CX3CR1-mediated dendritic cell access to the intestinal lumen and bacterial clearance

Dendritic cells (DCs) and macrophages are critical to innate and adaptive immunity to the intestinal bacterial microbiota. Here, we identify a myeloid-derived mucosal DC in mice, which populates the entire lamina propria of the small intestine. Lamina propria DCs were found to depend on the chemokine receptor CX3CR1 to form transepithelial dendrites, which enable the cells to directly sample luminal antigens. CX3CR1 was also found to control the clearance of entero-invasive pathogens by DCs. Thus, CX3CR1-dependent processes, which control host interactions of specialized DCs with commensal and pathogenic bacteria, may regulate immunological tolerance and inflammation.     

Peptide processing and targeting in the neuronal secretory pathway

The abdominal ganglion of the marine mollusk Aplysia contains a pair of identified neuronal clusters, the bag cells, which control egg laying by means of a number of unique regulatory mechanisms. Each neuron in the bag cell clusters synthesizes several peptides derived from a single prohormone and packages them into separate vesicles. These vesicles are then differentially localized in specific neuronal processes, thus segregating peptides destined for autocrine and hormonal release sites. Therefore in this system, protein trafficking through the secretory pathway organizes multiple peptide neurochemical messengers to efficiently regulate simple behaviors.     

Initiating and cancer-propagating cells in TEL-AML1-associated childhood leukemia

Understanding cancer pathogenesis requires knowledge of not only the specific contributory genetic mutations but also the cellular framework in which they arise and function. Here we explore the clonal evolution of a form of childhood precursor-B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia that is characterized by a chromosomal translocation generating a TEL-AML1 fusion gene. We identify a cell compartment in leukemic children that can propagate leukemia when transplanted in mice. By studying a monochorionic twin pair, one preleukemic and one with frank leukemia, we establish the lineal relationship between these "cancer-propagating" cells and the preleukemic cell in which the TEL-AML1 fusion first arises or has functional impact. Analysis of TEL-AML1-transduced cord blood cells suggests that TEL-AML1 functions as a first-hit mutation by endowing this preleukemic cell with altered self-renewal and survival properties.     

Diversity and extinction of tropical american mollusks and emergence of the isthmus of panama

The gradual closure of the Panamanian seaway and the resulting environmental change stimulated an increase in Caribbean molluscan diversity rather than the mass extinction hypothesized previously on the basis of inadequate data. Upheaval of molluscan faunas did occur suddenly throughout tropical America at the end of the Pliocene as a result of more subtle, unknown causes. There is no necessary correlation between the magnitude of regional shifts in abiotic conditions and the subsequent biological response.     

Graphoepitaxy of self-assembled block copolymers on two-dimensional periodic patterned templates

Self-assembling materials are the building blocks of bottom-up nanofabrication processes, but they need to be templated to impose long-range order and eliminate defects. In this work, the self-assembly of a thin film of a spherical-morphology block copolymer is templated using an array of nanoscale topographical elements that act as surrogates for the minority domains of the block copolymer. The orientation and periodicity of the resulting array of spherical microdomains are governed by the commensurability between the block copolymer period and the template period and is accurately described by a free-energy model. This method, which forms high-spatial-frequency arrays using a lower-spatial-frequency template, will be useful in nanolithography applications such as the formation of high-density microelectronic structures.