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As the sensory systems of vertebrates develop prenatally, embryos perceive many environmental stimuli that can influence the ontogeny of their behaviour. Whether the nature and intensity of prenatal stimuli affect this ontogeny differently remains to be investigated. In this context, this study aimed to analyse the effects of prenatal auditory stimulation (natural stimulation, NS; predator vocalisations or artificial stimulation, AS; metallic sounds) on the subsequent behaviour of young Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica). For this, behavioural variables recorded during ethological tests evaluating emotional and social reactivity were analysed using a principal component analysis. This analysis revealed significant differences between the behavioural profile of stimulated chicks and that of non-exposed chicks. Indeed, chicks exposed to NS expressed more intense emotional responses in fearful situations, but less neophobia when exposed to a novel environment or object, whereas chicks exposed to AS appeared more sensitive to social isolation. Our results show that the acoustic environment of embryos can influence the way young birds subsequently interact with their social and physical environment after hatching, and face challenges in changing living conditions.

International audience; This study investigated the relationships between four behavioral and postural indicators of a compromised welfare state in loose boxes (stereotypies, aggressive behaviors toward humans, withdrawn posture reflecting unresponsiveness to the environment, and alert posture indicating hypervigilance) and the way horses perceived riding. This perception was inferred using a survey completed by the usual riding instructor and during a standardized riding session (assessment of behaviors and postures, qualitative behavior assessment (QBA) and characterization of the horses' locomotion using an inertial measurement unit). In accordance with ear and tail positions and the QBA, stereotypic and the most hypervigilant horses in loose boxes seemed to experience a more negative affective state during the riding session compared with nonstereotypic and less hypervigilant animals (P < .02 in all cases). Horses which were aggressive toward humans in loose boxes had higher scores regarding the occurrence of discomfort and defensive behaviors on the survey than nonaggressive horses (P = .03). They also presented higher dorsoventral accelerations at a canter during the riding session (P = .03), requiring the rider to increase his spinal movement (P = .005). These results suggest that aggressive horses may be harder to ride than nonaggressive animals. The expression of unresponsiveness to the environment in loose boxes was related to more reluctance to move forward, as assessed in the survey (P = .006). This study suggests that a compromised welfare state in the stable is related to horses having a more negative perception of riding. This perception could vary depending on the expression of poor welfare.

International audience; The positive aspect of emotions, like pleasure, remains overlooked in birds. Our aim was to contribute to the exploration of facial indicators of positive emotions. To observe contrasting emotional expressions, we used two lines of Japanese quail divergently selected on their inherent fearfulness: a fearful line (long tonic immobility duration: LTI) and a less fearful line (short tonic immobility duration: STI). To induce positive emotions, we gave individual quail the opportunity to perform a rewarding behaviour, dustbathing, in an unfamiliar cage. More STI than LTI quail expressed dustbathing and latencies to dustbathe were significantly shorter in STI than LTI quail. This result indicated that the lines of quail differed in their fearfulness of the situation. We observed crown feather height, throat feather angle and pupil surface before (control) and during dustbathing. We found significant increases in crown feather height, pupil area and angle of throat feathers between the control and the dustbathing phases in STI quail, and pupil area correlated positively with crown feather height. In LTI quail, the angle of throat feathers increased during dustbathing, but the other parameters did not differ. We argue that variation in crown feather height and pupil area may provide indications of positive emotions in Japanese quail.

In this study, we assessed whether prenatal exposure to elevated yolk steroid hormones can influence in ovo chemosensory learning and the behavior of domestic chicks. We simulated a maternal environmental challenge by experimentally enhancing yolk progesterone, testosterone, and estradiol concentrations in hen eggs prior to incubation. The embryos from these hormones-treated eggs (HO) as well as sham embryos (O) that had received the vehicle-only were exposed to the odor of fish oil (menhaden) between embryonic Days 11 and 20. An additional group of control embryos (C) was not exposed to the odor. All chicks were tested following hatching for their feeding preferences between foods that were or were not odorized with the menhaden odor. In the 3-min choice tests, the behavior of O chicks differed significantly according to the type of food whereas C and HO chicks showed no preference between odorized and non-odorized food. Our result suggests weaker response in HO chicks. In addition, HO chicks showed impaired growth and reduced intake of an unfamiliar food on the 24-h time scale compared to controls. Our data suggest that embryonic exposure to increased yolk hormone levels can alter growth, chemosensory learning, and the development of feeding behaviors.

