Japanese barberry seed predation by Rhagoletis meigenii fruit flies harboring Wolbachia endosymbionts

The phytophagous fruit fly Rhagoletis meigenii harbors the bacterium Wolbachia pipientis and, together with Japanese barberry, form a tri-partite symbiosis. R. meigenii is a seed predator of invasive Japanese barberry plants and is dependent on this insect-plant interaction for reproductive success. The endosymbiotic bacterium W. pipientis is a reproductive parasite known to alter the sex ratios of offspring and the fitness of infected host insects. We investigated Japanese barberry fruit for the degree of infestation by R. meigenii and characterized the Wolbachia strain infecting R. meigenii. Densities of R. meigenii in four naturalized stands of Japanese barberry revealed low numbers of fruit flies with high variability in the population densities observed among individual plants. Overall, R. meigenii infested roughly 10–20 % of the Japanese barberry fruits analyzed; fruit with two seeds (vs. one seed) were the most frequently infested. Approximately, 90 % of the R. meigenii tested positive for Wolbachia infection via PCR amplification of the Wolbachia surface protein (wsp) gene. No bacterial strain diversity was observed when comparing multi-locus sequence typing (MLST) profiles within or among five R. meigenii populations in Maine, although the MLST profile obtained from R. meigenii differed from three co-occurring Rhagoletis. The Wolbachia endosymbiont of R. meigenii is a member of the Wolbachia supergroup A and the ST-13 cluster complex.     

Ontogeny of microsomal activities of triacylglycerol synthesis in guinea pig liver

Because the onset of triacylglycerol-rich lipoprotein synthesis occurs in guinea pig liver during fetal life, we investigated the microsomal enzyme activities of triacylglycerol synthesis in fetal and postnatal guinea pig liver. Hepatic monoacylglycerol acyltransferase specific and total microsomal activities peaked by the 50th day of gestation and declined rapidly after birth to levels that were virtually unmeasurable in the adult. Peak fetal specific activity was more than 75-fold higher than observed in the adult. The specific activities of fatty acid CoA ligase and lysophosphatidic acid acyltransferase increased 2- to 3-fold before birth; lysophosphatidic acid acyltransferase increased a further 2.6-fold during the first week of life. Specific activities of phosphatidic acid phosphatase, microsomal glycerophosphate acyltransferase, and diacylglycerol acyltransferase varied minimally over the time course investigated. These data demonstrate that selective changes occur in guinea pig hepatic microsomal activities of triacylglycerol synthesis before birth. Because of an approximate 11-fold increase in hepatic microsomal protein between birth and the adult, however, major increases in total microsomal activity of all the triacylglycerol synthetic activities occurred after birth. The pattern of monoacylglycerol acyltransferase specific and total microsomal activities differs from that of the rat in occurring primarily during the last third of gestation instead of during the suckling period. This pattern provides evidence that hepatic monoacylglycerol acyltransferase activity probably does not function to acylate 2-monoacylglycerols derived from partial hydrolysis of diet-derived triacylglycerol.     

A study of feeding in predacious ciliates using prey ciliates labeled with fluorescent microspheres

Feeding in predacious estuarine ciliates was investigated ina series of laboratory experiments using a new method of preylabeling which facilitates microscopic indentification of ingestedprey items. Ingestion rates of Mesodinium pulex, Euplotes vannusand E.woodruffi were estimated using the appearance, insidethe predator, of bacteriovorous ciliates (Metanophrys sp., Cyclidiumsp.and Pleuronema sp ) labeled with fluorescent microspheres. Preyremain motile and have presumably unaltered surface characteristics.Ingestion rates of log-growth phase predators increased withprey density. Mesodinium pulex ingested 0 15–0.32 cellsh^–1 over a prey concentration of 60–2300 ml^–1.Maximum ingestion rates of E. woodruffi and E. vannus were 4.5and 3.4 cells h^–1 respectively, estimated at prey abundancesof 75 and 172 cells ml^–1 respectively. Comparisons offeeding rates on prey of different sizes, and the effects ofstarvation, indicated that ingestion is likely limited by differentfactors in ‘raptorial’ (M pulex) and ‘filterfeeding’ (Euplotes spp.) predators.     

