Tissue distribution of Ca2+-dependent activator protein for secretion family members CAPS1 and CAPS2 in mice.

The family of Ca2+-dependent activator proteins for secretion (CAPS) is involved in dense-core vesicle exocytosis. CAPS1/CADPS1 and CAPS2/CADPS2 have been identified in mammals. CAPS1 regulates catecholamine release from neuroendocrine cells, whereas CAPS2 is involved in the release of brain-derived neurotrophic factor and neurotrophin-3 from cerebellar granule cells. CAPS1 and CAPS2 are predominantly expressed in brain. Here we show the immunohistochemical localization of the CAPS family proteins in various mouse tissues. In the pituitary gland, CAPS1 and CAPS2 were localized to the pars nervosa and the pars intermedia, respectively. In non-neural tissues, CAPS1 was observed in the islets of Langerhans, minor cell types of the spleen and stomach, and medullary cells of the adrenal gland, whereas CAPS2 was present in bronchial epithelial cells, thyroid parafollicular cells, chief cells of the stomach, ductal epithelium of the salivary gland, kidney proximal tubules, and minor cell types of the thymus, spleen, and colon. These results suggest that secretion from distinct cell types in various tissues involves either or both members of the CAPS family.     

Enhancement of 1,4-Dihydroxy-2-Naphthoic Acid Production by Propionibacterium freudenreichii ET-3 Fed-Batch Culture

The production of 1,4-dihydroxy-2-naphthoic acid (DHNA) was investigated using a fed-batch culture of Propionibacterium freudenreichii ET-3. DHNA is a precursor of menaquinone (MK) and is transformed to MK by combination with an isoprenoid unit. We found that ET-3 stopped MK production and increased DHNA production in an anaerobic fed-batch culture by maintaining the lactose concentration at approximately zero. The maximum DHNA concentration observed in the anaerobic fed-batch culture was markedly higher than the maximum DHNA concentration observed in an anaerobic batch culture. Moreover, MK or DHNA production was affected by the lactose feeding rate; this suggests that lactose metabolism participates in the syntheses of these products. On the other hand, accumulation of propionate was found to inhibit DHNA production in the fed-batch culture. Based on the fact that ET-3 increases DHNA production in an aerobic culture by consuming propionate, we carried out a cultivation experiment in which an anaerobic fed-batch culture was switched to an anaerobic batch culture and found that the DHNA production was increased to a greater extent than the DHNA production in an anaerobic fed-batch culture. These results suggest that DHNA production by ET-3 is markedly influenced by carbon source limitation and the oxygen supply.     

Do immigrant female bonobos prefer older resident females as important partners when integrating into a new group?

Primates - Intergroup transfer is a critical part of the life history of group-living species, with considerable variation in its timings and patterns among species. Immigrant female bonobos are...     

How did bonobos come to range south of the congo river? Reconsideration of the divergence of Pan paniscus from other Pan populations

While investigating the genetic structure in wild bonobos,¹ we realized that the widely accepted scenario positing that the Pleistocene appearance of the Congo River separated the common ancestor of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and bonobos (P. paniscus) into two species is not supported by recent geographical knowledge about the formation of the Congo River. We explored the origin of bonobos using a broader biogeographical perspective by examining local faunas in the central African region. The submarine Congo River sediments and paleotopography of central Africa show that the Congo River has functioned as a geographical barrier for the last 34 million years. This evidence allows us to hypothesize that when the river was first formed, the ancestor of bonobos did not inhabit the current range of the species on the left bank of the Congo River but that, during rare times when the Congo River discharge decreased during the Pleistocene, one or more founder populations of ancestral Pan paniscus crossed the river to its left bank. The proposed scenario for formation of the Congo River and the corridor hypothesis for an ancestral bonobo population is key to understanding the distribution of great apes and their evolution.     

Potential ability of hot water adzuki (Vigna angularis) extracts to inhibit the adhesion, invasion, and metastasis of murine B16 melanoma cells

The 40% ethanol eluent of the fraction of hot-water extract from adzuki beans (EtEx.40) adsorbed onto DIAION HP-20 resin has many biological activities, for example, antioxidant, antitumorigenesis, and intestinal alpha-glucosidase suppressing activities. This study examined the inhibitory effect of EtEx.40 on experimental lung metastasis and the invasion of B16-BL6 melanoma cells. EtEx.40 was found significantly to reduce the number of tumor colonies. It also inhibited the adhesion and migration of B16-BL6 melanoma cells into extracellular matrix components and their invasion into reconstituted basement membrane (matrigel) without affecting cell proliferation in vitro. These in vivo data suggest that EtEx.40 possesses a strong antimetastatic ability, which might be a lead compound in functional food development.     

