The basic genetic toolkit to move in with your photosynthetic partner

The origin of photosynthetic organelles via endosymbiosis more than 1 Gya ago was a major detonator of eukaryotic diversification. The evolution of a stable endosymbiotic relationship between eukaryotic cells and photosynthetic cyanobacteria involved series of cellular and molecular processes that are not entirely understood. Critical steps towards the evolution of plastids occurred when the host cell gained genetic and metabolic control over the captured cyanobacterium. Proteins recruited from the host repertoire had major roles initiating the metabolite exchange between both symbiotic partners. Concurrently, the relocation of certain cyanobacterial genes into the host nuclear genome was critical to coordinate the division of the endosymbiotic cells and the transit of nuclear-encoded proteins into the novel organelle. This review explores diverse studies that have identified key endosymbiosis genes and discusses the putative roles of the encoded proteins during the early evolution of plastids. The understanding of the regulation mechanisms and functions of the endosymbiosis genes will shed light on the design of genetic engineering approaches to facilitate endosymbiotic associations

Deregulation Of The Hippo Pathway Suppresses Differentiation And Promotes Sarcomagenesis

Terminal differentiation opposes proliferation in the vast majority of tissue types. As a result, loss of lineage differentiation is a hallmark of aggressive cancers, including soft tissue sarcomas (STS). Consistent with these observations, undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma (UPS), an STS subtype devoid of lineage markers, is among the most aggressive and lethal sarcomas in adults. Though tissue-specific features are lost in these mesenchymal tumors they are most commonly diagnosed in skeletal muscle and are thought to develop from transformed muscle progenitor cells. We have found that a combination of HDAC (Vorinostat) and BET bromodomain (JQ1) inhibition partially restores differentiation to skeletal muscle UPS cells and tissues, enforcing a myoblast-like identity. Importantly, differentiation is contingent upon downregulation of the Hippo pathway transcriptional effector, Yes-activated protein 1 (YAP1) and its downstream effectors in the NF-κB pathway. YAP1 and NF-κB are critical mediators of myoblast proliferation and their activity must be down regulated to permit differentiation. Previously, we observed that Vorinostat/JQ1 suppresses YAP1 and NF-κB activity and as a result, inhibits tumorigenesis, and promotes differentiation. Here I show that YAP1 and NF-B activity suppress circadian clock function, inhibiting differentiation and promoting unchecked proliferation. In most tissues clock activation is antagonized by the unfolded protein response (UPR). However, skeletal muscle differentiation requires both Clock and UPR, suggesting the molecular link between them is unique in muscle. In skeletal muscle-derived UPS we observed that YAP1 suppresses PERK and ATF6-mediated UPR target expression as well as clock genes. These pathways govern metabolic processes including autophagy and their disruption supports a shift in metabolism toward cancer cell-associated glycolysis and hyper-proliferation. Treatment with Vorinostat/JQ1 successfully inhibited glycolysis/MTOR signaling, activated the clock, and upregulated the UPR and autophagy via YAP1. These findings support the use of epigenetic modulators to treat human UPS and define the connection between these pathways and their effects on tissue differentiation. Additionally, we identify specific metabolic and differentiation genes as potential biomarkers of treatment efficacy

Attrition in Information Systems Courses: strategies from a new generation university

The Commonwealth Government has changed many of the funding models to universities in recent years. Additional funds from the Commonwealth Government are now tied to measures such as student outcomes particularly in areas such as teaching and learning, attrition and student progress. This has meant that many universities have been forced to reassess the way they teach and interact with undergraduate students. Moreover, in this climate of considerable change in the higher education sector, many schools of Information Systems are experiencing even more hardship compared to schools in other disciplines. The downturn in the local demand for IS courses has been exacerbated by external factors such as declining enrolments from overseas markets and a downturn in the employment market. This paper reports on the analysis of enrolment trends, student attrition and progress amongst IS undergraduates over a five year period at a New Generation University. It also reports on the measures that have been undertaken both at the university level and at the IS school level to address issues that have arisen from that analysis. The findings of the research provides some insight into the problems facing schools of IS within universities in the current climate and possible measures that can be undertaken to improve student retention

The Glaucophyta: the blue-green plants in a nutshell

The Glaucophyta is one of the three major lineages of photosynthetic eukaryotes, together with viridiplants and red algae, united in the presumed monophyletic supergroup Archaeplastida. Glaucophytes constitute a key algal lineage to investigate both the origin of primary plastids and the evolution of algae and plants. Glaucophyte plastids possess exceptional characteristics retained from their cyanobacterial ancestor: phycobilisome antennas, a vestigial peptidoglycan wall, and carboxysome-like bodies. These latter two traits are unique among the Archaeplastida and have been suggested as evidence that the glaucophytes diverged earliest during the diversification of this supergroup. Our knowledge of glaucophytes is limited compared to viridiplants and red algae, and this has restricted our capacity to untangle the early evolution of the Archaeplastida. However, in recent years novel genomic and functional data are increasing our understanding of glaucophyte biology. Diverse comparative studies using information from the nuclear genome of Cyanophora paradoxa and recent transcriptomic data from other glaucophyte species provide support for the common origin of Archaeplastida. Molecular and ultrastructural studies have revealed previously unrecognized diversity in the genera Cyanophora and Glaucocystis. Overall, a series of recent findings are modifying our perspective of glaucophyte diversity and providing fresh approaches to investigate the basic biology of this rare algal group in detail

Sharp bound for the ergodic maximal operator associated to Cesàro bounded operators

