Aug 2010, Volume 1 Issue 8
    

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  • Research articles
    Animal genes identification and mTOR signaling reactivation in autophagy
    Xuejun Jiang,
    2010, 1(8): 699-701. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13238-010-0091-1
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  • Research articles
    Tumor microenvironment: bidirectional interactions between cancer cells and normal cells
    Lu-Yuan Li,
    2010, 1(8): 702-705. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13238-010-0102-2
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  • Research articles
    Redemystifying MST1/hippo signaling
    Lei Xiao, Zengqiang Yuan,
    2010, 1(8): 706-708. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13238-010-0097-8
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  • Research articles
    The story of geneticist Hsien-Wen Li
    Guihuan Luo,
    2010, 1(8): 709-710. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13238-010-0092-0
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  • Research articles
    Mice-lacking LMP2, immuno-proteasome subunit, as an animal model of spontaneous uterine leiomyosarcoma
    Takuma Hayashi, Akiko Horiuchi, Tanri Shiozawa, Kenji Sano, Nobuyoshi Hiraoka, Yae Kanai, Susumu Tonegawa, Ikuo Konishi,
    2010, 1(8): 711-717. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13238-010-0095-x
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    Uterine tumors are the most common type of gynecologic neoplasm. Uterine leiomyosarcoma (LMS) is rare, accounting for 2% to 5% of tumors of the uterine body. Uterine LMS develops more often in the muscle tissue layer of the uterine body than in the uterine cervix. The development of gynecologic tumors is often correlated with female hormone secretion; however, the development of uterine LMS is not substantially correlated with hormonal conditions, and the risk factors are not yet known. Radiographic evaluation combined with PET/CT can be useless in the diagnosis and surveillance of uterine LMS. Importantly, a diagnostic biomarker, which distinguishes malignant LMS and benign tumor leiomyoma (LMA) is yet to be established. Accordingly, it is necessary to analyze risk factors associated with uterine LMS in order to establish a method of treatment. LMP2-deficient mice spontaneously develop uterine LMS, with a disease prevalence of ~40% by 14 months of age. It is therefore of interest whether human uterine LMS shows a loss of LMP2 expression. We found LMP2 expression is absent in human LMS, but present in human LMA. Therefore, defective LMP2 expression may be one of the risk factors for LMS. LMP2 is potentially a diagnostic biomarker for uterine LMS, and gene therapy with LMP2-encording DNA may be a new therapeutic approach.
  • Research articles
    Human gut microbiome: the second genome of human body
    Baoli Zhu, Xin Wang, Lanjuan Li,
    2010, 1(8): 718-725. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13238-010-0093-z
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  • Research articles
    Cilia in cell signaling and human disorders
    Neil A. Duldulao, Jade Li, Zhaoxia Sun,
    2010, 1(8): 726-736. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13238-010-0098-7
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    One of the most widespread cellular organelles in nature is cilium, which is found in many unicellular and multicellular organisms. Formerly thought to be a mostly vestigial organelle, the cilium has been discovered in the past several decades to play critical motile and sensory roles involved in normal organogenesis during development. The role of cilia has also been implicated in an ever increasing array of seemingly unrelated human diseases, including blindness, kidney cysts, neural tube defects and obesity. In this article we review some of the recent developments in research on cilia, and how defects in ciliogenesis and function can give rise to developmental disorders and disease.
  • Research articles
    Extensions of PDZ domains as important structural and functional elements
    Conan K. Wang, Lifeng Pan, Jia Chen, Mingjie Zhang
    2010, 1(8): 737-751. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13238-010-0099-6
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    ‘Divide and conquer’ has been the guiding strategy for the study of protein structure and function. Proteins are divided into domains with each domain having a canonical structural definition depending on its type. In this review, we push forward with the interesting observation that many domains have regions outside of their canonical definition that affect their structure and function; we call these regions ‘extensions’. We focus on the highly abundant PDZ (PSD-95, DLG1 and ZO-1) domain. Using bioinformatics, we find that many PDZ domains have potential extensions and we developed an openly-accessible website to display our results (http://bcz102.ust.hk/pdzex/). We propose, using well-studied PDZ domains as illustrative examples, that the roles of PDZ extensions can be classified into at least four categories: 1) protein dynamics-based modulation of target binding affinity, 2) provision of binding sites for macro-molecular assembly, 3) structural integration of multi-domain modules, and 4) expansion of the target ligand-binding pocket. Our review highlights the potential structural and functional importance of domain extensions, highlighting the significance of looking beyond the canonical boundaries of protein domains in general.
