Glycerol permeability of mutant aquaporin 1 and other AQP-MIP proteins: Inhibition studies

In a recent work, we showed that the aquaporins 1 (AQP1) are permeable to certain small solutes such as glycerol. Here, we have further investigated the permeation pathway of glycerol through human AQP1 (hAQP1) by the use of mutants (C189S, H180A, H209A) and inhibitors such asP-chloromercuribenzene sulphonate (pCMBS), CuSO₄ or phloretin, in comparison with other AQP-MIP (where MIP denotes major intrinsic protein) proteins: hAQP2, plant water channel TIP and bacterial glycerol permease facilitator, G1pF. Glycerol movements were measured inXenopus laevis oocytes. Apparent glycerol permeability coefficients (P _gly ) were calculated from the rates of oocyte swelling upon exposure to an isoosmotic medium containing an inwardly directed gradient of glycerol and from [³H]glycerol uptake measurements. SimilarP _gly values were obtained for hAQP1 and hAQP2, 6 to 8 times greater than control indicating that hAQP2 also transports glycerol. Pof hAQP2P injected oocytes waspCMBS and CuSO₄ sensitive. In contrast, theP _gly value of TIP was close to that of control, indicating that TIP does not transport glycerol. The hAQP1-C189S, -H180A and -H209A mutants gaveP _gly values similar to those obtained for wild hAQP1, indicating that these mutations did not affect glycerol movements. However, the H209A mutant has an osmotic water permeability coefficient (P _f) value decreased by 50%. The inhibitory effect ofpCMBS onP _gly was maintained for the 2 His mutants and, more interestingly, was also conserved for the C189S mutant. CuSO₄ significantly inhibitedP _gly of oocytes expressing hAQP1, hAQP1-C189S,-H180A, and -H209A mutants and had no effect onP _gly of G1pF-injected oocytes. Phloretin was shown to inhibit by around 80% the glycerol fluxes of wild and mutant hAQP1, hAQP2 and to fully inhibit glycerol uptake in G1pF-injected oocytes.     

Epilepsia partialis continua in mitochondrial dysfunction: Interesting phenotypic and MRI observations

An 11-year-old girl manifested with photophobia, ptosis, external ophthalmoplegia, hypotonia, weakness of proximal limb muscles, hyporeflexia, and generalized seizures (six months). Her elder sister had had uncontrolled seizures and photophobia and died at seven years of age. In the patient, serum lactate was high (55 mg/dl). Muscle biopsy revealed characteristic ragged red and ragged blue fibers, diagnostic of mitochondrial cytopathy. Sequencing of the complete mitochondrial genome of the DNA obtained from the muscle biopsy of the patient did not show any characteristic mutation. Four months later, the girl was admitted with a one-week history of epilepsia partialis continua (EPC). EEG revealed Periodic Lateralized Epileptiform Discharges (PLEDs), once in 2-4 seconds, over the right temporo-occipital leads. MRI revealed signal change of right motor cortex, which had restricted diffusion. MR spectroscopy (MRS) from this region revealed lactate peak. EPC remained refractory to multiple anti-epileptic drugs, immuno-modulators, coenzyme-Q, and carnitine. This thought provoking report expands the spectrum of mitochondrial cytopathies.     

Deep sequencing of Cotesia vestalis bracovirus reveals the complexity of a polydnavirus genome

Integrase (IN) is the enzyme responsible for the integration of the retroviral genome into the host cell DNA. Herein, three mutants of conserved residues (V79, S85 and I146) of the central core domain (CCD) of an Avian Sarcoma/Leukemia Virus IN were analyzed in vitro. Our data revealed (i) the inability of S85T mutant to form dimers and tetramers in the absence of DNA and (ii) a slightly reduced ability of V79A IN in tetramers formation. Surprisingly, both mutants were still able to efficiently achieve concerted DNA integration. This could be explained by the ability of the two mutants to form complexes in the presence of DNA. These data suggest a strong structural role of the region encompassing V79 and S85 residues (β2/β3 turn-β3 strands) following binding to viral DNA and highlight the dynamic nature of IN.     

