三角帆蚌组织蛋白酶L基因的克隆和序列特征与进化分析

组织蛋白酶L在多种生理过程中具有重要作用.根据本实验室构建的三角帆蚌(Hyriopsis cumingii)cDNA文库中已标注的EST序列,利用RACE方法克隆了三角帆蚌组织蛋白酶L基因的cDNA全序列(GenBank登录号为HQ610996).结果表明,该序列全长为1 105 bp,包括24 bp的5'-末端非转录区,1 002 bp的开放阅读框和79 bp的3'-末端非转录区,共编码333个氨基酸,包含1个由20个氨基酸组成的信号肽.推测的三角帆蚌组织蛋白酶L前体肽具有组织蛋白酶前体抑制因子功能结构域,具有组织蛋白酶L家族高度保守结构基序ERFNIN[E-X3-R-X2-(I/V)-F-X3-N-X3-I-X3-N]、GNFD和GCXGG;该蛋白的半胱氨酸类蛋白酶半胱氨酸、组氨酸和天冬氨酸活性位点均高度保守.同源性分析表明,推测的三角帆蚌组织蛋白酶L氨基酸序列与其他贝类高度保守,同源性在60%-74%之间.进化分析显示,三角帆蚌组织蛋白酶L与其他贝类组织蛋白酶L聚为一支,在该支中,三角帆蚌与软体动物淡水螺(R.peregra)的亲缘关系最近.本研究结果为进一步研究三角帆蚌组织蛋白酶L的生理功能提供基础资料.     

桩蛋白的结构与功能

桩蛋白(paxillin)是近年来发现的一种信号蛋白,主要定位于黏着斑,包含LD模体、LIM结构域、SH2和SH3结合结构域,在整个分子中还散在着多种磷酸化位点,共同构成了桩蛋白的多结构域性结构。桩蛋白分子本身的酶活性尚不清楚,但很可能作为细胞内的一种接头蛋白与多种功能蛋白质结合。另外．作为黏着斑的重要组成部分,桩蛋白不仅参与了整合蛋白介导的信号转导和黏着斑的组装,在细胞黏附和迁移过程中也发挥了重要作用。     

马氏珠母贝(Pinctada fucata martensii)Pm-CTSL基因的克隆及表达分析

组织蛋白酶L (cathepsin L, CTSL)是无脊椎动物体内非特异性免疫的重要组成部分。为了研究马氏珠母贝CTSL (Pm-CTSL)的功能,本实验利用RACE技术克隆获得了Pm-CTSL基因,并对其结构和组织表达模式进行了分析。结果表明,Pm-CTSL基因c DNA序列全长为1 237 bp,其中开放式阅读框957 bp,5'UTR69 bp,3'UTR 211 bp,共编码氨基酸318个。结构域分析发现Pm-CTSL具有CTSL两个典型的结构域Inhibitor_I29和Pept_C1。Pm-CTSL也具有信号肽、保守序列ERFNVN和GNFD、两个潜在的N-糖基化位点和催化活性位点三联体残基(Cys, His和Asn)。多序列比对结果表明Pm-CTSL与太平洋牡蛎的同源性最高,为42%;系统进化分析发现,Pm-CTSL与虾夷扇贝等贝类聚为一支。实时荧光定量分析发现,Pm-CTSL在肝胰腺中显著高表达(p<0.05),表明Pm-CTSL可能参与马氏珠母贝的免疫应答。本研究为进一步探讨CTSL在马氏珠母贝非特异性免疫应答中的作用提供了基础资料。     

封面故事

<正>结构域是蛋白质结构和功能的基本组成单位,在细胞功能和生命进化过程中发挥着重要作用。结构域重组、基因序列复制与变异是影响基因组复杂性的三大基本机制。生物体的所有结构域构成了一个典型的复杂系统。将结构域看成网络节点,把结构域     