Because of the increasing demand for raw cuts and processed products, there is a trend to producing very heavy broilers. Breeds that are used for such kinds of production have been intensively selected for growth rate and breast meat yield, and birds are reared for a longer period than standard broilers. This study was to evaluate the effects of increasing slaughter age on technical and economic factors, including production efficiency and environmental costs, bird welfare, and breast meat quality in a modern heavy broiler line. Five groups of 300 male Ross 708 chickens were reared until slaughter ages of 35, 42, 49, 56, or 63 d. Increasing age at slaughter from 35 to 63 d resulted in a 7.4-fold increase (P < 0.01) in mortality rate (5.21 vs. 0.70%). It also increased (P < 0.001) the slaughter weight and ADFI of birds 2.5- and 1.4-fold, respectively, without affecting their G:F. Under our experimental conditions, economic profit evaluated through the net gain reached a maximum at 42 d. The moisture and ammonium content of litter increased (P < 0.05 and P < 0.01, respectively) rapidly during rearing concomitantly with increased (P < 0.05) occurrence and severity of contact dermatitis and decreased (P < 0.05) walking ability and activity of birds. Thermal comfort also decreased (P < 0.05) greatly as early as 42 d of age. Changes in carcass quality occurred mainly between 35 and 56 d of age, with a progressive increase (P < 0.001) in breast and leg yield, whereas body fatness was barely affected by age. Major changes in breast meat traits were observed between 35 and 49 d of age, with an increase in muscle pH at 15 min (P < 0.01) and 24 h (P < 0.001) postmortem and reduced (P < 0.001) lightness and drip loss. The protein and lipid content of raw breast meat also increased (P < 0.05 and P < 0.01, respectively) with age. Taking into account the main aspects of sustainability, we could recommend slaughtering chickens of heavy line at 42 d of age.

Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) patients treated with imatinib develop frequent resistance generally due to a point mutation. Recently, large rearrangements of abl sequence have also been described. In this study, we focused on the complete deletion of exon 7. We screened for bcr-abldelexon7 in 63 resistant patients by high-resolution melting (HRM) analysis and direct sequencing. Moreover, we analyzed expression of abldelexon7 and bcr-abldelexon7 in 17 CML patients at diagnosis, 32 patients at resistance, and 20 negative controls by quantitative PCR or fragment length analysis. bcr-abldelexon7 was detected on 34 (54%) among 63 resistant patients by HRM, showing an increase in the sensitivity of screening, because only 3.2% could be detected by direct sequencing. This deletion was not associated with a point mutation (P = 0.3362). In addition, abldelexon7 was found in all tested samples with the same pattern of expression, suggesting an alternative splicing mechanism. In the bcr-abl component, there was no statistical difference between CML patients at diagnosis and resistant patients (P = 0.2815) as regarding bcr-abldelexon7 proportion, thus arguing against involvement of deletion in resistance. Moreover, among two patients harboring bcr-abldelexon7 at diagnosis, one experienced a complete disappearance of this transcript, and the other decreased >75% at resistance. In conclusion, bcr-abldelexon7 is frequently observed in CML patients when using sensitive techniques. It seems to be the result of an alternative splicing mechanism and to be independent from the occurrence of resistance. Mol Cancer Ther; 9(11); 3083–9. ©2010 AACR.

In several mammalian species, prenatal exposure to odours can elicit later positive consummatory behaviour in response to substrates bearing that odorant. In birds, the sense of smell has been considerably underestimated, and very little is known about the effects of early sensory experience on the regulation of feeding behaviour. We tested the hypothesis that the feeding behaviour of the domestic chicken could be regulated by olfactory learning during the embryonic life. To that end, chicken embryos were exposed to an olfactory stimulus (blend of essential oil of orange and nature identical vanillin) from embryonic day (ED) 12 to ED20, and chicks were tested between 4 and 9 d of age. In short-term choice tests, at day 4 and 5, chickens previously exposed to a low concentration (LC) of the olfactory stimulus spent a higher proportion of time eating a familiar or an unfamiliar food bearing the olfactory stimulus compared to non-exposed control chickens. Conversely, chickens previously exposed to a high concentration (HC) of the olfactory stimulus were found to avoid all foods bearing the olfactory stimulus. On a 24- h time scale at day 7-8, LC and HC birds, but not controls, ingest significantly less familiar food containing the olfactory stimulus. This result indicated a long-term effect of the early olfactory experience on feeding preferences. We demonstrated that chickens can utilize information from their pre-hatch chemosensory environment to guide their later feeding behaviour. A pre-hatch effect of the intensity of odour signals in the regulation of feeding behaviour is reported here for the first time.

