Agency, qualia and life: connecting mind and body biologically

Many believe that a suitably programmed computer could act for its own goals and experience feelings. I challenge this view and argue that agency, mental causation and qualia are all founded in the unique, homeostatic nature of living matter. The theory was formulated for coherence with the concept of an agent, neuroscientific data and laws of physics. By this method, I infer that a successful action is homeostatic for its agent and can be caused by a feeling - which does not motivate as a force, but as a control signal. From brain research and the locality principle of physics, I surmise that qualia are a fundamental, biological form of energy generated in specialized neurons. Subjectivity is explained as thermodynamically necessary on the supposition that, by converting action potentials to feelings, the neural cells avert damage from the electrochemical pulses. In exchange for this entropic benefit, phenomenal energy is spent as and where it is produced - which precludes the objective observation of qualia

Position statement for the diagnosis and management of anogenital warts

Background: Anogenital warts (AGW) can cause economic burden on healthcare systems and are associated with emotional, psychological and physical issues. ----- Objective: To provide guidance to physicians on the diagnosis and management of AGW. ----- Methods: Fourteen global experts on AGW developed guidance on the diagnosis and management of AGW in an effort to unify international recommendations. Guidance was developed based on published international and national AGW guidelines and an evaluation of relevant literature published up to August 2016. Authors provided expert opinion based on their clinical experiences. ----- Results: A checklist for a patient's initial consultation is provided to help physicians when diagnosing AGW to get the relevant information from the patient in order to manage and treat the AGW effectively. A number of frequently asked questions are also provided to aid physicians when communicating with patients about AGW. Treatment of AGW should be individualized and selected based on the number, size, morphology, location, and keratinization of warts, and whether they are new or recurrent. Different techniques can be used to treat AGW including ablation, immunotherapy and other topical therapies. Combinations of these techniques are thought to be more effective at reducing AGW recurrence than monotherapy. A simplified algorithm was created suggesting patients with 1-5 warts should be treated with ablation followed by immunotherapy. Patients with >5 warts should use immunotherapy for 2 months followed by ablation and a second 2-month course of immunotherapy. Guidance for daily practice situations and the subsequent action that can be taken, as well as an algorithm for treatment of large warts, were also created. ----- Conclusion: The guidance provided will help physicians with the diagnosis and management of AGW in order to improve the health and quality of life of patients with AGW

TRAP binding to the Bacillus subtilis trp leader region RNA causes efficient transcription termination at a weak intrinsic terminator

The Bacillus subtilis trpEDCFBA operon is regulated by a transcription attenuation mechanism controlled by the trp RNA-binding attenuation protein (TRAP). TRAP binds to 11 (G/U)AG repeats in the trp leader transcript and prevents formation of an antiterminator, which allows formation of an intrinsic terminator (attenuator). Previously, formation of the attenuator RNA structure was believed to be solely responsible for signaling RNA polymerase (RNAP) to halt transcription. However, base substitutions that prevent formation of the antiterminator, and thus allow the attenuator structure to form constitutively, do not result in efficient transcription termination. The observation that the attenuator requires the presence of TRAP bound to the nascent RNA to cause efficient transcription termination suggests TRAP has an additional role in causing termination at the attenuator. We show that the trp attenuator is a weak intrinsic terminator due to low GC content of the hairpin stem and interruptions in the U-stretch following the hairpin. We also provide evidence that termination at the trp attenuator requires forward translocation of RNA polymerase and that TRAP binding to the nascent transcript can induce this activity

Positional orthology: putting genomic evolutionary relationships into context

Orthology is a powerful refinement of homology that allows us to describe more precisely the evolution of genomes and understand the function of the genes they contain. However, because orthology is not concerned with genomic position, it is limited in its ability to describe genes that are likely to have equivalent roles in different genomes. Because of this limitation, the concept of ‘positional orthology’ has emerged, which describes the relation between orthologous genes that retain their ancestral genomic positions. In this review, we formally define this concept, for which we introduce the shorter term ‘toporthology’, with respect to the evolutionary events experienced by a gene’s ancestors. Through a discussion of recent studies on the role of genomic context in gene evolution, we show that the distinction between orthology and toporthology is biologically significant. We then review a number of orthology prediction methods that take genomic context into account and thus that may be used to infer the important relation of toporthology

Validation of differential gene expression algorithms: Application comparing fold-change estimation to hypothesis testing

