RAB23 mutations in Carpenter syndrome imply an unexpected role for hedgehog signaling in cranial-suture development and obesity

Carpenter syndrome is a pleiotropic disorder with autosomal recessive inheritance, the cardinal features of which include craniosynostosis, polysyndactyly, obesity, and cardiac defects. Using homozygosity mapping, we found linkage to chromosome 6p12.1-q12 and, in 15 independent families, identified five different mutations (four truncating and one missense) in RAB23, which encodes a member of the RAB guanosine triphosphatase (GTPase) family of vesicle transport proteins and acts as a negative regulator of hedgehog (HH) signaling. In 10 patients, the disease was caused by homozygosity for the same nonsense mutation, L145X, that resides on a common haplotype, indicative of a founder effect in patients of northern European descent. Surprisingly, nonsense mutations of Rab23 in open brain mice cause recessive embryonic lethality with neural-tube defects, suggesting a species difference in the requirement for RAB23 during early development. The discovery of RAB23 mutations in patients with Carpenter syndrome implicates HH signaling in cranial-suture biogenesis--an unexpected finding, given that craniosynostosis is not usually associated with mutations of other HH-pathway components--and provides a new molecular target for studies of obesity.     

黑曲霉3.795glaA基因及其5'调控区的克隆和序列分析

黑曲霉Ｔ２１是由黑曲霉３．７９５经诱变育种获得的糖化酶高产菌株,为阐明其高产的分子机制,由黑曲霉３．７９５克隆了糖化酶结构基因及其５′旁侧序列,并与黑曲霉Ｔ２１的相应序列进行了比较．由黑曲霉３．７９５菌丝体分离染色体ＤＮＡ,Ｓｏｕｔｈｅｒｎ杂交分析表明,糖化酶结构基因位于～２．５ｋｂ的ＥｃｏＲⅠ－ＥｃｏＲⅤ染色体ＤＮＡ片段上,在此ＥｃｏＲⅠ位点上游约１．０ｋｂ处有一ＳａｌⅠ位点．为构建糖化酶结构基因及其５′旁侧序列的基因组文库,该染色体ＤＮＡ分别用ＥｃｏＲⅠ＋ＥｃｏＲⅤ和ＥｃｏＲ＋ＳａｌⅠ消化,琼脂糖凝胶电泳分离并回收长度在１．０ｋｂ左右和２．５ｋｂ左右的ＤＮＡ片段,分别与ｐＵＣ１９载体连接后转化入Ｅ．ｃｏｌｉＤＨ５．用原位杂交方法筛选到了携带糖化酶基因编码区及其１５０５ｂｐ５′旁侧序列的阳性克隆．对克隆片段的ＤＮＡ序列进行了测定并与黑曲霉Ｔ２１的相应序列进行了比较,结果表明,在糖化酶基因编码区及其１５０ｂｐ３′非编码区内,未发现碱基差异,但在－３４０～－１５０５的５′上游区内发生了９个位置的碱基变化,包括缺失、插入和替换．这些结果表明,黑曲霉Ｔ２１与３．７９５的糖化酶产量的差异与其结构基因无关,但可能与其     

Altered glutathione homeostasis in heart augments cardiac lipotoxicity associated with diet-induced obesity in mice

Obesity-related cardiac lipid accumulation is associated with increased myocardial oxidative stress. The role of the antioxidant glutathione in cardiac lipotoxicity is unclear. Cystathionine β-synthase (Cbs) catalyzes the first step in the trans-sulfuration of homocysteine to cysteine, which is estimated to provide ～50% of cysteine for hepatic glutathione biosynthesis. As cardiac glutathione is a reflection of the liver glutathione pool, we hypothesize that mice heterozygous for targeted disruption of Cbs (Cbs(+/-)) are more susceptible to obesity-related cardiolipotoxicity because of impaired liver glutathione synthesis. Cbs(+/+) and Cbs(+/-) mice were fed a high fat diet (60% energy) from weaning for 13 weeks to induce obesity and had similar increases in body weight and body fat. This was accompanied by increased hepatic triglyceride but no differences in hepatic glutathione levels compared with mice fed chow. However, Cbs(+/-) mice with diet-induced obesity had greater glucose intolerance and lower total and reduced glutathione levels in the heart, accompanied by lower plasma cysteine levels compared with Cbs(+/+) mice. Higher triglyceride concentrations, increased oxidative stress, and increased markers of apoptosis were also observed in heart from Cbs(+/-) mice with diet-induced obesity compared with Cbs(+/+) mice. This study suggests a novel role for Cbs in maintaining the cardiac glutathione pool and protecting against cardiac lipid accumulation and oxidative stress during diet-induced obesity in mice.     

