Chemical Synthesis and Expression of the HIV-1 Rev Protein

The HIV-1 Rev protein is responsible for shuttling partially spliced and unspliced viral mRNA out of the nucleus. This is a crucial step in the HIV-1 lifecycle, thus making Rev an attractive target for the design of anti-HIV drugs. Despite its importance, there is a lack of structural, biophysical, and quantitative information about Rev. This is mainly because of its tendency to undergo self-assembly and aggregation; this makes it very difficult to express and handle. To address this knowledge gap, we have developed two new highly efficient and reproducible methods to prepare Rev in large quantities for biochemical and structural studies: 1) Chemical synthesis by using native chemical ligation coupled with desulfurization. Notably, we have optimized our synthesis to allow for a one-pot approach for the ligation and desulfurization steps; this reduced the number of purification steps and enabled the obtaining of desired protein in excellent yield. Several challenges emerged during the design of this Rev synthesis, such as racemization, reduced solubility, formylation during thioester synthesis, and the necessity for using orthogonal protection during desulfurization; solutions to these problems were found. 2) A new method for expression and purification by using a vector that contained an HLT tag, followed by purification with a Ni column, a cation exchange column, and gel filtration. Both methods yielded highly pure and folded Rev. The CD spectra of the synthetic and recombinant Rev proteins were identical, and consistent with a predominantly helical structure. These advances should facilitate future studies that aim at a better understanding of the structure and function of the protein

Extended ubiquitin species are protein-based DUB inhibitors

A frame-shift mutation in the transcript of the ubiquitin-B gene leads to a C-terminally extended ubiquitin, UBB+1. UBB+1 has been considered to inhibit proteasomes, and as such to be the underlying cause for toxic protein buildup correlated with certain neuropathological conditions. We demonstrated that expression of extended ubiquitin variants led to accumulation of heterogeneously-linked polyubiquitin conjugates indicating a pervasive effect on ubiquitin-dependent turnover. 20S proteasomes selectively proteolysed ubiquitin extensions, yet no evidence for inhibition of 26S holoenzymes was found. However, among susceptible targets for inhibition was Ubp6, the primary enzyme responsible for disassembly of lysine-48 linkages at 26S proteasomes. Processing of lysine-48 and lysine-63 linkages by other deubiquitinating enzymes (DUBs) was also inhibited. Disruption of ubiquitin-dependent degradation by extended ubiquitin variants may therefore be attributed to their inhibitory effect on select DUBs, thus shifting research efforts related to protein accumulation in neurodegenerative processes from proteasomes to DUBs

Differential Effects of Concomitant Use of Vitamins C and E on Trophoblast Apoptosis and Autophagy between Normoxia and Hypoxia-Reoxygenation

Concomitant supplementation of vitamins C and E during pregnancy has been reportedly associated with low birth weight, the premature rupture of membranes and fetal loss or perinatal death in women at risk for preeclampsia; however, the cause is unknown. We surmise that hypoxia-reoxygenation (HR) within the intervillous space due to abnormal placentation is the mechanism and hypothesize that concomitant administration of aforementioned vitamin antioxidants detrimentally affects trophoblast cells during HR.Using villous explants, concomitant administration of 50 microM of vitamins C and E was observed to reduce apoptotic and autophagic changes in the trophoblast layer at normoxia (8% oxygen) but to cause more prominent apoptosis and autophagy during HR. Furthermore, increased levels of Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL in association with a decrease in the autophagy-related protein LC3-II were noted in cytotrophoblastic cells treated with vitamins C and E under standard culture conditions. In contrast, vitamin treatment decreased Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL as well as increased mitochondrial Bak and cytosolic LC3-II in cytotrophoblasts subjected to HR.Our results indicate that concomitant administration of vitamins C and E has differential effects on the changes of apoptosis, autophagy and the expression of Bcl-2 family of proteins in the trophoblasts between normoxia and HR. These changes may probably lead to the impairment of placental function and suboptimal growth of the fetus

Age-Related Intraneuronal Elevation of αII-Spectrin Breakdown Product SBDP120 in Rodent Forebrain Accelerates in 3×Tg-AD Mice

Spectrins line the intracellular surface of plasmalemma and play a critical role in supporting cytoskeletal stability and flexibility. Spectrins can be proteolytically degraded by calpains and caspases, yielding breakdown products (SBDPs) of various molecular sizes, with SBDP120 being largely derived from caspase-3 cleavage. SBDPs are putative biomarkers for traumatic brain injury. The levels of SBDPs also elevate in the brain during aging and perhaps in Alzheimer’s disease (AD), although the cellular basis for this change is currently unclear. Here we examined age-related SBDP120 alteration in forebrain neurons in rats and in the triple transgenic model of AD (3×Tg-AD) relative to non-transgenic controls. SBDP120 immunoreactivity (IR) was found in cortical neuronal somata in aged rats, and was prominent in the proximal dendrites of the olfactory bulb mitral cells. Western blot and densitometric analyses in wild-type mice revealed an age-related elevation of intraneuronal SBDP120 in the forebrain which was more robust in their 3×Tg-AD counterparts. The intraneuronal SBDP120 occurrence was not spatiotemporally correlated with transgenic amyloid precursor protein (APP) expression, β-amyloid plaque development, or phosphorylated tau expression over various forebrain regions or lamina. No microscopically detectable in situ activated caspase-3 was found in the nuclei of SBDP120-containing neurons. The present study demonstrates the age-dependent intraneuronal presence of an αII-spectrin cleavage fragment in mammalian forebrain which is exacerbated in a transgenic model of AD. This novel neuronal alteration indicates that impairments in membrane protein metabolism, possibly due to neuronal calcium mishandling and/or enhancement of calcium sensitive proteolysis, occur during aging and in transgenic AD mice

