Structure of the heme/hemoglobin outer membrane receptor ShuA from Shigella dysenteriae: Heme binding by an induced fit mechanism

Shigella dysentriae and other Gram‐negative human pathogens are able to use iron from heme bound to hemoglobin for growing. We solved at 2.6 Å resolution the 3D structure of the TonB‐dependent heme/hemoglobin outer membrane receptor ShuA from S. dysenteriae. ShuA binds to hemoglobin and transports heme across the outer membrane. The structure consists of a C‐terminal domain that folds into a 22‐stranded transmembrane β‐barrel, which is filled by the N‐terminal plug domain. One distal histidine ligand of heme is located at the apex of the plug, exposed to the solvent. His86 is situated 9.86 Å apart from His420, the second histidine involved in the heme binding. His420 is in the extracellular loop L7. The heme coordination by His86 and His420 involves conformational changes. The comparisons with the hemophore receptor HasR of Serratia marcescens bound to HasA‐Heme suggest an extracellular induced fit mechanism for the heme binding. The loop L7 contains hydrophobic residues which could interact with the hydrophobic porphyring ring of heme. The energy required for the transport by ShuA is derived from the proton motive force after interactions between the periplasmic N‐terminal TonB‐box of ShuA and the inner membrane protein, TonB. In ShuA, the TonB‐box is buried and cannot interact with TonB. The structural comparisons with HasR suggest its conformational change upon the heme binding for interacting with TonB. The signaling of the heme binding could involve a hydrogen bond network going from His86 to the TonB‐box. Proteins 2010. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

胰高血糖素样肽1受体--治疗糖尿病新药的研究热点

胰高血糖素样肽l(glucagon—like peptide—l,GLP-1)与胰岛素分泌和糖代谢调节密切相关。GLP-1与其受体(GLP-1receptor,GLP-1R)结合后,主要通过cAMP和P13K两条信号途径,促进胰岛素的分泌,刺激胰岛β细胞的增殖和分化。对GLP-1R结构和信号传导机制的研究,有助于了解其在糖尿病病理进程中的作用,为开发新型糖尿病治疗药物指明方向。     

Arginine-rich cell-penetrating peptides

Arginine-rich cell-penetrating peptides are short cationic peptides capable of traversing the plasma membranes of eukaryotic cells. While successful intracellular delivery of many biologically active macromolecules has been accomplished using these peptides, their mechanisms of cell entry are still under investigation. Recent dialogue has centered on a debate over the roles that direct translocation and endocytotic pathways play in internalization of cell-penetrating peptides. In this paper, we review the evidence for the broad range of proposed mechanisms, and show that each distinct process requires negative Gaussian membrane curvature as a necessary condition. Generation of negative Gaussian curvature by cell-penetrating peptides is directly related to their arginine content. We illustrate these concepts using HIV TAT as an example.     

NF-κB in the regulation of epithelial homeostasis and inflammation

The IκB kinase/NF-κB signaling pathway has been implicated in the pathogenesis of several inflammatory diseases. Increased activation of NF-κB is often detected in both immune and non-immune cells in tissues affected by chronic inflammation, where it is believed to exert detrimental functions by inducing the expression of proinflammatory mediators that orchestrate and sustain the inflammatory response and cause tissue damage. Thus, increased NF-κB activation is considered an important pathogenic factor in many acute and chronic inflammatory disorders, raising hopes that NF-κB inhibitors could be effective for the treatment of inflammatory diseases. However, ample evidence has accumulated that NF-κB inhibition can also be harmful for the organism, and in some cases trigger the development of inflammation and disease. These findings suggested that NF-κB signaling has important functions for the maintenance of physiological immune homeostasis and for the prevention of inflammatory diseases in many tissues. This beneficial function of NF-κB has been predominantly observed in epithelial cells, indicating that NF-κB signaling has a particularly important role for the maintenance of immune homeostasis in epithelial tissues. It seems therefore that NF-κB displays two faces in chronic inflammation: on the one hand increased and sustained NF-κB activation induces inflammation and tissue damage, but on the other hand inhibition of NF-κB signaling can also disturb immune homeostasis, triggering inflammation and disease. Here, we discuss the mechanisms that control these apparently opposing functions of NF-κB signaling, focusing particularly on the role of NF-κB in the regulation of immune homeostasis and inflammation in the intestine and the skin.     

