scholarly journals The inner junction complex of the cilia is an interaction hub that involves tubulin post-translational modifications

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmad Khalifa ◽  
Muneyoshi Ichikawa ◽  
Daniel Dai ◽  
Shintaroh Kubo ◽  
Corbin Black ◽  
...  

AbstractMicrotubules are cytoskeletal structures involved in structural support, microtubule-based transport and the organization of organelles in the cells. The building blocks of the microtubule, the α- and β-tubulin heterodimers, polymerize into protofilaments, that associate laterally to form the hollow microtubule. There exists a specific type of microtubule structures in the cilia, termed doublet microtubules, where high stability is required for ciliary beating and function. The doublet microtubule, consisting of a complete A-tubule and a partial B-tubule maintains its stability through unique interactions at its outer and inner junctions, where the A- and B-tubules meet.Using cryo-electron microscopy, we present the answer to the long-standing question regarding the identities, localizations and structures of the Chlamydomonas doublet microtubule inner junction proteins. Using a combination of sequence bioinformatics and mass spectrometry, we identified two new inner junction proteins, FAP276 and FAP106, and an inner junction associated protein FAP126. We show that inner junction proteins PACRG and FAP20, together with FAP52, previously unidentified FAP276, FAP106 and FAP126, form an interaction hub at the inner junction, which involves tubulin sites for post-translational modifications. We further compare the Chlamydomonas and Tetrahymena doublet microtubule structures to understand the common and species-specific features of the inner junction.

eLife ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmad Abdelzaher Zaki Khalifa ◽  
Muneyoshi Ichikawa ◽  
Daniel Dai ◽  
Shintaroh Kubo ◽  
Corbin Steven Black ◽  
...  

Microtubules are cytoskeletal structures involved in stability, transport and organization in the cell. The building blocks, the α- and β-tubulin heterodimers, form protofilaments that associate laterally into the hollow microtubule. Microtubule also exists as highly stable doublet microtubules in the cilia where stability is needed for ciliary beating and function. The doublet microtubule maintains its stability through interactions at its inner and outer junctions where its A- and B-tubules meet. Here, using cryo-electron microscopy, bioinformatics and mass spectrometry of the doublets of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and Tetrahymena thermophila, we identified two new inner junction proteins, FAP276 and FAP106, and an inner junction-associated protein, FAP126, thus presenting the complete answer to the inner junction identity and localization. Our structural study of the doublets shows that the inner junction serves as an interaction hub that involves tubulin post-translational modifications. These interactions contribute to the stability of the doublet and hence, normal ciliary motility.


Author(s):  
Chen-wei Hsu ◽  
Bon-chu Chung

Fish gonads develop in very diverse ways different from mammalian gonads. This diversity is contributed by species-specific factors. Gonadal somatic cell-derived factor (Gsdf) is one such factor. The gsdf gene exists mostly in teleosts and is absent in many tetrapods, probably as a result of two gene losses during evolution. The gsdf transcript is expressed mainly in gonadal somatic cells, including Sertoli cell in testis and granulosa cells in ovary; however, these gonadal somatic cells can surround many types of germ cells at different developmental stages depending on the fish species. The function of gsdf is also variable. It is involved in germ cell proliferation, testicular formation, ovarian development and even male sex determination. Here, we summarize the common and diverse expression, regulation and functions of gsdf among different fish species with aspect of evolution.


Author(s):  
Edna S. Kaneshiro

It is currently believed that ciliary beating results from microtubule sliding which is restricted in regions to cause bending. Cilia beat can be modified to bring about changes in beat frequency, cessation of beat and reversal in beat direction. In ciliated protozoans these modifications which determine swimming behavior have been shown to be related to intracellular (intraciliary) Ca2+ concentrations. The Ca2+ levels are in turn governed by the surface ciliary membrane which exhibits increased Ca2+ conductance (permeability) in response to depolarization. Mutants with altered behaviors have been isolated. Pawn mutants fail to exhibit reversal of the effective stroke of ciliary beat and therefore cannot swim backward. They lack the increased inward Ca2+ current in response to depolarizing stimuli. Both normal and pawn Paramecium made leaky to Ca2+ by Triton extrac¬tion of the surface membrane exhibit backward swimming only in reactivating solutions containing greater than IO-6 M Ca2+ Thus in pawns the ciliary reversal mechanism itself is left operational and only the control mechanism at the membrane is affected. The topographic location of voltage-dependent Ca2+ channels has been identified as a component of the ciliary mem¬brane since the inward Ca2+ conductance response is eliminated by deciliation and the return of the response occurs during cilia regeneration. Since the ciliary membrane has been impli¬cated in the control of Ca2+ levels in the cilium and therefore is the site of at least one kind of control of microtubule sliding, we have focused our attention on understanding the structure and function of the membrane.


