ER arrival sites for COPI vesicles localize to hotspots of membrane trafficking

COPI‐coated vesicles mediate retrograde membrane traffic from the cis‐Golgi to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) in all eukaryotic cells. However, it is still unknown whether COPI vesicles fuse everywhere or at specific sites with the ER membrane. Taking advantage of the circumstance that the vesicles still carry their coat when they arrive at the ER, we have visualized active ER arrival sites (ERAS) by monitoring contact between COPI coat components and the ER‐resident Dsl tethering complex using bimolecular fluorescence complementation (BiFC). ERAS form punctate structures near Golgi compartments, clearly distinct from ER exit sites. Furthermore, ERAS are highly polarized in an actin and myosin V‐dependent manner and are localized near hotspots of plasma membrane expansion. Genetic experiments suggest that the COPI?Dsl BiFC complexes recapitulate the physiological interaction between COPI and the Dsl complex and that COPI vesicles are mistargeted in dsl1 mutants. We conclude that the Dsl complex functions in confining COPI vesicle fusion sites.     

DNA damage induced by the anticodon nuclease from a Pichia acaciae killer strain is linked to ribonucleotide reductase depletion

Virus like element (VLE) encoded killer toxins of Pichia acaciae and Kluyveromyces lactis kill target cells through anticodon nuclease (ACNase) activity directed against tRNA^Gln and tRNA^Glu respectively. Not only does tRNA cleavage disable translation, it also affects DNA integrity as well. Consistent with DNA damage, which is involved in toxicity, target cells' mutation frequencies are elevated upon ACNase exposure, suggesting a link between translational integrity and genome surveillance. Here, we analysed whether ACNase action impedes the periodically and highly expressed S‐phase specific ribonucleotide reductase (RNR) and proved that RNR expression is severely affected by PaT. Because RNR catalyses the rate‐limiting step in dNTP synthesis, mutants affected in dNTP synthesis were scrutinized with respect to ACNase action. Mutations elevating cellular dNTPs antagonized the action of both the above ACNases, whereas mutations lowering dNTPs aggravated toxicity. Consistently, prevention of tRNA cleavage in elp3 or trm9 mutants, which both affect the wobble uridine modification of the target tRNA, suppressed the toxin hypersensitivity of a dNTP synthesis mutant. Moreover, dNTP synthesis defects exacerbated the PaT ACNase sensitivity of cells defective in homologous recombination, proving that dNTP depletion is responsible for subsequent DNA damage.     

GGIP: Structure and sequence‐based GPCR–GPCR interaction pair predictor

G Protein‐Coupled Receptors (GPCRs) are important pharmaceutical targets. More than 30% of currently marketed pharmaceutical medicines target GPCRs. Numerous studies have reported that GPCRs function not only as monomers but also as homo‐ or hetero‐dimers or higher‐order molecular complexes. Many GPCRs exert a wide variety of molecular functions by forming specific combinations of GPCR subtypes. In addition, some GPCRs are reportedly associated with diseases. GPCR oligomerization is now recognized as an important event in various biological phenomena, and many researchers are investigating this subject. We have developed a support vector machine (SVM)‐based method to predict interacting pairs for GPCR oligomerization, by integrating the structure and sequence information of GPCRs. The performance of our method was evaluated by the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve. The corresponding area under the curve was 0.938. As far as we know, this is the only prediction method for interacting pairs among GPCRs. Our method could accelerate the analyses of these interactions, and contribute to the elucidation of the global structures of the GPCR networks in membranes. Proteins 2016; 84:1224–1233. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Nutrient induced fluorescence transients (NIFTs) provide a rapid measure of P and C (co-)limitation in a green alga

Nutrient Induced Fluorescence Transients (NIFTs) have been shown to be a possible way of testing for the limiting nutrient in algal populations. In this study we tested the hypothesis that NIFTs can be used to detect a (co-)limitation for inorganic phosphorus (Pi) and CO₂ in the green alga Chlamydomonas acidophila and that the magnitude of the NIFTs can be related to cellular P:C ratios. We show a co-limitation response for Pi and CO₂ via traditional nutrient enrichment experiments in natural phytoplankton populations dominated by C. acidophila. We measured NIFT responses after a Pi- or a CO₂-spike in C. acidophila batch cultures at various stages of Pi and inorganic C limitation. Significant NIFTs were observed in response to spikes in both nutrients. The NIFT response to a Pi-spike showed a strong negative correlation with cellular P:C ratio that was pronounced below 3 mmol P: mol C (equivalent to 0.2 pg P cell^–1). Both cellular P and C content influenced the extent of the Pi-NIFT response. The NIFT response to a CO₂-spike correlated to low CO₂ culturing conditions and also had a negative correlation with cellular P content. A secondary response within the Pi-NIFT response was related to the CO₂ concentration and potentially reflected co-limitation. In conclusion, NIFTs provided a quick and reliable method to detect the growth-limiting nutrient in an extremophile green alga, under Pi-, CO_2- and Pi/CO₂ (co-)limited growth conditions.     