Microbial Transformation of Antibiotics: Phosphorylation of Clindamycin by Streptomyces coelicolor Müller

Addition of clindamycin to whole-cell cultures of Streptomyces coelicolor Müller resulted in the loss of in vitro activity against organisms sensitive to clindamycin. Incubation of such culture filtrates with alkaline phosphatase generated a biologically active material identified as clindamycin. Fermentation broths containing inactivated clindamycin yielded clindamycin 3-phosphate, the structure of which was established by physical-chemical and enzymatic studies. Clindamycin was phosphorylated by lysates and partially purified enzyme preparations from S. coelicolor Müller. These reactions require a ribonucleoside triphosphate and Mg(2+). The product of the cell-free reactions was identified as clindamycin 3-phosphate.     

定量分析调控人类免疫缺陷病毒潜伏与激活的动力学机制

目的 治疗艾滋病最大的障碍在于无法根除人类免疫缺陷病毒（HIV）潜伏于人体细胞所形成的病毒存储库。构建描述病毒存储库建立分子机制的动力学模型需考虑生物体内的噪声环境和多重影响因素,本文通过一种全新的动力学结构分解方法将随机微分方程的确定性部分与随机性噪声分开,从而在仅需分析常微分方程不动点的情况下即可判断不同药物靶点的作用效果。方法 使用连续的随机微分方程构建了HIV转录过程的动力学模型,简化了描述系统所需方程的维度,增大了模型的可探索空间,在此基础上,通过计算得到的势能函数和概率分布函数直观表示病毒潜伏与激活的不同表达状态以及它们之间的关系。结果 定量分析了不同动力学参数对系统稳态和势函数的影响程度,分别得到了系统处于双稳态和单稳态时的参数范围,并将不同因素对动力系统分岔的影响程度与生物学实验结果对比,验证了本工作的理论基础。结论 本文突破了以往离散、随机的方法,可以通过常微分方程定量分析HIV转录调控的动力学机制,有利于推广到处理高维情况,进一步研究艾滋病在生物体内的发生发展,从而指导设计实验寻找临床上的治疗方案。     

PHOTOSYNTHETIC PHYSIOLOGY OF PROROCENTRUM MARIAE-LEBOURIAE (DINOPHYCEAE) DURING ITS SUBPYCNOCLINE TRANSPORT IN CHESAPEAKE BAY1

This paper presents results of field studies on the estuarine dinoflagellate Prorocentrum mariae-lebouriae (Parke & Ballantine) Faust in Chesapeake Bay. We tested the hypothesis that the photosynthetic physiology of Prorocentrum shows adaptive responses to low-light during a lengthy subpycnocline transport in estuarine circulation. Prorocentrum underwent a seasonal, northward trnasport between February and June, 1984 and 1985. Low cell densities occurred in the seaward part of the estuary during winter and early-spring, subpycnocline populations progressed up-estuary in the ensuring 2–3 months, and dense surface populations developed in the mesohaline portion of the estuary thereafter. We sampled Prorocentrum from surface and subpycnocline waters and measured photosynthesis-light (P-I) relations with in situ incubations. The photophysiology of Prorocentrum collected below the pycnoline differed from that of cells in the surface mixed layer in that photosynthetic efficiency, α-cell^?1, was higher, photosynthetic capacity, P_max-cell^?1 was ·4 times greater for subpycnocline (≦ 10m) samples than for those from the surface mixed layer (≧ 6m). Comparison of in situ photosynthetic properties to those generated in laboratory studies showed that values of α·cell^?1 for both surface and subpycnocline samples were in the range found for cultures in low-light. Concentrations of Chls a, c and peridinin·cell^?1 and molar pigment ratios peridinin: Chl a and Chl a: Chl c were not significantly different for the surface and subpycnocline samples, nor were C · cell^?1 or C : Chl a. Chloroplast and starch volume fractions and the number of thylakoids were the same for samples collected at different depths, and there was no evidence of cytoplasmic vacuolization in any field samples. These morphometric data for cells from natural populations of Prorocentrum most closely resembled data for laboratory cultures grown at or near 2.6E·m-^?2·4d^?1. A lower growth irradiance of 0.3E·m^?2·d^?1 produced indications of stress in cultures, including starch depletion and vacuolization, that were never observed in natural populations. Based on the combination of these findings, we conclude that Prorocentrum is adapted to low-light both in the surface mixed layer and beneath the pycnocline, although certain photophysiological characteristics distinguish these two groups of samples.     

