Expression of PSACH-associated mutant COMP in tendon fibroblasts leads to increased apoptotic cell death irrespective of the secretory characteristics of mutant COMP.

OBJECTIVE: Pseudoachondroplasia (PSACH) is a dominantly inherited chondrodysplasia associated with mutations of cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (COMP), characterized clinically by disproportionate dwarfism and laxity of joints and ligaments. Studies in chondrocytes and cartilage biopsies suggest that the cartilage disease is caused by retention of mutant COMP in the endoplasmic reticulum of chondrocytes and by disruption of the collagen network of the extracellular matrix. The pathogenesis of the tendon disease remains unclear in the absence of a cell culture model, with available tendon biopsies leading to conflicting results with respect to the intracellular retention of mutant COMP. METHODS: We established a cell culture model using adenoviral gene transfer in tendon fibroblast cultures. We compared the effect of expression of three PSACH-associated COMP mutants and the wildtype protein on COMP secretion, matrix composition and cellular viability. RESULTS: Our results show that mutants D475N and D469Delta are retained within the endoplasmic reticulum of tendon cells similar to what is known from chondrocytes, whereas mutant H587R is secreted like wildtype COMP. In spite of this difference, the collagen I matrix formed in culture appears disturbed for all three mutants. All COMP-mutants induce apoptotic cell death irrespective of their differing secretion patterns. CONCLUSION: Pathogenic pathways leading to tendon disease in humans appear to be heterogeneous between different COMP mutants.     

Influence of Deglaciation on Microbial Communities in Marine Sediments Off the Coast of Svalbard,Arctic Circle

Increases in global temperatures have been shown to enhance glacier melting in the Arctic region. Here, we have evaluated the effects of meltwater runoff on the microbial communities of coastal marine sediment located along a transect of Temelfjorden, in Svalbard. As close to the glacier front, the sediment properties were clearly influenced by deglaciation. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis profiles showed that the sediment microbial communities of the stations of glacier front (stations 188–178) were distinguishable from that of outer fjord region (station 176). Canonical correspondence analysis indicated that total carbon and calcium carbonate in sediment and chlorophyll a in bottom water were key factors driving the change of microbial communities. Analysis of 16S rRNA gene clone libraries suggested that microbial diversity was higher within the glacier–proximal zone (station 188) directly affected by the runoffs than in the outer fjord region. While the crenarchaeotal group I.1a dominated at station 176 (62%), Marine Benthic Group-B and other Crenarchaeota groups were proportionally abundant. With regard to the bacterial community, alpha-Proteobacteria and Flavobacteria lineages prevailed (60%) at station 188, whereas delta-Proteobacteria (largely sulfate-reducers) predominated (32%) at station 176. Considering no clone sequences related to sulfate-reducers, station 188 may be more oxic compared to station 176. The distance-wise compositional variation in the microbial communities is attributable to their adaptations to the sediment environments which are differentially affected by melting glaciers.     

Psoriasis patients are enriched for genetic variants that protect against HIV-1 disease

An important paradigm in evolutionary genetics is that of a delicate balance between genetic variants that favorably boost host control of infection but which may unfavorably increase susceptibility to autoimmune disease. Here, we investigated whether patients with psoriasis, a common immune-mediated disease of the skin, are enriched for genetic variants that limit the ability of HIV-1 virus to replicate after infection. We analyzed the HLA class I and class II alleles of 1,727 Caucasian psoriasis cases and 3,581 controls and found that psoriasis patients are significantly more likely than controls to have gene variants that are protective against HIV-1 disease. This includes several HLA class I alleles associated with HIV-1 control; amino acid residues at HLA-B positions 67, 70, and 97 that mediate HIV-1 peptide binding; and the deletion polymorphism rs67384697 associated with high surface expression of HLA-C. We also found that the compound genotype KIR3DS1 plus HLA-B Bw4-80I, which respectively encode a natural killer cell activating receptor and its putative ligand, significantly increased psoriasis susceptibility. This compound genotype has also been associated with delay of progression to AIDS. Together, our results suggest that genetic variants that contribute to anti-viral immunity may predispose to the development of psoriasis.     

