May Measurement Month 2018: a pragmatic global screening campaign to raise awareness of blood pressure by the International Society of Hypertension

Aims Raised blood pressure (BP) is the biggest contributor to mortality and disease burden worldwide and fewer than half of those with hypertension are aware of it. May Measurement Month (MMM) is a global campaign set up in 2017, to raise awareness of high BP and as a pragmatic solution to a lack of formal screening worldwide. The 2018 campaign was expanded, aiming to include more participants and countries. Methods and results Eighty-nine countries participated in MMM 2018. Volunteers (≥18 years) were recruited through opportunistic sampling at a variety of screening sites. Each participant had three BP measurements and completed a questionnaire on demographic, lifestyle, and environmental factors. Hypertension was defined as a systolic BP ≥140 mmHg or diastolic BP ≥90 mmHg, or taking antihypertensive medication. In total, 74.9% of screenees provided three BP readings. Multiple imputation using chained equations was used to impute missing readings. 1 504 963 individuals (mean age 45.3 years; 52.4% female) were screened. After multiple imputation, 502 079 (33.4%) individuals had hypertension, of whom 59.5% were aware of their diagnosis and 55.3% were taking antihypertensive medication. Of those on medication, 60.0% were controlled and of all hypertensives, 33.2% were controlled. We detected 224 285 individuals with untreated hypertension and 111 214 individuals with inadequately treated (systolic BP ≥ 140 mmHg or diastolic BP ≥ 90 mmHg) hypertension. Conclusion May Measurement Month expanded significantly compared with 2017, including more participants in more countries. The campaign identified over 335 000 adults with untreated or inadequately treated hypertension. In the absence of systematic screening programmes, MMM was effective at raising awareness at least among these individuals at risk

Palmitoylation in plants:New insights through proteomics

Palmitoylation is the post-translational addition of lipids to proteins though thioester bonds and acts to promote association with membranes. Palmitoylation also acts to target proteins to specific membrane compartments, control residence in and movement between membrane microdomains and regulate protein conformation and activity. Palmitoylation is unique among lipid modifications of proteins as it is reversible, allowing for dynamic control over all palmitoylation dependent processes. Palmitoylation cannot be predicted from protein sequence and as a result is understudied when compared with other post-translational modifications. We recently published a proteomic analysis of palmitoylation in plants and increased the number of proposed palmitoylated proteins in plants from ~30 to over 500. The wide range of identified proteins indicates that palmitoylation is likely important for a variety of different functions in plants. Many supposedly well characterized proteins were identified as palmitoylated and our new data provides novel insight into regulatory mechanisms and potential explanations for observed phenomena. These data represent a new resource for plant biologist and will allow the study of palmitoylated proteins in plants to expand and move forward

The AtProT family. Compatible solute transporters with similar substrate specificity but differential expression patterns

Proline transporters (ProTs) mediate transport of the compatible solutes Pro, glycine betaine, and the stress-induced compound gamma-aminobutyric acid. A new member of this gene family, AtProT3, was isolated from Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), and its properties were compared to AtProT1 and AtProT2. Transient expression of fusions of AtProT and the green fluorescent protein in tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) protoplasts revealed that all three AtProTs were localized at the plasma membrane. Expression in a yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) mutant demonstrated that the affinity of all three AtProTs was highest for glycine betaine (K-m = 0.1-0.3 mM), lower for Pro (K-m = 0.4-1 mM), and lowest for gamma-aminobutyric acid (K-m = 4-5 mM). Relative quantification of the mRNA level using real-time PCR and analyses of transgenic plants expressing the beta-glucuronidase (uidA) gene under control of individual AtProT promoters showed that the expression pattern of AtProTs are complementary. AtProT1 expression was found in the phloem or phloem parenchyma cells throughout the whole plant, indicative of a role in long-distance transport of compatible solutes. beta-Glucuronidase activity under the control of the AtProT2 promoter was restricted to the epidermis and the cortex cells in roots, whereas in leaves, staining could be demonstrated only after wounding. In contrast, AtProT3 expression was restricted to the above-ground parts of the plant and could be localized to the epidermal cells in leaves. These results showed that, although intracellular localization, substrate specificity, and affinity are very similar, the transporters fulfill different roles in planta

Plant endoplasmin supports the protein secretory pathway and has a role in proliferating tissues

