Biology subjects

Abel, C.

Publications and source records attributed to Abel, C..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2021

Sugar Signaling Induces Dynamic Changes during Meristem Development in Arabidopsis

Aerial parts of plants originate from pluripotent stem cells in the shoot apical meristem. Their population is maintained via the maintenance regulators WUSCHEL and CLAVATA3 in a negative feed-back loop. Meristem size is dynamic and undergoes a more than 2-fold expansion upon the transition to reproductive growth. The mechanism controlling this doming is largely unknown, but coinciding increased trehalose 6-phosphate and changed meristem size in overexpressing or knockdown lines of TREHALOSE PHOSPHATE SYNTHASE1 suggest a participation of sugar signaling. Here we show that TREHALOSE PHOSPHATE PHOSPHATASEJ is directly regulated by WUSCHEL. Plants with reduced levels of TREHALOSE PHOSPHATE PHOSPHATASEJ in the outer meristem layer are flowering early and its reduction in the late flowering clavata3 mutant, restores wild-type flowering. This is caused by a reduction of mature miR156 and increased expression of SQUAMOSA PROMOTER-BINDING PROTEIN-LIKE genes. We demonstrate that these are important for age pathway-induced flowering, in a negative feed-back loop with WUSCHEL downstream of the trehalose 6-phosphate pathway. In summary, our findings demonstrate a dynamic feed-back regulation between central maintenance and flowering time regulators with sugar signaling. O_FIG O_LINKSMALLFIG WIDTH=200 HEIGHT=169 SRC="FIGDIR/small/439483v2_ufig1.gif" ALT="Figure 1"> View larger version (34K): org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@988d6eorg.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@16d469borg.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@1366ce5org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@2753f0_HPS_FORMAT_FIGEXP M_FIG O_FLOATNOSynopsis:C_FLOATNO Schematic illustration of dynamic feedback-regulations between sugar signaling, meristem maintenance and the age pathway of the flowering network in the transition SAM as compared to the vegetative SAM.During vegetative growth SAM maintenance is controlled by spatially separated WUS and CLV3 expression in a negative feedback-loop. At floral transition increased activity of the T6P pathway in the SAM uncouples this regulation. This results in an unreported special relocation of WUS expression and involves a transient negative feedback-loop between WUS and SPL4. C_FIG

plant biology↗

bioRxiv2021

Defined diets for freshwater planarians

Planarian flatworms are popular invertebrate models for basic research on stem cell biology and regeneration. These animals are commonly maintained on a diet of homogenized calf liver or boiled egg yolk in the laboratory, introducing a source of uncontrolled experimental variability. Here, we report the development of defined diets, prepared entirely from standardized, commercially sourced ingredients, for the freshwater species Schmidtea mediterranea, Dugesia japonica, and Girardia dorotocephala. These food sources provide an opportunity to test the effects of specific nutritional variables on biological phenomena of interest. Defined diet consumption was not sufficient for growth and only partially induced the increase in stem cell division that normally accompanies feeding, suggesting these responses are not solely determined by caloric intake. While our defined diet formulations do not support long-term planarian maintenance, they do enable delivery of double-stranded RNA for gene knockdown in a manner that provides unique advantages in some experimental contexts. We also present a new approach for preserving tissue integrity during hydrogen peroxide bleaching of liver-fed animals. These tools will empower research on the connections between diet, metabolism, and stem cell biology in the experimentally tractable planarian system.

physiology↗

bioRxiv2021

Improved spatio-temporal measurements of visually evoked fields using optically-pumped magnetometers

Recent developments in performance and practicality of optically pumped magnetometers have enabled new capabilities in non-invasive brain function mapping through magnetoencephalography. In particular the lack of need of cryogenic operating conditions allows for more flexible placement of the sensor heads closer to the brain surface, leading to improved spatial measurement resolution and increased source localisation capabilities. Through the recording of visually evoked brain fields (VEF), we demonstrate that the closer sensor proximity can be further exploited to improve the temporal resolution. We use optically pumped magnetometers (OPMs), and for reference superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs), to measure brain responses to standard flash and pattern reversal stimuli. We find highly reproducible signals with consistency across multiple healthy participants, stimulus paradigms and sensor modalities. The temporal resolution advantage of OPMs is manifest in a fourfold improvement of the ratio of magnetic signal peak height to temporal width, compared to SQUIDs. The resulting capability of improved spatio-temporal signal tracing is illustrated by simultaneous vector recordings of VEFs in the primary (V1) and associative (V2) visual cortex, where a time lag on the order of 10-20 ms is consistently found. This paves the way for further studies of spatio-temporal neurophysiological signal tracking in visual stimulus processing and other brain responses with potentially far-reaching consequences for time-critical mapping of functionality in the healthy and pathological brains.

neuroscience↗