TY - JOUR AB - Bacterial cytokinesis is commonly initiated by the Z-ring, a cytoskeletal structure that assembles at the site of division. Its primary component is FtsZ, a tubulin superfamily GTPase, which is recruited to the membrane by the actin-related protein FtsA. Both proteins are required for the formation of the Z-ring, but if and how they influence each other's assembly dynamics is not known. Here, we reconstituted FtsA-dependent recruitment of FtsZ polymers to supported membranes, where both proteins self-organize into complex patterns, such as fast-moving filament bundles and chirally rotating rings. Using fluorescence microscopy and biochemical perturbations, we found that these large-scale rearrangements of FtsZ emerge from its polymerization dynamics and a dual, antagonistic role of FtsA: recruitment of FtsZ filaments to the membrane and negative regulation of FtsZ organization. Our findings provide a model for the initial steps of bacterial cell division and illustrate how dynamic polymers can self-organize into large-scale structures. AU - Martin Loose AU - Mitchison, Timothy J ID - 1990 IS - 1 JF - Nature Cell Biology TI - The bacterial cell division proteins ftsA and ftsZ self-organize into dynamic cytoskeletal patterns VL - 16 ER - TY - JOUR AB - Auxin polar transport, local maxima, and gradients have become an importantmodel system for studying self-organization. Auxin distribution is regulated by auxin-dependent positive feedback loops that are not well-understood at the molecular level. Previously, we showed the involvement of the RHO of Plants (ROP) effector INTERACTOR of CONSTITUTIVELY active ROP 1 (ICR1) in regulation of auxin transport and that ICR1 levels are posttranscriptionally repressed at the site of maximum auxin accumulation at the root tip. Here, we show that bimodal regulation of ICR1 levels by auxin is essential for regulating formation of auxin local maxima and gradients. ICR1 levels increase concomitant with increase in auxin response in lateral root primordia, cotyledon tips, and provascular tissues. However, in the embryo hypophysis and root meristem, when auxin exceeds critical levels, ICR1 is rapidly destabilized by an SCF(TIR1/AFB) [SKP, Cullin, F-box (transport inhibitor response 1/auxin signaling F-box protein)]-dependent auxin signaling mechanism. Furthermore, ectopic expression of ICR1 in the embryo hypophysis resulted in reduction of auxin accumulation and concomitant root growth arrest. ICR1 disappeared during root regeneration and lateral root initiation concomitantly with the formation of a local auxin maximum in response to external auxin treatments and transiently after gravitropic stimulation. Destabilization of ICR1 was impaired after inhibition of auxin transport and signaling, proteasome function, and protein synthesis. A mathematical model based on these findings shows that an in vivo-like auxin distribution, rootward auxin flux, and shootward reflux can be simulated without assuming preexisting tissue polarity. Our experimental results and mathematical modeling indicate that regulation of auxin distribution is tightly associated with auxin-dependent ICR1 levels. AU - Hazak, Ora AU - Obolski, Uri AU - Prat, Tomas AU - Friml, Jiří AU - Hadany, Lilach AU - Yalovsky, Shaul ID - 1996 IS - 50 JF - PNAS TI - Bimodal regulation of ICR1 levels generates self-organizing auxin distribution VL - 111 ER - TY - JOUR AB - The emergence and radiation of multicellular land plants was driven by crucial innovations to their body plans [1]. The directional transport of the phytohormone auxin represents a key, plant-specific mechanism for polarization and patterning in complex seed plants [2-5]. Here, we show that already in the early diverging land plant lineage, as exemplified by the moss Physcomitrella patens, auxin transport by PIN transporters is operational and diversified into ER-localized and plasma membrane-localized PIN proteins. Gain-of-function and loss-of-function analyses revealed that PIN-dependent intercellular auxin transport in Physcomitrella mediates crucial developmental transitions in tip-growing filaments and waves of polarization and differentiation in leaf-like structures. Plasma membrane PIN proteins localize in a polar manner to the