Neutrophil traction stresses are concentrated in the uropod during migration

We find that in contrast to strongly adherent, slow moving cells such as fibroblasts, neutrophils exert contractile stresses largely in the rear of the cell (uropod) relative to the direction of motion. Rather than the leading edge pulling the cell, the rear is both anchoring the cell and the area in which the contractile forces are concentrated. These tractions rapidly reorient themselves during a turn, on a timescale of seconds to minutes, and their repositioning precedes and sets the direction of motion during a turn. We find the total average root mean-squared traction force to be 28+/-10 nN during chemokinesis, and 67+/-10 nN during chemotaxis. We hypothesize that the contraction forces in the back of the neutrophil not only break uropodial adhesive contacts but also create a rearward squeezing contractility, as seen in amoeboid or amoeboidlike cells and the formation of blebs in cells, causing a flow of intracellular material to the fluidlike lamellipod. Our findings suggest an entirely new model of neutrophil locomotion.     

Candidate gene sequencing of SLC11A2 and TMPRSS6 in a family with severe anaemia: common SNPs, rare haplotypes, no causative mutation

Background

Iron-refractory iron deficiency anaemia (IRIDA) is a rare disorder which was linked to mutations in two genes (SLC11A2 and TMPRSS6). Common polymorphisms within these genes were associated with serum iron levels. We identified a family of Serbian origin with asymptomatic non-consanguineous parents with three of four children presenting with IRIDA not responding to oral but to intravenous iron supplementation. After excluding all known causes responsible for iron deficiency anaemia we searched for mutations in SLC11A2 and TMPRSS6 that could explain the severe anaemia in these children.

Methodology/Results

We sequenced the exons and exon–intron boundaries of SLC11A2 and TMPRSS6 in all six family members. Thereby, we found seven known and fairly common SNPs, but no new mutation. We then genotyped these seven SNPs in the population-based SAPHIR study (n = 1,726) and performed genetic association analysis on iron and ferritin levels. Only two SNPs, which were top-hits from recent GWAS on iron and ferritin, exhibited an effect on iron and ferritin levels in SAPHIR. Six SAPHIR participants carrying the same TMPRSS6 genotypes and haplotype-pairs as one anaemic son showed lower ferritin and iron levels than the average. One individual exhibiting the joint SLC11A2/TMPRSS6 profile of the anaemic son had iron and ferritin levels lying below the 5^th percentile of the population''s iron and ferritin level distribution. We then checked the genotype constellations in the Nijmegen Biomedical Study (n = 1,832), but the profile of the anaemic son did not occur in this population.

Conclusions

We cannot exclude a gene-gene interaction between SLC11A2 and TMPRSS6, but we can also not confirm it. As in this case candidate gene sequencing did not reveal causative rare mutations, the samples will be subjected to whole exome sequencing.     

Most nuclear systemic autoantigens are extremely disordered proteins: implications for the etiology of systemic autoimmunity

Patients with systemic autoimmune diseases usually produce high levels of antibodies to self-antigens (autoantigens). The repertoire of common autoantigens is remarkably limited, yet no readily understandable shared thread links these apparently diverse proteins. Using computer prediction algorithms, we have found that most nuclear systemic autoantigens are predicted to contain long regions of extreme structural disorder. Such disordered regions would generally make poor B cell epitopes and are predicted to be under-represented as potential T cell epitopes. Consideration of the potential role of protein disorder may give novel insights into the possible role of molecular mimicry in the pathogenesis of autoimmunity. The recognition of extreme autoantigen protein disorder has led us to an explicit model of epitope spreading that explains many of the paradoxical aspects of autoimmunity – in particular, the difficulty in identifying autoantigen-specific helper T cells that might collaborate with the B cells activated in systemic autoimmunity. The model also explains the experimentally observed breakdown of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class specificity in peptides associated with the MHC II proteins of activated autoimmune B cells, and sheds light on the selection of particular T cell epitopes in autoimmunity. Finally, the model helps to rationalize the relative rarity of clinically significant autoimmunity despite the prevalence of low specificity/low avidity autoantibodies in normal individuals.     