2020 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 135-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren Elizabeth Smith ◽  
Adelina Rogowska-Wrzesinska

Abstract Post-translational modifications (PTMs) are integral to the regulation of protein function, characterising their role in this process is vital to understanding how cells work in both healthy and diseased states. Mass spectrometry (MS) facilitates the mass determination and sequencing of peptides, and thereby also the detection of site-specific PTMs. However, numerous challenges in this field continue to persist. The diverse chemical properties, low abundance, labile nature and instability of many PTMs, in combination with the more practical issues of compatibility with MS and bioinformatics challenges, contribute to the arduous nature of their analysis. In this review, we present an overview of the established MS-based approaches for analysing PTMs and the common complications associated with their investigation, including examples of specific challenges focusing on phosphorylation, lysine acetylation and redox modifications.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anastasiya Börsch ◽  
Daniel J. Ham ◽  
Nitish Mittal ◽  
Lionel A. Tintignac ◽  
Eugenia Migliavacca ◽  
...  

AbstractSarcopenia, the age-related loss of skeletal muscle mass and function, affects 5–13% of individuals aged over 60 years. While rodents are widely-used model organisms, which aspects of sarcopenia are recapitulated in different animal models is unknown. Here we generated a time series of phenotypic measurements and RNA sequencing data in mouse gastrocnemius muscle and analyzed them alongside analogous data from rats and humans. We found that rodents recapitulate mitochondrial changes observed in human sarcopenia, while inflammatory responses are conserved at pathway but not gene level. Perturbations in the extracellular matrix are shared by rats, while mice recapitulate changes in RNA processing and autophagy. We inferred transcription regulators of early and late transcriptome changes, which could be targeted therapeutically. Our study demonstrates that phenotypic measurements, such as muscle mass, are better indicators of muscle health than chronological age and should be considered when analyzing aging-related molecular data.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (7) ◽  
pp. 687
Author(s):  
Harsha Prakash ◽  
Shiori Motobe ◽  
Takahiro Nagasawa ◽  
Tomonori Somamoto ◽  
Miki Nakao

Fish mucosal surface is a significant interface for pathogens to infect from an aqueous environment. In addition to mucosal innate and adaptive immune factors, epithelial cells are considered as a significant physical barrier against microbial invasion. Previously, we identified a mammalian CD46-like complement regulatory protein (Tecrem) in teleost and detected its expression on epithelial cells derived from fin, suggesting its physiological role on the fish surface. This study examines the homeostatic roles of Tecrem in maintaining the fish epithelium, by analyzing the expression behavior of Tecrem on the fin-derived epithelial cell lines (KF-1 from the common carp and CFS from ginbuna crucian carp) using monoclonal and polyclonal anti-Tecrem antibodies. Expression of KF-1 protein was associated with the adhesion of KF-1, and the adhesion was enhanced by anti-Tecrem treatments of the cells. Stimulation of the epithelial cells with anti-Tecrem enhanced wound healing, protein expression of tight-junction proteins, and cell density of the KF-1 and CFS monolayer culture. These results suggest that Tecrem on epithelial cells play a homeostatic role in maintaining intactness of the surface epithelial barrier, implying that modification of Tecrem expression may develop a novel tool to improve the first-line defense against pathogens in aquaculture.


AMB Express ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Neeraja Punde ◽  
Jennifer Kooken ◽  
Dagmar Leary ◽  
Patricia M. Legler ◽  
Evelina Angov

