In vivo kinetics of GITR and GITR ligand expression and their functional significance in regulating viral immunopathology

This report evaluates the role of interaction between glucocorticoid-induced tumor necrosis factor receptor (GITR) and GITR ligand (GITR-L) in the immuno-inflammatory response to infection with herpes simplex virus (HSV). Both GITR and GITR-L were transiently upregulated after ocular HSV infection, on antigen-specific T cells and antigen-presenting cells, respectively, in the draining lymph node (DLN). In addition, virus-specific T-cell responses in the DLN and spleen were enhanced by anti-GITR antibody treatment, an outcome expected to result in more severe inflammatory lesions. Intriguingly, the treatment resulted in significantly diminished T-cell-mediated ocular lesions. The explanation for these findings was that anti-GITR antibody treatment caused a reduced production of ocular MMP-9, a molecule involved in ocular angiogenesis, an essential step in the pathogenesis of herpetic keratitis. Our results are the first observations to determine in vivo kinetics of GITR and GITR-L expression after virus infection, and they emphasize the role of GITR-GITR-L interaction to regulate virus-induced immuno-inflammatory lesions.     

Impaired virus control and severe CD8+ T-cell-mediated immunopathology in chimeric mice deficient in gamma interferon receptor expression on both parenchymal and hematopoietic cells

Bone marrow chimeras were used to determine the cellular target(s) for the antiviral activity of gamma interferon (IFN-gamma). By transfusing such mice with high numbers of naive virus-specific CD8(+) T cells, a system was created in which the majority of virus-specific CD8(+) T cells would be capable of responding to IFN-gamma, but expression of the relevant receptor on non-T cells could be experimentally controlled. Only when the IFN-gamma receptor is absent on both radioresistant parenchymal and bone marrow-derived cells will chimeric mice challenged with a highly invasive, noncytolytic virus completely lack the ability to control the infection and develop severe wasting disease. Further, the study shows that IFN-gamma receptor expression on parenchymal cells in the viscera is more important for virus control than IFN-gamma receptor expression on bone marrow-derived cells.     

A novel Arabidopsis gene causes Bax-like lethality in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Overexpression of the mammalian proapoptotic protein Bax induces cell death in plant and yeast cells. The Bax inihibitor-1 (BI-1) gene rescues yeast and plant from Bax-mediated lethality. Using the Arabidopsis BI-1 (AtBI-1) gene controlled by the GAL1 promoter as a cell death suppressor in yeast, Cdf1 (cell growth defect factor-1) was isolated from Arabidopsis cDNA library. Overexpression of Cdf1 caused cell death in yeast, whereas such an effect was suppressed by co-expression of AtBI-1. The Cdf1 protein fused with a green fluorescent protein was localized in the mitochondria and resulted in the loss of mitochondrial membrane potential in yeast. The Bax-resistant mutant BRM1 demonstrated tolerance against Cdf1-mediated lethality, whereas the Deltaatp4 strain was sensitive to Cdf1. Our results suggest that Cdf1 and Bax cause mitochondria-mediated yeast lethality through partially overlapped pathways.     

Substrate enhances the sensitivity of type I protein kinase a to cAMP

The functional significance of the presence of two major (types I and II) isoforms of the cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA) is still enigmatic. The present study showed that peptide substrate enhanced the activation of PKA type I at low, physiologically relevant concentrations of cAMP through competitive displacement of the regulatory RI subunit. The effect was similar whether the substrate was a short peptide or the physiological 60-kDa protein tyrosine hydroxylase. In contrast, substrate failed to affect the cAMP-sensitivity of PKA type II. Size exclusion chromatography confirmed that substrate acted to physically enhance the dissociation of the RIalpha and Calpha subunits of PKA type I, but not the RIIalpha and Calpha subunits of PKA type II. Substrate availability can therefore fine-tune the activation of PKA type I by cAMP, but not PKA type II. The cAMP-dissociated RII and C subunits of PKA type II reassociated much faster than the PKA type I subunits in the presence of substrate peptide. This suggests that only PKA type II is able to rapidly reverse its activation after a burst of cAMP when exposed to high substrate concentration. We propose this as a possible reason why PKA type II is preferentially found in complexes with substrates undergoing rapid phosphorylation cycles.     