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Sustained research on the problem of determining which genes are differentially expressed on the basis of microarray data has yielded a plethora of statistical algorithms, each justified by theory, simulation, or ad hoc validation and yet differing in practical results from equally justified algorithms. Recently, a concordance method that measures agreement among gene lists have been introduced to assess various aspects of differential gene expression detection. This method has the advantage of basing its assessment solely on the results of real data analyses, but as it requires examining gene lists of given sizes, it may be unstable.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Two methodologies for assessing predictive error are described: a cross-validation method and a posterior predictive method. As a nonparametric method of estimating prediction error from observed expression levels, cross validation provides an empirical approach to assessing algorithms for detecting differential gene expression that is fully justified for large numbers of biological replicates. Because it leverages the knowledge that only a small portion of genes are differentially expressed, the posterior predictive method is expected to provide more reliable estimates of algorithm performance, allaying concerns about limited biological replication. In practice, the posterior predictive method can assess when its approximations are valid and when they are inaccurate. Under conditions in which its approximations are valid, it corroborates the results of cross validation. Both comparison methodologies are applicable to both single-channel and dual-channel microarrays. For the data sets considered, estimating prediction error by cross validation demonstrates that empirical Bayes methods based on hierarchical models tend to outperform algorithms based on selecting genes by their fold changes or by non-hierarchical model-selection criteria. (The latter two approaches have comparable performance.) The posterior predictive assessment corroborates these findings.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Algorithms for detecting differential gene expression may be compared by estimating each algorithm's error in predicting expression ratios, whether such ratios are defined across microarray channels or between two independent groups.</p> <p>According to two distinct estimators of prediction error, algorithms using hierarchical models outperform the other algorithms of the study. The fact that fold-change shrinkage performed as well as conventional model selection criteria calls for investigating algorithms that combine the strengths of significance testing and fold-change estimation.</p

The Contribution of Coevolving Residues to the Stability of KDO8P Synthase

The evolutionary tree of 3-deoxy-D-manno-octulosonate 8-phosphate (KDO8P) synthase (KDO8PS), a bacterial enzyme that catalyzes a key step in the biosynthesis of bacterial endotoxin, is evenly divided between metal and non-metal forms, both having similar structures, but diverging in various degrees in amino acid sequence. Mutagenesis, crystallographic and computational studies have established that only a few residues determine whether or not KDO8PS requires a metal for function. The remaining divergence in the amino acid sequence of KDO8PSs is apparently unrelated to the underlying catalytic mechanism.The multiple alignment of all known KDO8PS sequences reveals that several residue pairs coevolved, an indication of their possible linkage to a structural constraint. In this study we investigated by computational means the contribution of coevolving residues to the stability of KDO8PS. We found that about 1/4 of all strongly coevolving pairs probably originated from cycles of mutation (decreasing stability) and suppression (restoring it), while the remaining pairs are best explained by a succession of neutral or nearly neutral covarions.Both sequence conservation and coevolution are involved in the preservation of the core structure of KDO8PS, but the contribution of coevolving residues is, in proportion, smaller. This is because small stability gains or losses associated with selection of certain residues in some regions of the stability landscape of KDO8PS are easily offset by a large number of possible changes in other regions. While this effect increases the tolerance of KDO8PS to deleterious mutations, it also decreases the probability that specific pairs of residues could have a strong contribution to the thermodynamic stability of the protein

The bHLH transcription factor SPATULA enables cytokinin signaling, and both activate auxin biosynthesis and transport genes at the medial domain of the gynoecium

