The extreme N-terminal domain of a hordeivirus TGB1 movement protein mediates its localization to the nucleolus and interaction with fibrillarin

The hordeiviral movement protein encoded by the first gene of the triple gene block (TGBp1) of Poa semilatent virus (PSLV), interacts with viral genomic RNAs to form RNP particles which are considered to be a form of viral genome capable of cell-to-cell and long-distance transport in infected plants. The PSLV TGBp1 contains a C-terminal NTPase/helicase domain (HELD) and an N-terminal extension region consisting of two structurally and functionally distinct domains: an extreme N-terminal domain (NTD) and an internal domain (ID). This study demonstrates that transient expression of TGBp1 fused to GFP in Nicotiana benthamiana leaves results in faint but obvious fluorescence in the nucleolus in addition to cytosolic distribution. Mutagenesis of the basic amino acids inside the NTD clusters A ¹¹⁶KSKRKKKNKK¹²⁵ and B ¹⁷⁵KKATKKESKKQTK¹⁸⁷ reveals that these clusters are indispensable for nuclear and nucleolar targeting of PSLV TGBp1 and may contain nuclear and nucleolar localization signals or their elements. The PSLV TGBp1 is able to bind to fibrillarin, the major nucleolar protein (AtFib2 from Arabidopsis thaliana) in vitro. This protein–protein interaction occurs between the glycine-arginine-rich (GAR) domain of fibrillarin and the first 82 amino acid residues of TGBp1. The interaction of TGBp1 with fibrillarin is also visualized in vivo by bimolecular fluorescence complementation (BiFC) during co-expression of TGBp1 or its deletion mutants, and fibrillarin as fusions to different halves of YFP in N. benthamiana plants. The sites responsible for nuclear/nucleolar localization and fibrillarin binding, have been located within the intrinsically disordered TGBp1 NTD. These data could suggest that specific functions of hordeivirus TGBp1 may depend on its interaction with nucleolar components.     

Increased expression of the anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-xL in the brain is associated with resilience to stress-induced depression-like behavior

Clinical observations and the results of animal studies have implicated changes in neuronal survival and plasticity in both the etiology of mood disorders, especially stress-induced depression, and anti-depressant drug action. Stress may predispose individuals toward depression through down-regulation of neurogenesis and an increase in apoptosis in the brain. Substantial individual differences in vulnerability to stress are evident in humans and were found in experimental animals. Recent studies revealed an association between the brain anti-apoptotic protein B cell lymphoma like X, long variant (Bcl-xL) expression and individual differences in behavioral vulnerability to stress. The ability to increase Bcl-xL gene expression in the hippocampus in response to stress may be an important factor for determining the resistance to the development of stress-induced depression. Treatment with anti-depressant drugs may change Bcl-xL response properties. In the rat brainstem, expression of this anti-apoptotic gene becomes sensitive to swim stress during the long-term fluoxetine treatment, an effect that appeared concomitantly with the anti-depressant-like action of the drug in the forced swim test, suggesting that Bcl-xL may be a new target for depression therapy. The processes and pathways linking stress stimuli to behavior via intracellular anti-apoptotic protein are discussed here in the context of Bcl-xL functions in the mechanisms of individual differences in behavioral resilience to stress and anti-depressant-induced effects on the behavioral despair.     

Cranial anatomy,taxonomic implications and palaeopathology of an Upper Jurassic Pliosaur (Reptilia: Sauropterygia) from Westbury,Wiltshire, UK

Abstract: Complete skulls of giant marine reptiles of the Late Jurassic are rare, and so the discovery of the 1.8‐m‐long skull of a pliosaur from the Kimmeridge Clay Formation (Kimmeridgian) of Westbury, Wiltshire, UK, is an important find. The specimen shows most of the cranial and mandibular anatomy, as well as a series of pathological conditions. It was previously referred to Pliosaurus brachyspondylus, but it can be referred reliably only to the genus Pliosaurus, because species within the genus are currently in need of review. The new specimen, together with another from the same locality, also referred to P. brachyspondylus, will be crucial in that systematic revision, and it is likely that the genus Pliosaurus will be found to include several genera. The two Westbury Pliosaurus specimens share many features, including the form of the teeth, but marked differences in the snout and parietal crest suggest sexual dimorphism; the present specimen is probably female. The large size of the animal, the extent of sutural fusion and the pathologies suggest this is an ageing individual. An erosive arthrotic condition of the articular glenoids led to prolonged jaw misalignment, generating a suite of associated bone and dental pathologies. Further damage to the jaw joint may have been the cause of death.     

RNA binding is more critical to the suppression of silencing function of Cucumber mosaic virus 2b protein than nuclear localization

Previously, we found that silencing suppression by the 2b protein and six mutants correlated both with their ability to bind to double-stranded (ds) small RNAs (sRNAs) in vitro and with their nuclear/nucleolar localization. To further discern the contribution to suppression activity of sRNA binding and of nuclear localization, we have characterized the kinetics of in vitro binding to a ds sRNA, a single-stranded (ss) sRNA, and a micro RNA (miRNA) of the native 2b protein and eight mutant variants. We have also added a nuclear export signal (NES) to the 2b protein and assessed how it affected subcellular distribution and suppressor activity. We found that in solution native protein bound ds siRNA, miRNA, and ss sRNA with high affinity, at protein:RNA molar ratios ~2:1. Of the four mutants that retained suppressor activity, three showed sRNA binding profiles similar to those of the native protein, whereas the remaining one bound ss sRNA at a 2:1 molar ratio, but both ds sRNAs with 1.5-2 times slightly lower affinity. Three of the four mutants lacking suppressor activity failed to bind to any sRNA, whereas the remaining one bound them at far higher ratios. NES-tagged 2b protein became cytoplasmic, but suppression activity in patch assays remained unaffected. These results support binding to sRNAs at molar ratios at or near 2:1 as critical to the suppressor activity of the 2b protein. They also show that cytoplasmically localized 2b protein retained suppressor activity, and that a sustained nuclear localization was not required for this function.     

