Extent of intracellular pH changes during H+ extrusion by maize root-tip cells

³¹P-Nuclear-magnetic-resonance spectra of maize (Zea mays L.) root tips, that had been induced to extrude large amounts of H⁺ in response to fusicoccin (FC) in the presence of potassium salts, indicate that the cytoplasmic pH does not become higher than that of controls. In fact, the cytoplasmic pH may become slightly (approx. 0.1 pH unit) lower in cells extruding H⁺. Estimations of the buffer capacity of the cells show that without active intracellular pH regulation, H⁺ extrusion caused by FC would cause the intracellular pH to rise by at least 0.6 pH unit h^-1. Our results indicate that intracellular pH is tightly regulated even during extreme rates of acid extrusion, and that a rise in cytoplasmic pH is not the signal linking H⁺ extrusion with enhanced organic-acid synthesis or other intracellular responses to H⁺ pumping.Abbreviations FC fusicoccin - P_i inorganic phosphate - NMR nuclear magnetic resonance - chemical shift - MDP methylene diphosphonic acid     

Facilitation and predation structure a grassland detrital food web: the responses of soil nematodes to isopod processing of litter

1. Detritus can support successive consumers, whose interactions may be structured by changes in the condition of their shared resource. One model of such species interactions is a processing chain, in which consumers feeding on the resource in a less processed state change the resource condition for subsequent consumers. 2. In a series of experiments, the hypothesis was tested that a common detritivore, the terrestrial isopod Porcellio scaber, affects soil nematodes through the processing of plant litter. Different detrital resources were added to soil from a California coastal prairie in order to simulate litter processing by the detritivore. Treatments that included only whole grass litter corresponded to detrital food webs lacking detritivores, while treatments that included mixtures of P. scaber faeces and grass litter corresponded to different densities or feeding rates of P. scaber. 3. Simulated litter processing by P. scaber increased the abundance of bacterivorous nematodes by between 32% and 202% after 24-44 days in laboratory experiments, but had no effect on fungivorous or predaceous nematodes. 4. In a subsequent field experiment, however, fungivorous nematodes were suppressed by isopod litter processing while bacterivores showed no response. Instead, P. scaber processing of litter increased the abundance of predaceous nematodes in the field experiment by 176%. 5. When simulated litter processing of litter was crossed in laboratory experiments with predaceous nematode addition (comparable to the response of predators in the field experiment), the abundance of bacterivores was increased by isopod processing of litter (by an average of 122%), but suppressed by elevated densities of predaceous nematodes (by an average of 41%). 6. This suggests that litter processing by P. scaber facilitates the bacterial channel of the soil food web, but that predaceous nematodes suppress the response of bacterivores in the field. Processing chain interactions may, therefore, be important in understanding the relative importance of bacterial and fungal channels in the soil food web, while top-down effects of predators determine the resulting changes in population abundance and biomass.     

Plasmid DNA fermentation strain and process‐specific effects on vector yield,quality, and transgene expression

Industrial plasmid DNA manufacturing processes are needed to meet the quality, economy, and scale requirements projected for future commercial products. We report development of a modified plasmid fermentation copy number induction profile that increases gene vaccination/therapy vector yields up to 2,600 mg/L. We determined that, in contrast to recombinant protein production, secretion of the metabolic byproduct acetate into the media had only a minor negative effect on plasmid replication. We also investigated the impact of differences in epigenetic dcm methylase‐directed cytosine methylation on plasmid production, transgene expression, and immunogenicity. While Escherichia coli plasmid production yield and quality are unaffected, dcm− versions of CMV and CMV‐HTLV‐I R promoter plasmids had increased transgene expression in human cells. Surprisingly, despite improved expression, dcm− plasmid is less immunogenic. Our results demonstrate that it is critical to lock the plasmid methylation pattern (i.e., production strain) early in product development and that dcm− strains may be superior for gene therapy applications wherein reduced immunogenicity is desirable and for in vitro transient transfection applications such as AAV production where improved expression is beneficial. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2011;108: 354–363. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Evaluation of factors for rapid development of Culex quinquefasciatus in belowground stormwater treatment devices

Water samples from 11 belowground stormwater treatment Best Management Practices (BMPs) were evaluated for their capacity to support rapid development of the West Nile virus (WNV) mosquito vector, Culex quinquefasciatus. The observed minimum development time from egg to pupa ranged from six to over 30 days. Concentrations of potential food resources (total suspended solids and the particulate organic matter in water samples) were significantly correlated to development times. In addition, the rate of immature mosquito development was both site‐dependent and variable in time, suggesting that factors favorable to rapid development were strongly influenced by watershed characteristics and seasonal changes in temperature. Measured temperatures in belowground BMPs suggest that these structures may remain amenable to WNV virus activity longer each year than sites aboveground.     

