Evolutionary embryology resurrected in Japan with a new molecular basis: Nori Satoh and the history of ascidian studies originating in Kyoto during the 20th century

This article briefly summarizes the scientific contributions of Nori Satoh, the winner of the 2005 edition of the Kowalevsky Medal, to Developmental Biology and especially to Evo-Devo with his 30 years of research on tunicates - a primitive chordate species. His research began with his pure developmental interest in the clock mechanism of cell differentiation and later expanded into various aspects of evolutionary and developmental phenomena. He is not only known as a founder of molecular biology-based tunicate studies, but also for his world-wide service to education and his prestigious publications in international scientific journals.     

Naked gene therapy of hepatocyte growth factor for dextran sulfate sodium-induced colitis in mice

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is progressive and relapsing disease. To explore the therapeutic effects of naked gene therapy of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) on UC, the SRalpha promoter driving HGF gene was intrarectally administered to the mice in which colitis was induced by dextran sulfate sodium (DSS). Expression of the transgene was seen in surface epithelium, lamina propria, and muscularis mucosae. The HGF-treated mice showed reduced colonic mucosal damage and increased body weights, compared with control mice (P < 0.01 and P < 0.05, respectively). The HGF-treated mice displayed increased number of PCNA-positive cells and decreased number of apoptotic cells than in control mice (P < 0.01, each). Phosphorylated AKT was dramatically increased after HGF gene administration, however, phosphorylated ERK1/2 was not altered. Microarray analysis revealed that HGF induced expression of proliferation- and apoptosis-associated genes. These data suggest that naked HGF gene delivery causes therapeutic effects through regulation of many downstream genes.     

Synthetic nucleosides and nucleotides. 43. Inhibition of vertebrate telomerases by carbocyclic oxetanocin g (C.OXT-G) triphosphate analogues and influence of C.OXT-G treatment on telomere length in human HL60 cells

Telomerase, responsible for telomere synthesis, is expressed in approximately 90% of human tumor cells but seldom in normal somatic cells. In this study, inhibition by carbocyclic oxetanocin G triphosphate (C. OXT-GTP) and its analogues was investigated in order to clarify the susceptibility of telomerase to various nucleotide analogues. C. OXT-GTP competitively inhibited telomerase activity with respect to dGTP However, C. OXT-GTP had a potent inhibitory effect on DNA polymerase alpha. It was examined whether the nucleoside (C. OXT-G) was able to alter telomere length in cultured human HL60 cells. Contrary to expectation, long-term treatment with 10 microM C. OXT-G was found to cause telomere lengthening.     

The differential expression of HvCO9, a member of the CONSTANS-like gene family, contributes to the control of flowering under short-day conditions in barley

HvCO9 was characterized to elucidate the barley flowering control mechanisms and to investigate the functional diversification of the barley CONSTANS-like (CO-like) genes in flowering. HvCO9 was located on the same chromosome, 1HL, as Ppd-H2 (HvFT3), which is a positive regulator of short-day (SD) flowering. A phylogenetic analysis showed that HvCO9 was located on the same branch of the CO-like gene tree as rice Ghd7 and the barley and wheat VRN2 genes, which are all negative regulators of flowering. High level HvCO9 expressions were observed under SD conditions, whereas its expression levels were quite low under long-day (LD) conditions. HvCO9 expression correlated with HvFT1 and HvFT2 expression under SD conditions, although no clear effect of HvCO9 on HvFT3 expression, or vice versa, under SD conditions was observed. The over-expression of HvCO9 in rice plants produced a remarkable delay in flowering. In transgenic rice, the expression levels of the flowering-related Ehd1 gene, which is a target gene of Ghd7, and its downstream genes were suppressed, causing a delay in flowering. These results suggest that HvCO9 may act as a negative regulator of flowering under non-inductive SD conditions in barley; this activity is similar to that of rice Ghd7 under non-inductive LD conditions, but the functional targets of these genes may be different. Our results indicate that barley has developed its own pathways to control flowering by using homologous genes with modifications for the timing of expression. Further, it is hypothesized that each pathway may target different genes after gene duplication or species diversification.     

Enhancement of endothelial cell migration by constitutively active LPA(1)-expressing tumor cells

2,3-Dihydroxybiphenyl-1,2-dioxygenase plays an important role in the degradation of polychlorinated biphenyls. The gene (BsbphCI) encoding a 2,3-DHBP dioxygenase from Bacillus sp. JF8 is 960 bp. We synthesized a 960 bp BsbphCI gene encoding a 2,3-DHBP dioxygenase derived from Bacillus sp. JF8 and expressed it in Escherichiacoli. The recombinant protein was about 36 kDa, confirmed by SDS-PAGE. The concentration of the purified protein was about 1.8 mg/mL. With 2,3-DHBP as a substrate, the optimal temperature for enzyme activity at pH 8.5 was 50 °C. The optimal pH for the 2,3-DHBP dioxygenase was 8.5. The enzyme retained 33% activity after heating at 60 °C for 60 min. We found that Cu(2+), K(+), Zn(2+), Mg(2+), Ni(2+), Co(2+), and Cd(2+) activated the enzyme. However, Ca(2+), Fe(2+), Li(+), and Cr(3+) inhibited it. Enzyme activity was reduced by exposure to H(2)O(2), SDS, and KI. The results of HPLC indicated that the transgenic E. coli strain with the BsbphCI gene degraded 2,3-DHBP more quickly than the wild type strain.     