Repeated encounters with unfamiliar conspecifics in large groups of domestic birds create a potentially stressful social environment which can affect the birds' emotional reactivity and consequently their welfare. As social relationships between young quail are particularly influenced by their social motivation (i.e., the motivation to seek close proximity with conspecifics), it is likely that the reaction of quail to repeated encounters with strangers depends on their social motivation. The aim of this study was to assess the emotional reactivity of quail chicks with high (HSR) or low (LSR) social motivation housed under stable and unstable social conditions. Quail chicks were housed either in stable pairs, i.e. remaining with the same cagemate until testing (N(HSR) = 19 and N(LSR) = 18 pairs), or in unstable pairs, i.e. changing cagemate daily from 6 to 13 days of age (N(HSR) 20 and N(LSR) = 19 pairs). Emotional reactivity was measured using a novel object test on day 14, and an emergence test and a tonic immobility test on day 15. The social condition affected the number of induction attempts of quail chicks in the tonic immobility test but only in the LSR ones. This number of inductions was lower under the stable than under the unstable social condition in this line. Moreover, the HSR chicks showed greater disturbance than the LSR ones in the three behavioural tests. In conclusion, social instability did not affect the emotional reactivity of HSR quail chicks, which was high, regardless of social condition. In contrast, repeated cagemate changes seemed to decrease the emotional reactivity of LSR quail chicks. These results suggest that low social motivation makes easier the adaptation to the potential social instability encountered in large flocks. (c) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Malgré les progrès de ces dernières années, la période de pré-abattage est une source de stress pour les animaux. Les procédés d’abattage nécessitent des regroupements et des mélanges d’animaux, l’enlèvement du milieu habituel et l’introduction dans des environnements non familiers, le transport, la manipulation par l’homme et le jeûne, et entraînent parfois des mauvaises conditions d’ambiance. Ils sont souvent générateurs de stress d’origine physique (fatigue, faim, douleur, inconfort physique) et psychologique (peur, stress social). Les techniques d’étourdissement sont parfois mal maîtrisées ou mal adaptées. Ces procédés entraînent des réponses comportementales, physiologiques et métaboliques qui sont utilisées pour évaluer le niveau de stress de l’animal. Afin de mieux respecter le bien-être animal à l’abattage, il est nécessaire d’élargir nos connaissances des causes de stress. L’effet négatif que peuvent avoir ces réponses sur les qualités des viandes est succinctement abordé.

L’élevage des poulets de chair s’est intensifié ces dernières décennies et de nombreux problèmes de bien-être animal sont apparus, en particulier chez les poulets standards et les reproducteurs à l’origine de ces croisements. Les poulets standards ont un niveau d’activité très faible et ils sont notamment atteints de troubles locomoteurs, de lésions cutanées et de pathologies cardio-vasculaires. Des solutions à ces altérations du bien-être peuvent être apportées en contrôlant des facteurs liés aux conduites d’élevage (densité, ventilation, aménagement de l’environnement, alimentation, lumière) et en utilisant des génotypes plus appropriés. Les reproducteurs, quant à eux, sont soumis à des programmes de rationnement sévères, entraînant de la faim et une frustration que l’on essaye de limiter par des moyens génétiques et alimentaires. Une directive européenne sur la protection des poulets de chair devrait voir le jour prochainement. Elle devrait reposer sur une obligation de résultats : la densité d’élevage pourrait être modulée en fonction des taux de mortalité et de lésions cutanées (pododermatites) mesurés à l’abattoir sur les bandes précédentes., Chicken farming has become more intensive over the last decades and numerous welfare problems have arisen, especially in broilers and broiler breeders. The activity level of broiler chickens is very low and they are often affected by skin lesions, leg problems or cardiovascular disease. Improvement in welfare can be achieved by better control of certain rearing factors (stocking density, ventilation, complexity of the environment, feeding, light) and by using genotypes that are better suited to the rearing environment. Broiler breeders are subject to severe feeding restrictions inducing hunger and frustration that can be alleviated by genetic and nutritional means. A directive laying down minimum rules for the protection of chickens kept for meat production will be published shortly. The maximum stocking density allowed could be adjusted according to rates of mortality and skin lesions (pododermatitis) measured at the slaughterhouse.

