RNA干扰在阿尔茨海默病研究中的应用

阿尔茨海默病(Alzheimer Disease,AD)是一种中枢神经系统退行性疾病,临床表现主要为认知功能障碍,行为异常及日常生活能力下降。主要病理特征为淀粉样蛋白沉积形成的老年斑,tau蛋白过度磷酸化导致的神经纤维缠结以及神经元丢失。目前RNA干扰(RNA interference,RNAi)技术在AD研究中的应用日趋广泛,同时也被认为在治疗和改善AD中很具潜力。本文将从RNAi与淀粉样蛋白的产生、淀粉样蛋白引发的学习记忆障碍、tau蛋白过磷酸化及其治疗方面综述RNAi在AD研究中的应用。     

Molecular dynamics simulation of temperature induced unfolding of animal prion protein

To elucidate the structural stability and the unfolding dynamics of the animal prion protein, the temperature induced structural evolution of turtle prion protein (tPrPc) and bank vole prion protein (bvPrPc) have been performed with molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. The unfolding behaviors of secondary structures showed that the α-helix was more stable than β-sheet. Extension and disruption of β-sheet commonly appeared in the temperature induced unfolding process. The conversion of α-helix to π-helix occurred more readily at the elevating temperature. Furthermore, it was suggested in this work that the unfolding of prion protein could be regulated by the temperature.

Activation of Smurf E3 Ligase Promoted by Smoothened Regulates Hedgehog Signaling through Targeting Patched Turnover

Hedgehog signaling plays conserved roles in controlling embryonic development; its dysregulation has been implicated in many human diseases including cancers. Hedgehog signaling has an unusual reception system consisting of two transmembrane proteins, Patched receptor and Smoothened signal transducer. Although activation of Smoothened and its downstream signal transduction have been intensively studied, less is known about how Patched receptor is regulated, and particularly how this regulation contributes to appropriate Hedgehog signal transduction. Here we identified a novel role of Smurf E3 ligase in regulating Hedgehog signaling by controlling Patched ubiquitination and turnover. Moreover, we showed that Smurf-mediated Patched ubiquitination depends on Smo activity in wing discs. Mechanistically, we found that Smo interacts with Smurf and promotes it to mediate Patched ubiquitination by targeting the K1261 site in Ptc. The further mathematic modeling analysis reveals that a bidirectional control of activation of Smo involving Smurf and Patched is important for signal-receiving cells to precisely interpret external signals, thereby maintaining Hedgehog signaling reliability. Finally, our data revealed an evolutionarily conserved role of Smurf proteins in controlling Hh signaling by targeting Ptc during development.     

Comparative proteomics reveals that lipid droplet-anchored mitochondria are more sensitive to cold in brown adipocytes

Brown adipose tissue (BAT) is specialized for uncoupled heat production through mitochondrion fueled majorly from fatty acids (FAs) of lipid droplets (LDs). How the interaction between the two organelles contributes the generation of heat remains elusive. Here, we report that LD-anchored mitochondria (LDAM) were observed in the BAT of mice raised at three different temperatures, 30 °C, 23 °C, and 6 °C. The biochemical analyses including Western blotting of electron transport chain subunits showed that LDAM were functional. Comparative proteomics analysis was conducted, which revealed differential expressions of proteins between LDAM and cytoplasmic mitochondria (CM) at different temperatures. Higher expressions of proteins at low temperature were observed for i) FA β-oxidation in LDAM including FA synthesis and uncoupling, ii) pseudo-futile cycle in CM, and iii) two shuttle systems: glycerol 3-phosphate in both CM and LDAM and citrate malate in CM. Together, these results suggest that LDs and LDAM form a preorganized and functional organelle complex that permits the rapid response to cold.     

坏死性凋亡在细菌与宿主相互作用中的机制研究进展

坏死性凋亡(necroptosis)是由受体相互作用蛋白(receptor-interacting protein/receptor-interacting protein kinase,RIP/RIPK)调控的调节性细胞死亡(regulated cell death,RCD)方式之一,可分为依赖RIPK1的经典途径和不依赖RIPK1的非经典途径。RIPK3和混合系列激酶结构域样蛋白(mixed lineage kinase domain-like,MLKL)通过以上两种途径被有序激活,最终诱导细胞发生坏死性凋亡。病原微生物感染过程中会发生多种形式的细胞死亡,其结局高度依赖宿主受感染细胞的命运,一方面细菌毒力因子导致宿主细胞发生坏死性凋亡;另一方面坏死性凋亡也是宿主免疫防御的重要方式。深入探讨坏死性凋亡在细菌与宿主相互作用中的机制对揭示感染性疾病的发生和发展具有重要意义。     

