A single nucleotide substitution in TaHKT1;5-D controls shoot Na+ accumulation in bread wheat

Improving salinity tolerance in the most widely cultivated cereal, bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), is essential to increase grain yields on saline agricultural lands. A Portuguese landrace, Mocho de Espiga Branca accumulates up to sixfold greater leaf and sheath sodium (Na⁺) than two Australian cultivars, Gladius and Scout, under salt stress in hydroponics. Despite high leaf and sheath Na⁺ concentrations, Mocho de Espiga Branca maintained similar salinity tolerance compared to Gladius and Scout. A naturally occurring single nucleotide substitution was identified in the gene encoding a major Na⁺ transporter TaHKT1;5-D in Mocho de Espiga Branca, which resulted in a L190P amino acid residue variation. This variant prevents Mocho de Espiga Branca from retrieving Na⁺ from the root xylem leading to a high shoot Na⁺ concentration. The identification of the tissue-tolerant Mocho de Espiga Branca will accelerate the development of more elite salt-tolerant bread wheat cultivars.     

Incorporating physiology into species distribution models moderates the projected impact of warming on selected Mediterranean marine species

Species distribution models (SDMs) correlate species occurrences with environmental predictors, and can be used to forecast distributions under future climates. SDMs have been criticized for not explicitly including the physiological processes underlying the species response to the environment. Recently, new methods have been suggested to combine SDMs with physiological estimates of performance (physiology-SDMs). In this study, we compare SDM and physiology-SDM predictions for select marine species in the Mediterranean Sea, a region subjected to exceptionally rapid climate change. We focused on six species and created physiology-SDMs that incorporate physiological thermal performance curves from experimental data with species occurrence records. We then contrasted projections of SDMs and physiology-SDMs under future climate (year 2100) for the entire Mediterranean Sea, and particularly the ‘warm’ trailing edge in the Levant region. Across the Mediterranean, we found cross-validation model performance to be similar for regular SDMs and physiology-SDMs. However, we also show that for around half the species the physiology-SDMs substantially outperform regular SDM in the warm Levant. Moreover, for all species the uncertainty associated with the coefficients estimated from the physiology-SDMs were much lower than in the regular SDMs. Under future climate, we find that both SDMs and physiology-SDMs showed similar patterns, with species predicted to shift their distribution north-west in accordance with warming sea temperatures. However, for the physiology-SDMs predicted distributional changes are more moderate than those predicted by regular SDMs. We conclude, that while physiology-SDM predictions generally agree with the regular SDMs, incorporation of the physiological data led to less extreme range shift forecasts. The results suggest that climate-induced range shifts may be less drastic than previously predicted, and thus most species are unlikely to completely disappear with warming climate. Taken together, the findings emphasize that physiological experimental data can provide valuable supplemental information to predict range shifts of marine species.     

Stability and specificity of heterodimer formation for the coiled-coil neck regions of the motor proteins Kif3A and Kif3B: the role of unstructured oppositely charged regions.

We investigated the folding, stability, and specificity of dimerization of the neck regions of the kinesin-like proteins Kif3A (residues 356-416) and Kif3B (residues 351-411). We showed that the complementary charged regions found in the hinge regions (which directly follow the neck regions) of these proteins do not adopt any secondary structure in solution. We then explored the ability of the complementary charged regions to specify heterodimer formation for the neck region coiled-coils found in Kif3A and Kif3B. Redox experiments demonstrated that oppositely charged regions specified the formation of a heterodimeric coiled-coil. Denaturation studies with urea demonstrated that the negatively charged region of Kif3A dramatically destabilized its neck coiled-coil (urea1/2 value of 3.9 m compared with 6.7 m for the coiled-coil alone). By comparison, the placement of a positively charged region C-terminal to the neck coiled-coil of Kif3B had little effect on stability (urea1/2 value of 8.2 m compared with 8.8 m for the coiled-coil alone). The pairing of complementary charged regions leads to specific heterodimer formation where the stability of the heterodimeric neck coiled-coil with charged regions had similar stability (urea1/2 value of 7.8 m) to the most stable homodimer (Kif3B) with charged regions (urea1/2 value of 8.0 m) and dramatically more stable than the Kif3A homodimer with charged regions (urea1/2, value of 3.9 m). The heterodimeric coiled-coil with charged extensions has essentially the same stability as the heterodimeric coiled-coil on its own (urea1/2 values of 7.8 and 8.1 m, respectively) suggesting that specificity of heterodimerization is driven by non-specific attraction of the oppositely unstructured charged regions without affecting stability of the heterodimeric coiled-coil.     

