Structural and Functional Analysis of SoPIP2;1 Mutants Adds Insight into Plant Aquaporin Gating

Plant plasma membrane aquaporins facilitate water flux into and out of plant cells, thus coupling their cellular function to basic aspects of plant physiology. Posttranslational modifications of conserved phosphorylation sites, changes in cytoplasmic pH and the binding of Ca²⁺ can regulate water transport activity by gating the plasma membrane aquaporins. A structural mechanism unifying these diverse biochemical signals has emerged for the spinach aquaporin SoPIP2;1, although several questions concerning the opening mechanism remain. Here, we describe the X-ray structures of the S115E and S274E single SoPIP2;1 mutants and the corresponding double mutant. Phosphorylation of these serines is believed to increase water transport activity of SoPIP2;1 by opening the channel. However, all mutants crystallised in a closed conformation, as confirmed by water transport assays, implying that neither substitution fully mimics the phosphorylated state. Nevertheless, a half-turn extension of transmembrane helix 1 occurs upon the substitution of Ser115, which draws the C^α atom of Glu31 10 Å away from its wild-type conformation, thereby disrupting the divalent cation binding site involved in the gating mechanism. Mutation of Ser274 disorders the C-terminus but no other significant conformational changes are observed. Inspection of the hydrogen-bond interactions within loop D suggested that the phosphorylation of Ser188 may also produce an open channel, and this was supported by an increased water transport activity for the S188E mutant and molecular dynamics simulations. These findings add additional insight into the general mechanism of plant aquaporin gating.     

Radiation crosslinked polymerization of methacrylamide and psyllium to develop antibiotic drug delivery device

Psyllium is a medicinally important polysaccharide and its modification with methacrylamide through radiation crosslinked polymerization will develop hydrogels meant for drug delivery applications. The present paper deals with the preparation of hydrogels and their characterization by SEMs, FTIR, TGA and swelling studies. The release dynamics of model antibiotic drug rifampicin from the hydrogels has been studied for the evaluation of the release mechanism. The values of the diffusion exponent ‘n’ have been obtained (0.64, 0.58 and 0.57), respectively, in distilled water, pH 2.2 buffer and pH 7.4 buffer. The release of the drug from the hydrogels occurred through non-Fickian diffusion mechanism.     

Radiation sensitivity of human and murine peripheral blood lymphocytes,stem and progenitor cells

Immunodeficiency is a severe side effect of radiation therapy, notably at high radiation doses. It may also impact healthy individuals exposed to environmental ionizing radiation. Although it is believed to result from cytotoxicity of bone marrow cells and of immunocompetent cells in the peripheral blood, the response of distinct bone marrow and blood cell subpopulations following exposure to ionizing radiation is not yet fully explored. In this review, we aim to compile the knowledge on radiation sensitivity of immunocompetent cells and to summarize data from bone marrow and peripheral blood cells derived from mouse and human origin. In addition, we address the radiation response of blood stem and progenitor cells. The data indicate that stem cells, T helper cells, cytotoxic T cells, monocytes, neutrophils and, at a high degree, B cells display a radiation sensitive phenotype while regulatory T cells, macrophages, dendritic cells and natural killer cells appear to be more radioresistant. No conclusive data are available for basophil and eosinophil granulocytes. Erythrocytes and thrombocytes, but not their precursors, seem to be highly radioresistant. Overall, the data indicate considerable differences in radiosensitivity of bone marrow and blood normal and malignant cell populations, which are discussed in the light of differential radiation responses resulting in hematotoxicity and related clinical implications.     

免疫器官辐射损伤与防护的研究进展

随着社会的发展,核医学技术、放射医学技术的持续发展及广泛应用,当今世界核武器、核电站泄漏等事故偶有发生,以及人类现代生活和工作中广泛应用各种高科技电子产品,各类肿瘤病人接受放疗,人类生活圈四周充满的是多种放射线。电离辐射不仅对人类生命和财产造成损害,而且也对生理和心理造成严重创伤。因此对辐射的防治极为重要,加强对辐射的损伤机制及防护研究具有十分重要的现实意义。辐射导致的免疫损伤及其引发的免疫功能障碍,是核辐射、放射治疗和放射性核事故患者最常见的并发症,死亡率极高,至今仍是临床上亟待解决的难题。本文探讨了辐射免疫损伤效应和机理研究方面需要解决的问题,以及提出了进一步研究辐射免疫损伤防护措施的切入点。     