La notion de bien-être chez l’animal d’élevage n’a de sens que si on lui reconnaît la capacité à ressentir des émotions. Cependant, du fait de l’absence de langage verbal, le vécu émotionnel de l’animal est difficilement mesurable, ce qui a toujours rendu son étude délicate. Les travaux récents en psychologie cognitive montrent combien l’étude des interactions entre émotions et cognition est nécessaire pour accéder aux états affectifs de l’animal et tenter ainsi d’identifier les paramètres susceptibles d’affecter son bien-être. Ce texte comporte deux volets. Le premier volet s’appuie sur les théories de l’évaluation développées chez l’Homme, lesquelles suggèrent que le déclenchement des émotions résulte de processus cognitifs d’évaluation basés sur des critères élémentaires tels que la nouveauté et la prévisibilité. Sur la base de ce cadre théorique, nous avons engagé une approche sur les animaux d’élevage visant à définir les critères d’évaluation qu’ils utilisent, et à faciliter ainsi la compréhension de leurs émotions à partir de l’étude de la combinaison des critères impliqués. Le second volet de ce texte s’appuie sur les nombreuses études menées chez l’Homme et les animaux de laboratoire, qui suggèrent que les émotions peuvent en retour influencer les capacités cognitives de l’individu en altérant ses capacités attentionnelles et mnésiques. L’approfondissement de l’étude des interactions entre émotions et cognition offre donc de nouvelles perspectives de recherche pour mieux comprendre les conditions de bien-être des animaux en élevage., Assessment of farm animal welfare requires a good understanding of the animals' affective experience, including their emotions. However, this is difficult to measure because of the absence of verbal communication. Recent studies in the field of cognitive psychology have shown that affective states can be assessed through investigation of the interactions between emotions and cognition. On the one hand, theories of the way humans appraise situations provide a conceptual framework that suggests that emotions are triggered by cognitive appraisal processes based on few elementary criteria such as novelty and predictability. In accordance with appraisal theories, we have developed an experimental approach to study the elementary criteria used by farm animals to evaluate their environment and then express a given emotional response. On the other hand, an increasing number of studies in humans and animals suggest that emotions also influence cognitive processes by modifying attention, memory and judgement. Measurement and manipulation of cognitive processes may provide new insights into how emotions and more persistent affective states in animals can be assessed. Further work on these cognitive approaches will offer new paradigms for a better understanding of the welfare of farm animals.

Young domestic fowl chicks, Gallus gallus domesticus, discriminate between familiar and unfamiliar agemates. We investigated the retention of individual discrimination and the effects of social experience on such recognition memory. In the first series of experiments, chicks were paired with an initial social partner (I) for 22.5 or 42 h. These I pairs were then separated and each chick was housed with a new partner (Recent: R) for about 19 h. During subsequent tests, interactions between I partners did not differ from those of unfamiliar test pairs. However, chicks in R pairs pecked at their partners less frequently during the test trials and spent more time in physical contact than did unfamiliar pairs. Chicks in two additional experiments were similarly housed in pairs with an initial partner, then either isolated or housed with a new partner in an unlit room. After these treatment procedures, chicks in both experiments pecked at lower frequencies when tested with their I partner compared to an unfamiliar agemate. We conclude that retention of a memory trace of a social partner depends upon the chicks' intervening experience during the separation period. Exposure to a second individual interferes with the recognition memory of the first partner. Furthermore, the negative effect of the second partner on the retention of a memory trace of a previous partner depends on familiarization with the second partner's visual phenotype.

