An evolutionary-conserved Wnt3/β-catenin/Sp5 feedback loop restricts head organizer activity in Hydra

The Hydra polyp regenerates its head by transforming the gastric tissue below the wound into a head organizer made of two antagonistic cross-reacting components. The activator, previously characterized as Wnt3, drives apical differentiation by acting locally and auto-catalytically. The uncharacterized inhibitor, produced under the control of the activator, prevents ectopic head formation. By crossing RNA-seq data obtained in a β-catenin(RNAi) screen performed in planarians and a quantitative analysis of positional and temporal gene expression in Hydra, we identified Sp5 as a transcription factor that fulfills the head inhibitor properties: a Wnt/β-catenin inducible expression, a graded apical-to-basal expression, a sustained up-regulation during head regeneration, a multi-headed phenotype when knocked-down, a repressing activity on Wnt3 expression. In mammalian cells, Hydra and zebrafish Sp5 repress Wnt3 promoter activity while Hydra Sp5 also auto-activates its expression, possibly via β-catenin and/or Tcf/Lef1 interaction. This work identifies Sp5 as a novel potent feedback loop inhibitor of Wnt/β-catenin signaling across eumetazoans.

Purification and Biochemical Characterization of Trypsin Inhibitor from Oyster

In this paper, the purification and biochemical characterization of the endogenous oyster (Crassostrea gigas) trypsin inhibitor were researched. A oyster trypsin inhibitor（OTI）has been purified by successive ammonium sulfate precipitation, gel filtration, affinity chromatography and high performance reversed-phase liquid chromatography. OTI has a molecular weight of approximately 5036 Da estimated by high performance size exclusive liquid chromatography. OTI was heat-, acid- and basic-stable competitive trypsin inhibitor. And OTI was double-head inhibitor with the inhibition constant (Ki) value of 1.644×10-2 mmol L-1. OTI was composed of nine kinds of amino acid, and rich in cysteine, alanine and glutamic acid. Furthermore, OTI can inhibit the proliferations of human lung adenocarcinoma A549 cell and human cervical cancer Hela cell