Fatal mitochondrial cardiomyopathy in Kearns-Sayre Syndrome

Summary The clinical and postmortem findings in a 26 year old man with Kearns-Sayre syndrome are described. In the last years of his life he suffered from cardiac arrhythmias and a congestive cardiomyopathy, dying of cardiac pump failure. The heart was enlarged, especially the left ventricle which was fibrotic and excessively dilated. Histological and fine structural investigation revealed an excessive loss of myofibrils and an increase of enlarged mitochondria with lamellar and atypically tubular cristae in widespread heart muscle cells. Mitochondrial anomalies were also observed in some cells of the conductive system. This patient thus suffered not only from a mitochondrial myopathy with ragged red fibers but also from a fatal mitochondrial cardiomyopathy. The anomalies observed in the mitochondria of the conductive system cells suggest that the well-known conductive abnormalities in patients with Kearns-Sayre syndrome might be at least partly caused by disturbed function of these mitochondria.     

Starch utilization by yeasts: mutants resistant of carbon catabolite repression

Summary Twenty-seven yeasts were screened for starch breakdown; the three with the highest rate were strains of Filobasidium capsuligenum, Lipomyces starkeyi and Schwanniomyces occidentalis. Of these, only the last gave mutants with diminished carbon catabolite repression and, hence, enhanced amylase activity. Unlike those yeasts previously reported to break down starch rapidly, these mutants had the commercially advantageous characteristic of growing only slowly on the products of starch break-down and gave rise to readily-inducible auxotrophs. Like hex1 mutants of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, these mutants of Schwanniomyces occidentalis (i) had diminished hexokinase activity, (ii) retained high levels of glucokinase and (iii) resisted carbon catabolite repression of invertase and -D-glucokinase. In one mutant, isomaltase was induced in the late exponential phase of growth on starch, and this isomaltase was also resistant to repression.     

Application of hepatitis B virus replication mouse model

AIM:To evaluate the value of the hepatitis B virus(HBV) replication mouse model with regard to several aspects of the study of HBV biology.METHODS:To evaluate the HBV replication mouse model in detecting the efficacy of anti-HBV agents,the interferon inducer polyinosinic-polytidylin acid(polyIC) and nucleotide analogues adefovir and entecavir were administered to mice injected with wild type pHBV4.1,and the inhibiting effect of these agents on HBV DNA replication was evaluated.To identify the model‘s value ...     

Differential ability of novel attenuated targeted deletion mutants of Francisella tularensis subspecies tularensis strain SCHU S4 to protect mice against aerosol challenge with virulent bacteria: Effects of host background and route of immunization

Francisella tularensis subspecies tularensis is a highly virulent facultative intracellular pathogen of humans and a potential biological weapon. A live vaccine strain, F. tularensis LVS, was developed more than 50 years ago by pragmatic attenuation of a strain of the less virulent holarctica subspecies. LVS was demonstrated to be highly effective in human volunteers who were exposed to intradermal challenge with fully virulent subsp. tularensis, but was less effective against aerosol exposure. LVS faces regulatory hurdles that to date have prevented its licensure for general use. Therefore, a better defined and more effective vaccine is being sought. To this end we have created gene deletion mutants in the virulent subsp. tularensis strain and tested them for their ability to elicit a protective immune response against systemic or aerosol challenge with the highly virulent wild-type subsp. tularensis strain, SCHU S4. Both oral and intradermal (ID) primary vaccination routes were assessed in BALB/c and C3H/HeN mice as was oral boosting. One SCHU S4 mutant missing the heat shock gene, clpB, was significantly more attenuated than LVS whereas a double deletion mutant missing genes FTT0918 and capB was as attenuated as LVS. In general mice immunized with SCHU S4ΔclpB were significantly better protected against aerosol challenge than mice immunized with LVS. A single ID immunization of BALB/c mice with SCHU S4ΔclpB was at least as effective as any other regimen examined. Mice immunized with SCHU S4Δ0918ΔcapB were generally protected to a similar degree as mice immunized with LVS. A preliminary examination of immune responses to vaccination with LVS, SCHU S4ΔclpB, or SCHU S4Δ0918ΔcapB provided no obvious correlate to their relative efficacies.     

