On the PsbS-induced quenching in the plant major light-harvesting complex LHCII studied in proteoliposomes

Photosynthesis Research - Non-photochemical quenching (NPQ) in photosynthetic organisms provides the necessary photoprotection that allows them to cope with largely and quickly varying light...     

Three-dimensional soft tissue preservation revealed in the skin of a non-avian dinosaur

The most commonly preserved soft tissues associated with ornithischian dinosaurs are skin remains. The apparent resistance of hadrosaur skin to decay, and its abundance in the fossil record relative to that of other tetrapods, has been attributed to factors such as thickness and composition. Here we report additional intrinsic factors within hadrosaur skin: 3D-preserved eumelanin-bearing bodies, dermal cells and blood vessel fragments in an organic matrix composed of protein fossilization products. The skin is much thinner than that of living mammals of similar size. It is likely that the preservation of hadrosaur skin is related to the arrangement of the layers composing it.     

Prognostic factors and predictors of outcome in patients with COVID-19 and related pneumonia: a retrospective cohort study

The aim of the present study was to simultaneously assess several potential predictors of outcome (co-morbidity, previous and in-hospital treatment, radiologic Brixia score) in patients with COVID-19.This retrospective cohort study included 258 consecutive patients with confirmed COVID-19 admitted to a medical ward at Montichiari Hospital, Brescia, Italy from February 28th to April 30rd, 2020. Patients had SARS-CoV-2 related pneumonia with respiratory failure, and were treated with hydroxychloroquine and lopinavir plus ritonavir. In some patients, additional treatment with tocilizumab, dexamethasone and enoxaparin was adopted. Outcomes (death or recovery) were assessed at the end of the discharge period or at the end of the follow-up (August 2020).During hospitalization, 59 patients died, while 6 died after discharge. The following variables were demonstrated to be associated with a worse prognosis: Radiologic Brixia score higher than 8, presence at baseline of hypertension, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart disease, cancer, previous treatment with ACE-inhibitors or anti-platelet drugs. Anticoagulant treatment during hospital admission with enoxaparin at a dose higher than 4000 U once daily was associated with a better prognosis.In conclusion, our study demonstrates that some co-morbidities and cardiovascular risk factors may affect prognosis. The radiologic Brixia score may be a useful tool to stratify the risk of death at baseline. Anticoagulant treatment with enoxaparin might be associated to a clinical benefit in terms of survival in patients with COVID-19.     

Nucleophosmin mutations alter its nucleolar localization by impairing G-quadruplex binding at ribosomal DNA

Nucleophosmin (NPM1) is an abundant nucleolar protein implicated in ribosome maturation and export, centrosome duplication and response to stress stimuli. NPM1 is the most frequently mutated gene in acute myeloid leukemia. Mutations at the C-terminal domain led to variant proteins that aberrantly and stably translocate to the cytoplasm. We have previously shown that NPM1 C-terminal domain binds with high affinity G-quadruplex DNA. Here, we investigate the structural determinants of NPM1 nucleolar localization. We show that NPM1 interacts with several G-quadruplex regions found in ribosomal DNA, both in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, the most common leukemic NPM1 variant completely loses this activity. This is the consequence of G-quadruplex–binding domain destabilization, as mutations aimed at refolding the leukemic variant also result in rescuing the G-quadruplex–binding activity and nucleolar localization. Finally, we show that treatment of cells with a G-quadruplex selective ligand results in wild-type NPM1 dislocation from nucleoli into nucleoplasm. In conclusion, this work establishes a direct correlation between NPM1 G-quadruplex binding at rDNA and its nucleolar localization, which is impaired in the acute myeloid leukemia-associated protein variants.     

Clerocidin-mediated DNA footprinting discriminates among different G-quadruplex conformations and detects tetraplex folding in a duplex environment

Background

G-quadruplexes are polymorphic non-canonical nucleic acid conformations involved both in physiological and pathological processes. Given the high degree of folding heterogeneity and comparable conformational stabilities, different G-quadruplex forms can occur simultaneously, hence rendering the use of basic instrumental methods for structure determination, like X-ray diffraction or NMR, hardly useful. Footprinting techniques represent valuable and relatively rapid alternative to characterize DNA folding. The natural diterpenoid clerocidin is an alkylating agent that specifically reacts at single-stranded DNA regions, with different mechanisms depending on the exposed nucleotide.

Methods

Clerocidin was used to footprint G-quadruplex structures formed by telomeric and oncogene promoter sequences (c-myc, bcl-2, c-kit2), and by the thrombin binding aptamer.

Results

The easy modulability of CL reactivity towards DNA bases permitted to discriminate fully and partially protected sites, highlights stretched portions of the G-quadruplex conformation, and discriminate among topologies adopted by one sequence in different environmental conditions. Importantly, CL displayed the unique property to allow detection of G-quadruplex folding within a duplex context.

Conclusions

CL is a finely performing new tool to unveil G-quadruplex arrangements in DNA sequences under genomically relevant conditions.

General significance

Nucleic acid G-quadruplex structures are an emerging research field because of the recent indication of their involvement in a series of key biological functions, in particular in regulation of proliferation-associated gene expression. The use of clerocidin as footprinting agent to identify G-quadruplex structures under genomically relevant conditions may allow detection of new G-quadruplex-based regulatory regions.     

Direct amplification of new cellulase genes from woodland soil purified DNA

Eight genes encoding cellulolytic enzymes were obtained by direct PCR amplification of genomic DNA recovered from woodland soil samples. The direct amplifications were carried out by using primers designed from available online cellulase nucleotide sequences. The isolated genes were all different from each other and homologous to endo-β-1,4-glucanases of Bacillus subtilis. The cellulases were functionally expressed in Escherichia coli and tested on soluble substrate at 37 and 60 °C, showing different cellulolytic activities. Among these, the enzyme renamed CelWS6 exhibited good activity at higher temperatures. Further analysis of CelWS6 showed a high performance in acid environments (between pH 4.0 and 6.0) and at elevated temperatures with its maximum activity at pH 5.0 and 50 °C. At the optimum pH, it was very stable since more than 80 % of its original activity was maintained after an incubation of 120 min at 60 °C. Because the cellulases had different cellulolytic activities, but similar amino acid sequences, it was possible to assess the relationship between sequence and protein function.     

Modelling family 2 cystatins and their interaction with papain

Cystatins are extensively studied cysteine protease inhibitors, found in wide range of organisms with highly conserved structural folds. S-type of cystatins is well known for their abundance in saliva, high selectivity and poorer activity towards host cysteine proteases in comparison to their immediate ancestor cystatin C. Despite more than 90% sequence similarity, the members of this group show highly dissimilar binding affinity towards papain. Cystatin M/E is a potent inhibitor of legumain and papain like cysteine proteases and recognized for its involvement in skin barrier formation and potential role as a tumor suppressor gene. However, the structures of these proteins and their complexes with papain or legumain are still unknown. In the present study, we have employed computational methods to get insight into the interactions between papain and cystatins. Three-dimensional structures of the cystatins are generated by homology modelling, refined with molecular dynamics simulation, validated through numerous web servers and finally complexed with papain using ZDOCK algorithm in Discovery Studio. A high degree of shape complementarity is observed within the complexes, stabilized by numerous hydrogen bonds (HB) and hydrophobic interactions. Using interaction energy, HB and solvent accessible surface area analyses, we have identified a series of key residues that may be involved in papain–cystatin interaction. Differential approaches of cystatins towards papain are also noticed which are possibly responsible for diverse inhibitory activity within the group. These findings will improve our understanding of fundamental inhibitory mechanisms of cystatin and provide clues for further research.