A novel GTPase, CRAG, mediates promyelocytic leukemia protein–associated nuclear body formation and degradation of expanded polyglutamine protein

Polyglutamine diseases are inherited neurodegenerative diseases caused by the expanded polyglutamine proteins (polyQs). We have identified a novel guanosine triphosphatase (GTPase) named CRAG that contains a nuclear localization signal (NLS) sequence and forms nuclear inclusions in response to stress. After ultraviolet irradiation, CRAG interacted with and induced an enlarged ring-like structure of promyelocytic leukemia protein (PML) body in a GTPase-dependent manner. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) generated by polyQ accumulation triggered the association of CRAG with polyQ and the nuclear translocation of the CRAG–polyQ complex. Furthermore, CRAG promoted the degradation of polyQ at PML/CRAG bodies through the ubiquitin–proteasome pathway. CRAG knockdown by small interfering RNA in neuronal cells consistently blocked the nuclear translocation of polyQ and enhanced polyQ-mediated cell death. We propose that CRAG is a modulator of PML function and dynamics in ROS signaling and is protectively involved in the pathogenesis of polyglutamine diseases

The novel heart-specific RING finger protein 207 is involved in energy metabolism in cardiomyocytes

A failing heart shows severe energy insufficiency, and it is presumed that this energy shortage plays a critical role in the development of cardiac dysfunction. However, little is known about the mechanisms that cause energy metabolic alterations in the failing heart. Here, we show that the novel RING-finger protein 207 (RNF207), which is specifically expressed in the heart, plays a role in cardiac energy metabolism. Depletion of RNF207 in neonatal rat cardiomyocytes (NRCs) leads to a reduced cellular concentration of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and mitochondrial dysfunction. Consistent with this result, we observed here that the expression of RNF207 was significantly reduced in mice with common cardiac diseases including heart failure. Intriguingly, proteomic approaches revealed that RNF207 interacts with the voltage-dependent anion channel (VDAC), which is considered to be a key regulator of mitochondria function, as an RNF207-interacting protein. Our findings indicate that RNF207 is involved in ATP production by cardiomyocytes, suggesting that RNF207 plays an important role in the development of heart failure

Hepatitis C virus replicons: dinosaurs still in business?

Since the molecular cloning of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) genome for the first time in 1989, there has been tremendous progress in our understanding of the multiple facets of the replication cycle of this virus. Key to this progress has been the development of systems to propagate the virus in cell culture, which turned out to be a notoriously difficult task. A major breakthrough has been the construction of subgenomic replicons that self-amplify in cultured human hepatoma cells. These RNAs recapitulate the intracellular steps of the HCV replication cycle and have been instrumental to decipher details of the RNA amplification steps including the identification of key host cell factors. However, reproduction of the complete viral replication cycle only became possible with the advent of a particular molecular HCV clone designated JFH-1 that replicates to very high levels and supports the production of infectious virus particles. The availability of this new culture system raises the question, whether the use of replicons is still justified. In this review, we will discuss the pros and cons of both systems

Results of the search for inspiraling compact star binaries from TAMA300's observation in 2000-2004

We analyze the data of TAMA300 detector to search for gravitational waves from inspiraling compact star binaries with masses of the component stars in the range 1-3Msolar. In this analysis, 2705 hours of data, taken during the years 2000-2004, are used for the event search. We combine the results of different observation runs, and obtained a single upper limit on the rate of the coalescence of compact binaries in our Galaxy of 20 per year at a 90% confidence level. In this upper limit, the effect of various systematic errors such like the uncertainty of the background estimation and the calibration of the detector's sensitivity are included.Comment: 8 pages, 4 Postscript figures, uses revtex4.sty The author list was correcte

Observation results by the TAMA300 detector on gravitational wave bursts from stellar-core collapses

We present data-analysis schemes and results of observations with the TAMA300 gravitational-wave detector, targeting burst signals from stellar-core collapse events. In analyses for burst gravitational waves, the detection and fake-reduction schemes are different from well-investigated ones for a chirp-wave analysis, because precise waveform templates are not available. We used an excess-power filter for the extraction of gravitational-wave candidates, and developed two methods for the reduction of fake events caused by non-stationary noises of the detector. These analysis schemes were applied to real data from the TAMA300 interferometric gravitational wave detector. As a result, fake events were reduced by a factor of about 1000 in the best cases. The resultant event candidates were interpreted from an astronomical viewpoint. We set an upper limit of 2.2x10^3 events/sec on the burst gravitational-wave event rate in our Galaxy with a confidence level of 90%. This work sets a milestone and prospects on the search for burst gravitational waves, by establishing an analysis scheme for the observation data from an interferometric gravitational wave detector

Induction and Enhancement of Cardiac Cell Differentiation from Mouse and Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells with Cyclosporin-A