柳属一新变种

发表了东北柳属一新变种     

独岛枝芽胞杆菌MCCC 1A00493产生的4-乙烯基苯酚鉴定和作用南方根结线虫特性研究

[目的]根结线虫危害严重,难防难控,前期研究发现一株深海来源的独岛枝芽胞杆菌(Virgibacillus dokdonensis)MCCC 1A00493对南方根结线虫具有良好的体外拮抗效果,本研究分离鉴定菌株发酵液中杀线虫活性物质,对其作用线虫的多种模式进行研究,为菌株有效控制植物病原线虫的应用奠定理论基础.[方法]...     

Mapping N-linked glycosylation sites in the secretome and whole cells of Aspergillus niger using hydrazide chemistry and mass spectrometry

Protein glycosylation (e.g., N-linked glycosylation) is known to play an essential role in both cellular functions and secretory pathways; however, our knowledge of in vivo N-glycosylated sites is very limited for the majority of fungal organisms including Aspergillus niger. Herein, we present the first extensive mapping of N-glycosylated sites in A. niger by applying an optimized solid phase glycopeptide enrichment protocol using hydrazide-modified magnetic beads. The enrichment protocol was initially optimized using both mouse blood plasma and A. niger secretome samples, and it was demonstrated that the protein-level enrichment protocol offered superior performance over the peptide-level protocol. The optimized protocol was then applied to profile N-glycosylated sites from both the secretome and whole cell lysates of A. niger. A total of 847 N-glycosylated sites from 330 N-glycoproteins (156 proteins from the secretome and 279 proteins from whole cells) were confidently identified by LC-MS/MS. The identified N-glycoproteins in the whole cell lysate were primarily localized in the plasma membrane, endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi apparatus, lysosome, and storage vacuoles, supporting the important role of N-glycosylation in the secretory pathways. In addition, these glycoproteins are involved in many biological processes including gene regulation, signal transduction, protein folding and assembly, protein modification, and carbohydrate metabolism. The extensive coverage of N-glycosylated sites and the observation of partial glycan occupancy on specific sites in a number of enzymes provide important initial information for functional studies of N-linked glycosylation and their biotechnological applications in A. niger.     

Cytogenetic rearrangements involving the loss of the Sonic Hedgehog gene at 7q36 cause holoprosencephaly

Holoprosencephaly (HPE) is a genetically heterogeneous disorder that affects the midline development of the forebrain and midface in humans. As a step toward identifying one of the HPE genes, we have set out to refine the HPE3 critical region on human chromosome 7q36 by analyzing 34 cell lines from families with cytogenetic abnormalities involving 7q, 24 of which are associated with HPE. Genomic clones surrounding the DNA marker D7S104, which has previously been shown to be in the HPE3 critical region, have been examined by fluorescent in situ hybridization and microsatellite analysis of our panel of patient cell lines. We report the analysis of a cluster of four translocation breakpoints within a 300-kb region of 7q36 that serves to define the minimal critical region for HPE3 and that has directed the search for candidate genes. The human Sonic Hedgehog (hSHH) gene maps to this region and has been shown to be HPE3 on the basis of mutations within the coding region of the gene. We present evidence that cytogenetic deletions and/or rearrangements of this region of chromosome 7q containing Sonic Hedgehog, and translocations that may suppress Sonic Hedgehog gene expression through a position effect are common mechanisms leading to HPE. Received: 23 December 1996 / Accepted: 17 March 1997     

T1alpha/podoplanin deficiency disrupts normal lymphatic vasculature formation and causes lymphedema

Within the vascular system, the mucin-type transmembrane glycoprotein T1alpha/podoplanin is predominantly expressed by lymphatic endothelium, and recent studies have shown that it is regulated by the lymphatic-specific homeobox gene Prox1. In this study, we examined the role of T1alpha/podoplanin in vascular development and the effects of gene disruption in mice. T1alpha/podoplanin is first expressed at around E11.0 in Prox1-positive lymphatic progenitor cells, with predominant localization in the luminal plasma membrane of lymphatic endothelial cells during later development. T1alpha/podoplanin(-/-) mice die at birth due to respiratory failure and have defects in lymphatic, but not blood vessel pattern formation. These defects are associated with diminished lymphatic transport, congenital lymphedema and dilation of lymphatic vessels. T1alpha/podoplanin is also expressed in the basal epidermis of newborn wild-type mice, but gene disruption did not alter epidermal differentiation. Studies in cultured endothelial cells indicate that T1alpha/podoplanin promotes cell adhesion, migration and tube formation, whereas small interfering RNA-mediated inhibition of T1alpha/podoplanin expression decreased lymphatic endothelial cell adhesion. These data identify T1alpha/podoplanin as a novel critical player that regulates different key aspects of lymphatic vasculature formation.