mori doublesex (Bmdsx) gene, which has sex-specific splicing isoforms regulating somatic sexual development. Transgenic animals co-expressing TALEN left and right arms targeting the female-specific Bmdsx exon resulted in somatic mutations and female mutants lost fecundity because of lack of egg storage and abnormal external genitalia. The wild-type sexual dimorphism of abdominal segment was not evident in mutant females. In contrast, there were no deleterious effects in mutant male moths. The current somatic TALEN technologies provide a promising approach for future insect functional genetics, thus providing the basis LY2090314 mw for the development of attractive genetic alternatives for insect population management.”
“Apicomplexa

are parasitic protozoa that cause important human diseases including malaria, cryptosporidiosis and toxoplasmosis. The replication of these parasites within their target host cell is dependent on both salvage as well as de novo synthesis of fatty acids. In Toxoplasma gondii, fatty acid synthesis via the apicoplast-localized FASII is essential for pathogenesis, while the role of two other fatty acid biosynthetic complexes remains unclear. Here, we demonstrate that the ER-localized fatty acid elongation (ELO) complexes are essential for parasite growth. Conditional knockdown of the nonredundant hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydratase and enoyl-CoA reductase enzymes

in the ELO pathway severely repressed intracellular parasite growth. C-13-glucose and C-13-acetate labeling

and comprehensive lipidomic analyses of these mutants showed a selective SHP099 defect in synthesis of unsaturated long and very long-chain INCB018424 molecular weight fatty acids (LCFAs and VLCFAs) and depletion of phosphatidylinositol and phosphatidylethanolamine species containing unsaturated LCFAs and VLCFAs. This requirement for ELO pathway was bypassed by supplementing the media with specific fatty acids, indicating active but inefficient import of host fatty acids. Our experiments highlight a gap between the fatty acid needs of the parasite and availability of specific fatty acids in the host cell that the parasite has to close using a dedicated synthesis and modification pathway.”
“Background-Previous studies on gene-lifestyle interaction and obesity have focused mostly on the FTO gene and physical activity, whereas little attention has been paid to sedentary behavior as indicated by television (TV) watching.\n\nMethods and Results-We analyzed interactions between TV watching, leisure time physical activity, and genetic predisposition in relation to body mass index (BMI) in 7740 women and 4564 men from 2 prospective cohorts: The Nurses’ Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study. Data on physical activity and TV watching were collected 2 years before assessment of BMI. A weighted genetic risk score was calculated on the basis of 32 established BMI-associated variants.