42 research outputs found
Patenting the sun: a critical discourse analysis of the HPV vaccine TV ads in the US, the UK and Australia.
Presented at: American Public Health Association 2016 Annual Meeting & Expo; October 29-November 2, 2016; Denver, CO.https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/prc-posters-presentations/1030/thumbnail.jp
90 calories. 0 drama: how TV advertising is bolstering gendered food identities and promoting an unhealthy food culture in the United States.
Presented at: National Communication Association 102nd Annual Convention; November 10-13, 2016; Philadelphia, PA.https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/prc-posters-presentations/1029/thumbnail.jp
“Eat Smart to Play Hard”: a social martketing campaign to prevent obesity in Hispanic populations.
Presented at: 2016 University of South Florida Social Marketing Conference; June 17-18, 2016; Clearwater, FL.https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/prc-posters-presentations/1020/thumbnail.jp
Health impact assessment and federal trails policy: equity in public land access.
Presented at: New Mexico Public Health Association and New Mexico Center for the Advancement of Research, Engagement & Science on Health Disparities National Health Disparities 2014 Joint Conference; April 1-2, 2014; Albuquerque, NM.https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/prc-posters-presentations/1053/thumbnail.jp
A Yersinia Effector with Enhanced Inhibitory Activity on the NF-κB Pathway Activates the NLRP3/ASC/Caspase-1 Inflammasome in Macrophages
A type III secretion system (T3SS) in pathogenic Yersinia
species functions to translocate Yop effectors, which modulate cytokine
production and regulate cell death in macrophages. Distinct pathways of
T3SS-dependent cell death and caspase-1 activation occur in
Yersinia-infected macrophages. One pathway of cell death
and caspase-1 activation in macrophages requires the effector YopJ. YopJ is an
acetyltransferase that inactivates MAPK kinases and IKKβ to cause
TLR4-dependent apoptosis in naïve macrophages. A YopJ isoform in Y.
pestis KIM (YopJKIM) has two amino acid substitutions,
F177L and K206E, not present in YopJ proteins of Y.
pseudotuberculosis and Y. pestis CO92. As compared
to other YopJ isoforms, YopJKIM causes increased apoptosis, caspase-1
activation, and secretion of IL-1β in Yersinia-infected
macrophages. The molecular basis for increased apoptosis and activation of
caspase-1 by YopJKIM in Yersinia-infected
macrophages was studied. Site directed mutagenesis showed that the F177L and
K206E substitutions in YopJKIM were important for enhanced apoptosis,
caspase-1 activation, and IL-1β secretion. As compared to
YopJCO92, YopJKIM displayed an enhanced capacity to
inhibit phosphorylation of IκB-α in macrophages and to bind IKKβ in
vitro. YopJKIM also showed a moderately increased ability to inhibit
phosphorylation of MAPKs. Increased caspase-1 cleavage and IL-1β secretion
occurred in IKKβ-deficient macrophages infected with Y.
pestis expressing YopJCO92, confirming that the
NF-κB pathway can negatively regulate inflammasome activation.
K+ efflux, NLRP3 and ASC were important for secretion of
IL-1β in response to Y. pestis KIM infection as shown using
macrophages lacking inflammasome components or by the addition of exogenous KCl.
These data show that caspase-1 is activated in naïve macrophages in
response to infection with a pathogen that inhibits IKKβ and MAPK kinases
and induces TLR4-dependent apoptosis. This pro-inflammatory form of apoptosis
may represent an early innate immune response to highly virulent pathogens such
as Y. pestis KIM that have evolved an enhanced ability to
inhibit host signaling pathways
Sequence-Based Prediction of Type III Secreted Proteins
The type III secretion system (TTSS) is a key mechanism for host cell interaction used by a variety of bacterial pathogens and symbionts of plants and animals including humans. The TTSS represents a molecular syringe with which the bacteria deliver effector proteins directly into the host cell cytosol. Despite the importance of the TTSS for bacterial pathogenesis, recognition and targeting of type III secreted proteins has up until now been poorly understood. Several hypotheses are discussed, including an mRNA-based signal, a chaperon-mediated process, or an N-terminal signal peptide. In this study, we systematically analyzed the amino acid composition and secondary structure of N-termini of 100 experimentally verified effector proteins. Based on this, we developed a machine-learning approach for the prediction of TTSS effector proteins, taking into account N-terminal sequence features such as frequencies of amino acids, short peptides, or residues with certain physico-chemical properties. The resulting computational model revealed a strong type III secretion signal in the N-terminus that can be used to detect effectors with sensitivity of ∼71% and selectivity of ∼85%. This signal seems to be taxonomically universal and conserved among animal pathogens and plant symbionts, since we could successfully detect effector proteins if the respective group was excluded from training. The application of our prediction approach to 739 complete bacterial and archaeal genome sequences resulted in the identification of between 0% and 12% putative TTSS effector proteins. Comparison of effector proteins with orthologs that are not secreted by the TTSS showed no clear pattern of signal acquisition by fusion, suggesting convergent evolutionary processes shaping the type III secretion signal. The newly developed program EffectiveT3 (http://www.chlamydiaedb.org) is the first universal in silico prediction program for the identification of novel TTSS effectors. Our findings will facilitate further studies on and improve our understanding of type III secretion and its role in pathogen–host interactions