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Kagiali E, Kokoli M, Vardakas P, Goras G, Hatjina F, Patalano S. Four-Year Overview of Winter Colony Losses in Greece: Citizen Science Evidence That Transitioning to Organic Beekeeping Practices Reduces Colony Losses. Insects 2023; 14:193. [PMID: 36835762 PMCID: PMC9963079 DOI: 10.3390/insects14020193] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2022] [Revised: 02/08/2023] [Accepted: 02/09/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
The honey bee is one of the most important pollinators with a close relationship to humans. The questionnaire from the non-governmental association "COLOSS", answered by beekeepers around the world, is a valuable tool for monitoring and analyzing factors involved in overwintering losses, as well as for understanding the evolution of the beekeeping sector over the years. Between 2018-2021, Greece's participation in this survey involved collecting data from 752 beekeepers and 81,903 hives, from almost the whole country, with a stable balance between professional/non-professional participants and hives, providing a solid representation of the beekeeping practices and winter losses during this period. The results of this study identify a transition towards more natural beekeeping practices concomitant with a significant decrease in winter losses (average losses in 2018: 22.3% and 2019: 24%, dropped in 2020: 14.4% and 2021: 15.3%). Indeed, some factors, such as the increased use of natural landscapes for honey production (from 66.7% usage in 2018 to 76.3% in 2021) and the reduction in the exclusive use of synthetic acaricides (from 24.7% usage in 2018 to 6.7% in 2021) seem to have a significant impact on hive survival. Although these correlations remain to be confirmed experimentally, our study shows that Greek beekeepers follow recommendations and policies toward more sustainable practices. In the future, these trends could be further analyzed and integrated into training programs to strengthen the cooperation and information exchange between citizens and science.
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Affiliation(s)
- Evangelia Kagiali
- Institute for Fundamental Biomedical Research (IFBR), Biomedical Sciences Research Center (BSRC) “Alexander Fleming”, 16672 Vari, Greece
- Laboratory of Sericulture and Apiculture, Department of Crop Science, School of Plant Sciences, Agricultural University of Athens, 11855 Athens, Greece
| | - Maria Kokoli
- Department of Cell Biology and Biophysics, Faculty of Biology, University of Athens, Panepistimiopolis, 15701 Athens, Greece
| | - Philippos Vardakas
- Institute for Fundamental Biomedical Research (IFBR), Biomedical Sciences Research Center (BSRC) “Alexander Fleming”, 16672 Vari, Greece
- Department of Apiculture, Institute of Animal Science ELGO ‘DIMITRA’, 11145 Nea Moudania, Greece
| | - Georgios Goras
- Laboratory of Sericulture and Apiculture, Department of Crop Science, School of Plant Sciences, Agricultural University of Athens, 11855 Athens, Greece
| | - Fani Hatjina
- Department of Apiculture, Institute of Animal Science ELGO ‘DIMITRA’, 11145 Nea Moudania, Greece
| | - Solenn Patalano
- Institute for Fundamental Biomedical Research (IFBR), Biomedical Sciences Research Center (BSRC) “Alexander Fleming”, 16672 Vari, Greece
- Department of Apiculture, Institute of Animal Science ELGO ‘DIMITRA’, 11145 Nea Moudania, Greece
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2
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Patalano S, Alsina A, Gregorio-Rodríguez C, Bachman M, Dreier S, Hernando-Herraez I, Nana P, Balasubramanian S, Sumner S, Reik W, Rulands S. Self-organization of plasticity and specialization in a primitively social insect. Cell Syst 2022; 13:768-779.e4. [PMID: 36044898 PMCID: PMC9512265 DOI: 10.1016/j.cels.2022.08.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2021] [Revised: 04/10/2022] [Accepted: 08/05/2022] [Indexed: 01/26/2023]
Abstract
Biological systems have the capacity to not only build and robustly maintain complex structures but also to rapidly break up and rebuild such structures. Here, using primitive societies of Polistes wasps, we show that both robust specialization and rapid plasticity are emergent properties of multi-scale dynamics. We combine theory with experiments that, after perturbing the social structure by removing the queen, correlate time-resolved multi-omics with video recordings. We show that the queen-worker dimorphism relies on the balance between the development of a molecular queen phenotype in all insects and colony-scale inhibition of this phenotype via asymmetric interactions. This allows Polistes to be stable against intrinsic perturbations of molecular states while reacting plastically to extrinsic cues affecting the whole society. Long-term stability of the social structure is reinforced by dynamic DNA methylation. Our study provides a general principle of how both specialization and plasticity can be achieved in biological systems. A record of this paper's transparent peer review process is included in the supplemental information.
