As one of the most economically important fruit crops in the world, the grapevine (Vitis vinifera) suffers significant yield losses from various pathogens including powdery mildew caused by Erysiphe necator. In contrast, several wild Chinese grapevines, including Vitis pseudoreticulata accession Baihe-35-1, are highly resistant to powdery mildew pathogens. Here, we identified a grapevine gene CSN5 (COP9 signalosome complex subunit 5), designated VvCSN5, that was differentially expressed between the resistant ‘Baihe-35-1’ and susceptible ‘Thompson Seedless’ during powdery mildew isolate Erysiphe necator NAFU1 infection. Moreover, transient silencing of VvCSN5 in ‘Thompson Seedless’ leaves enhanced resistance to En NAFU1. This resistance manifested in cell wall callose deposition at attempted infection sites and hypersensitive response-like cell death of penetrated epidermal cells. Several defense-related marker genes (VvPR1, VvPR3, VvPAD4, and VvRBOHD) had higher basal expression levels in VvCSN5-silenced leaves. In addition, we found the structure and activity of CSN5 promoters in ‘Thompson Seedless’ and ‘Baihe-35-1’ were different, which may have been behind their different resistances to powdery mildew infection. Taken together, these results implied that grapevine CSN5 plays an important role in the response to powdery mildew infection.
Areca nut (AN) is a popular carcinogen used by about 0.6-1.2 billion people worldwide. Although AN contains apoptosis-inducing ingredients, we previously demonstrated that both AN extract (ANE) and its 30-100 kDa fraction (ANE 30-100K) predominantly induce autophagic cell death in both normal and malignant cells. In this study, we further explored the action mechanism of ANE 30-100K-induced autophagy (AIA) in Jurkat T lymphocytes and carcinoma cell lines including OECM-1 (mouth), CE81T/VGH (esophagus), SCC25 (tongue), and SCC-15 (tongue). The results showed that chemical- and small hairpin RNA (shRNA)-mediated inhibition of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) resulted in the attenuation of AIA in Jurkat T but not in OECM-1 cells. Knockdown of Atg5 and Beclin 1 expressions ameliorated AIA in OECM-1/CE81T/VGH/Jurkat T and OECM-1/SCC25/SCC-15, respectively. Furthermore, ANE 30-100K could activate caspase-3 after inhibition of Beclin 1 expression in OECM-1/SCC25/SCC15 cells. Meanwhile, AMPK was demonstrated to be the upstream activator of the extracellular-regulated kinase (ERK) in Jurkat T cells, and inhibition of MEK attenuated AIA in Jurkat T/OECM-1/CE81T/VGH cells. Finally, we also found that multiple myeloma RPMI8226, lymphoma U937, and SCC15 cells survived from long-term non-cytotoxic ANE 30-100K treatment exhibited stronger resistance against serum deprivation through upregulated autophagy. Collectively, our studies indicate that Beclin-1 and Atg5 but not AMPK are commonly required for AIA, and MEK/ERK pathway is involved in AIA. Meanwhile, it is also suggested that long-term AN usage might increase the resistance of survived tumor cells against serum-limited conditions. 相似文献
Excitatory synaptic transmission is modulated by inhibitory neurotransmitters and neuromodulators. We found that the synaptic transmission of somatic sensory afferents can be rapidly regulated by a presynaptically secreted protein, follistatin-like 1 (FSTL1), which serves as a direct activator of Na(+),K(+)-ATPase (NKA). The FSTL1 protein is highly expressed in small-diameter neurons of the dorsal root ganglion (DRG). It is transported to axon terminals via small translucent vesicles and secreted in both spontaneous and depolarization-induced manners. Biochemical assays showed that FSTL1 binds to the α1 subunit of NKA and elevates NKA activity. Extracellular FSTL1 induced membrane hyperpolarization in cultured cells and inhibited afferent synaptic transmission in spinal cord slices by activating NKA. Genetic deletion of FSTL1 in small DRG neurons of mice resulted in enhanced afferent synaptic transmission and sensory hypersensitivity, which could be reduced by intrathecally applied FSTL1 protein. Thus, FSTL1-dependent activation of NKA regulates the threshold of somatic sensation. 相似文献
