28 research outputs found
DNA building blocks: keeping control of manufacture
Ribonucleotide reductase (RNR) is the only source for de novo production of the four deoxyribonucleoside triphosphate (dNTP) building blocks needed for DNA synthesis and repair. It is crucial that these dNTP pools are carefully balanced, since mutation rates increase when dNTP levels are either unbalanced or elevated. RNR is the major player in this homeostasis, and with its four different substrates, four different allosteric effectors and two different effector binding sites, it has one of the most sophisticated allosteric regulations known today. In the past few years, the structures of RNRs from several bacteria, yeast and man have been determined in the presence of allosteric effectors and substrates, revealing new information about the mechanisms behind the allosteric regulation. A common theme for all studied RNRs is a flexible loop that mediates modulatory effects from the allosteric specificity site (s-site) to the catalytic site for discrimination between the four substrates. Much less is known about the allosteric activity site (a-site), which functions as an on-off switch for the enzyme's overall activity by binding ATP (activator) or dATP (inhibitor). The two nucleotides induce formation of different enzyme oligomers, and a recent structure of a dATP-inhibited α6β2 complex from yeast suggested how its subunits interacted non-productively. Interestingly, the oligomers formed and the details of their allosteric regulation differ between eukaryotes and Escherichia coli Nevertheless, these differences serve a common purpose in an essential enzyme whose allosteric regulation might date back to the era when the molecular mechanisms behind the central dogma evolved
A functional SNP in the regulatory region of the decay-accelerating factor gene associates with extraocular muscle pareses in myasthenia gravis
Complement activation in myasthenia gravis (MG) may damage muscle endplate and complement regulatory proteins such as decay-accelerating factor (DAF) or CD55 may be protective. We hypothesize that the increased prevalence of severe extraocular muscle (EOM) dysfunction among African MG subjects reported earlier may result from altered DAF expression. To test this hypothesis, we screened the DAF gene sequences relevant to the classical complement pathway and found an association between myasthenics with EOM paresis and the DAF regulatory region c.-198C>G SNP (odds ratio=8.6; P=0.0003). This single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) results in a twofold activation of a DAF 5′-flanking region luciferase reporter transfected into three different cell lines. Direct matching of the surrounding SNP sequence within the DAF regulatory region with the known transcription factor-binding sites suggests a loss of an Sp1-binding site. This was supported by the observation that the c.-198C>G SNP did not show the normal lipopolysaccharide-induced DAF transcriptional upregulation in lymphoblasts from four patients. Our findings suggest that at critical periods during autoimmune MG, this SNP may result in inadequate DAF upregulation with consequent complement-mediated EOM damage. Susceptible individuals may benefit from anti-complement therapy in addition to immunosuppression
Glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored proteins are preferentially targeted to the basolateral surface in Fischer rat thyroid epithelial cells
Glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored proteins are preferentially targeted to the basolateral surface in Fischer rat thyroid epithelial cells.
One Single Basic Amino Acid at the ω-1 or ω-2 Site Is a Signal That Retains Glycosylphosphatidylinositol-Anchored Protein in the Plasma Membrane of Aspergillus fumigatus
Expression of human decay accelerating factor or membrane cofactor protein genes on mouse cells inhibits lysis by human complement
A Signal with a Difference: The Role of GPI Anchor Signal Sequence in Dictating Conformation and Function of the Als5 Adhesin in Candida albicans
Visualizing secretion and synaptic transmission with pH-sensitive green fluorescent proteins.
In neural systems, information is often carried by ensembles of cells rather than by individual units. Optical indicators provide a powerful means to reveal such distributed activity, particularly when protein-based and encodable in DNA: encodable probes can be introduced into cells, tissues, or transgenic organisms by genetic manipulation, selectively expressed in anatomically or functionally defined groups of cells, and, ideally, recorded in situ, without a requirement for exogenous cofactors. Here we describe sensors for secretion and neurotransmission that fulfil these criteria. We have developed pH-sensitive mutants of green fluorescent protein ('pHluorins') by structure-directed combinatorial mutagenesis, with the aim of exploiting the acidic pH inside secretory vesicles to monitor vesicle exocytosis and recycling. When linked to a vesicle membrane protein, pHluorins were sorted to secretory and synaptic vesicles and reported transmission at individual synaptic boutons, as well as secretion and fusion pore 'flicker' of single secretory granules