1. The aim of this study was to compare the behavioural and physiological responses to hanging and acute heat stress in three different chicken breeds. Chicks were obtained from a slow-growing French 'Label Rouge' line (SGL), a fast-growing standard line (FGL) and a heavy line (HL). The SGL, FGL and HL birds were slaughtered at their respective market ages of 12, 6 and 6 weeks, in an attempt to achieve similar body weights. Before stunning, birds were either shackled by their legs on the moving line for 2 min (shackling stress: SH) or placed in a room at 35 degrees C and 60% of humidity for 3.5 h and then shackled for 2 min (acute heat stress plus shackling: H + SH) or subjected to minimal stress by shackling for 10 s before stunning (control group: C). 2. Bird physiological responses to the three pre-slaughter treatments were estimated by measuring blood corticosterone, glycaemia, creatine kinase activity, acid-base status and electrolyte concentration as well as lactate content and glycolytic potential in the breast (Pectoralis major) and thigh (Ilio tibialis) muscles. Behavioural responses to shackling stress were evaluated by measuring wing flapping duration, straightening up attempts and vocalisations. 3. Blood corticosterone was higher in SH and H+SH groups than in the C group, regardless of genotype. The struggling activity on the shackle line differed among chicken breeds. It was more intense and occurred more rapidly after hanging in the SGL birds than in both other breeds. Furthermore, SGL struggling activity was not affected by hanging duration while it increased with hanging duration in FGL and HL birds. 4. Wing flapping duration was negatively correlated with blood pH, bicarbonate concentration and positively correlated with breast muscle lactate content, indicating that struggling stimulated antemortem glycolysis activity in breast muscle. Acute heat stress affected blood Ca2+ and Na+ concentration and increased glycaemia and glycolytic potential of thigh muscle. 5. Both acute heat stress and shackling before slaughter were experienced as stressful events by all types of birds.

A better understanding of the motivation of broiler chickens reared indoors to go to and remain in a different part of the pen (or not) could help to provide appropriate organisation of the rearing space on farms. This study was performed to determine whether broiler chickens reared in large pens (9m×5m) congregate in certain specific areas, and if so, where they congregate. The existence of lying areas was researched. Two areas were distinguished: one contained drinkers and feeders (DF area) and the other was free of equipment (Free area). In the first experiment the distribution (in the Free and DF areas) of two groups of chickens reared at a density of 2 birds/m 2 was compared in two pens with similar equipment to verify that the distributions obtained in each pen were similar. In the second experiment, the distributions of two groups of chickens reared at a density of 2 chickens/m 2 and two groups reared at a density of 15 chickens/m 2 were compared. The behaviour of 16 individually marked chickens per group was also assessed. Observations were performed by scan sampling method from weeks 4 to 6. The presence of cutaneous dermatitis and valgus and varus deformities was recorded at the end of the rearing period (day 42). The results indicated that chickens at the higher density mainly stayed and lay in the Free area. At the low density they preferred to stay and lie near drinkers and feeders and had limited use of the Free area. The presence of a large amount of available space in the Free area in the groups reared at 2 chickens/m 2 had no influence on the behaviours performed in this area as the frequencies of these behaviours were similar to those observed in the groups reared at 15 chickens/m 2 . The rearing density had a clear influence on the occurrence of foot pad and hock dermatitis but not on the occurrence of varus and valgus deformities. These results show that chickens spontaneously limited their physical effort and only rarely went to some parts of the pen when reared at low density. These results emphasise the need to find situations that could stimulate activities to avoid local densities that could have deleterious effects on health and comfort.

The present study was aimed at estimating the genetic variability between lines of breast and thigh meat quality (pH decline, color, drip loss, and curing-cooking yield) by comparing a slow-growing French label-type line (SGL) and a fast-growing standard line (FGL) of chickens exposed to different preslaughter stress conditions. The birds were slaughtered under optimal conditions or after exposure to 2 h of transport or acute-heat stress (2 h at 35 degrees C). Relationships between meat quality and stress sensitivity were investigated by measuring struggle during shackling and tonic immobility (TI) duration, 1 wk before slaughter, as an indicator of the basal level of fear of the birds. Although most of the meat quality indicators varied between the 2 lines, differences were muscle dependent. In concordance with a lower ultimate pH, curing-cooking yield of thigh meat was decreased for the FGL birds. In contrast, these birds had a higher curing-cooking yield and a lower drip loss of breast meat resulting from a less rapid pH decline in this muscle compared with SGL birds. Thigh meat characteristics were influenced by both preslaughter stresses, but no significant effects were detected for breast meat. The main effect of heat stress in thigh meat was a decrease of the ultimate pH and led to paler color and lower curing-cooking yield; opposite effects were obtained for transport. Breast meat was much more sensitive to physical activity of birds on the shackle line. Longer durations of wing flapping on the shackle line gave more rapid initial pH decline. Whatever the line, no relationship between TI duration and meat quality characteristics or activity was observed. The present study suggested that SGL birds could be at disadvantage due to more struggle during shackling and accelerated postmortem glycolysis, which is detrimental to the quality of breast meat.