Protein kinase cascade involved in rapid ABA-signaling in guard cells of Vicia faba

Protein kinases are involved in signal transduction for environmental stress responses. In response to drought and salinity, a 48-kDa protein kinase (AAPK; abscisic acid-activated protein kinase (AAPK) in guard cells is activated by abscisic acid (ABA) and phosphorylates several targets such as the carboxy-terminus of inward-rectifying K+ channel and heterogeneous mRNA binding protein to adopt to the changing environment. The AAPK expressed specifically in guard cells, and recombinant AAPK was phosphorylated only with the extract from ABA-treated guard cells but not from untreated cells. This indicates the presence of an AAPK kinase (AAPKK), which is activated by ABA and phosphorylates AAPK preceding the activation of AAPK. Both AAPK and AAPKK are involved in the protein kinase cascade for the rapid ABA-signaling.     

Apoptosis-associated tyrosine kinase (AATYK) has differential Ca2+-dependent phosphorylation states in response to survival and apoptotic conditions in cerebellar granule cells

In dissociated cultures of cerebellar granule cells, extracellular high potassium (HK) and low potassium (LK) concentrations control cell survival and apoptosis, respectively. Apoptosis-associated tyrosine kinase (AATYK) is up-regulated during the LK-induced apoptosis. Overexpression of wild-type AATYK, but not its kinase-deficient mutant, stimulates apoptosis in LK. In this study, we analyzed the relationship between the phosphorylation states of AATYK and the survival of granule cells. AATYK was hypophosphorylated in HK, whereas it was hyperphosphorylated in apoptotic LK. HK-dependent hypophosphorylation of AATYK was controlled by L-type voltage-dependent calcium channel-mediated Ca2+ influx followed by Ca2+-dependent protein phosphatase activity. However, LK-induced hyperphosphorylation of AATYK at multiple sites was blocked by kainate, lithium, and protein kinase C-delta inhibitor. AATYK phosphorylation was concurrent with c-Jun phosphorylation. In addition, mutations of AATYK on either the kinase domain or Ser-480, Ser-558, and Ser-566 residues suppressed the LK-induced hyperphosphorylation and apoptosis, suggesting the involvement of self-kinase activity and these Ser residues in this process. Our data therefore indicate that the phosphorylation states of AATYK are closely related to the HK-induced survival and LK-induced apoptosis of cerebellar granule cells.     

The Gly-Gly linker region of the insect cytokine growth-blocking peptide is essential for activity

Growth-blocking peptide (GBP) is a 25-amino acid cytokine isolated from the lepidopteran insect Pseudaletia separata. GBP exhibits various biological activities such as regulation of larval growth of insects, proliferation of a few kinds of cultured cells, and stimulation of a class of insect immune cells called plasmatocytes. The tertiary structure of GBP consists of a well structured core domain and disordered N and C termini. Our previous studies revealed that, in addition to the structured core, specific residues in the unstructured N-terminal region (Glu1 and Phe3) are also essential for the plasmatocyte-stimulating activity. In this study, a number of deletion, insertion, and site-directed mutants targeting the unstructured N-terminal residues of GBP were constructed to gain more detailed insight into the mode of interaction between the N-terminal region and GBP receptor. Alteration of the backbone length of the linker region between the core structure and N-terminal domain reduced plasmatocyte-stimulating activity. The substitutions of Gly5 or Gly6 in this linker region with more bulky residues, such as Phe and Pro, also remarkably reduced this activity. We conclude that the interaction of GBP with its receptor depends on the relative position of the N-terminal domain to the core structure, and therefore the backbone flexibility of Gly residues in the linker region is necessary for adoption of a proper conformation suited to receptor binding. Additionally, antagonistic experiments using deletion mutants confirmed that not only the core domain but also the N-terminal region of GBP are required for "receptor-binding," and furthermore Phe3 is a binding determinant of the N-terminal domain.