Molecular players of auxin transport systems: advances in genomic and molecular events*

Phytohormone auxin plays an indispensable role in the plethora of plant developmental process starting from the cell division, and cell elongation to morphogenesis. Auxins are transported to different parts of the plant by different sophisticated transporter molecules known as ‘auxin transporters’.There are four auxin transporter families that have been reported so far in the plant kingdom which includes AUX/LAX (AUXIN-RESISTANT1–LIKES), PIN (PIN-FORMED, auxin efflux carriers), ABCB ((ATP-binding cassette-B (ABCB)/P-glycoprotein (PGP)) and PILS (PIN-Likes). Auxin influx and efflux carriers are distributed in a polar fashion in the plasma membrane whereas ABCB and PILS are present in a non-polar fashion. Other than AUX/LAX, other auxin transporters harbor N-and C-terminal conserved domains along with a variable hydrophilic loop in the transmembrane domain. The AUX/LAX, ABCB and PIN transporters mediate long distance auxin transport whereas PILS and PIN5 protein involved in intracellular auxin homeostasis.     

Dopant‐Free Hole Transporting Polymers for High Efficiency,Environmentally Stable Perovskite Solar Cells

Over the past five years, a rapid progress in organometal‐halide perovskite solar cells has greatly influenced emerging solar energy science and technology. In perovksite solar cells, the overlying hole transporting material (HTM) is critical for achieving high power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) and for protecting the air‐sensitive perovskite active layer. This study reports the synthesis and implementation of a new polymeric HTM series based on semiconducting 4,8‐dithien‐2‐yl‐benzo[1,2‐d;4,5‐d′]bistriazole‐alt‐benzo[1,2‐b:4,5‐b′]dithiophenes (pBBTa‐BDTs), yielding high PCEs and environmentally‐stable perovskite cells. These intrinsic (dopant‐free) HTMs achieve a stabilized PCE of 12.3% in simple planar heterojunction cells—the highest value to date for a polymeric intrinsic HTM. This high performance is attributed to efficient hole extraction/collection (the most efficient pBBTa‐BDT is highly ordered and orients π‐face‐down on the perovskite surface) and balanced electron/hole transport. The smooth, conformal polymer coatings suppress aerobic perovskite film degradation, significantly enhancing the solar cell 85 °C/65% RH PCE stability versus typical molecular HTMs.     

Bridging the gap between traditional cell cultures and bioreactors applied in regenerative medicine: practical experiences with the MINUSHEET perfusion culture system

To meet specific requirements of developing tissues urgently needed in tissue engineering, biomaterial research and drug toxicity testing, a versatile perfusion culture system was developed. First an individual biomaterial is selected and then mounted in a MINUSHEET^® tissue carrier. After sterilization the assembly is transferred by fine forceps to a 24 well culture plate for seeding cells or mounting tissue on it. To support spatial (3D) development a carrier can be placed in various types of perfusion culture containers. In the basic version a constant flow of culture medium provides contained tissue with always fresh nutrition and respiratory gas. For example, epithelia can be transferred to a gradient container, where they are exposed to different fluids at the luminal and basal side. To observe development of tissue under the microscope, in a different type of container a transparent lid and base are integrated. Finally, stem/progenitor cells are incubated in a container filled by an artificial interstitium to support spatial development. In the past years the described system was applied in numerous own and external investigations. To present an actual overview of resulting experimental data, the present paper was written.     

两种方法形成菌丝球固定2-氯酚降解菌的对比

【目的】系统研究吸附法和同时培养法对所形成混合菌丝球的外观形态、内部结构及其去除2-氯酚效果的影响。【方法】采用吸附法和同时培养法将可降解2-氯酚的光合细菌PSB-1D固定在黄孢原毛平革菌(Phanerochaete chrysosporium)DH-1发酵而成的菌丝球上,形成混合菌丝球。以单一菌丝球为对照,利用光学显微镜、扫描电镜等仪器观察混合菌丝球的外观形态和内部结构,考察2种方法对混合菌丝球成球效果的影响;以无菌培养液为空白对照,考察游离光合细菌、单一菌丝球、2种方法形成混合菌丝球对2-氯酚的降解效能。【结果】在吸附法形成的混合菌丝球上,光合细菌主要集中在过渡区;而同时培养法将光合细菌牢固地包埋在菌丝球内核区,并大量簇状附着生长在菌丝交联的空隙处和每根菌丝上。在接种等量孢子和光合细菌的前提下,同时培养法较吸附法操作时间更短,成球数量更多,形成菌丝球干湿比更大,单位菌丝干重上固定的细菌数量更多。菌丝球降解体系和游离光合细菌对2-氯酚的降解均符合一级动力学特征。同时培养法形成的混合菌丝球降解效果最好,7 d内对初始浓度为50 mg/L的2-氯酚降解率可达89%以上,降解速率常数为0.3286 mg/(L·d),2-氯酚半衰期t1/2为2.8 d。【结论】首次报道黄孢原毛平革菌包埋固定化光合细菌形成混合菌丝球。该研究为生物质固定化材料的实际应用提供理论依据。     