Abstract Codon usage frequency influences protein structure and function. The frequency with which codons are used potentially impacts primary, secondary and tertiary protein structure. Poor expression, loss of function, insolubility, or truncation can result from species-specific differences in codon usage. “Codon harmonization” more closely aligns native codon usage frequencies with those of the expression host particularly within putative inter-domain segments where slower rates of translation may play a role in protein folding. Heterologous expression of Plasmodium falciparum genes in Escherichia coli has been a challenge due to their AT-rich codon bias and the highly repetitive DNA sequences. Here, codon harmonization was applied to the malarial antigen, CelTOS (Cell-traversal protein for ookinetes and sporozoites). CelTOS is a highly conserved P. falciparum protein involved in cellular traversal through mosquito and vertebrate host cells. It reversibly refolds after thermal denaturation making it a desirable malarial vaccine candidate. Protein expressed in E. coli from a codon harmonized sequence of P. falciparum CelTOS (CH-PfCelTOS) was compared with protein expressed from the native codon sequence (N-PfCelTOS) to assess the impact of codon usage on protein expression levels, solubility, yield, stability, structural integrity, recognition with CelTOS-specific mAbs and immunogenicity in mice. While the translated proteins were expected to be identical, the translated products produced from the codon-harmonized sequence differed in helical content and showed a smaller distribution of polypeptides in mass spectra indicating lower heterogeneity of the codon harmonized version and fewer amino acid misincorporations. Substitutions of hydrophobic-to-hydrophobic amino acid were observed more commonly than any other. CH-PfCelTOS induced significantly higher antibody levels compared with N-PfCelTOS; however, no significant differences in either IFN-γ or IL-4 cellular responses were detected between the two antigens.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (11) ◽  
pp. 6000
Author(s):  
Sara Bertuzzi ◽  
Ana Gimeno ◽  
Ane Martinez-Castillo ◽  
Marta G. Lete ◽  
Sandra Delgado ◽  
...  

The interaction of multi-LacNAc (Galβ1-4GlcNAc)-containing N-(2-hydroxypropyl) methacrylamide (HPMA) copolymers with human galectin-1 (Gal-1) and the carbohydrate recognition domain (CRD) of human galectin-3 (Gal-3) was analyzed using NMR methods in addition to cryo-electron-microscopy and dynamic light scattering (DLS) experiments. The interaction with individual LacNAc-containing components of the polymer was studied for comparison purposes. For Gal-3 CRD, the NMR data suggest a canonical interaction of the individual small-molecule bi- and trivalent ligands with the lectin binding site and better affinity for the trivalent arrangement due to statistical effects. For the glycopolymers, the interaction was stronger, although no evidence for forming a large supramolecule was obtained. In contrast, for Gal-1, the results indicate the formation of large cross-linked supramolecules in the presence of multivalent LacNAc entities for both the individual building blocks and the polymers. Interestingly, the bivalent and trivalent presentation of LacNAc in the polymer did not produce such an increase, indicating that the multivalency provided by the polymer is sufficient for triggering an efficient binding between the glycopolymer and Gal-1. This hypothesis was further demonstrated by electron microscopy and DLS methods.


2008 ◽  
Vol 105 (40) ◽  
pp. 15275-15280 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian R. Wheeldon ◽  
Joshua W. Gallaway ◽  
Scott Calabrese Barton ◽  
Scott Banta

Here, we present two bifunctional protein building blocks that coassemble to form a bioelectrocatalytic hydrogel that catalyzes the reduction of dioxygen to water. One building block, a metallopolypeptide based on a previously designed triblock polypeptide, is electron-conducting. A second building block is a chimera of artificial α-helical leucine zipper and random coil domains fused to a polyphenol oxidase, small laccase (SLAC). The metallopolypeptide has a helix–random-helix secondary structure and forms a hydrogel via tetrameric coiled coils. The helical and random domains are identical to those fused to the polyphenol oxidase. Electron-conducting functionality is derived from the divalent attachment of an osmium bis-bipyrdine complex to histidine residues within the peptide. Attachment of the osmium moiety is demonstrated by mass spectroscopy (MS-MALDI-TOF) and cyclic voltammetry. The structure and function of the α-helical domains are confirmed by circular dichroism spectroscopy and by rheological measurements. The metallopolypeptide shows the ability to make electrical contact to a solid-state electrode and to the redox centers of modified SLAC. Neat samples of the modified SLAC form hydrogels, indicating that the fused α-helical domain functions as a physical cross-linker. The fusion does not disrupt dimer formation, a necessity for catalytic activity. Mixtures of the two building blocks coassemble to form a continuous supramolecular hydrogel that, when polarized, generates a catalytic current in the presence of oxygen. The specific application of the system is a biofuel cell cathode, but this protein-engineering approach to advanced functional hydrogel design is general and broadly applicable to biocatalytic, biosensing, and tissue-engineering applications.


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