IRE1α induces thioredoxin-interacting protein to activate the NLRP3 inflammasome and promote programmed cell death under irremediable ER stress

When unfolded proteins accumulate to irremediably high levels within the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), intracellular signaling pathways called the unfolded protein response (UPR) become hyperactivated to?cause programmed cell death. We discovered that?thioredoxin-interacting protein (TXNIP) is?a critical node in this "terminal UPR." TXNIP becomes rapidly induced by IRE1α, an ER bifunctional kinase/endoribonuclease (RNase). Hyperactivated IRE1α increases TXNIP mRNA stability by reducing levels of a TXNIP destabilizing microRNA, miR-17. In turn, elevated TXNIP protein activates the NLRP3 inflammasome, causing procaspase-1 cleavage and interleukin 1β (IL-1β) secretion. Txnip gene deletion reduces pancreatic β cell death during ER stress and suppresses diabetes caused by proinsulin misfolding in the Akita mouse. Finally, small molecule?IRE1α RNase inhibitors suppress TXNIP production to block IL-1β secretion. In summary, the IRE1α-TXNIP pathway is used in the terminal UPR to promote sterile inflammation and programmed cell death and may be targeted to develop effective treatments for cell degenerative diseases.     

Flow Visualization of Rhinoceros Beetle (Trypoxylus dichotomus) in Free Flight

Aerodynamic characteristics of the beetle,Trypoxylus dichotomus,which has a pair of elytra (forewings) and flexible hind wings,are investigated.Visualization experiments were conducted for various flight conditions of a beetle,Trypoxylus dichotomus:free,tethered,hovering,forward and climbing flights.Leading edge,trailing edge and tip vortices on both wings were observed clearly.The leading edge vortex was stable and remained on the top surface of the elytron for a wide interval during the downstroke of free forward flight.Hence,the elytron may have a considerable role in lift force generation of the beetle.In addition,we reveal a suction phenomenon between the gaps of the hind wing and the elytron in upstroke that may improve the positive lift force on the hind wing.We also found the reverse clap-fling mechanism of the T.dichotomus beetle in hovering flight.The hind wings touch together at the beginning of the upstroke.The vortex generation,shedding and interaction give a better understanding of the detailed aerodynamic mechanism of beetle flight.     

Automated behavioral phenotyping reveals presymptomatic alterations in a SCA3 genetrap mouse model

Characterization of disease models of neurodegenerative disorders requires a systematic and comprehensive phenotyping in a highly standardized manner.Therefore,automated high-resolution behavior test systems such as the homecage based LabMaster system are of particular interest.We demonstrate the power of the automated LabMaster system by discovering previously unrecognized features of a recently characterized atxn3 mutant mouse model.This model provided neurological symptoms including gait ataxia,tremor,weight loss and premature death at the age of 12 months usually detectable just 2 weeks before the mice died.Moreover,using the LabMaster system we were able to detect hypoactivity in presymptomatic mutant mice in the dark as well as light phase.Additionally,we analyzed inflammation,immunological and hematological parameters,which indicated a reduced immune defense in phenotypic mice.Here we demonstrate that a detailed characterization even of organ systems that are usually not affected in SCA3 is important for further studies of pathogenesis and required for the preclinical therapeutic studies.     

A synthetic heparan sulfate oligosaccharide library reveals the novel enzymatic action of D-glucosaminyl 3-O-sulfotransferase-3a

Heparan sulfate (HS) glucosaminyl 3-O-sulfotranferases sulfate the C3-hydroxyl group of certain glucosamine residues on heparan sulfate. Six different 3-OST isoforms exist, each of which can sulfate very distinct glucosamine residues within the HS chain. Among these isoforms, 3-OST1 has been shown to play a role in generating ATIII-binding HS anticoagulants whereas 3-OST2, 3-OST3, 3-OST4 and 3OST-6 have been shown to play a vital role in generating gD-binding HS chains that permit the entry of herpes simplex virus type 1 into cells. 3-OST5 has been found to generate both ATIII- and gD-binding HS motifs. Previous studies have examined the substrate specificities of all the 3-OST isoforms using HS polysaccharides. However, very few studies have examined the contribution of the epimer configuration of neighboring uronic acid residues next to the target site to 3-OST action. In this study, we utilized a well-defined synthetic oligosaccharide library to examine the substrate specificity of 3-OST3a and compared it to 3-OST1. We found that both 3-OST1 and 3-OST3a preferentially sulfate the 6-O-sulfated, N-sulfoglucosamine when an adjacent iduronyl residue is located to its reducing side. On the other hand, 2-O-sulfation of this uronyl residue can inhibit the action of 3-OST3a on the target residue. The results reveal novel substrate sites for the enzyme actions of 3-OST3a. It is also evident that both these enzymes have promiscuous and overlapping actions that are differentially regulated by iduronyl 2-O-sulfation.     