Dual Effect of Phosphate Transport on Mitochondrial Ca2+ Dynamics

The large inner membrane electrochemical driving force and restricted volume of the matrix confer unique constraints on mitochondrial ion transport. Cation uptake along with anion and water movement induces swelling if not compensated by other processes. For mitochondrial Ca²⁺ uptake, these include activation of countertransporters (Na⁺/Ca²⁺ exchanger and Na⁺/H⁺ exchanger) coupled to the proton gradient, ultimately maintained by the proton pumps of the respiratory chain, and Ca²⁺ binding to matrix buffers. Inorganic phosphate (P_i) is known to affect both the Ca²⁺ uptake rate and the buffering reaction, but the role of anion transport in determining mitochondrial Ca²⁺ dynamics is poorly understood. Here we simultaneously monitor extra- and intra-mitochondrial Ca²⁺ and mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨ_m) to examine the effects of anion transport on mitochondrial Ca²⁺ flux and buffering in P_i-depleted guinea pig cardiac mitochondria. Mitochondrial Ca²⁺ uptake proceeded slowly in the absence of P_i but matrix free Ca²⁺ ([Ca²⁺]_mito) still rose to ∼50 μm. P_i (0.001–1 mm) accelerated Ca²⁺ uptake but decreased [Ca²⁺]_mito by almost 50% while restoring ΔΨ_m. P_i-dependent effects on Ca²⁺ were blocked by inhibiting the phosphate carrier. Mitochondrial Ca²⁺ uptake rate was also increased by vanadate (V_i), acetate, ATP, or a non-hydrolyzable ATP analog (AMP-PNP), with differential effects on matrix Ca²⁺ buffering and ΔΨ_m recovery. Interestingly, ATP or AMP-PNP prevented the effects of P_i on Ca²⁺ uptake. The results show that anion transport imposes an upper limit on mitochondrial Ca²⁺ uptake and modifies the [Ca²⁺]_mito response in a complex manner.     

Compartmentalizing metabolic pathway in Candida glabrata for acetoin production

Acetoin, a valuable compound, has high potential as a biochemical building block. In this study, subcellular metabolic engineering was applied to engineer the mitochondrion of Candida glabrata for acetoin production. With the aid of mitochondrial targeting sequences, a heterologous acetoin pathway was targeted into the mitochondria to increase the enzyme concentrations and level of intermediate, followed by coupling with the mitochondrial pyruvate carrier (MPC) to increase the availability of mitochondrial pyruvate. As a result, the strain comprising the combination of the mitochondrial pathway and MPC could yield approximately 3.26 g/L of acetoin, which was about 59.8% higher than that produced by the cytoplasmic pathway. These results provided a new insight into the metabolic engineering of C. glabrata for acetoin production, and offered a potential platform to improve the performance of engineered pathways.     

Conformation-dependent accessibility of Cys-136 and Cys-155 of the mitochondrial rat carnitine/acylcarnitine carrier to membrane-impermeable SH reagents

