High-Sensitivity Real-Time Imaging of Dual Protein-Protein Interactions in Living Subjects Using Multicolor Luciferases

Networks of protein-protein interactions play key roles in numerous important biological processes in living subjects. An effective methodology to assess protein-protein interactions in living cells of interest is protein-fragment complement assay (PCA). Particularly the assays using fluorescent proteins are powerful techniques, but they do not directly track interactions because of its irreversibility or the time for chromophore formation. By contrast, PCAs using bioluminescent proteins can overcome these drawbacks. We herein describe an imaging method for real-time analysis of protein-protein interactions using multicolor luciferases with different spectral characteristics. The sensitivity and signal-to-background ratio were improved considerably by developing a carboxy-terminal fragment engineered from a click beetle luciferase. We demonstrate its utility in spatiotemporal characterization of Smad1–Smad4 and Smad2–Smad4 interactions in early developing stages of a single living Xenopus laevis embryo. We also describe the value of this method by application of specific protein-protein interactions in cell cultures and living mice. This technique supports quantitative analyses and imaging of versatile protein-protein interactions with a selective luminescence wavelength in opaque or strongly auto-fluorescent living subjects

SHISA6 Confers Resistance to Differentiation-Promoting Wnt/β-Catenin Signaling in Mouse Spermatogenic Stem Cells

In the seminiferous tubules of mouse testes, a population of glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor family receptor alpha 1 (GFRα1)-positive spermatogonia harbors the stem cell functionality and supports continual spermatogenesis, likely independent of asymmetric division or definitive niche control. Here, we show that activation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling promotes spermatogonial differentiation and reduces the GFRα1+ cell pool. We further discovered that SHISA6 is a cell-autonomous Wnt inhibitor that is expressed in a restricted subset of GFRα1+ cells and confers resistance to the Wnt/β-catenin signaling. Shisa6+ cells appear to show stem cell-related characteristics, conjectured from the morphology and long-term fates of T (Brachyury)+ cells that are found largely overlapped with Shisa6+ cells. This study proposes a generic mechanism of stem cell regulation in a facultative (or open) niche environment, with which different levels of a cell-autonomous inhibitor (SHISA6, in this case) generates heterogeneous resistance to widely distributed differentiation-promoting extracellular signaling, such as WNTs

Genome evolution in the allotetraploid frog Xenopus laevis

To explore the origins and consequences of tetraploidy in the African clawed frog, we sequenced the Xenopus laevis genome and compared it to the related diploid X. tropicalis genome. We characterize the allotetraploid origin of X. laevis by partitioning its genome into two homoeologous subgenomes, marked by distinct families of ???fossil??? transposable elements. On the basis of the activity of these elements and the age of hundreds of unitary pseudogenes, we estimate that the two diploid progenitor species diverged around 34 million years ago (Ma) and combined to form an allotetraploid around 17-18 Ma. More than 56% of all genes were retained in two homoeologous copies. Protein function, gene expression, and the amount of conserved flanking sequence all correlate with retention rates. The subgenomes have evolved asymmetrically, with one chromosome set more often preserving the ancestral state and the other experiencing more gene loss, deletion, rearrangement, and reduced gene expression.ope

Conservation of structure and function in vertebrate c-FLIP proteins despite rapid evolutionary change

Cellular FLICE-like inhibitory protein (c-FLIP, gene symbol CFLAR) was first identified as a negative regulator of death receptor-mediated apoptosis in mammals. To understand the ubiquity and diversity of the c-FLIP protein subfamily during evolution, c-FLIP orthologs were identified from a comprehensive range of vertebrates, including birds, amphibians, and fish, and were characterized by combining experimental and computational analysis. Predictions of three-dimensional protein structures and molecular phylogenetic analysis indicated that the conserved structural features of c-FLIP proteins are all derived from an ancestral caspase-8, although they rapidly diverged from the subfamily consisting of caspases-8, -10, and -18. The functional role of the c-FLIP subfamily members is nearly ubiquitous throughout vertebrates. Exogenous expression of non-mammalian c-FLIP proteins in cultured mammalian cells suppressed death receptor-mediated apoptosis, implying that all of these proteins possess anti-apoptotic activity. Furthermore, non-mammalian c-FLIP proteins induced NF-κB activation much like their mammalian counterparts. The CFLAR mRNAs were synthesized during frog and fish embryogenesis. Overexpression of a truncated mutant of c-FLIP in the Xenopus laevis embryos by mRNA microinjection caused thorax edema and abnormal constriction of the abdomen. Depletion of cflar transcripts in zebrafish resulted in developmental abnormalities accompanied by edema and irregular red blood cell flow. Thus, our results demonstrate that c-FLIP/CFLAR is conserved in both protein structure and function in several vertebrate species, and suggest a significant role of c-FLIP in embryonic development

SHISA6 Confers Resistance to Differentiation-Promoting Wnt/β-Catenin Signaling in Mouse Spermatogenic Stem Cells

In the seminiferous tubules of mouse testes, a population of glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor family receptor alpha 1 (GFRα1)-positive spermatogonia harbors the stem cell functionality and supports continual spermatogenesis, likely independent of asymmetric division or definitive niche control. Here, we show that activation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling promotes spermatogonial differentiation and reduces the GFRα1+ cell pool. We further discovered that SHISA6 is a cell-autonomous Wnt inhibitor that is expressed in a restricted subset of GFRα1+ cells and confers resistance to the Wnt/β-catenin signaling. Shisa6+ cells appear to show stem cell-related characteristics, conjectured from the morphology and long-term fates of T (Brachyury)+ cells that are found largely overlapped with Shisa6+ cells. This study proposes a generic mechanism of stem cell regulation in a facultative (or open) niche environment, with which different levels of a cell-autonomous inhibitor (SHISA6, in this case) generates heterogeneous resistance to widely distributed differentiation-promoting extracellular signaling, such as WNTs