Unraveling the processes responsible for Earth's climate transition from an "El Nino-like state" during the warm early Pliocene into a modern-like "La Nina-dominated state" currently challenges the scientific community. Recently, the Pliocene climate switch has been linked to oceanic thermocline shoaling at similar to 3 million years ago along with Earth's final transition into a bipolar icehouse world. Here we present Pliocene proxy data and climate model results, which suggest an earlier timing of the Pliocene climate switch and a different chain of forcing mechanisms. We show that the increase in North Atlantic meridional overturning circulation between 4.8 and 4.0 million years ago, initiated by the progressive closure of the Central American Seaway, triggered overall shoaling of the tropical thermocline. This preconditioned the turnaround from a warm eastern equatorial Pacific to the modern equatorial cold tongue state about 1 million years earlier than previously assumed. Since similar to 3.6-3.5 million years ago, the intensification of Northern Hemisphere glaciation resulted in a strengthening of the trade winds, thereby amplifying upwelling and biogenic productivity at low latitudes.
Im Großtrappenschutzgebiet "Belziger Landschaftswiesen" wurden an ausgewählten Standorten mikrobielle Aktivitäten, die im Zusammenhang mit dem Stickstoffkreislauf stehen, überprüft und bewertet. Es werden auch Möglichkeiten erörtert, die der Bildung bzw. Akkumulation pflanzenverfügbarer Stickstofformen mit geeigneten Bewirtschaftungsmaßnahmen entgegenwirken.
The centrosome is the main microtubule-organizing center and constitutes the largest protein complex in a eukaryotic cell. The Dictyostelium centrosome is an established model for acentriolar centrosomes and it consists of a layered core structure Surrounded by a so-called corona, which harbors microtubule nucleation complexes. We have identified 34 new centrosomal candidate proteins through mass spectrometrical analysis of the proteome of isolated Dictyostelium centrosomes. Here we present a characterization of 12 centrosomal candidate proteins all featuring coiled coil regions and low expression levels, which are the most common attributes of centrosomal proteins. We used GFP fusion proteins to localize the candidate proteins in whole cells and on microtubule-free, isolated centrosomes. Thus we were able to identify nine new genuine centrosomal proteins including a putative orthologue of Cep192, an interaction partner of polo-like kinase 4 in human centriole biogenesis. In this respect, centrosomal localization of the only polo-like kinase in Dictyostelium, Pik, is also shown in this work. Using confocal deconvolution microscopy, four components, CP39, CP55, CP75, and CP91 could be clearly assigned to the so far almost uncharacterized centrosomal core structure, while CP148 and Cep192 localized to a zone between that of corona marker and core proteins. Finally, CP103 and CP248 were constituents of the corona. In contrast, NE81 was localized at the nuclear envelope and three others, an orthologue of the spindle checkpoint component Mad1, the novel Cenp68, and the centrosomal CP248 were observed at the centromeres, which are clustered and linked to the centrosome throughout the entire cell cycle. Cell Motil. Cytoskeleton 66: 915-928, 2009.
Centrosomal attachment to nuclei is crucial for proper mitosis and nuclear positioning in various organisms, and generally involves Sun-family proteins located at the inner nuclear envelope. There is still no common scheme for the outer nuclear membrane proteins interacting with Sun I in centrosome/nucleus attachment. Here we propose a model in which Sun1 mediates a physical link between centrosomes and clustered centromeres through both nuclear membranes in Dictyostelium. For the first time we provide a detailed microscopic analysis of the centrosomal and nuclear envelope localization of endogenous Dictyostelium Sun1 during interphase and mitosis. By immunogold electron microscopy we show that Sun1 is a resident of both nuclear membranes. Disruption of Sun1 function by overexpression of full-length GFP-Sun1 or a GFP-Sun-domain deletion construct revealed not only the established function in centrosome/nucleus attachment and maintenance of ploidy, but also a requirement of Sun1 for the association of the centromere cluster with the centrosome. Live-cell imaging visualized the occurrence of mitotic defects, and demonstrated the requirement of microtubules for dynamic distance changes between centrosomes and nuclei. FRAP analysis revealed at least two populations of Sun1, with an immobile fraction associated with the centrosome, and a mobile fraction in the nuclear envelope.
Cell cycle-dependent localization of novel centrosomal and centromeric proteins in Dictyostelium
(2009)
Multidirectional communicative interactions in social networks can have a profound effect on mate choice behavior. Male Atlantic molly Poecilia mexicana exhibit weaker mating preferences when an audience male is presented. This could be a male strategy to reduce sperm competition risk: interacting more equally with different females may be advantageous because rivals might copy mate choice decisions. In line with this hypothesis, a previous study found males to show a strong audience effect when being observed while exercising mate choice, but not when the rival was presented only before the choice tests. Audience effects on mate choice decisions have been quantified in poeciliid fishes using association preference designs, but it remains unknown if patterns found from measuring association times translate into actual mating behavior. Thus, we created five audience treatments simulating different forms of perceived sperm competition risk and determined focal males' mating preferences by scoring pre-mating (nipping) and mating behavior (gonopodial thrusting). Nipping did not reflect the pattern that was found when association preferences were measured, while a very similar pattern was uncovered in thrusting behavior. The strongest response was observed when the audience could eavesdrop on the focal male's behavior. A reduction in the strength of focal males' preferences was also seen after the rival male had an opportunity to mate with the focal male's preferred mate. In comparison, the reduction of mating preferences in response to an audience was greater when measuring association times than actual mating behavior. While measuring direct sexual interactions between the focal male and both stimulus females not only the male's motivational state is reflected but also females' behavior such as avoidance of male sexual harassment.
A catalog of genetic loci associated with kidney function from analyses of a million individuals
(2019)
Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is responsible for a public health burden with multi-systemic complications. Through transancestry meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies of estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) and independent replication (n = 1,046,070), we identified 264 associated loci (166 new). Of these,147 were likely to be relevant for kidney function on the basis of associations with the alternative kidney function marker blood urea nitrogen (n = 416,178). Pathway and enrichment analyses, including mouse models with renal phenotypes, support the kidney as the main target organ. A genetic risk score for lower eGFR was associated with clinically diagnosed CKD in 452,264 independent individuals. Colocalization analyses of associations with eGFR among 783,978 European-ancestry individuals and gene expression across 46 human tissues, including tubulo-interstitial and glomerular kidney compartments, identified 17 genes differentially expressed in kidney. Fine-mapping highlighted missense driver variants in 11 genes and kidney-specific regulatory variants. These results provide a comprehensive priority list of molecular targets for translational research.