It has been demonstrated that subcutaneous injection of bee venom (BV) can produce different types of pain and hypersensitivity including persistent spontaneous nociception (PSN), primary heat and mechanical hypersensitivity (hyperalgesia) and mirror-image heat (MIH) hypersensitivity in an individual animal, and the changes of spinal neurons are likely to be responsible for the production of these pain-related behaviors. In this study, we examined the roles of spinal protein kinase C (PKC) and protein kinase A (PKA) in the BV-induced different types of pain and hypersensitivity in conscious rats. We found that: (1). BV-induced primary heat hypersensitivity could be blocked by intrathecal pre- or posttreatment with a PKC inhibitor, chelerythrine chloride (CH), while a PKA inhibitor, N-(2-[P-bromocinnamylamino]ethyl)-5-isoquinolinesulfonamide hydrochloride (H89), had no effect. (2). BV-induced primary mechanical hypersensitivity could be blocked by pre- or posttreatment with H89, whereas CH had no effect. (3). Both pre- and posttreatment with H89 produced suppressive effects on both induction and maintenance of the BV-induced PSN and MIH hypersensitivity. Based on the present findings, we proposed that spinal PKC might be activated during the central processes of primary heat hypersensitivity, while spinal PKA is likely to be involved in primary mechanical hypersensitivity induced by subcutaneous BV chemical injury. Taken together with our previous report however, spinal PKC and PKA are likely to be simultaneously involved in the central processes of both PSN and MIH hypersensitivity. 相似文献
DNA mimic proteins are unique factors that control the DNA binding activity of target proteins by directly occupying their DNA binding sites. The extremely divergent amino acid sequences of the DNA mimics make these proteins hard to predict, and although they are likely to be ubiquitous, to date, only a few have been reported and functionally analyzed. Here we used a bioinformatic approach to look for potential DNA mimic proteins among previously reported protein structures. From ∼14 candidates, we selected the Staphylococcus conserved hypothetical protein SSP0047, and used proteomic and structural approaches to show that it is a novel DNA mimic protein. In Staphylococcus aureus, we found that this protein acts as a uracil-DNA glycosylase inhibitor, and therefore named it S. aureus uracil-DNA glycosylase inhibitor (SAUGI). We also determined and analyzed the complex structure of SAUGI and S. aureus uracil-DNA glycosylase (SAUDG). Subsequent BIAcore studies further showed that SAUGI has a high binding affinity to both S. aureus and human UDG. The two uracil-DNA glycosylase inhibitors (UGI and p56) previously known to science were both found in Bacillus phages, and this is the first report of a bacterial DNA mimic that may regulate SAUDG’s functional roles in DNA repair and host defense. 相似文献
Many virtual screening methods have been developed for identifying single-target inhibitors based on the strategy of “one–disease, one–target, one–drug”. The hit rates of these methods are often low because they cannot capture the features that play key roles in the biological functions of the target protein. Furthermore, single-target inhibitors are often susceptible to drug resistance and are ineffective for complex diseases such as cancers. Therefore, a new strategy is required for enriching the hit rate and identifying multitarget inhibitors. To address these issues, we propose the pathway-based screening strategy (called PathSiMMap) to derive binding mechanisms for increasing the hit rate and discovering multitarget inhibitors using site-moiety maps. This strategy simultaneously screens multiple target proteins in the same pathway; these proteins bind intermediates with common substructures. These proteins possess similar conserved binding environments (pathway anchors) when the product of one protein is the substrate of the next protein in the pathway despite their low sequence identity and structure similarity. We successfully discovered two multitarget inhibitors with IC50 of <10 µM for shikimate dehydrogenase and shikimate kinase in the shikimate pathway of Helicobacter pylori. Furthermore, we found two selective inhibitors (IC50 of <10 µM) for shikimate dehydrogenase using the specific anchors derived by our method. Our experimental results reveal that this strategy can enhance the hit rates and the pathway anchors are highly conserved and important for biological functions. We believe that our strategy provides a great value for elucidating protein binding mechanisms and discovering multitarget inhibitors. 相似文献