Future of an "Asymptomatic" T-cell Epitope-Based Therapeutic Herpes Simplex Vaccine

Considering the limited success of the recent herpes clinical vaccine trial [1], new vaccine strategies are needed. Infections with herpes simplex virus type 1 and type 2 (HSV-1 & HSV-2) in the majority of men and women are usually asymptomatic and results in lifelong viral latency in neurons of sensory ganglia (SG). However, in a minority of men and women HSV spontaneous reactivation can cause recurrent disease (i.e., symptomatic individuals). Our recent findings show that T cells from symptomatic and asymptomatic men and women (i.e. those with and without recurrences, respectively) recognize different herpes epitopes. This finding breaks new ground and opens new doors to assess a new vaccine strategy: mucosal immunization with HSV-1 & HSV-2 epitopes that induce strong in vitro CD4 and CD8 T cell responses from PBMC derived from asymptomatic men and women (designated here as "asymptomatic" protective epitopes") could boost local and systemic "natural" protective immunity, induced by wild-type infection. Here we highlight the rationale and the future of our emerging "asymptomatic" T cell epitope-based mucosal vaccine strategy to decrease recurrent herpetic disease.     

MRL and SuperFine+MRL: new supertree methods

Background

Supertree methods combine trees on subsets of the full taxon set together to produce a tree on the entire set of taxa. Of the many supertree methods, the most popular is MRP (Matrix Representation with Parsimony), a method that operates by first encoding the input set of source trees by a large matrix (the "MRP matrix") over {0,1, ?}, and then running maximum parsimony heuristics on the MRP matrix. Experimental studies evaluating MRP in comparison to other supertree methods have established that for large datasets, MRP generally produces trees of equal or greater accuracy than other methods, and can run on larger datasets. A recent development in supertree methods is SuperFine+MRP, a method that combines MRP with a divide-and-conquer approach, and produces more accurate trees in less time than MRP. In this paper we consider a new approach for supertree estimation, called MRL (Matrix Representation with Likelihood). MRL begins with the same MRP matrix, but then analyzes the MRP matrix using heuristics (such as RAxML) for 2-state Maximum Likelihood.

Results

We compared MRP and SuperFine+MRP with MRL and SuperFine+MRL on simulated and biological datasets. We examined the MRP and MRL scores of each method on a wide range of datasets, as well as the resulting topological accuracy of the trees. Our experimental results show that MRL, coupled with a very good ML heuristic such as RAxML, produced more accurate trees than MRP, and MRL scores were more strongly correlated with topological accuracy than MRP scores.

Conclusions

SuperFine+MRP, when based upon a good MP heuristic, such as TNT, produces among the best scores for both MRP and MRL, and is generally faster and more topologically accurate than other supertree methods we tested.     

