Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Society for the Study of Reproduction
Résumé : International audience
Transcription factor GATA4 is required for the development and function of the mammalian gonads. We first reported that the GATA4 gene in both human and rodents is expressed as two major alternative transcripts that differ solely in their first untranslated exon (exon 1a vs. exon 1b). We had also showed by quantitative PCR that in mouse tissues, both Gata4 exon 1a- and 1b-containing transcripts are present in all sites that are normally positive for GATA4 protein. In adult tissues, exon 1a-containing transcripts generally predominate. A notable exception, however, is the testis where the Gata4 exon 1a and 1b transcripts exhibit a similar level of expression. We now confirm by in situ hybridization analysis that each transcript is also strongly expressed during gonad differentiation in both sexes in the rat. To gain further insights into how Gata4 gene expression is controlled, we characterized the mouse Gata4 promoter sequence located upstream of exon 1b. In vitro studies revealed that the Gata4 1b promoter is less active than the 1a promoter in several gonadal cell lines tested. Whereas we have previously shown that endogenous Gata4 transcription driven by the 1a promoter is dependent on a proximally located Ebox motif, we now show using complementary in vitro and in vivo approaches that Gata4 promoter 1b-directed expression is regulated by GATA4 itself. Thus, Gata4 transcription in the gonads and other tissues is ensured by distinct promoters that are regulated differentially and independently.
ISSN: 0006-3363

hal-01010626
https://hal-univ-rennes1.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01010626
DOI : 10.1095/biolreprod.113.113290
PUBMED : 24352556

Éditeur(s) : Université des Antilles Études caribéennes
Résumé : Cet article traite de la spécificité de l’activité touristique à Bali, fondée sur une identité locale forte et un riche patrimoine naturel et culturel mais aussi troublante en raison de l’importance et la complexité des jeux d’acteurs, ou encore des contextes sociaux, religieux et géopolitiques propres à ce territoire insulaire. Nous analyserons les liens pérennes ou non entre patrimoine et développement en focalisant sur ce qui fait l’image de marque de Bali sur les plans touristique et politique : le tourisme culturel. Cette étude de cas illustre les dynamiques d’acteurs dans le cadre de l’île de Bali où l’on constate une forte imbrication entre tourisme international, protection de l’environnement et promotion du patrimoine culturel. Vendue comme un paradis tropical, perçue comme l'île des Dieux, Bali se voit contrainte de mesurer les risques d'un tourisme culturel qui se transformerait trop rapidement en culture touristique. Des pistes seront proposées afin d’encourager l’ensemble des acteurs à œuvrer pour que le « dernier paradis » (last paradise) ne devienne pas un « paradis perdu » (lost paradise).
Since the 1930s, Bali has been generally seen as a traditional tourism destination quite fashionable. Nowadays, a new kind of tourism, rather esoteric if not totally spiritual, is emerging on this small “paradise” often referred as a natural untouched and cultural preserved island. To attire more international tourists, the “Island of Gods”, as the tourism promoters still name this tropical holiday paradise, is now also targeting on the industry of “well-being”. This article deals about the specificity of the local tourism activity which is based on a strong cultural identity and a rich natural and also religious heritage. Uncontrolled development of this predatory industry brings also a lot of new problems, such as pollution or acculturation. Here, our aim is to focus and analyse the real and false ties between heritage, development and tourism, always by keeping in mind that the regional motto about tourism policy still is to encourage “cultural tourism” as a real model (a “brand”, in fact) of success. We especially try to explain, in this current work (still in progress), the touristic situation in the main cultural site located on the island: Ubud. This small city, really boosting during the last decade, is worldwide reputed for the rich cultural performances and seen as “the” artistic capital of Bali. Ubud offers also a perfect example of an intense and dynamic bond between cultural heritage and economic development. Often for the best and sometimes also for the worse. In this rural but international spot, it seems that tourism business allows the local population to live in better ways and, sometimes, even to reborn, culturally speaking! Our case study shows also the big threats behind the current tourism policy: the large scale business occurred by globalization and all the tourism opportunities thus provided cannot hide the real weakness that for sure also concern the balinese way of thinking and living. Cultural tourism could rapidly be transformed in a dangerous kind of tourism of the culture, with all the big (and bad) changes the Balinese don’t want to see happening on their lovely and holy island. So, the present reflection conducts us to think more deeply on some new and alternative ways of developing tourism in Bali. Finally, our aim is to think, first by listening to the desire of the Balinese themselves, in which best manner this “last paradise” will not become a “lost paradise”.
Bali

