Environmental conditions and male quality traits simultaneously explain variation of multiple colour signals in male lizards.

Male lizards often display multiple pigment-based and structural colour signals which may reflect various quality traits (e.g. performance, parasitism), with testosterone (T) often mediating these relationships.

Two stressors are worse than one: combined heatwave and drought affect hydration state and glucocorticoid levels in a temperate ectotherm.

Heatwaves and droughts are becoming more intense and frequent with climate change. These extreme weather events often occur simultaneously and may alter organismal physiology, yet their combined impacts remain largely unknown. Here, we experimentally investigated physiological responses of a temperate ectotherm, the asp viper (Vipera aspis), to a simulated heatwave and drought.

Do male panther chameleons use different aspects of color change to settle disputes?

In many animals, males engage in agonistic interactions. Color signals are commonly used to mitigate these potentially harmful interactions. Both pigment-based color and structural color, notably ultraviolet coloration, are used in this context to convey information, including an animal's resource holding potential (RHP) or social status.

Water deprivation compromises maternal physiology and reproductive success in a cold and wet adapted snake .

Droughts are becoming more intense and frequent with climate change. These extreme weather events can lead to mass mortality and reproduction failure, and therefore cause population declines. Understanding how the reproductive physiology of organisms is affected by water shortages will help clarify whether females can adjust their reproductive strategy to dry conditions or may fail to reproduce and survive.

Parasitism reduces oxidative stress of fish host experimentally exposed to PAHs.

Some parasites are known to bioaccumulate some environmental pollutants within their host. We hypothesized that these parasites may be beneficial for their hosts in polluted environments. We experimentally increased long-term (five weeks) exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs, three levels: 0.

Additive effects of temperature and water availability on pregnancy in a viviparous lizard.

One of the greatest current threats to biodiversity is climate change. However, understanding of organismal responses to fluctuations in temperature and water availability is currently lacking, especially during fundamental life-history stages such as reproduction. To further explore how temperature and water availability impact maternal physiology and reproductive output, we used the viviparous form of the European common lizard () in a two-by-two factorial design manipulating both hydric and thermal conditions, for the first time.

The colour of success: does female mate choice rely on male colour change in the chameleon ?

Colour change is involved in various functions ranging from thermo- and hydroregulation to camouflage and communication. The role of colour change in communication has received increased attention over the past few decades, yet has been studied predominantly in the context of intrasexual competition. Here, we investigate the role of colour change in mate choice in an animal that can change its colour, the panther chameleon ().

Potential Benefits of Acanthocephalan Parasites for Chub Hosts in Polluted Environments.

Some parasites are expected to have beneficial impacts on wild populations in polluted environments because of their bioaccumulation potential of pollutants from their hosts. The fate of organic micropollutants in host-parasite systems and the combined effect of parasitism and pollution were investigated in chub , a freshwater fish, infected ( = 73) or uninfected ( = 45) by acanthocephalan parasites sp. from differently contaminated riverine sites.

Maintenance of Heterochromatin by the Large Subunit of the CAF-1 Replication-Coupled Histone Chaperone Requires Its Interaction with HP1a Through a Conserved Motif.

In eukaryotic cells, the organization of genomic DNA into chromatin regulates many biological processes, from the control of gene expression to the regulation of chromosome segregation. The proper maintenance of this structure upon cell division is therefore of prime importance during development for the maintenance of cell identity and genome stability. The chromatin assembly factor 1 (CAF-1) is involved in the assembly of H3-H4 histone dimers on newly synthesized DNA and in the maintenance of a higher order structure, the heterochromatin, through an interaction of its large subunit with the heterochromatin protein HP1a.

Reconstruction of bacterial transcription-coupled repair at single-molecule resolution.

Escherichia coli Mfd translocase enables transcription-coupled repair by displacing RNA polymerase (RNAP) stalled on a DNA lesion and then coordinating assembly of the UvrAB(C) components at the damage site. Recent studies have shown that after binding to and dislodging stalled RNAP, Mfd remains on the DNA in the form of a stable, slowly translocating complex with evicted RNAP attached. Here we find, using a series of single-molecule assays, that recruitment of UvrA and UvrAB to Mfd-RNAP arrests the translocating complex and causes its dissolution.

A dynamic DNA-repair complex observed by correlative single-molecule nanomanipulation and fluorescence.

We characterize in real time the composition and catalytic state of the initial Escherichia coli transcription-coupled repair (TCR) machinery by using correlative single-molecule methods. TCR initiates when RNA polymerase (RNAP) stalled by a lesion is displaced by the Mfd DNA translocase, thus giving repair components access to the damage. We previously used DNA nanomanipulation to obtain a nanomechanical readout of protein-DNA interactions during TCR initiation.

Worsening of diet-induced atherosclerosis in a new model of transgenic rabbit expressing the human plasma phospholipid transfer protein.

Objective: Plasma phospholipid transfer protein (PLTP) is involved in intravascular lipoprotein metabolism. PLTP is known to act through 2 main mechanisms: by remodeling high-density lipoproteins (HDL) and by increasing apolipoprotein (apo) B-containing lipoproteins. The aim of this study was to generate a new model of human PLTP transgenic (HuPLTPTg) rabbit and to determine whether PLTP expression modulates atherosclerosis in this species that, unlike humans and mice, displays naturally very low PLTP activity.

Transient expression in mammalian cells of transgenes transcribed from the Cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter.

Gene constructs containing the Cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) 35S promoter and a sequence coding either for a green fluorescent protein (GFP) or for firefly luciferase were transfected into Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells. Both reporter genes were expressed to significant levels. The 35S promoter was 40 times less active than the human eF1 alpha promoter, which is known to be one of the most potent promoters in mammalian cells.