Results of a psychosomatic training program in China, Vietnam and Laos

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: With the "ASIA-LINK" program, the European Community has supported the development and implementation of a curriculum of postgraduate psychosomatic training for medical doctors in China, Vietnam and Laos. Currently, these three countries are undergoing great social, economic and cultural changes. The associated psychosocial stress has led to increases in psychological and psychosomatic problems, as well as disorders for which no adequate medical or psychological care is available, even in cities. Health care in these three countries is characterized by the coexistence of Western medicine and traditional medicine. Psychological and psychosomatic disorders and problems are insufficiently recognized and treated, and there is a need for biopsychosocially orientated medical care. Little is known about the transferability of Western-oriented psychosomatic training programs in the Southeast Asian cultural context. METHODS: The curriculum was developed and implemented in three steps: 1) an experimental phase to build a future teacher group; 2) a joint training program for future teachers and German teachers; and 3) training by Asian trainers that was supervised by German teachers. The didactic elements included live patient interviews, lectures, communication skills training and Balint groups. The training was evaluated using questionnaires for the participants and interviews of the German teachers and the future teachers. RESULTS: Regional training centers were formed In China (Shanghai), Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh City and Hue) and Laos (Vientiane). A total of 200 physicians completed the training, and 30 physicians acquired the status of future teacher. The acceptance of the training was high, and feelings of competence increased during the courses. The interactive training methods were greatly appreciated, with the skills training and self-experience ranked as the most important topics. Adaptations to the cultural background of the participants were necessary for the topics of "breaking bad news," the handling of negative emotions, discontinuities in participation, the hierarchical doctor-patient relationship, culture-specific syndromes and language barriers. In addition to practical skills for daily clinical practice, the participants wanted to learn more about didactic teaching methods. Half a year after the completion of the training program, the participants stated that the program had a great impact on their daily medical practice. CONCLUSIONS: The training in psychosomatic medicine for postgraduate medical doctors resulted in a positive response and is an important step in addressing the barriers in providing psychosomatic primary care. The transferability of western concepts should be tested locally, and adaptations should be undertaken where necessary. The revised curriculum forms the basis of training in psychosomatic medicine and psychotherapy for medical students and postgraduate doctors in China, Vietnam and Laos.     

Stabilizing Additives Added during Cell Lysis Aid in the Solubilization of Recombinant Proteins

Insoluble recombinant proteins are a major issue for both structural genomics and enzymology research. Greater than 30% of recombinant proteins expressed in Escherichia coli (E. coli) appear to be insoluble. The prevailing view is that insolubly expressed proteins cannot be easily solubilized, and are usually sequestered into inclusion bodies. However, we hypothesize that small molecules added during the cell lysis stage can yield soluble protein from insoluble protein previously screened without additives or ligands. We present a novel screening method that utilized 144 additive conditions to increase the solubility of recombinant proteins expressed in E. coli. These selected additives are natural ligands, detergents, salts, buffers, and chemicals that have been shown to increase the stability of proteins in vivo. We present the methods used for this additive solubility screen and detailed results for 41 potential drug target recombinant proteins from infectious organisms. Increased solubility was observed for 80% of the recombinant proteins during the primary and secondary screening of lysis with the additives; that is 33 of 41 target proteins had increased solubility compared with no additive controls. Eleven additives (trehalose, glycine betaine, mannitol, L-Arginine, potassium citrate, CuCl₂, proline, xylitol, NDSB 201, CTAB and K₂PO₄) solubilized more than one of the 41 proteins; these additives can be easily screened to increase protein solubility. Large-scale purifications were attempted for 15 of the proteins using the additives identified and eight (40%) were prepared for crystallization trials during the first purification attempt. Thus, this protocol allowed us to recover about a third of seemingly insoluble proteins for crystallography and structure determination. If recombinant proteins are required in smaller quantities or less purity, the final success rate may be even higher.     

Chimeric β-Lactamases: Global Conservation of Parental Function and Fast Time-Scale Dynamics with Increased Slow Motions

Enzyme engineering has been facilitated by recombination of close homologues, followed by functional screening. In one such effort, chimeras of two class-A β-lactamases – TEM-1 and PSE-4 – were created according to structure-guided protein recombination and selected for their capacity to promote bacterial proliferation in the presence of ampicillin (Voigt et al., Nat. Struct. Biol. 2002 9:553). To provide a more detailed assessment of the effects of protein recombination on the structure and function of the resulting chimeric enzymes, we characterized a series of functional TEM-1/PSE-4 chimeras possessing between 17 and 92 substitutions relative to TEM-1 β-lactamase. Circular dichroism and thermal scanning fluorimetry revealed that the chimeras were generally well folded. Despite harbouring important sequence variation relative to either of the two ‘parental’ β-lactamases, the chimeric β-lactamases displayed substrate recognition spectra and reactivity similar to their most closely-related parent. To gain further insight into the changes induced by chimerization, the chimera with 17 substitutions was investigated by NMR spin relaxation. While high order was conserved on the ps-ns timescale, a hallmark of class A β-lactamases, evidence of additional slow motions on the µs-ms timescale was extracted from model-free calculations. This is consistent with the greater number of resonances that could not be assigned in this chimera relative to the parental β-lactamases, and is consistent with this well-folded and functional chimeric β-lactamase displaying increased slow time-scale motions.