甘油三酯代谢对紫外线照射后HaCaT细胞的影响及机制研究

目的:研究甘油三酯代谢过程对紫外线照射后HaCaT细胞的影响及机制研究。方法:HaCaT细胞分为4组,分别为对照组、紫外线照射组、紫外线照射并予甘油三酯组、紫外线照射并予甘油三酯合成酶抑制剂TOFA组,查看MMP-1、COX-2和IL-1β在mRNA及蛋白水平上的变化,并查看其上游转录因子NF-κB/IκB的表达情况。结果:1)甘油三酯可以抑制紫外线照射后细胞外基质溶解蛋白MMP-1的表达(P0.05)。2)甘油三酯可以抑制紫外线照射后炎症相关蛋白COX-2和IL-1β的表达(P0.05)。3)甘油三酯合成酶抑制剂TOFA可以增强外线照射后细胞外基质溶解蛋白MMP-1以及炎症相关蛋白COX-2和IL-1β的表达(P0.05)。4)其调节过程可能通过NF-κB/IκB信号传导通路实现(P0.05)。结论:甘油三酯对紫外线的照射后的HaCaT细胞有保护作用,若抑制其代谢将减弱其保护作用。     

康复新液联合表皮生长因子预防急性放射性肠炎的疗效研究

目的:探讨康复新液联合表皮生长因子保留灌肠对盆腔肿瘤放疗后并发急性放射性肠炎的预防作用及其机制。方法:86例盆腔恶性肿瘤行放射性治疗的患者随机分为观察组和对照组,2组患者均行外照射治疗,观察组康复新液与表皮因子联合保留灌肠,每次50 mL,每日一次,对照组不加任何预防用药。比较2组急性放射性肠炎的发生率以及发生时间,并于放射治疗10次、20次后静脉采血,酶联免疫吸附法检测血清TNF-α、IL-6、IL-8,黄嘌呤氧化酶法检测MDA、SOD的含量。结果:观察组、对照组的急性放射性肠炎发生率分别为9.31%、53.49%,组间差异有统计学意义(P0.05),且观察组出现急性放射性肠炎的时间迟于对照组。观察组放射治疗10次及20次后,MDA含量明显低于对照组,SOD含量高于对照组(P0.05)。TNF-α、IL-6、IL-8含量明显低于对照组(P0.05)。结论:康复新液联合表皮生长因子可预防急性放射性肠炎的发生,其机制可能与抗细胞炎性因子与氧自由基释放有关。     

An update of the goat genome assembly using dense radiation hybrid maps allows detailed analysis of evolutionary rearrangements in Bovidae

Background

The domestic goat (Capra hircus), an important livestock species, belongs to a clade of Ruminantia, Bovidae, together with cattle, buffalo and sheep. The history of genome evolution and chromosomal rearrangements on a small scale in ruminants remain speculative. Recently completed goat genome sequence was released but is still in a draft stage. The draft sequence used a variety of assembly packages, as well as a radiation hybrid (RH) map of chromosome 1 as part of its validation.

Results

Using an improved RH mapping pipeline, whole-genome dense maps of 45,953 SNP markers were constructed with statistical confidence measures and the saturated maps provided a fine map resolution of approximate 65 kb. Linking RH maps to the goat sequences showed that the assemblies of scaffolds/super-scaffolds were globally accurate. However, we observed certain flaws linked to the process of anchoring chromosome using conserved synteny with cattle. Chromosome assignments, long-range order, and orientation of the scaffolds were reassessed in an updated genome sequence version. We also present new results exploiting the updated goat genome sequence to understand genomic rearrangements and chromosome evolution between mammals during species radiations. The sequence architecture of rearrangement sites between the goat and cattle genomes presented abundant segmental duplication on regions of goat chromosome 9 and 14, as well as new insertions in homologous cattle genome regions. This complex interplay between duplicated sequences and Robertsonian translocations highlights the rearrangement mechanism of centromeric nonallelic homologous recombination (NAHR) in mammals. We observed that species-specific shifts in ANKRD26 gene duplication are coincident with breakpoint reuse in divergent lineages and this gene family may play a role in chromosome stabilization in chromosome evolution.