Mutations in the X-linked methyl-CpG-binding protein 2 gene (MECP2) have been found to be a cause of Rett syndrome (RTT). In order to provide further insights into the distribution and the spectrum of mutations, we investigated, in addition to the whole coding sequence, a phylogenetically conserved sequence within the 3' untranslated region (3' UTR) of the MECP2 gene for 55 sporadic RTT, including 47 typical and 8 nonclassical cases. We have developed an approach based on conformation-sensitive gel electrophoresis, sequence analysis and, for the first time, Southern blot analysis. Mutation detection, including unreported gross DNA rearrangements, was achieved in 79% of classical RTT and 25% of nonclassical RTT patients. The high prevalence of recurrent mutations allows us to propose a molecular diagnosis strategy for RTT.

The reaction of ewes to food treated with amniotic fluid (AF) from other ewes, cows and goats, vs. untreated food (control) was tested around the time of parturition (from 24 h before until 4 h after parturition). Nine ewes were tested with both bovine and ovine AF and 12 additional ewes were tested with both caprine and ovine AF. Results confirm our previous study showing a repulsion in response to ovine AF before lambing, and an attraction toward this fluid at parturition that continues for at least 4 h. Ewes also appeared to be strongly repelled by bovine AF at all times as they never ate from the trough containing that fluid. Prior to parturition, ewes were also repelled by caprine AF: only two out of 12 females ate food damped with AF. This repulsion disappeared at parturition: nine out of 12 females ate from the AF trough. However, ewes spent more time consuming food mixed with ovine than with caprine AF (P = 0.01), indicating that they were more attracted to the former substance. Interest for caprine AF decreased 4 h after parturition, with only three out of 11 ewes feeding from the AF trough. The implications of the results for the possibility of fostering between species of ungulates were discussed.

Human growth hormone (hGH) is expressed by mammary epithelial cells and associated with proliferative disorders of the human breast. Our goal is to characterize the paracrine effects of hGH on morphological and functional changes of mammary carcinoma cells using MCF7 cells stably transfected with the hGH gene (MCFhGH). To identify the molecular actors involved in autocrine hGH-induced cell proliferation, we have used a protein chip technology using a commercial antibody microarray. The results enabled us to qualitatively characterize MCF-hGH cell's proteome from a panel of 500 proteins. Statistical analysis of variations in protein levels between the two cell lines did not highlight any significant differences. Thus, we concluded that variations in MCF-hGH proteome are more likely to reside in the activation status rather than drastic variations in the expression level of the 500 spotted proteins. To test this hypothesis, we confronted the protein chip result to the study of the regulation of the transcriptional factor Pax (Paired-box)-5 whose expression was not found to be altered on the protein chip. Surprisingly, we found that autocrine production of hGH in MCF7 cells was associated with a strong nuclear accumulation of Pax5 in a JAK2-dependent manner associated with an increase in Pax5-DNA binding activity. Our work indicates that subtle changes mediated by Pax5 are responsible for autocrine hGH-induced cell proliferation.