tips of moss filaments, revealing an unexpected relation between polarization mechanisms in moss tip-growing cells and multicellular tissues of seed plants. Our results trace the origins of polarization and auxin-mediated patterning mechanisms and highlight the crucial role of polarized auxin transport during the evolution of multicellular land plants. AU - Viaene, Tom AU - Landberg, Katarina AU - Thelander, Mattias AU - Medvecka, Eva AU - Pederson, Eric AU - Feraru, Elena AU - Cooper, Endymion AU - Karimi, Mansour AU - Delwiche, Charles AU - Ljung, Karin AU - Geisler, Markus AU - Sundberg, Eva AU - Friml, Jirí ID - 1994 IS - 23 JF - Current Biology TI - Directional auxin transport mechanisms in early diverging land plants VL - 24 ER - TY - JOUR AB - Optical transport represents a natural route towards fast communications, and it is currently used in large scale data transfer. The progressive miniaturization of devices for information processing calls for the microscopic tailoring of light transport and confinement at length scales appropriate for upcoming technologies. With this goal in mind, we present a theoretical analysis of a one-dimensional Fabry-Perot interferometer built with two highly saturable nonlinear mirrors: a pair of two-level systems. Our approach captures nonlinear and nonreciprocal effects of light transport that were not reported previously. Remarkably, we show that such an elementary device can operate as a microscopic integrated optical rectifier. AU - Fratini, Filippo AU - Mascarenhas, Eduardo AU - Safari, Laleh AU - Poizat, Jean AU - Valente, Daniel AU - Auffèves, Alexia AU - Gerace, Dario AU - Santos, Marcelo ID - 1995 IS - 24 JF - Physical Review Letters TI - Fabry-Perot interferometer with quantum mirrors: Nonlinear light transport and rectification VL - 113 ER - TY - JOUR AB - Immune systems are able to protect the body against secondary infection with the same parasite. In insect colonies, this protection is not restricted to the level of the individual organism, but also occurs at the societal level. Here, we review recent evidence for and insights into the mechanisms underlying individual and social immunisation in insects. We disentangle general immune-protective effects from specific immune memory (priming), and examine immunisation in the context of the lifetime of an individual and that of a colony, and of transgenerational immunisation that benefits offspring. When appropriate, we discuss parallels with disease defence strategies in human societies. We propose that recurrent parasitic threats have shaped the evolution of both the individual immune systems and colony-level social immunity in insects. AU - El Masri, Leila AU - Cremer, Sylvia ID - 1998 IS - 10 JF - Trends in Immunology TI - Individual and social immunisation in insects VL - 35 ER - TY - JOUR AB - Oriens-lacunosum moleculare (O-LM) interneurons in the CA1 region of the hippocampus play a key role in feedback inhibition and in the control of network activity. However, how these cells are efficiently activated in the network remains unclear. To address this question, I performed recordings from CA1 pyramidal neuron axons, the presynaptic fibers that provide feedback innervation of these interneurons. Two forms of axonal action potential (AP) modulation were identified. First, repetitive stimulation resulted in activity-dependent AP broadening. Broadening showed fast onset, with marked changes in AP shape following a single AP. Second, tonic depolarization in CA1 pyramidal neuron somata induced AP broadening in the axon, and depolarization-induced broadening summated with activity-dependent broadening. Outsideout patch recordings from CA1 pyramidal neuron axons revealed a high density of a-dendrotoxin (α-DTX)-sensitive, inactivating K+ channels, suggesting that K+ channel inactivation mechanistically contributes to AP broadening. To examine the functional consequences of axonal AP modulation for synaptic transmission, I performed paired recordings between synaptically connected CA1 pyramidal neurons and O-LM interneurons. CA1 pyramidal neuron-O-LM interneuron excitatory postsynaptic currents (EPSCs) showed facilitation during both repetitive stimulation and tonic depolarization of the presynaptic