Ketone-body metabolism in tumour-bearing rats.

During starvation for 72 h, tumour-bearing rats showed accelerated ketonaemia and marked ketonuria. Total blood [ketone bodies] were 8.53 mM and 3.34 mM in tumour-bearing and control (non-tumour-bearing) rats respectively (P less than 0.001). The [3-hydroxybutyrate]/[acetoacetate] ratio was 1.3 in the tumour-bearing rats, compared with 3.2 in the controls at 72 h (P less than 0.001). Blood [glucose] and hepatic [glycogen] were lower at the start of starvation in tumour-bearing rats, whereas plasma [non-esterified fatty acids] were not increased above those in the control rats during starvation. After functional hepatectomy, blood [acetoacetate], but not [3-hydroxybutyrate], decreased rapidly in tumour-bearing rats, whereas both ketone bodies decreased, and at a slower rate, in the control rats. Blood [glucose] decreased more rapidly in the hepatectomized control rats. Hepatocytes prepared from 72 h-starved tumour-bearing and control rats showed similar rates of ketogenesis from palmitate, and the distribution of [1-14C] palmitate between oxidation (ketone bodies and CO2) and esterification was also unaffected by tumour-bearing, as was the rate of gluconeogenesis from lactate. The carcinoma itself showed rapid rates of glycolysis and a poor ability to metabolize ketone bodies in vitro. The results are consistent with the peripheral, normal, tissues in tumour-bearing rats having increased ketone-body and decreased glucose metabolic turnover rates.     

Changes in biologically-active ultraviolet radiation reaching the Earth's surface.

The Montreal Protocol is working. Concentrations of major ozone-depleting substances in the atmosphere are now decreasing, and the decline in total column amounts seen in the 1980s and 1990s at mid-latitudes has not continued. In polar regions, there is much greater natural variability. Each spring, large ozone holes continue to occur in Antarctica and less severe regions of depleted ozone continue to occur in the Arctic. There is evidence that some of these changes are driven by changes in atmospheric circulation rather than being solely attributable to reductions in ozone-depleting substances, which may indicate a linkage to climate change. Global ozone is still lower than in the 1970s and a return to that state is not expected for several decades. As changes in ozone impinge directly on UV radiation, elevated UV radiation due to reduced ozone is expected to continue over that period. Long-term changes in UV-B due to ozone depletion are difficult to verify through direct measurement, but there is strong evidence that UV-B irradiance increased over the period of ozone depletion. At unpolluted sites in the southern hemisphere, there is some evidence that UV-B irradiance has diminished since the late 1990s. The availability and temporal extent of UV data have improved, and we are now able to evaluate the changes in recent times compared with those estimated since the late 1920s, when ozone measurements first became available. The increases in UV-B irradiance over the latter part of the 20th century have been larger than the natural variability. There is increased evidence that aerosols have a larger effect on surface UV-B radiation than previously thought. At some sites in the Northern Hemisphere, UV-B irradiance may continue to increase because of continuing reductions in aerosol extinctions since the 1990s. Interactions between ozone depletion and climate change are complex and can be mediated through changes in chemistry, radiation, and atmospheric circulation patterns. The changes can be in both directions: ozone changes can affect climate, and climate change can affect ozone. The observational evidence suggests that stratospheric ozone (and therefore UV-B) has responded relatively quickly to changes in ozone-depleting substances, implying that climate interactions have not delayed this process. Model calculations predict that at mid-latitudes a return of ozone to pre-1980 levels is expected by the mid 21st century. However, it may take a decade or two longer in polar regions. Climate change can also affect UV radiation through changes in cloudiness and albedo, without involving ozone and since temperature changes over the 21st century are likely to be about 5 times greater than in the past century. This is likely to have significant effects on future cloud, aerosol and surface reflectivity. Consequently, unless strong mitigation measures are undertaken with respect to climate change, profound effects on the biosphere and on the solar UV radiation received at the Earth's surface can be anticipated. The future remains uncertain. Ozone is expected to increase slowly over the decades ahead, but it is not known whether ozone will return to higher levels, or lower levels, than those present prior to the onset of ozone depletion in the 1970s. There is even greater uncertainty about future UV radiation, since it will be additionally influenced by changes in aerosols and clouds.     

