ALBERT

Description: To provide context for the diversification of archosaurs--the group that includes crocodilians, dinosaurs, and birds--we generated draft genomes of three crocodilians: Alligator mississippiensis (the American alligator), Crocodylus porosus (the saltwater crocodile), and Gavialis gangeticus (the Indian gharial). We observed an exceptionally slow rate of genome evolution within crocodilians at all levels, including nucleotide substitutions, indels, transposable element content and movement, gene family evolution, and chromosomal synteny. When placed within the context of related taxa including birds and turtles, this suggests that the common ancestor of all of these taxa also exhibited slow genome evolution and that the comparatively rapid evolution is derived in birds. The data also provided the opportunity to analyze heterozygosity in crocodilians, which indicates a likely reduction in population size for all three taxa through the Pleistocene. Finally, these data combined with newly published bird genomes allowed us to reconstruct the partial genome of the common ancestor of archosaurs, thereby providing a tool to investigate the genetic starting material of crocodilians, birds, and dinosaurs.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4386873/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4386873/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Green, Richard E -- Braun, Edward L -- Armstrong, Joel -- Earl, Dent -- Nguyen, Ngan -- Hickey, Glenn -- Vandewege, Michael W -- St John, John A -- Capella-Gutierrez, Salvador -- Castoe, Todd A -- Kern, Colin -- Fujita, Matthew K -- Opazo, Juan C -- Jurka, Jerzy -- Kojima, Kenji K -- Caballero, Juan -- Hubley, Robert M -- Smit, Arian F -- Platt, Roy N -- Lavoie, Christine A -- Ramakodi, Meganathan P -- Finger, John W Jr -- Suh, Alexander -- Isberg, Sally R -- Miles, Lee -- Chong, Amanda Y -- Jaratlerdsiri, Weerachai -- Gongora, Jaime -- Moran, Christopher -- Iriarte, Andres -- McCormack, John -- Burgess, Shane C -- Edwards, Scott V -- Lyons, Eric -- Williams, Christina -- Breen, Matthew -- Howard, Jason T -- Gresham, Cathy R -- Peterson, Daniel G -- Schmitz, Jurgen -- Pollock, David D -- Haussler, David -- Triplett, Eric W -- Zhang, Guojie -- Irie, Naoki -- Jarvis, Erich D -- Brochu, Christopher A -- Schmidt, Carl J -- McCarthy, Fiona M -- Faircloth, Brant C -- Hoffmann, Federico G -- Glenn, Travis C -- Gabaldon, Toni -- Paten, Benedict -- Ray, David A -- 1U41HG006992-2/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- 1U41HG007234-01/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- 5U01HG004695/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- R01 HG002939/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- U41 HG006992/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- Howard Hughes Medical Institute/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2014 Dec 12;346(6215):1254449. doi: 10.1126/science.1254449. Epub 2014 Dec 11.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA. ed@soe.ucsc.edu david.a.ray@ttu.edu. ; Department of Biology and Genetics Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA. ; Department of Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA. Center for Biomolecular Science and Engineering, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA. ; Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Entomology and Plant Pathology, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS 39762, USA. ; Department of Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA. ; Bioinformatics and Genomics Programme, Centre for Genomic Regulation, 08003 Barcelona, Spain. Universitat Pompeu Fabra, 08003 Barcelona, Spain. ; Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO 80045, USA. Department of Biology, University of Texas, Arlington, TX 76019, USA. ; Department of Computer and Information Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19717, USA. ; Department of Biology, University of Texas, Arlington, TX 76019, USA. ; Instituto de Ciencias Ambientales y Evolutivas, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia, Chile. ; Genetic Information Research Institute, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA. ; Institute for Systems Biology, Seattle, WA 98109, USA. ; Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Entomology and Plant Pathology, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS 39762, USA. Institute for Genomics, Biocomputing and Biotechnology, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS 39762, USA. ; Department of Environmental Health Science, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA. ; Institute of Experimental Pathology (ZMBE), University of Munster, D-48149 Munster, Germany. Department of Evolutionary Biology (EBC), Uppsala University, SE-752 36 Uppsala, Sweden. ; Porosus Pty. Ltd., Palmerston, NT 0831, Australia. Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia. Centre for Crocodile Research, Noonamah, NT 0837, Australia. ; Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia. ; Departamento de Desarrollo Biotecnologico, Instituto de Higiene, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de la Republica, Montevideo, Uruguay. ; Moore Laboratory of Zoology, Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA 90041, USA. ; College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA. ; Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. ; School of Plant Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA. ; Department of Molecular Biomedical Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27607, USA. ; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Neurobiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA. ; Institute for Genomics, Biocomputing and Biotechnology, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS 39762, USA. ; Institute for Genomics, Biocomputing and Biotechnology, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS 39762, USA. Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS 39762, USA. ; Institute of Experimental Pathology (ZMBE), University of Munster, D-48149 Munster, Germany. ; Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO 80045, USA. ; Center for Biomolecular Science and Engineering, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA. Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA. ; Department of Microbiology and Cell Science, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA. ; China National GeneBank, BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen, China. Center for Social Evolution, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. ; Department of Biological Sciences, Graduate School of Science, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan. ; Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA. ; Department of Animal and Food Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19717, USA. ; School of Animal and Comparative Biomedical Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA. ; Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90019, USA. Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA. ; Bioinformatics and Genomics Programme, Centre for Genomic Regulation, 08003 Barcelona, Spain. Universitat Pompeu Fabra, 08003 Barcelona, Spain. Institucio Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avancats, 08010 Barcelona, Spain. ; Center for Biomolecular Science and Engineering, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA. ; Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Entomology and Plant Pathology, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS 39762, USA. Institute for Genomics, Biocomputing and Biotechnology, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS 39762, USA. Department of Biological Sciences, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79409, USA. ed@soe.ucsc.edu david.a.ray@ttu.edu.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25504731" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Iron sequestration provides an innate defense, termed nutritional immunity, leading pathogens to scavenge iron from hosts. Although the molecular basis of this battle for iron is established, its potential as a force for evolution at host-pathogen interfaces is unknown. We show that the iron transport protein transferrin is engaged in ancient and ongoing evolutionary conflicts with TbpA, a transferrin surface receptor from bacteria. Single substitutions in transferrin at rapidly evolving sites reverse TbpA binding, providing a mechanism to counteract bacterial iron piracy among great apes. Furthermore, the C2 transferrin polymorphism in humans evades TbpA variants from Haemophilus influenzae, revealing a functional basis for standing genetic variation. These findings identify a central role for nutritional immunity in the persistent evolutionary conflicts between primates and bacterial pathogens.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4455941/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4455941/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Barber, Matthew F -- Elde, Nels C -- 1F32GM108288/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- GM090042/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- R00 GM090042/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2014 Dec 12;346(6215):1362-6. doi: 10.1126/science.1259329.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Human Genetics, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA. ; Department of Human Genetics, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA. nelde@genetics.utah.edu.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25504720" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: The emergence of artemisinin resistance in Southeast Asia imperils efforts to reduce the global malaria burden. We genetically modified the Plasmodium falciparum K13 locus using zinc-finger nucleases and measured ring-stage survival rates after drug exposure in vitro; these rates correlate with parasite clearance half-lives in artemisinin-treated patients. With isolates from Cambodia, where resistance first emerged, survival rates decreased from 13 to 49% to 0.3 to 2.4% after the removal of K13 mutations. Conversely, survival rates in wild-type parasites increased from 〈/=0.6% to 2 to 29% after the insertion of K13 mutations. These mutations conferred elevated resistance to recent Cambodian isolates compared with that of reference lines, suggesting a contemporary contribution of additional genetic factors. Our data provide a conclusive rationale for worldwide K13-propeller sequencing to identify and eliminate artemisinin-resistant parasites.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4349400/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4349400/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Straimer, Judith -- Gnadig, Nina F -- Witkowski, Benoit -- Amaratunga, Chanaki -- Duru, Valentine -- Ramadani, Arba Pramundita -- Dacheux, Melanie -- Khim, Nimol -- Zhang, Lei -- Lam, Stephen -- Gregory, Philip D -- Urnov, Fyodor D -- Mercereau-Puijalon, Odile -- Benoit-Vical, Francoise -- Fairhurst, Rick M -- Menard, Didier -- Fidock, David A -- R01 AI109023/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- Intramural NIH HHS/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Jan 23;347(6220):428-31. doi: 10.1126/science.1260867. Epub 2014 Dec 11.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY, USA. ; Malaria Molecular Epidemiology Unit, Institut Pasteur du Cambodge, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. ; Laboratory of Malaria and Vector Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA. ; Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Laboratoire de Chimie de Coordination UPR8241, Toulouse, France. Universite de Toulouse, UPS, Institut National Polytechnique de Toulouse, Toulouse, France. ; Sangamo BioSciences, Richmond, CA, USA. ; Institut Pasteur, Parasite Molecular Immunology Unit, Paris, France. ; Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY, USA. Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY, USA. df2260@columbia.edu.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25502314" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Distinct types of CD4(+) T cells protect the host against different classes of pathogens. However, it is unclear whether a given pathogen induces a single type of polarized T cell. By combining antigenic stimulation and T cell receptor deep sequencing, we found that human pathogen- and vaccine-specific T helper 1 (T(H)1), T(H)2, and T(H)17 memory cells have different frequencies but comparable diversity and comprise not only clones polarized toward a single fate, but also clones whose progeny have acquired multiple fates. Single naive T cells primed by a pathogen in vitro could also give rise to multiple fates. Our results unravel an unexpected degree of interclonal and intraclonal functional heterogeneity of the human T cell response and suggest that polarized responses result from preferential expansion rather than priming.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Becattini, Simone -- Latorre, Daniela -- Mele, Federico -- Foglierini, Mathilde -- De Gregorio, Corinne -- Cassotta, Antonino -- Fernandez, Blanca -- Kelderman, Sander -- Schumacher, Ton N -- Corti, Davide -- Lanzavecchia, Antonio -- Sallusto, Federica -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Jan 23;347(6220):400-6. doi: 10.1126/science.1260668. Epub 2014 Dec 4.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Institute for Research in Biomedicine, Bellinzona, Universita della Svizzera Italiana, Lugano, Switzerland. Institute of Microbiology, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland. ; Institute for Research in Biomedicine, Bellinzona, Universita della Svizzera Italiana, Lugano, Switzerland. ; Division of Immunology, Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam, Netherlands. ; Institute for Research in Biomedicine, Bellinzona, Universita della Svizzera Italiana, Lugano, Switzerland. federica.sallusto@irb.usi.ch.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25477212" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Cucurbitacins are triterpenoids that confer a bitter taste in cucurbits such as cucumber, melon, watermelon, squash, and pumpkin. These compounds discourage most pests on the plant and have also been shown to have antitumor properties. With genomics and biochemistry, we identified nine cucumber genes in the pathway for biosynthesis of cucurbitacin C and elucidated four catalytic steps. We discovered transcription factors Bl (Bitter leaf) and Bt (Bitter fruit) that regulate this pathway in leaves and fruits, respectively. Traces in genomic signatures indicated that selection imposed on Bt during domestication led to derivation of nonbitter cucurbits from their bitter ancestors.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Shang, Yi -- Ma, Yongshuo -- Zhou, Yuan -- Zhang, Huimin -- Duan, Lixin -- Chen, Huiming -- Zeng, Jianguo -- Zhou, Qian -- Wang, Shenhao -- Gu, Wenjia -- Liu, Min -- Ren, Jinwei -- Gu, Xingfang -- Zhang, Shengping -- Wang, Ye -- Yasukawa, Ken -- Bouwmeester, Harro J -- Qi, Xiaoquan -- Zhang, Zhonghua -- Lucas, William J -- Huang, Sanwen -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2014 Nov 28;346(6213):1084-8. doi: 10.1126/science.1259215.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Institute of Vegetables and Flowers, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Key Laboratory of Biology and Genetic Improvement of Horticultural Crops of the Ministry of Agriculture, Sino-Dutch Joint Laboratory of Horticultural Genomics, Beijing 100081, China. Agricultural Genomic Institute at Shenzhen, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shenzhen 518124, China. ; Institute of Vegetables and Flowers, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Key Laboratory of Biology and Genetic Improvement of Horticultural Crops of the Ministry of Agriculture, Sino-Dutch Joint Laboratory of Horticultural Genomics, Beijing 100081, China. College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China. ; Institute of Vegetables and Flowers, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Key Laboratory of Biology and Genetic Improvement of Horticultural Crops of the Ministry of Agriculture, Sino-Dutch Joint Laboratory of Horticultural Genomics, Beijing 100081, China. Horticulture and Landscape College, Hunan Agricultural University, National Chinese Medicinal Herbs Technology Center, Changsha 410128, China. ; Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China. ; Hunan Vegetable Research Institute, Hunan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Changsha 410125, China. ; Horticulture and Landscape College, Hunan Agricultural University, National Chinese Medicinal Herbs Technology Center, Changsha 410128, China. ; Institute of Vegetables and Flowers, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Key Laboratory of Biology and Genetic Improvement of Horticultural Crops of the Ministry of Agriculture, Sino-Dutch Joint Laboratory of Horticultural Genomics, Beijing 100081, China. ; Institute of Vegetables and Flowers, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Key Laboratory of Biology and Genetic Improvement of Horticultural Crops of the Ministry of Agriculture, Sino-Dutch Joint Laboratory of Horticultural Genomics, Beijing 100081, China. College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China. ; Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China. ; School of Pharmacy, Nihon University, Tokyo 101-8308, Japan. ; Laboratory of Plant Physiology, Wageningen University, Wageningen 6700, Netherlands. ; Department of Plant Biology, College of Biological Sciences, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA. ; Institute of Vegetables and Flowers, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Key Laboratory of Biology and Genetic Improvement of Horticultural Crops of the Ministry of Agriculture, Sino-Dutch Joint Laboratory of Horticultural Genomics, Beijing 100081, China. Agricultural Genomic Institute at Shenzhen, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shenzhen 518124, China. huangsanwen@caas.cn.