Influence of chitosan structure on the formation and stability of DNA-chitosan polyelectrolyte complexes

The interactions between DNA and chitosans varying in fractional content of acetylated units (FA), degree of polymerization (DP), and degree of ionization were investigated by several techniques, including an ethidium bromide (EtBr) fluorescence assay, gel retardation, atomic force microscopy, and dynamic and electrophoretic light scattering. The charge density of the chitosan and the number of charges per chain were found to be the dominating factors for the structure and stability of DNA-chitosan complexes. All high molecular weight chitosans condensed DNA into physically stable polyplexes; however, the properties of the complexes were strongly dependent on FA, and thereby the charge density of chitosan. By employing fully charged oligomers of constant charge density, it was shown that the complexation of DNA and stability of the polyplexes is governed by the number of cationic residues per chain. A minimum of 6-9 positive charges appeared necessary to provide interaction strength comparable to that of polycations. In contrast, further increase in the number of charges above 9 did not increase the apparent binding affinity as judged from the EtBr displacement assay. The chitosan oligomers exhibited a pH-dependent interaction with DNA, reflecting the number of ionized amino groups. The complexation of DNA and the stability of oligomer-based polyplexes became reduced above pH 7.4. Such pH-dependent dissociation of polyplexes around the physiological pH is highly relevant in gene delivery applications and might be one of the reasons for the high transfection activity of oligomer-based polyplexes observed.     

Synthesis of conformationally restricted nucleic acid fragments using ring-closing alkene and enyne metathesis reactions

In the aim of constructing conformationally restricted nucleic acid fragments for the recognition of secondary RNA structures, we have synthesized different mono- and dinucleotides containing extra rings. These rings were prepared by ring-closing alkene or enyne metathesis reactions from nucleotide substrates in which double or triple bonds have been introduced.     

Role for the adenovirus IVa2 protein in packaging of viral DNA

Although it has been demonstrated that the adenovirus IVa2 protein binds to the packaging domains on the viral chromosome and interacts with the viral L1 52/55-kDa protein, which is required for viral DNA packaging, there has been no direct evidence demonstrating that the IVa2 protein is involved in DNA packaging. To understand in greater detail the DNA packaging mechanisms of adenovirus, we have asked whether DNA packaging is serotype or subgroup specific. We found that Ad7 (subgroup B), Ad12 (subgroup A), and Ad17 (subgroup D) cannot complement the defect of an Ad5 (subgroup C) mutant, pm8001, which does not package its DNA due to a mutation in the L1 52/55-kDa gene. This indicates that the DNA packaging systems of different serotypes cannot interact productively with Ad5 DNA. Based on this, a chimeric virus containing the Ad7 genome except for the inverted terminal repeats and packaging sequence from Ad5 was constructed. This chimeric virus replicates its DNA and synthesizes Ad7 proteins, but it cannot package its DNA in 293 cells or 293 cells expressing the Ad5 L1 52/55-kDa protein. However, this chimeric virus packages its DNA in 293 cells expressing the Ad5 IVa2 protein. These results indicate that the IVa2 protein plays a role in viral DNA packaging and that its function is serotype specific. Since this chimeric virus cannot package its own DNA, but produces all the components for packaging Ad7 DNA, it may be a more suitable helper virus for the growth of Ad7 gutted vectors for gene transfer.     

Aedes aegypti peroxidase gene characterization and developmental expression

The functions of insect peroxidases include detoxification, stabilization of extracellular matrices, and possible involvement in insect immunity. The current study describes the isolation of a peroxidase gene, AePox, and its cDNA from the mosquito, Aedes aegypti. AePox codes for a protein that is homologous to various heme-peroxidases from vertebrates and invertebrates, with highest identity to Drosophila melanogaster peroxidase (62%). Sequence comparison identified several functionally and structurally conserved domains in the mosquito peroxidase, including a heme environment, a calcium binding site, and five possible disulfide bridges. These results imply that AePOX may likely have a similar structure and catalytic mechanism as those described for the mammalian myeloperoxidase superfamily. Expression studies demonstrate that AePox is transcribed in mosquito larvae and pupae, but not in adults, in ovaries, or in early embryos. However, AePOX protein is present in all mosquito stages and possibly has a maturation process that is similar to that of human myeloperoxidase. Unlike most human peroxidases, the AePox gene contains a TATA box and an ecdysone response element (EcRE).     

Inferring a system model of subcellular topoisomerase II beta localization dynamics

Measuring the mobility of proteins in living cells has become critical to many studies in cell biology and forms the basis for discussion on sub-cellular dynamics. Increasingly localization networks are being put together into compartment models to represent the exchange of molecules, represented mathematically as ordinary differential equations (ODE). The set-up is based on published literature, the "knowledge" of the investigator and 3D visualization of the data. Here we demonstrate this method on the example of a simple distribution model of the molecule Topoisomerase II beta (Topo II beta), nuclear protein that modifies DNA topology. It is found in high concentration in the nucleolus and diffuse in the nucleoplasm, demonstrating a non-membranous inhomogeneity in its distribution. We expand on the simple model by adding additional components to fit fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) experiments for protein (GFP) labeled Topo II beta to measure its mobility. This model is then validated by comparing it with alternative scenarios and shown to have predictive power.