Post-pollination biochemical changes in the floral organs of<Emphasis Type="Italic">Rhynchostylis retusa</Emphasis> (L.) Bl. and<Emphasis Type="Italic">Aerides multiflora</Emphasis> Roxb. (Orchidaceae)

If left unpollinated, the flowers ofAerides multiflora (Roxb.) andRhynchostylis retusa (L.) Bl. can remain fresh for 17 and 24 d, respectively. However, they begin to wilt at 2 to 3 days after pollination (DAP) and 3 to 4 DAP, respectively, and become senescent at 5 DAP and 7 DAP, respectively. When measured at two developmental phases — Stage 1, start of wilting and Stage 2, progression to senescence — all the floral organs from pollinated flowers had higher contents of total soluble sugars, reducing sugars, and free amino acids than those from unpollinated flowers. A corresponding increase was noted in the activities of hydrolytic enzymes, i.e., α-amylase, β-amylase, and invertase, and proteolytic enzymes (proteases) in those organs. This indicated that signals related to pollination had up-regulated those activities, leading to a breakdown of complex molecules into simpler ones for mobilization. The amounts of sugars and enzyme activity were relatively greater in the pollinated flowers ofA. multiflora compared withR. retusa, and levels were always higher in the floral lips and perianths. When inhibitors of auxin (0.25 mM TIBA) or ethylene (0.25 mM AgNO₂) were applied to the pollinated flowers, their senescence was partially prevented, thus signifying hormonal involvement in governing the pollination-induced biochemical alterations normally found in those organs.     

Tumour-secreted miR-9 promotes endothelial cell migration and angiogenesis by activating the JAK-STAT pathway

Angiogenesis plays a crucial role during tumorigenesis and much progress has been recently made in elucidating the role of VEGF and other growth factors in the regulation of angiogenesis. Recently, microRNAs (miRNAs) have been shown to modulate a variety of physiogical and pathological processes. We identified a set of differentially expressed miRNAs in microvascular endothelial cells co-cultured with tumour cells. Unexpectedly, most miRNAs were derived from tumour cells, packaged into microvesicles (MVs), and then directly delivered to endothelial cells. Among these miRNAs, we focused on miR-9 due to the strong morphological changes induced in cultured endothelial cells. We found that exogenous miR-9 effectively reduced SOCS5 levels, leading to activated JAK-STAT pathway. This signalling cascade promoted endothelial cell migration and tumour angiogenesis. Remarkably, administration of anti-miR-9 or JAK inhibitors suppressed MV-induced cell migration in vitro and decreased tumour burden in vivo. Collectively, these observations suggest that tumour-secreted miRNAs participate in intercellular communication and function as a novel pro-angiogenic mechanism.     

Insight into Poliovirus Genome Replication and Encapsidation Obtained from Studies of 3B-3C Cleavage Site Mutants