[EN] Fruits and seeds are the major food source on earth. Both derive from the gynoecium and, therefore, it is crucial to understand the mechanisms that guide the development of this organ of angiosperm species. In Arabidopsis, the gynoecium is composed of two congenitally fused carpels, where two domains: medial and lateral, can be distinguished. The medial domain includes the carpel margin meristem (CMM) that is key for the production of the internal tissues involved in fertilization, such as septum, ovules, and transmitting tract. Interestingly, the medial domain shows a high cytokinin signaling output, in contrast to the lateral domain, where it is hardly detected. While it is known that cytokinin provides meristematic properties, understanding on the mechanisms that underlie the cytokinin signaling pattern in the young gynoecium is lacking. Moreover, in other tissues, the cytokinin pathway is often connected to the auxin pathway, but we also lack knowledge about these connections in the young gynoecium. Our results reveal that cytokinin signaling, that can provide meristematic properties required for CMM activity and growth, is enabled by the transcription factor SPATULA (SPT) in the medial domain. Meanwhile, cytokinin signaling is confined to the medial domain by the cytokinin response repressor ARABIDOPSIS HISTIDINE PHOSPHOTRANSFERASE 6 (AHP6), and perhaps by ARR16 (a type-A ARR) as well, both present in the lateral domains (presumptive valves) of the developing gynoecia. Moreover, SPT and cytokinin, probably together, promote the expression of the auxin biosynthetic gene TRYPTOPHAN AMINOTRANSFERASE OF ARABIDOPSIS 1 (TAA1) and the gene encoding the auxin efflux transporter PIN-FORMED 3 (PIN3), likely creating auxin drainage important for gynoecium growth. This study provides novel insights in the spatiotemporal determination of the cytokinin signaling pattern and its connection to the auxin pathway in the young gynoecium.IRO, VMZM, HHU and PLS were supported by the Mexican National Council of Science and Technology (CONACyT) with a PhD fellowship (210085, 210100, 243380 and 219883, respectively). Work in the SDF laboratory was financed by the CONACyT grants CB-2012-177739, FC-2015-2/1061, and INFR-2015-253504, and NMM by the CONACyT grant CB-2011-165986. SDF, CF and LC acknowledge the support of the European Union FP7-PEOPLE-2009-IRSES project EVOCODE (grant no. 247587) and H2020-MSCARISE-2015 project ExpoSEED (grant no. 691109). SDF also acknowledges the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) in Woods Hole for a scholarship for the Gene Regulatory Networks for Development Course 2015 (GERN2015). IE acknowledges the International European Fellowship-METMADS project and the Universita degli Studi di Milano (RTD-A; 2016). Research in the laboratory of MFY was funded by NSF (grant IOS-1121055), NIH (grant 1R01GM112976-01A1) and the Paul D. Saltman Endowed Chair in Science Education (MFY). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Reyes Olalde, J.; Zuñiga, V.; Serwatowska, J.; Chávez Montes, R.; Lozano-Sotomayor, P.; Herrera-Ubaldo, H.; Gonzalez Aguilera, K.... (2017). The bHLH transcription factor SPATULA enables cytokinin signaling, and both activate auxin biosynthesis and transport genes at the medial domain of the gynoecium. PLoS Genetics. 13(4):1-31. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1006726S131134Reyes-Olalde, J. I., Zuñiga-Mayo, V. M., Chávez Montes, R. A., Marsch-Martínez, N., & de Folter, S. (2013). Inside the gynoecium: at the carpel margin. Trends in Plant Science, 18(11), 644-655. doi:10.1016/j.tplants.2013.08.002Alvarez-Buylla, E. R., Benítez, M., Corvera-Poiré, A., Chaos Cador, Á., de Folter, S., Gamboa de Buen, A., … Sánchez-Corrales, Y. E. (2010). Flower Development. The Arabidopsis Book, 8, e0127. doi:10.1199/tab.0127Bowman, J. L., Baum, S. F., Eshed, Y., Putterill, J., & Alvarez, J. (1999). 