Despite constant contact with the large population of commensal bacteria, the colonic mucosa is normally hyporesponsive to these potentially proinflammatory signals. Here we report that the single immunoglobulin IL-1 receptor-related molecule (SIGIRR), a negative regulator for Toll-IL-1R signaling, plays a critical role in gut homeostasis, intestinal inflammation, and colitis-associated tumorigenesis by maintaining the microbial tolerance of the colonic epithelium. SIGIRR-deficient (Sigirr(-/-)) colonic epithelial cells displayed commensal bacteria-dependent homeostatic defects, as shown by constitutive upregulation of inflammatory genes, increased inflammatory responses to dextran sulfate sodium (DSS) challenge, and increased Azoxymethane (AOM)+DSS-induced colitis-associated tumorigenesis. Gut epithelium-specific expression of the SIGIRR transgene in the SIGIRR-deficient background reduced the cell survival of the SIGIRR-deficient colon epithelium, abrogated the hypersensitivity of the Sigirr(-/-) mice to DSS-induced colitis, and reduced AOM+DSS-induced tumorigenesis. Taken together, our results indicate that epithelium-derived SIGIRR is critical in controlling the homeostasis and innate immune responses of the colon to enteric microflora.

The reconstruction of neuronal populations, a key step in understanding neural circuits, remains a challenge in the presence of densely packed neurites. Here we achieved automatic reconstruction of neuronal populations by partially mimicking human strategies to separate individual neurons. For populations not resolvable by other methods, we obtained recall and precision rates of approximately 80%. We also demonstrate the reconstruction of 960 neurons within 3 h.

Drawing the map of neuronal circuits at microscopic resolution is important to explain how brain works. Recent progresses in fluorescence labeling and imaging techniques have enabled measuring the whole brain of a rodent like a mouse at submicron-resolution. Considering the huge volume of such datasets, automatic tracing and reconstruct the neuronal connections from the image stacks is essential to form the large scale circuits. However, the first step among which, automated location the soma across different brain areas remains a challenge. Here, we addressed this problem by introducing L1 minimization model. We developed a fully automated system, NeuronGlobalPositionSystem (NeuroGPS) that is robust to the broad diversity of shape, size and density of the neurons in a mouse brain. This method allows locating the neurons across different brain areas without human intervention. We believe this method would facilitate the analysis of the neuronal circuits for brain function and disease studies.

Background & Aims Commensal bacteria can activate signaling by the toll-like and interleukin-1 receptors (TLR and IL-1R) to mediate pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel diseases and colitis-associated cancer. We investigated the role of the single immunoglobulin IL-1 receptor-related (SIGIRR) molecule, a negative regulator of TLR and IL-1R signaling, as a tumor suppressor to determine whether SIGIRR controls cell cycle progression, genetic instability, and colon tumor initiation by modulating commensal TLR signaling in the gastrointestinal tract. Methods We analyzed Apcmin/+/Sigirr-/- mice for polyps, microadenomas, and anaphase bridge index. Commensal bacteria were depleted from mice with antibiotics. Akt, mTOR and β-catenin pathways were examined by immunoblotting and immunohistochemistry. Loss of heterozygosity (LOH) of Apc and expression of cytokines and proinflammatory mediators were measured by non-quantitative or quantitative PCR. Results Apcmin/+/Sigirr-/- mice had increased LOH of Apc and microadenoma formation, resulting in spontaneous colonic polyposis, compared with Apc min/+/Sigirr+/+ mice. The increased colonic tumorigenesis that occurred in the Apcmin/+/Sigirr-/- mice depended on the presence of commensal bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract. Cell proliferation and chromosomal instability increased in colon crypt cells of the Apcmin/+/Sigirr-/- mice. Akt, mTOR and their substrates were hyper-activated in colon epithelium of Apcmin/+/Sigirr-/- mice in response to TLR or IL-1R ligands. Inhibition of the mTOR pathway by rapamycin reduced formation of microadenomas and polyps in the Apcmin/+/Sigirr-/- mice. Conclusions SIGIRR acts as a tumor suppressor in the colon by inhibiting TLR-induced, mTOR-mediated cell cycle progression and genetic instability.