Endogenous fragment of hemoglobin, neokyotorphin, as cell growth factor

It is shown that neokyotorphin (the -globin fragment 137–141) stimulates proliferation of normal cells (murine embryonic fibroblasts, red bone marrow and spleen cells) and tumor cells (murine melanoma and transformed fibroblasts L929) in the absence or in the presence of fetal bovine serum. In contrast to serum deprivation conditions, the ability to potentiate L929 cell growth in the presence of fetal serum is strongly cell density dependent. The peptide also enhances the viability of L929 cells, murine embryonic fibroblasts and of the primary cultures of murine red bone marrow cells and splenocytes under serum-deprivation conditions for at least 72 h. The results of flow cytometry analysis suggest that the effect of neokyotorphin on survival of L929 cells in serum-free culture medium is due to maintenance of cell proliferation in the absence of growth factors. Along with cell cycle progression the peptide induces reversible reduction of L929 cell size.     

Virions and the Coat Protein of the Potato Virus X Interact with Microtubules and Induce Tubulin Polymerization In Vitro

A study was made of the in vitro interactions of virions and the coat protein (CP) of the potato virus X (PVX) with microtubules (MT). Both virions and CP cosedimented with taxol-stabilized MT. In the presence of PVX CP, tubulin polymerized to produce structures resistant to chilling. Electron microscopy revealed the aberrant character of the resulting tubulin polymers (protofilaments and their sheets), which differed from MT assembled in the presence of cell MAP2. In contrast, PVX virions induced the assembly of morphologically normal MT sensitive to chilling. Virions were shown to compete with MAP2 for MT binding, suggesting an overlap for the MT sites interacting with MAP2 and with PVX virions. It was assumed that PVX virions interact with MT in vivo and that, consequently, cytoskeleton elements participate in intracellular compartmentalization of the PVX genome.     

Molecular Analysis of Leaf Rust-Resistant Introgression Lines Obtained by Crossing of Hexaploid Wheat Triticum aestivum with Tetraploid Wheat Triticum timopheevii

Twenty-four Triticum aestivum×T. timopheevii hybrid lines developed on the basis of five varieties of common wheat and resistant to leaf rust were analyzed by the use of microsatellite markers specific for hexaploid wheat T. aestivum. Investigation of intervarietal polymorphism of the markers showed that the number of alleles per locus ranged from 1 to 4, depending on the marker (2.5 on average). InT. timopheevii, amplification fragments are produced by 80, 55, and 30% of primers specific to the A, B, and D common wheat genomes, respectively. Microsatellite analysis revealed two major areas of introgression of the T. timopheevii genome: chromosomes of homoeological groups 2 and 5. Translocations were detected in the 2A and 2B chromosomes simultaneously in 11 lines of 24. The length of the translocated fragment in the 2B chromosome was virtually identical in all hybrid lines and did not depend on the parental wheat variety. In 15 lines developed on the basis of the Saratovskaya-29, Irtyshanka, and Tselinnaya-20, changes occurred in the telomeric region of the long arm of the 5A chromosome. Analysis with markers specific to the D genome suggested that introgressions of the T. timopheevii genome occurred in chromosomes of the D genome. However, the location of these markers on T. timopheevii chromosomes is unknown. Our data suggest that the genes for leaf rust resistance transferred from T. timopheevii to T. aestivum are located on chromosomes of homoeological group 2.     

Isolation and comparative analysis of multiple isoenzymes of glutathione-S-transferase from the liver of intact rats and rats administered phenobarbital, 3-methylcholanthrene and butylhydroxytoluene

Seven glutathione-S-transferase (GST) isozymes were purified from liver cytosol of intact male Wistar rats: 1-1(A), 1-1(B), 1-2, 2-2, 3-3, 3-4, 4-4. Treatment of rats with butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) led to the induction of isozymes GST 1-1(A), 1-1(B) (2-fold), 3-3 (3.5-fold) as well as to the appearance of two new isozymes--1-3 and 4-4(A). Phenobarbital (PB) induced isozymes GST 1-1(A), 1-1(B) (2-fold) and 3-3 (1.5-fold). BHT and PB caused an increase in the specific activity of isozymes 1-1(A), 1-1(B), 3-3, 3-4 towards 1-chloro-2.4-dinitrobenzene and 1.2-dichloro-4-nitrobenzene. 3-Methylcholanthrene (MC) induced isozymes 1-2 (1.5-fold), 2-2 (2-fold) and 4-4 (3-fold). A conclusion was drawn that BHT and PB induced the GST subunits 1 and 3, whereas MC--subunits 2 and 4.