Patterns of plant subcellular responses to successful oomycete infections reveal differences in host cell reprogramming and endocytic trafficking.

Adapted filamentous pathogens such as the oomycetes Hyaloperonospora arabidopsidis (Hpa) and Phytophthora infestans (Pi) project specialized hyphae, the haustoria, inside living host cells for the suppression of host defence and acquisition of nutrients. Accommodation of haustoria requires reorganization of the host cell and the biogenesis of a novel host cell membrane, the extrahaustorial membrane (EHM), which envelops the haustorium separating the host cell from the pathogen. Here, we applied live-cell imaging of fluorescent-tagged proteins labelling a variety of membrane compartments and investigated the subcellular changes associated with accommodating oomycete haustoria in Arabidopsis and N. benthamiana. Plasma membrane-resident proteins differentially localized to the EHM. Likewise, secretory vesicles and endosomal compartments surrounded Hpa and Pi haustoria revealing differences between these two oomycetes, and suggesting a role for vesicle trafficking pathways for the pathogen-controlled biogenesis of the EHM. The latter is supported by enhanced susceptibility of mutants in endosome-mediated trafficking regulators. These observations point at host subcellular defences and specialization of the EHM in a pathogen-specific manner. Defence-associated haustorial encasements, a double-layered membrane that grows around mature haustoria, were frequently observed in Hpa interactions. Intriguingly, all tested plant proteins accumulated at Hpa haustorial encasements suggesting the general recruitment of default vesicle trafficking pathways to defend pathogen access. Altogether, our results show common requirements of subcellular changes associated with oomycete biotrophy, and highlight differences between two oomycete pathogens in reprogramming host cell vesicle trafficking for haustoria accommodation. This provides a framework for further dissection of the pathogen-triggered reprogramming of host subcellular changes.

An evaluation of new parsimony-based versus parametric inference methods in biogeography: a case study using the globally distributed plant family Sapindaceae

Aim  Recently developed parametric methods in historical biogeography allow researchers to integrate temporal and palaeogeographical information into the reconstruction of biogeographical scenarios, thus overcoming a known bias of parsimony-based approaches. Here, we compare a parametric method, dispersal-extinction-cladogenesis (DEC), against a parsimony-based method, dispersal-vicariance analysis (DIVA), which does not incorporate branch lengths but accounts for phylogenetic uncertainty through a Bayesian empirical approach (Bayes-DIVA). We analyse the benefits and limitations of each method using the cosmopolitan plant family Sapindaceae as a case study.Location  World-wide.Methods  Phylogenetic relationships were estimated by Bayesian inference on a large dataset representing generic diversity within Sapindaceae. Lineage divergence times were estimated by penalized likelihood over a sample of trees from the posterior distribution of the phylogeny to account for dating uncertainty in biogeographical reconstructions. We compared biogeographical scenarios between Bayes-DIVA and two different DEC models: one with no geological constraints and another that employed a stratified palaeogeographical model in which dispersal rates were scaled according to area connectivity across four time slices, reflecting the changing continental configuration over the last 110 million years.Results  Despite differences in the underlying biogeographical model, Bayes-DIVA and DEC inferred similar biogeographical scenarios. The main differences were: (1) in the timing of dispersal events - which in Bayes-DIVA sometimes conflicts with palaeogeographical information, and (2) in the lower frequency of terminal dispersal events inferred by DEC. Uncertainty in divergence time estimations influenced both the inference of ancestral ranges and the decisiveness with which an area can be assigned to a node.Main conclusions  By considering lineage divergence times, the DEC method gives more accurate reconstructions that are in agreement with palaeogeographical evidence. In contrast, Bayes-DIVA showed the highest decisiveness in unequivocally reconstructing ancestral ranges, probably reflecting its ability to integrate phylogenetic uncertainty. Care should be taken in defining the palaeogeographical model in DEC because of the possibility of overestimating the frequency of extinction events, or of inferring ancestral ranges that are outside the extant species ranges, owing to dispersal constraints enforced by the model. The wide-spanning spatial and temporal model proposed here could prove useful for testing large-scale biogeographical patterns in plants.

Introduction d'un questionnaire de dépistage de l'Etat de stress post traumatique (ESPT) : quel impact sur le diagnostic dans une unité d'urgence psychiatrique ambulatoire ?

