AIDA Selectively Mediates Downregulation of Fat Synthesis Enzymes by ERAD to Retard Intestinal Fat Absorption and Prevent Obesity

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Protein Kinase LTRPK1 Influences Cold Adaptation and Microtubule Stability in Rice

Rice LTRPK1, which encodes a member of the casein kinase I family, has been reported to be involved in root development, hormone response, and metabolic processes. Here we further show that LTRPK1 participates in stress resistance by regulating cytoskeleton rearrangement and formation of cold tolerance and adaptation. Semiquantitative RT-PCR analysis revealed enhanced expression of LTRPK1 in plants subject to low-temperature stress at 4 °C, suggesting a role in low-temperature-related cell responses and signal transduction pathways. Further analysis of LTRPK1-deficient transgenic plants showed that under low-temperature treatment, the growth rate of transgenic plant primary roots, which is commonly used as an indicator for cold stress response abilities, was less inhibited than that of control plants. Moreover, damage to the plasma membrane of root cells in LTRPK1-deficient plants was greater than that of controls as measured by relative electrical conductivity (REC). The malondialdehyde (MDA) content of LTRPK1-deficient plants also increased over that of the control, indicating increased plasma membrane permeability. Further immunofluorescence localization observations indicated that microtubules of transgenic plants subject to low temperature disassembled more rapidly, whereas the control plant microtubules in most cells of the root elongation zone kept their normal habitus, which suggested that LTRPK1-deficient plants had reduced capacity to resist low-temperature stress through regulation of microtubule assembly. These results demonstrate involvement of LTRPK1 in low-temperature stress and provide new insight for rice breeding and germplasm innovation to improve crop cold tolerance.     

结直肠癌组织RPN11与Ki67的表达及其临床病理学意义

目的观察去泛素化酶RPN11和增殖相关核标记物Ki67在结直肠癌组织中的表达,研究其与结直肠癌肿瘤细胞增殖的相关性及与结直肠癌临床病理特征的关系。方法采用免疫组织化学SABC法检测56例结直癌组织及20例癌旁正常组织中的RPN11和Ki67表达,结合临床病理学资料进行统计分析。结果免疫组织化学染色显示:RPN11及Ki67在结直肠癌组织的阳性表达率明显高于正常结直肠组织;RPN11和Ki67的表达均与肿瘤分化程度、TNM分期、转移有关,而与性别、年龄无明显相关;RPN11与Ki67的表达呈正相关。结论RPN11和Ki67可能共同参与结直肠癌肿瘤细胞的增殖调控,并促进结直肠癌的发生发展以及浸润转移。     

An examination of targeted gene neighborhoods in strawberry

Background  

Strawberry (Fragaria spp.) is the familiar name of a group of economically important crop plants and wild relatives that also represent an emerging system for the study of gene and genome evolution. Its small stature, rapid seed-to-seed cycle, transformability and miniscule basic genome make strawberry an attractive system to study processes related to plant physiology, development and crop production; yet it lacks substantial genomics-level resources. This report addresses this deficiency by characterizing 0.71 Mbp of gene space from a diploid species (F. vesca). The twenty large genomic tracks (30-52 kb) captured as fosmid inserts comprise gene regions with roles in flowering, disease resistance, and metabolism.     

Structure and Specificity of the Bacterial Cysteine Methyltransferase Effector NleE Suggests a Novel Substrate in Human DNA Repair Pathway

Enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC) and related enterobacteria rely on a type III secretion system (T3SS) effector NleE to block host NF-κB signaling. NleE is a first in class, novel S-adenosyl-L-methionine (SAM)-dependent methyltransferase that methylates a zinc-coordinating cysteine in the Npl4-like Zinc Finger (NZF) domains in TAB2/3 adaptors in the NF-κB pathway, but its mechanism of action and other human substrates are unknown. Here we solve crystal structure of NleE-SAM complex, which reveals a methyltransferase fold different from those of known ones. The SAM, cradled snugly at the bottom of a deep and narrow cavity, adopts a unique conformation ready for nucleophilic attack by the methyl acceptor. The substrate NZF domain can be well docked into the cavity, and molecular dynamic simulation indicates that Cys673 in TAB2-NZF is spatially and energetically favorable for attacking the SAM. We further identify a new NleE substrate, ZRANB3, that functions in PCNA binding and remodeling of stalled replication forks at the DNA damage sites. Specific inactivation of the NZF domain in ZRANB3 by NleE offers a unique opportunity to suggest that ZRANB3-NZF domain functions in DNA repair processes other than ZRANB3 recruitment to DNA damage sites. Our analyses suggest a novel and unexpected link between EPEC infection, virulence proteins and genome integrity.     

Application of quantitative structure‐activity relationship analysis on an antibody and alternariol‐like compounds interaction study

The antigen‐antibody interaction determines the sensitivity and specificity of competitive immunoassay for hapten detection. In this paper, the specificity of a monoclonal antibody against alternariol‐like compounds was evaluated through indirect competitive ELISA. The results showed that the antibody had cross‐reactivity with 33 compounds with the binding affinity (expressed by IC₅₀) ranging from 9.4 ng/mL to 12.0 μg/mL. All the 33 compounds contained a common moiety and similar substituents. To understand how this common moiety and substituents affected the recognition ability of the antibody, a three‐dimensional quantitative structure‐activity relationship (3D‐QSAR) between the antibody and the 33 alternariol‐like compounds was constructed using comparative molecular field analysis (CoMFA) and comparative molecular similarity indices analysis (CoMSIA) methods. The q² values of the CoMFA and CoMSIA models were 0.785 and 0.782, respectively, and the r² values were 0.911 and 0.988, respectively, indicating that the models had good predictive ability. The results of 3D‐QSAR showed that the most important factor affecting antibody recognition was the hydrogen bond mainly formed by the hydroxyl group of alternariol, followed by the hydrophobic force mainly formed by the methyl group. This study provides a reference for the design of new hapten and the mechanisms for antibody recognition.