Cloning the tomato curl3 gene highlights the putative dual role of the leucine-rich repeat receptor kinase tBRI1/SR160 in plant steroid hormone and peptide hormone signaling

Brassinosteroids (BRs) are plant steroid hormones that are essential for normal plant development. To gain better understanding of the conservation of BR signaling, the partially BR-insensitive tomato mutant altered brassinolide sensitivity1 (abs1) was identified and found to be a weak allele at the curl3 (cu3) locus. BR content is increased in both of these mutants and is associated with increased expression of DWARF: The tomato homolog of the Arabidopsis Brassinosteroid Insensitive1 Leu-rich repeat (LRR) receptor-like kinase, named tBri1, was isolated using degenerate primers. Sequence analysis of tBRI1 in the mutants cu3 and abs1 revealed that cu3 is a nonsense mutant and that abs1 is a missense mutant. A comparison of BRI1 homolog sequences highlights conserved features of BRI1 sequences, with the LRRs in close proximity to the island domain showing more conservation than N-terminal LRRs. The most homologous sequences were found in the kinase and transmembrane regions. tBRI1 (SR160) also has been isolated as the putative receptor for systemin, a plant peptide hormone. This finding suggests a possible dual role for tBRI1 in steroid hormone and peptide hormone signaling.     

Genetic Divergence among Southeast and East Asian Populations of Rana limnocharis (Amphibia: Anura), with Special Reference to Sympatric Cryptic Species in Java

An electrophoretic survey was conducted for the Southeast and East Asian populations of Rana limnocharis. Results indicated that specimens from a single locality in Java derived from two genodemes showing complete allelic displacement at eight out of 25 presumptive loci examined. Within each of these genodemes, genotype frequencies at all polymorphic loci were well concordant with the Hardy-Weinberg expectation. These results strongly suggest that those specimens actually represent two biological species. Comprehensive distance analyses suggested that one of the two species from Java is genetically most divergent among all samples examined, whereas the other is most similar to the Laos sample and then to a group consisting of samples from Hongkong, western China, and the southern Ryukyus. Large values of genetic distances obtained for each combination of allopatric samples imply the presence of additional cryptic species in this nominal species.     

Newly developed selective immunoinactivation assay revealed reduction in adipose triglyceride lipase activity in peripheral leucocytes from patients with idiopathic triglyceride deposit cardiomyovasculopathy

Triglyceride deposit cardiomyovasculopathy (TGCV) is a rare and newly identified disease among patients requiring cardiac transplantation. TGCV is characterized by cardiomyocyte steatosis and triglyceride (TG)-deposit atherosclerosis, resulting from the abnormal intracellular metabolism of TG. TGCV is classified into primary and idiopathic types. Primary TGCV carries ultra-rare genetic mutations in the adipose triglyceride lipase (ATGL), a rate-liming enzyme that hydrolyzes intracellular TG in adipose and non-adipose tissues. Idiopathic TGCV, first identified among autopsied individuals with diabetes mellitus (DM) with severe heart diseases, shows no ATGL mutations and its causes and underlying mechanisms are still unknown. TGCV is difficult to diagnose in daily clinics, thereby demanding feasible diagnostic procedures. We aimed to develop an assay to measure ATGL activity using peripheral leucocytes. Human his6-ATGL was expressed in COS1 cells, purified to homogeneity, and used to raise a polyclonal antibody neutralizing TG-hydrolyzing activity of ATGL. We developed a selective immunoinactivation assay (SIIA) for the quantitation of ATGL activity in cell lysates of leucocytes by the antibody neutralizing ATGL activities. ATGL activity was measured in 13 idiopathic TGCV patients, with two patients with primary TGCV as the negative control. Healthy (non-DM) and DM controls without heart diseases were also subjected. The developed SIIA assay revealed significant reduction in ATGL activity in leucocytes from patients with idiopathic TGCV who did not carry ATGL mutations as compared with non-DM and DM controls. Thus, ATGL in leucocytes may be an important biomarker for the diagnosis of TGCV and our assay may provide insights into pathophysiology and elucidate the underlying mechanism of TGCV and related disorders.     

