Colletotrichum species are fungal pathogens that devastate crop plants worldwide. Host infection involves the differentiation of specialized cell types that are associated with penetration, growth inside living host cells (biotrophy) and tissue destruction (necrotrophy). We report here genome and transcriptome analyses of Colletotrichum higginsianum infecting Arabidopsis thaliana and Colletotrichum graminicola infecting maize. Comparative genomics showed that both fungi have large sets of pathogenicity-related genes, but families of genes encoding secreted effectors, pectin-degrading enzymes, secondary metabolism enzymes, transporters and peptidases are expanded in C. higginsianum. Genome-wide expression profiling revealed that these genes are transcribed in successive waves that are linked to pathogenic transitions: effectors and secondary metabolism enzymes are induced before penetration and during biotrophy, whereas most hydrolases and transporters are upregulated later, at the switch to necrotrophy. Our findings show that preinvasion perception of plant-derived signals substantially reprograms fungal gene expression and indicate previously unknown functions for particular fungal cell types

BackgroundMembrane proteins form key nodes in mediating the cell's interaction with the surroundings, which is one of the main reasons why the majority of drug targets are membrane proteins.ResultsHere we mined the human proteome and identified the membrane proteome subset using three prediction tools for alpha-helices: Phobius, TMHMM, and SOSUI. This dataset was reduced to a non-redundant set by aligning it to the human genome and then clustered with our own interactive implementation of the ISODATA algorithm. The genes were classified and each protein group was manually curated, virtually evaluating each sequence of the clusters, applying systematic comparisons with a range of databases and other resources. We identified 6,718 human membrane proteins and classified the majority of them into 234 families of which 151 belong to the three major functional groups: receptors (63 groups, 1,352 members), transporters (89 groups, 817 members) or enzymes (7 groups, 533 members). Also, 74 miscellaneous groups with 697 members were determined. Interestingly, we find that 41% of the membrane proteins are singlets with no apparent affiliation or identity to any human protein family. Our results identify major differences between the human membrane proteome and the ones in unicellular organisms and we also show a strong bias towards certain membrane topologies for different functional classes: 77% of all transporters have more than six helices while 60% of proteins with an enzymatic function and 88% receptors, that are not GPCRs, have only one single membrane spanning α-helix. Further, we have identified and characterized new gene families and novel members of existing families.ConclusionHere we present the most detailed roadmap of gene numbers and families to our knowledge, which is an important step towards an overall classification of the entire human proteome. We estimate that 27% of the total human proteome are alpha-helical transmembrane proteins and provide an extended classification together with in-depth investigations of the membrane proteome's functional, structural, and evolutionary features.

Memory type 1 T helper (TH1) cells are characterized by the stable expression of interferon (IFN)-γ as well as by the epigenetic imprinting of the IFNG locus. Among innate cells, NK cells play a crucial role in the defense against cytomegalovirus (CMV) and represent the main source of IFN-γ. Recently, it was shown that memory-like features can be observed in NK cell subsets after CMV infection. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying NK cell adaptive properties have not been completely defined. In the present study, we demonstrated that only NKG2Chi NK cells expanded in human CMV (HCMV) seropositive individuals underwent epigenetic remodeling of the IFNG conserved non-coding sequence (CNS) 1, similar to memory CD8+ T cells or TH1 cells. The accessibility of the CNS1 was required to enhance IFN-γ transcriptional activity in response to NKG2C and 2B4 engagement, which led to consistent IFN-γ production in NKG2Chi NK cells. Thus, our data identify epigenetic imprinting of the IFNG locus as selective hallmark and crucial mechanism driving strong and stable IFN-γ expression in HCMV-specific NK cell expansions, providing a molecular basis for the regulation of adaptive features in innate cells.

Multiple Inputs to Flowering Perennial plants need to cycle through an extended vegetative phase, in a process known as vernalization, before they initiate flowering. Bergonzi et al. (p. 1094 ) and Zhou et al. (p. 1097 ) studied how molecular signals translate environmental information—such as exposure to a winter season or changes in daylength and physiological information, such as age of the plant—into signals that promote flowering. In both Arabis alpina and Cardamine flexuosa , age and vernalization pathways are integrated through the regulation of microRNAs miR156 and miR172.

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