Many organisms rely on a circadian clock system to adapt to daily and seasonal environmental changes. The mammalian circadian clock consists of a central clock in the suprachiasmatic nucleus that is tightly coupled and synchronizes other clocks in peripheral tissues1, 2. Plants also have a circadian clock, but plant circadian clock function has long been assumed to be uncoupled3. Only a few studies have been able to show a weak, local coupling among cells4, 5, 6, 7. Here, by implementing two novel techniques, we have performed a comprehensive tissue-specific analysis of leaf tissues, and we have discovered that the vasculature and mesophyll clocks asymmetrically regulate each other in Arabidopsis. The circadian clock in the vasculature has characteristics distinct from other tissues, cycles robustly without environmental cues, and affects circadian clock regulation in other tissues. Furthermore, we found that vasculature-enriched genes that are rhythmic are preferentially expressed in the evening, whereas rhythmic mesophyll-enriched genes tend to be expressed in the morning. Our results set the stage for a deeper understanding of how the vasculature circadian clock in plants regulates key physiological responses such as flowering time.
A major obstacle to improving prognoses in ovarian cancer is the lack of effective screening methods for early detection. Circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) have been recognized as promising biomarkers that could lead to clinical applications. Here, to develop an optimal detection method, we use microarrays to obtain comprehensive miRNA profiles from 4046 serum samples, including 428 patients with ovarian tumors. A diagnostic model based on expression levels of ten miRNAs is constructed in the discovery set. Validation in an independent cohort reveals that the model is very accurate (sensitivity, 0.99; specificity, 1.00), and the diagnostic accuracy is maintained even in early-stage ovarian cancers. Furthermore, we construct two additional models, each using 9–10 serum miRNAs, aimed at discriminating ovarian cancers from the other types of solid tumors or benign ovarian tumors. Our findings provide robust evidence that the serum miRNA profile represents a promising diagnostic biomarker for ovarian cancer.
ABSTRACT. Spermatogenesis in Drosophila commences with cell division of germline stem cells (GSCs) to produce male germline cells at the tip of the testis. However, molecular mechanisms inducing division of male GSCs have not been reported. Insulin-like peptides are known to play an essential role in stimulation of proliferation and growth of somatic cells, and it has recently been reported that such peptides promote cell division in female Drosophila GSCs. However, their effects on male germline cells have not been characterized. We found that inhibition of insulin production and insulin signaling mutations resulted in decreased numbers of germline cells in Drosophila testes. GSC numbers were maintained in young mutant males, with a gradual decrease in abundance of GSCs with age. Furthermore, in mutants, fewer germline cysts originated from GSCs and a lower frequency of GSC division was seen. Insulin signaling was found to promote cell cycle progression of the male GSCs at the G2/M phase. The cell volume of spermatocytes increases up to 25 times before initiation of meiosis in Drosophila. We examined whether insulin signaling extrinsically induces the greatest cell growth in Drosophila diploid cells and found that spermatocyte growth was affected in mutants. The results indicate that in addition to its function in somatic cells, insulin signaling plays an essential role in cell proliferation and growth during male Drosophila gametogenesis and that sperm production is regulated by hormonal control via insulinlike peptides.
The circadian clock increases organisms' fitness by regulating physiological responses(1). In mammals, the circadian clock in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) governs daily behavioural rhythms(2). Similarly, in Arabidopsis, tissue-specific circadian clock functions have emerged, and the importance of the vasculature clock for photoperiodic flowering has been demonstrated(3-5). However, it remains unclear if the vasculature clock regulates the majority of physiological responses, like the SCN in mammals, and if other environmental signals are also processed by the vasculature clock. Here, we studied the involvement of tissue-specific circadian clock regulation of flowering and cell elongation under different photoperiods and temperatures. We found that the circadian clock in vascular phloem companion cells is essential for photoperiodic flowering regulation; by contrast, the epidermis has a crucial impact on ambient temperature-dependent cell elongation. Thus, there are clear assignments of roles among circadian clocks in each tissue. Our results reveal that, unlike the more centralized circadian clock in mammals, the plant circadian clock is decentralized, where each tissue specifically processes individual environmental cues and regulates individual physiological responses. Our new conceptual framework will be a starting point for deciphering circadian clock functions in each tissue, which will lead to a better understanding of how circadian clock processing of environmental signals may be affected by ongoing climate change(6).
ABSTRACT. It is important for the proper execution of cell division in both mitosis and meiosis that the chromosome segregation, cytokinesis, and partition of cell organelles progress in smooth coordination. We show here that the mitochondria inheritance is closely linked with microtubules during meiotic divisions in Drosophila males. They are first clustered in a cell equator at metaphase associated with astral microtubules and then distributed along central spindle microtubules after anaphase. The molecular mechanism for the microtubuledependent inheritance of mitochondria in male meiosis has not been demonstrated yet. We first isolated mutations for a larp gene that is highly conserved among eukaryotes and showed that these mutant males exhibited multiple meiotic phenotypes such as a failure of chromosome segregation, cytokinesis, and mitochondrial partition. Our cytological examination revealed that the mutants showed defects in spindle pole organization and spindle formation. The larp encodes a Drosophila orthologue of a La-related protein containing a domain exhibiting an outstanding homology with a La type RNA-binding protein. Surprisingly, the dLarp protein is localized in the cytoplasm of the male germ line cells, as observed by its distinct co-localization with mitochondria in early spermatocytes and during meiotic divisions. We discuss here the essential role that dLarp plays in multiple processes in Drosophila male meiosis.
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