We have investigated the role for diacylglycerol (DAG) in membrane bud formation in the Golgi apparatus. Addition of propranolol to specifically inhibit phosphatidate phosphohydrolase (PAP), an enzyme responsible for converting phosphatidic acid into DAG, effectively prevents formation of membrane buds. The effect of PAP inhibition on Golgi membranes is rapid and occurs within 3 min. Removal of the PAP inhibitor then results in a rapid burst of buds, vesicles, and tubules that peaks within 2 min. The inability to form buds in the presence of propranolol does not appear to be correlated with a loss of ARFGAP1 from Golgi membranes, as knockdown of ARFGAP1 by RNA interference has little or no effect on actual bud formation. Rather, knockdown of ARFGAP1 results in an increase in membrane buds and a decrease of vesicles and tubules suggesting it functions in the late stages of scission. How DAG promotes bud formation is discussed. INTRODUCTIONFormation of buds to generate intracellular transport vesicles from membranes such as Golgi cisternae involves both coat binding and local lipid conversion (for reviews and theoretical models, see Kirchhausen, 2000;Shemesh et al., 2003;Weiss and Nilsson, 2003;Bethune et al., 2006). For COPI vesicles, formation of buds is initiated by the small GTPase ARF1 (ADP-ribosylation factor 1) which, in its GTPconferred conformation, drives coatomer recruitment from the cytosol to both Golgi and pre-Golgi membranes (Palmer et al., 1993). Indeed, ARF1 and coatomer are sufficient for both bud and vesicle formation as evidenced in in vitro experiments using liposomes forming coated vesicles in a controlled manner (Spang et al., 1998). Addition of ARF-GAP1, a GTPase-activating protein for ARF1, then yielded uncoated vesicles of the expected size of ϳ50-60 nm in diameter (Reinhard et al., 2003).The situation in biological membranes is likely more refined involving additional as well as alternative components to promote or prevent vesicle formation such that Golgi function is maintained. Here, both ARF1 and ARFGAP1 have been implicated in vesicle formation through direct or indirect modulation of lipid synthesis such that bud formation and membrane fission are promoted. For example, ARF1 stimulates the production of phosphatidic acid (PA) from phosphatidylcholine (PC; Brown et al., 1993;Cockcroft et al., 1994) through the activation of phospholipase D (PLD) in a nucleotide (GTP)-specific manner Houle et al., 1995;Ktistakis et al., 1995). Such ARF1-mediated PLD stimulation results in an increased vesicle production (Ktistakis et al., 1996;Chen et al., 1997). This ability of ARF1 to stimulate lipid formation in the Golgi apparatus offers a possibility to mechanistically link lipid conversion with coat recruitment. PA may also be converted to diacylglycerol (DAG) and the ratio between DAG and PC seems to influence protein transport through the Golgi apparatus in yeast (Rivas et al., 1999). PA can also be synthesized from lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) by a LPA acyltransferase-dependent pathway through...

This study confirms the potency of agriculture in selecting for insecticide resistance in malaria vectors. We demonstrated that the recurrent exposure of larvae to agricultural pollutants can select for resistance mechanisms to vector control insecticides at the adult stage. Our data suggest that in addition to selected target-site resistance mutations, agricultural pollutants may also favor cuticle, metabolic and synaptic transmission-based resistance mechanisms. These results emphasize the need for integrated resistance management strategies taking into account agriculture activities.

Changes in photoassimilate partitioning between source and sink organs significantly affect fruit development and size. In this study, a comparison was made of tomato plants (Solanum lycopersicum L.) grown under a low fruit load (one fruit per truss, L1 plants) and under a standard fruit load (five fruits per truss, L5 plants), at morphological, biochemical, and molecular levels. Fruit load reduction resulted in increased photoassimilate availability in the plant and in increased growth rates in all plant organs analysed (root, stem, leaf, flower, and fruit). Larger flower and fruit size in L1 plants were correlated with higher cell number in the pre-anthesis ovary. This was probably due to the acceleration of the flower growth rate since other flower developmental parameters (schedule and time-course) remained otherwise unaffected. Using RT-PCR, it was shown that the transcript levels of CYCB2;1 (cyclin) and CDKB2;1 (cyclin-dependent kinase), two mitosis-specific genes, strongly increased early in developing flower buds. Remarkably, the transcript abundance of CYCD3;1, a D-type cyclin potentially involved in cell cycle regulation in response to mitogenic signals, also increased by more than 5-fold at very early stages of L1 flower development. By contrast, transcripts from fw2.2, a putative negative regulator of cell division in tomato fruit, strongly decreased in developing flower bud, as confirmed by in situ hybridization studies. Taken together, these results suggest that changes in carbohydrate partitioning could control fruit size through the regulation of cell proliferation-related genes at very early stages of flower development.

