Biochemical markers and genetic research of ADHD

ADHD (attention hyperactivity disorder) is a polygenetic disorder with various candidate genes. At this time, more than thirty dopaminergic, noradrenergic, serotonergic and GABA-ergic genes are known. The research of only some candidate genes (DRD4, DAT, DRD5, DBH, 5HTT, HTR1B and SNAP25) brought relatively consistent results confirming the heredity of ADHD syndromes. The results of research of other genes (DRD2, DRD3, MAO, ADR2A, GABA A3, GABA B3) are not clear yet. This paper summarizes the most important genetic data in correlations with biochemical periphery parameters (especially for DBH, HVA, MHPG, serotonin). Hypothetically, certain subgroups of ADHD may be identified by correlation of biochemical characteristics and some candidate genes. The paper discusses some implications for future research. Review.     

Selection of protein epitopes for antibody production

Protein functional analysis in the post-genomic era is a huge task that has to be approached by different methods in parallel. The use of protein-specific antibodies in conjunction with tissue microarrays has proven to be one important technology. In this study, we present a strategy for the optimized design of protein subfragments for subsequent antibody production. The fragments are selected based on a principle of lowest sequence similarity to other human proteins, optimally to generate antibodies with high selectivity. Furthermore, the fragments should have properties optimized for efficient protein production in Escherichia coli. The strategy has been implemented in Bishop, which is a Java-based software enabling the high-throughput production of protein fragments. Bishop allows for the avoidance of certain restriction enzyme sites, transmembrane regions, and signal peptides. A Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) scanning procedure permits the selection of fragments of a selected size with a minimal sequence similarity to other proteins. The software and the strategy were evaluated on a human test data set and verified to fulfill the requested criteria.     

Environmental signals from leaves--a physiognomic analysis of European vegetation

Leaf physiognomic traits vary predictably along climatic and environmental gradients. The relationships between leaf physiognomy and climate have been investigated on different continents, but so far an investigation based on European vegetation has been missing. A grid data set (0.5 degrees x 0.5 degrees latitude/longitude) has been compiled in order to determine spatial patterns of leaf physiognomy across Europe. Based on distribution maps of native European hardwoods, synthetic chorologic flora lists were compiled for all grid cells. Every synthetic chorologic flora was characterised by 25 leaf physiognomic traits and correlated with 16 climatic parameters. Clear spatial patterns of leaf physiognomy have been observed, which are statistically significant related to certain, temperature-related climate parameters. Transfer functions for several climatic parameters have been established, based on the observed relationships. The study provides evidence that synthetically generated floras represent a powerful tool for analysing spatial patterns of leaf physiognomy and their relationships to climate. The transfer functions from the European data set indicate slightly different relationships of leaf physiognomy and environment compared with results obtained from other continents.     

General Description of Partly Meromictic Hypertrophic Lake Verevi,its Ecological Status,Changes during the Past Eight Decades,and Restoration Problems

The present study describes generally the ecosystem of Lake Verevi while more detailed approaches are presented in the same issue. The main task of the article is to estimate long-term changes and find the best method for the restoration of good ecological status. Lake Verevi (surface 12.6 ha, mean depth 3.6 m, maximum depth 11 m, drainage area 1.1 km², water exchange 0.63-times per year) is a hypertrophic hard-water lake located in town Elva (6400 inhabitants). Long-term complex limnological investigations have taken place since 1929. The lake has been contaminated by irregular discharge of urban wastewaters from oxidation ponds since 1978, flood from streets, and infiltrated waters from the surrounding farms. The so-called spring meromixis occurred due to extremely warm springs in recent years. The index value of buffer capacity of Lake Verevi calculated from natural conditions is on the medium level. Water properties were analysed according to the requirements of the EU Water Framework Directive. According to the classification, water quality as a long-term average of surface layers is moderate-good, but the water quality of bottom layers is bad. Values in deeper layers usually exceed 20–30 times the calculated reference values by Vighi and Chiaudani’s model. Naturally, at the beginning of the 20th century the limnological type of the lake was moderately eutrophic. During the 1980s and 1990s the ecosystem was out of balance by abiotic characteristics as well as by plankton indicators. Rapid fluctuations of species composition and abundance can be found in recent years. Seasonal variations are considerable and species composition differs remarkably also in the water column. The dominating macrophyte species vary from year to year. Since the annual amount of precipitation from the atmosphere onto the lake surface is several times higher, the impact of swimmers could be considered irrelevant. Some restoration methods were discussed. The first step, stopping external pollution, was completed by damming the inlet. Drainage (siphoning) of the hypolimnetic water is discussed. Secondary pollution occurs because Fe:P values are below the threshold. The authors propose to use phosphorus precipitation and hypolimnetic aeration instead of siphoning.     

