High endoreduplication after drought-related conditions in haploid but not diploid mosses.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Endoreduplication, the duplication of the nuclear genome without mitosis, is a common process in plants, especially in angiosperms and mosses. Accumulating evidence supports the relationship between endoreduplication and plastic responses to stress factors. Here, we investigated the level of endoreduplication in Ceratodon (Bryophyta), which includes the model organism Ceratodon purpureus. METHODS: We used flow cytometry to estimate the DNA content of 294 samples from 67 localities and found three well-defined cytotypes, two haploids and one diploid, the haploids corresponding to C. purpureus and Ceratodon amazonum, and the diploid to Ceratodon conicus, recombination occurring between the former two. KEY RESULTS: The endoreduplication index (EI) was significantly different for each cytotype, being higher in the two haploids. In addition, the EI of the haploids was higher during the hot and dry periods typical of the Mediterranean summer than during spring, whereas the EI of the diploid cytotype did not differ between seasons. CONCLUSIONS: Endopolyploidy may be essential in haploid mosses to buffer periods of drought and to respond rapidly to desiccation events. Our results also suggest that the EI is closely related to the basic ploidy level, but less so to the nuclear DNA content as previously suggested.

The chemokine SDF-1alpha triggers CXCR4 receptor dimerization and activates the JAK/STAT pathway.

The chemokine stromal cell-derived factor (SDF-1alpha), the ligand for the CXCR4 receptor, induces a wide variety of effects that include calcium mobilization, chemotactic responses, bone marrow myelopoiesis, neuronal patterning, and prevention of HIV-1 infection. Nonetheless, little is known of the biochemical pathways required to achieve this variety of responses triggered after receptor-chemokine interaction. We developed a set of monoclonal antibodies that specifically recognize the CXCR4 receptor and used them to identify the signaling pathway activated after SDF-1alpha binding in human T cell lines. Here we demonstrate that SDF-1alpha activation promotes the physical association of Galpha(i) with the CXCR4. Furthermore, within seconds of SDF-1alpha activation, the CXCR4 receptor becomes tyrosine phosphorylated through the activation and association with the receptor of JAK2 and JAK3 kinases. After SDF-1alpha binding, JAK2 and JAK3 associate with CXCR4 and are activated, probably by transphosphorylation, in a Galpha(i)-independent manner. This activation enables the recruitment and tyrosine phosphorylation of several members of the STAT family of transcription factors. Finally, we have also observed SDF-1alpha-induced activation and association of the tyrosine phosphatase Shp1 with the CXCR4 in a Galpha(i)-dependent manner. As occurs with the cytokine receptors in response to cytokines, the CXCR4 undergoes receptor dimerization after SDF-1alpha binding and is a critical step in triggering biological responses. We present compelling evidence that the chemokines signal through mechanisms similar to those activated by cytokines.