Publications

Gromia oviformis Dujardin is a common marine protist characterised by a large, globular test and filose pseudopodia. First considered a foraminifer, Gromia was later placed within the Filosea and recently included among amoebae of uncertain affinities. In order to clarify the phylogenetic position of this genus, we sequenced the complete small-subunit ribosomal DNA gene of G. oviformis collected at five different geographic localities. The high divergence of obtained sequences suggests that G. oviformis is a species complex composed of several genetically distinct sibling species. Sequence analyses show Gromia to be a member of the Cercozoa, a heterogeneous assemblage which includes filose amoebae, the amoeboflagellate cercomonads, the chlorarachniophytes and the plasmodiophorid plant pathogens. Contrary to traditional classification, Gromia is not closely related to other testate filose amoebae (the Euglyphida), but seems to branch early among the Cercozoa. Our analyses also show a close relationship between the Cercozoa and the Acantharea. Because the Cercozoa are related to the Foraminifera based on other molecular data, we propose that most protists possessing filopodia, reticulopodia and axopodia have a common origin.

De novo chromatin assembly into regularly spaced nucleosomal arrays is essential for eukaryotic genome maintenance and inheritance. The Anti-Silencing Function 1 protein (ASF1) has been shown to be a histone chaperone, participating in DNA-replication-coupled nucleosome assembly. We show that mutations in the Drosophila asf1 gene derepress silencing at heterochromatin and that the ASF1 protein has a cell cycle-specific nuclear and cytoplasmic localization. Furthermore, using both genetic and biochemical methods, we demonstrate that ASF1 interacts with the Brahma (SWI/SNF) chromatin-remodelling complex. These findings suggest that ASF1 plays a crucial role in both chromatin assembly and SWI/SNF-mediated chromatin remodelling.

The cell membrane and the nuclear membrane are two major barriers hindering the free movement of various macromolecules through animal cells. Nevertheless, some proteins can actively bypass these barriers by dint of intrinsic peptidic signals, so incorporation of these signals might improve the efficacy of artificial gene delivery vehicles. We examined the role of the nuclear localization signal (NLS) in gene transfer, using recombinant lambda phage as a model of the polymer/DNA complexes. We prepared a lambda phage displaying a 32-mer NLS of SV40 T antigen on its surface (NLS phage), and found that this NLS phage, delivered into the cytoplasm by appropriate devices, has higher affinity for the nucleus and induces the expression of encapsulated marker genes more efficiently than does the wild-type phage. This suggests that the 32-mer NLS peptide will become a practical tool for artificial gene delivery vehicles with enhanced nuclear targeting activity.

The mammalian vomeronasal system is specialized in pheromone detection. The neural circuitry of the accessory olfactory bulb (AOB) provides an anatomical substrate for the coding of pheromone information. Here, we describe the axonal projection pattern of vomeronasal sensory neurons to the AOB and the dendritic connectivity pattern of second-order neurons. Genetically traced sensory neurons expressing a given gene of the V2R class of vomeronasal receptors project their axons to six to ten glomeruli distributed in globally conserved areas of the AOB, a theme similar to V1R-expressing neurons. Surprisingly, second-order neurons tend to project their dendrites to glomeruli innervated by axons of sensory neurons expressing the same V1R or the same V2R gene. Convergence of receptor type information in the olfactory bulb may represent a common design in olfactory systems.

Allogromiids are classically defined as a group of monothalamous, soft-walled foraminiferans. Recent morphological, cytological, and molecular studies, however, challenge this view, showing that the soft-walled allogromiids are closely related to naked athalamids and unilocular agglutinated foraminiferans. To establish the phylogenetic relationships among these three groups we obtained partial small-subunit ribosomal DNA sequences of 50 species and undetermined morphotypes, and compared them to other foraminiferal taxa. Phylogenetic analyses of our data show that allogromiids, athalamids and astrorhizids comprise an assemblage of 13 lineages branching together at the base of the foraminiferal tree. Among these lineages, two are represented by a single species and four comprise similar genera, while the remaining seven are heterogeneous groups composed of several species having different types of wall structure and different test morphologies. All lineages are relatively well supported, yet the relationships among them are not resolved. In view of our data, we propose to revise the definition of allogromiids to include all naked and testate unilocular granuloreticuloseans that diverged early in the evolution of Foraminifera.