Lactoferrampin, an antimicrobial peptide of bovine lactoferrin, exerts its candidacidal activity by a cluster of positively charged residues at the C-terminus in combination with a helix-facilitating N-terminal part

The antimicrobial activity of bovine lactoferrin (bLF) is attributed to lactoferricin, which is situated in the N1-domain of bLF. Recently, another antimicrobial domain consisting of residues 268-284, designated lactoferrampin (LFampin), has been identified in the N1-domain of bLF, which exhibited antimicrobial activity against Candida albicans and several bacteria. In the present study, the candidacidal activity of a series of peptides spanning this antimicrobial domain was investigated in relation to the charge and the capacity to form a helical conformation in hydrophobic environments. C-Terminal truncation of LFampin resulted in a drastic decrease in candidacidal activity. Positively charged residues clustered at the C-terminal side of the LFampin domain appeared to be crucial for the candidacidal activity. The ability to adopt helical conformations did not change when LFampin was truncated at the C-terminal side. N-Terminally truncated LFampin peptides, truncated up to the sequence 270-284, were more reluctant to adopt a helical conformation. Therefore, we conclude that the C-terminal part of LFampin 265-284, which is the most active peptide, is crucial for its candidacidal activity, due to the presence of clustered positive charges, and that the N-terminal part is essential for activity as it facilitates helix formation.     

Engineering disulfide bonds of the novel human beta-defensins hBD-27 and hBD-28: differences in disulfide formation and biological activity among human beta-defensins

Human beta-defensins comprise a large number of peptides that play a functional role in the innate and adaptive immune system. Recently, clusters of new beta-defensin genes with predominant expression in testicular tissue have been discovered on different chromosomes by bioinformatics. beta-Defensins share a common pattern of three disulfides that are essential for their biological effects. Here we report for the first time the chemical synthesis of the new fully disulfide-bonded beta-defensins hBD-27 and hBD-28, and compare the results with synthetic procedures to obtain the known hBD-2 and hBD-3. While hBD-27 was readily converted into a product with the desired disulfide pattern by oxidative folding, hBD-28 required a selective protective group strategy to introduce the three disulfide bonds. The established synthetic processes were applied to the synthesis of hBD-2, which, like hBD-27, was accessible by oxidative folding, whereas hBD-3 required a selective strategy comparable to hBD-28. Experimental work demonstrated that trityl, acetamidomethyl, and t-butyl are superior to other protection strategies. However, the suitable pairwise arrangement of the protective groups can be different, as shown here for hBD-3 and hBD-28. Determination of the minimum inhibitory concentration against different bacteria revealed that hBD-27, in contrast to other beta-defensins tested, has virtually no antimicrobial activity. Compared to the other peptides tested, hBD-27 showed almost no cytotoxic activity, measured by hemoglobin release of erythrocytes. This might be due to the low positive net charge, which is significantly higher for hBD-2, hBD-3, and hBD-28.     

Structure-activity relation of human beta-defensin 3: influence of disulfide bonds and cysteine substitution on antimicrobial activity and cytotoxicity

Human beta-defensins form a group of cysteine-rich antimicrobial peptides which have been found in epithelial tissue and, more recently, in the male genital tract. They play a role in the defense against microbial pathogens in innate immunity and display additional chemotactic functions in the adaptive immune system. An important characteristic of antimicrobial peptides is that they also exhibit toxic potential on eukaryotic cells. Very little is known about the structure dependence of antimicrobial and cytotoxic effects. We investigated human beta-defensin 3 (hBD-3), a potent broad-spectrum antimicrobial effector peptide, regarding the influence of structural parameters on the antimicrobial and cytotoxic activity. We have established a structure-activity relation of the hBD-3 using synthetic derivatives differing in length, charge, disulfide connectivity, and overall hydrophobicity. The antimicrobial activity of the peptides was compared to the cyctotoxic effects on monocytic THP-1 cells and the hemolytic activity on human erythrocytes. We found that it is not important for antimicrobial and cytotoxic activity whether and how cysteine residues are arranged to form disulfide bonds. Substitution of half-cystinyl residues by tryptophan resulted in increased activities, while other substitutions did not change activity. Correlation of activities with the structural changes demonstrates that the activity on eukaryotic cells appears to depend strongly on the overall hydrophobicity. In contrast, the antimicrobial potency of hBD-3 peptides is determined by the distribution of positively charged amino acid residues and hydrophobic side chains. The results facilitate the understanding of beta-defensin interaction with different cell types and guide the design of antimicrobially active peptides.     

From gene expression analysis to tissue microarrays: a rational approach to identify therapeutic and diagnostic targets in lymphoid malignancies

Mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) is an aggressive lymphoid malignancy for which better treatment strategies are needed. To identify potential diagnostic and therapeutic targets, a signature consisting of MCL-associated genes was selected based on a comprehensive gene expression analysis of malignant and normal B cells. The corresponding protein epitope signature tags were identified and used to raise monospecific, polyclonal antibodies, which were subsequently analyzed on paraffin-embedded sections of malignant and normal tissue. In this study, we demonstrate that the initial selection strategy of MCL-associated genes successfully allows identification of protein antigens either uniquely expressed or overexpressed in MCL compared with normal lymphoid tissues. We propose that genome-based, affinity proteomics, using protein epitope signature tag-induced antibodies, is an efficient way to rapidly identify a number of disease-associated protein candidates of both previously known and unknown identities.