Prolonged effect of fluid flow stress on the proliferative activity of mesothelial cells after abrupt discontinuation of fluid streaming

Encapsulating peritoneal sclerosis (EPS) often develops after transfer to hemodialysis and transplantation. Both termination of peritoneal dialysis (PD) and transplantation-related factors are risks implicated in post-PD development of EPS, but the precise mechanism of this late-onset peritoneal fibrosis remains to be elucidated. We previously demonstrated that fluid flow stress induced mesothelial proliferation and epithelial-mesenchymal transition via mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling. Therefore, we speculated that the prolonged bioactive effect of fluid flow stress may affect mesothelial cell kinetics after cessation of fluid streaming. To investigate how long mesothelial cells stay under the bioactive effect brought on by fluid flow stress after removal of the stress, we initially cultured mesothelial cells under fluid flow stress and then cultured the cells under static conditions. Mesothelial cells exposed to fluid flow stress for a certain time showed significantly high proliferative activity compared with static conditions after stoppage of fluid streaming. The expression levels of protein phosphatase 2A, which dephosphorylates MAPK, in mesothelial cells changed with time and showed a biphasic pattern that was dependent on the duration of exposure to fluid flow stress. There were no differences in the fluid flow stress-related bioactive effects on mesothelial cells once a certain time had passed. The present findings show that fluid flow stress exerts a prolonged bioactive effect on mesothelial cells after termination of fluid streaming. These findings support the hypothesis that a history of PD for a certain period could serve as a trigger of EPS after stoppage of PD.     

Structural and functional characterization of HQL-79, an orally selective inhibitor of human hematopoietic prostaglandin D synthase

We determined the crystal structure of human hematopoietic prostaglandin (PG) D synthase (H-PGDS) as the quaternary complex with glutathione (GSH), Mg2+, and an inhibitor, HQL-79, having anti-inflammatory activities in vivo, at a 1.45-A resolution. In the quaternary complex, HQL-79 was found to reside within the catalytic cleft between Trp104 and GSH. HQL-79 was stabilized by interaction of a phenyl ring of its diphenyl group with Trp104 and by its piperidine group with GSH and Arg14 through water molecules, which form a network with hydrogen bonding and salt bridges linked to Mg2+. HQL-79 inhibited human H-PGDS competitively against the substrate PGH2 and non-competitively against GSH with Ki of 5 and 3 microm, respectively. Surface plasmon resonance analysis revealed that HQL-79 bound to H-PGDS with an affinity that was 12-fold higher in the presence of GSH and Mg2+ (Kd, 0.8 microm) than in their absence. Mutational studies revealed that Arg14 was important for the Mg2+-mediated increase in the binding affinity of H-PGDS for HQL-79, and that Trp104, Lys112, and Lys198 were important for maintaining the HQL-binding pocket. HQL-79 selectively inhibited PGD2 production by H-PGDS-expressing human megakaryocytes and rat mastocytoma cells with an IC50 value of about 100 microm but only marginally affected the production of other prostanoids, suggesting the tight functional engagement between H-PGDS and cyclooxygenase. Orally administered HQL-79 (30 mg/kg body weight) inhibited antigen-induced production of PGD2, without affecting the production of PGE2 and PGF2alpha, and ameliorated airway inflammation in wild-type and human H-PGDS-overexpressing mice. Knowledge about this structure of quaternary complex is useful for understanding the inhibitory mechanism of HQL-79 and should accelerate the structure-based development of novel anti-inflammatory drugs that inhibit PGD2 production specifically.     

