Discrete roles for histone acetylation in human T helper 1 cell-specific gene expression

To better understand the control of T helper (TH) 1-expressed genes, we compared and contrasted acetylation and expression for three key genes, IFNG, TBET, and IL18RAP and found them to be distinctly regulated. The TBET and the IFNG genes, but not the IL18RAP gene, showed preferential acetylation of histones H3 and H4 during TH1 differentiation. Analysis of acetylation of specific histone residues revealed that H3(Lys-9), H4(Lys-8), and H4(Lys-12) were preferentially modified in TH1 cells, suggesting a possible contribution of acetylation of these residues for induction of these genes. On the other hand, the acetylation of IL18RAP gene occurred both in TH1 and TH2 cells the similar kinetics and on the same with residues, demonstrating that selective histone acetylation was not universally the case for all TH1-expressed genes. Histone H3 acetylation of IFNG and TBET genes occurred with different kinetics, however, and was distinctively regulated by cytokines. Interleukin (IL)-12 and IL-18 enhanced the histone acetylation of the IFNG gene. By contrast, histone acetylation of the TBET gene was markedly suppressed by IL-4, whereas IL-12 and IL-18 had only modest effects suggesting that histone acetylation during TH1 differentiation is a process that is regulated by various factors at multiple levels. By treating Th2 cells with a histone deacetylase inhibitor, we restored histone acetylation of the IFNG and TBET genes, but it did not fully restore their expression in TH2 cells, again suggesting that histone acetylation explains one but not all the aspects of TH1-specific gene expression.     

64Cu-AMD3100—A novel imaging agent for targeting chemokine receptor CXCR4

CXCR4 is a chemokine receptor which has been shown to be exploited by various tumors for increased survival, invasion, and homing to target organs. We developed a one step radiosynthesis for labeling the CXCR4-specific antagonist AMD3100 with Cu-64 to produce ⁶⁴Cu-AMD3100 with a specific activity of 11.28 Ci/μmol (417 GBq/μmol) at the end of radiosynthesis. Incorporation of Cu(II) ion into AMD3100 did not change its ability to inhibit cellular migration in response to the (only) CXCR4 ligand, SDF-1/CXCL12. ⁶⁴Cu-AMD3100 binding affinity to CXCR4 was found to be 62.7 μM. Biodistribution of ⁶⁴Cu-AMD3100 showed accumulation in CXCR4-expressing organs and tissues, a renal clearance pathway, and an anomalous specific accumulation in the liver. We conclude that ⁶⁴Cu-AMD3100 exhibits promise as a potential PET imaging agent for visualization of CXCR4-positive tumors and metastases and might be used to guide and monitor anti-CXCR4 tumor therapy.     

Enzymatic synthesis of poly-β-hydroxybutyrate inZoogloea ramigera

The enzyme activity synthesizing poly--hydroxybutyrate (PHB) was mainly localized in the PHB-containing particulate fraction ofZoogloea ramigera I-16-M, when it grew flocculatedly in a medium supplemented with glucose. On the other hand, the enzyme activity remained in the soluble fraction, when the bacterium grew dispersedly in a glucose-starved medium.The soluble PHB synthase activity became associated with the particulate fraction as PHB synthesis was initiated on the addition of glucose to the dispersed culture. Conversely, the enzyme activity was released from the PHB-containing granules to the soluble fraction when the flocculated culture was kept incubated without supplementing the medium with glucose.PHB synthase was also incorporated into the newly formed PHB fraction when partially purified soluble PHB synthase was incubated withd(-)--hydroxybutyryl CoA in vitro.Although attempts to solubilize the particulate enzyme were unsuccessful, and the soluble enzyme became extremely unstable in advanced stages of purification, both PHB synthases had the same strict substrate specificity ford(-)--hydroxybutyryl CoA, and showed the same pH optimum at 7.0.Non-Standard Abbreviations PHB poly--hydroxybutyrate     

The biology of IL-12: coordinating innate and adaptive immune responses

Cytokines play critical roles in regulating all aspects of immune responses, including lymphoid development, homeostasis, differentiation, tolerance and memory. Interleukin (IL)-12 is especially important because its expression during infection regulates innate responses and determines the type and duration of adaptive immune response. IL-12 induces interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) production by NK, T cells, dendritic cells (DC), and macrophages. IL-12 also promotes the differentiation of na?ve CD4+ T cells into T helper 1 (Th1) cells that produce IFN-gamma and aid in cell-mediated immunity. As IL-12 is induced by microbial products and regulates the development of adaptive immune cells, IL-12 plays a central role in coordinating innate and adaptive immunity. IL-12 and the recently identified cytokines, IL-23 and IL-27, define a family of related cytokines that induce IFN-gamma production and promote T cell expansion and proliferation.     

Strictly polyphosphate-dependent glucokinase in a polyphosphate-accumulating bacterium,Microlunatus phosphovorus

ATP-dependent glucokinase is suggested to have evolved from a hypothetical polyphosphate (polyP)-dependent glucokinase (polyP-GK) via a bifunctional polyP/ATP glucokinase (polyP/ATP-GK). Here we showed that polyP-GK is present in a polyP-accumulating bacterium, Microlunatus phosphovorus. The polyP-GK produced glucose-6-P(i) from glucose and polyP, but it could not phosphorylate glucose with ATP. The polyP-GK was most closely related to the polyP/ATP-GK of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.     