Prediction of microbial growth rate versus biomass yield by a metabolic network with kinetic parameters

Identifying the factors that determine microbial growth rate under various environmental and genetic conditions is a major challenge of systems biology. While current genome-scale metabolic modeling approaches enable us to successfully predict a variety of metabolic phenotypes, including maximal biomass yield, the prediction of actual growth rate is a long standing goal. This gap stems from strictly relying on data regarding reaction stoichiometry and directionality, without accounting for enzyme kinetic considerations. Here we present a novel metabolic network-based approach, MetabOlic Modeling with ENzyme kineTics (MOMENT), which predicts metabolic flux rate and growth rate by utilizing prior data on enzyme turnover rates and enzyme molecular weights, without requiring measurements of nutrient uptake rates. The method is based on an identified design principle of metabolism in which enzymes catalyzing high flux reactions across different media tend to be more efficient in terms of having higher turnover numbers. Extending upon previous attempts to utilize kinetic data in genome-scale metabolic modeling, our approach takes into account the requirement for specific enzyme concentrations for catalyzing predicted metabolic flux rates, considering isozymes, protein complexes, and multi-functional enzymes. MOMENT is shown to significantly improve the prediction accuracy of various metabolic phenotypes in E. coli, including intracellular flux rates and changes in gene expression levels under different growth rates. Most importantly, MOMENT is shown to predict growth rates of E. coli under a diverse set of media that are correlated with experimental measurements, markedly improving upon existing state-of-the art stoichiometric modeling approaches. These results support the view that a physiological bound on cellular enzyme concentrations is a key factor that determines microbial growth rate.     

A new class of carriers that transport selective cargo from the trans Golgi network to the cell surface

We have isolated a membrane fraction enriched in a class of transport carriers that form at the trans Golgi network (TGN) and are destined for the cell surface in HeLa cells. Protein kinase D (PKD) is required for the biogenesis of these carriers that contain myosin II, Rab6a, Rab8a, and synaptotagmin II, as well as a number of secretory and plasma membrane‐specific cargoes. Our findings reveal a requirement for myosin II in the migration of these transport carriers but not in their biogenesis per se. Based on the cargo secreted by these carriers we have named them CARTS for CAR riers of the T GN to the cell S urface. Surprisingly, CARTS are distinct from the carriers that transport vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV)‐G protein and collagen I from the TGN to the cell surface. Altogether, the identification of CARTS provides a valuable means to understand TGN to cell surface traffic.     

People favour imperfect catching by assuming a stable world

The visual angle that is projected by an object (e.g. a ball) on the retina depends on the object's size and distance. Without further information, however, the visual angle is ambiguous with respect to size and distance, because equal visual angles can be obtained from a big ball at a longer distance and a smaller one at a correspondingly shorter distance. Failure to recover the true 3D structure of the object (e.g. a ball's physical size) causing the ambiguous retinal image can lead to a timing error when catching the ball. Two opposing views are currently prevailing on how people resolve this ambiguity when estimating time to contact. One explanation challenges any inference about what causes the retinal image (i.e. the necessity to recover this 3D structure), and instead favors a direct analysis of optic flow. In contrast, the second view suggests that action timing could be rather based on obtaining an estimate of the 3D structure of the scene. With the latter, systematic errors will be predicted if our inference of the 3D structure fails to reveal the underlying cause of the retinal image. Here we show that hand closure in catching virtual balls is triggered by visual angle, using an assumption of a constant ball size. As a consequence of this assumption, hand closure starts when the ball is at similar distance across trials. From that distance on, the remaining arrival time, therefore, depends on ball's speed. In order to time the catch successfully, closing time was coupled with ball's speed during the motor phase. This strategy led to an increased precision in catching but at the cost of committing systematic errors.     

Chlamydia pneumoniae Hides inside Apoptotic Neutrophils to Silently Infect and Propagate in Macrophages

Background

Intracellular pathogens have developed elaborate strategies for silent infection of preferred host cells. Chlamydia pneumoniae is a common pathogen in acute infections of the respiratory tract (e.g. pneumonia) and associated with chronic lung sequelae in adults and children. Within the lung, alveolar macrophages and polymorph nuclear neutrophils (PMN) are the first line of defense against bacteria, but also preferred host phagocytes of chlamydiae.

Methodology/Principal Findings

We could show that C. pneumoniae easily infect and hide inside neutrophil granulocytes until these cells become apoptotic and are subsequently taken up by macrophages. C. pneumoniae infection of macrophages via apoptotic PMN results in enhanced replicative activity of chlamydiae when compared to direct infection of macrophages, which results in persistence of the pathogen. Inhibition of the apoptotic recognition of C. pneumoniae infected PMN using PS- masking Annexin A5 significantly lowered the transmission of chlamydial infection to macrophages. Transfer of apoptotic C. pneumoniae infected PMN to macrophages resulted in an increased TGF-ß production, whereas direct infection of macrophages with chlamydiae was characterized by an enhanced TNF-α response.

