Role of Mex67-Mtr2 in the Nuclear Export of 40S Pre-Ribosomes

Nuclear export of mRNAs and pre-ribosomal subunits (pre40S and pre60S) is fundamental to all eukaryotes. While genetic approaches in budding yeast have identified bona fide export factors for mRNAs and pre60S subunits, little is known regarding nuclear export of pre40S subunits. The yeast heterodimeric transport receptor Mex67-Mtr2 (TAP-p15 in humans) binds mRNAs and pre60S subunits in the nucleus and facilitates their passage through the nuclear pore complex (NPC) into the cytoplasm by interacting with Phe-Gly (FG)-rich nucleoporins that line its transport channel. By exploiting a combination of genetic, cell-biological, and biochemical approaches, we uncovered an unanticipated role of Mex67-Mtr2 in the nuclear export of 40S pre-ribosomes. We show that recruitment of Mex67-Mtr2 to pre40S subunits requires loops emanating from its NTF2-like domains and that the C-terminal FG-rich nucleoporin interacting UBA-like domain within Mex67 contributes to the transport of pre40S subunits to the cytoplasm. Remarkably, the same loops also recruit Mex67-Mtr2 to pre60S subunits and to the Nup84 complex, the respective interactions crucial for nuclear export of pre60S subunits and mRNAs. Thus Mex67-Mtr2 is a unique transport receptor that employs a common interaction surface to participate in the nuclear export of both pre-ribosomal subunits and mRNAs. Mex67-Mtr2 could engage a regulatory crosstalk among the three major export pathways for optimal cellular growth and proliferation.     

Preconditioning Triggered by Carbon Monoxide (CO) Provides Neuronal Protection Following Perinatal Hypoxia-Ischemia

Perinatal hypoxia-ischemia is a major cause of acute mortality in newborns and cognitive and motor impairments in children. Cerebral hypoxia-ischemia leads to excitotoxicity and necrotic and apoptotic cell death, in which mitochondria play a major role. Increased resistance against major damage can be achieved by preconditioning triggered by subtle insults. CO, a toxic molecule that is also generated endogenously, may have a role in preconditioning as low doses can protect against inflammation and apoptosis. In this study, the role of CO-induced preconditioning on neurons was addressed in vitro and in vivo. The effect of 1 h of CO treatment on neuronal death (plasmatic membrane permeabilization and chromatin condensation) and bcl-2 expression was studied in cerebellar granule cells undergoing to glutamate-induced apoptosis. CO's role was studied in vivo in the Rice-Vannucci model of neonatal hypoxia-ischemia (common carotid artery ligature +75 min at 8% oxygen). Apoptotic cells, assessed by Nissl staining were counted with a stereological approach and cleaved caspase 3-positive profiles in the hippocampus were assessed. Apoptotic hallmarks were analyzed in hippocampal extracts by Western Blot. CO inhibited excitotoxicity-induced cell death and increased Bcl-2 mRNA in primary cultures of neurons. In vivo, CO prevented hypoxia-ischemia induced apoptosis in the hippocampus, limited cytochrome c released from mitochondria and reduced activation of caspase-3. Still, Bcl-2 protein levels were higher in hippocampus of CO pre-treated rat pups. Our results show that CO preconditioning elicits a molecular cascade that limits neuronal apoptosis. This could represent an innovative therapeutic strategy for high-risk cerebral hypoxia-ischemia patients, in particular neonates.     

Sodium stibogluconate (SSG) & paromomycin combination compared to SSG for visceral leishmaniasis in East Africa: a randomised controlled trial

Background

Alternative treatments for visceral leishmaniasis (VL) are required in East Africa. Paromomycin sulphate (PM) has been shown to be efficacious for VL treatment in India.

Methods

A multi-centre randomized-controlled trial (RCT) to compare efficacy and safety of PM (20 mg/kg/day for 21 days) and PM plus sodium stibogluconate (SSG) combination (PM, 15 mg/kg/day and SSG, 20 mg/kg/day for 17 days) with SSG (20 mg/kg/day for 30 days) for treatment of VL in East Africa. Patients aged 4–60 years with parasitologically confirmed VL were enrolled, excluding patients with contraindications. Primary and secondary efficacy outcomes were parasite clearance at 6-months follow-up and end of treatment, respectively. Safety was assessed mainly using adverse event (AE) data.