neuron. Both effects were mimicked and occluded by α-DTX, suggesting that they were mediated by K+ channel inactivation. Therefore, axonal AP modulation can greatly facilitate the activation of O-LM interneurons. In conclusion, modulation of AP shape in CA1 pyramidal neuron axons substantially enhances the efficacy of principal neuron-interneuron synapses, promoting the activation of O-LM interneurons in recurrent inhibitory microcircuits. AU - Kim, Sooyun ID - 2002 IS - 11 JF - PLoS One TI - Action potential modulation in CA1 pyramidal neuron axons facilitates OLM interneuron activation in recurrent inhibitory microcircuits of rat hippocampus VL - 9 ER - TY - JOUR AB - Learning can be facilitated by previous knowledge when it is organized into relational representations forming schemas. In this issue of Neuron, McKenzie et al. (2014) demonstrate that the hippocampus rapidly forms interrelated, hierarchical memory representations to support schema-based learning. AU - O'Neill, Joseph AU - Csicsvari, Jozsef L ID - 2003 IS - 1 JF - Neuron TI - Learning by example in the hippocampus VL - 83 ER - TY - JOUR AB - The protection of privacy of individual-level information in genome-wide association study (GWAS) databases has been a major concern of researchers following the publication of “an attack” on GWAS data by Homer et al. (2008). Traditional statistical methods for confidentiality and privacy protection of statistical databases do not scale well to deal with GWAS data, especially in terms of guarantees regarding protection from linkage to external information. The more recent concept of differential privacy, introduced by the cryptographic community, is an approach that provides a rigorous definition of privacy with meaningful privacy guarantees in the presence of arbitrary external information, although the guarantees may come at a serious price in terms of data utility. Building on such notions, Uhler et al. (2013) proposed new methods to release aggregate GWAS data without compromising an individual’s privacy. We extend the methods developed in Uhler et al. (2013) for releasing differentially-private χ2χ2-statistics by allowing for arbitrary number of cases and controls, and for releasing differentially-private allelic test statistics. We also provide a new interpretation by assuming the controls’ data are known, which is a realistic assumption because some GWAS use publicly available data as controls. We assess the performance of the proposed methods through a risk-utility analysis on a real data set consisting of DNA samples collected by the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium and compare the methods with the differentially-private release mechanism proposed by Johnson and Shmatikov (2013). AU - Yu, Fei AU - Fienberg, Stephen AU - Slaković, Alexandra AU - Uhler, Caroline ID - 2011 JF - Journal of Biomedical Informatics TI - Scalable privacy-preserving data sharing methodology for genome-wide association studies VL - 50 ER - TY - JOUR AB - By eliciting a natural exploratory behavior in rats, head scanning, a study reveals that hippocampal place cells form new, stable firing fields in those locations where the behavior has just occurred. AU - Dupret, David AU - Csicsvari, Jozsef L ID - 2005 IS - 5 JF - Nature Neuroscience TI - Turning heads to remember places VL - 17 ER - TY - GEN AB - Maximum likelihood estimation under relational models, with or without the overall effect. For more information see the reference manual AU - Klimova, Anna AU - Rudas, Tamás ID - 2007 TI - gIPFrm: Generalized iterative proportional fitting for relational models ER - TY - JOUR AB - Synaptic cell adhesion molecules are increasingly gaining attention for conferring specific properties to individual synapses. Netrin-G1 and netrin-G2 are trans-synaptic adhesion molecules that distribute on distinct axons, and their presence restricts the expression of their cognate receptors, NGL1 and NGL2, respectively, to specific subdendritic segments of target neurons. However, the neural circuits and functional roles of netrin-G isoform complexes remain unclear. Here, we use netrin-G-KO and NGL-KO mice to reveal that netrin-G1/NGL1 and netrin-G2/NGL2 interactions specify excitatory synapses in independent