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Affiliation(s)
- Solenn Patalano
- Epigenetics Programme, Babraham Institute, Cambridge CB22 3AT, UK.
| | - Adolfo Alsina
- Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, Noethnitzer Str. 38, 01187 Dresden, Germany
| | - Carlos Gregorio-Rodríguez
- Departamento de Sistemas Informáticos y Computación, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Plaza de Ciencias, 3, 28040 Madrid, Spain
| | - Martin Bachman
- Discovery Science and Technology, Medicines Discovery Catapult, Alderley Park, Cheshire SK10 4GT, UK; Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, University of Cambridge, Li Ka Shing Centre, Cambridge CB2 ORE, UK; Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1EW, UK
| | - Stephanie Dreier
- Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, Regent's Park, London NW1 4RY, UK
| | | | - Paulin Nana
- Faculty of Agronomy and Agricultural Sciences, School of Wood, Water and Natural Resources, University of Dschang, Ebolowa Campus, P.O. Box 786, Ebolowa, Cameroon
| | - Shankar Balasubramanian
- Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, University of Cambridge, Li Ka Shing Centre, Cambridge CB2 ORE, UK; Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1EW, UK; School of Clinical Medicine, University of Cambridge, CB2 0SP, Cambridge, UK
| | - Seirian Sumner
- Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research, Department of Genetics Evolution and Environment, Division of Biosciences, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK
| | - Wolf Reik
- Epigenetics Programme, Babraham Institute, Cambridge CB22 3AT, UK; Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton CB10 1SA, UK; Centre for Trophoblast Research, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EG, UK.
| | - Steffen Rulands
- Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, Noethnitzer Str. 38, 01187 Dresden, Germany; Center for Systems Biology Dresden, Pfotenhauer Str. 108, 01307 Dresden, Germany.
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3
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Galanis A, Vardakas P, Reczko M, Harokopos V, Hatzis P, Skoulakis EMC, Pavlopoulos GA, Patalano S. Bee foraging preferences, microbiota and pathogens revealed by direct shotgun metagenomics of honey. Mol Ecol Resour 2022; 22:2506-2523. [PMID: 35593171 DOI: 10.1111/1755-0998.13626] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2021] [Revised: 02/14/2022] [Accepted: 04/13/2022] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Honeybees (Apis mellifera) continue to succumb to human and environmental pressures despite their crucial role in providing essential ecosystem services. Owing to their foraging and honey production activities, honeybees form complex relationships with species across all domains, such as plants, viruses, bacteria and other hive pests, making honey a valuable biomonitoring tool for assessing their ecological niche. Thus, the application of honey shotgun metagenomics (SM) has paved the way for a detailed description of the species honeybees interact with. Nevertheless, SM bioinformatics tools and DNA extraction methods rely on resources not necessarily optimized for honey. In this study, we compared five widely used taxonomic classifiers using simulated species communities commonly found in honey. We found that Kraken 2 with a threshold of 0.5 performs best in assessing species distribution. We also optimized a simple NaOH-based honey DNA extraction methodology (Direct-SM), which profiled species seasonal variability similarly to an established column-based DNA extraction approach (SM). Both approaches produce results consistent with melissopalinology analysis describing the botanical landscape surrounding the apiary. Interestingly, we detected a strong stability of the bacteria constituting the core and noncore gut microbiome across seasons, pointing to the potential utility of honey for noninvasive assessment of bee microbiota. Finally, the Direct-SM approach to detect Varroa correlates well with the biomonitoring of mite infestation observed in hives. These observations suggest that Direct-SM methodology has the potential to comprehensively describe honeybee ecological niches and can be tested as a building block for large-scale studies to assess bee health in the field.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anastasios Galanis
- Institute for Fundamental Biomedical Research (IFBR), BSRC 'Alexander Fleming', Vari, Greece.,Division of Animal and Human Physiology, Department of Biology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
| | - Philippos Vardakas
- Institute for Fundamental Biomedical Research (IFBR), BSRC 'Alexander Fleming', Vari, Greece.,Department of Apiculture, Institute of Animal Science, Nea Moudania, Greece
| | - Martin Reczko
- Institute for Fundamental Biomedical Research (IFBR), BSRC 'Alexander Fleming', Vari, Greece
| | - Vaggelis Harokopos
- Institute for Fundamental Biomedical Research (IFBR), BSRC 'Alexander Fleming', Vari, Greece
| | - Pantelis Hatzis
- Institute for Fundamental Biomedical Research (IFBR), BSRC 'Alexander Fleming', Vari, Greece
| | - Efthimios M C Skoulakis
- Institute for Fundamental Biomedical Research (IFBR), BSRC 'Alexander Fleming', Vari, Greece
| | - Georgios A Pavlopoulos
- Institute for Fundamental Biomedical Research (IFBR), BSRC 'Alexander Fleming', Vari, Greece
| | - Solenn Patalano
- Institute for Fundamental Biomedical Research (IFBR), BSRC 'Alexander Fleming', Vari, Greece
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4
