asce)0733-9496(2008)134:6(556)Paez D. Y. Filion and M. Hulley. 2018a. “Battle of post-disaster response and restoration (BPDRR)—Problem description and rules.” Accessed June 14 2019. https://www.queensu.ca/wdsa-ccwi2018/problem-description-and-files.Paez, D., Suribabu, C. R., & Filion, Y. (2018). Method for Extended Period Simulation of Water Distribution Networks with Pressure Driven Demands. Water Resources Management, 32(8), 2837-2846. doi:10.1007/s11269-018-1961-1Salcedo C. A. Aguilar P. Cuero S. Gonzalez S. Muñoz J. Pérez A. Posada J. Robles and K. Vargas. 2018. “Determination of the hydraulic restoration capacity of b-city involving a multi-criteria decision support model.” In Proc. 1st Int. WDSA/CCWI 2018 Joint Conf. 14. Kingston Canada: Open Journal Systems.Santonastaso G. F. E. Creaco A. Di Nardo and M. 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G., … Ohar, Z. (2018). Battle of the Attack Detection Algorithms: Disclosing Cyber Attacks on Water Distribution Networks. Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, 144(8), 04018048. doi:10.1061/(asce)wr.1943-5452.0000969Walski, T. M. (1993). Water distribution valve topology for reliability analysis. Reliability Engineering & System Safety, 42(1), 21-27. doi:10.1016/0951-8320(93)90051-yWang, Y., Au, S.-K., & Fu, Q. (2010). Seismic Risk Assessment and Mitigation of Water Supply Systems. Earthquake Spectra, 26(1), 257-274. doi:10.1193/1.3276900Yoo, D. G., Kang, D., & Kim, J. H. (2016). Optimal design of water supply networks for enhancing seismic reliability. Reliability Engineering & System Safety, 146, 79-88. doi:10.1016/j.ress.2015.10.001Zhang Q. F. Zheng K. Diao B. Ulanicki and Y. Huang. 2018. “Solving the battle of post-disaster response and restauration (BPDRR) problem with the aid of multi-phase optimization framework.” In Proc. 1st Int. WDSA/CCWI 2018 Joint Conf. 14. Kingston Canada: Open Journal Systems

Ranking Approach to Scheduling Repairs of a Water Distribution System for the Post-Disaster Response and Restoration Service

On the maintenance task list of each water distribution system (WDS) operator, determination of the order of undertaken repairs seems quite a typical task. Characteristics of damages, their localization, and other factors that influence repair sequencing have a sound impact on the execution of such tasks. In the case of the most complex cases where numerous failures of different types occur at the very same time (i.e., due to earthquakes), there is a long list of selection criteria that have to be analyzed to deliver an objectively logical schedule for repair teams. In this article, authors attempt to find out if it is possible to define pipe rankings in having obtained the best factors for defined objective functions (criteria), making it feasible to deliver judicious repair sequencing. For the purposes of this paper, a survey has been carried out. Its conclusions made it possible to propose a method to create rankings of pipes and evaluate them using a selected multicriteria decision method: preference ranking organization method for enrichment evaluation (PROMETHEE). The work was carried out for five different disaster scenarios that had been supplied by ‘The Battle of Post-Disaster Response and Restoration’ organization committee. Obtained results might be further used to finetune this sequencing method of undertaken repairs, while conclusions could be useful to model similar events in WDS when required. This article is an extended paper based on the conference preprint presented at the 1st International Water Distribution Systems Analysis (WDSA)/International Computing & Control for the Water Industry (CCWI) Joint Conference in July 23–25, 2018 in Kingston, Ontario, Canada

PFTAIRE kinase L63 interactor 1A (Pif1A protein) is required for actin cone movement during spermatid individualization in Drosophila melanogaster

A useful model for determining the mechanisms by which actin and actin binding proteins control cellular architecture is th