Microbial tropicalization driven by a strengthening western ocean boundary current

Western boundary currents (WBCs) redistribute heat and oligotrophic seawater from the tropics to temperate latitudes, with several displaying substantial climate change‐driven intensification over the last century. Strengthening WBCs have been implicated in the poleward range expansion of marine macroflora and fauna, however, the impacts on the structure and function of temperate microbial communities are largely unknown. Here we show that the major subtropical WBC of the South Pacific Ocean, the East Australian Current (EAC), transports microbial assemblages that maintain tropical and oligotrophic (k‐strategist) signatures, to seasonally displace more copiotrophic (r‐strategist) temperate microbial populations within temperate latitudes of the Tasman Sea. We identified specific characteristics of EAC microbial assemblages compared with non‐EAC assemblages, including strain transitions within the SAR11 clade, enrichment of Prochlorococcus, predicted smaller genome sizes and shifts in the importance of several functional genes, including those associated with cyanobacterial photosynthesis, secondary metabolism and fatty acid and lipid transport. At a temperate time‐series site in the Tasman Sea, we observed significant reductions in standing stocks of total carbon and chlorophyll a, and a shift towards smaller phytoplankton and carnivorous copepods, associated with the seasonal impact of the EAC microbial assemblage. In light of the substantial shifts in microbial assemblage structure and function associated with the EAC, we conclude that climate‐driven expansions of WBCs will expand the range of tropical oligotrophic microbes, and potentially profoundly impact the trophic status of temperate waters.     

A feedback quenched oscillator produces turing patterning with one diffuser

Efforts to engineer synthetic gene networks that spontaneously produce patterning in multicellular ensembles have focused on Turing's original model and the "activator-inhibitor" models of Meinhardt and Gierer. Systems based on this model are notoriously difficult to engineer. We present the first demonstration that Turing pattern formation can arise in a new family of oscillator-driven gene network topologies, specifically when a second feedback loop is introduced which quenches oscillations and incorporates a diffusible molecule. We provide an analysis of the system that predicts the range of kinetic parameters over which patterning should emerge and demonstrate the system's viability using stochastic simulations of a field of cells using realistic parameters. The primary goal of this paper is to provide a circuit architecture which can be implemented with relative ease by practitioners and which could serve as a model system for pattern generation in synthetic multicellular systems. Given the wide range of oscillatory circuits in natural systems, our system supports the tantalizing possibility that Turing pattern formation in natural multicellular systems can arise from oscillator-driven mechanisms.     

Synthesis and biological activity of 2-aminothiazoles as novel inhibitors of PGE2 production in cells

This Letter presents the synthesis and biological evaluation of a collection of 2-aminothiazoles as a novel class of compounds with the capability to reduce the production of PGE(2) in HCA-7 human adenocarcinoma cells. A total of 36 analogs were synthesized and assayed for PGE(2) reduction, and those with potent cellular activity were counter screened for inhibitory activity against COX-2 in a cell free assay. In general, analogs bearing a 4-phenoxyphenyl substituent in the R(2) position were highly active in cells while maintaining negligible COX-2 inhibition. Specifically, compound 5l (R(1)=Me, R(2)=4-OPh-Ph, R(3)=CH(OH)Me) exhibited the most potent cellular PGE(2) reducing activity of the entire series (EC(50)=90 nM) with an IC(50) value for COX-2 inhibition of >5 μM in vitro. Furthermore, the anti-tumor activity of analog 1a was analyzed in xenograft mouse models exhibiting promising anti-cancer activity.     