  • Research articles
    Analyses of SELEX-derived ZAP-binding RNA aptamers suggest that the binding specificity is determined by both structure and sequence of the RNA
    Zhi Huang, Xinlu Wang, Guangxia Gao
    2010, 1(8): 752-759. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13238-010-0096-9
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    The zinc-finger antiviral protein (ZAP) is a host factor that specifically inhibits the replication of certain viruses, including murine leukemia virus, Sindbis virus and Ebola virus, by targeting the viral mRNAs for degradation. ZAP directly binds to the target viral mRNA and recruits the cellular RNA degradation machinery to degrade the RNA. No significant sequence similarity or obvious common motifs have been found in the so far identified target viral mRNAs. The minimum length of the target sequence is about 500nt long. Short workable ZAP-binding RNAs should facilitate further studies on the ZAP-RNA interaction and characterization of such RNAs may provide some insights into the underlying mechanism. In this study, we used the SELEX method to isolate ZAP-binding RNA aptamers. After 21 rounds of selection, ZAP-binding aptamers were isolated. Sequence analysis revealed that they are G-rich RNAs with predicted stem-loop structures containing conserved “GGGUGG” and “GAGGG” motifs in the loop region. Insertion of the aptamer sequence into a luciferase reporter failed to render the reporter sensitive to ZAP. However, overexpression of the aptamers modestly but significantly reduced ZAP’s antiviral activity. Substitution of the conserved motifs of the aptamers significantly impaired their ZAP-binding ability and ZAP-antagonizing activity, suggesting that the RNA sequence is important for specific interaction between ZAP and the target RNA. The aptamers identified in this report should provide useful tools to further investigate the details of the interaction between ZAP and the target RNAs.
  • Research articles
    Crystal structure of a secreted lipase from Gibberella zeae reveals a novel “double-lock” mechanism
    Zhiyong Lou, Ming Li, Ye Liu, Zheng Liu, Wenping Wu, Yuna Sun, Zihe Rao,
    2010, 1(8): 760-770. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13238-010-0094-y
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    Fusarium graminearum (sexual stage: Gibberella zeae) is the causative agent of Fusarium Head Blight (FHB), which is one of the most destructive plant disease of cereals, accounting for high grain yield losses, especially for wheat and maize. Like other fungal pathogens, several extracellular enzymes secreted by G. zeae are known to be involved in host infection. Among these secreted lipases, G. zeae lipase (GZEL), which is encoded by the FGL1 gene, was demonstrated to be crucial to G. zeae pathogenicity. However, the precise mechanism of GZEL remains unclear due to a lack of detailed structural information. In this study, we report the crystal structure of GZEL at the atomic level. The structure of GZEL displays distinct structural differences compared to reported homologues and indicates a unique “double lock” enzymatic mechanism. To gain insight into substrate/inhibitor recognition, we proposed a model of GZEL in complex with substrate and the lipase inhibitor ebelactone B (based on the reported structures of GZEL homologues), which defines possible substrate binding sites within the catalytic cleft and suggests an “anti sn-l” binding mode. These results pave the way to elucidating the mechanism of GZEL and thus provide clues for the design of anti-FHB inhibitors.
  • Research articles
    Structural basis for prokaryotic calcium- mediated regulation by a Streptomyces coelicolor calcium binding protein
    Xiaoyan Zhao, Hai Pang, Shenglan Wang, Keqian Yang, Weihong Zhou, Mark Bartlam,
    2010, 1(8): 771-779. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13238-010-0085-z
    The important and diverse regulatory roles of Ca2+ in eukaryotes are conveyed by the EF-hand containing calmodulin superfamily. However, the calcium-regulatory proteins in prokaryotes are still poorly understood. In this study, we report the three-dimensional structure of the calcium-binding protein from Streptomyces coelicolor, named CabD, which shares low sequence homology with other known helix-loop-helix EF-hand proteins. The CabD structure should provide insights into the biological role of the prokaryotic calcium-binding proteins. The unusual structural features of CabD compared with prokaryotic EF-hand proteins and eukaryotic sarcoplasmic calcium-binding proteins, including the bending conformation of the first C-terminal α-helix, unpaired ligand-binding EF-hands and the lack of the extreme C-terminal loop region, suggest it may have a distinct and significant function in calcium-mediated bacterial physiological processes, and provide a structural basis for potential calcium-mediated regulatory roles in prokaryotes.
  • Research articles
    Reaction mechanism of azoreductases suggests convergent evolution with quinone oxidoreductases
    Ali Ryan, Chan-Ju Wang, Nicola Laurieri, Isaac Westwood, Edith Sim,
    2010, 1(8): 780-790. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13238-010-0090-2
    Azoreductases are involved in the bioremediation by bacteria of azo dyes found in waste water. In the gut flora, they activate azo pro-drugs, which are used for treatment of inflammatory bowel disease, releasing the active component 5-aminosalycilic acid. The bacterium P. aeruginosa has three azoreductase genes, paAzoR1, paAzoR2 and paAzoR3, which as recombinant enzymes have been shown to have different substrate specificities. The mechanism of azoreduction relies upon tautomerisation of the substrate to the hydrazone form. We report here the characterization of the P. aeruginosa azoreductase enzymes, including determining their thermostability, cofactor preference and kinetic constants against a range of their favoured substrates. The expression levels of these enzymes during growth of P. aeruginosa are altered by the presence of azo substrates. It is shown that enzymes that were originally described as azoreductases, are likely to act as NADH quinone oxidoreductases. The low sequence identities observed among NAD(P)H quinone oxidoreductase and azoreductase enzymes suggests convergent evolution.