丝氨酸蛋白酶抑制剂PN-1的研究进展

丝氨酸蛋白酶抑制剂PN-1,由SERPINE2基因编码,是丝氨酸蛋白酶抑制剂超家族中的一员,是由多种细胞分泌的单链糖蛋白。PN-1在血浆中表达很少,但在多种器官和细胞类型中均有发现,在许多生物事件中发挥着重要的调节作用。PN-1在血液凝结、免疫反应、纤溶、血管发生、炎症和肿瘤抑制等一系列生理病理过程中发挥着重要作用。近年来对PN-1的研究,日益受到人们的关注,本文将主要综述PN-1在循环系统、肿瘤、神经系统以及肺部相关疾病中的最新研究进展及作用。     

肿瘤转移相关蛋白ST14的表达、纯化及活性鉴定

细胞外基质包括基底膜和间隙基质 ,主要由胶原、糖蛋白和蛋白多糖等一些物质组成 ,具有维持细胞组织形态的作用 ,是细胞间相互作用的重要场所 .在肿瘤细胞的浸润和转移过程中 ,必须有细胞外基质的降解过程 ,研究发现多种蛋白酶与该过程有关 ,包括丝氨酸蛋白酶家族中的纤维蛋白溶酶原和纤维蛋白溶酶系统 ,金属蛋白酶系统中的MMP 2和MMP 9,组织蛋白酶B ,组织蛋白酶D ,以及透明质酸酶 ,胶原酶等[1] .Ⅱ型跨膜丝氨酸蛋白酶 (TypeⅡtransmembraneserineprotease ,TTSP)ST14具有降解细胞外基质的能力 ,并能激活uPA前体及HGF SF前体 ,参与…     

LIM蛋白的功能

LIM结构域的主要作用是参与蛋白质之间的相互作用,目前已发现多种蛋白含有这种结构域,将它们统称为“LIM蛋白”。目前LIM蛋白主要分为4类：LIM同源异型结构域蛋白(LHX)、单纯LIM结构域蛋白(LMO)、LIM激酶以及其它LIM蛋白。LHX蛋白的功能主要是通过激活转录参与细胞命运的决定,LMO蛋白的功能主要是通过调节转录来控制细胞的异常增生,LIM激酶的作用则是参与细胞骨架的组织。因此,LIM蛋白在机体的生长发育中发挥着重要的作用,了解LIM蛋白功能将对于我们进一步解释相关的生理和病理现象、控制疾病的发生提供一定的基础。     

钙蛋白酶的结构及活性调节

钙蛋白酶广泛存在于各组织,广泛表达的钙蛋白酶有两种,钙蛋白酶Ⅰ和钙蛋白酶Ⅱ,它们激活所需的Ca^2＋浓度不同.这两种酶都有大、小两个亚基,分子质量分别为80 ku和30 ku.大亚基有4个结构域,小亚基由2个结构域构成.新近还发现了几种组织特异表达的钙蛋白酶.钙蛋白酶抑制蛋白是钙蛋白酶的内源抑制蛋白,它由5个结构域组成,其中4个为重复序列,均具有独立抑制钙蛋白酶活性的功能.体内钙蛋白酶活性受到严格调控,贴膜反应可以降低钙蛋白酶对Ca^2＋的依赖性,膜磷脂头部所带的磷酸基团与激活作用有关,自溶也可以降低对Ca^2＋的依赖,而钙蛋白酶抑制蛋白则起专一的抑制作用.     

组织蛋白酶D的功能多样性

组织蛋白酶D（cathepsin D,CTSD）是真核细胞溶酶体中天冬氨酸蛋白酶家族的主要成员,具有非常独特的合成和转运方式.CTSD由粗面内质网合成,通过多种蛋白质水解途径最终抵达细胞内的小泡结构（溶酶体、核内体、吞噬体）,从而发挥其生物学功能.早期认为,CTSD在溶酶体中只参与蛋白质的水解作用.近年研究发现,CTSD在多种生理（细胞增殖、细胞凋亡、细胞衰老和组织内稳态）和病理（阿尔茨海默病、动脉粥样硬化、先天性肌肉萎缩和癌症）条件中均发挥重要作用,并因其生物学功能的多样性而受到广泛关注.本文将着重对CTSD的生物合成与激活、生物学功能及临床应用进行综述,以期为疾病的诊断与治疗、药物的研发与筛选提供前沿的理论依据,为人类健康带来新的希望.     