Conclusions

We generated dense maps of the complete whole goat genome. The chromosomal maps allowed us to anchor and orientate assembled genome scaffolds along the chromosomes, annotate chromosome rearrangements and thereby get a better understanding of the genome evolution of ruminants and other mammals.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1471-2164-15-625) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Incidence of hospitalization in patients receiving short course palliative cranial radiotherapy on outpatient basis in a limited resource setting – Experience from a regional cancer center in India

AimTo investigate incidence of toxicity and related hospitalization among patients treated at our institute by a short course of palliative cranial radiotherapy against a longer, widely established schedule.BackgroundShorter schedule palliative cranial radiotherapy is more convenient for patients and reduce waiting times. Although many studies have established safety of short schedules, the need for hospitalization due to acute treatment toxicity remains under-explored. Hospital admissions are an economic burden both for the patient and healthcare system in a limited resource setting. Delivery of treatment on an outpatient basis and within shorter times is preferred by patients, caregivers and healthcare staff.Materials and methodsThis was a prospective study on 68 patients treated with palliative whole brain radiotherapy between November 2010 and October 2012. One group received 20 Gy in 5 fractions over 1 week and the other group, 30 Gy in 10 fractions over 2 weeks. Treatment toxicity due to cranial radiotherapy was assessed as per RTOG acute and late toxicity criteria. Need for hospitalization owing to acute toxicity was also noted. Significant differences in the study parameters between the two groups were calculated by Fisher's t-test.ResultsRequirement for hospital stay due to acute toxicity was not significantly different between the two groups. Patients in both groups experienced similar toxicity both during and after treatment.ConclusionsThe shorter course entailed no significant increase in toxicity related admissions, suitable for limited resource settings where patient transport is difficult, there are financial constraints, and the healthcare system is overburdened.     

Genetic factors in individual radiation sensitivity

Cancer risk and radiation sensitivity are often associated with alterations in DNA repair, cell cycle, or apoptotic pathways. Interindividual variability in mutagen or radiation sensitivity and in cancer susceptibility may also be traced back to polymorphisms of genes affecting e.g. DNA repair capacity. We studied possible associations between 70 polymorphisms of 12 DNA repair genes with basal and initial DNA damage and with repair thereof. We investigated DNA damage induced by ionizing radiation in lymphocytes isolated from 177 young lung cancer patients and 169 cancer-free controls. We also sought replication of our findings in an independent sample of 175 families (in total 798 individuals). DNA damage was assessed by the Olive tail moment (OTM) of the comet assay. DNA repair capacity (DRC) was determined for 10, 30 and, 60 min of repair.Genes involved in the single-strand-repair pathway (SSR; like XRCC1 and MSH2) as well as genes involved in the double-strand-repair pathway (DSR; like RAD50, XRCC4, MRE11 and ATM) were found to be associated with DNA damage. The most significant association was observed for marker rs3213334 (p = 0.005) of XRCC1 with basal DNA damage (B), in both cases and controls. A clear additive effect on the logarithm of OTM was identified for the marker rs1001581 of the same LD-block (p = 0.039): B_CC = −1.06 (95%-CI: −1.16 to −0.96), B_CT = −1.02 (95%-CI: −1.11 to −0.93) and B_TT = −0.85 (95%-CI: −1.01 to −0.68). In both cases and controls, we observed significantly higher DNA basal damage (p = 0.007) for carriers of the genotype AA of marker rs2237060 of RAD50 (involved in DSR). However, this could not be replicated in the sample of families (p = 0.781). An alteration to DRC after 30 min of repair with respect to cases was observed as borderline significant for marker rs611646 of ATM (involved in DSR; p = 0.055), but was the most significant finding in the sample of families (p = 0.009).Our data indicate that gene variation impacts measurably on DNA damage and repair, suggesting at least a partial contribution to radiation sensitivity and lung cancer susceptibility.     

电磁辐射对大鼠内皮祖细胞和肾脏组织学的影响

目的：研究电磁辐射对体外培养骨髓来源的内皮祖细胞（EPCs）增殖、迁移、黏附能力的影响,并探讨其与肾脏疾病的可能关系。方法：密度梯度离心法获取大鼠骨髓单个核细胞（MNCs）,接种至纤维连接素包被的培养板上,培养6d后进行免疫细胞化学和免疫荧光鉴定EPCs。采用MTT比色法、Transwell小室和黏附能力测定实验,观察平均功率密度为65mW/cm2,时间20min的电磁辐射对EPCs的增殖、迁移、黏附能力的影响;同等剂量全身照射大鼠,光镜和透射电镜观察大鼠肾脏组织学和超微结构的变化。结果：从大鼠骨髓能成功分离培养获得EPCs。EPCs的增殖、迁移、黏附能力较对照组显著下降;大鼠接受全身照射后各时相点无明显组织学改变,但超微结构显示在照射后3h后开始出现肾小球毛细血管袢足突肿胀,12h后出现部分足突融合。结论：电磁辐射导致EPCs生物功能显著减弱,肾小球超微结构改变,电磁辐射可能与起肾脏疾病的发生有关。