Cyt1Aa is the one of four crystalline protoxins produced by mosquitocidal bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis (Bti) that has been shown to delay the evolution of insect resistance in the field. Limiting our understanding of Bti efficacy and the path to improved toxicity and spectrum has been ignorance of how Cyt1Aa crystallizes in vivo and of its mechanism of toxicity. Here, we use serial femtosecond crystallography to determine the Cyt1Aa protoxin structure from sub-micron-sized crystals produced in Bti. Structures determined under various pH/redox conditions illuminate the role played by previously uncharacterized disulfidebridge and domain-swapped interfaces from crystal formation in Bti to dissolution in the larval mosquito midgut. Biochemical, toxicological and biophysical methods enable the deconvolution of key steps in the Cyt1Aa bioactivation cascade. We additionally show that the size, shape, production yield, pH sensitivity and toxicity of Cyt1Aa crystals grown in Bti can be controlled by single atom substitution.

BackgroundResistance of mosquitoes to insecticides is mainly attributed to their adaptation to vector control interventions. Although pesticides used in agriculture have been frequently mentioned as an additional force driving the selection of resistance, only a few studies were dedicated to validate this hypothesis and characterise the underlying mechanisms. While insecticide resistance is rising dramatically in Africa, deciphering how agriculture affects resistance is crucial for improving resistance management strategies. In this context, the multigenerational effect of agricultural pollutants on the selection of insecticide resistance was examined in Anopheles gambiae.MethodsAn urban Tanzanian An. gambiae population displaying a low resistance level was used as a parental strain for a selection experiment across 20 generations. At each generation larvae were selected with a mixture containing pesticides and herbicides classically used in agriculture in Africa. The resistance levels of adults to deltamethrin, DDT and bendiocarb were compared between the selected and non-selected strains across the selection process together with the frequency of kdr mutations. A microarray approach was used for pinpointing transcription level variations selected by the agricultural pesticide mixture at the adult stage.ResultsA gradual increase of adult resistance to all insecticides was observed across the selection process. The frequency of the L1014S kdr mutation rose from 1.6% to 12.5% after 20 generations of selection. Microarray analysis identified 90 transcripts over-transcribed in the selected strain as compared to the parental and the non-selected strains. Genes encoding cuticle proteins, detoxification enzymes, proteins linked to neurotransmitter activity and transcription regulators were mainly affected. RT-qPCR transcription profiling of candidate genes across multiple generations supported their link with insecticide resistance.ConclusionsThis study confirms the potency of agriculture in selecting for insecticide resistance in malaria vectors. We demonstrated that the recurrent exposure of larvae to agricultural pollutants can select for resistance mechanisms to vector control insecticides at the adult stage. Our data suggest that in addition to selected target-site resistance mutations, agricultural pollutants may also favor cuticle, metabolic and synaptic transmission-based resistance mechanisms. These results emphasize the need for integrated resistance management strategies taking into account agriculture activities.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13071-014-0480-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Understanding the role of transcription factors (TFs) is essential in reconstructing developmental regulatory networks. The plant-specific GeBP TF family of Arabidopsis thaliana (Arabidopsis) comprises 21 members, all of unknown function. A subset of four members, the founding member GeBP and GeBP-like proteins (GPL) 1, 2, and 3, shares a conserved C-terminal domain. Here we report that GeBP/GPL genes represent a newly defined class of leucine-zipper (Leu-zipper) TFs and that they play a redundant role in cytokinin hormone pathway regulation. Specifically, we demonstrate using yeast, in vitro, and split-yellow fluorescent protein in planta assays that GeBP/GPL proteins form homo-and heterodimers through a noncanonical Leu-zipper motif located in the C-terminal domain. A triple loss-of-function mutant of the three most closely related genes gebp gpl1 gpl2 shows a reduced sensitivity to exogenous cytokinins in a subset of cytokinin responses such as senescence and growth, whereas root inhibition is not affected. We find that transcript levels of type-A cytokinin response genes, which are involved in the negative feedback regulation of cytokinin signaling, are higher in the triple mutant. Using a GPL version that acts as a constitutive transcriptional activator, we show that the regulation of Arabidopsis response regulators (ARRs) is mediated by at least one additional, as yet unknown, repressor acting genetically downstream in the GeBP/GPL pathway. Our results indicate that GeBP/GPL genes encode a new class of unconventional Leu-zipper TF proteins and suggest that their role in the cytokinin pathway is to antagonize the negative feedback regulation on ARR genes to trigger the cytokinin response.

