A nonneural miRNA cluster mediates hearing via repression of two neural targets.

We show here that mir-279/996 are absolutely essential for development and function of Johnston's organ (JO), the primary proprioceptive and auditory organ in Drosophila Their deletion results in highly aberrant cell fate determination, including loss of scolopale cells and ectopic neurons, and mutants are electrophysiologically deaf. In vivo activity sensors and mosaic analyses indicate that these seed-related miRNAs function autonomously to suppress neural fate in nonneuronal cells. Finally, genetic interactions pinpoint two neural targets (elav and insensible) that underlie miRNA mutant JO phenotypes. This work uncovers how critical post-transcriptional regulation of specific miRNA targets governs cell specification and function of the auditory system.

The Behavior of Supersonic Jets Generated by Combination Gas in the Steelmaking Process.

In the duplex steelmaking process, the oxygen flow rate is suppressed to reduce the increasing rate of the temperature in the molten bath, resulting in severe dynamic conditions. To improve the mixing effect of the molten bath, a Laval nozzle structure designed for combination gas has been proposed. In this research, five types of Laval nozzle structure have been built based on the combination gas content, and both numerical simulations and experiments are performed to analyze the flow field of the supersonic jet. The axial velocity and oxygen concentration were measured in the experiment, which agreed well with the numerically simulated data. The results show that both initial axial velocity and potential core length increase with the flow rate of combination gas. Further, applying a higher N2 flow rate could improve the oxygen utilization rate at different ambient temperatures, but this issue increases the oxygen utilization rate; however, the latter can be reduced at higher ambient temperatures.

ELAV/Hu RNA binding proteins determine multiple programs of neural alternative splicing.

ELAV/Hu factors are conserved RNA binding proteins (RBPs) that play diverse roles in mRNA processing and regulation. The founding member, Drosophila Elav, was recognized as a vital neural factor 35 years ago. Nevertheless, little was known about its impacts on the transcriptome, and potential functional overlap with its paralogs. Building on our recent findings that neural-specific lengthened 3' UTR isoforms are co-determined by ELAV/Hu factors, we address their impacts on splicing. While only a few splicing targets of Drosophila are known, ectopic expression of each of the three family members (Elav, Fne and Rbp9) alters hundreds of cassette exon and alternative last exon (ALE) splicing choices. Reciprocally, double mutants of elav/fne, but not elav alone, exhibit opposite effects on both classes of regulated mRNA processing events in larval CNS. While manipulation of Drosophila ELAV/Hu RBPs induces both exon skipping and inclusion, characteristic ELAV/Hu motifs are enriched only within introns flanking exons that are suppressed by ELAV/Hu factors. Moreover, the roles of ELAV/Hu factors in global promotion of distal ALE splicing are mechanistically linked to terminal 3' UTR extensions in neurons, since both processes involve bypass of proximal polyadenylation signals linked to ELAV/Hu motifs downstream of cleavage sites. We corroborate the direct action of Elav in diverse modes of mRNA processing using RRM-dependent Elav-CLIP data from S2 cells. Finally, we provide evidence for conservation in mammalian neurons, which undergo broad programs of distal ALE and APA lengthening, linked to ELAV/Hu motifs downstream of regulated polyadenylation sites. Overall, ELAV/Hu RBPs orchestrate multiple broad programs of neuronal mRNA processing and isoform diversification in Drosophila and mammalian neurons.

Effects of Multiple-Hole Baffle Arrangements on Flow Fields in a Five-Strand Asymmetric Tundish.

This paper reports on the re-engineering of standard five-strand tundish designs into a five-strand asymmetric tundish, which resulted in a non-uniform rate and bias for each strand. We sought to improve the casting conditions by optimizing the liquid steel flow-field in the tundish. Both a water modelling experiment and a numerical simulation were performed to analyze the flow-field according to various diversion hole diameters and injection angles. The results showed that the average residence time decreased as the diameter of the diversion holes increased. As the injection angle was increased, the average residence time initially decreased and then increased. The liquid steel from the ladle shroud rapidly extended to the #2 and #3 strands in the original tundish, which reduced the likelihood of inclusion collision and coalescence.

Overlapping Activities of ELAV/Hu Family RNA Binding Proteins Specify the Extended Neuronal 3' UTR Landscape in Drosophila.

