Search

Populations of the economically and ecologically important Nassau grouper, Epinephelus striatus Bloch, 1792, have declined to the point of being declared "endangered" by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Beyond existing efforts to reduce top-down pressure from overfishing, especially on spawning aggregations, recovery of Nassau grouper could be enhanced by preventing bottom-up pressures created by degradation of essential habitats. The design of suitable protection would benefit from knowledge of ontogenetic patterns in habitat use at multiple spatial scales, and this study documented microhabitat associations for late juvenile Nassau grouper in shallow, nearshore lagoons off Little Cayman Island. In total, 82% of juvenile grouper that were 12-26 cm in total length and approximately 1 yr old associated with hardbottom rather than other equally or more widespread microhabitats, i.e., sand, seagrass, and algae. Hardbottom provided crevices, holes, ledges, and other shelters. Approximately 96% of shelters contained a single juvenile grouper, and 10%-66% of these shelters also contained one or more cleaning organisms. These results suggest that protection of hardbottom in Little Cayman Island's lagoons would maintain the >1200 patches of microhabitat suitable for late juvenile Nassau grouper. © 2013 Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science of the University of Miami.

The transcription factor FOXP3 has been identified as a tumour suppressor in the breast and prostate epithelia, but little is known about its specific mechanism of action. We have identified a feed-forward regulatory loop in which FOXP3 suppresses the expression of the oncogene SATB1. In particular, we demonstrate that SATB1 is not only a direct target of FOXP3 repression, but that FOXP3 also induces two miRs, miR-7 and miR-155, which specifically target the 30-UTR of SATB1 to further regulate its expression. We conclude that FOXP3-regulated miRs form part of the mechanism by which FOXP3 prevents the transformation of the healthy breast epithelium to a cancerous phenotype. Approaches aimed at restoring FOXP3 function and the miRs it regulates could help provide new approaches to target breast cancer. Oncogene (2012) 31, 1045-1054; doi:10.1038/onc.2011.293; published online 11 July 2011 usc Refereed/Peer-reviewed