4 Molecular Genetics of Gynoecium Development in Arabidopsis. Current Topics in Developmental Biology Volume 45, 155-205. doi:10.1016/s0070-2153(08)60316-6Chávez Montes, R. A., Herrera-Ubaldo, H., Serwatowska, J., & de Folter, S. (2015). Towards a comprehensive and dynamic gynoecium gene regulatory network. Current Plant Biology, 3-4, 3-12. doi:10.1016/j.cpb.2015.08.002Marsch-Martínez, N., & de Folter, S. (2016). Hormonal control of the development of the gynoecium. Current Opinion in Plant Biology, 29, 104-114. doi:10.1016/j.pbi.2015.12.006Marsch-Martínez, N., Ramos-Cruz, D., Irepan Reyes-Olalde, J., Lozano-Sotomayor, P., Zúñiga-Mayo, V. M., & de Folter, S. (2012). The role of cytokinin during Arabidopsis gynoecia and fruit morphogenesis and patterning. The Plant Journal, 72(2), 222-234. doi:10.1111/j.1365-313x.2012.05062.xZhao, Z., Andersen, S. U., Ljung, K., Dolezal, K., Miotk, A., Schultheiss, S. J., & Lohmann, J. U. (2010). Hormonal control of the shoot stem-cell niche. Nature, 465(7301), 1089-1092. doi:10.1038/nature09126Ashikari, M. (2005). Cytokinin Oxidase Regulates Rice Grain Production. Science, 309(5735), 741-745. doi:10.1126/science.1113373Bartrina, I., Otto, E., Strnad, M., Werner, T., & Schmülling, T. (2011). Cytokinin Regulates the Activity of Reproductive Meristems, Flower Organ Size, Ovule Formation, and Thus Seed Yield in Arabidopsis thaliana. The Plant Cell, 23(1), 69-80. doi:10.1105/tpc.110.079079Hwang, I., Sheen, J., & Müller, B. (2012). Cytokinin Signaling Networks. Annual Review of Plant Biology, 63(1), 353-380. doi:10.1146/annurev-arplant-042811-105503Schaller, G. E., Bishopp, A., & Kieber, J. J. (2015). The Yin-Yang of Hormones: Cytokinin and Auxin Interactions in Plant Development. The Plant Cell, 27(1), 44-63. doi:10.1105/tpc.114.133595Kieber, J. J., & Schaller, G. E. (2010). The Perception of Cytokinin: A Story 50 Years in the Making: Figure 1. Plant Physiology, 154(2), 487-492. doi:10.1104/pp.110.161596Long, J. A., Moan, E. I., Medford, J. I., & Barton, M. K. (1996). A member of the KNOTTED class of homeodomain proteins encoded by the STM gene of Arabidopsis. Nature, 379(6560), 66-69. doi:10.1038/379066a0Jasinski, S., Piazza, P., Craft, J., Hay, A., Woolley, L., Rieu, I., … Tsiantis, M. (2005). KNOX Action in Arabidopsis Is Mediated by Coordinate Regulation of Cytokinin and Gibberellin Activities. Current Biology, 15(17), 1560-1565. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2005.07.023Yanai, O., Shani, E., Dolezal, K., Tarkowski, P., Sablowski, R., Sandberg, G., … Ori, N. (2005). Arabidopsis KNOXI Proteins Activate Cytokinin Biosynthesis. Current Biology, 15(17), 1566-1571. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2005.07.060Scofield, S., Dewitte, W., Nieuwland, J., & Murray, J. A. H. (2013). The Arabidopsis homeobox gene SHOOT MERISTEMLESS has cellular and meristem-organisational roles with differential requirements for cytokinin and CYCD3 activity. The Plant Journal, 75(1), 53-66. doi:10.1111/tpj.12198Gordon, S. P., Chickarmane, V. S., Ohno, C., & Meyerowitz, E. M. (2009). Multiple feedback loops through cytokinin signaling control stem cell number within the Arabidopsis shoot meristem. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106(38), 16529-16534. doi:10.1073/pnas.0908122106Chickarmane, V. S., Gordon, S. P., Tarr, P. T., Heisler, M. G., & Meyerowitz, E. M. (2012). Cytokinin signaling as a positional cue for patterning the apical-basal axis of the growing Arabidopsis shoot meristem. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 109(10), 4002-4007. doi:10.1073/pnas.1200636109Leibfried, A., To, J. P. C., Busch, W., Stehling, S., Kehle, A., Demar, M., … Lohmann, J. U. (2005). WUSCHEL controls meristem function by direct regulation of cytokinin-inducible response regulators. Nature, 438(7071), 1172-1175. doi:10.1038/nature04270Werner, T., Motyka, V., Laucou, V., Smets, R., Van Onckelen, H., & Schmülling, T. (2003). Cytokinin-Deficient Transgenic Arabidopsis Plants Show Multiple Developmental Alterations Indicating Opposite Functions of Cytokinins in the Regulation of Shoot and Root Meristem Activity. The Plant Cell, 15(11), 2532-2550. doi:10.1105/tpc.014928Larsson, E., Franks, R. G., & Sundberg, E. (2013). Auxin and the Arabidopsis thaliana gynoecium. Journal of Experimental Botany, 64(9), 2619-2627. doi:10.1093/jxb/ert099Weijers, D., & Wagner, D. (2016). Transcriptional Responses to the Auxin Hormone. Annual Review of Plant Biology, 67(1), 539-574. doi:10.1146/annurev-arplant-043015-112122Robert, H. S., Crhak Khaitova, L., Mroue, S., & Benková, E. (2015). The importance of localized auxin production for morphogenesis of reproductive organs and embryos inArabidopsis. Journal of Experimental Botany, 66(16), 5029-5042. doi:10.1093/jxb/erv256Kuusk, S., Sohlberg, J. J., Magnus Eklund, D., & Sundberg, E. (2006). Functionally redundantSHIfamily genes regulate Arabidopsis gynoecium development in a dose-dependent manner. The Plant Journal, 47(1), 99-111. doi:10.1111/j.1365-313x.2006.02774.xSohlberg, J. J., Myrenås, M., Kuusk, S., Lagercrantz, U., Kowalczyk, M., Sandberg, G., & Sundberg, E. (2006). STY1regulates auxin homeostasis and affects apical-basal patterning of the Arabidopsis gynoecium. The Plant Journal, 47(1), 112-123. doi:10.1111/j.1365-313x.2006.02775.xStåldal, V., Sohlberg, J. J., Eklund, D. M., Ljung, K., & Sundberg, E. (2008). Auxin can act independently ofCRC,LUG,SEU,SPTandSTY1in style development but not apical-basal patterning of theArabidopsisgynoecium. New Phytologist, 180(4), 798-808. doi:10.1111/j.1469-8137.2008.02625.xVan Gelderen, K., van Rongen, M., Liu, A., Otten, A., & Offringa, R. (2016). An INDEHISCENT-Controlled Auxin Response Specifies the Separation Layer in Early Arabidopsis Fruit. Molecular Plant, 9(6), 857-869. doi:10.1016/j.molp.2016.03.005José Ripoll, J., Bailey, L. J., Mai, Q.-A., Wu, S. L., Hon, C. T., Chapman, E. J., … Yanofsky, M. F. (2015). microRNA regulation of fruit growth. Nature Plants, 1(4). doi:10.1038/nplants.2015.36Larsson, E., Roberts, C. J., Claes, A. R., Franks, R. G., & Sundberg, E. (2014). Polar Auxin Transport Is Essential for Medial versus Lateral Tissue Specification and Vascular-Mediated Valve Outgrowth in Arabidopsis Gynoecia. Plant Physiology, 166(4), 1998-2012. doi:10.1104/pp.114.245951Nole-Wilson, S., Azhakanandam, S., & Franks, R. G. (2010). Polar auxin transport together with AINTEGUMENTA and REVOLUTA coordinate early Arabidopsis gynoecium development. Developmental Biology, 346(2), 181-195. doi:10.1016/j.ydbio.2010.07.016De Folter, S. (2016). Auxin Is Required for Valve Margin Patterning in Arabidopsis After All. Molecular Plant, 9(6), 768-770. doi:10.1016/j.molp.2016.05.005Moubayidin, L., & Østergaard, L. (2014). Dynamic Control of Auxin Distribution Imposes a Bilateral-to-Radial Symmetry Switch during Gynoecium Development. Current Biology, 24(22), 2743-2748. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2014.09.080Girin, T., Paicu, T., Stephenson, P., Fuentes, S., Körner, E., O’Brien, M., … Østergaard, L. (2011). INDEHISCENT and SPATULA Interact to Specify Carpel and Valve Margin Tissue and Thus Promote Seed Dispersal in Arabidopsis. The Plant Cell, 23(10), 3641-3653. doi:10.1105/tpc.111.090944Ioio, R. D., Nakamura, K., Moubayidin, L., Perilli, S., Taniguchi, M., Morita, M. T., … Sabatini, S. (2008). A Genetic Framework for the Control of Cell Division and Differentiation in the Root Meristem. Science, 322(5906), 1380-1384. doi:10.1126/science.1164147Bishopp, A., Help, H., El-Showk, S., Weijers, D., Scheres, B., Friml, J., … Helariutta, Y. (2011). A Mutually Inhibitory Interaction between Auxin and Cytokinin Specifies Vascular Pattern in Roots. Current Biology, 21(11), 917-926. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2011.04.017De Rybel, B., Adibi, M., Breda, A. S., Wendrich, J. R., Smit, M. E., Novák, O., … Weijers, D. (2014). Integration of growth and patterning during vascular tissue formation in Arabidopsis. Science, 345(6197), 1255215. doi:10.1126/science.1255215Pernisova, M., Klima, P., Horak, J., Valkova, M., Malbeck, J., Soucek, P., … Hejatko, J. (2009). Cytokinins modulate auxin-induced organogenesis in plants via regulation of the auxin efflux. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106(9), 3609-3614. doi:10.1073/pnas.0811539106Cheng, Z. J., Wang, L., Sun, W., Zhang, Y., Zhou, C., Su, Y. H., … Zhang, X. S. (2012). Pattern of Auxin and Cytokinin Responses for Shoot Meristem Induction Results from the Regulation of Cytokinin Biosynthesis by AUXIN RESPONSE FACTOR3. Plant Physiology, 161(1), 240-251. doi:10.1104/pp.112.203166Alvarez, J., & Smyth, D. R. (2002). CRABS CLAWandSPATULAGenes Regulate Growth and Pattern Formation during Gynoecium Development inArabidopsis thaliana. International Journal of Plant Sciences, 163(1), 17-41. doi:10.1086/324178Groszmann, M., Bylstra, Y., Lampugnani, E. R., & Smyth, D. R. (2010). Regulation of tissue-specific expression of SPATULA, a bHLH gene involved in carpel development, seedling germination, and lateral organ growth in Arabidopsis. Journal of Experimental Botany, 61(5), 1495-1508. doi:10.1093/jxb/erq015Smyth, D. R., Bowman, J. L., & Meyerowitz, E. M. (1990). Early flower development in Arabidopsis. The Plant Cell, 2(8), 755-767. doi:10.1105/tpc.2.8.755Müller, B., & Sheen, J. (2008). Cytokinin and auxin interaction in root stem-cell specification during early embryogenesis. Nature, 453(7198), 1094-1097. doi:10.1038/nature06943Argyros, R. D., Mathews, D. E., Chiang, Y.-H., Palmer, C. M., Thibault, D. M., Etheridge, N., … Schaller, G. E. (2008). Type B Response Regulators of Arabidopsis Play Key Roles in Cytokinin Signaling and Plant Development. The Plant Cell, 20(8), 2102-2116. doi:10.1105/tpc.108.059584Mason, M. G., Mathews, D. E., Argyros, D. A., Maxwell, B. B., Kieber, J. J., Alonso, J. M., … Schaller, G. E. (2005). Multiple Type-B Response Regulators Mediate Cytokinin Signal Transduction in Arabidopsis. The Plant Cell, 17(11), 3007-3018. doi:10.1105/tpc.105.035451Ishida, K., Yamashino, T., Yokoyama, A., & Mizuno, T. (2008). Three Type-B Response Regulators, ARR1, ARR10 and ARR12, Play Essential but Redundant Roles in Cytokinin Signal Transduction Throughout the Life Cycle of Arabidopsis thaliana. Plant and Cell Physiology, 49(1), 47-57. doi:10.1093/pcp/pcm165Yokoyama, A., Yamashino, T., Amano, Y.-I., Tajima, Y., Imamura, A., Sakakibara, H., & Mizuno, T. (2006). Type-B ARR Transcription Factors, ARR10 and ARR12, are Implicated in Cytokinin-Mediated Regulation of Protoxylem Differentiation in Roots of Arabidopsis thaliana. Plant and Cell Physiology, 48(1), 84-96. doi:10.1093/pcp/pcl040Schuster, C., Gaillochet, C., & Lohmann, J. U. (2015). Arabidopsis HECATE genes function in phytohormone control during gynoecium development. Development, 142(19), 3343-3350. doi:10.1242/dev.120444Toledo-Ortiz, G., Huq, E., & Quail, P. H. (2003). The Arabidopsis Basic/Helix-Loop-Helix Transcription Factor Family. The Plant Cell, 15(8), 1749-1770. doi:10.1105/tpc.013839Reymond, M. C., Brunoud, G., Chauvet, A., Martínez-Garcia, J. F., Martin-Magniette, M.-L., Monéger, F., & Scutt, C. P. (2012). A Light-Regulated Genetic Module Was Recruited to Carpel Development in Arabidopsis following a Structural Change to SPATULA. The Plant Cell, 24(7), 2812-2825. doi:10.1105/tpc.112.097915Ballester, P., Navarrete-Gómez, M., Carbonero, P., Oñate-Sánchez, L., & Ferrándiz, C. (2015). Leaf expansion in Arabidopsis is controlled by a TCP-NGA regulatory module likely conserved in distantly related species. Physiologia Plantarum, 155(1), 21-32. doi:10.1111/ppl.12327Hellens, R., Allan, A., Friel, E., Bolitho, K., Grafton, K., Templeton, M., … Laing, W. (2005). Plant Methods, 1(1), 13. doi:10.1186/1746-4811-1-13Makkena, S., & Lamb, R. S. (2013). The bHLH transcription factor SPATULA regulates root growth by controlling the size of the root meristem. BMC Plant Biology, 13(1), 1. doi:10.1186/1471-2229-13-1Stepanova, A. N., Robertson-Hoyt, J., Yun, J., Benavente, L. M., Xie, D.