Population structure of the invasive forest pathogen Hymenoscyphus pseudoalbidus

Understanding the genetic diversity and structure of invasive pathogens in source and in introduced areas is crucial to the revelation of hidden biological features of an organism, to the reconstruction of the course of invasions and to the establishment of effective control measures. Hymenoscyphus pseudoalbidus (anamorph: Chalara fraxinea) is an invasive and highly destructive fungal pathogen found on common ash Fraxinus excelsior in Europe and is native to East Asia. To gain insights into its dispersal mechanisms and history of invasion, we used microsatellite markers and characterized the genetic structure and diversity of H. pseudoalbidus populations at three spatial levels: (i) between Europe and Japan, (ii) in Europe and (iii) at the epidemic's front in Switzerland. Phylogenetic and network analysis demonstrated that individuals from both regions are conspecific. However, populations from Japan harboured a higher genetic diversity and were genetically differentiated from European ones. No evident population structure was found among the 1208 European strains using Bayesian and multivariate clustering analysis. Only the distribution of genetic diversity in space, pairwise population differentiation (G_ST) and the spatial analysis of principal components revealed a faint geographical pattern around Europe. A significant allele deficiency in most European populations pointed to a recent genetic bottleneck, whereas no pattern of isolation by distance was found. Our data suggest that H. pseudoalbidus was introduced just once by at least two individuals. The potential source region of H. pseudoalbidus is vast, and further investigations are required for a more accurate localization of the source population.     

Oocyte Mitochondria: Strategies to Improve Embrbryogenesis

Abstract  Mitochondria play a central role to provide ATP for fertilization and preimplantation embryo development in the ooplasm. The mitochondrial dysfunction of oocyte has been proposed as one of the causes of high levels of developmental retardation and arrest that occur in preimplantation embryos generated using Assisted Reproductive Technology. Cytoplasmic transfer (CT) from a donor to a recipient oocyte has been applied to infertility due to dysfunctional ooplasm, with resulting pregnancies and births. However, neither the efficacy nor safety of this procedure has been appropriately investigated. In order to improve embryogenesis, we observed the mitochondrial distribution in ooplasma under the several conditions using mitochondrial GFP-transgenic mice (mtGFP-tg mice) in which the mitochondria are visualized by GFP. In this report, we will present our research about the mitochondrial distribution in ooplasm during early embryogenesis and the fate of injected donor mitochondria after CT using mtGFP-tg mice. The mitochondria in ooplasm from the germinal vesicle stage to the morula stage were accumulated in the perinuclear region. The mitochondria of the mtGFP-tg mouse oocyte transferred into the wild type mouse embryo could be observed until the blastocysts stage, suggesting that the mtGFP-tg mice oocyte is very useful for visual observation of the mitochondrial distribution in the oocyte, and that the aberrant early developmental competences due to the oocyte mitochondrial dysfunction may be overcome by transferring the "normal" mitochondria.     

In Vitro Phosphorylation of Proteins in IAA-Treated Mesocotyls in Zea mays

Five-mm sections of elongation zones of Zea mesocotyls wereincubated for designated periods with various concentrationsof IAA. In vitro protein phosphorylation in the soluble fraction(85,000 x g supernatant) prepared from the sections was analyzedby sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis.The phosphorylation of proteins in the soluble fraction thathad been prepared from sections incubated for 20 min in thepresence of 10{small tilde}^s M IAA was greater than that inthe sections incubated for 20 min without IAA. The amount ofphosphorylation of proteins per protein became higher when higherconcentrations increased (10{small tilde}⁸—10{small tilde}⁵M).The growth of sections incubated in the presence of 10{smalltilde}⁸ M IAA or higher concentrations was greater than thatof sections incubated in the absence of IAA. The promotion ofgrowth by IAA was greater at higher concentrations of IAA. Proteinsin the soluble fraction, prepared from sections incubated for20 min in the presence of 10{small tilde}⁵ M IAA, were phosphorylatedin the presence of either 10 fM cAMP, 10 µM cGMP, 100µM W-7, 100 µM W-5, 20 µM H-7 or 20 µMHA1004. The calmodulin antagonist, W-7, and the inhibitor ofprotein kinase C, H-7, inhibited the phosphorylation of proteinsstimulated by incubation with IAA. These results suggest thatIAA promotes cell elongation via protein phosphorylation thatdepends on calmodulin-dependent protein kinase and protein kinaseC. (Received November 29, 1995; Accepted May 20, 1996)