Feminizing Wolbachia endosymbiont disrupts maternal sex chromosome inheritance in a butterfly species

Wolbachia is a maternally inherited ubiquitous endosymbiotic bacterium of arthropods that displays a diverse repertoire of host reproductive manipulations. For the first time, we demonstrate that Wolbachia manipulates sex chromosome inheritance in a sexually reproducing insect. Eurema mandarina butterfly females on Tanegashima Island, Japan, are infected with the wFem Wolbachia strain and produce all‐female offspring, while antibiotic treatment results in male offspring. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) revealed that wFem‐positive and wFem‐negative females have Z0 and WZ sex chromosome sets, respectively, demonstrating the predicted absence of the W chromosome in wFem‐infected lineages. Genomic quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) analysis showed that wFem‐positive females lay only Z0 eggs that carry a paternal Z, whereas females from lineages that are naturally wFem‐negative lay both WZ and ZZ eggs. In contrast, antibiotic treatment of adult wFem females resulted in the production of Z0 and ZZ eggs, suggesting that this Wolbachia strain can disrupt the maternal inheritance of Z chromosomes. Moreover, most male offspring produced by antibiotic‐treated wFem females had a ZZ karyotype, implying reduced survival of Z0 individuals in the absence of feminizing effects of Wolbachia. Antibiotic treatment of wFem‐infected larvae induced male‐specific splicing of the doublesex (dsx) gene transcript, causing an intersex phenotype. Thus, the absence of the female‐determining W chromosome in Z0 individuals is functionally compensated by Wolbachia‐mediated conversion of sex determination. We discuss how Wolbachia may manipulate the host chromosome inheritance and that Wolbachia may have acquired this coordinated dual mode of reproductive manipulation first by the evolution of female‐determining function and then cytoplasmically induced disruption of sex chromosome inheritance

Screening of clock gene polymorphisms demonstrates association of a PER3 polymorphism with morningness-eveningness preference and circadian rhythm sleep disorder.

A system of self-sustained biological clocks controls the 24-h rhythms of behavioral and physiological processes such as the sleep-wake cycle. The circadian clock system is regulated by transcriptional and translational negative feedback loops of multiple clock genes. Polymorphisms in circadian clock genes have been associated with morningness-eveningness (diurnal) preference, familial advanced sleep phase type (ASPT), and delayed sleep phase type (DSPT). We genotyped single-nucleotide polymorphisms in circadian clock genes in 182 DSPT individuals, 67 free-running type (FRT) individuals, and 925 controls. The clock gene polymorphisms were tested for associations with diurnal preference and circadian rhythm sleep disorder (CRSD) phenotypes. The PER3 polymorphism (rs228697) was significantly associated with diurnal preference and the FRT phenotype. The minor allele of rs228697 was more prevalent in evening types than in morning types (sex-adjusted odds ratio (OR), 2.483, Bonferroni-corrected P = 0.012) and in FRT individuals compared with the controls (age- and sex-adjusted OR, 2.021, permutated P = 0.017). Our findings support the notion that PER3 polymorphisms could be a potential genetic marker for an individual\u27s circadian and sleep phenotypes

18. asırda "Hırkai şerif" ziyareti

Taha Toros Arşivi, Dosya No: 120-Saraylar. Not: Gazetenin "Tarihten Sahifeler" köşesinde yayımlanmıştır.İstanbul Kalkınma Ajansı (TR10/14/YEN/0033) İstanbul Development Agency (TR10/14/YEN/0033

First Person Shooters as Collaborative Multiprocess Instruments

International audienceFirst Person Shooters are among the most played computer video games. They combine navigation, interaction and collaboration in 3D virtual environments using simple input devices, i.e. mouse and keyboard. In this paper, we study the possibilities brought by these games for musical interaction. We present the Couacs, a collaborative multiprocess instrument which relies on interaction techniques used in FPS together with new techniques adding the expressiveness required for musical interaction. In particular, the Faders For All game mode allows musicians to perform pattern- based electronic composition