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“A growing

body of theoretical and empirical research has examined cultural transmission and adaptive cultural behaviour at the individual, within-group level. However, relatively few studies have tried to examine proximate transmission or test ultimate adaptive hypotheses about behavioural or cultural diversity at a between-societies macro-level. In both the history of anthropology and in present-day work, a common approach to examining adaptive behaviour at the macro-level has been through correlating various cultural traits with features of ecology. We discuss some difficulties with simple ecological associations, and then review cultural phylogenetic studies that have attempted to go beyond correlations to understand the underlying cultural Selleckchem ZD1839 DMH1 molecular weight evolutionary processes. We conclude with an example of a phylogenetically controlled approach to understanding proximate transmission pathways in Austronesian cultural diversity.”
“The transition to flowering in Arabidopsis is characterized by the sharp and localized upregulation of APETALA1 (AP1) transcription in the newly formed floral primordia. Both the flower meristem-identity gene LEAFY (LFY) and the photoperiod pathway involving the FLOWERING

LOCUS T (FT) and FD genes contribute to this upregulation. These pathways have been proposed to act independently but their respective contributions and mode of interaction have remained elusive. To address these questions, we studied the AP1 regulatory region. Combining in vitro and in vivo approaches, we identified which of the three putative LFY binding sites present in the AP1 promoter is essential for its activation by LFY. Interestingly, we found that this site is also important for the correct photoperiodic-dependent upregulation of AP1. In contrast, a previously proposed Alvespimycin datasheet putative FD-binding site appears dispensable and unable to bind FD and we found

no evidence for FD binding to other sites in the AP1 promoter, suggesting that the FT/FD-dependent activation of AP1 might be indirect. Altogether, our data give new insight into the interaction between the FT and LFY pathways in the upregulation of AP1 transcription under long-day conditions.”
“During malignant transformation, the lipid metabolism of cells changes radically and therefore alterations in lipid metabolism are a prominent feature of solid tumors. Lipid metabolism has been investigated at the gene and protein expression levels for several decades, but recent advances in lipidomics technology have also enabled the investigation of pathways at the level of molecular lipids. This review provides an overview of the changes of global lipid metabolism (i.e., fatty acid, phospholipid, eicosanoid and sphingolipid metabolism) in breast cancer, and discusses the diagnostic and therapeutic potential of these pathways.