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Bone Morphogenetic Proteins (BMP) are secreted regulators of cell fate in several developing tissues. In the embryonic spinal cord, they control the emergence of the neural crest, roof plate and distinct subsets of dorsal interneurons. Although a gradient of BMP activity has been proposed to determine cell type identity invivo, whether this is sufficient for pattern formation invitrois unclear. Here, we demonstrate that exposure to BMP4 initiates distinct spatial dynamics of BMP signalling within the self-emerging epithelia of both mouse and human pluripotent stem cells derived spinal organoids. The pattern of BMP signalling results in the stereotyped spatial arrangement of dorsal neural tube cell types and concentration, timing and duration of BMP4 exposure modulate these patterns. Moreover, differences in the duration of competence time-windows between mouse and human account for the species specific tempo of neural differentiation. Together the study describes efficient methods to generate patterned subsets of dorsal interneurons in spinal organoids and supports the conclusion that graded BMP activity orchestrates the spatial organization of the dorsal neural tube cellular diversity in mouse and human.

International audience; Plasmodium sporozoites are deposited in the host skin by Anopheles mosquitoes. The parasites migrate from the dermis to the liver, where they invade hepatocytes through a moving junction (MJ) to form a replicative parasitophorous vacuole (PV). Malaria sporozoites need to traverse cells during progression through host tissues, a process requiring parasite perforin-like protein 1 (PLP1). We find that sporozoites traverse cells inside transient vacuoles that precede PV formation. Sporozoites initially invade cells inside transient vacuoles by an active MJ-independent process that does not require vacuole membrane remodeling or release of parasite secretory organelles typically involved in invasion. Sporozoites use pH sensing and PLP1 to exit these vacuoles and avoid degradation by host lysosomes. Next, parasites enter the MJ-dependent PV, which has a different membrane composition, precluding lysosome fusion. The malaria parasite has thus evolved different strategies to evade host cell defense and establish an intracellular niche for replication.

Production of ROS by the leukocyte NADPH oxidase is essential for the destruction of pathogenic bacteria inside phagosomes. The enzyme is a complex of cytosolic and membranous subunits that need to assemble upon activation. Biochemical data suggest that the complex is renewed continuously during activity. Furthermore, it is generally assumed that complex assembly and activity occur in parallel. However, information about the oxidase assembly in individual phagosomes in live cells is scarce. We studied the dynamic behavior of the crucial cytosolic NADPH oxidase component p67phox during phagocytosis by videomicroscopy. p67phox is involved in the regulation of electron flow from NADPH to oxygen, leading to superoxide radical formation inside the phagosome. p67phox-citrine, expressed in myeloid PLB-985 cells, accumulated at the phagosomal membrane during phagocytosis of yeast particles. Using photobleaching techniques (FRAP, FLIP), we demonstrated that p67phox-citrine diffused freely in this phagosomal membrane, but the phagosomal pool of p67phox-citrine did not exchange with the cytosolic pool. This result suggests that once assembled in the NADPH oxidase complex, p67phox is stable in this complex. Furthermore, the time of the presence of p67phox-citrine at the phagosome increased substantially in the presence of complement in the opsonizing serum compared with decomplemented serum. PI(3)P also accumulated around phagosomes for twice as long in the presence of complement. The presence of p67phox-citrine was correlated with the duration of phagosomal ROS production in different opsonization conditions. These data support the critical role of p67phox for ROS production on the level of individual phagosomes.