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Lengronne T, Mlynski D, Patalano S, James R, Keller L, Sumner S. Multi-level social organization and nest-drifting behaviour in a eusocial insect. Proc Biol Sci 2021; 288:20210275. [PMID: 33947238 PMCID: PMC8097211 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2021.0275] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2021] [Accepted: 04/01/2021] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Stable social groups usually consist of families. However, recent studies have revealed higher level social structure, with interactions between family groups across different levels of social organization in multiple species. The explanations for why this apparently paradoxical behaviour arises appear to be varied and remain untested. Here, we use automated radio-tagging data from over 1000 wasps from 93 nests and social network analyses of over 30 000 nest visitation records to describe and explain interactions across levels of social organization in the eusocial paper wasp Polistes canadensis. We detected three levels of social organization (nest, aggregation and community) which exchange 'drifter' individuals within and between levels. The highest level (community) may be influenced by the patchiness of high-quality nesting habitats in which these insects exist. Networks of drifter movements were explained by the distance between nests, the group size of donor nests and the worker-to-brood ratios on donor and recipient nests. These findings provide some explanation for the multi-level social interactions, which may otherwise seem paradoxical. Fitness benefits across multiple levels of social organization should be considered when trying to understand animal societies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thibault Lengronne
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
- Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, Regent's Park, London NW1 4RY, UK
| | - David Mlynski
- Department of Biology and Biochemistry (plus CNCB), University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, UK
| | - Solenn Patalano
- Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, Regent's Park, London NW1 4RY, UK
| | - Richard James
- Department of Physics and Centre for Networks and Collective Behaviour, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, UK
| | - Laurent Keller
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Seirian Sumner
- Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, Regent's Park, London NW1 4RY, UK
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5
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Kennedy P, Baron G, Qiu B, Freitak D, Helanterä H, Hunt ER, Manfredini F, O'Shea-Wheller T, Patalano S, Pull CD, Sasaki T, Taylor D, Wyatt CDR, Sumner S. Deconstructing Superorganisms and Societies to Address Big Questions in Biology. Trends Ecol Evol 2017; 32:861-872. [PMID: 28899581 DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2017.08.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2017] [Revised: 07/31/2017] [Accepted: 08/03/2017] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
Social insect societies are long-standing models for understanding social behaviour and evolution. Unlike other advanced biological societies (such as the multicellular body), the component parts of social insect societies can be easily deconstructed and manipulated. Recent methodological and theoretical innovations have exploited this trait to address an expanded range of biological questions. We illustrate the broadening range of biological insight coming from social insect biology with four examples. These new frontiers promote open-minded, interdisciplinary exploration of one of the richest and most complex of biological phenomena: sociality.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patrick Kennedy
- Life Sciences Building, University of Bristol, 24 Tyndall Avenue, Bristol BS8 1TQ, United Kingdom
| | - Gemma Baron
- School of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham TW20 0EX, United Kingdom
| | - Bitao Qiu
- Centre for Social Evolution, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Dalial Freitak
- Centre of Excellence in Biological Interactions, Department of Biosciences, University of Helsinki, Viikinkaari 1, P.O. Box 65, 00014 University of Helsinki, Finland
| | - Heikki Helanterä
- Centre of Excellence in Biological Interactions, Department of Biosciences, University of Helsinki, Viikinkaari 1, P.O. Box 65, 00014 University of Helsinki, Finland
| | - Edmund R Hunt
- Life Sciences Building, University of Bristol, 24 Tyndall Avenue, Bristol BS8 1TQ, United Kingdom
| | - Fabio Manfredini
- School of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham TW20 0EX, United Kingdom
| | - Thomas O'Shea-Wheller
- Life Sciences Building, University of Bristol, 24 Tyndall Avenue, Bristol BS8 1TQ, United Kingdom
| | | | - Christopher D Pull
- School of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham TW20 0EX, United Kingdom; IST Austria (Institute of Science and Technology Austria), Am Campus 1, A-3400 Klosterneuburg, Austria
| | - Takao Sasaki
- Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, The Tinbergen Building, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PS, United Kingdom
| | - Daisy Taylor
- Life Sciences Building, University of Bristol, 24 Tyndall Avenue, Bristol BS8 1TQ, United Kingdom
| | - Christopher D R Wyatt
- Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), The Barcelona Institute for Science and Technology, Dr. Aiguader 88, 08003 Barcelona, Spain; Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), Barcelona, Spain
| | - Seirian Sumner
- Life Sciences Building, University of Bristol, 24 Tyndall Avenue, Bristol BS8 1TQ, United Kingdom; Current address: Centre for Biodiversity & Environment Research, Department of Genetics, Evolution & Environment, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom.