炭疽致死因子的结构域及功能

致死因子(lethal factor, LF)是一种能水解丝裂原活化蛋白激酶(mitogen-activated protein kinase, MAPK)家族的金属蛋白酶,是炭疽毒素(toxin)的重要成分之一。炭疽LF由四个结构域组成:结构域Ⅰ主要负责与保护性抗原(protective antigen, PA)结合;结构域Ⅱ是主要功能区域;结构域Ⅲ具有高度可变性且能与底物特异性结合;结构域Ⅳ含有锌离子结合序列,发挥蛋白质的毒性作用。现就炭疽LF各个结构域的结构和功能,以及部分结构域中残基突变后对该蛋白质毒力的影响作一概述。     

Roles of the three L‐domains in β‐retrovirus budding

Retroviral Gag protein plays a critical role during the late stage of virus budding and possesses a so‐called L‐domain containing PT/SAP, PPxY, YxxL or FPIV motifs that are critical for efficient budding. Mason–Pfizer monkey virus (M‐PMV) contains PSAP, PPPY, and YADL sequences in Gag. This study was performed to investigate the roles of these three L‐domain‐like sequences in virus replication in three different cell lines, 293T, COS‐7 and HeLa cells. It was found that the PPxY motif plays an essential role in progeny virus production as a major L‐domain in all three cell lines. The PSAP sequence was shown to function as an additional L‐domain in HeLa cells and to promote efficient release of M‐PMV; however, this sequence was dispensable for M‐PMV production in 293T and COS‐7 cells, suggesting that the role of the PSAP motif as an L‐domain in M‐PMV budding is cell type‐dependent. Viruses possessing multiple L‐domains appear to change the L‐domain usage to replicate in various cells. On the other hand, the YADL motif was required for M‐PMV production as a transport signal of Gag to the plasma membrane, but not as an L‐domain.     

TMEM59 defines a novel ATG16L1‐binding motif that promotes local activation of LC3

Selective autophagy underlies many of the important physiological roles that autophagy plays in multicellular organisms, but the mechanisms involved in cargo selection are poorly understood. Here we describe a molecular mechanism that can target conventional endosomes for autophagic degradation. We show that the human transmembrane protein TMEM59 contains a minimal 19‐amino‐acid peptide in its intracellular domain that promotes LC3 labelling and lysosomal targeting of its own endosomal compartment. Interestingly, this peptide defines a novel protein motif that mediates interaction with the WD‐repeat domain of ATG16L1, thus providing a mechanistic basis for the activity. The motif is represented with the same ATG16L1‐binding ability in other molecules, suggesting a more general relevance. We propose that this motif may play an important role in targeting specific membranous compartments for autophagic degradation, and therefore it may facilitate the search for adaptor proteins that promote selective autophagy by engaging ATG16L1. Endogenous TMEM59 interacts with ATG16L1 and mediates autophagy in response to Staphylococcus aureus infection.     

髓系细胞触发受体-1研究进展

髓系细胞表达的触发受体1（triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells-1,TREM-1）是主要表达于巨噬细胞、中性细胞等的表面受体蛋白,它属于免疫球蛋白超家族的成员,主要由赖氨酸残基的跨膜结构域、V型Ig样胞外结构域和缺乏信号基序的胞浆结构域等三个部分组成。TREM-1分子在感染性疾病中发挥重要作用,通过其和细胞外受体蛋白DAP-12结合,引起下游信号通路活化,导致多种炎症介质的分泌,具有预激和诱导炎症反应的作用,对感染性疾病的诊断起到重要作用。但最近研究显示TREM-1不仅在感染性组织中表达增高,在非感染性炎症、结缔组织及肿瘤组织中也有增高表现,本文就TREM-1最新研究进展做一综述。     

Stress-resistant Translation of Cathepsin L mRNA in Breast Cancer Progression

The cysteine protease cathepsin L (CTSL) is often thought to act as a tumor promoter by enhancing tumor progression and metastasis. This goes along with increased CTSL activity in various tumor entities; however, the mechanisms leading to high CTSL levels are incompletely understood. With the help of the polyoma middle T oncogene driven breast cancer mouse model expressing a human CTSL genomic transgene, we show that CTSL indeed promotes breast cancer metastasis to the lung. During tumor formation and progression high expression levels of CTSL are maintained by enduring translation of CTSL mRNA. Interestingly, human breast cancer specimens expressed the same pattern of 5′ untranslated region (UTR) splice variants as the transgenic mice and the human cancer cell line MDA-MB 321. By polyribosome profiling of tumor tissues and human breast cancer cells, we observe an intrinsic resistance of CTSL to stress-induced shutdown of translation. This ability can be attributed to all 5′ UTR variants of CTSL and is not dependent on a previously described internal ribosomal entry site motif. In conclusion, we provide in vivo functional evidence for overexpressed CTSL as a promoter of lung metastasis, whereas high CTSL levels are maintained during tumor progression due to stress-resistant mRNA translation.     

A humanized antibody inhibitor for cathepsin L

Cathepsin L (CTSL) is a cysteine protease involved in a variety of physiological and pathological processes. Potent inhibitors against CTSL have long been sought for drug development. Due to insufficient specificity and suboptimal pharmacological properties for current CTSL inhibitors, novel agents are still required for selectively blocking CTSL activity. Here we generated a humanized antibody inhibitor of CTSL by genetically fusing the inhibitory propeptide of procathepsin L to the N‐terminus of the light chain of a humanized antibody. The resulting antibody fusion could be stably expressed and displays highly potent inhibition activity and specificity toward CTSL. This work demonstrates a new approach for the rapid generation of antibody inhibitors of CTSL. It can possibly be extended to create inhibitory antibodies targeting other cathepsin proteases, providing novel research and therapeutic tools.     

Solution structure of HtrA PDZ domain from Streptococcus pneumoniae and its interaction with YYF-COOH containing peptides

High-temperature requirement A (HtrA), a highly conserved family of serine protease, plays crucial roles in protein quality control in prokaryotes and eukaryotes. The HtrA protein contains a C-terminal PDZ domain that mediates the proteolytic activity. Here we reported the solution structure of the HtrA PDZ domain from Streptococcus pneumoniae by NMR spectroscopy. Our results showed that the structure of HtrA PDZ domain, which contains three α-helices and five β-strands, illustrates conservation within the canonical PDZ domains. In addition, we demonstrated the interactions between S. pneumoniae HtrA PDZ domain and peptides with the motif XXX–YYF–COOH by surface plasmon resonance. Besides, we identified the ligand binding surface and the critical residues responsible for ligand binding of HtrA PDZ domain by chemical shift perturbation and site-directed mutagenesis.     

Crystal structure of the human CSN6 MPN domain

The mammalian COP9 signalosome is an eight-subunit (CSN1–CSN8) complex that plays essential roles in multiple cellular and physiological processes. CSN5 and CSN6 are the only two MPN (Mpr1-Pad1-N-terminal) domain-containing subunits in the complex. Unlike the CSN5 MPN domain, CSN6 lacks a metal-binding site and isopeptidase activity. Here, we report the crystal structure of the human CSN6 MPN domain. Each CSN6 monomer contains nine β sheets surrounded by three helices. Two forms of dimers are observed in the crystal structure. Interestingly, a domain swapping of β8 and β9 strands occurs between two neighboring monomers to complete a typical MPN fold. Analyses of the pseudo metal-binding motif in CSN6 suggest that the loss of two key histidine residues may contribute to the lack of catalytic activity in CSN6. Comparing the MPN domain of our CSN6 with that in the CSN complex shows that apart from the different β8–β9 conformation, they have minor conformational differences at two insertion regions (Ins-1 and Ins-2). Besides, the interacting mode of CSN6–CSN6 in our structure is distinct from that of CSN5–CSN6 in the CSN complex structure. Moreover, the functional implications for Ins-1 and Ins-2 are discussed.     

