TY - JOUR AB - Artificial light at night (ALAN) threatens natural ecosystems globally. While ALAN research is increasing, little is known about how ALAN affects plants and interactions with other organisms. We explored the effects of ALAN on plant defence and plant-insect interactions using barley (Hordeum vulgare) and the English grain aphid (Sitobion avenae). Plants were exposed to 'full' or 'part' nights of 15-20 lux ALAN, or no ALAN 'control' nights, to test the effects of ALAN on plant growth and defence. Although plant growth was only minimally affected by ALAN, aphid colony growth and aphid maturation were reduced significantly by ALAN treatments. Importantly, we found strong differences between full-night and part-night ALAN treatments. Contrary to our expectations, part ALAN had stronger negative effects on aphid colony growth than full ALAN. Defence-associated gene expression was affected in some cases by ALAN, but also positively correlated with aphid colony size, suggesting that the effects of ALAN on plant defences are indirect, and regulated via direct disruption of aphid colonies rather than via ALAN-induced upregulation of defences. Mitigating ecological side effects of ALAN is a complex problem, as reducing exposure to ALAN increased its negative impact on insect herbivores. This article is part of the theme issue 'Light pollution in complex ecological systems'. AU - Heinen, R.* AU - Sanchez-Mahecha, O.* AU - Martijn Bezemer, T.* AU - Dominoni, D.M.* AU - Knappe, C. AU - Kollmann, J.* AU - Kopatsch, A. AU - Pfeiffer, Z.A.* AU - Schloter, M. AU - Sturm, S.* AU - Schnitzler, J.-P. AU - Vlot, A.C. AU - Weisser, W.W.* C1 - 68686 C2 - 54895 CY - 6-9 Carlton House Terrace, London Sw1y 5ag, England TI - Part-night exposure to artificial light at night has more detrimental effects on aphid colonies than fully lit nights. JO - Philos. Trans. R. Soc. B - Biol. Sci. VL - 378 IS - 1892 PB - Royal Soc PY - 2023 SN - 0962-8436 ER - TY - JOUR AB - Our perception of the role of the previously considered 'selfish' or 'junk' DNA has been dramatically altered in the past 20 years or so. A large proportion of this non-coding part of mammalian genomes is repetitive in nature, classified as either satellites or transposons. While repetitive elements can be termed selfish in terms of their amplification, such events have surely been co-opted by the host, suggesting by itself a likely altruistic function for the organism at the subject of such natural selection. Indeed numerous examples of transposons regulating the functional output of the host genome have been documented. Transposons provide a powerful framework for large-scale relatively rapid concerted regulatory activities with the ability to drive evolution. Mammalian totipotency has emerged as one key stage of development in which transposon-mediated regulation of gene expression has taken centre stage in the past few years. During this period, large-scale (epigenetic) reprogramming must be accomplished in order to activate the host genome. In mice and men, one particular element murine endogenous retrovirus with leucine tRNA primer (MERVL) (and its counterpart human ERVL (HERVL)) appears to have acquired roles as a key driving force in this process. Here, I will discuss and interpret the current knowledge and its implications regarding the role of transposons, particularly of long interspersed nuclear elements (LINE-1s) and endogenous retroviruses (ERVs), in the regulation of totipotency.This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'Crossroads between transposons and gene regulation'. AU - Torres-Padilla, M.E. C1 - 58353 C2 - 48398 CY - 6-9 Carlton House Terrace, London Sw1y 5ag, England TI - On transposons and totipotency. JO - Philos. Trans. R. Soc. B - Biol. Sci. VL - 375 IS - 1795 PB - Royal Soc PY - 2020 SN - 0962-8436 ER - TY - JOUR AB - Hepatitis B and C viruses are a global health problem causing acute and chronic infections that can lead to liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). These infections are the leading cause for HCC worldwide and are associated with significant mortality, accounting for more than 1.3 million deaths per year. Owing to its high incidence and resistance to treatment, liver cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide, with HCC representing approximately 90% of all primary liver cancer cases. The majority of viral-associated HCC cases develop in subjects with liver cirrhosis; however, hepatitis B virus infection can promote HCC development without prior end-stage liver disease. Thus, understanding the role of hepatitis B and C viral infections in HCC development is essential for the future design of treatments and therapies for this cancer. