Ensenada Center for Scientific Research and Higher Education

About: Ensenada Center for Scientific Research and Higher Education is a facility organization based out in Ensenada, Mexico. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Nonlinear system. The organization has 1934 authors who have published 3733 publications receiving 63115 citations.

Comparative live-cell imaging analyses of SPA-2, BUD-6 and BNI-1 in Neurospora crassa reveal novel features of the filamentous fungal polarisome.

Abstract: A key multiprotein complex involved in regulating the actin cytoskeleton and secretory machinery required for polarized growth in fungi, is the polarisome. Recognized core constituents in budding yeast are the proteins Spa2, Pea2, Aip3/Bud6, and the key effector Bni1. Multicellular fungi display a more complex polarized morphogenesis than yeasts, suggesting that the filamentous fungal polarisome might fulfill additional functions. In this study, we compared the subcellular organization and dynamics of the putative polarisome components BUD-6 and BNI-1 with those of the bona fide polarisome marker SPA-2 at various developmental stages of Neurospora crassa. All three proteins exhibited a yeast-like polarisome configuration during polarized germ tube growth, cell fusion, septal pore plugging and tip repolarization. However, the localization patterns of all three proteins showed spatiotemporally distinct characteristics during the establishment of new polar axes, septum formation and cytokinesis, and maintained hyphal tip growth. Most notably, in vegetative hyphal tips BUD-6 accumulated as a subapical cloud excluded from the Spitzenkorper (Spk), whereas BNI-1 and SPA-2 partially colocalized with the Spk and the tip apex. Novel roles during septal plugging and cytokinesis, connected to the reinitiation of tip growth upon physical injury and conidial maturation, were identified for BUD-6 and BNI-1, respectively. Phenotypic analyses of gene deletion mutants revealed additional functions for BUD-6 and BNI-1 in cell fusion regulation, and the maintenance of Spk integrity. Considered together, our findings reveal novel polarisome-independent functions of BUD-6 and BNI-1 in Neurospora, but also suggest that all three proteins cooperate at plugged septal pores, and their complex arrangement within the apical dome of mature hypha might represent a novel aspect of filamentous fungal polarisome architecture.

Ambient displays for integrating older adults into social networking sites

Abstract: Social networking sites (SNS) help users sustain and strengthen ties with friends and relatives. However older adults who are less technically inclined individuals are often left aside these SNS felling as outsiders within their own family that uses this media to socialize. To assist these non-technical older adults we developed two ambient displays aimed at seamlessly integrate them into SNS. The first prototype, ePortrait, shows to older adults the photographs uploaded by their relatives in a SNS and the second prototype, eBowl, provides means to communicate their status through the manipulation of physical objects. The results of an evaluation shows that ambient displays are capable of monitoring older adults' context and provide them with continuous information about their social network in a subtle, peripheral and expressive manner. As a consequence, older adults use the information conveyed by such displays to enhance conversations with new topics helping them feel more integrated with their family.