沙门菌感染与Caspase­-8介导的宿主细胞调控性死亡研究进展

沙门菌主要通过食物传播,严重威胁了人类健康。肠道上皮细胞作为抵抗沙门菌入侵的重要屏障,可通过多种方式抵抗沙门菌的定植与入侵。同时,肠道固有层巨噬细胞可特异性识别正常菌群与沙门菌,激活炎性小体并分泌白细胞介素(interleukin,IL)-1β等炎症因子诱导炎症反应清除沙门菌。Caspase家族属于半胱氨酸蛋白酶,它们被激活后可执行各种细胞功能。Caspase-1是炎性小体的重要组成部分,可切割消皮素D(gasdermin D)诱导细胞焦亡,引发炎症反应。研究发现,Caspase-8同样参与炎性小体复合物的形成,但其功能尚不明确。新近研究发现,在沙门菌感染所诱导的细胞焦亡被抑制时,Caspase-8在炎性小体中被强烈激活,并在肠道上皮细胞和巨噬细胞中调控细胞死亡与炎症反应,以限制沙门菌感染。因此,Caspase-8在沙门菌感染期间也是调节宿主抗感染免疫的关键分子,研究其调控宿主细胞死亡以及炎症因子释放的机制对深入了解沙门菌感染与宿主抗感染免疫应答之间的关系具有重要意义。     

Folding and assembly of TMD 6‐related segments of DMT 1 in trifluoroethanol aqueous solution

Divalent metal‐ion transporter 1 (DMT1) belongs to a large class of metal‐ion transporters that drive the translocation of a wide range of divalent metal substrates across membranes toward the cytosol with couple of protons. Two highly conserved histidines in the sixth transmembrane domain (TMD6) are essential for metal transport activity in DMT1. In the present study, we determine the high‐resolution structures of three 25‐residue peptides, corresponding to TMD6 of the wildtype DMT1 (the segment 255–279) and its H267A and H272A mutants, in 30% TFE‐d₂ aqueous solution by the combined use of circular dichroism (CD) and NMR spectroscopies. The wildtype peptide forms an ‘α‐helix‐extended segment‐α‐helix’ structure with two helices spanning over Gly258–Ala262 and Met265–Lys277 linked by a hinge at residues Val263–Ile264. The H267A mutation reduces the hinge to one residue (Ile264), while the H272A mutation extends the flexible region of the central part from Val263 to His267. Diffusion‐ordered spectroscopy (DOSY) study demonstrates that all the peptides are self‐assembly as trimer in 30% TFE‐d₂ aqueous solution. The H272A substitution decreases the intermolecular interaction whereas the H267A substitution may enhance the intermolecular interaction. The specific structure of the discontinuous helix and the self‐assembly feature of DMT1–TMD6 may be crucial for its biological function. The changes in conformation and intermolecular interaction induced by histidine substitution may be correlated with the deficiency of DMT1 in metal‐ion permeation. Copyright © 2011 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

DEV-NP基因酵母双杂交诱饵载体的构建及自激活检测

为构建鸭肠炎病毒(DEV)核衣壳蛋白(NP)基因酵母双杂交诱饵载体,采用PCR技术扩增出DEV-NP基因,克隆至酵母双杂交诱饵质粒pGBKT7中,以PCR检测、限制性酶切和序列测定等方法进行鉴定;然后采用PEG/LiA.法将阳性质粒pGBKT7-NP转化酵母Y2HGold,在不同营养缺失型培养基进行自激活检测,结果显示,经PCR检测和EcoR I/BamH I双酶切,可见到与预期相一致的目的片段;测序表明该片段含DEV NP基因全部序列;转化Y2HGold酵母菌后,在SD/-Trp/X-a-Gal 固体培养基上长出蓝色菌落,而在SD/-Trp/X-a-GaUAbA固体培养基上未见有菌落生长.无自激活作用的诱饵载体pGBKT7NP的成功构建,为DEV NP宿主结合蛋白的筛选莫定了基础.     

Tracing Evolutionary Footprints to Identify Novel Gene Functional Linkages

Systematic determination of gene function is an essential step in fully understanding the precise contribution of each gene for the proper execution of molecular functions in the cell. Gene functional linkage is defined as to describe the relationship of a group of genes with similar functions. With thousands of genomes sequenced, there arises a great opportunity to utilize gene evolutionary information to identify gene functional linkages. To this end, we established a computational method (called TRACE) to trace gene footprints through a gene functional network constructed from 341 prokaryotic genomes. TRACE performance was validated and successfully tested to predict enzyme functions as well as components of pathway. A so far undescribed chromosome partitioning-like protein ro03654 of an oleaginous bacteria Rhodococcus sp. RHA1 (RHA1) was predicted and verified experimentally with its deletion mutant showing growth inhibition compared to RHA1 wild type. In addition, four proteins were predicted to act as prokaryotic SNARE-like proteins, and two of them were shown to be localized at the plasma membrane. Thus, we believe that TRACE is an effective new method to infer prokaryotic gene functional linkages by tracing evolutionary events.