Contexte: Impression clinique que l'Etat de Stress Post-traumatique (ESPT) est sous-diagnostiqué dans la prise en charge des patients qui sont évalués dans le cadre d'une urgence psychiatrique. Objectifs: (i) identifier la prévalence de l'ESPT dans une unité d'urgence psychiatrique au moyen d'un instrument diagnostic et la comparer avec le diagnostic clinique retenu dans un échantillon historique (ii) évaluer la perception des cliniciens quant à l'utilisation systématique d'un instrument diagnostic Méthodes: la prévalence de l'ESPT a été évaluée chez des patients consécutifs (N = 403) qui ont bénéficié d'une consultation par des psychiatres de l'Unité urgence-crise du Service de Psychiatrie de Liaison (PLI) du CHUV, en utilisant le module J du Mini Mental Neuropsychologic Interview (MINI 5.0.0, version CIM-10). Ce résultat a été comparé avec la prévalence de l'ESPT mentionné comme diagnostic dans les dossiers (N = 350) d'un échantillon historique. La perception des médecins-assistants de psychiatrie quant au dépistage systématique de l'ESPT avec un instrument a été étudiée en se basant sur la conduite d'un focus group d'assistants travaillant dans l'Unité urgence-crise du PLI. Résultats: Parmi les patients (N = 316) évalués à l'aide de l'instrument diagnostic, 20,3% (n = 64) réunissaient les critères de l'ESPT. Cela constitue un taux de prévalence significativement plus élevé que la prévalence d'ESPT documentée dans les dossiers de l'échantillon historique (0,57%). Par ailleurs, la prévalence de l'ESPT est significativement plus élevée parmi les groupes socio- économiques précarisés, tels que réfugiés et sans papiers (50%), patients venant d'un pays à histoire de guerre récente (47,1%), patients avec quatre (44,4%) ou trois comorbidités psychiatriques (35,3%), migrants (29,8%) et patients sans revenus professionnels (25%). Le focus groupe composé de 8 médecins-assistants a révélé que l'utilisation systématique d'un outil- diagnostic ne convenait pas dans le setting d'urgence psychiatrique, notamment parce que l'instrument a été considéré comme non adapté à une première consultation ou jugé avoir un impact négatif sur l'entretien clinique. Toutefois, après la fin de l'étude, les médecins-assistants estimaient qu'il était important de rechercher activement l'ESPT et continuaient à intégrer les éléments principaux du questionnaire dans leur travail clinique. Conclusion et perspectives: cette étude confirme que l'ESPT est largement sous-diagnostiqué dans le contexte des urgences psychiatriques, mais que l'usage systématique d'un outil diagnostic dans ce cadre ne satisfait pas les praticiens concernés. Pour améliorer la situation et au vu du fait qu'un instrument diagnostic est considéré comme non-adapté dans ce setting, il serait peut-être bénéfique d'envisager un dépistage ciblé et/ou de mettre en place une stratégie de formation institutionnelle.

Domain shuffling in a sensor protein contributed to the evolution of insect pathogenicity in plant-beneficial Pseudomonas protegens.

Pseudomonas protegens is a biocontrol rhizobacterium with a plant-beneficial and an insect pathogenic lifestyle, but it is not understood how the organism switches between the two states. Here, we focus on understanding the function and possible evolution of a molecular sensor that enables P. protegens to detect the insect environment and produce a potent insecticidal toxin specifically during insect infection but not on roots. By using quantitative single cell microscopy and mutant analysis, we provide evidence that the sensor histidine kinase FitF is a key regulator of insecticidal toxin production. Our experimental data and bioinformatic analyses indicate that FitF shares a sensing domain with DctB, a histidine kinase regulating carbon uptake in Proteobacteria. This suggested that FitF has acquired its specificity through domain shuffling from a common ancestor. We constructed a chimeric DctB-FitF protein and showed that it is indeed functional in regulating toxin expression in P. protegens. The shuffling event and subsequent adaptive modifications of the recruited sensor domain were critical for the microorganism to express its potent insect toxin in the observed host-specific manner. Inhibition of the FitF sensor during root colonization could explain the mechanism by which P. protegens differentiates between the plant and insect host. Our study establishes FitF of P. protegens as a prime model for molecular evolution of sensor proteins and bacterial pathogenicity.

Movement, impacts and management of plant distributions in response to climate change: insights from invasions

A major challenge in this era of rapid climate change is to predict changes in species distributions and their impacts on ecosystems, and, if necessary, to recommend management strategies for maintenance of biodiversity or ecosystem services. Biological invasions, studied in most biomes of the world, can provide useful analogs for some of the ecological consequences of species distribution shifts in response to climate change. Invasions illustrate the adaptive and interactive responses that can occur when species are confronted with new environmental conditions. Invasion ecology complements climate change research and provides insights into the following questions: i) how will species distributions respond to climate change? ii) how will species movement affect recipient ecosystems? and iii) should we, and if so how can we, manage species and ecosystems in the face of climate change? Invasion ecology demonstrates that a trait-based approach can help to predict spread speeds and impacts on ecosystems, and has the potential to predict climate change impacts on species ranges and recipient ecosystems. However, there is a need to analyse traits in the context of life-history and demography, the stage in the colonisation process (e.g., spread, establishment or impact), the distribution of suitable habitats in the landscape, and the novel abiotic and biotic conditions under which those traits are expressed. As is the case with climate change, invasion ecology is embedded within complex societal goals. Both disciplines converge on similar questions of "when to intervene?" and "what to do?" which call for a better understanding of the ecological processes and social values associated with changing ecosystems.

Ivan le Terrible, ou La Russie au XVIe siècle : roman historique / par le comte Alexis Tolstoy ; traduit du russe avec une introduction par le prince Augustin Galitzin

Collection : Collection Saint-Michel

Transgenic plant factories for the production of biopolymers and plateform chemicals

In the mid-to long-term, resource constraints will force society to cover a significant share of the future demand for fuels, materials and chemicals by renewable resources. This trend is already visible in the increasing conversion of carbohydrates and plant oils to fuels, chemicals, and polymers. In this perspective, we discuss current efforts and ideas to produce platform chemicals and polymers directly in transgenic plants.