Alternative Splicing Generates a Novel Truncated Cav1.2 Channel in Neonatal Rat Heart

L-type Ca_v1.2 Ca²⁺ channel undergoes extensive alternative splicing, generating functionally different channels. Alternatively spliced Ca_v1.2 Ca²⁺ channels have been found to be expressed in a tissue-specific manner or under pathological conditions. To provide a more comprehensive understanding of alternative splicing in Ca_v1.2 channel, we systematically investigated the splicing patterns in the neonatal and adult rat hearts. The neonatal heart expresses a novel 104-bp exon 33L at the IVS3-4 linker that is generated by the use of an alternative acceptor site. Inclusion of exon 33L causes frameshift and C-terminal truncation. Whole-cell electrophysiological recordings of Ca_v1.2_33L channels expressed in HEK 293 cells did not detect any current. However, when co-expressed with wild type Ca_v1.2 channels, Ca_v1.2_33L channels reduced the current density and altered the electrophysiological properties of the wild type Ca_v1.2 channels. Interestingly, the truncated 3.5-domain Ca_v1.2_33L channels also yielded a dominant negative effect on Ca_v1.3 channels, but not on Ca_v3.2 channels, suggesting that Ca_vβ subunits is required for Ca_v1.2_33L regulation. A biochemical study provided evidence that Ca_v1.2_33L channels enhanced protein degradation of wild type channels via the ubiquitin-proteasome system. Although the physiological significance of the Ca_v1.2_33L channels in neonatal heart is still unknown, our report demonstrates the ability of this novel truncated channel to modulate the activity of the functional Ca_v1.2 channels. Moreover, the human Ca_v1.2 channel also contains exon 33L that is developmentally regulated in heart. Unexpectedly, human exon 33L has a one-nucleotide insertion that allowed in-frame translation of a full Ca_v1.2 channel. An electrophysiological study showed that human Ca_v1.2_33L channel is a functional channel but conducts Ca²⁺ ions at a much lower level.     

Dimethyl sulfoxide as an inducer of differentiation in preosteoblast MC3T3-E1 cells

Osteoblastic differentiation is an essential part of bone formation. Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) is a water miscible solvent that is used extensively for receptor ligands in osteoblast studies. However, little is known about its effects on osteoblastogenic precursor cells. In this study, we have used a murine preosteoblast cell line MC3T3-E1 cells to demonstrate that DMSO effectively induces osteoblastic differentiation of MC3T3-E1 cells via the activation of Runx2 and osterix and is dependent upon the protein kinase C (PKC) pathways. We further demonstrated that prolonged activation of PKC pathways is sufficient to induce osteoblastic differentiation, possibly via the activation of PKD/PKCmu.     

Determination of disulfide bond pairs and stability in recombinant tick anticoagulant peptide.

Tick anticoagulant peptide (TAP) is a potent and selective inhibitor of blood coagulation factor Xa (Waxman, L., Smith, D.E., Arcuri, K.E., and Vlasuk, G.P. (1990) Science 248, 593-596). The 60-amino acid sequence of TAP shows limited homology to Kunitz-type inhibitors, including cysteines at positions 5, 15, 33, 39, 55, and 59. For detailed biochemical and pharmacological studies, a recombinant version of TAP (rTAP) has been produced in yeast. To determine the arrangement of the disulfide bonds, rTAP was cleaved with trypsin and chymotrypsin and the purified peptides sequenced using a gas-phase sequenator. The positions of the disulfide bonds were assigned by identifying the cycle(s) at which di-phenylthiohydan-toin-cystine was released. The specific disulfide bridges, Cys-5 to Cys-59, Cys-15 to Cys-39, and Cys-33 to Cys-55, are analogous to those in the prototype Kunitz-type inhibitor, bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor (BPTI). While treatment of BPTI with dithiothreitol rapidly and specifically reduced one disulfide bond, the reduction of disulfide bonds in rTAP proceeded at a slower rate and appeared to be nonspecific, reaching a maximum of two disulfides reduced. Reduced rTAP derivatized with either iodoacetic acid or iodoacetamide lost 59% of its inhibitory activity. In contrast, BPTI alkylated with iodoacetic acid inhibited trypsin half as well as the iodoacetamide derivative. Although the arrangement of disulfides in the two inhibitors is the same, their susceptibility to reduction is markedly different.     

The coupling of catalytically relevant conformational fluctuations in subtilisin BPN' to solution viscosity revealed by hydrogen isotope exchange and inhibitor binding

We have measured the tritium outexchange of subtilisin BPN'. A consistent and rather small group of hydrogens was isolated by their sensitivity to inhibitor binding. The viscosity dependence of exchange from these inhibitor protected hydrogens was then examined in 0.05 M MES buffer, pH 6.5 and 10 degrees C. The viscosity of the reaction medium was varied by added glycerol and ethylene glycol. The exchange rates were corrected to be compared at identical hydroxyl ion and water activity. The salient observation is the strikingly similar viscosity coupling behavior when compared to the deacylation step of ester hydrolysis catalyzed by the same enzyme (Ng and Rosenberg, Biophysical Chemistry, 39 (1991) 57). We have obtained a viscosity coupling constant of 0.68 -/+ 0.18 for hydrogen exchange in glycerol (cf. 0.65 -/+ 0.11 for deacylation in glycerol, sucrose, glucose and fructose); 1.67 -/+ 0.07 for outexchange (cf. 1.92 -/+ 0.09 for deacylation), in the presence of ethylene glycol. The two reactions are very chemically dissimilar, yet they show very similar viscosity coupling behavior. This together with the well established role of structural fluctuations in hydrogen exchange implies a similar role of structural fluctuations in the deacylation step of subtilisin BPN' catalyzed ester hydrolysis.     

