The START domain potentiates HD-ZIPIII transcriptional activity.

The CLASS III HOMEODOMAIN-LEUCINE ZIPPER (HD-ZIPIII) transcription factors (TFs) were repeatedly deployed over 725 million years of evolution to regulate central developmental innovations. The START domain of this pivotal class of developmental regulators was recognized over 20 years ago, but its putative ligands and functional contributions remain unknown. Here, we demonstrate that the START domain promotes HD-ZIPIII TF homodimerization and increases transcriptional potency.

Single-Cell Profiling Reveals Sex, Lineage, and Regional Diversity in the Mouse Kidney.

Chronic kidney disease affects 10% of the population with notable differences in ethnic and sex-related susceptibility to kidney injury and disease. Kidney dysfunction leads to significant morbidity and mortality and chronic disease in other organ systems. A mouse-organ-centered understanding underlies rapid progress in human disease modeling and cellular approaches to repair damaged systems.

Comprehensive catalog of dendritically localized mRNA isoforms from sub-cellular sequencing of single mouse neurons.

Background: RNA localization involves cis-motifs that are recognized by RNA-binding proteins (RBP), which then mediate localization to specific sub-cellular compartments. RNA localization is critical for many different cell functions, e.g.

Key developmental transitions during flower morphogenesis and their regulation.

The arrangement of flowers on flowering stems called inflorescences contributes to the beauty of the natural world and enhances seed yield, impacting species survival and human sustenance. During the reproductive phase, annual/monocarpic plants like Arabidopsis and most crops form two types of lateral structures: indeterminate lateral inflorescences and determinate flowers. Their stereotypical arrangement on the primary inflorescence stem determines the species-specific inflorescence architecture.

Assessing characteristics of RNA amplification methods for single cell RNA sequencing.

Background: Recently, measurement of RNA at single cell resolution has yielded surprising insights. Methods for single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) have received considerable attention, but the broad reliability of single cell methods and the factors governing their performance are still poorly known.

Results: Here, we conducted a large-scale control experiment to assess the transfer function of three scRNA-seq methods and factors modulating the function.

Imaging Cytoskeleton Components by Electron Microscopy.

The cytoskeleton is a complex of detergent-insoluble components of the cytoplasm playing critical roles in cell motility, shape generation, and mechanical properties of a cell. Fibrillar polymers-actin filaments, microtubules, and intermediate filaments-are major constituents of the cytoskeleton, which constantly change their organization during cellular activities. The actin cytoskeleton is especially polymorphic, as actin filaments can form multiple higher order assemblies performing different functions.

Cellular Deconstruction: Finding Meaning in Individual Cell Variation.

The advent of single cell transcriptome analysis has permitted the discovery of cell-to-cell variation in transcriptome expression of even presumptively identical cells. We hypothesize that this variability reflects a many-to-one relation between transcriptome states and the phenotype of a cell. In this relation, the molecular ratios of the subsets of RNA are determined by the stoichiometric constraints of the cell systems, which underdetermine the transcriptome state.

Identification of direct targets of plant transcription factors using the GR fusion technique.

The glucocorticoid receptor-dependent activation of plant transcription factors has proven to be a powerful tool for the identification of their direct target genes. In the absence of the synthetic steroid hormone dexamethasone (dex), transcription factors fused to the hormone-binding domain of the glucocorticoid receptor (TF-GR) are held in an inactive state, due to their cytoplasmic localization. This requires physical interaction with the heat shock protein 90 (HSP90) complex.

The Eukaryotic Pathogen Databases: a functional genomic resource integrating data from human and veterinary parasites.

Over the past 20 years, advances in high-throughput biological techniques and the availability of computational resources including fast Internet access have resulted in an explosion of large genome-scale data sets "big data." While such data are readily available for download and personal use and analysis from a variety of repositories, often such analysis requires access to seldom-available computational skills. As a result a number of databases have emerged to provide scientists with online tools enabling the interrogation of data without the need for sophisticated computational skills beyond basic knowledge of Internet browser utility.

mTOR regulates lysosomal ATP-sensitive two-pore Na(+) channels to adapt to metabolic state.

Survival in the wild requires organismal adaptations to the availability of nutrients. Endosomes and lysosomes are key intracellular organelles that couple nutrition and metabolic status to cellular responses, but how they detect cytosolic ATP levels is not well understood. Here, we identify an endolysosomal ATP-sensitive Na(+) channel (lysoNa(ATP)).

Mutations in two non-canonical Arabidopsis SWI2/SNF2 chromatin remodeling ATPases cause embryogenesis and stem cell maintenance defects.

SWI2/SNF2 chromatin remodeling ATPases play important roles in plant and metazoan development. Whereas metazoans generally encode one or two SWI2/SNF2 ATPase genes, Arabidopsis encodes four such chromatin regulators: the well-studied BRAHMA and SPLAYED ATPases, as well as two closely related non-canonical SWI2/SNF2 ATPases, CHR12 and CHR23. No developmental role has as yet been described for CHR12 and CHR23.

Modeling human trinucleotide repeat diseases in Drosophila.

Drosophila is a powerful model system to study human trinucleotide repeat diseases. Findings in Drosophila models highlighted importance of host proteins, chaperons, and protein clearance pathways in polyglutamine diseases as well as that of RNA-binding proteins in noncoding repeat RNA toxicity diseases. Recent novel aspects revealed in Drosophila models include pleiotropic Ataxin 2 interactions, antisense transcription in trinucleotide repeat diseases, contribution of CAG RNA in polyglutamine diseases, and the role of RNA foci in CUG expansion diseases.

The BSA-induced Ca2+ influx during sperm capacitation is CATSPER channel-dependent.

Background: Serum albumin is a key component in mammalian sperm capacitation, a functional maturation process by which sperm become competent to fertilize oocytes. Capacitation is accompanied by several cellular and molecular changes including an increased tyrosine phosphorylation of sperm proteins and a development of hyperactivated sperm motility. Both of these processes require extracellular calcium, but how calcium enters sperm during capacitation is not well understood.