A poliovirus (PV) mutant (termed GG), which is incapable of producing 3AB, VPg, and 3CD proteins due to a defective cleavage site between the 3B and 3C proteins, replicated, producing 3BC-linked RNA rather than the VPg-linked RNA produced by the wild type (WT). GG PV RNA is quasi-infectious. The yield of infectious GG PV relative to replicated RNA is reduced by almost 5 logs relative to that of WT PV. Proteolytic activity required for polyprotein processing is normal for the GG mutant. 3BC-linked RNA can be encapsidated as efficiently as VPg-linked RNA. However, a step after genome replication but preceding virus assembly that is dependent on 3CD and/or 3AB proteins limits production of infectious GG PV. This step may involve release of replicated genomes from replication complexes. A pseudorevertant (termed EG) partially restored cleavage at the 3B-3C cleavage site. The reduced rate of formation of 3AB and 3CD caused corresponding reductions in the observed rate of genome replication and infectious virus production by EG PV without impacting the final yield of replicated RNA or infectious virus relative to that of WT PV. Using EG PV, we showed that genome replication and encapsidation were distinct steps in the multiplication cycle. Ectopic expression of 3CD protein reversed the genome replication phenotype without alleviating the infectious-virus production phenotype. This is the first report of a trans-complementable function for 3CD for any picornavirus. This observation supports an interaction between 3CD protein and viral and/or host factors that is critical for genome replication, perhaps formation of replication complexes.Poliovirus (PV) is the most extensively studied member of the picornavirus family and serves as a paradigm not only for picornaviruses but also for many of the nonretroviral positive strand RNA viruses (74). A schematic of the ∼7,500-nucleotide PV genome is shown in Fig. ​Fig.1A.1A. The 5′ end is linked covalently to a 22-amino-acid peptide termed VPg (virion protein genome linked) that is encoded by the 3B region of the genome. VPg and 3B are therefore used interchangeably. The 3′ end of the genome is terminated by a poly(rA) tail. Upon release of the genome into the host cell cytoplasm, genome translation is initiated by using the internal ribosome entry site. An ∼3,000-amino-acid polyprotein is produced. Complete cleavage of the polyprotein by virus-encoded proteases yields 10 proteins. The polyprotein can be divided further into three smaller polyproteins: P1, P2, and P3. P1 contains capsid proteins: VP0, VP3, and VP1. VP0 undergoes autocatalytic cleavage after genome encapsidation to produce VP4 and VP2 proteins. P2 performs host interaction functions required for robust virus multiplication, for example, shutoff of host cell translation and induction of vesicles employed for genome replication, the so-called replication complexes (RCs). P3 contains proteins that function most directly in genome replication, including the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase. Translation induces RCs, leading to genome replication. Early during infection, replicated genomes are employed as templates for translation, leading to an exponential amplification of RCs and replicated RNA. Ultimately, production of viral proteins ceases and replicated genomes are packaged. The use of RCs provides a barrier to genetic complementation; all proteins must be provided in cis, that is, produced from the RNA that they replicate.Open in a separate windowFIG. 1.PV genome organization and P3 processing pathway. (A) Schematic of the PV genome. The 5′ end of the genome is covalently linked to a peptide (VPg) encoded by the 3B region of the genome. The 3′ end contains a poly(rA) tail. Three cis-acting replication elements are known. oriL is located in 5′ NTR. oriR is located in the 3′ NTR. oriI is located in 2C-coding sequence for PV; the position of this element is virus dependent. oriI is the template for VPg uridylylation. Translation initiation employs an internal ribosome entry site (IRES). The single open reading frame encodes a polyprotein. P1 produces virion structural proteins as indicated. P2 produces proteins thought to participate in virus-host interactions required for genome replication. P3 produces proteins thought to participate directly in genome replication. Polyprotein processing is mediated by protease activity residing in 2A, 3C, and/or 3CD proteins. (B) Processing of the P3 precursor occurs by two independent pathways (60). There are major (I) and minor (II) pathways. In pathway I, processing between 3B and 3C yields 3AB and 3CD. In pathway II, processing between 3A and 3B yields 3A and 3BCD. 3BCD processing yields 3BC and 3D; 3BC processing yields 3B and 3C. Pathway II is proposed to function in genome replication and is not perturbed in the GG mutant.In addition to P3 proteins, genome replication requires three cis-acting replication elements (CREs): a cloverleaf structure located in the 5′ nontranslated region (NTR), termed oriL (left) (1, 5); a stem-loop structure located in 2C-coding sequence, termed oriI (internal) (30, 61); and a pseudoknot structure located in the 3′ NTR, termed oriR (right) (1, 40). The first step of genome replication is diuridylylation of VPg or a VPg-containing protein primer (62, 74). This reaction is templated by oriI but also requires oriL in a cell-free reaction and is catalyzed by the viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase 3Dpol (4, 5, 11, 30, 61). In addition to the four terminal P3 cleavage products (3A, 3B, 3C, and 3D proteins) and the uncleaved P3 polyprotein, several “intermediates” are observed in infected cells (3AB, 3CD, and 3BCD proteins) (Fig. ​(Fig.1B)1B) (43, 57, 73). The major P3 cleavage pathway (I) produces 3AB and 3CD proteins; the minor P3 cleavage pathway (II) produces 3A and 3BCD proteins (Fig. ​(Fig.1B)1B) (60). In some cases, the intermediates have unique activities, specificities, and/or functions relative to their corresponding terminal cleavage products.Over the past 8 years much has been learned about oriI-templated VPg uridylylation in vitro for a variety of picornaviruses (28, 49, 53, 77, 92). However, it is still unclear whether or not VPg, 3BC(D), or 3AB is used in vivo to initiate genome replication. The VPg peptide can be uridylylated in vitro (62); however, VPg-pUpU does not chase efficiently into full-length RNA (81). 3BC(D) is uridylylated more efficiently than VPg in vitro, leading to the possibility that this precursor could be used in vivo (60). To date, 3AB has been uridylylated in vitro only in the presence of Mn²⁺ (66). In order to begin to probe the origin of VPg that is linked to picornaviral RNA, we created a PV mutant in which the cleavage site between 3B and 3C was changed from Gln-Gly to Gly-Gly (60). We refer to this mutant as GG. The GG mutation should be lethal for genome replication if use of the processed VPg peptide is absolutely required for genome replication. For the GG mutant, products of the major P3 cleavage pathway were no longer 3AB and 3CD but were now 3ABC and 3D instead. The kinetics of genome replication were reduced for the GG mutant relative to those for the wild type (WT). Surprisingly, the yield of replicated GG RNA was within an order of magnitude of that observed for WT RNA. Replicated GG RNA was then linked covalently to 3BC instead of VPg, as observed for WT PV. In spite of the substantial yield of replicated RNA, infectious virus was not recovered.We have performed a molecular characterization of the GG mutant. GG PV RNA is quasi-infectious. The low yield of virus recovery relative to replicated RNA reflects a block at a step in the PV multiplication cycle positioned after genome replication but prior to virus assembly. The existence of this step in the PV life cycle was suggested previously by Baltimore (8). Surprisingly, none of the defects associated with GG PV could be attributed to the absence of 3CD protease activity, suggesting that precursors larger than 3CD may be the primary proteases employed in vivo. All of the observed defects in GG PV multiplication were ameliorated in a pseudorevertant in which the 3B-3C cleavage site was changed from Gly-Gly to Glu-Gly. This mutant is referred to as EG. Molecular characterization of EG PV revealed for the first time a trans-complementable function for 3CD in genome replication. This observation supports a role for 3CD at a step preceding genome replication within RCs, perhaps RC formation. Our studies of EG PV confirmed the existence of a step between genome replication and virus assembly that requires 3CD and/or 3AB, thus providing compelling evidence for genome replication and genome encapsidation as distinct steps in the multiplication cycle. This study highlights the utility of polyprotein cleavage site mutants for evaluation of the viral multiplication cycle.     