The Therapeutic Potential of AN-7, a Novel Histone Deacetylase Inhibitor,for Treatment of Mycosis Fungoides/Sezary Syndrome Alone or with Doxorubicin

The 2 histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACIs) approved for the treatment of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL) including mycosis fungoides/sezary syndrome (MF/SS), suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA) and romidepsin, are associated with low rates of overall response and high rates of adverse effects. Data regarding combination treatments with HDACIs is sparse. Butyroyloxymethyl diethylphosphate (AN-7) is a novel HDACI, which was found to have selective anticancer activity in several cell lines and animal models. The aim of this study was to compare the anticancer effects of AN-7 and SAHA, either alone or combined with doxorubicin, on MF/SS cell lines and peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) from patients with Sezary syndrome (SPBL). MyLa cells, Hut78 cells, SPBL, and PBL from healthy normal individuals (NPBL) were exposed to the test drugs, and the findings were analyzed by a viability assay, an apoptosis assay, and Western blot. AN-7 was more selectively toxic to MyLa cells, Hut78 cells, and SPBL (relative to NPBL) than SAHA and also acted more rapidly. Both drugs induced apoptosis in MF/SS cell lines, SAHA had a greater effect on MyLa cell line, while AN-7 induced greater apoptosis in SPBL; both caused an accumulation of acetylated histone H₃, but AN-7 was associated with earlier kinetics; and both caused a downregulation of the HDAC1 protein in MF/SS cell lines. AN-7 acted synergistically with doxorubicin in both MF/SS cell lines and SPBL, and antagonistically with doxorubicin in NPBL. By contrast, SAHA acted antagonistically with doxorubicin on MF/SS cell lines, SPBL, and NPBL, leaving <50% viable cells. In conclusion, AN-7 holds promise as a therapeutic agent in MF/SS and has several advantages over SAHA. Our data provide a rationale for combining AN-7, but not SAHA, with doxorubicin to induce the cell death in MF/SS.     

SOCCER: Self-Optimization of Energy-efficient Cloud Resources

Cloud data centers often schedule heterogeneous workloads without considering energy consumption and carbon emission aspects. Tremendous amount of energy consumption leads to high operational costs and reduces return on investment and contributes towards carbon footprints to the environment. Therefore, there is need of energy-aware cloud based system which schedules computing resources automatically by considering energy consumption as an important parameter. In this paper, energy efficient autonomic cloud system [Self-Optimization of Cloud Computing Energy-efficient Resources (SOCCER)] is proposed for energy efficient scheduling of cloud resources in data centers. The proposed work considers energy as a Quality of Service (QoS) parameter and automatically optimizes the efficiency of cloud resources by reducing energy consumption. The performance of the proposed system has been evaluated in real cloud environment and the experimental results show that the proposed system performs better in terms of energy consumption of cloud resources and utilizes these resources optimally.     

RGK family G-domain:GTP analog complex structures and nucleotide-binding properties

The RGK family of small G-proteins, including Rad, Gem, Rem1, and Rem2, is inducibly expressed in various mammalian tissues and interacts with voltage-dependent calcium channels and Rho kinase. Many questions remain regarding their physiological roles and molecular mechanism. Previous crystallographic studies reported RGK G-domain:guanosine di-phosphate structures. To test whether RGK proteins undergo a nucleotide-induced conformational change, we determined the crystallographic structures of Rad:GppNHp and Rem2:GppNHp to 1.7 and 1.8 Å resolutions, respectively. Also, we characterized the nucleotide-binding properties and conformations for Gem, Rad, and several structure-based mutants using fluorescence spectroscopy. The results suggest that RGK G-proteins may not behave as Ras-like canonical nucleotide-induced molecular switches. Further, the RGK proteins have differing structures and nucleotide-binding properties, which may have implications for their varied action on effectors.     