Conclusions/Significance

Taken together, our data suggest that C. pneumoniae uses neutrophil granulocytes to be silently taken up by long-lived macrophages, which allows for efficient propagation and immune protection within the human host.     

Synthesis, molecular structure, substitution and C-C coupling reactions of ruthenium complexes containing (η-C9H7)Ru(PPh3) as a molecular unit

The 2-methallyl complex [(η⁵-C₉H₇)Ru(η³-2-MeC₃H₄)(PPh₃)] (3), prepared from [(η⁵-C₉H₇)Ru(PPh₃)₂Cl] (2) and 2-MeC₃H₄MgCl, reacts with HX (X = Cl, CF₃CO₂) in the presence of ethene to give the chiral-at-metal compounds [(η⁵-C₉H₇)Ru(C₂H₄)(PPh₃)X] (4, 5) in nearly quantitative yields. Treatment of 2 with AgPF₆ and ethene affords [(η⁵-C₉H₇)Ru(C₂H₄)(PPh₃)₂]PF₆ (6), which reacts with acetone to give the substitution product [(η⁵-C₉H₇)Ru(OCMe₂)(PPh₃)₂]PF₆ (7). The molecular structure of 7 has been determined crystallographically. Whereas treatment of 4 with CH(CO₂Et)N₂ yields the olefin complex [(η⁵-C₉H₇)Ru{η²-(Z)-C₂H₂(CO₂Et)₂}(PPh₃)Cl] (8), the reactions of 4 and 5 with Ph₂CN₂, PhCHN₂ and (Me₃Si)CHN₂ lead to the formation of the carbeneruthenium(II) derivatives [(η⁵-C₉H₇)Ru(CRR′)(PPh₃)Cl] (9-11) and [(η⁵-C₉H₇)Ru(CRR′)(PPh₃)(κ¹-O₂CCF₃)] (12-14), respectively. Treatment of 9 (R = R′ = Ph), 10 (R = H, R′ = Ph) and 11 (R = H, R′ = SiMe₃) with MeLi produces the hydrido(olefin) complexes [(η⁵-C₉H₇)RuH(η²-CH₂CPh₂)(PPh₃)] (15), [(η⁵-C₉H₇)RuH(η²-CH₂CHPh)(PPh₃)] (18a,b) and [(η⁵-C₉H₇)RuH(η²-CH₂CHSiMe₃)(PPh₃)] (19) via C-C coupling and β-hydride shift. The analogous reactions of 11 with PhLi gives the η³-benzyl compound [(η⁵-C₉H₇)Ru{η³-(Me₃Si)CHC₆H₅}(PPh₃)] (20). The η³-allyl complex [(η⁵-C₉H₇)Ru(η³-1-PhC₃H₄)(PPh₃)] (17) was prepared from 10 and CH₂CHMgBr by nucleophilic attack.     

A single amino acid change in rabies virus glycoprotein increases virus spread and enhances virus pathogenicity

Several rabies virus (RV) vaccine strains containing an aspartic acid (Asp) or glutamic acid (Glu) instead of an arginine (Arg) at position 333 of the RV glycoprotein (G) are apathogenic for immunocompetent mice even after intracranial inoculation. However, we previously showed that the nonpathogenic phenotype of the highly attenuated RV strain SPBNGA, which contains a Glu at position 333 of G, is unstable when this virus is passaged in newborn mice. While the Glu(333) remained unchanged after five mouse passages, an Asn(194)-->Lys(194) mutation occurred in RV G. This mutation was associated with increased pathogenicity for adult mice. Using site-directed mutagenesis to exchange Asn(194) with Lys(194) in the G protein of SPBNGA, resulting in SPBNGA-K, we show here that this mutation is solely responsible for the increase in pathogenicity and that the Asn(194)-->Lys(194) mutation does not arise when Asn(194) is exchanged with Ser(194) (SPBNGA-S). Our data presented indicate that the increased pathogenicity of SPBNGA-K is due to increased viral spread in vivo and in vitro, faster internalization of the pathogenic virus into cells, and a shift in the pH threshold for membrane fusion. These results are consistent with the notion that the RV G protein is a major contributor to RV pathogenesis and that the more pathogenic RVs escape the host responses by a faster spread than that of less pathogenic RVs.