Direct Vpr-Vpr Interaction in Cells monitored by two Photon Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy and Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) encodes several regulatory proteins, notably Vpr which influences the survival of the infected cells by causing a G2/M arrest and apoptosis. Such an important role of Vpr in HIV-1 disease progression has fuelled a large number of studies, from its 3D structure to the characterization of specific cellular partners. However, no direct imaging and quantification of Vpr-Vpr interaction in living cells has yet been reported. To address this issue, eGFP- and mCherry proteins were tagged by Vpr, expressed in HeLa cells and their interaction was studied by two photon fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Results show that Vpr forms homo-oligomers at or close to the nuclear envelope. Moreover, Vpr dimers and trimers were found in the cytoplasm and in the nucleus. Point mutations in the three α helices of Vpr drastically impaired Vpr oligomerization and localization at the nuclear envelope while point mutations outside the helical regions had no effect. Theoretical structures of Vpr mutants reveal that mutations within the α-helices could perturb the leucine zipper like motifs. The ΔQ44 mutation has the most drastic effect since it likely disrupts the second helix. Finally, all Vpr point mutants caused cell apoptosis suggesting that Vpr-mediated apoptosis functions independently from Vpr oligomerization.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We report that Vpr oligomerization in HeLa cells relies on the hydrophobic core formed by the three α helices. This oligomerization is required for Vpr localization at the nuclear envelope but not for Vpr-mediated apoptosis.</p

Recent Insights into the Pathogenesis of Acute Porphyria Attacks and Increasing Hepatic PBGD as an Etiological Treatment

Rare diseases, especially monogenic diseases, which usually affect a single target protein, have attracted growing interest in drug research by encouraging pharmaceutical companies to design and develop therapeutic products to be tested in the clinical arena. Acute intermittent porphyria (AIP) is one of these rare diseases. AIP is characterized by haploinsufficiency in the third enzyme of the heme biosynthesis pathway. Identification of the liver as the target organ and a detailed molecular characterization have enabled the development and approval of several therapies to manage this disease, such as glucose infusions, heme replenishment, and, more recently, an siRNA strategy that aims to down-regulate the key limiting enzyme of heme synthesis. Given the involvement of hepatic hemoproteins in essential metabolic functions, important questions regarding energy supply, antioxidant and detoxifying responses, and glucose homeostasis remain to be elucidated. This review reports recent insights into the pathogenesis of acute attacks and provides an update on emerging treatments aimed at increasing the activity of the deficient enzyme in the liver and restoring the physiological regulation of the pathway. While further studies are needed to optimize gene therapy vectors or large-scale production of liver-targeted PBGD proteins, effective protection of PBGD mRNA against the acute attacks has already been successfully confirmed in mice and large animals, and mRNA transfer technology is being tested in several clinical trials for metabolic diseases

Recherches sur la polygalacturonase du raisin sain et infecté par Botrytis cinerea (influence du calcium)

Botrytis cinerea est le champignon responsable de la pourriture grise et, dans quelques cas exceptionnels de la pourriture dite " noble " chez la Vigne. Une des principales enzymes lui permettant de se développer dans les parois cellulaires de l'hôte est la polygalacturonase. Sa production est stimulée in vitro par la présence de son substrat: la pectine, et de l'ion calcium par l'intermédiaire de son effet sur l'activité de l'eau (aw). L'activité polygalacturonase est en réalité formée de plusieurs isoformes. Leur séparation par isoélectrofocalisation indique qu'elles sont produites de façon séquentielle au cours de la croissance du mycélium. Deux d'entre elles ont été purifiées et caractérisées. In vivo, au cours de l'infection de la baie de raisin, la production des isoformes de polygalacturonase par B. cinerea évolue également de façon séquentielle dans le temps. Cinq d'entre elles ont des pI identiques à ceux des isoformes détectées in vitro. Par ailleurs, le raisin possède une activité polygalacturonase intrinsèque qui augmente au cours de la maturation. Elle est constituée par quatre isoformes. L'ion calcium est présent dans les parois cellulaires où il peut être chélaté par les substances pectiques. Sa teneur évolue de façon diamétralement opposée à celle de l'activité de la polygalacturonase au cours de la maturation du raisin. Une formulation originale de ce cation, sous forme chélatée permet d'inhiber la croissance sur milieu solide de certaines souches de B. cinerea ainsi que la germination des spores. Lorsque cette préparation est appliquée sur des boutures fructifères de vigne, à différents stades du développement, elle permet d'enrichir la baie en calcium lui conférant ainsi une meilleure résistance lors d'une inoculation artificielle de B. cinerea.BORDEAUX1-BU Sciences-Talence (335222101) / SudocBORDEAUX2-BU Santé (330632101) / SudocVILLENAVE D'ORNON-Bib. ISVV (335502201) / SudocSudocFranceF