EFFECTS OF HUMAN ACTIVITIES ON STRUCTURE AND COMPOSITION OF WOODY SPECIES OF THE NOKREK BIOSPHERE RESERVE OF MEGHALAYA,NORTHEAST INDIA

Aims Our study was conducted in the Nokrek Biosphere Reserve (NBR) in the Garo hills districts of Meghalaya, Northeast India. Our aim was to assess the effects of human activities on plant diversity,population structure and regeneration.Methods We selected a representative 1.2 hm2 stand in both the core and buffer zones of NBR. Structure and composition were determined by randomly sampling square quadrats, population structure was assessed by determining age structure, and regeneration was assessed by measuring densities of seedling, sapling and adult trees.Important findings More woody species were recorded from the core zone than the buffer zone (87 vs. 81 species), and there were a large number of tropical, temperate, and Sino-Himalayan, Burma-Malaysian and Malayan elements, primitive families and primitive genera. The trees were distributed in three distinct strata,canopy, subcanopy and sapling. Subcanopy and sapling layers had the highest species richness (81％ -88％ ). Lauraceae and Euphorbiaceae were the dominant families in terms of the number of species, and a large number of families were represented by single species. Most woody species (57 ％ - 79 ％ ) were contagiously distributed and had low frequency ( ＜ 20％ ). Although stand density was high in the buffer zone, its basal area was low compared to the stand in the core zone. Low similarity and high β-diversity indicate marked differences in species composition of the stands. Shannon diversity index was high in both the stands, while Simpson dominance index was low. The diameter-class distribution for dominant species revealed that the most had a large number of young individuals in their populations. Preponderance of tree seedlings, followed by a steep decline in population density of saplings and adult trees, indicated that the seedling to sapling stage was the most critical in the life cycle of the tree populations. Most species (42 ％ - 48 ％ ) had no regeneration,25 ％ - 35 ％ had good/fair regeneration, and the rest had poor regeneration or reoccurred as immigrants.     

Investigation and functional characterization of rare genetic variants in the adipose triglyceride lipase in a large healthy working population

Recent studies demonstrated a strong influence of rare genetic variants on several lipid-related traits. However, their impact on free fatty acid (FFA) plasma concentrations, as well as the role of rare variants in a general population, has not yet been thoroughly addressed. The adipose triglyceride lipase (ATGL) is encoded by the PNPLA2 gene and catalyzes the rate-limiting step of lipolysis. It represents a prominent candidate gene affecting FFA concentrations. We therefore screened the full genomic region of ATGL for mutations in 1,473 randomly selected individuals from the SAPHIR (Salzburg Atherosclerosis Prevention program in subjects at High Individual Risk) Study using a combined Ecotilling and sequencing approach and functionally investigated all detected protein variants by in-vitro studies. We observed 55 novel mostly rare genetic variants in this general population sample. Biochemical evaluation of all non-synonymous variants demonstrated the presence of several mutated but mostly still functional ATGL alleles with largely varying residual lipolytic activity. About one-quarter (3 out of 13) of the investigated variants presented a marked decrease or total loss of catalytic function. Genetic association studies using both continuous and dichotomous approaches showed a shift towards lower plasma FFA concentrations for rare variant carriers and an accumulation of variants in the lower 10%-quantile of the FFA distribution. However, the generally rather small effects suggest either only a secondary role of rare ATGL variants on the FFA levels in the SAPHIR population or a recessive action of ATGL variants. In contrast to these rather small effects, we describe here also the first patient with "neutral lipid storage disease with myopathy" (NLSDM) with a point mutation in the catalytic dyad, but otherwise intact protein.     

SNPflow: A Lightweight Application for the Processing,Storing and Automatic Quality Checking of Genotyping Assays

Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) play a prominent role in modern genetics. Current genotyping technologies such as Sequenom iPLEX, ABI TaqMan and KBioscience KASPar made the genotyping of huge SNP sets in large populations straightforward and allow the generation of hundreds of thousands of genotypes even in medium sized labs. While data generation is straightforward, the subsequent data conversion, storage and quality control steps are time-consuming, error-prone and require extensive bioinformatic support. In order to ease this tedious process, we developed SNPflow. SNPflow is a lightweight, intuitive and easily deployable application, which processes genotype data from Sequenom MassARRAY (iPLEX) and ABI 7900HT (TaqMan, KASPar) systems and is extendible to other genotyping methods as well. SNPflow automatically converts the raw output files to ready-to-use genotype lists, calculates all standard quality control values such as call rate, expected and real amount of replicates, minor allele frequency, absolute number of discordant replicates, discordance rate and the p-value of the HWE test, checks the plausibility of the observed genotype frequencies by comparing them to HapMap/1000-Genomes, provides a module for the processing of SNPs, which allow sex determination for DNA quality control purposes and, finally, stores all data in a relational database. SNPflow runs on all common operating systems and comes as both stand-alone version and multi-user version for laboratory-wide use. The software, a user manual, screenshots and a screencast illustrating the main features are available at http://genepi-snpflow.i-med.ac.at.     