A Second Mechanism for Aluminum Resistance in Wheat Relies on the Constitutive Efflux of Citrate from Roots

The first confirmed mechanism for aluminum (Al) resistance in plants is encoded by the wheat (Triticum aestivum) gene, TaALMT1, on chromosome 4DL. TaALMT1 controls the Al-activated efflux of malate from roots, and this mechanism is widespread among Al-resistant genotypes of diverse genetic origins. This study describes a second mechanism for Al resistance in wheat that relies on citrate efflux. Citrate efflux occurred constitutively from the roots of Brazilian cultivars Carazinho, Maringa, Toropi, and Trintecinco. Examination of two populations segregating for this trait showed that citrate efflux was controlled by a single locus. Whole-genome linkage mapping using an F₂ population derived from a cross between Carazinho (citrate efflux) and the cultivar EGA-Burke (no citrate efflux) identified a major locus on chromosome 4BL, Xce_c, which accounts for more than 50% of the phenotypic variation in citrate efflux. Mendelizing the quantitative variation in citrate efflux into qualitative data, the Xce_c locus was mapped within 6.3 cM of the microsatellite marker Xgwm495 locus. This linkage was validated in a second population of F_2:3 families derived from a cross between Carazinho and the cultivar Egret (no citrate efflux). We show that expression of an expressed sequence tag, belonging to the multidrug and toxin efflux (MATE) gene family, correlates with the citrate efflux phenotype. This study provides genetic and physiological evidence that citrate efflux is a second mechanism for Al resistance in wheat.     

The infection processes of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum in cotyledon tissue of a resistant and a susceptible genotype of Brassica napus

Background and Aims

Sclerotinia sclerotiorum can attack >400 plant species worldwide. Very few studies have investigated host–pathogen interactions at the plant surface and cellular level in resistant genotypes of oilseed rape/canola (Brassica napus).

Methods

Infection processes of S. sclerotiorum were examined on two B. napus genotypes, one resistant cultivar ‘Charlton’ and one susceptible ‘RQ001-02M2’ by light and scanning electron microscopy from 2 h to 8 d post-inoculation (dpi).

Key Results

The resistant ‘Charlton’ impeded fungal growth at 1, 2 and 3 dpi, suppressed formation of appresoria and infection cushions, caused extrusion of protoplast from hyphal cells and produced a hypersensitive reaction. At 8 dpi, whilst in ‘Charlton’ pathogen invasion was mainly confined to the upper epidermis, in the susceptible ‘RQ001-02M2’, colonization up to the spongy mesophyll cells was evident. Calcium oxalate crystals were found in the upper epidermis and in palisade cells in susceptible ‘RQ001-02M2’ at 6 dpi, and throughout leaf tissues at 8 dpi. In resistant ‘Charlton’, crystals were not observed at 6 dpi, whereas at 8 dpi they were mainly confined to the upper epidermis. Starch deposits were also more prevalent in ‘RQ001-02M2’.

Conclusions

This study demonstrates for the first time at the cellular level that resistance to S. sclerotiorum in B. napus is a result of retardation of pathogen development, both on the plant surface and within host tissues. The resistance mechanisms identified in this study will be useful for engineering disease-resistant genotypes and for developing markers for screening for resistance against this pathogen.     

The role of phosphate in the action of thymidine phosphorylase inhibitors: Implications for the catalytic mechanism

The design and synthesis of 5-fluoro-6-[(2-aminoimidazol-1-yl)methyl]uracil (AIFU), a potent inhibitor of thymidine phosphorylase (TP) with K_i-values of 11 nM (ecTP) and 17 nM (hTP), are described. Kinetic studies established that the type of inhibition of TP by AIFU is uncompetitive with respect to inorganic phosphate (or arsenate). The results obtained suggest that AIFU and other zwitterionic thymine analog inhibitors of TP act as transition state analogs, mimicking the anionic thymine leaving group, consistent with an S_N2-type catalytic mechanism, and anchored by their protonated side chains to the enzyme-bound phosphate by electrostatic and H-bonding interactions.