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6
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Cini A, Patalano S, Segonds-Pichon A, Busby GBJ, Cervo R, Sumner S. Social parasitism and the molecular basis of phenotypic evolution. Front Genet 2015; 6:32. [PMID: 25741361 PMCID: PMC4332356 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2015.00032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2014] [Accepted: 01/23/2015] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Contrasting phenotypes arise from similar genomes through a combination of losses, gains, co-option and modifications of inherited genomic material. Understanding the molecular basis of this phenotypic diversity is a fundamental challenge in modern evolutionary biology. Comparisons of the genes and their expression patterns underlying traits in closely related species offer an unrivaled opportunity to evaluate the extent to which genomic material is reorganized to produce novel traits. Advances in molecular methods now allow us to dissect the molecular machinery underlying phenotypic diversity in almost any organism, from single-celled entities to the most complex vertebrates. Here we discuss how comparisons of social parasites and their free-living hosts may provide unique insights into the molecular basis of phenotypic evolution. Social parasites evolve from a eusocial ancestor and are specialized to exploit the socially acquired resources of their closely-related eusocial host. Molecular comparisons of such species pairs can reveal how genomic material is re-organized in the loss of ancestral traits (i.e., of free-living traits in the parasites) and the gain of new ones (i.e., specialist traits required for a parasitic lifestyle). We define hypotheses on the molecular basis of phenotypes in the evolution of social parasitism and discuss their wider application in our understanding of the molecular basis of phenotypic diversity within the theoretical framework of phenotypic plasticity and shifting reaction norms. Currently there are no data available to test these hypotheses, and so we also provide some proof of concept data using the paper wasp social parasite/host system (Polistes sulcifer-Polistes dominula). This conceptual framework and first empirical data provide a spring-board for directing future genomic analyses on exploiting social parasites as a route to understanding the evolution of phenotypic specialization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alessandro Cini
- Dipartimento di Biologia, Università di FirenzeFirenze, Italy
| | - Solenn Patalano
- Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of LondonLondon, UK
- The Babraham Institute, Babraham Research Campus – CambridgeCambridge, UK
| | | | - George B. J. Busby
- Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of LondonLondon, UK
- Wellcome Trust Centre for Human GeneticsOxford, UK
| | - Rita Cervo
- Dipartimento di Biologia, Università di FirenzeFirenze, Italy
| | - Seirian Sumner
- Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of LondonLondon, UK
- School of Biological Sciences, University of BristolBristol, UK
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7
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Ferreira PG, Patalano S, Chauhan R, Ffrench-Constant R, Gabaldón T, Guigó R, Sumner S. Transcriptome analyses of primitively eusocial wasps reveal novel insights into the evolution of sociality and the origin of alternative phenotypes. Genome Biol 2013; 14:R20. [PMID: 23442883 PMCID: PMC4053794 DOI: 10.1186/gb-2013-14-2-r20] [Citation(s) in RCA: 105] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/17/2012] [Accepted: 02/26/2013] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Understanding how alternative phenotypes arise from the same genome is a major challenge in modern biology. Eusociality in insects requires the evolution of two alternative phenotypes - workers, who sacrifice personal reproduction, and queens, who realize that reproduction. Extensive work on honeybees and ants has revealed the molecular basis of derived queen and worker phenotypes in highly eusocial lineages, but we lack equivalent deep-level analyses of wasps and of primitively eusocial species, the latter of which can reveal how phenotypic decoupling first occurs in the early stages of eusocial evolution. RESULTS We sequenced 20 Gbp of transcriptomes derived from brains of different behavioral castes of the primitively eusocial tropical paper wasp Polistes canadensis. Surprisingly, 75% of the 2,442 genes differentially expressed between phenotypes were novel, having no significant homology with described sequences. Moreover, 90% of these novel genes were significantly upregulated in workers relative to queens. Differential expression of novel genes in the early stages of sociality may be important in facilitating the evolution of worker behavioral complexity in eusocial evolution. We also found surprisingly low correlation in the identity and direction of expression of differentially expressed genes across similar phenotypes in different social lineages, supporting the idea that social evolution in different lineages requires substantial de novo rewiring of molecular pathways. CONCLUSIONS These genomic resources for aculeate wasps and first transcriptome-wide insights into the origin of castes bring us closer to a more general understanding of eusocial evolution and how phenotypic diversity arises from the same genome.
