Genome Wide Association Identifies PPFIA1 as a Candidate Gene for Acute Lung Injury Risk Following Major Trauma

Acute Lung Injury (ALI) is a syndrome with high associated mortality characterized by severe hypoxemia and pulmonary infiltrates in patients with critical illness. We conducted the first investigation to use the genome wide association (GWA) approach to identify putative risk variants for ALI. Genome wide genotyping was performed using the Illumina Human Quad 610 BeadChip. We performed a two-stage GWA study followed by a third stage of functional characterization. In the discovery phase (Phase 1), we compared 600 European American trauma-associated ALI cases with 2266 European American population-based controls. We carried forward the top 1% of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) at p<0.01 to a replication phase (Phase 2) comprised of a nested case-control design sample of 212 trauma-associated ALI cases and 283 at-risk trauma non-ALI controls from ongoing cohort studies. SNPs that replicated at the 0.05 level in Phase 2 were subject to functional validation (Phase 3) using expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) analyses in stimulated B-lymphoblastoid cell lines (B-LCL) in family trios. 159 SNPs from the discovery phase replicated in Phase 2, including loci with prior evidence for a role in ALI pathogenesis. Functional evaluation of these replicated SNPs revealed rs471931 on 11q13.3 to exert a cis-regulatory effect on mRNA expression in the PPFIA1 gene (p = 0.0021). PPFIA1 encodes liprin alpha, a protein involved in cell adhesion, integrin expression, and cell-matrix interactions. This study supports the feasibility of future multi-center GWA investigations of ALI risk, and identifies PPFIA1 as a potential functional candidate ALI risk gene for future research

α-Dystrobrevin-1 recruits α-catulin to the α1D-adrenergic receptor/dystrophin-associated protein complex signalosome

α1D-Adrenergic receptors (ARs) are key regulators of cardiovascular system function that increase blood pressure and promote vascular remodeling. Unfortunately, little information exists about the signaling pathways used by this important G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR). We recently discovered that α1D-ARs form a “signalosome” with multiple members of the dystrophin-associated protein complex (DAPC) to become functionally expressed at the plasma membrane and bind ligands. However, the molecular mechanism by which the DAPC imparts functionality to the α1D-AR signalosome remains a mystery. To test the hypothesis that previously unidentified molecules are recruited to the α1D-AR signalosome, we performed an extensive proteomic analysis on each member of the DAPC. Bioinformatic analysis of our proteomic data sets detected a common interacting protein of relatively unknown function, α-catulin. Coimmunoprecipitation and blot overlay assays indicate that α-catulin is directly recruited to the α1D-AR signalosome by the C-terminal domain of α-dystrobrevin-1 and not the closely related splice variant α-dystrobrevin-2. Proteomic and biochemical analysis revealed that α-catulin supersensitizes α1D-AR functional responses by recruiting effector molecules to the signalosome. Taken together, our study implicates α-catulin as a unique regulator of GPCR signaling and represents a unique expansion of the intricate and continually evolving array of GPCR signaling networks

Nanoscale chemical imaging of a working catalyst by scanning transmission X-ray microscopy

The modern chemical industryuses heterogeneous catalysts in almost every production process(1). They commonly consist of nanometre- size active components ( typically metals or metal oxides) dispersed on a high- surface- area solid support, with performance depending on the catalysts' nanometre- size features and on interactions involving the active components, the support and the reactant and product molecules. To gain insight into the mechanisms of heterogeneous catalysts, which could guide the design of improved or novel catalysts, it is thus necessary to have a detailed characterization of the physicochemical composition of heterogeneous catalysts in their working state at the nanometre scale(1,2). Scanning probe microscopy methods have been used to study inorganic catalyst phases at subnanometre resolution(3-6), but detailed chemical information of the materials in their working state is often difficult to obtain(5-7). By contrast, optical microspectroscopic approaches offer much flexibility for in situ chemical characterization; however, this comes at the expense of limited spatial resolution(8-11). A recent development promising high spatial resolution and chemical characterization capabilities is scanning transmission X- ray microscopy(4,12,13), which has been used in a proof- of- principle study to characterize a solid catalyst(14). Here we show that when adapting a nanoreactor specially designed for high-resolution electron microscopy(7), scanning transmission X- ray microscopy can be used at atmospheric pressure and up to 350 degrees C to monitor in situ phase changes in a complex iron- based Fisher-Tropsch catalyst and the nature and location of carbon species produced. We expect that our system, which is capable of operating up to 500 degrees C, will open new opportunities for nanometre- resolution imaging of a range of important chemical processes taking place on solids in gaseous or liquid environments

Differences in the location of guest molecules within zeolite pores as revealed by multilaser excitation confocal fluorescence microscopy: which molecule is where?

A detailed and systematic polarized confocal fluorescence microscopy investigation is presented on three batches of large coffin-shaped ZSM-5 crystals (i.e., parent, steamed at 500 °C, and steamed at 700 °C). In total, six laser lines of different wavelength in the visible region are employed on two crystal positions and three orientations with respect to the polarization plane of the excitation laser light. A fluorescent probe molecule is generated inside the zeolite pores, originating from the acid-catalyzed oligomerization of 4-fluorostyrene. A thorough analysis of the polarization plane of emitting fluorescent light reveals insight into the orientation of the fluorescent probe molecule restricted by the highly ordered zeolite channel framework, thereby visualizing pore accessibility and clearly distinguishing the occupation of straight and sinusoidal channels by the probe molecule. Spectral features are, furthermore, observed to tell apart molecules situated in one or the other pore. Special focus was given on the rim and tip regions of the zeolite ZSM-5 crystals. On the basis of the confocal approach of the investigation, the aforementioned features are evaluated in three dimensions, while the degradation of the zeolite framework upon postsynthesis steam treatment could be visualized by occupation of the sinusoidal pores