In addition to combating vector-borne diseases, studying the adaptation of mosquitoes to insecticides provides a remarkable example of evolution-in-action driving the selection of complex phenotypes. Actually, most resistant mosquito populations show multi-resistance phenotypes as a consequence of the variety of insecticides employed

The CONSTITUTIVE EXPRESSOR OF PATHOGENESIS-RELATED GENES5 (CPR5) gene of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) encodes a putative membrane protein of unknown biochemical function and displays highly pleiotropic functions, particularly in pathogen responses, cell proliferation, cell expansion, and cell death. Here, we demonstrate a link between CPR5 and the GLABRA1 ENHANCER BINDING PROTEIN (GeBP) family of transcription factors. We investigated the primary role of the GeBP/GeBP-like (GPL) genes using transcriptomic analysis of the quadruple gebp gpl1,2,3 mutant and one overexpressing line that displays several cpr5-like phenotypes including dwarfism, spontaneous necrotic lesions, and increased pathogen resistance. We found that GeBP/GPLs regulate a set of genes that represents a subset of the CPR5 pathway. This subset includes genes involved in response to stress as well as cell wall metabolism. Analysis of the quintuple gebp gpl1,2,3 cpr5 mutant indicates that GeBP/GPLs are involved in the control of cell expansion in a CPR5-dependent manner but not in the control of cell proliferation. In addition, to our knowledge, we provide the first evidence that the CPR5 protein is localized in the nucleus of plant cells and that a truncated version of the protein with no transmembrane domain can trigger cpr5-like processes when fused to the VP16 constitutive transcriptional activation domain. Our results provide clues on how CPR5 and GeBP/GPLs play opposite roles in the control of cell expansion and suggest that the CPR5 protein is involved in transcription.Pleiotropic genes participate in many seemingly unrelated traits and play a key role in fundamental aspects of life such as evolution, development, and aging. In Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), the CONSTITUTIVE EXPRESSOR OF PATHOGENESIS-RELATED GENES5 (CPR5; CPR5/HYS1/OLD1) gene is involved in highly pleiotropic developmental processes. Although initially identified based on their constitutive pathogen response phenotype, mutants of CPR5 possess striking phenotypes including (1) enhanced constitutive expression of pathogen-related (PR) genes associated with increased pathogen resistance (Bowling et al., 1994;Boch et al., 1998); (2) defects in cell division, expansion, endoreduplication, and cell wall biogenesis associated with a reduced stature (Kirik et al., 2001;Brininstool et al., 2008); (3) spontaneous lesions mimicking cell death and accelerated leaf senescence (Jing et al., 2002(Jing et al., , 2007Yoshida et al., 2002); and (4) modified hormonal and metabolic responses in the salicylic acid, jasmonic acid, abscisic acid, ethylene, and sugar-sensing pathways (Clarke 1 This work was supported by the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and Université Joseph Fourier (Grenoble) and a National Science Foundation grant (no. IOS 0744566 to J.C.L.). F.C. was a recipient of a Ph.D. thesis fellowship from the Ministère de la Recherche et de l'Enseignement Supérieur.2 Present address: Plant Molecular Genetics Department, Centro Nacional de Biotecnología, Campus de ...