hippocampal pathways. In the hippocampal CA1 area, netrin-G1/NGL1 and netrin-G2/NGL2 were expressed in the temporoammonic and Schaffer collateral pathways, respectively. The lack of presynaptic netrin-Gs led to the dispersion of NGLs from postsynaptic membranes. In accord, netrin-G mutant synapses displayed opposing phenotypes in long-term and short-term plasticity through discrete biochemical pathways. The plasticity phenotypes in netrin-G-KOs were phenocopied in NGL-KOs, with a corresponding loss of netrin-Gs from presynaptic membranes. Our findings show that netrin-G/NGL interactions differentially control synaptic plasticity in distinct circuits via retrograde signaling mechanisms and explain how synaptic inputs are diversified to control neuronal activity. AU - Matsukawa, Hiroshi AU - Akiyoshi Nishimura, Sachiko AU - Zhang, Qi AU - Luján, Rafael AU - Yamaguchi, Kazuhiko AU - Goto, Hiromichi AU - Yaguchi, Kunio AU - Hashikawa, Tsutomu AU - Sano, Chie AU - Shigemoto, Ryuichi AU - Nakashiba, Toshiaki AU - Itohara, Shigeyoshi ID - 2018 IS - 47 JF - Journal of Neuroscience SN - 0270-6474 TI - Netrin-G/NGL complexes encode functional synaptic diversification VL - 34 ER - TY - JOUR AB - We prove that the empirical density of states of quantum spin glasses on arbitrary graphs converges to a normal distribution as long as the maximal degree is negligible compared with the total number of edges. This extends the recent results of Keating et al. (2014) that were proved for graphs with bounded chromatic number and with symmetric coupling distribution. Furthermore, we generalise the result to arbitrary hypergraphs. We test the optimality of our condition on the maximal degree for p-uniform hypergraphs that correspond to p-spin glass Hamiltonians acting on n distinguishable spin- 1/2 particles. At the critical threshold p = n1/2 we find a sharp classical-quantum phase transition between the normal distribution and the Wigner semicircle law. The former is characteristic to classical systems with commuting variables, while the latter is a signature of noncommutative random matrix theory. AU - Erdös, László AU - Schröder, Dominik J ID - 2019 IS - 3-4 JF - Mathematical Physics, Analysis and Geometry TI - Phase transition in the density of states of quantum spin glasses VL - 17 ER - TY - JOUR AB - An asymptotic theory is developed for computing volumes of regions in the parameter space of a directed Gaussian graphical model that are obtained by bounding partial correlations. We study these volumes using the method of real log canonical thresholds from algebraic geometry. Our analysis involves the computation of the singular loci of correlation hypersurfaces. Statistical applications include the strong-faithfulness assumption for the PC algorithm and the quantification of confounder bias in causal inference. A detailed analysis is presented for trees, bow ties, tripartite graphs, and complete graphs. AU - Lin, Shaowei AU - Uhler, Caroline AU - Sturmfels, Bernd AU - Bühlmann, Peter ID - 2013 IS - 5 JF - Foundations of Computational Mathematics TI - Hypersurfaces and their singularities in partial correlation testing VL - 14 ER - TY - GEN AB - Gaussian graphical models have received considerable attention during the past four decades from the statistical and machine learning communities. In Bayesian treatments of this model, the G-Wishart distribution serves as the conjugate prior for inverse covariance matrices satisfying graphical constraints. While it is straightforward to posit the unnormalized densities, the normalizing constants of these distributions have been known only for graphs that are chordal, or decomposable. Up until now, it was unknown whether the normalizing constant for a general graph could be represented explicitly, and a considerable body of computational literature emerged that attempted to avoid this apparent intractability. We close this question by providing an explicit representation of the G-Wishart normalizing constant for general graphs. AU - Caroline Uhler AU - Lenkoski, Alex AU - Richards, Donald ID - 2017 T2 - ArXiv TI - Exact formulas for the normalizing constants of Wishart distributions for graphical models ER - TY - JOUR AB - Radial glial progenitors (RGPs) are responsible for