Progression of colorectal cancer (CRC) involves spatial and temporal occurrences of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), whereby tumour cells acquire a more invasive and metastatic phenotype. Subsequently, the disseminated mesenchymal tumour cells must undergo a reverse transition (mesenchymal-epithelial transition, MET) at the site of metastases, as most metastases recapitulate the pathology of their corresponding primary tumours. Importantly, initiation of tumour growth at the secondary site is the rate-limiting step in metastasis. However, investigation of this dynamic reversible EMT and MET that underpins CRC morphogenesis has been hindered by a lack of suitable in vitro models. To this end, we have established a unique in vitro model of CRC morphogenesis, which we term LIM1863-Mph (morphogenetic). LIM1863-Mph cells spontaneously undergo cyclic transitions between two-dimensional monolayer (migratory, mesenchymal) and three-dimensional sphere (carcinoid, epithelial) states. Using RNAi, we demonstrate that FZD7 is necessary for MET of the monolayer cells as loss of FZD7 results in the persistence of a mesenchymal state (increased SNAI2/decreased E-cadherin). Moreover, FZD7 is also required for migration of the LIM1863-Mph monolayer cells. During development, FZD7 orchestrates either migratory or epithelialization events depending on the context. Our findings strongly implicate similar functional diversity for FZD7 during CRC morphogenesis.

Background: The Great Australian Bight (GAB) comprises the majority of Australia's southern coastline, but to date its deep water fauna has remained almost unknown. Recent issuing of oil and gas leases in the region has highlighted this lack of baseline biological data and established a pressing need to characterise benthic abyssal fauna. Methods: From 2013 to 2017, six large-scale systematic surveys of the GAB were conducted from 200 to 5000 m depth, constituting the deepest systematic biological sampling in Australia. Sampling was conducted on soft sediment and hard substrates, both at predetermined depth intervals along north-south transect lines and at sites of interest identified by multibeam sonar. Results: A total of 66,721 invertebrate specimens were collected, comprising 1267 species, with 401 species (32%) new to science. In addition to the novelty of the fauna, there was a high degree of rarity, with 31% of species known only from single specimens. Conclusions: In this paper, we provide an annotated checklist of the benthic invertebrate fauna of the deep GAB, supplemented with colour photos of live specimens and commentary on taxonomy, diversity and distributions. This work represents an important addition to knowledge of Australia's deep sea fauna, and will provide the foundation for further ecological, biogeographical and systematic research.

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Abstract-Vascular disease often involves vessel hypertrophy with underlying cellular hypertrophy or hyperplasia.Experimental diabetes stimulates hypertrophy of the rat mesenteric vasculature, and we investigated the hypothesis that this hypertrophy is associated with activation of Na ϩ -H ϩ exchange (NHE) activity. We measured the NHE activity in isolated, intact blood vessels from control and streptozotocin-induced diabetic adult rats using concurrent myography and fluorescence spectroscopy. The role of inhibiting NHE activity in preventing the development of the mesenteric hypertrophy in streptozotocin-diabetic rats was investigated by administration of cariporide (100 mg/kg body weight per day in 3 doses by gavage) after induction of diabetes and subsequently determining vessel weight and structure. The weight of the mesenteric vasculature was not increased 1 week after streptozotocin treatment but was significantly increased by an average of 56% at 3 weeks. NHE activity in mesenteric arteries showed an enhanced maximal velocity (V max ) in diabetic vessels at 1 and 3 weeks (0.246Ϯ0.006 and 0.238Ϯ0.007 versus 0.198Ϯ0.007 pH U/min) with no change in the apparent K m . Moreover, NHE-1 mRNA in mesenteric arterioles at 3 weeks after streptozotocin treatment was increased by Ͼ60% (55.8Ϯ6.4 versus 91.3Ϯ12.3 fg). Administration of cariporide significantly reduced mesenteric vascular weight, the wall/lumen ratio, and mesenteric extracellular matrix accumulation in the diabetic animals. Our study shows that diabetes in vivo correlates with elevated NHE activity and mRNA in the mesenteric vasculature and furthermore that inhibition of this system prevents the hypertrophic response. These data suggest that NHE may be a target for therapeutic modulation of vascular changes in diabetes.