Mice deficient in the Shmt2 gene have mitochondrial respiration defects and are embryonic lethal

Accumulation of somatic mutations in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) has been proposed to be responsible for human aging and age-associated mitochondrial respiration defects. However, our previous findings suggested an alternative hypothesis of human aging—that epigenetic changes but not mutations regulate age-associated mitochondrial respiration defects, and that epigenetic downregulation of nuclear-coded genes responsible for mitochondrial translation [e.g., glycine C-acetyltransferase (GCAT), serine hydroxymethyltransferase 2 (SHMT2)] is related to age-associated respiration defects. To examine our hypothesis, here we generated mice deficient in Gcat or Shmt2 and investigated whether they have respiration defects and premature aging phenotypes. Gcat-deficient mice showed no macroscopic abnormalities including premature aging phenotypes for up to 9 months after birth. In contrast, Shmt2-deficient mice showed embryonic lethality after 13.5 days post coitum (dpc), and fibroblasts obtained from 12.5-dpc Shmt2-deficient embryos had respiration defects and retardation of cell growth. Because Shmt2 substantially controls production of N-formylmethionine-tRNA (fMet-tRNA) in mitochondria, its suppression would reduce mitochondrial translation, resulting in expression of the respiration defects in fibroblasts from Shmt2-deficient embryos. These findings support our hypothesis that age-associated respiration defects in fibroblasts of elderly humans are caused not by mtDNA mutations but by epigenetic regulation of nuclear genes including SHMT2

Glioblastoma cell line shows phenotypes of cancer stem cells in hypoxic microenvironment of spheroids

In this study, we examined the phenotypes of CD133-positive cells that were induced in a hypoxic microenvironment of spheroids formed using a glioblastoma cell line (T98G). Colony-formation assay showed that spheroid CD133-positive cells (SCPCs) were more resistant to X-rays and Temozolomide(TMZ) than spheroid CD133-negative cells (SCNCs) sorted from T98G spheroids. In contrast, the sensitivity to X-rays and TMZ was not different between hypoxic cells and normoxic cells of T98G spheroids ina colony-formation assay using green fluorescent protein (GFP) reporter-transfectants to monitor hypoxia.This result suggests that the difference in the sensitivity to X-rays and TMZ between SCPCs and SCNCs did not result from hypoxia. Transwell membrane assay indicated that the migration and inversion ability of SCPCs was higher than that of SCNCs. These results, including the findings obtainedpreviously regarding nestin positivity in SCPCs, strongly suggest that SCPCs are cancer stem cell (CSC)-like cells. Additionally, based on experiments of monolayer culture of T98G cells, it was shown that hypoxia or low pH culture condition is not sufficient for the induction of SCPCs. The three-dimensionalcell structure might be a critical factor for SCPC induction

Vanadium(V)-Substitution Reactions of Wells–Dawson-Type Polyoxometalates: From [X2M18O62]6− (X = P, As; M = Mo, W) to [X2VM17O62]7−

The formation processes of V(V)-substituted polyoxometalates with the Wells–Dawson-type structure were studied by cyclic voltammetry and by 31P NMR and Raman spectroscopy. Generally, the vanadium-substituted heteropolytungstates, [P2VW17O62]7− and [As2VW17O62]7−, were prepared by mixing equimolar amounts of the corresponding lacunary species—[P2W17O61]10− and [As2W17O61]10−—and vanadate. According to the results of various measurements in the present study, the tungsten site in the framework of [P2W18O62]6− and [As2W18O62]6− without defect sites could be substituted with V(V) to form the [P2VW17O62]7− and [As2VW17O62]7−, respectively. The order in which the reagents were mixed was observed to be the key factor for the formation of Dawson-type V(V)-substituted polyoxometalates. Even when the concentration of each reagent was identical, the final products differed depending on the order of their addition to the reaction mixture. Unlike Wells–Dawson-type heteropolytungstates, the molybdenum sites in the framework of [P2Mo18O62]6− and [As2Mo18O62]6− were substituted with V(V), but formed Keggin-type [PVMo11O40]4− and [AsVMo11O40]4− instead of [P2VMo17O62]7− and [As2VMo17O62]7−, respectively, even though a variety of reaction conditions were used. The formation constant of the [PVMo11O40]4− and [AsVMo11O40]4− was hypothesized to be substantially greater than that of the [P2VMo17O62]7− and [As2VMo17O62]7−