-Y., Doležal, K., … Alonso, J. M. (2008). TAA1-Mediated Auxin Biosynthesis Is Essential for Hormone Crosstalk and Plant Development. Cell, 133(1), 177-191. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2008.01.047Bhargava, A., Clabaugh, I., To, J. P., Maxwell, B. B., Chiang, Y.-H., Schaller, G. E., … Kieber, J. J. (2013). Identification of Cytokinin-Responsive Genes Using Microarray Meta-Analysis and RNA-Seq in Arabidopsis. Plant Physiology, 162(1), 272-294. doi:10.1104/pp.113.217026Sakai, H., Aoyama, T., & Oka, A. (2000). Arabidopsis ARR1 and ARR2 response regulators operate as transcriptional activators. The Plant Journal, 24(6), 703-711. doi:10.1046/j.1365-313x.2000.00909.xSakai, H. (2001). ARR1, a Transcription Factor for Genes Immediately Responsive to Cytokinins. Science, 294(5546), 1519-1521. doi:10.1126/science.1065201Moubayidin, L., Di Mambro, R., Sozzani, R., Pacifici, E., Salvi, E., Terpstra, I., … Sabatini, S. (2013). Spatial Coordination between Stem Cell Activity and Cell Differentiation in the Root Meristem. Developmental Cell, 26(4), 405-415. doi:10.1016/j.devcel.2013.06.025Benková, E., Michniewicz, M., Sauer, M., Teichmann, T., Seifertová, D., Jürgens, G., & Friml, J. (2003). Local, Efflux-Dependent Auxin Gradients as a Common Module for Plant Organ Formation. Cell, 115(5), 591-602. doi:10.1016/s0092-8674(03)00924-3Okada, K., Ueda, J., Komaki, M. K., Bell, C. J., & Shimura, Y. (1991). Requirement of the Auxin Polar Transport System in Early Stages of Arabidopsis Floral Bud Formation. The Plant Cell, 677-684. doi:10.1105/tpc.3.7.677Blilou, I., Xu, J., Wildwater, M., Willemsen, V., Paponov, I., Friml, J., … Scheres, B. (2005). The PIN auxin efflux facilitator network controls growth and patterning in Arabidopsis roots. Nature, 433(7021), 39-44. doi:10.1038/nature03184Mahonen, A. P. (2006). Cytokinin Signaling and Its Inhibitor AHP6 Regulate Cell Fate During Vascular Development. Science, 311(5757), 94-98. doi:10.1126/science.1118875Besnard, F., Refahi, Y., Morin, V., Marteaux, B., Brunoud, G., Chambrier, P., … Vernoux, T. (2013). Cytokinin signalling inhibitory fields provide robustness to phyllotaxis. Nature, 505(7483), 417-421. doi:10.1038/nature12791Longabaugh, W. J. R., Davidson, E. H., & Bolouri, H. (2005). Computational representation of developmental genetic regulatory networks. Developmental Biology, 283(1), 1-16. doi:10.1016/j.ydbio.2005.04.023Faure, E., Peter, I. S., & Davidson, E. H. (2013). A New Software Package for Predictive Gene Regulatory Network Modeling and Redesign. Journal of Computational Biology, 20(6), 419-423. doi:10.1089/cmb.2012.0297Mangan, S., & Alon, U. (2003). Structure and function of the feed-forward loop network motif. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 100(21), 11980-11985. doi:10.1073/pnas.2133841100Chen, Q., Liu, Y., Maere, S., Lee, E., Van Isterdael, G., Xie, Z., … Vanneste, S. (2015). A coherent transcriptional feed-forward motif model for mediating auxin-sensitive PIN3 expression during lateral root development. Nature Communications, 6(1). doi:10.1038/ncomms9821Qiu, K., Li, Z., Yang, Z., Chen, J., Wu, S., Zhu, X., … Zhou, X. (2015). EIN3 and ORE1 Accelerate Degreening during Ethylene-Mediated Leaf Senescence by Directly Activating Chlorophyll Catabolic Genes in Arabidopsis. PLOS Genetics, 11(7), e1005399. doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1005399Seaton, D. D., Smith, R. W., Song, Y. H., MacGregor, D. R., Stewart, K., Steel, G., … Halliday, K. J. (2015). Linked circadian