We consider positive invertible Lamperti operators Tf(x)=h(x)Φf(x) such that Φ has no periodic part. Let An,T be the sequence of averages of T and MT the ergodic maximal operator. It is obvious that if MT is bounded on some Lp, 1Fil: Cabral, Enrique Adrian. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Nordeste. Instituto de Modelado e Innovación Tecnológica. Universidad Nacional del Nordeste. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Naturales y Agrimensura. Instituto de Modelado e Innovación Tecnológica; ArgentinaFil: Martín Reyes, Francisco Javier. Universidad de Malaga. Facultad de Ciencias; Españ

Multiple Genes of Apparent Algal Origin Suggest Ciliates May Once Have Been Photosynthetic

SummaryPlantae (as defined by Cavalier-Smith, 1981) [1] plastids evolved via primary endosymbiosis whereby a heterotrophic protist enslaved a photosynthetic cyanobacterium. This “primary” plastid spread into other eukaryotes via secondary endosymbiosis. An important but contentious theory in algal evolution is the chromalveolate hypothesis that posits chromists (cryptophytes, haptophytes, and stramenopiles) and alveolates (ciliates, apicomplexans, and dinoflagellates) share a common ancestor that contained a red-algal-derived “secondary” plastid [2]. Under this view, the existence of several later-diverging plastid-lacking chromalveolates such as ciliates and oomycetes would be explained by plastid loss in these lineages. To test the idea of a photosynthetic ancestry for ciliates, we used the 27,446 predicted proteins from the macronuclear genome of Tetrahymena thermophila to query prokaryotic and eukaryotic genomes. We identified 16 proteins of possible algal origin in the ciliates Tetrahymena and Paramecium tetraurelia. Fourteen of these are present in other chromalveolates. Here we compare and contrast the likely scenarios for algal-gene origin in ciliates either via multiple rounds of horizontal gene transfer (HGT) from algal prey or symbionts, or through endosymbiotic gene transfer (EGT) during a putative photosynthetic phase in their evolution

Chlamydiae Has Contributed at Least 55 Genes to Plantae with Predominantly Plastid Functions

BACKGROUND:The photosynthetic organelle (plastid) originated via primary endosymbiosis in which a phagotrophic protist captured and harnessed a cyanobacterium. The plastid was inherited by the common ancestor of the red, green (including land plants), and glaucophyte algae (together, the Plantae). Despite the critical importance of primary plastid endosymbiosis, its ancient derivation has left behind very few "footprints" of early key events in organelle genesis. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:To gain insights into this process, we conducted an in-depth phylogenomic analysis of genomic data (nuclear proteins) from 17 Plantae species to identify genes of a surprising provenance in these taxa, Chlamydiae bacteria. Previous studies show that Chlamydiae contributed many genes (at least 21 in one study) to Plantae that primarily have plastid functions and were postulated to have played a fundamental role in organelle evolution. Using our comprehensive approach, we identify at least 55 Chlamydiae-derived genes in algae and plants, of which 67% (37/55) are putatively plastid targeted and at least 3 have mitochondrial functions. The remainder of the proteins does not contain a bioinformatically predicted organelle import signal although one has an N-terminal extension in comparison to the Chlamydiae homolog. Our data suggest that environmental Chlamydiae were significant contributors to early Plantae genomes that extend beyond plastid metabolism. The chlamydial gene distribution and protein tree topologies provide evidence for both endosymbiotic gene transfer and a horizontal gene transfer ratchet driven by recurrent endoparasitism as explanations for gene origin. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE:Our findings paint a more complex picture of gene origin than can easily be explained by endosymbiotic gene transfer from an organelle-like point source. These data significantly extend the genomic impact of Chlamydiae on Plantae and show that about one-half (30/55) of the transferred genes are most closely related to sequences emanating from the genome of the only environmental isolate that is currently available. This strain, Candidatus Protochlamydia amoebophila UWE25 is an endosymbiont of Acanthamoeba and likely represents the type of endoparasite that contributed the genes to Plantae

Qualificação ao programa de prevenção de câncer de mama e câncer de colo uterino na unidade básica de saúde Maria Bastião, município Envira, Amazonas.

Os cânceres de colo de útero e mama são considerados um grave problema de Saúde Pública no Brasil essas patologias estão atingindo progressivamente um número maior de mulheres, sendo que o câncer do colo do útero é o terceiro tipo de câncer mais comum nas mulheres, o câncer de mama representa a quinta causa de morte por câncer em geral e a primeira causa de morte na população feminina brasileira. A prevenção dessas doenças está baseada no rastreamento da população feminina que se encontram na faixa etária correspondente a cada programa (25 a 64 anos para o rastreamento do câncer de colo de útero, 50 a 69 anos para o rastreamento de câncer de mama). O exame citopatológico do colo de útero é um método de rastreamento sensível que torna possível a detecção de lesões precursoras da doença, a mamografia é um método de rastreamento que em correlação com a ultrassonografia e o exame clinico da mama torna possível à detecção precoce do câncer de mama. Neste trabalho desenvolvemos um projeto de intervenção junto à população feminina da unidade em ESF Maria Bastião, com o objetivo de ampliar a cobertura de detecção precoce do câncer de colo de útero e câncer de mama, melhorar a qualidade do atendimento das mulheres e o registro das informações, melhorar a adesão à realização de exame citopatológico e a mamografia, mapear as mulheres de risco para câncer de colo de útero e câncer de mama, promover ações de educação em saúde das mulheres que realizam detecção precoce dessas doenças na unidade de saúde. Envira é um município brasileiro localizado no interior do estado do Amazonas. Pertencente a Microrregião de Juruá e Mesorregião do Sudoeste Amazonense, situa-se a sudoeste de Manaus, capital do estado. Sua população estimada em 2016 pelo INSTITUTO BRASILEIRO de GEOGRAFIA e ESTATÍSTICA (IBGE), era de 19 143 habitantes. Sendo então o 44º mais populoso do estado e o quarto de sua microrregião