Mixed Mode Chromatography: A Novel Way Toward New Selectivity

Mixed mode chromatography offers a diversity of ligands, each providing a new selectivity. This allows the design of novel purification processes with reduced column steps. Structure of ligands is based on both hydrophobic and ionic groups. Thanks to its salt tolerance, crude extracts or post-IEX samples can be loaded directly without conditioning. The selectivity could be enhanced by modulating elution parameters or by using additives. More importantly, mixed mode chromatography could be as effective as affinity chromatography for mAb purification processes. Mixed mode chromatography opens the way to short and economical processes

Media Selection in Ion Exchange Chromatography in a Single Microplate

High-throughput process development is more and more used in chromatography. Limitations are the tools provided by the manufacturers. Here, we describe a method to select ion exchange chromatographic media using a 96-well filter microplate

Comparative study of strong cation exchangers: Structure-related chromatographic performances

Chromatographic performances are highly influenced by operational parameters. New ion exchangers have tailored matrices providing low backpressure, thereby allowing high flow velocity. By systematic frontal analysis and selectivity determination at different flow rates, we independently evaluated cation exchangers to facilitate media selection and investigated the relationship between surface modification and chromatographic performances. Structure-extended resins showed higher binding capacities compared to resins with conventional ligands directly attached to the matrix. Moreover, they maintained high capacities even with high flow velocities. Ligand accessibility was therefore largely enhanced, allowing proteins to interact and bind under harsh conditions with minimal residence/contact time. High throughput resins can be used for purification of high volume and high concentration feedstock in limited time. This results in higher productivity, and could contribute to cost reduction. In this work, we evaluated the dynamic binding capacities of various new ion exchange resins at different binding conductivities for different residence times, and observed that

PiP(2) favors an alpha-helical structure of non-recombinant Hsp12 of Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Hsp12 is a small heat shock protein of Saccharomyces cerevisiae upregulated in response to various stresses. Non recombinant Hsp12 has been purified and characterized. Using circular dichroism (CD), Isothermal Titration Calorimetry (ITC) and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), it has been demonstrated that the native Hsp12 is monomeric and intrinsically disordered (IDP). Hsp12 gains in structure in the presence of specific lipids (PiP(2)). The helical form binds to liposomes models membrane with high affinity, leading to their rigidification. These results suggest that hydrophobic and ionic interactions are involved. Hsp12 is most likely a membrane chaperone expressed during stresses in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Purification process of recombinant monoclonal antibodies with mixed mode chromatography

An innovative process to purify mAb from CHO cell culture supernatant was developed. This three-step process involved two mixed mode resins and an anion exchange membrane. We used a human IgG mixture to determine the optimal conditions for each purification step. Thereafter, the whole process was evaluated and improved for the purification of a recombinant mAb produced in the supernatant of CHO cells. Once optimized, yield and purity of 88% and 99.9%, respectively were comparable to those obtained in a conventional process based on a capture step using protein A. In addition, aggregates, HCPs and DNA levels in the purified fraction were below regulatory specifications. Then we used mass spectrometry to identify contaminating proteins in the antibody fraction in order to highlight the behavior of HCPs. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Production and Purification of the Native Saccharomyces cerevisiae Hsp12 in Escherichia coli

Hsp12 is a small heat shock protein produced in many organisms, including the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. It has been described as an indicator of yeast stress rate and has also been linked to the sweetness sensation of wine. To obtain a sufficient amount of protein, we produced and purified Hsp12 without tag in Escherichia coli. A simple fast two-step process was developed using a microplate approach and a design of experiments. A capture step on an anion-exchange salt-tolerant resin was followed by size exclusion chromatography for polishing, leading to a purity of 97%. Thereafter, specific anti-Hsp12 antibodies were obtained by rabbit immunization. An ELISA was developed to quantify Hsp12 in various strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The antibodies showed high specificity and allowed the quantitation of Hsp12 in the yeast. The quantities of Hsp12 measured in the strains differed in direct proportion to the level of expression found in previous studies

Expression and purification of short hydrophobic elastin-like polypeptides with maltose-binding protein as a solubility tag

Elastin-like polypeptides (ELPs) are biodegradable polymers with interesting physico-chemical properties for biomedical and biotechnological applications. The recombinant expression of hydrophobic elastin-like polypeptides is often difficult because they possess low transition temperatures, and therefore form aggregates at sub-ambient temperatures. To circumvent this difficulty, we expressed in Escherichia coli three hydrophobic ELPs (VPGIG)(n) with variable lengths (n = 20, 40, and 60) in fusion with the maltose-binding protein (MBP). Fusion proteins were soluble and yields of purified MBP-ELP ranged between 66 and 127 mg/L culture. After digestion of the fusion proteins by enterokinase, the ELF moiety was purified by using inverse transition cycling. The purified fraction containing ELP40 was slightly contaminated by traces of undigested fusion protein. Purification of ELP60 was impaired because of co-purification of the MBP tag during inverse transition cycling. ELP20 was successfully purified to homogeneity, as assessed by gel electrophoresis and mass spectrometry analyses. The transition temperature of ELP20 was measured at 15.4 degrees C in low salt buffer. In conclusion, this method can be used to produce hydrophobic ELF of low molecular mass. (C) 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved