Cell-to-cell and phloem-mediated transport of potato virus X. The role of virions

Movement-deficient potato virus X (PVX) mutants tagged with the green fluorescent protein were used to investigate the role of the coat protein (CP) and triple gene block (TGB) proteins in virus movement. Mutants lacking either a functional CP or TGB were restricted to single epidermal cells. Microinjection of dextran probes into cells infected with the mutants showed that an increase in the plasmodesmal size exclusion limit was dependent on one or more of the TGB proteins and was independent of CP. Fluorescently labeled CP that was injected into epidermal cells was confined to the injected cells, showing that the CP lacks an intrinsic transport function. In additional experiments, transgenic plants expressing the PVX CP were used as rootstocks and grafted with nontransformed scions. Inoculation of the PVX CP mutants to the transgenic rootstocks resulted in cell-to-cell and systemic movement within the transgenic tissue. Translocation of the CP mutants into sink leaves of the nontransgenic scions was also observed, but infection was restricted to cells close to major veins. These results indicate that the PVX CP is transported through the phloem, unloads into the vascular tissue, and subsequently is transported between cells during the course of infection. Evidence is presented that PVX uses a novel strategy for cell-to-cell movement involving the transport of filamentous virions through plasmodesmata.     

A GFP-MAP4 reporter gene for visualizing cortical microtubule rearrangements in living epidermal cells

Microtubules influence morphogenesis by forming distinct geometrical arrays in the cell cortex, which in turn affect the deposition of cellulose microfibrils. Although many chemical and physical factors affect microtubule orientation, it is unclear how cortical microtubules in elongating cells maintain their ordered transverse arrays and how they reorganize into new geometries. To visualize these reorientations in living cells, we constructed a microtubule reporter gene by fusing the microtubule binding domain of the mammalian microtubule-associated protein 4 (MAP4) gene with the green fluorescent protein (GFP) gene, and transient expression of the recombinant protein in epidermal cells of fava bean was induced. The reporter protein decorates microtubules in vivo and binds to microtubules in vitro. Confocal microscopy and time-course analysis of labeled cortical arrays along the outer epidermal wall revealed the lengthening, shortening, and movement of microtubules; localized microtubule reorientations; and global microtubule reorganizations. The global microtubule orientation in some cells fluctuates about the transverse axis and may be a result of a cyclic self-correcting mechanism to maintain a net transverse orientation during cellular elongation.     

Antagonistic experimental coevolution with a parasite increases host recombination frequency

Background  

One of the big remaining challenges in evolutionary biology is to understand the evolution and maintenance of meiotic recombination. As recombination breaks down successful genotypes, it should be selected for only under very limited conditions. Yet, recombination is very common and phylogenetically widespread. The Red Queen Hypothesis is one of the most prominent hypotheses for the adaptive value of recombination and sexual reproduction. The Red Queen Hypothesis predicts an advantage of recombination for hosts that are coevolving with their parasites. We tested predictions of the hypothesis with experimental coevolution using the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum, and its microsporidian parasite, Nosema whitei.     

Plant as a plenteous reserve of lectin

Lectins are clusters of glycoproteins of nonimmune foundation that combine specifically and reversibly to carbohydrates, mainly the sugar moiety of glycoconjugates, resulting in cell agglutination and precipitation of glycoconjugates. They are universally distributed in nature, being established in plants, fungi, viruses, bacteria, crustacea, insects, and animals, but leguminacae plants are rich source of lectins. The present review reveals the structure, biological properties, and application of plant lectins.     

Synovial T cell hyporesponsiveness to myeloid dendritic cells is reversed by preventing PD-1/PD-L1 interactions

Introduction

The aim of this study was to investigate PD-1/PD-L1 involvement in the hyporesponsiveness of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) synovial fluid (SF) CD4 T cells upon stimulation by thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP)–primed CD1c myeloid dendritic cells (mDCs).

Methods

Expression of PD-1 on naïve (Tn), central memory (Tcm) and effector memory (Tem) CD4 T cell subsets was assessed by flow cytometry. PD-L1 expression and its regulation upon TSLP stimulation of mDCs from peripheral blood (PB) and SF of RA patients were investigated by quantitative RT-PCR and flow cytometry. The involvement of PD-1/PD-L1 interactions in SF T cell hyporesponsiveness upon (TSLP-primed) mDC activation was determined by cell culture in the presence of PD-1 blocking antibodies, with or without interleukin 7 (IL-7) as a recognized suppressor of PD-1 expression.

Results

PD-1 expression was increased on CD4 T cells derived from SF compared with PB of RA patients. TSLP increased PD-L1 mRNA expression in both PB and SF mDCs. PD-L1 protein expression was increased on SF mDCs compared with PB mDCs and was associated with T cell hyporesponsiveness. Blockade of PD-1, as well as IL-7 stimulation, during cocultures of memory T cells and (TSLP-primed) mDCs from RA patients significantly recovered T cell proliferation.

Conclusion

SF T cell hyporesponsiveness upon (TSLP-primed) mDC stimulation in RA joints is partially dependent on PD-1/PD-L1 interactions, as PD-1 and PD-L1 are both highly expressed on SF T cells and mDCs, respectively, and inhibiting PD-1 availability restores T cell proliferation. The potential of IL-7 to robustly reverse this hyporesponsiveness suggests that such proinflammatory cytokines in RA joints strongly contribute to memory T cell activation.     

Complete nucleotide sequences of bovine alpha S2- and beta-casein cDNAs: comparisons with related sequences in other species

The nucleotide sequences corresponding to bovine alpha S2- and beta- casein mRNAs have been determined by cDNA analysis. Both sequences appear to be complete at their 5' ends. The nucleotide sequence of alpha S2-casein, when compared with the corresponding cavine A sequence, helps to define the boundaries of a large amino acid repeat (approximately 80 residues) whereas comparisons with the nucleotide sequences of rat gamma- and mouse epsilon-casein mRNAs also reveal extensive sequence similarities. An alignment of these four sequences shows that the divergence of their translated regions has been characterized by the duplication and deletion of discrete segments of sequence that probably correspond to exons. A high degree of nucleotide substitution is also found when the four sequences are compared, except for well-conserved leader-peptide and phosphorylation-site sequences and, to a lesser extent, the 5'-untranslated regions. Similar comparison of the bovine and rat beta-caseins shows that their divergence has involved a high rate of nucleotide substitution but that no major insertions or deletions of sequence have occurred. The several splice sites that have veen defined in the rat beta-casein gene are likely to have been conserved in the bovine. The contrasting evolutionary histories of the alpha- and beta-casein coding sequences correlate with the distinctive functions of these proteins in the casein micelle system in milk.