outputs control elongation growth and flowering in response to photoperiod and temperature. Molecular Systems Biology, 11(1), 776. doi:10.15252/msb.20145766Roeder, A. H. K., & Yanofsky, M. F. (2006). Fruit Development in Arabidopsis. The Arabidopsis Book, 4, e0075. doi:10.1199/tab.0075Marsch-Martínez, N., Reyes-Olalde, J. I., Ramos-Cruz, D., Lozano-Sotomayor, P., Zúñiga-Mayo, V. M., & de Folter, S. (2012). Hormones talking. Plant Signaling & Behavior, 7(12), 1698-1701. doi:10.4161/psb.22422Balanza, V., Navarrete, M., Trigueros, M., & Ferrandiz, C. (2006). Patterning the female side of Arabidopsis: the importance of hormones. Journal of Experimental Botany, 57(13), 3457-3469. doi:10.1093/jxb/erl188Kamiuchi, Y., Yamamoto, K., Furutani, M., Tasaka, M., & Aida, M. (2014). The CUC1 and CUC2 genes promote carpel margin meristem formation during Arabidopsis gynoecium development. Frontiers in Plant Science, 5. doi:10.3389/fpls.2014.00165Scofield, S., Dewitte, W., & Murray, J. A. H. (2007). The KNOX gene SHOOT MERISTEMLESS is required for the development of reproductive meristematic tissues in Arabidopsis. The Plant Journal, 50(5), 767-781. doi:10.1111/j.1365-313x.2007.03095.xLi, K., Yu, R., Fan, L.-M., Wei, N., Chen, H., & Deng, X. W. (2016). DELLA-mediated PIF degradation contributes to coordination of light and gibberellin signalling in Arabidopsis. Nature Communications, 7(1). doi:10.1038/ncomms11868Oh, E., Zhu, J.-Y., & Wang, Z.-Y. (2012). Interaction between BZR1 and PIF4 integrates brassinosteroid and environmental responses. Nature Cell Biology, 14(8), 802-809. doi:10.1038/ncb2545Sharma, N., Xin, R., Kim, D.-H., Sung, S., Lange, T., & Huq, E. (2016). NO FLOWERING IN SHORT DAY (NFL) is a bHLH transcription factor that promotes flowering specifically under short-day conditions inArabidopsis. Development, 143(4), 682-690. doi:10.1242/dev.128595Varaud, E., Brioudes, F., Szécsi, J., Leroux, J., Brown, S., Perrot-Rechenmann, C., & Bendahmane, M. (2011). AUXIN RESPONSE FACTOR8 Regulates Arabidopsis Petal Growth by Interacting with the bHLH Transcription Factor BIGPETALp. The Plant Cell, 23(3), 973-983. doi:10.1105/tpc.110.081653Savaldi-Goldstein, S., & Chory, J. (2008). Growth coordination and the shoot epidermis. Current Opinion in Plant Biology, 11(1), 42-48. doi:10.1016/j.pbi.2007.10.009Schuster, C., Gaillochet, C., Medzihradszky, A., Busch, W., Daum, G., Krebs, M., … Lohmann, J. U. (2014). A Regulatory Framework for Shoot Stem Cell Co

Identification and Characterization of a Mef2 Transcriptional Activator in Schistosome Parasites

Myocyte enhancer factor 2 protein (Mef2) is an evolutionarily conserved activator of transcription that is critical to induce and control complex processes in myogenesis and neurogenesis in vertebrates and insects, and osteogenesis in vertebrates. In Drosophila, Mef2 null mutants are unable to produce differentiated muscle cells, and in vertebrates, Mef2 mutants are embryonic lethal. Schistosome worms are responsible for over 200 million cases of schistosomiasis globally, but little is known about early development of schistosome parasites after infecting a vertebrate host. Understanding basic schistosome development could be crucial to delineating potential drug targets. Here, we identify and characterize Mef2 from the schistosome worm Schistosoma mansoni (SmMef2). We initially identified SmMef2 as a homolog to the yeast Mef2 homolog, Resistance to Lethality of MKK1P386 overexpression (Rlm1), and we show that SmMef2 is homologous to conserved Mef2 family proteins. Using a genetics approach, we demonstrate that SmMef2 is a transactivator that can induce transcription of four separate heterologous reporter genes by yeast one-hybrid analysis. We also show that Mef2 is expressed during several stages of schistosome development by quantitative PCR and that it can bind to conserved Mef2 DNA consensus binding sequences