生长激素受体及其介导的信号转导

生长激素受体(growth hormone receptor,GHR)是细胞因子／造血因子受体超级家族的一员。它通过二聚体的形式和生长激素(growth hormone,GH)相结合,然后诱发Janus激酶2(Janus kinase 2,JAK2)等细胞因子酪氨酸磷酸化并通过4条不同的途径将信号传入细胞内从而产生一系列的生理效应。现在了解GHR的结构特征、组织分布的基础上,对其介导的信号转导途径作进一步的阐明。     

脑内膜雌激素受体信号转导与窖蛋白

雌激素受体在脑内分布十分广泛,对脑功能具有重要作用。雌激素可以通过膜雌激素受体启动的信号转导通路(非基因组效应)作用于中枢神经系统的很多部位,而窖蛋白(caveolin)可以通过不同方式参与膜雌激素受体介导的脑功能调节。简要综述了脑内膜雌激素受体介导的信号转导通路与窖蛋白相关的研究进展。     

Sensitivity and specificity amplification in signal transduction

Intracellular signal transduction pathways transmit signals from the cell surface to various intracellular destinations, such as cytoskeleton and nucleus through a cascade of protein-protein interactions and activation events, leading to phenotypic changes such as cell proliferation, differentiation, and death. Over the past two decades, numerous signaling proteins and signal transduction pathways have been discovered and characterized. There are two major classes of signaling proteins: phosphoproteins (e.g., mitogen-activated protein kinases) and guanosine triphosphatases (GTPases; e.g., Ras and G proteins). They both function as molecular switches by addition and removal of one or more high-energy phosphate groups. This review discusses developments that seek to quantify the signal transduction processes with kinetic analysis and mathematical modeling of the signaling phosphoproteins and GTPases. These studies have provided insights into the sensitivity and specificity amplification of biological signals in integrated systems.     

利用Gateway技术构建慢病毒载体及其在鸡囊胚细胞中的表达

目的:建立慢病毒载体介导的外源基因在动物中表达的模式。方法:通过PCR扩增出带EGFP基因和特异性结合位点的DNA序列,并应用Gateway技术构建了带EGFP基因的pLenti6/v5-DEST慢病毒载体。利用磷酸钙介导慢病毒4质粒系统在包装细胞中转染,收集并浓缩产生的病毒颗粒,通过感染293FT细胞测定慢病毒滴度。结果:通过PCR扩增后测序分析,表明慢病毒载体构建正确。病毒滴度测定结果为2×107TU/mL。并用慢病毒对鸡囊胚细胞进行感染,获得了较强的表达效果。结论:慢病毒载体系统所产生的病毒颗粒对动物细胞具有较强的感染能力,为慢病毒载体在转基因家禽研究中的应用奠定了基础。     

金黄色葡萄球菌基因调节系统研究进展

金黄色葡萄球菌是人类的一种重要病原菌,可以引起许多临床表现不同的感染性疾病。它所致感染的多样性和严重度取决于不同毒力因子的协同表达,而这些数量众多的毒力因子的表达会受到不同调节系统的控制,同时这些调节系统之间也存在着复杂的相互作用关系。这些基因调节系统主要有两大类：一类是双组分信号转导系统（如Agr、SaeRS、SrrAB、ArlSR、LytRS、WalKR）;另一类是转录因子f如Sar、Rot、MgrA、SigmaB）。它们的协同作用有助于金黄色葡萄球菌对外界环境信号做出反应,调节致病过程中毒力因子在不同情况下的表达。