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25430763" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Chromosome segregation depends on sister chromatid cohesion mediated by cohesin. The cohesin subunits Smc1, Smc3, and Scc1 form tripartite rings that are thought to open at distinct sites to allow entry and exit of DNA. However, direct evidence for the existence of open forms of cohesin is lacking. We found that cohesin's proposed DNA exit gate is formed by interactions between Scc1 and the coiled-coil region of Smc3. Mutation of this interface abolished cohesin's ability to stably associate with chromatin and to mediate cohesion. Electron microscopy revealed that weakening of the Smc3-Scc1 interface resulted in opening of cohesin rings, as did proteolytic cleavage of Scc1. These open forms may resemble intermediate states of cohesin normally generated by the release factor Wapl and the protease separase, respectively.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Huis in 't Veld, Pim J -- Herzog, Franz -- Ladurner, Rene -- Davidson, Iain F -- Piric, Sabina -- Kreidl, Emanuel -- Bhaskara, Venugopal -- Aebersold, Ruedi -- Peters, Jan-Michael -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2014 Nov 21;346(6212):968-72. doi: 10.1126/science.1256904.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP), Vienna Biocenter (VBC), 1030 Vienna, Austria. ; Department of Biology, Institute of Molecular Systems Biology, Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule (ETH) Zurich, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland. Department of Biochemistry, Gene Center, Ludwig-Maximilian University, 81377 Munich, Germany. ; Department of Biology, Institute of Molecular Systems Biology, Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule (ETH) Zurich, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland. ; Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP), Vienna Biocenter (VBC), 1030 Vienna, Austria. peters@imp.ac.at.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25414306" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Cellular memory is crucial to many natural biological processes and sophisticated synthetic biology applications. Existing cellular memories rely on epigenetic switches or recombinases, which are limited in scalability and recording capacity. In this work, we use the DNA of living cell populations as genomic "tape recorders" for the analog and distributed recording of long-term event histories. We describe a platform for generating single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) in vivo in response to arbitrary transcriptional signals. When coexpressed with a recombinase, these intracellularly expressed ssDNAs target specific genomic DNA addresses, resulting in precise mutations that accumulate in cell populations as a function of the magnitude and duration of the inputs. This platform could enable long-term cellular recorders for environmental and biomedical applications, biological state machines, and enhanced genome engineering strategies.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4266475/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4266475/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Farzadfard, Fahim -- Lu, Timothy K -- 1DP2OD008435/OD/NIH HHS/ -- 1P50GM098792/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- DP2 OD008435/OD/NIH HHS/ -- P50 GM098792/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2014 Nov 14;346(6211):1256272. doi: 10.1126/science.1256272.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Synthetic Biology Group, Research Laboratory of Electronics, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. MIT Synthetic Biology Center, 500 Technology Square, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. MIT Microbiology Program, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. ; Synthetic Biology Group, Research Laboratory of Electronics, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. MIT Synthetic Biology Center, 500 Technology Square, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. MIT Microbiology Program, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. timlu@mit.edu.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25395541" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: In certain human cancers, the expression of critical oncogenes is driven from large regulatory elements, called super-enhancers, that recruit much of the cell's transcriptional apparatus and are defined by extensive acetylation of histone H3 lysine 27 (H3K27ac). In a subset of T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) cases, we found that heterozygous somatic mutations are acquired that introduce binding motifs for the MYB transcription factor in a precise noncoding site, which creates a super-enhancer upstream of the TAL1 oncogene. MYB binds to this new site and recruits its H3K27 acetylase-binding partner CBP, as well as core components of a major leukemogenic transcriptional complex that contains RUNX1, GATA-3, and TAL1 itself. Additionally, most endogenous super-enhancers found in T-ALL cells are occupied by MYB and CBP, which suggests a general role for MYB in super-enhancer initiation. Thus, this study identifies a genetic mechanism responsible for the generation of oncogenic super-enhancers in malignant cells.