Constitutively active lysophosphatidic acid receptor-1 enhances the induction of matrix metalloproteinase-2

Lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) is a simple phospholipid which interacts with at least six G protein-coupled transmembrane LPA receptors (LPA(1)-LPA(6)). In rat neuroblastoma B103 cells, we have recently reported that each LPA receptor indicates the different cellular functions, including cell motility, invasion and tumorigenicity. Especially, mutated and constitutively active LPA(1) enhanced these cellular effects in B103 cells. In the present study, to better understand a role of mutated LPA(1) underlying progression of cancer cells, we measured the expression and activity levels of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) in constitutively active mutant Lpar1-expressing B103 cells (lpa1Δ-1), compared with each wild-type LPA receptor-expressing cells. LPA receptor-unexpressing cells were also used as control. In quantitative real time RT-PCR analysis, the expressions of Mmp-9 were detected at the same levels in all cells. By contrast, Mmp-2 expressions of lpa1Δ-1 were significantly higher than those of other cells. In gelatin zymography, proMmp-9 was observed at the same levels in all cells. Interestingly, markedly high levels of proMmp-2 and Mmp-2 were detected in lpa1Δ-1 cells, whereas no activation was in other cells. The increased expression and activity of Mmp-2 in lpa1Δ-1 cells were suppressed by the pretreatment with a Gq protein inhibitor. These results suggest that mutated LPA(1) may involve in the enhancement of Mmp-2 expression and activation in rat neuroblastoma cells.     

Effects of Group 3 LEA protein model peptides on desiccation-induced protein aggregation

Group 3 late embryogenesis abundant (G3LEA) proteins have amino acid sequences with characteristic 11-mer motifs and are known to reduce aggregation of proteins during dehydration. Previously, we clarified the structural and thermodynamic properties of the 11-mer repeating units in G3LEA proteins using synthetic peptides composed of two or four tandem repeats originating from an insect (Polypedilum vanderplanki), nematodes and plants. The purpose of the present study is to test the utility of such 22-mer peptides as protective reagents for aggregation-prone proteins. For lysozyme, desiccation-induced aggregation was abrogated by low molar ratios of a 22-mer peptide, PvLEA-22, derived from a P. vanderplanki G3LEA protein sequence. However, an unexpected behavior was noted for the milk protein, α-casein. On drying, the resultant aggregation was significantly suppressed in the presence of PvLEA-22 with its molar ratios>25 relative to α-casein. However, when the molar ratio was <10, aggregation occurred on addition of PvLEA-22 to aqueous solutions of α-casein. Other peptides derived from nematode, plant and randomized G3LEA protein sequences gave similar results. Such an anomalous solubility change in α-casein was shown to be due to a pH shift to ca. 4, a value nearly equal to the isoelectric point (pI) of α-casein, when any of the 22-mer peptides was mixed. These results demonstrate that synthetic peptides derived from G3LEA protein sequences can reduce protein aggregation caused both by desiccation and, at high molar ratios, also by pH effects, and therefore have potential as stabilization reagents.     

Competitive solubilization of cholesterol and β-sitosterol with changing biliary lipid compositions in model intestinal solution

We used a model intestinal solution to understand the mechanisms of cholesterol lowering by the addition of plant sterols. The experimental results of the competitive solubilization of cholesterol and β-sitosterol in vitro give useful information about these mechanisms. The states of the model intestinal solution as a solubilizer were analyzed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and dynamic light scattering (DLS) by changing the number of components, and the bile salt and phosphatidylcholine concentrations. There were aggregates of different sizes: liposomes and mixed micelles depending on their components and concentrations. The maximum solubilization of cholesterol increased from 0.2mM to 1.3mM when adding fatty compounds in the pure bile salts system, which is almost the same as the full components model intestinal solution. Therefore, an excessive intake of fatty compounds may also increase cholesterol absorption in vivo. Even if the components of the model intestinal solution were modified from the standard condition, there were not remarkable differences in the selectivity of cholesterol and β-sitosterol in competitive solubilization. With the addition of β-sitosterol, the maximum solubilization of cholesterol decreases to almost half of that in the system with only cholesterol, except for PC-rich systems. In general, the different structures of aggregates considerably influence the maximum solubilization of sterols but not the selectivity of cholesterol and β-sitosterol in the competitive solubilization. The Gibbs energy change (ΔG°) of the solubilization of β-sitosterol showed a more negative value than cholesterol by -4 to -6kJmol(-1), which indicates that β-sitosterol is energetically favored relative to cholesterol in the model intestinal solution, regardless of the different systems.     

Discovery of potential diagnostic and vaccine antigens in herpes simplex virus 1 and 2 by proteome-wide antibody profiling

Routine serodiagnosis of herpes simplex virus (HSV) infections is currently performed using recombinant glycoprotein G (gG) antigens from herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) and HSV-2. This is a single-antigen test and has only one diagnostic application. Relatively little is known about HSV antigenicity at the proteome-wide level, and the full potential of mining the antibody repertoire to identify antigens with other useful diagnostic properties and candidate vaccine antigens is yet to be realized. To this end we produced HSV-1 and -2 proteome microarrays in Escherichia coli and probed them against a panel of sera from patients serotyped using commercial gG-1 and gG-2 (gGs for HSV-1 and -2, respectively) enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. We identified many reactive antigens in both HSV-1 and -2, some of which were type specific (i.e., recognized by HSV-1- or HSV-2-positive donors only) and others of which were nonspecific or cross-reactive (i.e., recognized by both HSV-1- and HSV-2-positive donors). Both membrane and nonmembrane virion proteins were antigenic, although type-specific antigens were enriched for membrane proteins, despite being expressed in E. coli.