Synthesis of Aliphatic Polyanhydrides with Controllable and Reproducible Molecular Weight

Polyanhydrides have been synthesized for decades by melt-polycondensation of diacid monomers and 5 to >10 times mole excess acetic anhydride to diacid monomers to form polymers with a polydispersity ranging from 2.5 to 6 and low reproducibility. Hydrophobic segments in polyanhydrides are beneficial to hinder the characteristic hydrolytic cleavage of an anhydride bond that provides stable polyanhydrides at room temperature. The objective of this work is to synthesize aliphatic polyanhydrides with various hydrophobic segments, controllable and reproducible molecular weight, and low polydispersity that are essential for potential use as drug carriers. A series of polyanhydrides of suberic, azelaic, sebacic, and dodecanedioic acids with controlled molecular weight, reduced polydispersity, and standard deviation of molecular weights, have been synthesized. All synthesized polyanhydrides were thoroughly characterized by NMR, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and gel permeation chromatography. Molecular weights of the synthesized polyanhydrides are highly controllable, depending on the degree of activation of the dicarboxylic acid monomers, i.e., the amount of acetic anhydride used during synthesis. Polyanhydrides have been synthesized in triplicate by melt-polycondensation, using various mole ratios of acetic anhydride to diacids. The standard deviation of the molecular weights of the polyanhydrides is minute when using 1 equivalent of acetic anhydride during the activation of dicarboxylic acids, whereas if excess acetic anhydride is used, the standard deviation is very high. The effect of safe and natural inorganic catalysts, Calcium oxide, Zinc oxide, and Calcium carbonate on polymerization is also studied. As-synthesized poly(sebacic acid) can offer convenience to use in controlled drug delivery applications. In vitro drug release study using Temozolamide (TMZ), a medication used to treat brain tumors such as glioblastoma and anaplastic astrocytoma, shows 14% TMZ release after the first hour and 70% release over one day from the poly(sebacic acid) wafers

Native Chemical Ligation at Glutamine

The desulfurization reaction introduced by Yan and Dawson as a postnative chemical ligation step greatly expanded the scope of ligation chemistry beyond Xaa-Cys (Xaa is any amino acid) by making ligation at Xaa-Phe, Xaa-Val, Xaa-Lys, Xaa-Leu, Xaa-Thr, and Xaa-Pro junctions accessible in the synthesis of functional proteins. A new ligation site based on Xaa-Gln utilizing γ-mercaptoglutamine is reported, and several examples on the efficiency of ligation coupled with desulfurization are provided

Extended ubiquitin species are protein-based DUB inhibitors

A frame-shift mutation in the transcript of the ubiquitin-B gene leads to a C-terminally extended ubiquitin, UBB(+1). UBB(+1) has been considered to inhibit proteasomes, and as such to be the underlying cause for toxic protein buildup correlated with certain neuropathological conditions. We demonstrated that expression of extended ubiquitin variants led to accumulation of heterogeneously-linked polyubiquitin conjugates indicating a pervasive effect on ubiquitin-dependent turnover. 20S proteasomes selectively proteolysed ubiquitin extensions, yet no evidence for inhibition of 26S holoenzymes was found. However, among susceptible targets for inhibition was Ubp6, the primary enzyme responsible for disassembly of lysine-48 linkages at 26S proteasomes. Processing of lysine-48 and lysine-63 linkages by other deubiquitinating enzymes (DUBs) was also inhibited. Disruption of ubiquitin-dependent degradation by extended ubiquitin variants may therefore be attributed to their inhibitory effect on select DUBs, thus shifting research efforts related to protein accumulation in neurodegenerative processes from proteasomes to DUBs

Seven Post-synthetic Covalent Reactions in Tandem Leading to Enzyme-like Complexity within Metal–Organic Framework Crystals

The design of enzyme-like complexity within metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) requires multiple reactions to be performed on a MOF crystal without losing access to its interior. Here, we show that seven post-synthetic reactions can be successfully achieved within the pores of a multivariate MOF, MTV-IRMOF-74-III, to covalently incorporate tripeptides that resemble the active sites of enzymes in their spatial arrangement and compositional heterogeneity. These reactions build up H₂N-Pro-Gly-Ala-CONHL and H₂N-Cys-His-Asp-CONHL (where L = organic struts) amino acid sequences by covalently attaching them to the organic struts in the MOFs, without losing porosity or crystallinity. An enabling feature of this chemistry is that the primary amine functionality (−CH₂NHBoc) of the original MOF is more reactive than the commonly examined aromatic amines (−NH₂), and this allowed for the multi-step reactions to be carried out in tandem within the MOF. Preliminary findings indicate that the complexity thus achieved can affect reactions that were previously accomplished only in the presence of enzymes