Effect of angiotensin II and losartan on the phagocytic activity of peritoneal macrophages from Balb/C mice

Angiotensin II (AII), a product of rennin-angiotensin system, exerts an important role on the function of immune system cells. In this study, the effect of AII on the phagocytic activity of mouse peritoneal macrophages was assessed. Mice peritoneal macrophages were cultured for 48 h and the influence of different concentrations of AII (10(-14) to 10(-7) M) and/or losartan, 10(-16) to 10(-6) M), an AT1 angiotensin receptor antagonist, on phagocytic activity and superoxide anion production was determined. Dimethylthiazoldiphenyltetrazolium bromide reduction and the nucleic acid content were used to assess the cvtotoxicity of losartan. A stimulatory effect on phagocytic activity (P < 0.05) was observed with 10(-13) M and 10(-12 M) AII concentrations. The addition of losartan (up to10(-14) M) to the cell cultures blocked (P < 0.001) the phagocytosis indicating the involvement of AT1 receptors. In contrast, superoxide anion production was not affected by AII or losartan. The existence of AT1 and AT2 receptors in peritoneal macrophages was demonstrated by immunofluorescence microscopy. These results support the hypothesis that AII receptors can modulate murine macrophage activity and phagocytosis, and suggest that AII may have a therapeutic role as an immunomodulatory agent in modifying the host resistance to infection.     

Brief communication: a study of the predictive accuracy of mandibular ramus flexure as a singular morphologic indicator of sex in an archaeological sample

Loth and Henneberg ([1996] Am J Phys Anthropol 99:473-485) assert that they have discovered a single morphologic indicator of sexual dimorphism in the human mandible that rivals the predictive accuracy of the complete pelvis at 94.2% for all samples (99% for healthy samples). To test the accuracy of their method, mandibles (n = 150) from the Tepe Hissar collection were assessed for the presence or absence of mandibular ramus flexure. These results were then compared to a separate sex assessment based on morphologic indicators from the corresponding skull and innominates (where possible) to yield an overall accuracy of only 78.2%. As a means of independent assessment, the mandibular results were also compared with Krogman's ([1940] Racial Types from Tepe Hessar, Iran, from late fifth to early second millennium, BC. Amsterdam: Koninkliijke Nederlandsche Akademie van Wetenschappen) assessment of sex based on craniofacial measurements and morphologic indicators from the skull. This comparison produced an even lower accuracy of 67.2%. Such results question the predictive potential of mandibular ramus flexure as a single indicator of sexual dimorphism and suggest caution when applying this method, especially in the case of fragmentary forensic and fossil remains.     

Phosphorylation of the rat Ins(1,4,5)P3 receptor at T930 within the coupling domain decreases its affinity to Ins(1,4,5)P3

The Ins(1,4,5)P₃ receptor acts as a central hub for Ca²⁺ signaling by integrating multiple signaling modalities into Ca²⁺ release from intracellular stores downstream of G-protein and tyrosine kinase-coupled receptor stimulation. As such, the Ins(1,4,5)P₃ receptor plays fundamental roles in cellular physiology. The regulation of the Ins(1,4,5)P₃ receptor is complex and involves protein-protein interactions, post-translational modifications, allosteric modulation, and regulation of its sub-cellular distribution. Phosphorylation has been implicated in the sensitization of Ins(1,4,5)P₃-dependent Ca²⁺ release observed during oocyte maturation. Here we investigate the role of phosphorylation at T-930, a residue phosphorylated specifically during meiosis. We show that a phosphomimetic mutation at T-930 of the rat Ins(1,4,5)P₃ receptor results in decreased Ins(1,4,5)P₃-dependent Ca²⁺ release and lowers the Ins(1,4,5)P₃ binding affinity of the receptor. These data, coupled to the sensitization of Ins(1,4,5)P₃-dependent Ca²⁺ release during meiosis, argue that phosphorylation within the coupling domain of the Ins(1,4,5)P₃ receptor acts in a combinatorial fashion to regulate Ins(1,4,5)P₃ receptor function.