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4720521/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4720521/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Mansour, Marc R -- Abraham, Brian J -- Anders, Lars -- Berezovskaya, Alla -- Gutierrez, Alejandro -- Durbin, Adam D -- Etchin, Julia -- Lawton, Lee -- Sallan, Stephen E -- Silverman, Lewis B -- Loh, Mignon L -- Hunger, Stephen P -- Sanda, Takaomi -- Young, Richard A -- Look, A Thomas -- 1R01CA176746-01/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- 5P01CA109901-08/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- 5P01CA68484/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- CA114766/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- CA120215/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- CA167124/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- CA29139/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- CA30969/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- CA98413/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- CA98543/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- P01 CA109901/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- P30 CA014051/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- R01 HG002668/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2014 Dec 12;346(6215):1373-7. doi: 10.1126/science.1259037. Epub 2014 Nov 13.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Pediatric Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02215, USA. Department of Haematology, UCL Cancer Institute, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK. ; Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. ; Department of Pediatric Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02215, USA. ; Department of Pediatric Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02215, USA. Division of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology, Boston Children's Hospital, MA 02115, USA. ; Department of Pediatrics, Benioff Children's Hospital, University of California San Francisco, CA 94143, USA. ; Pediatric Hematology/Oncology/BMT, University of Colorado School of Medicine and Children's Hospital Colorado, Aurora, CO 80045, USA. ; Cancer Science Institute of Singapore, National University of Singapore, and Department of Medicine, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, 117599, Singapore. ; Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. thomas_look@dfci.harvard.edu young@wi.mit.edu. ; Department of Pediatric Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02215, USA. Division of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology, Boston Children's Hospital, MA 02115, USA. thomas_look@dfci.harvard.edu young@wi.mit.edu.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25394790" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: In plants, multiple lineages have evolved sex chromosomes independently, providing a powerful comparative framework, but few specific determinants controlling the expression of a specific sex have been identified. We investigated sex determinants in the Caucasian persimmon, Diospyros lotus, a dioecious plant with heterogametic males (XY). Male-specific short nucleotide sequences were used to define a male-determining region. A combination of transcriptomics and evolutionary approaches detected a Y-specific sex-determinant candidate, OGI, that displays male-specific conservation among Diospyros species. OGI encodes a small RNA targeting the autosomal MeGI gene, a homeodomain transcription factor regulating anther fertility in a dosage-dependent fashion. This identification of a feminizing gene suppressed by a Y-chromosome-encoded small RNA contributes to our understanding of the evolution of sex chromosome systems in higher plants.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Akagi, Takashi -- Henry, Isabelle M -- Tao, Ryutaro -- Comai, Luca -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2014 Oct 31;346(6209):646-50. doi: 10.1126/science.1257225. Epub 2014 Oct 30.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Plant Biology and Genome Center, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, USA. Laboratory of Pomology, Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan. ; Department of Plant Biology and Genome Center, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, USA. ; Laboratory of Pomology, Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan. rtao@kais.kyoto-u.ac.jp lcomai@ucdavis.edu. ; Department of Plant Biology and Genome Center, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, USA. rtao@kais.kyoto-u.ac.jp lcomai@ucdavis.edu.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25359977" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Some ferns possess the ability to control their sex ratio to maintain genetic variation in their colony with the aid of antheridiogen pheromones, antheridium (male organ)-inducing compounds that are related to gibberellin. We determined that ferns have evolved an antheridiogen-mediated communication system to produce males by modifying the gibberellin biosynthetic pathway, which is split between two individuals of different developmental stages in the colony. Antheridiogen acts as a bridge between them because it is more readily taken up by prothalli than bioactive gibberellin. The pathway initiates in early-maturing prothalli (gametophytes) within a colony, which produce antheridiogens and secrete them into the environment. After the secreted antheridiogen is absorbed by neighboring late-maturing prothalli, it is modified in to bioactive gibberellin to trigger male organ formation.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Tanaka, Junmu -- Yano, Kenji -- Aya, Koichiro -- Hirano, Ko -- Takehara, Sayaka -- Koketsu, Eriko -- Ordonio, Reynante Lacsamana -- Park, Seung-Hyun -- Nakajima, Masatoshi -- Ueguchi-Tanaka, Miyako -- Matsuoka, Makoto -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2014 Oct 24;346(6208):469-73. doi: 10.1126/science.1259923.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Bioscience and Biotechnology Center, Nagoya University, Nagoya 464-8601, Japan. ; Department of Applied Biological Chemistry, University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-8657, Japan. ; Bioscience and Biotechnology Center, Nagoya University, Nagoya 464-8601, Japan. mueguchi@nuagr1.agr.nagoya-u.ac.jp makoto@nuagr1.agr.nagoya-u.ac.jp.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25342803" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