Evaluation of decay and termite resistance of wood treated with copper in combination with boron and N′-N-(1, 8-naphthalyl) hydroxylamine (NHA-Na)

This study evaluated the relative ability of various combinations of copper sulfate with either boric acid or calcium-precipitating agent, N′-N-(1, 8-naphthalyl) hydroxylamine (NHA-Na), to inhibit fungal degradation and attack by Formosan subterranean termites (Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki). Wood specimens were treated with either 1%, 0.5%, or 0.1% concentrations of copper sulfate, boric acid, NHA-Na, copper sulfate + boric acid, or copper sulfate + NHA-Na mixtures. Treated specimens were subjected to laboratory decay-resistance tests by using petri dishes inoculated with the Basidiomycetes fungi Tyromyces palustris and Trametes versicolor for 12 weeks. Treated wood specimens were also subjected to termite-resistance tests under laboratory conditions. Increased efficacy of copper sulfate against the brown-rot fungus T. palustris was observed when either boric acid or NHA-Na was added. The most effective treatments against the fungi tested were NHA-Na only treatments at 1% and 0.5% concentration levels. Boric acid treatments were not able to protect wood against decay after leaching because of excessive leaching of boron. Similar results were obtained in termite-resistance tests in comparison with decay-resistance tests. These results indicate that the efficacy of the treatments in preventing fungal and termite attack is a function of the type of preservative.     

A protein containing the cystic fibrosis antigen is an inhibitor of protein kinases

To investigate myeloid cell maturation, we established a panel of monoclonal antibodies that recognize myeloid cell nuclear antigens. One of these monoclonal antibodies was used to purify a specific protein complex (PC) from a human spleen. This PC, which is present at high levels in peripheral blood monocytes and granulocytes, contains a protein that is the cystic fibrosis (CF) antigen. The purified PC was shown to inhibit the activity of casein kinase I and II but not cAMP-dependent protein kinase, protein kinase C, v-abl tyrosine kinase, or insulin receptor tyrosine kinase. The observed Ki values for casein kinases I and II purified from several sources were 1 microM or less. Furthermore, the addition of the purified PC to a nuclear extract from human cells was able to prevent protein kinase-mediated stimulation of RNA polymerase activity. The unique inhibitory character of the PC and its elevated levels in monocytes and granulocytes and of the CF antigen in CF patients implies that this complex may be associated with myeloid cell functions and perhaps with the cause or consequence of the clinical manifestations of CF.     

The states of tyrosyl and tryptophyl residues in a protein proteinase inhibitor (Streptomyces subtilisin inhibitor

The states of tyrosyl and tryptophyl residues of a dimeric protein proteinase inhibitor, Streptomyces subtilisin inhibitor (Sato, S & Murao, S. (1973), Agric. Biol. Chem. 37, 1067) were studies by solvent perturbation difference spectroscopy with methanol, ethylene glycol, polyethylene glycol, and deuterium oxide as perturbants, and by spectrophotometric titration at alkaline pH. It appeared that all three tyrosyl residues per monomer of the inhibitor were exposed on the surface of the molecule, and their apparent pK values were estimated separately to be 9.58, 11.10, and 12.42. The single tryptophyl residue per monomer of the inhibitor appeared to be partially buried in the protein molecule.     

Plasma brain natriuretic peptide as a surrogate marker for cardioembolic stroke

Background

Cardioembolic stroke generally results in more severe disability, since it typically has a larger ischemic area than the other types of ischemic stroke. However, it is difficult to differentiate cardioembolic stroke from non-cardioembolic stroke (atherothrombotic stroke and lacunar stroke). In this study, we evaluated the levels of plasma brain natriuretic peptide in acute ischemic stroke patients with cardioembolic stroke or non-cardioembolic stroke, and assessed the prediction factors of plasma brain natriuretic peptide and whether we could differentiate between stroke subtypes on the basis of plasma brain natriuretic peptide concentrations in addition to patient's clinical variables.

Methods

Our patient cohort consisted of 131 consecutive patients with acute cerebral infarction who were admitted to Kagawa University School of Medicine Hospital from January 1, 2005 to December 31, 2007. The mean age of patients (43 females, 88 males) was 69.6 ± 10.1 years. Sixty-two patients had cardioembolic stroke; the remaining 69 patients had non-cardioembolic stroke (including atherothrombotic stroke, lacunar stroke, or the other). Clinical variables and the plasma brain natriuretic peptide were evaluated in all patients.