The tissue-specific deployment of highly extended neural 3' UTR isoforms, generated by alternative polyadenylation (APA), is a broad and conserved feature of metazoan genomes. However, the factors and mechanisms that control neural APA isoforms are not well understood. Here, we show that three ELAV/Hu RNA binding proteins (Elav, Rbp9, and Fne) have similar capacities to induce a lengthened 3' UTR landscape in an ectopic setting. These factors promote accumulation of chromatin-associated, 3' UTR-extended, nascent transcripts, through inhibition of proximal polyadenylation site (PAS) usage. Notably, Elav represses an unannotated splice isoform of fne, switching the normally cytoplasmic Fne toward the nucleus in elav mutants. We use genomic profiling to reveal strong and broad loss of neural APA in elav/fne double mutant CNS, the first genetic background to largely abrogate this distinct APA signature. Overall, we demonstrate how regulatory interplay and functionally overlapping activities of neural ELAV/Hu RBPs drives the neural APA landscape.

miRNAs and Neural Alternative Polyadenylation Specify the Virgin Behavioral State.

How are diverse regulatory strategies integrated to impose appropriately patterned gene expression that underlie in vivo phenotypes? Here, we reveal how coordinated miRNA regulation and neural-specific alternative polyadenylation (APA) of a single locus controls complex behaviors. Our entry was the unexpected observation that deletion of Bithorax complex (BX-C) miRNAs converts virgin female flies into a subjective post-mated behavioral state, normally induced by seminal proteins following copulation. Strikingly, this behavioral switch is directly attributable to misregulation of homothorax (hth). We localize specific CNS abdominal neurons where de-repressed Hth compromises virgin behavior in BX-C miRNA mutants. Moreover, we use genome engineering to demonstrate that precise mutation of hth 3' UTR sites for BX-C miRNAs or deletion of its neural 3' UTR extension containing most of these sites both induce post-mated behaviors in virgins. Thus, facilitation of miRNA-mediated repression by neural APA is required for virgin females to execute behaviors appropriate to their internal state.

Ecdysone signaling regulates specification of neurons with a male-specific neurite in Drosophila.

Some mAL neurons in the male brain form the ipsilateral neurite (ILN[+]) in a manner dependent on FruBM, a male-specific transcription factor. FruBM represses robo1 transcription, allowing the ILN to form. We found that the proportion of ILN[+]-mALs in all observed single cell clones dropped from ∼90% to ∼30% by changing the heat-shock timing for clone induction from 4-5 days after egg laying (AEL) to 6-7 days AEL, suggesting that the ILN[+]-mALs are produced predominantly by young neuroblasts. Upon EcR-A knockdown, ILN[+]-mALs were produced at a high rate (∼60%), even when heat shocked at 6-7 days AEL, yet EcR-B1 knockdown reduced the proportion of ILN[+]-mALs to ∼30%. Immunoprecipitation assays in S2 cells demonstrated that EcR-A and EcR-B1 form a complex with FruBM. robo1 reporter transcription was repressed by FruBM and ecdysone counteracted FruBM. We suggest that ecdysone signaling modulates the FruBM action to produce an appropriate number of male-type neurons.

Effects of covering behavior and exposure to a predatory crab Charybdis japonica on survival and HSP70 expression of juvenile sea urchins Strongylocentrotus intermedius.

Predation is a complex process among predator, prey and environment. Juvenile sea urchins are more susceptible to predators than adults, which affects community structure. Behavior is involved in anti-predator responses by changes in the expression of anti-predator responsive genes. Here, we investigated the effects of exposure to a predatory crab Charybdis japonica and covering behavior on survival and HSP70 expression of juvenile sea urchins Strongylocentrotus intermedius. C. japonica consumed large numbers of juvenile S. intermedius in 12 hours with a mortality of 34.17±11.43%. Covering behavior did not significantly reduce predation. Exposure to C. japonica did not significantly upregulate HSP70 expression of juvenile S. intermedius in 12 hours. Covering behavior showed no significant regulative effect on the gene expression of HSP70 of juvenile S. intermedius exposed to C. japonica for 12 hours. The results indicate that the anti-predator function of covering behavior is limited and that HSP70 expression does not appear to play an important role in the anti-predator process of S. intermedius.

Influence of temperature on divergence angle of a focal telescope used in laser optical communication.

Divergence angle of antenna is an important parameter in laser optical communication. It determines the power of the receiver terminal. In this paper, the influence of temperature on the divergence angle is discussed. Theoretical analysis and experiment results demonstrate that the relationship between the variance of temperature and of divergence angle is linear.