Effects of Conformism on the Cultural Evolution of Social Behaviour

Models of cultural evolution study how the distribution of cultural traits changes over time. The dynamics of cultural evolution strongly depends on the way these traits are transmitted between individuals by social learning. Two prominent forms of social learning are payoff-based learning (imitating others that have higher payoffs) and conformist learning (imitating locally common behaviours). How payoff-based and conformist learning affect the cultural evolution of cooperation is currently a matter of lively debate, but few studies systematically analyse the interplay of these forms of social learning. Here we perform such a study by investigating how the interaction of payoff-based and conformist learning affects the outcome of cultural evolution in three social contexts. First, we develop a simple argument that provides insights into how the outcome of cultural evolution will change when more and more conformist learning is added to payoff-based learning. In a social dilemma (e.g. a Prisoner’s Dilemma), conformism can turn cooperation into a stable equilibrium; in an evasion game (e.g. a Hawk-Dove game or a Snowdrift game) conformism tends to destabilize the polymorphic equilibrium; and in a coordination game (e.g. a Stag Hunt game), conformism changes the basin of attraction of the two equilibria. Second, we analyse a stochastic event-based model, revealing that conformism increases the speed of cultural evolution towards pure equilibria. Individual-based simulations as well as the analysis of the diffusion approximation of the stochastic model by and large confirm our findings. Third, we investigate the effect of an increasing degree of conformism on cultural group selection in a group-structured population. We conclude that, in contrast to statements in the literature, conformism hinders rather than promotes the evolution of cooperation.     

Bacterial Contribution to Dissolved Organic Matter in Eutrophic Lake Kasumigaura,Japan

Incubation experiments using filtered waters from Lake Kasumigaura were conducted to examine bacterial contribution to a dissolved organic carbon (DOC) pool. Bacterial abundance, bacterial production, concentrations of DOC, total dissolved amino acids (TDAA), and total dissolved neutral sugars (TDNS) were monitored during the experiments. Bacterial production during the first few days was very high (20 to 35 μg C liter⁻¹ day⁻¹), accounting for 40 to 70% of primary production. The total bacterial production accounted for 34 to 55% of the DOC loss during the experiment, indicating high bacterial activities in Lake Kasumigaura. The DOC degradation was only 12 to 15%, whereas the degradation of TDAA and TDNS ranged from 30 to 50%, suggesting the preferential usage of TDAA and TDNS. The contribution of bacterially derived carbon to a DOC pool in Lake Kasumigaura was estimated using d-amino acids as bacterial biomarkers and accounted for 30 to 50% of the lake DOC. These values were much higher than those estimated for the open ocean (20 to 30%). The ratio of bacterially derived carbon to bulk carbon increased slightly with time, suggesting that the bacterially derived carbon is more resistant to microbial degradation than bulk carbon. This is the first study to estimate the bacterial contribution to a DOC pool in freshwater environments. These results indicate that bacteria play even more important roles in carbon cycles in freshwater environments than in open oceans and also suggests that recent increases in recalcitrant DOC in various lakes could be attributed to bacterially derived carbon. The potential differences in bacterial contributions to dissolved organic matter (DOM) between freshwater and marine environments are discussed.     

Inhibition of the First Step in Synthesis of the Mycobacterial Cell Wall Core,Catalyzed by the GlcNAc-1-phosphate Transferase WecA,by the Novel Caprazamycin Derivative CPZEN-45

Because tuberculosis is one of the most prevalent and serious infections, countermeasures against it are urgently required. We isolated the antitubercular agents caprazamycins from the culture of an actinomycete strain and created CPZEN-45 as the most promising derivative of the caprazamycins. Herein, we describe the mode of action of CPZEN-45 first against Bacillus subtilis. Unlike the caprazamycins, CPZEN-45 strongly inhibited incorporation of radiolabeled glycerol into growing cultures and showed antibacterial activity against caprazamycin-resistant strains, including a strain overexpressing translocase-I (MraY, involved in the biosynthesis of peptidoglycan), the target of the caprazamycins. By contrast, CPZEN-45 was not effective against a strain overexpressing undecaprenyl-phosphate–GlcNAc-1-phosphate transferase (TagO, involved in the biosynthesis of teichoic acid), and a mutation was found in the tagO gene of the spontaneous CPZEN-45-resistant strain. This suggested that the primary target of CPZEN-45 in B. subtilis is TagO, which is a different target from that of the parent caprazamycins. This suggestion was confirmed by evaluation of the activities of these enzymes. Finally, we showed that CPZEN-45 was effective against WecA (Rv1302, also called Rfe) of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the ortholog of TagO and involved in the biosynthesis of the mycolylarabinogalactan of the cell wall of M. tuberculosis. The outlook for WecA as a promising target for the development of antituberculous drugs as a countermeasure of drug resistant tuberculosis is discussed.