Skeletal muscle metabolism in sea-acclimatized king penguins. I. Thermogenic mechanisms.

At fledging, king penguin juveniles undergo a major energetic challenge to overcome the intense and prolonged energy demands for thermoregulation and locomotion imposed by life in cold seas. Among other responses, sea acclimatization triggers fuel selection in skeletal muscle metabolism towards lipid oxidation in vitro, which is reflected by a drastic increase in lipid-induced thermogenesis in vivo However, the exact nature of skeletal muscle thermogenic mechanisms (shivering and/or non-shivering thermogenesis) remains undefined. The aim of the present study was to determine in vivo whether the capacity for non-shivering thermogenesis was enhanced by sea acclimatization. We measured body temperature, metabolic rate, heart rate and shivering activity in fully immersed king penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus) exposed to water temperatures ranging from 12 to 29°C. Results from terrestrial pre-fledging juveniles were compared with those from sea-acclimatized immature penguins (hereafter 'immatures'). The capacity for thermogenesis in water was as effective in juveniles as in immatures, while the capacity for non-shivering thermogenesis was not reinforced by sea acclimatization. This result suggests that king penguins mainly rely on skeletal muscle contraction (shivering or locomotor activity) to maintain endothermy at sea. Sea-acclimatized immature penguins also exhibited higher shivering efficiency and oxygen pulse (amount of oxygen consumed or energy expended per heartbeat) than pre-fledging juvenile birds. Such increase in shivering and cardiovascular efficiency may favor a more efficient activity-thermoregulatory heat substitution providing penguins with the aptitude to survive the tremendous energetic challenge imposed by marine life in cold circumpolar oceans.

TM9 family proteins control surface targeting of glycine-rich transmembrane domains.

TM9 family proteins (also named Phg1 proteins) have been previously shown to control cell adhesion by determining the cell surface localization of adhesion proteins such as the Dictyostelium SibA protein. Here, we show that the glycine-rich transmembrane domain (TMD) of SibA is sufficient to confer Phg1A-dependent surface targeting to a reporter protein. Accordingly, in Dictyostelium phg1A-knockout (KO) cells, proteins with glycine-rich TMDs were less efficiently transported out of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and to the cell surface. Phg1A, as well as its human ortholog TM9SF4 specifically associated with glycine-rich TMDs. In human cells, genetic inactivation of TM9SF4 resulted in an increased retention of glycine-rich TMDs in the endoplasmic reticulum, whereas TM9SF4 overexpression enhanced their surface localization. The bulk of the TM9SF4 protein was localized in the Golgi complex and a proximity-ligation assay suggested that it might interact with glycine-rich TMDs. Taken together, these results suggest that one of the main roles of TM9 proteins is to serve as intramembrane cargo receptors controlling exocytosis and surface localization of a subset of membrane proteins.

Daphnia magna, a host for evaluation of bacterial virulence.

We show that Daphnia magna can be used to assess acute virulence of pathogens relevant to human health, such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa or Photorhabdus asymbiotica. Analysis of bacterial mutants suggests that P. aeruginosa uses similar mechanisms to infect Daphnia and other hosts.

From the Cover: STIM1-induced precortical and cortical subdomains of the endoplasmic reticulum.

Store-operated calcium entry relies on the formation of a specialized compartment derived from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and closely apposed to the plasma membrane. In this study, detailed ultrastructural analysis revealed the existence of three distinct structures derived from conventional ER: precortical ER, cortical ER, and thin cortical ER. Precortical subdomains of the ER enriched in STIM1 can form without contacting the plasma membrane. Upon ER calcium depletion, these subdomains are translocated to the plasma membrane to form cortical ER, which is still connected to the conventional ER. Thin cortical ER, depleted of BiP and deprived of attached ribosomes, may represent a specialized region dedicated to calcium regulation and not engaged in protein translocation and folding. These observations form the basis for future structure-function analysis of cortical ER.