An engineered liver glycogen phosphorylase with AMP allosteric activation

Liver and muscle glycogen phosphorylases, which are products of distinct genes, are both activated by covalent phosphorylation, but in the unphosphorylated (b) state, only the muscle isozyme is efficiently activated by the allosteric activator AMP. The different responsiveness of the phosphorylase isozymes to allosteric ligands is important for the maintenance of tissue and whole body glucose homeostasis. In an attempt to understand the structural determinants of differential sensitivity of the muscle and liver isozymes to AMP, we have developed a bacterial expression system for the liver enzyme, allowing native and engineered proteins to be expressed and characterized. Engineering of the single amino acid substitutions Thr48Pro, Met197Thr and the double mutant Thr48Pro, Met197Thr in liver phosphorylase, and Pro48Thr in muscle phosphorylase, did not qualitatively change the response of the two isozymes to AMP. These sites had previously been implicated in the configuration of the AMP binding site. However, when nine amino acids among the first 48 in liver phosphorylase were replaced with the corresponding muscle phosphorylase residues (L1M2-48L49-846), the engineered liver enzyme was activated by AMP to a higher maximal activity than native liver phosphorylase. Interestingly, the homotropic cooperativity of AMP binding was unchanged in the engineered phosphorylase b protein, and heterotropic cooperativity between the glucose-1-phosphate and AMP sites was only slightly enhanced. The native liver, native muscle and L1M2-48L49-846 phosphorylases were converted to the a form by treatment with purified phosphorylase kinase; the maximal activity of the chimeric a enzyme was greater than the native liver a enzyme and approached that of muscle phosphorylase a. From these results we suggest that tissue-specific phosphorylase isozymes have evolved a complex mechanism in which the N-terminal 48 amino acids modulate intrinsic activity (Vmax), probably by affecting subunit interactions, and other, as yet undefined regions specify the allosteric interactions with ligands and substrates.     

受体相互作用蛋白质激酶3通过上调整合素β3促进骨关节炎相关病变

骨关节炎（osteoarthritis,OA）是最常见的慢性致残性关节疾患,目前尚无针对病因的有效治疗手段。程序性坏死在多种疾病中扮演关键角色,受体相互作用蛋白质激酶3（receptor-interacting protein kinase 3, RIP3）是程序性坏死进程的关键调控因子。有研究显示,RIP3在人与鼠骨关节炎退变软骨组织中表达水平显著上调,提示程序性坏死的发生,但RIP3在软骨中的具体病生理角色仍不明确。本研究拟对过表达RIP3前后的软骨细胞转录物组进行测序分析,探索RIP3在骨关节炎进程中发挥作用的具体机制。RNA测序结果显示,RIP3的过表达诱发软骨细胞中244个基因表达上调,277个表达下调。通过进一步构建基因间共表达作用网络,筛选出16个候选靶基因在mRNA水平进行验证,证实RIP3对磷脂酰肌醇3激酶调节亚单位5（phosphoinositide-3-kinase, regulatory subunit 5,Pik3r5）、整合素β3（integrin subunit beta 3,Itgb3）及成髓细胞瘤转录因子第2亚型（MYB proto-oncogene like 2,Mybl2）的表达上调作用最为显著。CCK-8以及乳酸脱氢酶活性检测结果表明,利用siRNA沉默Itgb3的表达可显著抑制RIP3诱发的软骨细胞活力下降及程序性坏死,同时也抑制了RIP3对软骨细胞中分解代谢相关基因Mmp1、Mmp13与Il6的表达上调作用,以及其对合成代谢相关基因Acan、Col2a1与Sox9的下调作用。本研究证实,RIP3通过上调软骨细胞中Itgb3的表达诱发软骨细胞坏死与软骨基质代谢紊乱,并最终导致软骨退变,为骨关节炎的临床治疗提供了新靶点,同时进一步明确了程序性坏死的病理生理学意义。     

Structures of Atg7-Atg3 and Atg7-Atg10 reveal noncanonical mechanisms of E2 recruitment by the autophagy E1

Central to most forms of autophagy are two ubiquitin-like proteins (UBLs), Atg8 and Atg12, which play important roles in autophagosome biogenesis, substrate recruitment to autophagosomes, and other aspects of autophagy. Typically, UBLs are activated by an E1 enzyme that (1) catalyzes adenylation of the UBL C terminus, (2) transiently covalently captures the UBL through a reactive thioester bond between the E1 active site cysteine and the UBL C terminus, and (3) promotes transfer of the UBL C terminus to the catalytic cysteine of an E2 conjugating enzyme. The E2, and often an E3 ligase enzyme, catalyzes attachment of the UBL C terminus to a primary amine group on a substrate. Here, we summarize our recent work reporting the structural and mechanistic basis for E1-E2 protein interactions in autophagy.