It’s Time for Some “Site”-Seeing: Novel Tools to Monitor the Ubiquitin Landscape in Arabidopsis thaliana

Ubiquitination, the covalent binding of the small protein modifier ubiquitin to a target protein, is an important and frequently studied posttranslational protein modification. Multiple reports provide useful insights into the plant ubiquitinome, but mostly at the protein level without comprehensive site identification. Here, we implemented ubiquitin combined fractional diagonal chromatography (COFRADIC) for proteome-wide ubiquitination site mapping on Arabidopsis thaliana cell cultures. We identified 3009 sites on 1607 proteins, thereby greatly increasing the number of known ubiquitination sites in this model plant. Finally, The Ubiquitination Site tool (http://bioinformatics.psb.ugent.be/webtools/ubiquitin_viewer/) gives access to the obtained ubiquitination sites, not only to consult the ubiquitination status of a given protein, but also to conduct intricate experiments aiming to study the roles of specific ubiquitination events. Together with the antibodies recognizing the ubiquitin remnant motif, ubiquitin COFRADIC represents a powerful tool to resolve the ubiquitination maps of numerous cellular processes in plants.     

异质性水分环境中克隆整合对活血丹生物量分配及叶片结构特征的影响

喀斯特石漠化环境有着高度的生境异质性,异质性生境中土被不连续,土壤瘠薄,岩溶漏斗上的土壤保水性差,严重制约着喀斯特植被的生长及分布。为探究克隆植物在喀斯特地区的适应策略,本研究以喀斯特黄色石灰土为基质,选用克隆植物活血丹（Glechoma longituba）,以一个节间连接的两个分株为材料,保持节间连接或切断,种植于相邻花盆中,并施以不同浇水量,以明确不同水分可用性水平下克隆整合对活血丹生物量积累、生物量分配、叶片气孔及叶片组织特征的影响。结果显示,克隆整合显著促进活血丹生物量的积累及对根、叶的生物量分配;增加了活血丹叶气孔导度,降低了气孔指数;叶海绵组织受克隆整合影响较小,但栅栏组织及栅海比（栅栏组织/海绵组织）表现为非整合分株高于整合分株。本研究表明,克隆整合可增加活血丹胁迫分株对根、叶的投资,并以更佳的叶气孔、组织适应策略提高其在喀斯特生境中的生存与适应。     

hnRNPA1基因在家蚕翅原基组织中的表达与定位分析

核不均一蛋白A1(hnRNPA1)是一个重要的RNA结合蛋白。本研究旨在获得家蚕hnRNPA1基因的cDNA,并对其在家蚕翅原基组织进行表达和定位分析。以家蚕幼虫期翅原基mRNA为模板通过反转录克隆家蚕BmhnRNPA1基因的全长cDNA,并对其进行生物信息学分析。构建pET32a-BmhnRNPA1蛋白表达载体,表达且纯化得到BmhnRNPA1重组蛋白,并制备该蛋白多克隆抗体,通过实时荧光定量RT-PCR、Western blot和免疫组化方法检测BmhnRNPA1在家蚕幼虫和蛹翅原基组织中的表达与定位。克隆得到了家蚕hnRNPA1基因的全长cDNA片段,其开放阅读框(ORF)序列为951 bp,编码316个氨基酸,预测分子量为34.98 kDa,等电点为5.15。编码蛋白在第18～90个氨基酸和109～181个氨基酸处为保守的RRM结构域。系统进化分析显示,家蚕hnRNPA1与小菜蛾hnRNPA1的亲缘关系最近。QRT-PCR结果显示,BmhnRNPA1在家蚕幼虫和蛹期的翅原基组织中均有表达,且在蛹期第3天的表达量达到峰值。Western blot进一步证实了实验结果。免疫组化分析结果显示,该蛋白存在于翅原基组织中,并定位于细胞核内。家蚕BmhRNPA1具有两个RNA结合结构域,属于hnRNPs家族,定位于细胞核内,表明其可能参与mRNA的选择性剪接作用。本研究结果为进一步探索该基因的功能提供了基础。     

A highly standardized and characterized human platelet lysate for efficient and reproducible expansion of human bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells

BackgroundHuman platelet lysate (hPL) represents a powerful alternative to fetal bovine serum (FBS) for human mesenchymal stromal cell (hMSC) expansion. However, the large variability in hPL sources and production protocols gives rise to discrepancies in product quality, characterization and poor batch-to-batch standardization.MethodshPL prepared with more than 200 donors (200+DhPL) or with five donors (5DhPL) were compared in terms of growth factor (GF) contents and biochemical analysis. A multiple protein assay and proteomic analysis were performed to further characterize 200+DhPL batches. We also compared the phenotypic and functional characteristics of bone marrow (BM)-hMSCs grown in 200+DhPL versus FBS+basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF).ResultsBy contrast to 5DhPL, industrial 200+DhPL displayed a strong standardization of GF contents and biochemical characteristics. We identified specific plasmatic components and platelet-released factors as the most relevant markers for the evaluation of the standardization of hPL batches. We used a multiplex assay and proteomic analysis of 200+DhPL to establish a proteomic signature and demonstrated the robust standardization of batches. 200+DhPL was shown to improve and standardize BM-hMSC expansion compared with FBS+bFGF. The levels of expression of BM-hMSC membrane markers were found to be much more homogeneous between batches when cells were cultured in 200+DhPL. BM-hMSCs cultured in parallel under both conditions displayed similar adipogenic and osteogenic differentiation potential and immunosuppressive properties.ConclusionsWe report a standardization of hPL and the importance of such standardization for the efficient amplification of more homogeneous and reproducible cell therapy products.