Droits : info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
urn:doi:10.4000/etudescaribeennes.5385
http://journals.openedition.org/etudescaribeennes/5385

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The quasi-equilibrium approximation is acceptable when molecular interactions are fast enough compared to circuit dynamics, but is no longer allowed when cellular activities are governed by rare events. A typical example is the lactose operon (lac), one of the most famous paradigms of transcription regulation, for which several theories still coexist to describe its behaviors. The lac system is generally analyzed by using equilibrium constants, contradicting single-event hypotheses long suggested by Novick and Weiner (1957). Enzyme induction as an all-or-none phenomenon. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 43, 553-566) and recently refined in the study of (Choi et al., 2008. A stochastic single-molecule event triggers phenotype switching of a bacterial cell. Science 322, 442-446). In the present report, a lac repressor (LacI)-mediated DNA immunoprecipitation experiment reveals that the natural LacI-lac DNA complex built in vivo is extremely tight and long-lived compared to the time scale of lac expression dynamics, which could functionally disconnect the abortive expression bursts and forbid using the standard modes of lac bistability. As alternatives, purely kinetic mechanisms are examined for their capacity to restrict induction through: (i) widely scattered derepression related to the arrival time variance of a predominantly backward asymmetric random walk and (ii) an induction threshold arising in a single window of derepression without recourse to nonlinear multimeric binding and Hill functions. Considering the complete disengagement of the lac repressor from the lac promoter as the probabilistic consequence of a transient stepwise mechanism, is sufficient to explain the sigmoidal lac responses as functions of time and of inducer concentration. This sigmoidal shape can be misleadingly interpreted as a phenomenon of equilibrium cooperativity classically used to explain bistability, but which has been reported to be weak in this system.
ISSN: 0022-5193

inserm-00818506
http://www.hal.inserm.fr/inserm-00818506
http://www.hal.inserm.fr/inserm-00818506/document
http://www.hal.inserm.fr/inserm-00818506/file/LacI-TeX.pdf
ARXIV : 1312.5566

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Xenoestrogens may persist in the environment by binding to sediments or suspended particulate matter serving as long-term reservoir and source of exposure, particularly for organisms living in or in contact with sediments. In this study, we present for the first time an effect-directed analysis (EDA) for identifying estrogenic compounds in a sediment sample using embryos of a transgenic reporter fish strain. In the tg(cyp19a1b-GFP) transgenic zebrafish strain, the expression of GFP (green fluorescent protein) in the brain is driven by an oestrogen responsive element in the promoter of the cyp19a1b (aromatase) gene. The selected sediment sample of the Czech river Bilina had already been analysed in a previous EDA using the yeast oestrogen screening assay and had revealed fractions containing estrogenic compounds. When normal phase HPLC (high performance liquid chromatography) fractionation was used for the separation of the sediment sample, the biotest with transgenic fish embryos revealed two estrogenic fractions. Chemical analysis of candidate compounds in these sediment fractions suggested alkylphenols and estrone as candidate compounds responsible for the observed estrogenic effect. Alkylphenol concentrations could partially explain the estrogenicity of the fractions. However, xenoestrogens below the analytical detection limit or non-targeted estrogenic compounds have probably also contributed to the sample's estrogenic potency. The results indicated the suitability of the tg(cyp19a1b-GFP) fish embryo for an integrated chemical-biological analysis of estrogenic effects.
ISSN: 0166-445X

hal-01072210
https://hal-univ-rennes1.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01072210
https://hal-univ-rennes1.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01072210/document
https://hal-univ-rennes1.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01072210/file/Effect-directed_analysis_for_estrogenic_compounds-final.pdf
DOI : 10.1016/j.aquatox.2014.05.016