Genetic Mechanisms in Apc-Mediated Mammary Tumorigenesis

Many components of Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway also play critical roles in mammary tumor development, yet the role of the tumor suppressor gene APC (adenomatous polyposis coli) in breast oncongenesis is unclear. To better understand the role of Apc in mammary tumorigenesis, we introduced conditional Apc mutations specifically into two different mammary epithelial populations using K14-cre and WAP-cre transgenic mice that express Cre-recombinase in mammary progenitor cells and lactating luminal cells, respectively. Only the K14-cre–mediated Apc heterozygosity developed mammary adenocarcinomas demonstrating histological heterogeneity, suggesting the multilineage progenitor cell origin of these tumors. These tumors harbored truncation mutation in a defined region in the remaining wild-type allele of Apc that would retain some down-regulating activity of β-catenin signaling. Activating mutations at codons 12 and 61 of either H-Ras or K-Ras were also found in a subset of these tumors. Expression profiles of acinar-type mammary tumors from K14-cre; Apc^CKO/+ mice showed luminal epithelial gene expression pattern, and clustering analysis demonstrated more correlation to MMTV-neu model than to MMTV-Wnt1. In contrast, neither WAP-cre–induced Apc heterozygous nor homozygous mutations resulted in predisposition to mammary tumorigenesis, although WAP-cre–mediated Apc deficiency resulted in severe squamous metaplasia of mammary glands. Collectively, our results suggest that not only the epithelial origin but also a certain Apc mutations are selected to achieve a specific level of β-catenin signaling optimal for mammary tumor development and explain partially the colon- but not mammary-specific tumor development in patients that carry germline mutations in APC.     

Synthesis and antibacterial activity of nocathiacin I analogues

Stereoselective reduction of dehydroalanine double bond in nocathiacin I afforded the primary amide 2. Enzymatic hydrolysis of the amide 2 provided the carboxylic acid 3, which upon coupling with a variety of amines furnished amides 4-32. Some of these semi-synthetic derivatives have retained very good antibacterial activity and have improved aqueous solubility.     

Synthesis and Biological Activities of Phosphonylalkylpurine Derivatives

Abstract

Syntheses and biological activities of 2-phosphonylmethoxy-ethyl (PME) purine analogs are described.     

Food restriction and reproductive development in wild house mice

Reproductive development was examined in wild house mice who had either unlimited or severely restricted access to food. The degree of food restriction was set at a level that allowed no body growth after 24 days of age. This treatment completely blocked reproductive development in females. In contrast, it had only minor effects on the reproductive development of males. Despite their stunted condition, food-restricted males developed normal numbers of sperm in their testes and vasa deferentia. They developed almost normal accessory tissues, and 8 of 10 inseminated test females when challenged at 8 wk of age. These results are considered primarily in relation to the opportunistic reproductive strategy of this species.     

Mammalian reproduction: an ecological perspective

The objectives of this paper are to organize our concepts about the environmental regulation of reproduction in mammals and to delineate important gaps in our knowledge of this subject. The environmental factors of major importance for mammalian reproduction are food availability, ambient temperature, rainfall, the day/night cycle and a variety of social cues. The synthesis offered here uses as its core the bioenergetic control of reproduction. Thus, for example, annual patterns of breeding are viewed as reflecting primarily the caloric costs of the female's reproductive effort as they relate to the energetic costs and gains associated with her foraging effort. Body size of the female is an important consideration since it is correlated with both potential fat reserves and life span. Variation in nutrient availability may or may not be an important consideration. The evolutionary forces that have shaped the breeding success of males usually are fundamentally different from those acting on females and, by implication, the environmental controls governing reproduction probably also often differ either qualitatively or quantitatively in the two sexes. Mammals often live in habitats where energetic and nutrient challenges vary seasonally, even in the tropics. When seasonal breeding is required, a mammal may use a predictor such as photoperiod or a secondary plant compound to prepare metabolically for reproduction. A reasonable argument can be made, however, that opportunistic breeding, unenforced by a predictor, may be the most prevalent strategy extant among today's mammals. Social cues can have potent modulating actions. They can act either via discrete neural and endocrine pathways to alter specific processes such as ovulation, or they can induce nonspecific emotional states that secondarily affect reproduction. Many major gaps remain in our knowledge about the environmental regulation of mammalian reproduction. For one, we have a paucity of information about the annual patterns of breeding and about the mechanisms controlling these patterns in the most common mammals on the planet-the small to average-sized mammals living in the tropics. We probably have only a shallow conceptualization of the way available energy and nutrients control reproduction and, likewise, we may have only a narrow view of the potential kinds and uses of seasonal predictors. Finally, we have little appreciation of the way environmental cues interact with each other to control reproduction.     

Effect of short-term food deprivation on reproduction in female mice

CF-1 female mice were subjected to 24 or 48 h of food deprivation beginning when they were in estrus or diestrus, or when they were 2 or 12 days pregnant, or on Days 2 or 12 of lactation. Ovulation was delayed by a week or more when 48 h of food deprivation was initiated when the female was in diestrus; lesser delays occurred when food deprivation began in estrus. There was little effect of acute food deprivation on pregnancy. Most females deprived of food beginning on Day 2 of lactation ate their young, but females deprived on Day 12 of lactation rarely did so. These results are discussed in terms of the complexity of interacting factors that determine the degree to which each stage of the female's reproductive cycle is susceptible to disruption by acute food deprivation.     

The energetic regulation of ovulation: a realistic role for body fat

This review weighs the evidence for and against the hypothesis that ovulation is regulated by a critical amount of body fat. The evidence supporting this hypothesis is correlative, and most of it stems from observations made in humans. On balance, the evidence from human studies does not support the hypothesis, however, and the results of animal studies argue strongly against it. In the latter regard, a variety of experimental approaches have been tried in both adult and peripubertal females of several species, and the results almost uniformly show little relationship between fatness and ovulation. There is no doubt that ovulation can be regulated somehow in relation to whole-body energy balance and that fat stores are an important component of energy balance, but there is no reason to accord body fat a direct causal role in regulating ovulation.     

Tyrosine phosphorylation of Munc18‐1 inhibits synaptic transmission by preventing SNARE assembly

Tyrosine kinases are important regulators of synaptic strength. Here, we describe a key component of the synaptic vesicle release machinery, Munc18‐1, as a phosphorylation target for neuronal Src family kinases (SFKs). Phosphomimetic Y473D mutation of a SFK phosphorylation site previously identified by brain phospho‐proteomics abolished the stimulatory effect of Munc18‐1 on SNARE complex formation (“SNARE‐templating”) and membrane fusion in vitro. Furthermore, priming but not docking of synaptic vesicles was disrupted in hippocampal munc18‐1‐null neurons expressing Munc18‐1_Y473D. Synaptic transmission was temporarily restored by high‐frequency stimulation, as well as by a Munc18‐1 mutation that results in helix 12 extension, a critical conformational step in vesicle priming. On the other hand, expression of non‐phosphorylatable Munc18‐1 supported normal synaptic transmission. We propose that SFK‐dependent Munc18‐1 phosphorylation may constitute a potent, previously unknown mechanism to shut down synaptic transmission, via direct occlusion of a Synaptobrevin/VAMP2 binding groove and subsequent hindrance of conformational changes in domain 3a responsible for vesicle priming. This would strongly interfere with the essential post‐docking SNARE‐templating role of Munc18‐1, resulting in a largely abolished pool of releasable synaptic vesicles.