Identification of caspase 3 motifs and critical aspartate residues in human Phospholipase D1b and Phopsholipase D2a

Stimulation of mammalian cells frequently initiates phospholipase D-catalysed hydrolysis of phosphatidylcholine in the plasma membrane to yield phosphatidic acid (PA) a novel lipid messenger. PA plays a regulatory role in important cellular processes such as secretion, cellular shape change and movement. A number of studies have highlighted that PLD-based signalling also plays a pro-mitogenic and pro-survival role in cells and therefore anti-apoptotic. We show that human PLD1b and PLD2a contain functional caspase-3 cleavage sites and identify the critical aspartate residues within PLD1b that affect its activation by phorbol esters and attenuate phosphatidylcholine hydrolysis during apoptosis

Structure of SurE protein from Aquifex aeolicus VF5 at 1.5 Å resolution

The structure of the stationary phase survival protein SurE protein from the hyperthermophile Aquifex aeolicus has been solved to 1.5 Å resolution. The divalent-metal-ion-dependent phosphatase active-site pocket is occupied by sulfate ions from the crystallization medium

Monitoring System for the Gold Target by Radiation Detectors in Hadron Experimental Facility at J-PARC

At the Hadron Experimental Facility in J-PARC, we inject a 30-GeV proton beam into a gold target to produce secondary particle beams required for various particle and nuclear physics experiments. The gold target is placed in a hermetic chamber, and helium gas is circulated in the chamber to monitor the soundness of the target. The radioactivity in helium gas is continuously monitored by gamma-ray detectors such as a germanium detector and a NaI(Tl) detector. Beam operations with those target-monitoring systems were successfully performed from April to June and October to December 2015, and from May to June 2016. In this paper, the details of the helium gas circulation system and gamma-ray detectors and the analysis results of the obtained gamma-ray spectra are reported

Monitoring System for the Gold Target by Radiation Detectors in Hadron Experimental Facility at J-PARC

At the Hadron Experimental Facility in J-PARC, we inject a 30-GeV proton beam into a gold target to produce secondary particle beams required for various particle and nuclear physics experiments. The gold target is placed in a hermetic chamber, and helium gas is circulated in the chamber to monitor the soundness of the target. The radioactivity in helium gas is continuously monitored by gamma-ray detectors such as a germanium detector and a NaI(Tl) detector. Beam operations with those target-monitoring systems were successfully performed from April to June and October to December 2015, and from May to June 2016. In this paper, the details of the helium gas circulation system and gamma-ray detectors and the analysis results of the obtained gamma-ray spectra are reported

Phospholipase D2 activity suppresses hydrogen peroxide-induced apoptosis in PC12 cells

Phospholipase D (PLD) plays an important role as an effector in the membrane lipid-mediated signal transduction, However, the precise physiological functions of PLD are not yet well understood, In this study, we examined the role of PLD activity in hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-induced apoptosis in rat pheochromocytoma (PC12) cells. Treatment of PC12 cells with H2O2 resulted in induction of apoptosis in these cells, which is accompanied by the activation of PLD. This H2O2-induced apoptosis was enhanced remarkably when phosphatidic acid production by PLD was selectively inhibited by pretreating the PC12 cells with 1-butanol, Expression of PLD2, but not of PLD1, correlated with increased H2O2 induced PLD activity in a concentration- and time-dependent manner. Concomitant with PLD activation, the PLD2 activity suppressed H2O2-induced apoptosis in PC12 cells. Expression of PLD2 lipase-inactive mutant (K758R) had no effect on either PLD activity or apoptosis, PLD2 activity also suppressed H2O2-induced cleavage and activation of caspase-3, Taken together, the results suggest that PLD2 activity is specifically up-regulated by H2O2 in PC12 cells and that it plays a suppressive role in H2O2 induced apoptosisclose484