Findings

The PM versus SSG comparison enrolled 205 patients per arm with primary efficacy data available for 198 and 200 patients respectively. The SSG & PM versus SSG comparison enrolled 381 and 386 patients per arm respectively, with primary efficacy data available for 359 patients per arm. In Intention-to-Treat complete-case analyses, the efficacy of PM was significantly lower than SSG (84.3% versus 94.1%, difference = 9.7%, 95% confidence interval, CI: 3.6 to 15.7%, p = 0.002). The efficacy of SSG & PM was comparable to SSG (91.4% versus 93.9%, difference = 2.5%, 95% CI: −1.3 to 6.3%, p = 0.198). End of treatment efficacy results were very similar. There were no apparent differences in the safety profile of the three treatment regimens.

Conclusion

The 17 day SSG & PM combination treatment had a good safety profile and was similar in efficacy to the standard 30 day SSG treatment, suggesting suitability for VL treatment in East Africa.

Clinical Trials Registration

www.clinicaltrials.gov {"type":"clinical-trial","attrs":{"text":"NCT00255567","term_id":"NCT00255567"}}NCT00255567     

Development of a Small D-Enantiomeric Alzheimer's Amyloid-β Binding Peptide Ligand for Future In Vivo Imaging Applications

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a devastating disease affecting predominantly the aging population. One of the characteristic pathological hallmarks of AD are neuritic plaques, consisting of amyloid-β peptide (Aβ). While there has been some advancement in diagnostic classification of AD patients according to their clinical severity, no fully reliable method for pre-symptomatic diagnosis of AD is available. To enable such early diagnosis, which will allow the initiation of treatments early in the disease progress, neuroimaging tools are under development, making use of Aβ-binding ligands that can visualize amyloid plaques in the living brain. Here we investigate the properties of a newly designed series of D-enantiomeric peptides which are derivatives of ACI-80, formerly called D1, which was developed to specifically bind aggregated Aβ1-42. We describe ACI-80 derivatives with increased stability and Aβ binding properties, which were characterized using surface plasmon resonance and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. The specific interactions of the lead compounds with amyloid plaques were validated by ex vivo immunochemistry in transgenic mouse models of AD. The novel compounds showed increased binding affinity and are promising candidates for further development into in vivo imaging compounds.     

Outer Segment Formation of Transplanted Photoreceptor Precursor Cells

Transplantation of photoreceptor precursor cells (PPCs) into the retina represents a promising treatment for cell replacement in blinding diseases characterized by photoreceptor loss. In preclinical studies, we and others demonstrated that grafted PPCs integrate into the host outer nuclear layer (ONL) and develop into mature photoreceptors. However, a key feature of light detecting photoreceptors, the outer segment (OS) with natively aligned disc membrane staples, has not been studied in detail following transplantation. Therefore, we used as donor cells PPCs isolated from neonatal double transgenic reporter mice in which OSs are selectively labeled by green fluorescent protein while cell bodies are highlighted by red fluorescent protein. PPCs were enriched using CD73-based magnetic associated cell sorting and subsequently transplanted into either adult wild-type or a model of autosomal-dominant retinal degeneration mice. Three weeks post-transplantation, donor photoreceptors were identified based on fluorescent-reporter expression and OS formation was monitored at light and electron microscopy levels. Donor cells that properly integrated into the host wild-type retina developed OSs with the formation of a connecting cilium and well-aligned disc membrane staples similar to the surrounding native cells of the host. Surprisingly, the majority of not-integrated PPCs that remained in the sub-retinal space also generated native-like OSs in wild-type mice and those affected by retinal degeneration. Moreover, they showed an improved photoreceptor maturation and OS formation by comparison to donor cells located on the vitreous side suggesting that environmental cues influence the PPC differentiation and maturation. We conclude that transplanted PPCs, whether integrated or not into the host ONL, are able to generate the cellular structure for effective light detection, a phenomenon observed in wild-type as well as in degenerated retinas. Given that patients suffering from retinitis pigmentosa lose almost all photoreceptors, our findings are of utmost importance for the development of cell-based therapies.     