Circulation of Pneumocystis dihydropteroate synthase mutants in France

Data on the prevalence of Pneumocystis jirovecii (P. jirovecii) dihydropteroate synthase (DHPS) mutants in France are still limited. In this study, mutant prevalence in the Brest region (western France) was determined. Archival pulmonary specimens from 85 patients infected with P. jirovecii and admitted to our institution (University Hospital, Brest) from October 2007 to February 2010 were retrospectively typed at the DHPS locus using a polymerase chain reaction–restriction fragment length polymorphism assay. Type identification was successful in 66 of 85 patients. Sixty-four patients were infected with a wild type, whereas mutants were found in 2 patients (2/66, 3%). Medical chart analysis revealed that these 2 patients usually lived in Paris. Another patient usually lived on the French Riviera, whereas 63 patients were from the city of Brest. Thus, the corrected prevalence of mutants in patients who effectively lived in our geographic area was 0% (0/63). Taking into account that i) Paris is characterized by a high prevalence of mutants from 18.5% to 40%, ii) infection diagnoses were performed in the 2 Parisians during their vacation < 30 days, iii) infection incubation is assumed to last about 2 months, the results provide evidence of mutant circulation from Paris to Brest through infected vacationers. The study shows that the usual city of patient residence, rather than the city of infection diagnosis, is a predictor of mutants and that P. jirovecii infections involving mutants do not represent a public health issue in western France.     

Muscle biopsy findings in a child with NALCN gene mutation

Mutation in NALCN (Sodium leak channel, non-selective) gene in humans has been shown to present with a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations including neurodevelopmental impairment, hypotonia and congenital contractures. Distinctive features including episodic ataxia and neuroaxonal dystrophy have also been reported. In this case report, we describe the muscle biopsy findings of a 3-year-old boy who presented with congenital arthrogryposis, hypotonia and developmental delay who has a heterozygous de novo C.965T>C (p.1332T) variant in the NALCN gene found by expanded whole exome sequencing (WES). Distal arthrogryposis and ulnar deviation of hands were prominent findings, which have been shown to be associated with de novo heterozygous mutations in this gene. He also presented with brief paroxysmal episodes of tremulousness; however, he has not clearly had episodes of episodic ataxia. Initial work-up including extensive genetic and metabolic tests was normal except for mildly elevated multiple metabolites in urine, suggestive of mild dysfunction of multiple mitochondrial enzymes. Muscle biopsy findings revealed ragged red fiber changes on trichrome staining and an increased number of mitochondria with non-specific crystalloid like inclusions ultrastructurally. The biochemical and muscle biopsy findings are suggestive of a possible mitochondrial bioenergetic dysfunction. The association of NALCN gene with secondary mitochondrial dysfunction remains unclear.     

重组pEGFP-C2-p100-TSN点突变质粒构建及表达

目的 将6个不同的p100-TSN.Mutants基因片段分别定向连入PEGFP-C2质粒中,使P100-TSN突变蛋白能够与绿色荧光蛋白在COS7细胞中融合表达,从而为进一步研究p100蛋白TSN结构域的功能奠定实验基础. 方法 利用EcoR Ⅰ和XhoⅠ双酶切方法从6个pcDNA3.1 (+) -p100-TSN.Mutants重组质粒中分别获得p100-TSN.Mutants的cDNA片段,将其连入pEGFP-C2质粒载体中,再将成功构建的6个pEGFP-C2-p100-TSN.Mutants质粒分别转染COS7细胞中,荧光显微镜下观察绿色荧光蛋白表达.结果 ①将重组质粒进行双酶切鉴定可见p100-TSN.Mutants的cDNA片段;②转染重组质粒后可观察到绿色荧光蛋白的表达.结论 ① 6个pEGFP-C2-p100-TSN.Mutants重组质粒构建成功;② p100-TSN突变蛋白可与绿色荧光蛋白在COS7细胞中融合表达.