Drosophila transition fibers are essential for IFT-dependent ciliary elongation but not basal body docking and ciliary budding.

Cilia are highly conserved organelles critical for animal development and perception. Dysfunction of cilia has been linked to a wide spectrum of human genetic diseases, termed ciliopathies. Transition fibers (TFs) are striking ciliary base structures essential for cilia assembly.

Interplay of RFX transcription factors 1, 2 and 3 in motile ciliogenesis.

Cilia assembly is under strict transcriptional control during animal development. In vertebrates, a hierarchy of transcription factors (TFs) are involved in controlling the specification, differentiation and function of multiciliated epithelia. RFX TFs play key functions in the control of ciliogenesis in animals.

Role of DZIP1-CBY-FAM92 transition zone complex in the basal body to membrane attachment and ciliary budding.

Cilia play important signaling or motile functions in various organisms. In Human, cilia dysfunctions are responsible for a wide range of diseases, called ciliopathies. Cilia assembly is a tightly controlled process, which starts with the conversion of the centriole into a basal body, leading to the formation of the ciliary bud that protrudes inside a ciliary vesicle and/or ultimately at the cell surface.

Dzip1 and Fam92 form a ciliary transition zone complex with cell type specific roles in .

Cilia and flagella are conserved eukaryotic organelles essential for cellular signaling and motility. Cilia dysfunctions cause life-threatening ciliopathies, many of which are due to defects in the transition zone (TZ), a complex structure of the ciliary base. Therefore, understanding TZ assembly, which relies on ordered interactions of multiprotein modules, is of critical importance.

salto/CG13164 is required for sperm head morphogenesis in Drosophila.

Producing mature spermatozoa is essential for sexual reproduction in metazoans. Spermiogenesis involves dramatic cell morphological changes going from sperm tail elongation and nuclear reshaping to cell membrane remodeling during sperm individualization and release. The sperm manchette plays a critical scaffolding function during nuclear remodeling by linking the nuclear lamina to the cytoskeleton.

Variations in basement membrane mechanics are linked to epithelial morphogenesis.

The regulation of morphogenesis by the basement membrane (BM) may rely on changes in its mechanical properties. To test this, we developed an atomic force microscopy-based method to measure BM mechanical stiffness during two key processes in ovarian follicle development. First, follicle elongation depends on epithelial cells that collectively migrate, secreting BM fibrils perpendicularly to the anteroposterior axis.

Transition zone assembly and its contribution to axoneme formation in Drosophila male germ cells.

The ciliary transition zone (TZ) is a complex structure found at the cilia base. Defects in TZ assembly are associated with human ciliopathies. In most eukaryotes, three protein complexes (CEP290, NPHP, and MKS) cooperate to build the TZ.

RFX2 Is a Major Transcriptional Regulator of Spermiogenesis.

Spermatogenesis consists broadly of three phases: proliferation of diploid germ cells, meiosis, and finally extensive differentiation of the haploid cells into effective delivery vehicles for the paternal genome. Despite detailed characterization of many haploid developmental steps leading to sperm, only fragmentary information exists on the control of gene expression underlying these processes. Here we report that the RFX2 transcription factor is a master regulator of genes required for the haploid phase.

Imaging cilia in Drosophila melanogaster.

Drosophila melanogaster is a powerful genetic model organism to understand the function of proteins in specific cellular processes. Cilia have been extensively studied in Drosophila playing various sensory functions that are essential for fly survival. Indeed, flies defective in cilia formation cannot walk, fly, or feed properly.

Transforming Growth Factor β/activin signalling induces epithelial cell flattening during Drosophila oogenesis.

Although the regulation of epithelial morphogenesis is essential for the formation of tissues and organs in multicellular organisms, little is known about how signalling pathways control cell shape changes in space and time. In the Drosophila ovarian epithelium, the transition from a cuboidal to a squamous shape is accompanied by a wave of cell flattening and by the ordered remodelling of E-cadherin-based adherens junctions. We show that activation of the TGFβ pathway is crucial to determine the timing, the degree and the dynamic of cell flattening.

hemingway is required for sperm flagella assembly and ciliary motility in Drosophila.

Cilia play major functions in physiology and development, and ciliary dysfunctions are responsible for several diseases in humans called ciliopathies. Cilia motility is required for cell and fluid propulsion in organisms. In humans, cilia motility deficiencies lead to primary ciliary dyskinesia, with upper-airways recurrent infections, left-right asymmetry perturbations, and fertility defects.

Drosophila chibby is required for basal body formation and ciliogenesis but not for Wg signaling.

Centriole-to-basal body conversion, a complex process essential for ciliogenesis, involves the progressive addition of specific proteins to centrioles. CHIBBY (CBY) is a coiled-coil domain protein first described as interacting with β-catenin and involved in Wg-Int (WNT) signaling. We found that, in Drosophila melanogaster, CBY was exclusively expressed in cells that require functional basal bodies, i.

In vitro permissivity of bovine cells for wild-type and vaccinal myxoma virus strains.

Myxoma virus (MYXV), a leporide-specific poxvirus, represents an attractive candidate for the generation of safe, non-replicative vaccine vector for non-host species. However, there is very little information concerning infection of non-laboratory animals species cells with MYXV. In this study, we investigated interactions between bovine cells and respectively a wild type strain (T1) and a vaccinal strain (SG33) of MYXV.

Mycobacterial lipomannan induces granuloma macrophage fusion via a TLR2-dependent, ADAM9- and beta1 integrin-mediated pathway.

Tuberculous granulomas are the sites of interaction between the host response and the tubercle bacilli within infected individuals. They mainly consist of organized aggregations of lymphocytes and macrophages (Mf). A predominant role of mycobacterial envelope glycolipids in granulomas formation has been recently emphasized, yet the signaling events interfering with granuloma cell differentiation remain elusive.

Deciphering the molecular bases of Mycobacterium tuberculosis binding to the lectin DC-SIGN reveals an underestimated complexity.

Interactions between dendritic cells and Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the aetiological agent of tuberculosis in humans, are thought to be central to anti-mycobacterial immunity. We have previously shown that M. tuberculosis binds to human monocyte-derived dendritic cells mostly through the C-type lectin DC-SIGN (dendritic-cell-specific intercellular molecule-3-grabbing non-integrin)/CD209, and we have suggested that DC-SIGN may discriminate between mycobacterial species through recognition of the mannose-capping residues on the lipoglycan lipoarabinomannan of the bacterial envelope.

Liposome retention in size exclusion chromatography.

Background: Size exclusion chromatography is the method of choice for separating free from liposome-encapsulated molecules. However, if the column is not presaturated with lipids this type of chromatography causes a significant loss of lipid material. To date, the mechanism of lipid retention is poorly understood.

An in vitro dual model of mycobacterial granulomas to investigate the molecular interactions between mycobacteria and human host cells.

In the majority of individuals infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacilli cause a long-term asymptomatic infection called latent tuberculosis, a state during which the bacilli reside within granulomas. Latently infected individuals have around 10% risk of progression to clinical disease at a later stage. Determining the state of the mycobacteria and the host cells during this latent phase, i.