Evidence for covalent bonding of native hapten-protein complexes to smooth lipopolysaccharide of Brucella abortus

Abstract Smooth lipopolysaccharide (S-LPS) of Brucella abortus was dissociated from noncovalently attached components by differential centrifugation and exhaustive treatment with guanidinium thiocyanate. Mild alkaline hydrolysis then released ester-linked fatty acids as well as native hapten (NH)-protein complexes. These complexes, comprising 15 to 20% by weight of the S-LPS, failed to dissociate in guanidinium thiocyanate or in boiling SDS, suggesting covalent attachment. Analyses for 2-keto-3-deoxyoctonate demonstrated that the released carbohydrate was NH, rather than degraded O -polysaccharide or intact S-LPS monomers. This provides strong evidence that NH-protein complexes are covalently linked to S-LPS, most likely through ester bonds.     

Posttranslational modifications of desmin and their implication in biological processes and pathologies

Desmin, the muscle-specific intermediate filament, is involved in myofibrillar myopathies, dilated cardiomyopathy and muscle wasting. Desmin is the target of posttranslational modifications (PTMs) such as phosphorylation, ADP-ribosylation and ubiquitylation as well as nonenzymatic modifications such as glycation, oxidation and nitration. Several PTM target residues and their corresponding modifying enzymes have been discovered in human and nonhuman desmin. The major effect of phosphorylation and ADP-ribosylation is the disassembly of desmin filaments, while ubiquitylation of desmin leads to its degradation. The regulation of the desmin filament network by phosphorylation and ADP-ribosylation was found to be implicated in several major biological processes such as myogenesis, myoblast fusion, muscle contraction, muscle atrophy, cell division and possibly desmin interactions with its binding partners. Phosphorylation of desmin is also implicated in many forms of desmin-related myopathies (desminopathies). In this review, we summarize the findings on desmin PTMs and their implication in biological processes and pathologies, and discuss the current knowledge on the regulation of the desmin network by PTMs. We conclude that the desmin filament network can be seen as an intricate scaffold for muscle cell structure and biological processes and that its dynamics can be affected by PTMs. There are now precise tools to investigate PTMs and visualize cellular structures that have been underexploited in the study of desminopathies. Future studies should focus on these aspects.     

Risk of second bone sarcoma following childhood cancer: role of radiation therapy treatment

Bone sarcoma as a second malignancy is rare but highly fatal. The present knowledge about radiation-absorbed organ dose–response is insufficient to predict the risks induced by radiation therapy techniques. The objective of the present study was to assess the treatment-induced risk for bone sarcoma following a childhood cancer and particularly the related risk of radiotherapy. Therefore, a retrospective cohort of 4,171 survivors of a solid childhood cancer treated between 1942 and 1986 in France and Britain has been followed prospectively. We collected detailed information on treatments received during childhood cancer. Additionally, an innovative methodology has been developed to evaluate the dose–response relationship between bone sarcoma and radiation dose throughout this cohort. The median follow-up was 26 years, and 39 patients had developed bone sarcoma. It was found that the overall incidence was 45-fold higher [standardized incidence ratio 44.8, 95 % confidence interval (CI) 31.0–59.8] than expected from the general population, and the absolute excess risk was 35.1 per 100,000 person-years (95 % CI 24.0–47.1). The risk of bone sarcoma increased slowly up to a cumulative radiation organ absorbed dose of 15 Gy [hazard ratio (HR) = 8.2, 95 % CI 1.6–42.9] and then strongly increased for higher radiation doses (HR for 30 Gy or more 117.9, 95 % CI 36.5–380.6), compared with patients not treated with radiotherapy. A linear model with an excess relative risk per Gy of 1.77 (95 % CI 0.6213–5.935) provided a close fit to the data. These findings have important therapeutic implications: Lowering the radiation dose to the bones should reduce the incidence of secondary bone sarcomas. Other therapeutic solutions should be preferred to radiotherapy in bone sarcoma-sensitive areas.     

R9AP targeting to rod outer segments is independent of rhodopsin and is guided by the SNARE homology domain

In vertebrate photoreceptor cells, rapid recovery from light excitation is dependent on the RGS9⋅Gβ5 GTPase-activating complex located in the light-sensitive outer segment organelle. RGS9⋅Gβ5 is tethered to the outer segment membranes by its membrane anchor, R9AP. Recent studies indicated that RGS9⋅Gβ5 possesses targeting information that excludes it from the outer segment and that this information is overridden by association with R9AP, which allows outer segment targeting of the entire complex. It was also proposed that R9AP itself does not contain specific targeting information and instead is delivered to the outer segment in the same post-Golgi vesicles as rhodopsin, because they are the most abundant transport vesicles in photoreceptor cells. In this study, we revisited this concept by analyzing R9AP targeting in rods of wild-type and rhodopsin-knockout mice. We found that the R9AP targeting mechanism does not require the presence of rhodopsin and further demonstrated that R9AP is actively targeted in rods by its SNARE homology domain.