Activation of the Legionella pneumophila LegK7 Effector Kinase by the Host MOB1 Protein

Legionella pneumophila infects alveolar macrophages and can cause life-threatening pneumonia in humans. Upon internalization into the host cell, L. pneumophila injects numerous effector proteins into the host cytoplasm as a part of its pathogenesis. LegK7 is an effector kinase of L. pneumophila that functionally mimics the eukaryotic Mst kinase and phosphorylates the host MOB1 protein to exploit the Hippo pathway. To elucidate the LegK7 activation mechanism, we determined the apo structure of LegK7 in an inactive form and performed a comparative analysis of LegK7 structures. LegK7 is a non-RD kinase that contains an activation segment that is ordered, irrespective of stimulation, through a unique β-hairpin-containing segment, and it does not require phosphorylation of the activation segment for activation. Instead, bacterial LegK7 becomes an active kinase via its heterologous molecular interaction with the host MOB1 protein. MOB1 binding triggers reorientation of the two lobes of the kinase domain, as well as a structural change in the interlobe hinge region in LegK7, consequently reshaping the LegK7 structure into an ATP binding-compatible closed conformation. Furthermore, we reveal that LegK7 is an atypical kinase that contains an N-terminal capping domain and a hydrophilic interlobe linker motif, which play key roles in the MOB1-induced activation of LegK7.     

Human cathepsin L rescues the neurodegeneration and lethality in cathepsin B/L double-deficient mice

Cathepsin B (CTSB) and cathepsin L (CTSL) are two widely expressed cysteine proteases thought to predominantly reside within lysosomes. Functional analysis of CTSL in humans is complicated by the existence of two CTSL-like homologs (CTSL and CTSL2), in contrast to mice, which possess only one CTSL enzyme. Thus, transgenic expression of human CTSL in CTSL-deficient mice provides an opportunity to study the in vivo functions of this human protease without interference by its highly related homolog. While mice with single-gene deficiencies for murine CTSB or CTSL survive without apparent neuromuscular impairment, murine CTSB/CTSL double-deficient mice display degeneration of cerebellar Purkinje cells and neurons of the cerebral cortex, resulting in severe hypotrophy, motility defects, and lethality during their third to fourth week of life. Here we show that expression of human CTSL through a genomic transgene results in widespread expression of human CTSL in the mouse that is capable of rescuing the lethality found in CTSB/CTSL double-deficient animals. Human CTSL is expressed in the brain of these compound mutants, predominantly in neurons of the cerebral cortex and in Purkinje cells of the cerebellum, where it appears to prevent neuronal cell death.     

Identification of the HIV-1 gp41 core-binding motif in the scaffolding domain of caveolin-1

The human immunodeficiency virus, type 1 (HIV-1) gp41 core plays an important role in fusion between viral and target cell membranes. A single chain polypeptide, N36(L8)C34, which forms a six-helix bundle in physiological solution, can be used as a model of gp41 core. Here we identified from a 12-mer phage peptide library a positive phage clone displaying a peptide sequence with high binding activity to the HIV-1 gp41 core. The peptide sequence contains a putative gp41-binding motif, PhiXXXXPhiXPhi (X is any amino acid residue, and Phi is any one of the aromatic amino acid residues Trp, Phe, or Tyr). This motif also exists in the scaffolding domain of caveolin-1 (Cav-1), a known gp41-binding protein. Cav-1-(61-101) and Cav-1-(82-101), two recombinant fusion proteins containing the Cav-1 scaffolding domain, bound significantly to the gp41 expressed in mammalian cells and interacted with the polypeptide N36(L8)C34. These results suggest that the scaffolding domain of Cav-1 may bind to the gp41 core via the motif. This interaction may be essential for formation of fusion pore or endocytosis of HIV-1 and affect the pathogenesis of HIV-1 infection. Further characterization of the gp41 core-binding motifs may shed light on the alternative mechanism by which HIV-1 enters into the target cell.