Derepression of Y-linked multicopy protamine-like genes interferes with sperm nuclear compaction in D. melanogaster.

Across species, sperm maturation involves the dramatic reconfiguration of chromatin into highly compact nuclei that enhance hydrodynamic ability and ensure paternal genomic integrity. This process is mediated by the replacement of histones by sperm nuclear basic proteins, also referred to as protamines. In humans, a carefully balanced dosage between two known protamine genes is required for optimal fertility. However, it remains unknown how their proper balance is regulated and how defects in balance may lead to compromised fertility. Here, we show that a nucleolar protein, modulo, a homolog of nucleolin, mediates the histone-to-protamine transition during Drosophila spermatogenesis. We find that modulo mutants display nuclear compaction defects during late spermatogenesis due to decreased expression of autosomal protamine genes (including Mst77F) and derepression of Y-linked multicopy Mst77F homologs (Mst77Y), leading to the mutant's known sterility. Overexpression of Mst77Y in a wild-type background is sufficient to cause nuclear compaction defects, similar to modulo mutant, indicating that Mst77Y is a dominant-negative variant interfering with the process of histone-to-protamine transition. Interestingly, ectopic overexpression of Mst77Y caused decompaction of X-bearing spermatids nuclei more frequently than Y-bearing spermatid nuclei, although this did not greatly affect the sex ratio of offspring. We further show that modulo regulates these protamine genes at the step of transcript polyadenylation. We conclude that the regulation of protamines mediated by modulo, ensuring the expression of functional ones while repressing dominant-negative ones, is critical for male fertility.

The effect of heart failure and left ventricular assist device treatment on right ventricular mechanics: a computational study.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Although it is important to analyze the hemodynamic factors related to the right ventricle (RV) after left ventricular assist device (LVAD) implantation, previous studies have focused only on the alteration of the ventricular shape and lack quantitative analysis of the various hemodynamic parameters. Therefore, we quantitatively analyzed various hemodynamic parameters related to the RV under normal, heart failure (HF), and HF incorporated with continuous flow LVAD therapy by using a computational model. METHODS: In this study, we combined a three-dimensional finite element electromechanical model of ventricles, which is based on human ventricular morphology captured by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with a lumped model of the circulatory system and continuous flow LVAD function in order to construct an integrated model of an LVAD implanted-cardiovascular system. To induce systolic dysfunction, the magnitude of the calcium transient function under HF condition was reduced to 70% of the normal value, and the time constant was reduced by 30% of the normal value. RESULTS: Under the HF condition, the left ventricular end systolic pressure decreased, the left ventricular end diastolic pressure increased, and the pressure in the right atrium (RA), RV, and pulmonary artery (PA) increased compared with the normal condition. The LVAD therapy decreased the end-systolic pressure of the LV by 41%, RA by 29%, RV by 53%, and PA by 71%, but increased the right ventricular ejection fraction by 52% and cardiac output by 40%, while the stroke work was reduced by 67% compared with the HF condition without LVAD. The end-systolic ventricular tension and strain decreased with the LVAD treatment. CONCLUSION: LVAD enhances CO and mechanical unloading of the LV as well as those of the RV and prevents pulmonary hypertension which can be induced by HF.

Resolving Subcellular miRNA Trafficking and Turnover at Single-Molecule Resolution.

Regulation of microRNA (miRNA) localization and stability is critical for their extensive cytoplasmic RNA silencing activity and emerging nuclear functions. Here, we have developed single-molecule fluorescence-based tools to assess the subcellular trafficking, integrity, and activity of miRNAs. We find that seed-matched RNA targets protect miRNAs against degradation and enhance their nuclear retention. While target-stabilized, functional, cytoplasmic miRNAs reside in high-molecular-weight complexes, nuclear miRNAs, as well as cytoplasmic miRNAs targeted by complementary anti-miRNAs, are sequestered stably within significantly lower-molecular-weight complexes and rendered repression incompetent. miRNA stability and activity depend on Argonaute protein abundance, whereas miRNA strand selection, unwinding, and nuclear retention depend on Argonaute identity. Taken together, our results show that miRNA degradation competes with Argonaute loading and target binding to control subcellular miRNA abundance for gene silencing surveillance. Probing single cells for miRNA activity, trafficking, and metabolism promises to facilitate screening for effective miRNA mimics and anti-miRNA drugs.