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8
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Lengronne T, Leadbeater E, Patalano S, Dreier S, Field J, Sumner S, Keller L. Little effect of seasonal constraints on population genetic structure in eusocial paper wasps. Ecol Evol 2012; 2:2615-24. [PMID: 23145345 PMCID: PMC3492786 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.366] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2012] [Revised: 07/20/2012] [Accepted: 07/22/2012] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Climate has long been suggested to affect population genetic structures of eusocial insect societies. For instance, Hamilton [Journal of Theoretical Biology7 (1964) 17] discusses whether temperate and tropical eusocial insects may show differences in population-level genetic structure and viscosity, and how this might relate to differences in the degree of synchrony in their life cycles or modes of nest founding. Despite the importance of Hamilton's 1964 papers, this specific idea has not been tested in actual populations of wasps, probably due to the paucity of studies on tropical species. Here, we compare colony and population genetic structures in two species of primitively eusocial paper wasps with contrasting ecologies: the tropical species Polistes canadensis and the temperate species P. dominulus. Our results provide important clarifications of Hamilton's discussion. Specifically, we show that the genetic structures of the temperate and tropical species were very similar, indicating that seasonality does not greatly affect population viscosity or inbreeding. For both species, the high genetic differentiation between nests suggests strong selection at the nest level to live with relatives, whereas low population viscosity and low genetic differentiation between nest aggregations might reflect balancing selection to disperse, avoiding competition with relatives. Overall, our study suggests no prevalence of seasonal constraints of the life cycle in affecting the population genetic structure of eusocial paper wasps. These conclusions are likely to apply also to other primitively eusocial insects, such as halictine bees. They also highlight how selection for a kin structure that promotes altruism can override potential effects of ecology in eusocial insects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thibault Lengronne
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne 1015, Lausanne, Switzerland ; Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London Regent's Park, NW1 4RY, London, UK
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9
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Sumner S, Patalano S. A switch that controls cells also controls insects. New Sci 2012. [DOI: 10.1016/s0262-4079(12)61351-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
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10
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Patalano S, Mihailovich M, Belacortu Y, Paricio N, Gebauer F. Dual sex-specific functions of Drosophila Upstream of N-ras in the control of X chromosome dosage compensation. Development 2009; 136:689-98. [PMID: 19168682 DOI: 10.1242/dev.027656] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Dosage compensation in Drosophila melanogaster involves the assembly of the MSL-2-containing dosage compensation complex (DCC) on the single X chromosome of male flies. Translational repression of msl-2 mRNA blocks this process in females. Previous work indicated that the ubiquitous protein Upstream of N-ras (UNR) is a necessary co-factor for msl-2 repression in vitro. Here, we explore the function of UNR in vivo. Hypomorphic Unr mutant flies showed DCC assembly on high-affinity sites in the female X chromosomes, confirming that UNR inhibits dosage compensation in female flies. Unexpectedly, male mutant flies and UNR-depleted SL2 cells showed decreased DCC binding to the X chromosome, suggesting a role for UNR in DCC assembly or targeting. Consistent with this possibility, UNR overexpression resulted in moderate loss of DCC from the male X chromosome and predominant male lethality. Immunoprecipitation experiments revealed that UNR binds to roX1 and roX2, the non-coding RNA components of the DCC, providing possible targets for UNR function in males. These results uncover dual sex-specific functions of UNR in dosage compensation: to repress DCC formation in female flies and to promote DCC assembly on the male X chromosome.