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge on hepatitis B and C virus hepatocarcinogenesis and highlight direct and indirect risk factors. This article is part of the themed issue 'Human oncogenic viruses'. AU - Ringelhan, M. AU - McKeating, J.A.* AU - Protzer, U. C1 - 51916 C2 - 43571 CY - London TI - Viral hepatitis and liver cancer. JO - Philos. Trans. R. Soc. B - Biol. Sci. VL - 372 IS - 1732 PB - Royal Soc PY - 2017 SN - 0962-8436 ER - TY - JOUR AB - Species diversity promotes the delivery of multiple ecosystem functions (multifunctionality). However, the relative functional importance of rare and common species in driving the biodiversity-multifunctionality relationship remains unknown. We studied the relationship between the diversity of rare and common species (according to their local abundances and across nine different trophic groups), and multifunctionality indices derived from 14 ecosystem functions on 150 grasslands across a land-use intensity (LUI) gradient. The diversity of above- and below-ground rare species had opposite effects, with rare above-ground species being associated with high levels of multifunctionality, probably because their effects on different functions did not trade off against each other. Conversely, common species were only related to average, not high, levels of multifunctionality, and their functional effects declined with LUI. Apart from the community-level effects of diversity, we found significant positive associations between the abundance of individual species and multifunctionality in 6% of the species tested. Species-specific functional effects were best predicted by their response to LUI: species that declined in abundance with land use intensification were those associated with higher levels of multifunctionality. Our results highlight the importance of rare species for ecosystem multifunctionality and help guiding future conservation priorities. AU - Soliveres, S.* AU - Manning, P.* AU - Prati, D.* AU - Gossner, M.M.* AU - Alt, F.* AU - Arndt, H.* AU - Baumgartner, V.* AU - Binkenstein, J.* AU - Birkhofer, K.* AU - Blaser, S.* AU - Blüthgen, N.* AU - Boch, S.* AU - Böhm, S.* AU - Börschig, C.* AU - Buscot, F.* AU - Diekötter, T.* AU - Heinze, J.* AU - Hölzel, N.* AU - Jung, K.* AU - Klaus, V.H.* AU - Klein, A.M.* AU - Kleinebecker, T.* AU - Klemmer, S.* AU - Krauss, J.* AU - Lange, M.* AU - Morris, E.K.* AU - Müller, J.* AU - Oelmann, Y.* AU - Overmann, J.* AU - Pašalić, E.* AU - Renner, S.C.* AU - Rillig, M.C.* AU - Schaefer, H.M.* AU - Schloter, M. AU - Schmitt, B.* AU - Schöning, I.* AU - Schrumpf, M.* AU - Sikorski, J.* AU - Socher, S.A.* AU - Solly, E.F.* AU - Sonnemann, I.* AU - Sorkau, E.* AU - Steckel, J.* AU - Steffan-Dewenter, I.* AU - Stempfhuber, B. AU - Tschapka, M.* AU - Türke, M.* AU - Venter, P.* AU - Weiner, C.N.* AU - Weisser, W.W.* AU - Werner, M.* AU - Westphal, C.* AU - Wilcke, W.* AU - Wolters, V.* AU - Wubet, T.* AU - Wurst, S.H.* AU - Fischer, M.* AU - Allan, E.* C1 - 48487 C2 - 41103 CY - London TI - Locally rare species influence grassland ecosystem multifunctionality. JO - Philos. Trans. R. Soc. B - Biol. Sci. VL - 371 IS - 1694 PB - Royal Soc PY - 2016 SN - 0962-8436 ER - TY - JOUR AB - To prevent epidemics, insect societies have evolved collective disease defences that are highly effective at curing exposed individuals and limiting disease transmission to healthy group members. Grooming is an important sanitary behaviour-either performed towards oneself (self-grooming) or towards others (allogrooming)-to remove infectious agents from the body surface of exposed individuals, but at the risk of disease contraction by the groomer. We use garden ants (Lasius neglectus) and the fungal pathogen Metarhizium as a model system to study how pathogen presence affects self-grooming and allogrooming between exposed and healthy individuals. We develop an epidemiological SIS model to explore how experimentally observed grooming patterns affect disease spread within the colony, thereby providing a direct link between the expression and direction of sanitary behaviours, and their effects on colony-level epidemiology. We find that fungus-exposed ants increase self-grooming, while simultaneously decreasing allogrooming. This behavioural modulation seems universally adaptive and is predicted to contain disease spread in a great variety of host-pathogen systems. In contrast, allogrooming directed towards pathogen-exposed individuals might both increase and decrease disease risk. Our model reveals that the effect of allogrooming depends on the balance between pathogen infectiousness and efficiency of social host defences, which are likely to vary across host-pathogen systems. AU - Theis, F.J. AU - Ugelvig, L.V.* AU - Marr, C. AU - Cremer, S.* C1 - 44392 C2 - 36873 CY - London TI - Opposing effects of allogrooming on disease transmission in ant societies. JO - Philos. Trans. R. Soc. B - Biol. Sci. VL - 370 IS - 1669 PB - Royal Soc PY - 2015 SN - 0962-8436 ER - TY - JOUR AB - Cataracts (opacities of the lens) are frequent in the elderly, but rare in paediatric practice. Congenital cataracts (in industrialized countries) are mainly caused by mutations affecting lens development. Much of our knowledge about the underlying mechanisms of cataractogenesis has come from the genetic analysis of affected families: there are contributions from genes coding for transcription factors (such as FoxE3, Maf, Pitx3) and structural proteins such as crystallins or connexins. In addition, there are contributions from enzymes affecting sugar pathways (particularly the galactose pathway) and from a quite unexpected area: axon guidance molecules like ephrins and their receptors. Cataractous mouse lenses can be identified easily by visual inspection, and a remarkable number of mutant lines have now been characterized. Generally, most of the mouse mutants show a similar phenotype to their human counterparts; however, there are some remarkable differences. It should be noted that many mutations affect genes that are expressed not only in the lens, but also in tissues and organs outside the eye. There is increasing evidence for pleiotropic effects of these genes, and increasing consideration that cataracts may act as early and readily detectable biomarkers for a number of systemic syndromes. AU - Churchill, A.* AU - Graw, J. C1 - 6652 C2 - 29042 CY - London, UK SP - 1234-1249 TI - Clinical and experimental advances in congenital and paediatric cataracts. JO - Philos. Trans. R. Soc. B - Biol. Sci. VL - 366 IS - 1568 PB - Royal Soc. PY - 2011 SN - 0962-8436 ER - TY - JOUR AB - Depending on the species and the developmental stage of B cells, activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID) triggers immunoglobulin (Ig) gene diversification by gene conversion, hypermutation or switch recombination. The bursal B cell line DT40 usually diversifies its rearranged Ig light chain (IgL) gene by gene conversion, but disruption of the RAD51 gene paralogues or deletion of the psiV conversion donors induces hypermutation. Although not all aspects of somatic hypermutation can be studied in DT40, the compact size of the chicken IgL locus and the ability to modify the genome by targeted integration are powerful experimental advantages. We review here how the studies in DT40 contributed to understanding how AID initiates Ig gene diversification and how AID-induced uracils are subsequently processed by uracil DNA glycosylase, proliferating cell nuclear antigens and error-prone polymerases. We also discuss the on-going research on the Ig locus specificity of hypermutation and the possibility of using hypermutation for the artificial evolution of proteins and regulatory sequences in DT40. AU - Arakawa, H. AU - Buerstedde, J.-M. C1 - 5078 C2 - 25900 SP - 639-644 TI - Activation-induced cytidine deaminase-mediated hypermutation in the DT40 cell line. JO - Philos. Trans. R. Soc. B - Biol. Sci. VL - 364(517) IS - 1517 PB - Royal Society of London PY - 2008 SN - 0962-8436 ER - TY - JOUR AU - Bornkamm, G.W. AU - Hammerschmidt, W. C1 - 21830 C2 - 20042 SP - 437-459 TI - Molecular virology of Epstein-Barr virus. JO - Philos. Trans. R. Soc. B - Biol. Sci. VL - 356 PY - 2001 SN - 0962-8436 ER -