Protein Production and Crystallization at SECSG – An Overview

Using a high degree of automation, the Southeast Collaboratory for Structural Genomics (SECSG) has developed high throughput pipelines for protein production, and crystallization using a two-tiered approach. Primary, or tier-1, protein production focuses on producing proteins for members of large Pfam families that lack a representative structure in the Protein Data Bank. Target genomes are Pyrococcus furiosus and Caenorhabditis elegans. Selected human proteins are also under study. Tier-2 protein production, or target rescue, focuses on those tier-1 proteins, which either fail to crystallize or give poorly diffracting crystals. This two tier approach is more efficient since it allows the primary protein production groups to focus on the production of new targets while the tier-2 efforts focus on providing additional sample for further studies and modified protein for structure determination. Both efforts feed the SECSG high throughput crystallization pipeline, which is capable of screening over 40 proteins per week. Details of the various pipelines in use by the SECSG for protein production and crystallization, as well as some examples of target rescue are described.     

Differential role of hydrogen peroxide and staurosporine in induction of cell death in glioblastoma cells lacking DNA-dependent protein kinase

Various DNA double-strand break repair mechanisms, in which DNA-dependent protein kinase (DNA-PK) has a major role, are involved both in the development and treatment of glioblastoma. The aim of the present study was to investigate how glioblastoma cells responded to hydrogen peroxide and staurosporine (STS) and how such a response is related to DNA-PK. Two human glioblastoma cell lines, M059J cells that lack DNA-PK activity, and M059K cells that express a normal level of DNA-PK, were exposed to hydrogen peroxide or STS. The response of the cells to hydrogen peroxide or STS was recorded by measuring cell death, which was detected by three different methods—MTT, annexin-V and propidium iodide staining, and JC-1 mitochondrial probe. The result showed that both hydrogen peroxide and STS were able to induce cell death of the glioblastoma cells and that the former was mainly associated with necrosis and the latter with apoptosis. Glioblastoma cells lacking DNA-PK were less sensitive to STS treatment than those containing DNA-PK. However, DNA-PK had no significant influence on hydrogen peroxide treatment. We further found that catalase, an antioxidant enzyme, could prevent cell death induced by hydrogen peroxide but not by STS, suggesting that the pathways leading to cell death by hydrogen peroxide and STS are different. We conclude that hydrogen peroxide and STS have differential effects on cell death of glioblastoma cells lacking DNA-dependent protein kinase. Such differential roles in the induction of glioblastoma cell death can be of significant value in selecting and/or optimizing the treatment for this malignant brain tumor.     

Key roles of the Escherichia coli AhpC C-terminus in assembly and catalysis of alkylhydroperoxide reductase,an enzyme essential for the alleviation of oxidative stress

2-Cys peroxiredoxins (Prxs) are a large family of peroxidases, responsible for antioxidant function and regulation in cell signaling, apoptosis and differentiation. The Escherichia coli alkylhydroperoxide reductase (AhpR) is a prototype of the Prxs-family, and is composed of an NADH-dependent AhpF reductase (57 kDa) and AhpC (21 kDa), catalyzing the reduction of H₂O₂. We show that the E. coli AhpC (EcAhpC, 187 residues) forms a decameric ring structure under reduced and close to physiological conditions, composed of five catalytic dimers. Single particle analysis of cryo-electron micrographs of C-terminal truncated (EcAhpC_1 -172 and EcAhpC_1 -182) and mutated forms of EcAhpC reveals the loss of decamer formation, indicating the importance of the very C-terminus of AhpC in dimer to decamer transition. The crystallographic structures of the truncated EcAhpC_1 -172 and EcAhpC_1 -182 demonstrate for the first time that, in contrast to the reduced form, the very C-terminus of the oxidized EcAhpC is oriented away from the AhpC dimer interface and away from the catalytic redox-center, reflecting structural rearrangements during redox-modulation and -oligomerization. Furthermore, using an ensemble of different truncated and mutated EcAhpC protein constructs the importance of the very C-terminus in AhpC activity and in AhpC–AhpF assembly has been demonstrated.     

Large Scale Bacterial Colony Screening of Diversified FRET Biosensors

Biosensors based on Förster Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) between fluorescent protein mutants have started to revolutionize physiology and biochemistry. However, many types of FRET biosensors show relatively small FRET changes, making measurements with these probes challenging when used under sub-optimal experimental conditions. Thus, a major effort in the field currently lies in designing new optimization strategies for these types of sensors. Here we describe procedures for optimizing FRET changes by large scale screening of mutant biosensor libraries in bacterial colonies. We describe optimization of biosensor expression, permeabilization of bacteria, software tools for analysis, and screening conditions. The procedures reported here may help in improving FRET changes in multiple suitable classes of biosensors.