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11
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Abaza I, Coll O, Patalano S, Gebauer F. Drosophila UNR is required for translational repression of male-specific lethal 2 mRNA during regulation of X-chromosome dosage compensation. Genes Dev 2006; 20:380-9. [PMID: 16452509 PMCID: PMC1361708 DOI: 10.1101/gad.371906] [Citation(s) in RCA: 64] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
The inhibition of male-specific lethal 2 (msl-2) mRNA translation by the RNA-binding protein sex-lethal (SXL) is an essential regulatory step for X-chromosome dosage compensation in Drosophila melanogaster. The mammalian upstream of N-ras (UNR) protein has been implicated in the regulation of mRNA stability and internal ribosome entry site (IRES)-dependent mRNA translation. Here we have identified the Drosophila homolog of mammalian UNR as a cofactor required for SXL-mediated repression of msl-2 translation. UNR interacts with SXL, a female-specific protein. Although UNR is present in both male and female flies, binding of SXL to uridine-rich sequences in the 3' untranslated region (UTR) of msl-2 mRNA recruits UNR to adjacent regulatory sequences, thereby conferring a sex-specific function to UNR. These data identify a novel regulator of dosage compensation in Drosophila that acts coordinately with SXL in translational control.
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Affiliation(s)
- Irina Abaza
- Centre de Regulació Genómica (CRG-UPF), 08003 Barcelona, Spain
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12
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Patalano S, Prulière G, Prodon F, Paix A, Dru P, Sardet C, Chenevert J. The aPKC-PAR-6-PAR-3 cell polarity complex localizes to the centrosome attracting body, a macroscopic cortical structure responsible for asymmetric divisions in the early ascidian embryo. J Cell Sci 2006; 119:1592-603. [PMID: 16569661 DOI: 10.1242/jcs.02873] [Citation(s) in RCA: 64] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
Posterior blastomeres of 8-cell stage ascidian embryos undergo a series of asymmetric divisions that generate cells of unequal sizes and segregate muscle from germ cell fates. These divisions are orchestrated by a macroscopic cortical structure, the ;centrosome attracting body' (CAB) which controls spindle positioning and distribution of mRNA determinants. The CAB is composed of a mass of cortical endoplasmic reticulum containing mRNAs (the cER-mRNA domain) and an electron dense matrix, but little is known about its precise structure and functions. We have examined the ascidian homologues of PAR proteins, known to regulate polarity in many cell types. We found that aPKC, PAR-6 and PAR-3 proteins, but not their mRNAs, localize to the CAB during the series of asymmetric divisions. Surface particles rich in aPKC concentrate in the CAB at the level of cortical actin microfilaments and form a localized patch sandwiched between the plasma membrane and the cER-mRNA domain. Localization of aPKC to the CAB is dependent on actin but not microtubules. Both the aPKC layer and cER-mRNA domain adhere to cortical fragments prepared from 8-cell stage embryos. Astral microtubules emanating from the proximal centrosome contact the aPKC-rich cortical domain. Our observations indicate that asymmetric division involves the accumulation of the aPKC-PAR-6-PAR-3 complex at the cortical position beneath the pre-existing cER-mRNA domain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Solenn Patalano
- BioMarCell, Laboratoire de Biologie de Developpement, UMR 7009 CNRS, University Pierre and Marie Curie, Observatoire, Villefranche-sur-mer 06230, France
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13
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Di Gironimo G, Patalano S, Liotti F, Conserva U, Paruccini E. [Comparative assessment of the risk of handling of objects with an analysis protocol and the use of digital human models]. G Ital Med Lav Ergon 2005; 27:124-8. [PMID: 15915686] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/02/2023]
Abstract
In this work the Authors propose a methodology based on the use of an ergonomic software in alternative to the traditional methods to evaluate muscular-skeletal diseases caused by incongruous postures or conditions of mechanical overload. This methodology allows to simulate, in a virtual environment, both a workplace and a digital human model whose behaviours are similar, from a kinematical and a dynamical point of view, to that ones of a real person. Through the simulation in a virtual environment of an operation of Manual Material Handling (MMH) in a pharmaceutics industry, the Authors have evaluated, in real time, the strengths and the reaction-moments in the axial, sagittal and lateral plane on the L4 and L5 lumbar vertebras and on the shoulder of the workers. In the work the single movements carried out by the operator are analysed using manikins of different percentiles. The results are compared with the ones coming from the use of the traditional methods to evaluate muscular skeletal disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- G Di Gironimo
- Dipartimento di Progettazione e Gestione Industriale, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Italy.
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