Sulcus temperature distributions in the absence and presence of oral hygiene

In this study we investigated the possibility of using sulcus temperature measurements as an early indicator for the beginning of gingival inflammation. Sulcus temperature distributions over the arches appeared to obey a quadratic polynomial. With a test group of 10 volunteers, all dental students, small changes in temperature were measured after subjects refrained from all oral hygiene: A slight but significant tendency for the frontal temperature to increase after 14 days of no oral hygiene was, however, present. The quality of a quadratic polynomial fit of the temperature distributions over the arches decreased significantly, already after 3 d of non-oral hygiene. This indicates that the coefficient of quadratic correlation for the temperature distributions over the arches is a measure for the oral hygiene of patients and for changes in the physiology of gingival tissues. Furthermore, as its decrease was concurrent with an increase in plaque and gingival indices, it might serve as an early indicator for the beginning of gingival inflammation. However, further development work is needed in order to make this approach useful as a clinical tool

Swf1-dependent palmitoylation of the SNARE Tlg1 prevents its ubiquitination and degradation

Protein palmitoylation is a post-translational modification that affects a great number of proteins. In most cases, the enzymes responsible for this modification have not been identified. Some proteins use palmitoylation to attach themselves to membranes; however, palmitoylation also occurs in transmembrane proteins, and the function of this palmitoylation is less clear. Here we identify Swf1, a member of the DHHC-CDR family of palmitoyltransferases, as the protein responsible for modifying the yeast SNAREs Snc1, Syn8 and Tlg1, at cysteine residues close to the cytoplasmic end of their single transmembrane domains (TMDs). In an swf1Δ mutant, Tlg1 is mis-sorted to the vacuole. This occurs because unpalmitoylated Tlg1 is recognised by the ubiquitin ligase Tul1, resulting in its targeting to the multivesicular body pathway. Our results suggest that one role of palmitoylation is to protect TMDs from the cellular quality control machinery, and that Swf1 may be the enzyme responsible for most, if not all, TMD-associated palmitoylation in yeast