Sodium Selenide Toxicity Is Mediated by O2-Dependent DNA Breaks

Hydrogen selenide is a recurrent metabolite of selenium compounds. However, few experiments studied the direct link between this toxic agent and cell death. To address this question, we first screened a systematic collection of Saccharomyces cerevisiae haploid knockout strains for sensitivity to sodium selenide, a donor for hydrogen selenide (H2Se/HSe−/Se2−). Among the genes whose deletion caused hypresensitivity, homologous recombination and DNA damage checkpoint genes were over-represented, suggesting that DNA double-strand breaks are a dominant cause of hydrogen selenide toxicity. Consistent with this hypothesis, treatment of S. cerevisiae cells with sodium selenide triggered G2/M checkpoint activation and induced in vivo chromosome fragmentation. In vitro, sodium selenide directly induced DNA phosphodiester-bond breaks via an O2-dependent reaction. The reaction was inhibited by mannitol, a hydroxyl radical quencher, but not by superoxide dismutase or catalase, strongly suggesting the involvement of hydroxyl radicals and ruling out participations of superoxide anions or hydrogen peroxide. The •OH signature could indeed be detected by electron spin resonance upon exposure of a solution of sodium selenide to O2. Finally we showed that, in vivo, toxicity strictly depended on the presence of O2. Therefore, by combining genome-wide and biochemical approaches, we demonstrated that, in yeast cells, hydrogen selenide induces toxic DNA breaks through an O2-dependent radical-based mechanism

Sponge prokaryote communities in Taiwanese coral reef and shallow hydrothermal vent ecosystems

Previously, it was believed that the prokaryote communities of typical ‘low-microbial abundance’ (LMA) or ‘non-symbiont harboring’ sponges were merely subsets of the prokaryote plankton community. Recent research has, however, shown that these sponges are dominated by particular clades of Proteobacteria or Cyanobacteria. Here, we expand on this research and assess the composition and putative functional profiles of prokaryotic communities from LMA sponges collected in two ecosystems (coral reef and hydrothermal vent) from vicinal islands of Taiwan with distinct physicochemical conditions. Six sponge species identified as Acanthella cavernosa (Bubarida), Echinodictyum asperum, Ptilocaulis spiculifer (Axinellida), Jaspis splendens (Tetractinellida), Stylissa carteri (Scopalinida) and Suberites sp. (Suberitida) were sampled in coral reefs in the Penghu archipelago. One sponge species provisionally identified as Hymeniacidon novo spec. (Suberitida) was sampled in hydrothermal vent habitat. Each sponge was dominated by a limited set of operational taxonomic units which were similar to sequences from organisms previously obtained from other LMA sponges. There was a distinct bacterial community between sponges collected in coral reef and in hydrothermal vents. The putative functional profile revealed that the prokaryote community from sponges collected in hydrothermal vents was significantly enriched for pathways related to DNA replication and repair.publishe

Error Analysis of Weekly Station Coordinates in the DORIS Network

Twelve years of DORIS data from 31 selected sites of the IGN/JPL (Institut Géographique National/Jet Propulsion Laboratory) solution IGNWD05 have been analysed using maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) in an attempt to understand the nature of the noise in the weekly station coordinate time-series. Six alternative noise models in a total of 12 different combinations were used as possible descriptions of the noise. The six noise models can be divided into two natural groups, temporally uncorrelated (white) noise and temporally correlated (coloured) noise. The noise can be described as a combination of variable white noise and one of flicker, first-order Gauss–Markov or power-law noise. The data set as a whole is best described as a combination of variable white noise plus flicker noise. The variable white noise, which is white noise with variable amplitude that is a function of the weekly formal errors multiplied by an estimated scale factor, shows a dependence on site latitude and the number of DORIS-equipped satellites used in the solution. The latitude dependence is largest in the east component due to the near polar orbit of the SPOT satellites. The amplitude of the flicker noise is similar in all three components and equal to about 20 mm/year1/4. There appears to be no latitude dependence of the flicker noise amplitude. The uncertainty in rates (site velocities) after 12 years is just under 1 mm/year. These uncertainties are around 3–4 times larger than if only variable white noise had been assumed, i.e., no temporally correlated noise. A rate uncertainty of 1 mm/year after 12 years in the vertical is similar to that achieved using Global Positioning System (GPS) data but it takes DORIS twice as long to reach 1 mm/year than GPS in the horizontal. The analysis has also helped to identify sites with either anomalous noise characteristics or large noise amplitudes, and tested the validity of previously proposed discontinuities. In addition, several new offsets were found in the time-series that should be used or at least flagged in future work