Easy and Rapid Purification of Highly Active Nisin

Nisin is an antimicrobial peptide produced and secreted by several L. lactis strains and is specifically active against Gram-positive bacteria. In previous studies, nisin was purified via cation exchange chromatography at low pH employing a single-step elution using 1 M NaCl. Here, we describe an optimized purification protocol using a five-step NaCl elution to remove contaminants. The obtained nisin is devoid of impurities and shows high bactericidal activity against the nisin-sensitive L. lactis strain NZ9000. Purified nisin exhibits an IC50 of ~3 nM, which is a tenfold improvement as compared to nisin obtained via the one-step elution procedure

Heterologous Overexpression and Mutagenesis of the Human Bile Salt Export Pump (ABCB11) Using DREAM (Directed REcombination-Assisted Mutagenesis)

Homologous recombination in Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a well-studied process. Here, we describe a yeast-recombination-based approach to construct and mutate plasmids containing the cDNA of the human bile salt export pump (BSEP) that has been shown to be unstable in E. coli. Using this approach, we constructed the necessary plasmids for a heterologous overexpression of BSEP in the yeast Pichia pastoris. We then applied a new site-directed mutagenesis method, DREAM (Directed REcombination-Assisted Mutagenesis) that completely bypasses E. coli by using S. cerevisiae as the plasmid host with high mutagenesis efficiency. Finally, we show how to apply this strategy to unstable non-yeast plasmids by rapidly turning an existing mammalian BSEP expression construct into a S. cerevisiae-compatible plasmid and analyzing the impact of a BSEP mutation in several mammalian cell lines

Standing waves for acoustic levitation

Standing waves are the most popular method to achieve acoustic trapping. Particles with greater acoustic impedance than the propagation medium will be trapped at the pressure nodes of a standing wave. Acoustic trapping can be used to hold particles of various materials and sizes, without the need of a close-loop controlling system. Acoustic levitation is a helpful and versatile tool for biomaterials and chemistry, with applications in spectroscopy and lab-on-a-droplet procedures. In this chapter, multiple methods are presented to simulate the acoustic field generated by one or multiple emitters. From the acoustic field, models such as the Gor'kov potential or the Flux Integral are applied to calculate the force exerted on the levitated particles. The position and angle of the acoustic emitters play a fundamental role, thus we analyse commonly used configurations such as emitter and reflector, two opposed emitters, or arrangements using phased arrays

MDM2 promotes SUMO-2/3 modification of p53 to modulate transcriptional activity

The tumor suppressor p53 is extensively regulated by post-translational modification, including modification by the small ubiquitin-related modifier SUMO. We show here that MDM2, previously shown to promote ubiquitin, Nedd8 and SUMO-1 modification of p53, can also enhance conjugation of endogenous SUMO-2/3 to p53. SUMOylation activity requires p53-MDM2 binding but does not depend on an intact RING finger. Both ARF and L11 can promote SUMO-2/3 conjugation of p53. However, unlike the previously described SUMO-1 conjugation of p53 by an MDM2-ARF complex, this activity does not depend on the ability of MDM2 to relocalize to the nucleolus. Interestingly, the SUMO consensus is not conserved in mouse p53, which is therefore not modified by SUMO-2/3. Finally, we show that conjugation of SUMO-2/3 to p53 correlates with a reduction of both activation and repression of a subset of p53 target gene

Easy and rapid purification of highly active nisin

Nisin is an antimicrobial peptide produced and secreted by several L. lactis strains and is specifically active against Gram-positive bacteria. In previous studies, nisin was purified via cation exchange chromatography at low pH employing a single-step elution using 1 M NaCl. Here, we describe an optimized purification protocol using a five-step NaCl elution to remove contaminants. The obtained nisin is devoid of impurities and shows high bactericidal activity against the nisin-sensitive L. lactis strain NZ9000. Purified nisin exhibits an IC 50 of ∼3 nM, which is a tenfold improvement as compared to nisin obtained via the one-step elution procedure

Functional interplay between MDM2, p63/p73 and mutant p53

Many cancers express mutant p53 proteins that have lost wild-type tumor suppressor activity and, in many cases, have acquired oncogenic functions that can contribute to tumor progression. These activities of mutant p53 reflect interactions with several other proteins, including the p53 family members p63 and p73. Mutations in p53 that affect protein conformation (such as R175H) show strong binding to p63 and p73, whereas p53 mutants that only mildly affect the conformation (such as R273H) bind less well. A previously described aggregation domain of mutant p53 is not required for p63 or p73 binding; indeed, mutations within this region lead to the acquisition of a mutant p53 phenotype—including a conformational shift, p63/p73 binding and the ability to promote invasion. The activity of wild-type p53 is regulated by an interaction with MDM2 and we have investigated the potential role of MDM2 in the mutant p53/p63/p73 interactions. Both mutant p53 and p73 bind MDM2 well, whereas p63 binds much more weakly. We found that MDM2 can inhibit p63 binding to p53R175H but enhances the weaker p53R273H/p73 interaction. These effects on the interactions are reflected in an ability of MDM2 to relieve the inhibition of p63 by p53R175H, but enhance the inhibition of p73 activity by p53R175H and R273H. We propose a model in which MDM2 competes with p63 for binding to p53R175H to restore p63 activity, but forms a trimeric complex with p73 and p53R273H to more strongly inhibit p73 function