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are novel stem cells derived from adult mouse and human tissues by reprogramming. Elucidation of mechanisms and exploration of efficient methods for their differentiation to functional cardiomyocytes are essential for developing cardiac cell models and future regenerative therapies. We previously established a novel mouse embryonic stem cell (ESC) and iPSC differentiation system in which cardiovascular cells can be systematically induced from Flk1+ common progenitor cells, and identified highly cardiogenic progenitors as Flk1+/CXCR4+/VE-cadherin− (FCV) cells. We have also reported that cyclosporin-A (CSA) drastically increases FCV progenitor and cardiomyocyte induction from mouse ESCs. Here, we combined these technologies and extended them to mouse and human iPSCs. Co-culture of purified mouse iPSC-derived Flk1+ cells with OP9 stroma cells induced cardiomyocyte differentiation whilst addition of CSA to Flk1+ cells dramatically increased both cardiomyocyte and FCV progenitor cell differentiation. Spontaneously beating colonies were obtained from human iPSCs by co-culture with END-2 visceral endoderm-like cells. Appearance of beating colonies from human iPSCs was increased approximately 4.3 times by addition of CSA at mesoderm stage. CSA-expanded human iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes showed various cardiac marker expressions, synchronized calcium transients, cardiomyocyte-like action potentials, pharmacological reactions, and ultra-structural features as cardiomyocytes. These results provide a technological basis to obtain functional cardiomyocytes from iPSCs

Orbital-Selective Superconductivity and the Effect of Lattice Distortion in Iron-Based Superconductors

The superconducting (SC) state of iron-based compounds in both tetragonal and orthorhombic phases is studied on the basis of an effective Hamiltonian composed of the kinetic energy including the five Fe 3d-orbitals, the orthorhombic crystalline electric field (CEF) energy, and the two-orbital Kugel'-Khomski\u{i}-type superexchange interaction. Our basic assumption is that the antiferromagnetic (AF) state in the parent compounds can be described by the $d_{xz}$ and $d_{yz}$ orbitals, and that the electrons in these orbitals have relatively strong electron correlation in the vicinity of the AF state. In order to study the physical origin of the structure-sensitive SC transition temperature, the effect of orthorhombic distortion is taken into account as the energy-splitting, $\Delta_{\textrm{ortho.}}$, between the $d_{xz}$ and $d_{yz}$ orbitals. We find that the eigenvalue of the linearized gap equation decreases accompanied with the reduction of the partial density of states for the $d_{xz}$ and $d_{yz}$ orbitals as $\Delta_{\textrm{ortho.}}$ increases, and that the dominant pairing symmetry is an unconventional fully gapped $s_{+-}$-wave pairing. We also find large anisotropy of the SC gap function in the orthorhombic phase. We propose that the CEF energy plays an important role in controlling $T_{\textrm{c}}$ and the SC gap function, and that orbital-selective superconductivity is a key feature in iron-based superconductors, which causes the structure-sensitive $T_{\textrm{c}}$.Comment: 11 pages, To appear in J. Phys. Soc. Jp

Use of the index of pulmonary vascular disease for predicting long-term outcome of pulmonary arterial hypertension associated with congenital heart disease

AimsLimited data exist on risk factors for the long-term outcome of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) associated with congenital heart disease (CHD-PAH). We focused on the index of pulmonary vascular disease (IPVD), an assessment system for pulmonary artery pathology specimens. The IPVD classifies pulmonary vascular lesions into four categories based on severity: (1) no intimal thickening, (2) cellular thickening of the intima, (3) fibrous thickening of the intima, and (4) destruction of the tunica media, with the overall grade expressed as an additive mean of these scores. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between IPVD and the long-term outcome of CHD-PAH.MethodsThis retrospective study examined lung pathology images of 764 patients with CHD-PAH aged <20 years whose lung specimens were submitted to the Japanese Research Institute of Pulmonary Vasculature for pulmonary pathological review between 2001 and 2020. Clinical information was collected retrospectively by each attending physician. The primary endpoint was cardiovascular death.ResultsThe 5-year, 10-year, 15-year, and 20-year cardiovascular death-free survival rates for all patients were 92.0%, 90.4%, 87.3%, and 86.1%, respectively. The group with an IPVD of ≥2.0 had significantly poorer survival than the group with an IPVD <2.0 (P = .037). The Cox proportional hazards model adjusted for the presence of congenital anomaly syndromes associated with pulmonary hypertension, and age at lung biopsy showed similar results (hazard ratio 4.46; 95% confidence interval: 1.45–13.73; P = .009).ConclusionsThe IPVD scoring system is useful for predicting the long-term outcome of CHD-PAH. For patients with an IPVD of ≥2.0, treatment strategies, including choosing palliative procedures such as pulmonary artery banding to restrict pulmonary blood flow and postponement of intracardiac repair, should be more carefully considered