producing nearly all neocortical neurons. To gain insight into the patterns of RGP division and neuron production, we quantitatively analyzed excitatory neuron genesis in the mouse neocortex using Mosaic Analysis with Double Markers, which provides single-cell resolution of progenitor division patterns and potential in vivo. We found that RGPs progress through a coherent program in which their proliferative potential diminishes in a predictable manner. Upon entry into the neurogenic phase, individual RGPs produce ∼8–9 neurons distributed in both deep and superficial layers, indicating a unitary output in neuronal production. Removal of OTX1, a transcription factor transiently expressed in RGPs, results in both deep- and superficial-layer neuron loss and a reduction in neuronal unit size. Moreover, ∼1/6 of neurogenic RGPs proceed to produce glia. These results suggest that progenitor behavior and histogenesis in the mammalian neocortex conform to a remarkably orderly and deterministic program. AU - Gao, Peng AU - Postiglione, Maria P AU - Krieger, Teresa AU - Hernandez, Luisirene AU - Wang, Chao AU - Han, Zhi AU - Streicher, Carmen AU - Papusheva, Ekaterina AU - Insolera, Ryan AU - Chugh, Kritika AU - Kodish, Oren AU - Huang, Kun AU - Simons, Benjamin AU - Luo, Liqun AU - Hippenmeyer, Simon AU - Shi, Song ID - 2022 IS - 4 JF - Cell TI - Deterministic progenitor behavior and unitary production of neurons in the neocortex VL - 159 ER - TY - JOUR AB - The mammalian heart has long been considered a postmitotic organ, implying that the total number of cardiomyocytes is set at birth. Analysis of cell division in the mammalian heart is complicated by cardiomyocyte binucleation shortly after birth, which makes it challenging to interpret traditional assays of cell turnover [Laflamme MA, Murray CE (2011) Nature 473(7347):326–335; Bergmann O, et al. (2009) Science 324(5923):98–102]. An elegant multi-isotope imaging-mass spectrometry technique recently calculated the low, discrete rate of cardiomyocyte generation in mice [Senyo SE, et al. (2013) Nature 493(7432):433–436], yet our cellular-level understanding of postnatal cardiomyogenesis remains limited. Herein, we provide a new line of evidence for the differentiated α-myosin heavy chain-expressing cardiomyocyte as the cell of origin of postnatal cardiomyogenesis using the “mosaic analysis with double markers” mouse model. We show limited, life-long, symmetric division of cardiomyocytes as a rare event that is evident in utero but significantly diminishes after the first month of life in mice; daughter cardiomyocytes divide very seldom, which this study is the first to demonstrate, to our knowledge. Furthermore, ligation of the left anterior descending coronary artery, which causes a myocardial infarction in the mosaic analysis with double-marker mice, did not increase the rate of cardiomyocyte division above the basal level for up to 4 wk after the injury. The clonal analysis described here provides direct evidence of postnatal mammalian cardiomyogenesis. AU - Ali, Shah AU - Hippenmeyer, Simon AU - Saadat, Lily AU - Luo, Liqun AU - Weissman, Irving AU - Ardehali, Reza ID - 2020 IS - 24 JF - PNAS TI - Existing cardiomyocytes generate cardiomyocytes at a low rate after birth in mice VL - 111 ER - TY - JOUR AB - Neurotrophins regulate diverse aspects of neuronal development and plasticity, but their precise in vivo functions during neural circuit assembly in the central brain remain unclear. We show that the neurotrophin receptor tropomyosin-related kinase C (TrkC) is required for dendritic growth and branching of mouse cerebellar Purkinje cells. Sparse TrkC knockout reduced dendrite complexity, but global Purkinje cell knockout had no effect. Removal of the TrkC ligand neurotrophin-3 (NT-3) from cerebellar granule cells, which provide major afferent input to developing Purkinje cell dendrites, rescued the dendrite defects caused by sparse TrkC disruption in Purkinje cells. Our data demonstrate that NT-3 from presynaptic neurons (granule cells) is required for TrkC-dependent competitive dendrite morphogenesis in postsynaptic neurons (Purkinje cells)—a previously unknown mechanism of neural circuit development. AU - William, Joo AU - Hippenmeyer, Simon AU - Luo, Liqun