FlyXCDB—A Resource for Drosophila Cell Surface and Secreted Proteins and Their Extracellular Domains

Genomes of metazoan organisms possess a large number of genes encoding cell surface and secreted (CSS) proteins that carry out crucial functions in cell adhesion and communication, signal transduction, extracellular matrix establishment, nutrient digestion and uptake, immunity, and developmental processes. We developed the FlyXCDB database (http://prodata.swmed.edu/FlyXCDB) that provides a comprehensive resource to investigate extracellular (XC) domains in CSS proteins of Drosophila melanogaster, the most studied insect model organism in various aspects of animal biology. More than 300 Drosophila XC domains were discovered in Drosophila CSS proteins encoded by over 2500 genes through analyses of computational predictions of signal peptide, transmembrane (TM) segment, and GPI-anchor signal sequence, profile-based sequence similarity searches, gene ontology, and literature. These domains were classified into six classes mainly based on their molecular functions, including protein–protein interactions (class P), signaling molecules (class S), binding of non-protein molecules or groups (class B), enzyme homologs (class E), enzyme regulation and inhibition (class R), and unknown molecular function (class U). Main cellular functions such as cell adhesion, cell signaling, and extracellular matrix composition were described for the most abundant domains in each functional class. We assigned cell membrane topology categories (E, secreted; S, type I/III single-pass TM; T, type II single-pass TM; M, multi-pass TM; and G, GPI-anchored) to the products of genes with XC domains and investigated their regulation by mechanisms such as alternative splicing and stop codon readthrough.     

肽聚糖识别蛋白抗菌活性及参与炎症的免疫作用

哺乳动物肽聚糖识别蛋白(peptidoglycan recognition proteins, PGRPs)是一类可识别肽聚糖的模式识别受体,在先天免疫应答中发挥重要的识别和调节功能。PGRPs通过与肽聚糖结合,诱导激活细菌双组分系统(two-component systems, TCSs)如CssR-CssS、CpxA-CpxR等,诱导氧化应激、硫醇应激和金属应激等反应发挥抗菌活性。现对PGRPs的抗菌活性及其与抗生素的杀菌机制进行比较,旨在为疾病的防治提供理论依据。     

小菜蛾PGRP-SA的体外表达及介导酚氧化酶活力的研究

肽聚糖识别蛋白(Peptidoglycan Recognition Proteins,PGRPs)是可以识别肽聚糖和含肽聚糖的细菌的一类模式识别受体,在介导酚氧化酶级联反应中起着重要的作用。本研究以实验室克隆的小菜蛾Px PGRP-SA(Gen Bank No.EU399240)为基础,RT-PCR克隆了其开放阅读框(ORF),在原核细胞中获得了高效重组表达,利用GST一步纯化的融合蛋白免疫新西兰大白兔,制备了抗血清,滴定效价为1∶51200。Western blot检测表明Micrococcus luteus和Serratia marcescens可以显著提高Px PGRP-SA在小菜蛾血淋巴中的含量。为了检测Px PGRP-SA与酚氧化酶PO的活力关系,本研究将Px PGRP-SA连接到真核表达载体p MT/Bip/V5/His A构建真核表达质粒p MTAPGRP,转染果蝇S2细胞中,获得稳定的细胞系,硫酸铜诱导获得表达后用anti-V5纯化获得重组蛋白Px PGRP-SA。将重组蛋白Px PGRP-SA与M.luteus和S.marcescens分别温育后,可以显著提高小菜蛾血浆中PO的活力。本研究结果阐明了重组蛋白Px PGRP-SA在小菜蛾体PO级联反应中的功能,为进一步研究Px PGRP-SA在小菜蛾体内免疫信号通路中的功能奠定了基础。     

Identification and characterization of Tube in the Chinese mitten crab Eriocheir sinensis

As a key component of the Toll signaling pathway, Tube plays central roles in many biological activities, such as survival, development and innate immunity. Tube has been found in shrimps, but has not yet been reported in the crustacean, Eriocheir sinensis. In this study, we cloned the full-length cDNA of the adaptor Tube for the first time from E. sinensis and designated the gene as EsTube. The full-length cDNA of EsTube was 2247-bp with a 1539-bp open reading frame (ORF) encoding a 512-amino acid protein. The protein contained a 116-residue death domain (DD) at its N-terminus and a 272-residue serine/threonine-protein kinase domain (S_TKc) at its C-terminus. Phylogenetic analysis clustered EsTube initially in one group with other invertebrate Tube and Tube-like proteins, and then with the vertebrate IRAK-4 proteins, finally with other invertebrate Pelle proteins. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) analysis results showed that EsTube was highly expressed in the ovary and testis, and moderately expressed in the thoracic ganglia and stomach. EsTube was expressed at all selected stages and was highly expressed in the spermatid stage (October, testis) and the stage III-2 (November, ovary). EsTube was differentially induced after injection of lipopolysaccharides (LPS), peptidoglycan (PG) or zymosan (β-1,3-glucan). Our study indicated that EsTube might possess multiple functions in immunity and development in E. sinensis.     