Results

Plasma brain natriuretic peptide was linearly associated with atrial fibrillation, heart failure, chronic renal failure, and left atrial diameter, independently (F_4,126 = 27.6, p < 0.0001; adjusted R² = 0.45). Furthermore, atrial fibrillation, mitral regurgitation, plasma brain natriuretic peptide (> 77 pg/ml), and left atrial diameter (> 36 mm) were statistically significant independent predictors of cardioembolic stroke in the multivariable setting (Χ² = 127.5, p < 0.001).

Conclusion

It was suggested that cardioembolic stroke was strongly predicted with atrial fibrillation and plasma brain natriuretic peptide. Plasma brain natriuretic peptide can be a surrogate marker for cardioembolic stroke.     

An unusual fluorescence spectrum of a protein proteinase inhibitor, Streptomyces subtilisin inhibitor.

Streptomyces subtilisin inhibitor, a dimeric protein proteinase inhibitor isolated in crystalline form by Murae et al. in 1972, contains three tyrosine and one tryptophan residues per monomer unit and has unusual fluorescence properties. When excited at 280 nm, it shows a characteristic fluorescence spectrum having a peak at 307 nm and a shoulder near 340 nm, a feature which has been recognized only for a very few cases in proteins containing both tryosine and tryptophan residues. When excited at 295 nm, at which tryrosine scarcely absorbs, the inhibitor shows an emission spectrum with a peak at 340 nm characteristic of a tryptophan residue. The emission with a peak at 307 nm is considered to arise from the tryrosine residues. The tryptophan quantum yield of Streptomyces subtilisin inhibitor excited at 295 nm is very small, indicating that the tryptophan florescence is strongly quenched in the native state of the inhibitor. Below pH 4 the peak of the fluorescence spectrum of the inhibitor excited at 280 nm shifts toward 340-350 nm with a concomitant increase in the quantum yield. The structural change induced by low pH seems to release the tryptophan fluorescence from the quenching.     

Srs2 Plays a Critical Role in Reversible G2 Arrest upon Chronic and Low Doses of UV Irradiation via Two Distinct Homologous Recombination-Dependent Mechanisms in Postreplication Repair-Deficient Cells