Decreased histone deacetylase 2 impairs Nrf2 activation by oxidative stress

Nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) plays a crucial role in cellular defence against oxidative stress by inducing the expression of multiple anti-oxidant genes. However, where high levels of oxidative stress are observed, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), Nrf2 activity is reduced, although the molecular mechanism for this defect is uncertain. Here, we show that down-regulation of histone deacetylase (HDAC) 2 causes Nrf2 instability, resulting in reduced anti-oxidant gene expression and increase sensitivity to oxidative stress. Although Nrf2 protein was clearly stabilized after hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) stimulation in a bronchial epithelial cell line (BEAS2B), Nrf2 stability was decreased and Nrf2 acetylation increased in the presence of an HDAC inhibitor, trichostatin A (TSA). TSA also reduced Nrf2-regulated heme-oxygenase-1 (HO-1) expression in these cells, and this was confirmed in acute cigarette-smoke exposed mice in vivo. HDAC2 knock-down by RNA interference resulted in reduced H₂O₂-induced Nrf2 protein stability and activity in BEAS2B cells, whereas HDAC1 knockdown had no effect. Furthermore, monocyte-derived macrophages obtained from healthy volunteers (non-smokers and smokers) and COPD patients showed a significant correlation between HDAC2 expression and Nrf2 expression (r = 0.92, p < 0.0001). Thus, reduced HDAC2 activity in COPD may account for increased Nrf2 acetylation, reduced Nrf2 stability and impaired anti oxidant defences.     

Ovarian Carcinoma Subtypes Are Different Diseases: Implications for Biomarker Studies

Background

Although it has long been appreciated that ovarian carcinoma subtypes (serous, clear cell, endometrioid, and mucinous) are associated with different natural histories, most ovarian carcinoma biomarker studies and current treatment protocols for women with this disease are not subtype specific. With the emergence of high-throughput molecular techniques, distinct pathogenetic pathways have been identified in these subtypes. We examined variation in biomarker expression rates between subtypes, and how this influences correlations between biomarker expression and stage at diagnosis or prognosis.

Methods and Findings

In this retrospective study we assessed the protein expression of 21 candidate tissue-based biomarkers (CA125, CRABP-II, EpCam, ER, F-Spondin, HE4, IGF2, K-Cadherin, Ki-67, KISS1, Matriptase, Mesothelin, MIF, MMP7, p21, p53, PAX8, PR, SLPI, TROP2, WT1) in a population-based cohort of 500 ovarian carcinomas that was collected over the period from 1984 to 2000. The expression of 20 of the 21 biomarkers differs significantly between subtypes, but does not vary across stage within each subtype. Survival analyses show that nine of the 21 biomarkers are prognostic indicators in the entire cohort but when analyzed by subtype only three remain prognostic indicators in the high-grade serous and none in the clear cell subtype. For example, tumor proliferation, as assessed by Ki-67 staining, varies markedly between different subtypes and is an unfavourable prognostic marker in the entire cohort (risk ratio [RR] 1.7, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.2%–2.4%) but is not of prognostic significance within any subtype. Prognostic associations can even show an inverse correlation within the entire cohort, when compared to a specific subtype. For example, WT1 is more frequently expressed in high-grade serous carcinomas, an aggressive subtype, and is an unfavourable prognostic marker within the entire cohort of ovarian carcinomas (RR 1.7, 95% CI 1.2%–2.3%), but is a favourable prognostic marker within the high-grade serous subtype (RR 0.5, 95% CI 0.3%–0.8%).

Conclusions

The association of biomarker expression with survival varies substantially between subtypes, and can easily be overlooked in whole cohort analyses. To avoid this effect, each subtype within a cohort should be analyzed discretely. Ovarian carcinoma subtypes are different diseases, and these differences should be reflected in clinical research study design and ultimately in the management of ovarian carcinoma.