Distribution of multiple peptidoglycan recognition proteins in the tissues of Pacific oyster, Crassostrea gigas

Peptidoglycan recognition proteins (PGRPs) are pattern recognition receptors that specifically bind to peptidoglycans, a major component of bacterial cell wall. Generally, PGRPs are responsible for recognition of bacterial invasion in invertebrates. Full length cDNAs of PGRP, designated as CgPGRP-S1S, -S1L, -S2 and -S3, were identified from the Pacific oyster, Crassostrea gigas. Homology and domain searches classified these CgPGRPs as short-type PGRPs for extracellular PGN recognition. Amidase activity was predicted in all CgPGRPs, and defensin-like domains were found in CgPGRP-S1S and -S1L, suggesting that they may also function as antimicrobial proteins. Although phylogenetic analysis indicated that CgPGRPs are closely related to each other, they showed different tissue expression patterns; CgPGRP-S1S in the mantle and the gill, -S1L in the mantle, -S2 in the hemocytes and -S3 in the digestive diverticula. The CgPGRPs seem to survey bacterial invasion in their corresponding expression tissues. This is the first report of the possibility that bivalve mollusks have PGN recognition systems as suggested by the identification of multiple PGRPs distributed in various tissues.     

The role of S100A4 protein in anticancer cytotoxicity: its presence is required on the surface of CD4+CD25+PGRPs+S100A4+ lymphocyte and undesirable on the surface of target cells

S100A4 is a Ca²⁺-binding protein that performs an important role in metastasis. It is also known for its antitumor functions. S100A4 is expressed by a specialized subset of CD⁴⁺CD²⁵⁺ lymphocytes and is present on those cell's membranes along with peptidoglycan recognition proteins (PGRPs). There, by interacting with major heat shock protein Hsp70, S100A4 plays an important cytotoxic role. The resulting stably formed complex of PGRPs, S100A4 and Hsp70 is required for the identification and binding between a lymphocyte and a target cell. Here, we investigated the S100A4 functions in CD⁴⁺CD²⁵⁺PGRPs⁺S100A4⁺ lymphocyte cytotoxicity against target cells. We demonstrated that those lymphocytes do not form a stable complex with the tumor target cells that themselves have S1004A on their surface. That observation can be explained by our finding that S100A4 precludes the formation of a stable complex between PGRPs, S100A4 (on the lymphocytes’ surface), and Hsp70 (on the target cells’ surface). The decrease in S100A4 level in CD⁴⁺CD²⁵⁺PGRPs⁺S100A4⁺ lymphocytes inhibits their cytotoxic activity, while the addition of S100A4 in the medium restores it. Thus, the resistance of target cells to CD⁴⁺CD²⁵⁺PGRPs⁺ S100A4⁺ lymphocyte cytotoxicity depends on their S100A4 expression level and can be countered by S100A4 antibodies.     

A short-type peptidoglycan recognition protein from Asian corn borer,Ostrinia furnacalis (Guenée) exhibits antibacterial activity,and regulates the expression of antimicrobial peptides

Peptidoglycan recognition proteins (PGRPs) discriminate and bind peptidoglycans by acting as pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) in insects, and function pivotal roles in innate immune response. In the present study, we cloned a full-length PGRP gene designed as OfPGRP8 from the Asian corn borer, Ostrinia furnacalis (Guenée). Its mRNA exhibited the highest abundance in fat body, and its expression level upregulated dramatically after bacterial challenges. Purified recombinant OfPGRP8 exhibited intensive binding capacity to peptidoglycans from Staphylococcus aureus and Micrococcus luteus. Additionally, recombinant OfPGRP8 could inhibit the growth of S. aureus, M. luteus. However, recombinant OfPGRP8 could not cause agglutination of S. aureus, M. luteus or Escherichia coli. Furthermore, we also demonstrated that OfPGRP8 may be involved in modulating the signaling pathway of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) synthesis. In sum, our results provided evidence that OfPGRP8 discriminates peptidoglycans from microbes and acts as a PRR to initiate downstream immune signaling pathways.