Allogromiid foraminiferans are distributed over a wide range of marine habitats, but some are also reported from freshwater environments. Most of these descriptions date back to the 19th century. Among them, five species of freshwater foraminiferans have been described and redescribed from Lake Geneva by the Swiss protozoologist Eugène Penard. The different foraminiferal species were classified by Penard in the genus Gromia, which at that time included both, filosean and granuloreticulosan species and were later grouped by De Saedeleer in two allogromiid genera, Allelogromia and Diplogromia. We collected several sediment samples from Lake Geneva and from two other bodies of freshwater in Switzerland and investigated them subsequently under a stereomicroscope. None of the forms described by Penard were observed. On the other hand, we have obtained foraminiferal DNA sequences from DNA extracts of the same sediment samples. Phylogenetic analysis of these sequences shows that they branch with a clade of saccamminid foraminiferans, represented by the genera Ovammina and Cribrothalammina. This is in agreement with the observed morphological similarity between Penard’s species and the marine saccamminids used in our study. The possibility that our sequences belong to some undetermined naked foraminiferans, however, cannot be excluded and the molecular identification of the species described by Penard must await the confirmation by sequencing DNA of isolated specimens.

The mammalian vomeronasal organ (VNO), a part of the olfactory system, detects pheromones--chemical signals that modulate social and reproductive behaviours. But the molecular receptors in the VNO that detect these chemosensory stimuli remain undefined. Candidate pheromone receptors are encoded by two distinct and complex superfamilies of genes, V1r and V2r (refs 3 and 4), which code for receptors with seven transmembrane domains. These genes are selectively expressed in sensory neurons of the VNO. However, there is at present no functional evidence for a role of these genes in pheromone responses. Here, using chromosome engineering technology, we delete in the germ line of mice an approximately 600-kilobase genomic region that contains a cluster of 16 intact V1r genes. These genes comprise two of the 12 described V1r gene families, and represent approximately 12% of the V1r repertoire. The mutant mice display deficits in a subset of VNO-dependent behaviours: the expression of male sexual behaviour and maternal aggression is substantially altered. Electrophysiologically, the epithelium of the VNO of such mice does not respond detectably to specific pheromonal ligands. The behavioural impairment and chemosensory deficit support a role of V1r receptors as pheromone receptors.

The origin of eusociality in haplo-diploid organisms such as Hymenoptera has been mostly explained by kin selection. However, several studies have uncovered decreased relatedness values within colonies, resulting primarily from multiple queen matings (polyandry) and/or from the presence of more than one functional queen (polygyny). Here, we report on the use of microsatellite data for the investigation of sociogenetic parameters, such as relatedness, and levels of polygyny and polyandry, in the ant Pheidole pallidula. We demonstrate, through analysis of mother-offspring combinations and the use of direct sperm typing, that each queen is inseminated by a single male. The inbreeding coefficient within colonies and the levels of relatedness between the queens and their mate are not significantly different from zero, indicating that matings occur between unrelated individuals. Analyses of worker genotypes demonstrate that 38% of the colonies are polygynous with 2-4 functional queens, and suggest the existence of reproductive skew, i.e. unequal respective contribution of queens to reproduction. Finally, our analyses indicate that colonies are genetically differentiated and form a population exhibiting significant isolation-by-distance, suggesting that some colonies originate through budding.

Mammalian circadian rhythms are generated by a feedback loop in which BMAL1 and CLOCK, players of the positive limb, activate transcription of the cryptochrome and period genes, components of the negative limb. Bmal1 and Per transcription cycles display nearly opposite phases and are thus governed by different mechanisms. Here, we identify the orphan nuclear receptor REV-ERBalpha as the major regulator of cyclic Bmal1 transcription. Circadian Rev-erbalpha expression is controlled by components of the general feedback loop. Thus, REV-ERBalpha constitutes a molecular link through which components of the negative limb drive antiphasic expression of components of the positive limb. While REV-ERBalpha influences the period length and affects the phase-shifting properties of the clock, it is not required for circadian rhythm generation.