Search results for "PNA"
showing 8 items of 28 documents
African trypanosomes expressing multiple VSGs are rapidly eliminated by the host immune system
2019
Significance Many parasites escape the host immune system by undergoing antigenic variation, a process in which surface antigens are regularly shed and replaced by new ones. Trypanosoma brucei employs multiple sophisticated molecular mechanisms to ensure the expression of a homogeneous VSG coat. We generated a mutant parasite that expresses multiple distinct VSGs and studied the consequences of having a multi-VSG coat during an infection. We showed that expression of multiple VSGs makes the parasites more vulnerable to the immune response, which can now control the trypanosomes from the onset of the infection, allowing most mice to survive. In the future, trypanosome infections may be treat…
Bayesian chronological analyses consistent with synchronous age of 12,835-12,735 Cal BP for Younger Dryas boundary on four continents
2015
The Younger Dryas impact hypothesis posits that a cosmic impact across much of the Northern Hemisphere deposited the Younger Dryas boundary (YDB) layer, containing peak abundances in a variable assemblage of proxies, including magnetic and glassy impact-related spherules, high-temperature minerals and melt glass, nanodiamonds, carbon spherules, aciniform carbon, platinum, and osmium. Bayesian chronological modeling was applied to 354 dates from 23 stratigraphic sections in 12 countries on four continents to establish a modeled YDB age range for this event of 12,835-12,735 Cal B.P. at 95% probability. This range overlaps that of a peak in extraterrestrial platinum in the Greenland Ice Sheet …
Le repas à l’hôpital : un défi pour demain
2016
National audience; La volonté politique de « repenser » le repas à l’hôpital au-delà de l’acte physiologique est aujourd’hui bien présente dans les textes officiels. En effet, le PNNS (Programme National Nutrition et Santé) préconisait dès sa deuxième version : « l’alimentation dans les établissements de santé est un facteur de confort et de l’accueil. Partie intégrante de la démarche de soins, elle participe à la prise en charge des problèmes nutritionnels ». On voit également poindre cette volonté dans la nouvelle politique publique de l’alimentation lancée en octobre 2014 qui a notamment pour ambition « de préserver et de promouvoir le modèle alimentaire français comme facteur essentiel …
Single-cell RNA sequencing unveils the shared and the distinct cytotoxic hallmarks of human TCRVδ1 and TCRVδ2 γδ T lymphocytes
2019
γδ T lymphocytes represent ∼1% of human peripheral blood mononuclear cells and even more cells in most tissues of vertebrates. Although they have important anticancer functions, most current single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) studies do not identify γδ T lymphocytes because their transcriptomes at the single-cell level are unknown. Here we show that high-resolution clustering of large scRNA-seq datasets and a combination of gene signatures allow the specific detection of human γδ T lymphocytes and identification of their T cell receptor (TCR)Vδ1 and TCRVδ2 subsets in large datasets from complex cell mixtures. In t -distributed stochastic neighbor embedding plots from blood and tumor sa…
Regulatory changes in pterin and carotenoid genes underlie balanced color polymorphisms in the wall lizard
2019
Significance Reptiles show an amazing color diversity based on variation in melanins, carotenoids, and pterins. This study reveals genes controlling differences between three color morphs (white, orange, and yellow) in the common wall lizard. Orange pigmentation, due to high levels of orange/red pterins in skin, is caused by genetic changes in the sepiapterin reductase gene. Yellow skin, showing high levels of yellow carotenoids, is controlled by the beta-carotene oxygenase 2 locus. Thus, the color polymorphism in the common wall lizard is associated with changes in two small regions of the genome containing genes with crucial roles in pterin and carotenoid metabolism. These genes are likel…
PCARE and WASF3 regulate ciliary F-actin assembly that is required for the initiation of photoreceptor outer segment disk formation
2020
Significance The photoreceptor outer segments are primary cilia, modified for phototransduction by incorporation of stacked opsin-loaded membrane disks that are continuously regenerated. This process is disrupted in several types of inherited retinal dystrophy, but the driving force remained unclear. We show that C2orf71/PCARE (photoreceptor cilium actin regulator), associated with inherited retinal dystrophy subtype RP54, efficiently recruits the Arp2/3 complex activator WASF3 to the cilium. This activates an actin dynamics-driven expansion of the ciliary tip, resembling membrane evagination in lamellipodia formation. Colocalization of this actin dynamics module to the base of the outer se…
Exploring fast proton transfer events associated with lateral proton diffusion on the surface of membranes
2019
Proton diffusion (PD) across biological membranes is a fundamental process in many biological systems, and much experimental and theoretical effort has been employed for deciphering it. Here, we report on a spectroscopic probe, which can be tightly tethered to the membrane, for following fast (nanosecond) proton transfer events on the surface of membranes. Our probe is composed of a photoacid that serves as our light-induced proton source for the initiation of the PD process. We use our probe to follow PD, and its pH dependence, on the surface of lipid vesicles composed of a zwitterionic headgroup, a negative headgroup, a headgroup that is composed only from the negative phosphate group, or…