Genetically distinct pathways guide effector export through the type VI secretion system

Bacterial secretion systems often employ molecular chaperones to recognize and facilitate export of their substrates. Recent work demonstrated that a secreted component of the type VI secretion system (T6SS), haemolysin co‐regulated protein (Hcp), binds directly to effectors, enhancing their stability in the bacterial cytoplasm. Herein, we describe a quantitative cellular proteomics screen for T6S substrates that exploits this chaperone‐like quality of Hcp. Application of this approach to the Hcp secretion island I‐encoded T6SS (H1‐T6SS) of Pseudomonas aeruginosa led to the identification of a novel effector protein, termed Tse4 (t ype VI s ecretion e xported 4), subsequently shown to act as a potent intra‐specific H1‐T6SS‐delivered antibacterial toxin. Interestingly, our screen failed to identify two predicted H1‐T6SS effectors, Tse5 and Tse6, which differ from Hcp‐stabilized substrates by the presence of toxin‐associated PAAR‐repeat motifs and genetic linkage to members of the valine‐glycine repeat protein G (vgrG) genes. Genetic studies further distinguished these two groups of effectors: Hcp‐stabilized effectors were found to display redundancy in interbacterial competition with respect to the requirement for the two H1‐T6SS‐exported VgrG proteins, whereas Tse5 and Tse6 delivery strictly required a cognate VgrG. Together, we propose that interaction with either VgrG or Hcp defines distinct pathways for T6S effector export.     

Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticle-Mediated Intracellular Cre Protein Delivery for Maize Genome Editing via loxP Site Excision,