In vitro expanded stem cells from the developing retina fail to generate photoreceptors but differentiate into myelinating oligodendrocytes

Cell transplantation to treat retinal degenerative diseases represents an option for the replacement of lost photoreceptor cells. In vitro expandable cells isolated from the developing mammalian retina have been suggested as a potential source for the generation of high numbers of donor photoreceptors. In this study we used standardized culture conditions based on the presence of the mitogens FGF-2 and EGF to generate high numbers of cells in vitro from the developing mouse retina. These presumptive 'retinal stem cells' ('RSCs') can be propagated as monolayer cultures over multiple passages, express markers of undifferentiated neural cells, and generate neuronal and glial cell types upon withdrawal of mitogens in vitro or following transplantation into the adult mouse retina. The proportion of neuronal differentiation can be significantly increased by stepwise removal of mitogens and inhibition of the notch signaling pathway. However, 'RSCs', by contrast to their primary counterparts in vivo, i.e. retinal progenitor cells, loose the expression of retina-specific progenitor markers like Rax and Chx10 after passaging and fail to differentiate into photoreceptors both in vitro or after intraretinal transplantation. Notably, 'RSCs' can be induced to differentiate into myelinating oligodendrocytes, a cell type not generated by primary retinal progenitor cells. Based on these findings we conclude that 'RSCs' expanded in high concentrations of FGF-2 and EGF loose their retinal identity and acquire features of in vitro expandable neural stem-like cells making them an inappropriate cell source for strategies aimed at replacing photoreceptor cells in the degenerated retina.     

An efficient protocol for incorporation of an unnatural amino acid in perdeuterated recombinant proteins using glucose-based media

The in vivo incorporation of unnatural amino acids into proteins is a well-established technique requiring an orthogonal tRNA/aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase pair specific for the unnatural amino acid that is incorporated at a position encoded by a TAG amber codon. Although this technology provides unique opportunities to engineer protein structures, poor protein yields are usually obtained in deuterated media, hampering its application in the protein NMR field. Here, we describe a novel protocol for incorporating unnatural amino acids into fully deuterated proteins using glucose-based media (which are relevant to the production, for example, of amino acid-specific methyl-labeled proteins used in the study of large molecular weight systems). The method consists of pre-induction of the pEVOL plasmid encoding the tRNA/aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase pair in a rich, H₂O-based medium prior to exchanging the culture into a D₂O-based medium. Our protocol results in high level of isotopic incorporation (~95%) and retains the high expression level of the target protein observed in Luria–Bertani medium.     

Laue crystal structure of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Shewanella oneidensis</Emphasis> cytochrome <Emphasis Type="Italic">c</Emphasis> nitrite reductase from a high-yield expression system

The high-yield expression and purification of Shewanella oneidensis cytochrome c nitrite reductase (ccNiR) and its characterization by a variety of methods, notably Laue crystallography, are reported. A key component of the expression system is an artificial ccNiR gene in which the N-terminal signal peptide from the highly expressed S. oneidensis protein “small tetraheme c” replaces the wild-type signal peptide. This gene, inserted into the plasmid pHSG298 and expressed in S. oneidensis TSP-1 strain, generated approximately 20 mg crude ccNiR per liter of culture, compared with 0.5–1 mg/L for untransformed cells. Purified ccNiR has nitrite and hydroxylamine reductase activities comparable to those previously reported for Escherichia coli ccNiR, and is stable for over 2 weeks in pH 7 solution at 4 °C. UV/vis spectropotentiometric titrations and protein film voltammetry identified five independent one-electron reduction processes. Global analysis of the spectropotentiometric data also allowed determination of the extinction coefficient spectra for the five reduced ccNiR species. The characteristics of the individual extinction coefficient spectra suggest that, within each reduced species, the electrons are distributed among the various hemes, rather than being localized on specific heme centers. The purified ccNiR yielded good-quality crystals, with which the 2.59-Å-resolution structure was solved at room temperature using the Laue diffraction method. The structure is similar to that of E. coli ccNiR, except in the region where the enzyme interacts with its physiological electron donor (CymA in the case of S. oneidensis ccNiR, NrfB in the case of the E. coli protein).     

Skeletal abnormalities of the upper limbs — Neonatal diagnosis of 49,XXXXY syndrome

A case of neonatal diagnosis of 49,XXXXY syndrome is presented. Clinical identification was prompted by a bilateral thickening of the radioulnar joints and X-ray imaging disclosing almost complete radioulnar synostosis. Conventional karyotyping was initiated and revealed a karyotype of 49,XXXXY. Previously reported neonatal symptoms such as low birth weight, muscular hypotonia, or genital malformations were absent in this case. Microsatellite analysis showed two different X chromosomes each present in two copies, supporting that the four X chromosomes had arisen from a nondisjunction in maternal meiosis I followed by a second nondisjunction involving both X chromosomes in meiosis II. Multidisciplinary follow-up was organised to ensure timely recognition of associated complications. Early awareness of the diagnosis may offer a potential benefit regarding outcome.