During substrate translocation mitochondrial carriers cycle between the cytoplasmic-state (c-state) with substrate-binding site open to the intermembrane space and matrix-state (m-state) with the binding site open to the mitochondrial matrix. Here, the accessibility of Cys-58, Cys-136 and Cys-155 of the rat mitochondrial carnitine/acylcarnitine carrier (CAC) to membrane-impermeable SH reagents was examined as a function of the conformational state. Reconstituted mutant CACs containing the combinations Cys-58/Cys-136, Cys-58/Cys-155, and Cys-136/Cys-155 transport carnitine with a ping-pong mechanism like the wild-type, since increasing substrate concentrations on one side of the membrane decreased the apparent affinity for the substrate on the other side. In view of this mechanism, the effect of SH reagents on the transport activity of mutant CACs was tested by varying the substrate concentration inside or outside the proteoliposomes, keeping the substrate concentration on the opposite side constant. The reagents MTSES, MTSEA and fluorescein-5-maleimide did not affect the carnitine/carnitine exchange activity of the mutant carrier with only Cys-58 in contrast to mutant carriers with Cys-58/Cys-136, Cys-58/Cys-155 or Cys-136/Cys-155. In the latter, the inhibitory effect of the reagents was more pronounced when the intraliposomal carnitine concentration was increased, favouring the m-state of the carrier, whereas the effect was less when the concentration of carnitine was increased in the external compartment of the proteoliposomes, favouring the c-state. Moreover, the mutant carrier proteins with Cys-136/Cys-155, Cys-58/Cys-136 or Cys-58/Cys-155 were more fluorescent when extracted from fluorescein-5-maleimide-treated proteoliposomes containing 15 mM internal carnitine as compared to 2.5 mM. These results are discussed in terms of conformational changes of the carrier occurring during substrate translocation.     

Engineering a noncarrier to a highly efficient carrier peptide for noncovalently delivering biologically active proteins into human cells

Noncovalent protein delivery into cells via peptide carriers is an emerging concept. Only a handful of such peptides are known. To address various limitations associated with protein delivery for therapeutic purposes, a greater number of different delivery peptides would be required. No general method exists for creating such peptides. By combining a sequence of 16 lysine residues (K16) with the signal peptide (SP) sequence of Kaposi's fibroblast growth factor (K-FGF), we have synthesized a peptide (K16SP) that efficiently and noncovalently delivers functionally intact proteins (immunoglobulin G molecules, beta-galactosidase, and green fluorescent protein) into mammalian cells. The peptides K16 and SP each alone did not show any noncovalent protein-carrying capacity. K16SP appears to be nontoxic to cells and three to four times more efficient than a commercially available peptide reagent. Our approach offers proof-of-concept of a general strategy for creating a diverse array of peptide carriers for eventual therapeutic applications.     

Characterization and cloning of a stearoyl/oleoyl specific fatty acyl-acyl carrier protein thioesterase from the seeds of Madhuca longifolia (latifolia)

Deposition of oleate, stearate and palmitate at the later stages of seed development in Mahua (Madhuca longifolia (latifolia)), a tropical non-conventional oil seed plant, has been found to be the characteristic feature of the regulatory mechanism that produces the saturated fatty acid rich Mahua seed fat (commonly known as Mowrah fat). Although, the content of palmitate has been observed to be higher than that of stearate at the initial stages of seed development, it goes down when the stearate and oleate contents consistently rise till maturity. The present study was undertaken in order to identify the kind of acyl-ACP thioesterase(s) that drives the characteristic composition of signature fatty acids (oleate 37%, palmitate 25%, stearate 23%, linoleate 12.5%) in its seed oil at maturity. The relative Fat activities in the crude protein extracts of the matured seeds towards three thioester substrates (oleoyl-, stearoyl- and palmitoyl-ACP) have been found to be present in the following respective ratio 100:31:8. Upon further purification of the crude extract, the search revealed the presence of two partially purified thioesterases: a long-chain oleoyl preferring house-keeping LC-Fat and a novel stearoyl-oleoyl preferring SO-Fat. The characteristic accumulation of oleate and linoleate in the M. latifolia seed fat is believed to be primarily due to the thioesterase activity of the LC-Fat or MlFatA. On the other hand, the SO-Fat showed almost equal substrate specificity towards stearoyl- and oleoyl-ACP, when its activity towards palmitoyl-ACP compared to stearoyl-ACP was only about 12%. An RT-PCR based technique for cloning of a DNA fragment from the mRNA pool of the developing seed followed by nucleotide sequencing resulted in the identification of a FatB type of thioesterase gene (MlFatB). This gene was found to exist as a single copy in the mother plant genome. Ectopic expression of this MlFatB gene product in E. coli strain fadD88 further proved that it induced a higher level of accumulation of both stearic and oleic acids when compared to the negative control line that did not contain this MlFatB gene. It also indicated that SO-Fat indeed is the product of the MlFatB gene present in the maturing seeds of M. latifolia in nature. Additionally, a predicted 3D-structure for MlFatB protein has been developed through use of bioinformatics tools.