Sterigmatocystin — incidence, fate and production byA versicolor in ras cheese

Sterigmatocystin (STG) is a toxic metabolite produced by severalAspergillus species. Because of its toxic and carcinogenic properties the occurrence of STG in food is considered to represent a potential hazard to man. The present study was designed to investigate following points:

The predictive value of transcranial duplex sonography for the clinical diagnosis in undiagnosed parkinsonian syndromes: comparison with SPECT scans

Background  

Transcranial duplex sonography (TCD) of the substantia nigra has emerged as a promising, non-invasive tool to diagnose idiopathic Parkinson's disease (IPD). However, its diagnostic accuracy in patients with undefined parkinsonism remains to be determined.     

Endotoxin stabilizes protein arginine methyltransferase 4 (PRMT4) protein triggering death of lung epithelia

Lung epithelial cell death is a prominent feature of acute lung injury and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ALI/ARDS), which results from severe pulmonary infection leading to respiratory failure. Multiple mechanisms are believed to contribute to the death of epithelia; however, limited data propose a role for epigenetic modifiers. In this study, we report that a chromatin modulator protein arginine N-methyltransferase 4/coactivator-associated arginine methyltransferase 1 (PRMT4/CARM1) is elevated in human lung tissues with pneumonia and in experimental lung injury models. Here PRMT4 is normally targeted for its degradation by an E3 ubiquitin ligase, SCF^FBXO9, that interacts with PRMT4 via a phosphodegron to ubiquitinate the chromatin modulator at K228 leading to its proteasomal degradation. Bacterial-derived endotoxin reduced levels of SCF^FBXO9 thus increasing PRMT4 cellular concentrations linked to epithelial cell death. Elevated PRMT4 protein caused substantial epithelial cell death via caspase 3-mediated cell death signaling, and depletion of PRMT4 abolished LPS-mediated epithelial cell death both in cellular and murine injury models. These findings implicate a unique molecular interaction between SCF^FBXO9 and PRMT4 and its regulation by endotoxin that impacts the life span of lung epithelia, which may play a key role in the pathobiology of tissue injury observed during critical respiratory illness.Subject terms: Ligases, Epigenetics, Ubiquitin ligases, Infection     

靶向融合蛋白XE-TNFαm2激活并清除潜伏于受感染细胞内的HIV的研

制备了工程化靶向融合蛋白XE-TNFαm2。其中,XE为HIV/SIV辅助受体CXCR4的第二胞外域。TNFαm2是经突变改型的TNFα,其毒副作用已降低18倍,己用于临床治疗恶性肿瘤。本研究所用的整合有HIV的标准细胞株J-Lat Tat-GFP(H2/9855),为美国NIH艾滋病试剂中心所赠送。其中,一个经缺失突变后的HIV被整合在Jurkat细胞的染色体上,成为5’LTR-Tat-GFP-3’LTR。不同剂量的XE-TNFαm2加于一定量的JurkatH2/9855细胞后,流式细胞仪检测结果表明,荧光蛋白的表达量随着处理时间的延续而增加,并有XE-TNFαm2剂量的依赖关系。这一结果表明,XE-TNFαm2可强力激活潜伏于细胞染色体中的HIV,使之重新繁殖起来。鉴于己有的研究表明,XE-TNFαm2可杀灭受HIV/SIV感染的细胞。据此,当重新繁殖的HIV开始出芽时,其gp120必然出现在宿主细胞表面,且此gp120必然被XE-TNFαm2中的XE所结合,并其TNFαm2的杀伤信号将转导进入细胞。这样,这些宿主细胞将被杀灭。细胞的死亡导致未成熟HIV繁殖的中止。最后,在重新繁殖且成熟起来的HIV导致细胞破碎并释放出细胞之前,细胞内尚无感染力的未成熟HIV将同死亡的宿主细胞一起被清除。     

The Arabidopsis LARP1s are Involved in Regulation of Seed Germination

Members of La-related protein (LARP) 1 family spread widely in various species, and they are involved in regulating many important biological processes in mammal, yeast, and fruit fly. However, functional research of LARP1s in plants is limited so far. In Arabidopsis, there are three members in LARP1 family, LARP1a, 1b, and 1c. Here, we found that the mutation of LARP1 genes delayed seed germination, implying that LARP1 proteins might be positive factors of seed germination in Arabidopsis. Moreover, the larp1 mutants showed more sensitive to abscisic acid (ABA) and paclobutrazol (PAC), as larp1 mutants displayed low rate of germination in medium contained ABA or PAC. Temporal and spatial expression analyses revealed that LARP1s were more abundant in seeds, especially in imbibed seeds. Subcellular localization analysis revealed that all LARP1 proteins could localize to the P-bodies, suggesting that LARP1s might play a role in RNA processes. Taken together, our results unravel new conserved functions of LARP1s in the regulation of Arabidopsis seed germination.