Generation of CD4+ blastoid T cells showing marked upregulation of CD4, class I and II MHC, and IL2 receptor molecules is required for the expression of potent encephalitogenicity

The relationship between surface molecule expression and encephalitogenicity of myelin basic protein (BP)-sensitized cells induced by three different sensitization protocols was studied using adoptive transfer in Lewis rats. (i) In BP/CFA sensitization, CD4+ blastoid T cells showing marked upregulation of CD4, class I and II MHC, and IL2 receptor molecules, but not CD5, CD8, or CD45, were generated after culture with BP. In this case, BP-cultured cells were strongly encephalitogenic in the recipients. (ii) In the case of BP/IFA sensitization, CD4+ T cells showed no remarkable change of cell size or surface molecule expression after culture with BP and were weakly encephalitogenic in the recipients. Vigorous proliferation of the cells induced by addition of recombinant IL2 to the culture with BP neither enhanced the encephalitogenicity nor produced CD4+ blastoid T cells showing marked upregulation of CD4, class I and II MHC, and IL2 receptor molecules. (iii) The sequentially transferred naive T cells showed no remarkable change of cell size or surface molecule expression, even after a second culture with BP, and were the least encephalitogenic. These data suggest that the generation of CD4+ blastoid T cells showing marked upregulation of CD4, class I and II MHC, and IL2 receptor molecules but not vigorous proliferation correlates closely with the potent encephalitogenicity in vivo.     

Neural Correlates of Processing Negative and Sexually Arousing Pictures

Recent work has questioned whether the negativity bias is a distinct component of affective picture processing. The current study was designed to determine whether there are different neural correlates of processing positive and negative pictures using event-related brain potentials. The early posterior negativity and late positive potential were greatest in amplitude for erotic pictures. Partial Least Squares analysis revealed one latent variable that distinguished erotic pictures from neutral and positive pictures and another that differentiated negative pictures from neutral and positive pictures. The effects of orienting task on the neural correlates of processing negative and erotic pictures indicate that affective picture processing is sensitive to both stimulus-driven, and attentional or decision processes. The current data, together with other recent findings from our laboratory, lead to the suggestion that there are distinct neural correlates of processing negative and positive stimuli during affective picture processing.     

Anti-herpes Activities of Isonucleoside Analogues with Variable Bases at the 2′ Position

Abstract

We examined eight isonucleoside analogues, which have variable bases at the 2′ position of deoxyribose, for anti-herpes virus activities in vitro. Six of the eight compounds showed anti-herpes activity.     

Characterisation of porin genes from Mycobacterium fortuitum and their impact on growth

Background  

Highly pathogenic mycobacteria like Mycobacterium tuberculosis are characterised by their slow growth and their ability to reside and multiply in the very hostile phagosomal environment and a correlation between the growth rate of mycobacteria and their pathogenicity has been hypothesised. Here, porin genes from M. fortuitum were cloned and characterised to address their impact on the growth rate of fast-growing and pathogenic mycobacteria.     

Cultural ecosystem services in the context of offshore wind farming: A case study from the west coast of Schleswig-Holstein

Although frequently referred to in the literature, the concept of cultural ecosystem services (CES) has so far been limited in its application. Difficulties arise when specifying the nature of intangible values, but more significantly when it comes to relating intangible values to ecosystem functions. After setting out some conceptual issues, this paper uses a case study on the German North Sea coast to illustrate ways of operationalising the concept in a marine context. Based on a survey of local residents, we first identify current CES in the sea and the intangible values associated with them. Seascape and place emerge as useful conceptual bridges linking ecosystem functioning outcomes to key CES values. We then relate this to offshore wind farming, which some residents perceive as a significant threat to certain CES. Although the approach presented increases the visibility of intangible ecosystem values, the problem remains that such assessments are temporal, in need of added calibration and do not automatically put intangibles on a par with market ecosystem value.     

Interactions of bovine lactoferricin with acidic phospholipid bilayers and its antimicrobial activity as studied by solid-state NMR

Bovine lactoferricin (LfcinB) is an antimicrobial peptide released by pepsin cleavage of lactoferrin. In this work, the interaction between LfcinB and acidic phospholipid bilayers with the weight percentage of 65% dimyristoylphosphatidylglycerol (DMPG), 10% cardiolipin (CL) and 25% dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine (DMPC) was investigated as a mimic of cell membrane of Staphylococcus aureus by means of quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) and solid-state (31)P and (1)H NMR spectroscopy. Moreover, we elucidated a molecular mechanism of the antimicrobial activity of LfcinB by means of potassium ion selective electrode (ISE). It turned out that affinity of LfcinB for acidic phospholipid bilayers was higher than that for neutral phospholipid bilayers. It was also revealed that the association constant of LfcinB was larger than that of lactoferrin as a result of QCM measurements. (31)P DD-static NMR spectra indicated that LfcinB interacted with acidic phospholipid bilayers and bilayer defects were observed in the bilayer systems because isotropic peaks were clearly appeared. Gel-to-liquid crystalline phase transition temperatures (Tc) in the mixed bilayer systems were determined by measuring the temperature variation of relative intensities of acyl chains in (1)H MAS NMR spectra. Tc values of the acidic phospholipid and LfcinB-acidic phospholipid bilayer systems were 21.5 degrees C and 24.0 degrees C, respectively. To characterize the bilayer defects, potassium ion permeation across the membrane was observed by ISE measurements. The experimental results suggest that LfcinB caused pores in the acidic phospholipid bilayers. Because these pores lead the permeability across the membrane, the molecular mechanism of the antimicrobial activity could be attributed to the pore formation in the bacterial membrane induced by LfcinB.     

ATGL has a key role in lipid droplet/adiposome degradation in mammalian cells

Lipid droplets (LDs), also called adiposomes, are found in many eukaryotic cells, and are highly upregulated in lipid-storage cells, such as adipocytes. The mechanism by which adiposomes and their component neutral lipids are degraded is an important health issue with the rapidly spreading epidemic of obesity. Recently, a novel triglyceride lipase (adipose triglyceride lipase (ATGL)) that catalyses the initial step in triglyceride hydrolysis in adipocyte LDs was identified. Here, we show that ATGL also functions in non-adipocyte cells, and has an important role in LD degradation in these cells. Overexpression of wild-type ATGL causes a marked decrease in LD size, whereas a catalytically inactive mutant retains the ability to localize to LDs, but is unable to decrease their size. Depletion of ATGL by RNA interference leads to a significant increase in the size of LDs. These results show that ATGL has an important role in LD/adiposome turnover in mammalian cells.     

Cofacial heme binding is linked to dimerization by a bacterial heme transport protein

Campylobacter jejuni is a leading bacterial cause of food-borne illness in the developed world. Like most pathogens, C. jejuni requires iron that must be acquired from the host environment. Although the iron preference of the food-borne pathogen C. jejuni is not established, this organism possesses heme transport systems to acquire iron. ChaN is an iron-regulated lipoprotein from C. jejuni proposed to be associated with ChaR, an outer-membrane receptor. Mutation of PhuW, a ChaN orthologue in Pseudomonas aeruginosa, compromises growth on heme as a sole iron source. The crystal structure of ChaN, determined to 1.9 A resolution reveals that ChaN is comprised of a large parallel beta-sheet with flanking alpha-helices and a smaller domain consisting of alpha-helices. Unexpectedly, two cofacial heme groups ( approximately 3.5 A apart with an inter-iron distance of 4.4 A) bind in a pocket formed by a dimer of ChaN monomers. Each heme iron is coordinated by a single tyrosine from one monomer, and the propionate groups are hydrogen bonded by a histidine and a lysine from the other monomer. Sequence analyses reveal that these residues are conserved among ChaN homologues from diverse bacterial origins. Electronic absorption and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy are consistent with heme binding through tyrosine coordination by ChaN in solution yielding a high-spin heme iron structure in a pH-dependent equilibrium with a low-spin species. Analytical ultracentrifugation demonstrates that apo-ChaN is predominantly monomeric and that dimerization occurs with heme binding such that the stability constant for dimer formation increases by 60-fold.