The supernatural characters and powers of sacred trees in the Holy Land

This article surveys the beliefs concerning the supernatural characteristics and powers of sacred trees in Israel; it is based on a field study as well as a survey of the literature and includes 118 interviews with Muslims and Druze. Both the Muslims and Druze in this study attribute supernatural dimensions to sacred trees which are directly related to ancient, deep-rooted pagan traditions. The Muslims attribute similar divine powers to sacred trees as they do to the graves of their saints; the graves and the trees are both considered to be the abode of the soul of a saint which is the source of their miraculous powers. Any violation of a sacred tree would be strictly punished while leaving the opportunity for atonement and forgiveness. The Druze, who believe in the transmigration of souls, have similar traditions concerning sacred trees but with a different religious background. In polytheistic religions the sacred grove/forest is a centre of the community's official worship; any violation of the trees is regarded as a threat to the well being of the community. Punishments may thus be collective. In the monotheistic world (including Christianity, Islam and Druze) the pagan worship of trees was converted into the worship/adoration of saints/prophets; it is not a part of the official religion but rather a personal act and the punishments are exerted only on the violating individual

<i>rahu</i> is a mutant allele of <i>Dnmt3c</i>, encoding a DNA methyltransferase homolog required for meiosis and transposon repression in the mouse male germline

<div><p>Transcriptional silencing by heritable cytosine-5 methylation is an ancient strategy to repress transposable elements. It was previously thought that mammals possess four DNA methyltransferase paralogs—<i>Dnmt1</i>, <i>Dnmt3a</i>, <i>Dnmt3b</i> and <i>Dnmt3l</i>—that establish and maintain cytosine-5 methylation. Here we identify a fifth paralog, <i>Dnmt3c</i>, that is essential for retrotransposon methylation and repression in the mouse male germline. From a phenotype-based forward genetics screen, we isolated a mutant mouse called ‘<i>rahu</i>’, which displays severe defects in double-strand-break repair and homologous chromosome synapsis during male meiosis, resulting in sterility. <i>rahu</i> is an allele of a transcription unit (<i>Gm14490</i>, renamed <i>Dnmt3c</i>) that was previously mis-annotated as a <i>Dnmt3-</i>family pseudogene. <i>Dnmt3c</i> encodes a cytosine methyltransferase homolog, and <i>Dnmt3c</i>^<i>rahu</i> mutants harbor a non-synonymous mutation of a conserved residue within one of its cytosine methyltransferase motifs, similar to a mutation in human DNMT3B observed in patients with immunodeficiency, centromeric instability and facial anomalies syndrome. The <i>rahu</i> mutation lies at a potential dimerization interface and near the potential DNA binding interface, suggesting that it compromises protein-protein and/or protein-DNA interactions required for normal DNMT3C function. <i>Dnmt3c</i>^<i>rahu</i> mutant males fail to establish normal methylation within LINE and LTR retrotransposon sequences in the germline and accumulate higher levels of transposon-derived transcripts and proteins, particularly from distinct L1 and ERVK retrotransposon families. Phylogenetic analysis indicates that <i>Dnmt3c</i> arose during rodent evolution by tandem duplication of <i>Dnmt3b</i>, after the divergence of the Dipodoidea and Muroidea superfamilies. These findings provide insight into the evolutionary dynamics and functional specialization of the transposon suppression machinery critical for mammalian sexual reproduction and epigenetic regulation.</p></div

Vaccination against helminth parasite infections

Helminth parasites infect over one fourth of the human population and are highly prevalent in livestock worldwide. In model systems, parasites are strongly immunomodulatory, but the immune system can be driven to expel them by prior vaccination. However, no vaccines are currently available for human use. Recent advances in vaccination with recombinant helminth antigens have been successful against cestode infections of livestock and new vaccines are being tested against nematode parasites of animals. Numerous vaccine antigens are being defined for a wide range of helminth parasite species, but greater understanding is needed to define the mechanisms of vaccine-induced immunity, to lay a rational platform for new vaccines and their optimal design. With human trials underway for hookworm and schistosomiasis vaccines, a greater integration between veterinary and human studies will highlight the common molecular and mechanistic pathways, and accelerate progress towards reducing the global health burden of helminth infection