The Nup107-160 nuclear pore subcomplex (Y-complex) and the chromatin-binding nucleoporin Elys dynamically colocalize with Nup98 and the export factor CRM1 in nuclear GLFG bodies present in HeLa sublines. Thus, in addition to its structural role at the NPC and its mitotic functions, the Y-complex may also act inside the nucleus during interphase., Nup98 is a glycine-leucine-phenylalanine-glycine (GLFG) repeat–containing nucleoporin that, in addition to nuclear transport, contributes to multiple aspects of gene regulation. Previous studies revealed its dynamic localization within intranuclear structures known as GLFG bodies. Here we show that the mammalian Nup107-160 complex (Y-complex), a major scaffold module of the nuclear pore, together with its partner Elys, colocalizes with Nup98 in GLFG bodies. The frequency and size of GLFG bodies vary among HeLa sublines, and we find that an increased level of Nup98 is associated with the presence of bodies. Recruitment of the Y-complex and Elys into GLFG bodies requires the C-terminal domain of Nup98. During cell division, Y-Nup–containing GLFG bodies are disassembled in mitotic prophase, significantly ahead of nuclear pore disassembly. FRAP studies revealed that, unlike at nuclear pores, the Y-complex shuttles into and out of GLFG bodies. Finally, we show that within the nucleoplasm, a fraction of Nup107, a key component of the Y-complex, displays reduced mobility, suggesting interaction with other nuclear components. Together our data uncover a previously neglected intranuclear pool of the Y-complex that may underscore a yet-uncharacterized function of these nucleoporins inside the nucleus, even in cells that contain no detectable GLFG bodies.

Cirrhosis is a lesion at risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Identifying mechanisms associated with the transition from cirrhosis to HCC and characterizing biomarkers of cirrhosis at high risk of developing into cancer are crucial for improving early diagnosis and prognosis of HCC. We used MALDI imaging to compare mass spectra obtained from tissue sections of cirrhosis without HCC, cirrhosis with HCC, and HCC, and a top-down proteomics approach to characterize differential biomarkers. We identified a truncated form of monomeric ubiquitin lacking the two C-terminal glycine residues, Ubi(1-74), the level of which increased progressively, from cirrhosis without HCC to cirrhosis with HCC to HCC. We showed that kallikrein-related peptidase 6 (KLK6) catalysed the production of Ubi(1-74) from monomeric ubiquitin. Furthermore, we demonstrated that KLK6 was induced de novo in cirrhosis and increased in HCC in parallel with accumulation of Ubi(1-74). We investigated in vitro the possible consequences of Ubi(1-74) accumulation and demonstrated that Ubi(1-74) interferes with the normal ubiquitination machinery in what is likely to be a kinetic process. Our data suggest that de novo KLK6 expression during early liver carcinogenesis may induce production of Ubi(1-74) by post-translational modification of ubiquitin. Given the deleterious effect of Ubi(1-74) on protein ubiquitination and the major role of ubiquitin machinery in maintenance of cell homeostasis, Ubi(1-74) might severely impact a number of critical cellular functions during transition from cirrhosis to cancer. Ubi(1-74) and KLK6 may serve as markers of cancer risk in patients with cirrhosis.

Because stem cells are often found to improve repair tissue including heart without evidence of engraftment or differentiation, mechanisms underlying wound healing are still elusive. Several studies have reported that stem cells can fuse with cardiomyocytes either by permanent or partial cell fusion processes. However, the respective physiological impact of these two processes remains unknown in part because of the lack of knowledge of the resulting hybrid cells. To further characterize cell fusion, we cocultured mouse fully differentiated cardiomyocytes with human multipotent adipose-derived stem (hMADS) cells as a model of adult stem cells. We found that heterologous cell fusion promoted cardiomyocyte reprogramming back to a progenitor-like state. The resulting hybrid cells expressed early cardiac commitment and proliferation markers such as GATA-4, myocyte enhancer factor 2C, Nkx2.5, and Ki67 and exhibited a mouse genotype. Interestingly, human bone marrow-derived stem cells shared similar reprogramming properties than hMADS cells but not human fibroblasts, which suggests that these features might be common to multipotent cells. Furthermore, cardiac hybrid cells were preferentially generated by partial rather than permanent cell fusion and that intercellular structures composed of f-actin and microtubule filaments were involved in the process. Finally, we showed that stem cell mitochondria were transferred into cardiomyocytes, persisted in hybrids and were required for somatic cell reprogramming. In conclusion, by providing new insights into previously reported cell fusion processes, our data might contribute to a better understanding of stem cell-mediated regenerative mechanisms and thus, the development of more efficient stem cell-based heart therapies.