Human growth hormone (hGH) is expressed by mammary epithelial cells and associated with proliferative disorders of the human breast. Our goal is to characterize the paracrine effects of hGH on morphological and functional changes of mammary carcinoma cells using MCF7 cells stably transfected with the hGH gene (MCFhGH). To identify the molecular actors involved in autocrine hGH-induced cell proliferation, we have used a protein chip technology using a commercial antibody microarray. The results enabled us to qualitatively characterize MCF-hGH cell’s proteome from a panel of 500 proteins. Statistical analysis of variations in protein levels between the two cell lines did not highlight any significant differences. Thus, we concluded that variations in MCF-hGH proteome are more likely to reside in the activation status rather than drastic variations in the expression level of the 500 spotted proteins. To test this hypothesis, we confronted the protein chip result to the study of the regulation of the transcriptional factor Pax (Paired-box)-5 whose expression was not found to be altered on the protein chip. Surprisingly, we found that autocrine production of hGH in MCF7 cells was associated with a strong nuclear accumulation of Pax5 in a JAK2-dependent manner associated with an increase in Pax5-DNA binding activity. Our work indicates that subtle changes mediated by Pax5 are responsible for autocrine hGH-induced cell proliferation.

Here we describe the molecular cloning of human cyclin B3, its localization, and its structure. It is localized in the subcentromeric region of the X chromosome, still not completely sequenced by the Human Genome Project. This cyclin B3 is unusually large for a mitotic cyclin. Its mRNAs were found in all tissues and were particularly abundant in testis. At least three splice variants were found in the ORF and three variants in the 5′UTR.

Acute promyelocytic leukaemia (APL) exhibits a characteristic t(15;17) translocation that fuses the promyelocytic leukaemia (PML) gene on 15q22 to the retinoic acid receptor alpha (RARA) gene on 17q12-q21.1. In a small subset of acute promyelocytic-like leukaemias (APL-L), RARA is fused to a different partner: the pro-myelocytic leukaemia zinc finger (PLZF) gene on 11q23, the nucleophosmin (NPM) gene on 5q35 or the nuclear mitotic apparatus (NuMA) gene on 11q13. We report on the molecular characterization of a RARA gene re-arrangement in a patient with APL-L and demonstrate that the signal transducer and activator of transcription STAT5b gene is fused with RARA. STAT5b belongs to the janus kinase (JAK)-STAT signalling pathway. Remarkably, the STAT5b component of the chimeric protein is delocalized from the cytoplasm to the nucleus, where it displays a microspeckled pattern. Therefore, unusual features of this APL-L might result from dysregulation of the JAK/STAT5 signal transducing pathways in the patient leukaemic cells. In this study, we identified STAT5b as a new gene fused to RARA in leukaemia; this is the first human tumour bearing a structurally abnormal STAT gene.

La microdissection chromosomique est une technique de cytogenetique moleculaire tres performante dans l'analyse des aberrations chromosomiques complexes associees aux malformations congenitales, aux affections accompagnees d'un retard mental ou observees au cours des cancers. Elle occupe, en outre, une place a part entiere dans le domaine de la recherche en genetique chromosomique et tout particulierement dans la cartographie physique du genome et l'isolement de nouveaux genes.

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Poultry production will have to be increased in the future to meet the demands of the growing human population. This will increase the pressure on land use to produce cereals and proteins used in poultry diets and also the environmental pressure due to the increase of manure produced by these birds. Selecting birds able to digest more varied and less optimal diets could be a way to minimize these negative impacts of poultry production. Selection for digestive efficiency using a diet difficult to digest has been shown to be efficient to increase the proportion of poor quality feedstuffs in the diet. In this study, to prevent negative effects that could occur on non-selected traits, we evaluate the impact of this selection on a wide range of traits related to the economic, social and environmental pillars of sustainability. This was achieved on 846 chickens issued from selection for high (D+) or low (D-) digestive efficiency fed either a classical corn+soybean diet or an alternative wheat+sunflower meal diet. Multifactorial correspondence analyses were realized on each pillar of sustainability. For the economic pillar, we recorded growth, feed consumption, feed efficiency, digestibility of phosphorus, anatomy of the digestive tract, and meat quality. For the environmental pillar, we recorded quantity of litter and temperature, humidity, nitrogen, and ammonia and phosphorus content of the litter. For the social pillar, we measured normal animal behavior, presence of dermatitis, bone yield and mineralization and susceptibility to coccidiosis and to colibacillosis. Our results showed that 1) the D+ birds have a positive impact on economic and environmental traits, with better efficiency, lower consumption, and less manure production; 2) the two lines were not different on behavior and health traits, apart from a better bone yield in D+ line and 3) the D- birds were more sensitive to the diet than D+ birds.