The delivery of proteins instead of DNA into plant cells allows for a transient presence of the protein or enzyme that can be useful for biochemical analysis or genome modifications. This may be of particular interest for genome editing, because it can avoid DNA (transgene) integration into the genome and generate precisely modified “nontransgenic” plants. In this work, we explore direct protein delivery to plant cells using mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) as carriers to deliver Cre recombinase protein into maize (Zea mays) cells. Cre protein was loaded inside the pores of gold-plated MSNs, and these particles were delivered by the biolistic method to plant cells harboring loxP sites flanking a selection gene and a reporter gene. Cre protein was released inside the cell, leading to recombination of the loxP sites and elimination of both genes. Visual selection was used to select recombination events from which fertile plants were regenerated. Up to 20% of bombarded embryos produced calli with the recombined loxP sites under our experimental conditions. This direct and reproducible technology offers an alternative for DNA-free genome-editing technologies in which MSNs can be tailored to accommodate the desired enzyme and to reach the desired tissue through the biolistic method.Introducing DNA-modifying enzymes rather than DNA-based expression cassettes is an attractive alternative for genetic engineering and genome-editing applications such as gene targeting or site-specific recombination. It offers a transient presence of the enzymes, and the process can be coordinated with high levels of enzymatic activity at the time and sites of the desired DNA recombination events. Many DNA-metabolizing enzymes (endonucleases, transposases, and topoisomerases), when delivered in an unrestrained manner, show adverse effects on cell viability. Delivery in the form of protein or RNA may help to mitigate these effects (Cui et al., 2011; Sander et al., 2011; Watanabe et al., 2012). In addition, by introducing proteins, one can avoid the need to remove the protein-encoding DNA fragments from the engineered plant genome. This may help shorten the time from laboratory to field for future improved germplasms.Site-specific recombinases such as Cre or FLP have been widely used in genetic engineering applications (Sorrell and Kolb, 2005). The 38-kD Cre enzyme specifically binds to and recombines the 34-bp loxP sequences, allowing the removal, integration, or inversion of the DNA fragment flanked by these sequences (for review, see Wang et al., 2011). There are a number of established methodologies designed to provide the Cre recombinase activity for site-specific recombination in eukaryotic cells that do not involve the delivery of DNA. These methods include lipofection (Baubonis and Sauer, 1993), microinjection of protein or mRNA (de Wit et al., 1998; Luckow et al., 2009), electroporation of protein or mRNA (Kolb and Siddell, 1996; Ponsaerts et al., 2004), or using modified microorganisms for Cre delivery to their host cells (Vergunst et al., 2000; Koshy et al., 2010). Another strategy that has been used is the incubation or injection of tissues/cell cultures with cell-permeant Cre, a modified Cre protein fused to protein transduction domains or cell-penetrating peptides (Jo et al., 2001; Will et al., 2002; Lin et al., 2004; Nolden et al., 2006).For biotechnological applications in plant sciences, protein delivery systems have been developed, including microinjection (Wymer et al., 2001), protein immobilization to gold particles (Wu et al., 2011), and protein transduction through cell-penetrating peptides (for review, see Chugh et al., 2010). The cell-penetrating peptides were shown to enable intracellular delivery of the Cre recombinase protein to rice (Oryza sativa) callus tissues (Cao et al., 2006). Nanobiotechnology is offering an attractive alternative, since nanoparticles can be precisely tailored to deliver a particular biomolecule to the cell, tissue, or organism of interest when needed (for review, see Du et al., 2012). Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) are particularly suited for this purpose. These porous nanoparticles are formed by a matrix of well-ordered pores that confers high loading capacity of molecules like proteins (for review, see Popat et al., 2011). Additionally, surfaces of MSNs can be readily modified, permitting the customization of nanoparticles to particular experimental needs (for review, see Trewyn et al., 2007). In our previous studies, it was shown that MSNs can be used for the codelivery of DNA and chemicals (Torney et al., 2007) as well as DNA and proteins (Martin-Ortigosa et al., 2012a) to plant cells via biolistics. To improve MSN performance as a projectile, gold plating of MSN surfaces was performed, increasing nanoparticle density and, subsequently, the ability to pass through the plant cell wall upon bombardment (Martin-Ortigosa et al., 2012b).In this work, the Cre recombinase enzyme was loaded into the pores of gold-plated MSNs and delivered through the biolistic method to maize (Zea mays) cells containing loxP sites integrated into chromosomal DNA (Lox-corn; Fig. 1A). Lox-corn expressed the glyphosate acetyltransferase gene (gat) and the Anemonia majano cyan fluorescent protein gene (AmCyan1) flanked by loxP sites. The MSN-released Cre enzyme recombined the loxP sites, thus removing the DNA fragment flanked by these sequences. Such excisions led to the expression of a variant of Discosoma sp. red fluorescent protein gene (DsRed2) and the loss of the selectable marker gene (Fig. 1A). Visual selection was used to recover the recombination events. Subsequently, fertile maize plants were regenerated from the recombined events and DNA analyses confirmed the recombination events. To our knowledge, this is the first time that MSNs have been used for the delivery of a functional recombinase into plant tissues, leading to successful genome editing.Open in a separate windowFigure 1.A, Schematic representation of the MSN-based bombardment technology. Cre protein is loaded into the pores of gold-plated MSN (Cre-6x-MSN) and subsequently bombarded onto immature embryos of a transgenic maize line carrying a loxP construct (Lox-corn). The parental transgenic Lox-corn tissues are blue fluorescence and herbicide resistant because they harbor a cassette with the glyphosate acetyltransferase (gat) selection gene and the AmCyan1 (cyan) marker gene flanked by the loxP sites. The DsRed2 (dsred) gene for the expression of a red fluorescent protein is placed downstream of the cassette. Once Cre recombinase is released inside the cell, it performs the recombination, excising gat-AmCyan1 genes and leading to the expression of the DsRed2 gene, switching the cell fluorescence pattern from blue to red. P, Promoter; T, terminator. UBINTRF, CYANF, and DSRED2R are primers for DNA analysis. B, Transmission electron microscope image showing the typical hexagonal shape and the well-ordered pore structure of a 6x-MSN. C, Scanning electron microscope image showing gold nanoparticle deposition (white dots) in all surfaces of 6x-MSN. D, Western blot showing Cre protein loading and release dynamics from 6x-MSN. The protein loading is almost immediate, even though some protein can be detected in the buffer even after 1 h of loading. For the release, some Cre protein can be observed after 24 h of incubation. Most of the protein remains in the 6x-MSN pellet. C+, 400 ng of Cre protein; Empty, a lane with no protein loading. The bands observed in the Empty lane were the spillover from the neighboring Pellet lane, which represents Cre-loaded 6x-MSN after the release experiment resuspended in Laemmli loading buffer (see “Materials and Methods”).