Lipid-induced thermogenesis is up-regulated by the first cold-water immersions in juvenile penguins.

The passage from shore to marine life is a critical step in the development of juvenile penguins and is characterized by a fuel selection towards lipid oxidation concomitant to an enhancement of lipid-induced thermogenesis. However, mechanisms of such thermogenic improvement at fledging remain undefined. We used two different groups of pre-fledging king penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus) to investigate the specific contribution of cold exposure during water immersion to lipid metabolism. Terrestrial penguins that had never been immersed in cold water were compared with experimentally cold-water immersed juveniles. Experimentally immersed penguins underwent ten successive immersions at approximately 9-10 °C for 5 h over 3 weeks. We evaluated adaptive thermogenesis by measuring body temperature, metabolic rate and shivering activity in fully immersed penguins exposed to water temperatures ranging from 12 to 29 °C. Both never-immersed and experimentally immersed penguins were able to maintain their homeothermy in cold water, exhibiting similar thermogenic activity. In vivo, perfusion of lipid emulsion at thermoneutrality induced a twofold larger calorigenic response in experimentally immersed than in never-immersed birds. In vitro, the respiratory rates and the oxidative phosphorylation efficiency of isolated muscle mitochondria were not improved with cold-water immersions. The present study shows that acclimation to cold water only partially reproduced the fuel selection towards lipid oxidation that characterizes penguin acclimatization to marine life.

Phg1/TM9 proteins control intracellular killing of bacteria by determining cellular levels of the Kil1 sulfotransferase in Dictyostelium.

Dictyostelium discoideum has largely been used to study phagocytosis and intracellular killing of bacteria. Previous studies have shown that Phg1A, Kil1 and Kil2 proteins are necessary for efficient intracellular killing of Klebsiella bacteria. Here we show that in phg1a KO cells, cellular levels of lysosomal glycosidases and lysozyme are decreased, and lysosomal pH is increased. Surprisingly, overexpression of Kil1 restores efficient killing in phg1a KO cells without correcting these lysosomal anomalies. Conversely, kil1 KO cells are defective for killing, but their enzymatic content and lysosomal pH are indistinguishable from WT cells. The killing defect of phg1a KO cells can be accounted for by the observation that in these cells the stability and the cellular amount of Kil1 are markedly reduced. Since Kil1 is the only sulfotransferase characterized in Dictyostelium, an (unidentified) sulfated factor, defective in both phg1a and kil1 KO cells, may play a key role in intracellular killing of Klebsiella bacteria. In addition, Phg1B plays a redundant role with Phg1A in controlling cellular amounts of Kil1 and intracellular killing. Finally, cellular levels of Kil1 are unaffected in kil2 KO cells, and Kil1 overexpression does not correct the killing defect of kil2 KO cells, suggesting that Kil2 plays a distinct role in intracellular killing.

TM9/Phg1 and SadA proteins control surface expression and stability of SibA adhesion molecules in Dictyostelium.

TM9 proteins form a family of conserved proteins with nine transmembrane domains essential for cellular adhesion in many biological systems, but their exact role in this process remains unknown. In this study, we found that genetic inactivation of the TM9 protein Phg1A dramatically decreases the surface levels of the SibA adhesion molecule in Dictyostelium amoebae. This is due to a decrease in sibA mRNA levels, in SibA protein stability, and in SibA targeting to the cell surface. A similar phenotype was observed in cells devoid of SadA, a protein that does not belong to the TM9 family but also exhibits nine transmembrane domains and is essential for cellular adhesion. A contact site A (csA)-SibA chimeric protein comprising only the transmembrane and cytosolic domains of SibA and the extracellular domain of the Dictyostelium surface protein csA also showed reduced stability and relocalization to endocytic compartments in phg1A knockout cells. These results indicate that TM9 proteins participate in cell adhesion by controlling the levels of adhesion proteins present at the cell surface.