Differential posttranslational modification of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) by ubiquitin or SUMO plays an important role in coordinating the processes of DNA replication and DNA damage tolerance. Previously it was shown that the loss of RAD6-dependent error-free postreplication repair (PRR) results in DNA damage checkpoint-mediated G₂ arrest in cells exposed to chronic low-dose UV radiation (CLUV), whereas wild-type and nucleotide excision repair-deficient cells are largely unaffected. In this study, we report that suppression of homologous recombination (HR) in PRR-deficient cells by Srs2 and PCNA sumoylation is required for checkpoint activation and checkpoint maintenance during CLUV irradiation. Cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK1)-dependent phosphorylation of Srs2 did not influence checkpoint-mediated G₂ arrest or maintenance in PRR-deficient cells but was critical for HR-dependent checkpoint recovery following release from CLUV exposure. These results indicate that Srs2 plays an important role in checkpoint-mediated reversible G₂ arrest in PRR-deficient cells via two separate HR-dependent mechanisms. The first (required to suppress HR during PRR) is regulated by PCNA sumoylation, whereas the second (required for HR-dependent recovery following CLUV exposure) is regulated by CDK1-dependent phosphorylation.DNA damage occurs frequently in all organisms as a consequence of both endogenous metabolic processes and exogenous DNA-damaging agents. In nature, the steady-state level of DNA damage is usually very low. However, chronic low-level DNA damage can lead to age-related genome instability as a consequence of the accumulation of DNA damage (12, 27). Increasing evidence implicates DNA damage-related replication stress in genome instability (7, 21). Replication stress occurs when an active fork encounters DNA lesions or proteins tightly bound to DNA. These obstacles pose a threat to the integrity of the replication fork and are thus a potential source of genome instability, which can contribute to tumorigenesis and aging in humans (4, 11). Confronted with this risk, cells have developed fundamental DNA damage response mechanisms in order to faithfully complete DNA replication (8).In budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the Rad6-dependent postreplication repair (PRR) pathway is subdivided into three subpathways, which allow replication to resume by bypassing the lesion without repairing the damage (3, 22, 33). Translesion synthesis (TLS) pathways dependent on the DNA polymerases eta and zeta promote error-free or mutagenic bypass depending on the DNA lesion and are activated upon monoubiquitination of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) at Lys164 (K164) (5, 16, 37). The Rad5 (E3) and Ubc13 (E2)/Mms2 (E2 variant)-dependent pathway promotes error-free bypass by template switching and is activated by polyubiquitination of PCNA via a Lys63-linked ubiquitin chain (16, 38, 41). It remains mechanistically unclear how polyubiquitinated PCNA promotes template switching at the molecular level. In addition to its ubiquitin E3 activity, Rad5 also has a helicase domain and was recently shown to unwind and reanneal fork structures in vitro (6). This led to the proposal that Rad5 helicase activity is required at replication forks to promote fork regression and subsequent template switching. It is possible that PCNA polyubiquitination acts to facilitate Rad5-dependent template switching by inhibiting monoubiquitination-dependent TLS activity and/or by recruiting alternative proteins to the fork.In addition to modification by ubiquitin, PCNA can also be sumoylated on Lys164 by the SUMO E3 ligase Siz1 (16). A second sumoylation site, Lys127, is also targeted by an alternative SUMO E3 ligase, Siz2, albeit with lower efficiency (16, 30). PCNA SUMO modification results in recruitment of the Srs2 helicase and subsequent inhibition of Rad51-dependent recombination events (29, 32). The modification can therefore allow the replicative bypass of lesions by promoting the RAD6 pathway. Srs2 is known to act as an antirecombinase by eliminating recombination intermediates. This can occur independently of PCNA sumoylation, and when srs2Δ cells are UV irradiated or other antirecombinases, such as Sgs1, are concomitantly deleted, toxic recombination structures accumulate (1, 10). Such genetic data are consistent with the ability of Srs2 to disassemble the Rad51 nucleoprotein filaments formed on single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) in vitro (20, 40). In addition to directly inhibiting homologous recombination (HR), Srs2 is also involved in regulating HR outcomes to not produce crossover recombinants in the mitotic cell cycle (18, 34, 35).The UV spectrum present in sunlight is a primary environmental cause of exogenous DNA damage. Sunlight is a potent and ubiquitous carcinogen responsible for much of the skin cancer in humans (17). In the natural environment, organisms are exposed to chronic low-dose UV light (CLUV), as opposed to the acute high doses commonly used in laboratory experiments. Hence, understanding the cellular response to CLUV exposure is an important approach complementary to the more traditional laboratory approaches for clarifying the biological significance of specific DNA damage response pathways. A recently developed experimental assay for the analysis of CLUV-induced DNA damage responses was used to show that the PCNA polyubiquitination-dependent error-free PRR pathway plays a critical role in tolerance of CLUV exposure by preventing the generation of excessive ssDNA when replication forks arrest, thus suppressing counterproductive checkpoint activation (13).Mutants of SRS2 were first isolated by their ability to suppress the radiation sensitivity of rad6 and rad18 mutants (defective in PRR) by a mechanism that requires a functional HR pathway (23, 36). In this study, we analyzed the function of Srs2 in CLUV-exposed PRR-deficient cells. We established that Srs2 acts in conjunction with SUMO-modified PCNA to lower the threshold for checkpoint activation and maintenance by suppressing the function of HR in rad18Δ cells exposed to CLUV. We also showed that Srs2 is separately involved in an HR-dependent recovery process following cessation of CLUV exposure and that this second role for Srs2, unlike its primary role in checkpoint activation and maintenance, is regulated by CDK1-dependent phosphorylation. Thus, Srs2 is involved in both CLUV-induced checkpoint-mediated arrest and recovery from CLUV exposure in PRR-deficient cells, and these two functions, while both involving HR, are separable and thus independent.     

Thiazolidinedione inhibits the production of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 in cytokine-treated human vascular endothelial cells.

The chemokine monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 is a potent chemoattractant for monocytes. Monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 is produced by vascular endothelial cells during inflammatory diseases such as atherosclerosis. In this study, we examined the effects of a thiazolidinedione on monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 expression in human vascular endothelial cells. In human vascular endothelial cells, interleukin-1beta and tumor necrosis factor-alpha induced endogenous monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 protein secretion, mRNA expression and promoter activity. The thiazolidinedione inhibited these effects. In summary, our results indicated that the suppression of the expression of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 can be accomplished by thiazolidinedione treatment, raising the possibility that thiazolidinedione may be of therapeutic value in the treatment of diseases such as atherosclerosis.     

Thiazolidinedione inhibits production of RANTES in a cytokine-treated human lung epithelial cell line.

The chemokine RANTES is a potent chemoattractant for eosinophils. RANTES is produced by lung epithelial cells during eosinophil-rich inflammatory diseases such as asthma. In this study, we examined the effects of thiazolidinediones (TZD) on RANTES expression in a human lung epithelial cell line, A549. In A549 cells, interleukin-1beta and tumor necrosis factor-alpha induced endogenous RANTES protein secretion, mRNA expression, and promoter activity. The TZD inhibited these effects. Our data indicate that the suppression of the expression of RANTES can be accomplished by TZD treatment, raising the possibility that TZD might be of therapeutic value in diseases such as asthma.