Endoplasmin is a molecular chaperone of the heat-shock protein 90 class located in the endoplasmic reticulum and its activity is poorly characterized in plants. We assessed the ability of endoplasmin to alleviate stress via its transient overexpression in tobacco protoplasts treated with tunicamycin, an inhibitor of glycosylation and inducer of the unfolded protein response (UPR). Endoplasmin supported the secretion of a model secretory protein but was less effective than BiP, the endoplasmic reticulum member of the heat-shock protein 70 family. Consistently, immunoprecipitation experiments with in vivo radioactively labelled proteins using an antiserum prepared against Arabidopsis endoplasmin showed that a much smaller number of newly synthesized polypeptides associated with endoplasmin than with BiP. Synthesis of endoplasmin was enhanced by UPR inducers in tobacco seedlings but not protoplasts. As BiP synthesis was induced in both systems, we conclude that the UPR acts differently, at least in part, on the expression of the two chaperones. Endoplasmin was not detectable in extracts of leaves and stems of the Arabidopsis endoplasmin T-DNA insertion mutant shepherd. However, the chaperone is present, albeit at low levels, in shepherd mutant callus, mature roots and tunicamycin-treated seedlings, demonstrating that the mutation is leaky. Reduced endoplasmin in the shepherd mutant has no effect on BiP protein levels in callus or mature roots, leaves and stems, but is compensated by increased BiP in seedlings. This increase occurs in proliferating rather than expanding leaf cells, indicating an important role for endoplasmin in proliferating plant tissue

ECA3, a Golgi-Localized P2A-Type ATPase, Plays a Crucial Role in Manganese Nutrition in Arabidopsis1[C][W][OA]

Calcium (Ca) and manganese (Mn) are essential nutrients required for normal plant growth and development, and transport processes play a key role in regulating their cellular levels. Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) contains four P2A-type ATPase genes, AtECA1 to AtECA4, which are expressed in all major organs of Arabidopsis. To elucidate the physiological role of AtECA2 and AtECA3 in Arabidopsis, several independent T-DNA insertion mutant alleles were isolated. When grown on medium lacking Mn, eca3 mutants, but not eca2 mutants, displayed a striking difference from wild-type plants. After approximately 8 to 9 d on this medium, eca3 mutants became chlorotic, and root and shoot growth were strongly inhibited compared to wild-type plants. These severe deficiency symptoms were suppressed by low levels of Mn, indicating a crucial role for ECA3 in Mn nutrition in Arabidopsis. eca3 mutants were also more sensitive than wild-type plants and eca2 mutants on medium lacking Ca; however, the differences were not so striking because in this case all plants were severely affected. ECA3 partially restored the growth defect on high Mn of the yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) pmr1 mutant, which is defective in a Golgi Ca/Mn pump (PMR1), and the yeast K616 mutant (Δpmc1 Δpmr1 Δcnb1), defective in Golgi and vacuolar Ca/Mn pumps. ECA3 also rescued the growth defect of K616 on low Ca. Promoter:β-glucuronidase studies show that ECA3 is expressed in a range of tissues and cells, including primary root tips, root vascular tissue, hydathodes, and guard cells. When transiently expressed in Nicotiana tabacum, an ECA3-yellow fluorescent protein fusion protein showed overlapping expression with the Golgi protein GONST1. We propose that ECA3 is important for Mn and Ca homeostasis, possibly functioning in the transport of these ions into the Golgi. ECA3 is the first P-type ATPase to be identified in plants that is required under Mn-deficient conditions

Analysis of Detergent-Resistant Membranes in Arabidopsis. Evidence for Plasma Membrane Lipid Rafts

The trafficking and function of cell surface proteins in eukaryotic cells may require association with detergent-resistant sphingolipid- and sterol-rich membrane domains. The aim of this work was to obtain evidence for lipid domain phenomena in plant membranes. A protocol to prepare Triton X-100 detergent-resistant membranes (DRMs) was developed using Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) callus membranes. A comparative proteomics approach using two-dimensional difference gel electrophoresis and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry revealed that the DRMs were highly enriched in specific proteins. They included eight glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored proteins, several plasma membrane (PM) ATPases, multidrug resistance proteins, and proteins of the stomatin/prohibitin/hypersensitive response family, suggesting that the DRMs originated from PM domains. We also identified a plant homolog of flotillin, a major mammalian DRM protein, suggesting a conserved role for this protein in lipid domain phenomena in eukaryotic cells. Lipid analysis by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry showed that the DRMs had a 4-fold higher sterol-to-protein content than the average for Arabidopsis membranes. The DRMs were also 5-fold increased in sphingolipid-to-protein ratio. Our results indicate that the preparation of DRMs can yield a very specific set of membrane proteins and suggest that the PM contains phytosterol and sphingolipid-rich lipid domains with a specialized protein composition. Our results also suggest a conserved role of lipid modification in targeting proteins to both the intracellular and extracellular leaflet of these domains. The proteins associated with these domains provide important new experimental avenues into understanding plant cell polarity and cell surface processes