ID - 2021 IS - 6209 JF - Science TI - Dendrite morphogenesis depends on relative levels of NT-3/TrkC signaling VL - 346 ER - TY - CONF AB - We present a general framework for applying machine-learning algorithms to the verification of Markov decision processes (MDPs). The primary goal of these techniques is to improve performance by avoiding an exhaustive exploration of the state space. Our framework focuses on probabilistic reachability, which is a core property for verification, and is illustrated through two distinct instantiations. The first assumes that full knowledge of the MDP is available, and performs a heuristic-driven partial exploration of the model, yielding precise lower and upper bounds on the required probability. The second tackles the case where we may only sample the MDP, and yields probabilistic guarantees, again in terms of both the lower and upper bounds, which provides efficient stopping criteria for the approximation. The latter is the first extension of statistical model checking for unbounded properties inMDPs. In contrast with other related techniques, our approach is not restricted to time-bounded (finite-horizon) or discounted properties, nor does it assume any particular properties of the MDP. We also show how our methods extend to LTL objectives. We present experimental results showing the performance of our framework on several examples. AU - Brázdil, Tomáš AU - Chatterjee, Krishnendu AU - Chmelik, Martin AU - Forejt, Vojtěch AU - Kretinsky, Jan AU - Kwiatkowska, Marta AU - Parker, David AU - Ujma, Mateusz ED - Cassez, Franck ED - Raskin, Jean-François ID - 2027 T2 - Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics) TI - Verification of markov decision processes using learning algorithms VL - 8837 ER - TY - JOUR AB - A puzzling property of synaptic transmission, originally established at the neuromuscular junction, is that the time course of transmitter release is independent of the extracellular Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]o), whereas the rate of release is highly [Ca2+]o-dependent. Here, we examine the time course of release at inhibitory basket cell-Purkinje cell synapses and show that it is independent of [Ca2+]o. Modeling of Ca2+-dependent transmitter release suggests that the invariant time course of release critically depends on tight coupling between Ca2+ channels and release sensors. Experiments with exogenous Ca2+ chelators reveal that channel-sensor coupling at basket cell-Purkinje cell synapses is very tight, with a mean distance of 10–20 nm. Thus, tight channel-sensor coupling provides a mechanistic explanation for the apparent [Ca2+]o independence of the time course of release. AU - Arai, Itaru AU - Jonas, Peter M ID - 2031 JF - eLife TI - Nanodomain coupling explains Ca^2+ independence of transmitter release time course at a fast central synapse VL - 3 ER - TY - JOUR AB - The yeast Rab5 homologue, Vps21p, is known to be involved both in the vacuolar protein sorting (VPS) pathway from the trans-Golgi network to the vacuole, and in the endocytic pathway from the plasma membrane to the vacuole. However, the intracellular location at which these two pathways converge remains unclear. In addition, the endocytic pathway is not completely blocked in yeast cells lacking all Rab5 genes, suggesting the existence of an unidentified route that bypasses the Rab5-dependent endocytic pathway. Here we show that convergence of the endocytic and VPS pathways occurs upstream of the requirement for Vps21p in these pathways. We also identify a previously unidentified endocytic pathway mediated by the AP-3 complex. Importantly, the AP-3-mediated pathway appears mostly intact in Rab5-disrupted cells, and thus works as an alternative route to the vacuole/lysosome. We propose that the endocytic traffic branches into two routes to reach the vacuole: a Rab5-dependent VPS pathway and a Rab5-independent AP-3-mediated pathway. AU - Toshima, Junko AU - Nishinoaki, Show AU - Sato, Yoshifumi AU - Yamamoto, Wataru AU - Furukawa, Daiki AU - Siekhaus, Daria E AU - Sawaguchi, Akira AU - Toshima, Jiro ID - 2024 JF - Nature Communications TI - Bifurcation of the endocytic pathway into Rab5-dependent and -independent transport to the vacuole VL - 5 ER -