Hyaluronic acid regulates a key redox control factor Nrf2 via phosphorylation of Akt in bovine articular chondrocytes
Publication date: Available online 29 May 2015 Source:FEBS Open Bio Author(s): Yuta Onodera , Takeshi Teramura , Toshiyuki Takehara , Kanji Fukuda One important pharmacological function of hyaluronic acid (HA) in chondrocytes is reduction of cellular superoxide generation and accumulation. Here we demonstrated a relationship between HA supplementation and accumulation of Nuclear factor-erythroid-2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), which is a master transcription factor in cellular redox reactions, in cultured chondrocytes derived from bovine joint cartilage. In HA-treated chondrocytes, expression of Nrf2 and its downstream ...
Source: FEBS Open Bio - May 30, 2015 Category: Molecular Biology Source Type: research
Enhanced oleate uptake and lipotoxicity associated with laurate
In this report, we found that lipotoxicity was enhanced by a combination of laurate and oleate relative to either fatty acid alone. The possible mechanisms involved were examined by measuring the production of reactive oxygen species, mitochondrial depolarization, caspase-3 activity, and lipid droplet formation. Although the stress signals and cell death pathways were distinct among different cell types, we found a common phenomenon of enhanced lipid droplet formation in all cells tested. Using fluorescent- or radioisotope-labeled fatty acids, we found that oleate, but not laurate, increased the uptake of fluorescent-label...
Source: FEBS Open Bio - May 30, 2015 Category: Molecular Biology Source Type: research
Blockage of TGFβ-SMAD2 by demethylation-activated miR-148a is involved in caffeic acid-induced inhibition of cancer stem cell-like properties in vitro and in vivo
Publication date: Available online 29 May 2015 Source:FEBS Open Bio Author(s): Yuan Li , Fei Jiang , Lijun Chen , Ye Yang , Shuyuan Cao , Yuting Ye , Xingxing Wang , Juan Mu , Zhong Li , Lei Li Current standard practices for treatment of cancers are less than satisfactory because of recurrence mediated by cancer stem cells (CSCs). Caffeic acid (CaA) is a novel anti-tumor agent that inhibits proliferation, migration, and invasion in human cancer cells. However, little is known about the functions of CaA in regulating CSCs-like properties and the potential molecular mechanisms. Here, we found that CaA attenuate...
Source: FEBS Open Bio - May 30, 2015 Category: Molecular Biology Source Type: research
Identification of distinctive interdomain interactions among ZP-N, ZP-C and other domains of zona pellucida glycoproteins underlying association of chicken egg-coat matrix
Publication date: Available online 27 May 2015 Source:FEBS Open Bio Author(s): Hiroki Okumura , Takahiro Sato , Rio Sakuma , Hideaki Fukushima , Tsukasa Matsuda , Minoru Ujita The vertebrate egg coat, including mammalian zona pellucida, is an oocyte-specific extracellular matrix comprising two to six zona pellucida (ZP) glycoproteins. The egg coat plays important roles in fertilization, especially in species-specific interactions with sperm to induce the sperm acrosome reaction and to form the block to polyspermy. It is suggested that the physiological functions of the egg coat are mediated and/or regulated coord...
Source: FEBS Open Bio - May 27, 2015 Category: Molecular Biology Source Type: research
Development of reverse genetics for Ibaraki virus to produce viable VP6-tagged IBAV
Publication date: Available online 27 May 2015 Source:FEBS Open Bio Author(s): Eiko Matsuo , Keiichi Saeki , Polly Roy , Junichi Kawano Ibaraki virus (IBAV) is a member of the epizootic hemorrhagic disease virus (EHDV) serogroup, which belongs to the Orbivirus genus of the Reoviridae family. Although EHDV, including IBAV, represents an ongoing threat to livestock in the world, molecular mechanisms of EHDV replication and pathogenesis have been unclear. The reverse genetics (RG) system is one of the strong tools to understand molecular mechanisms of virus replication. Here, we developed a RG system for IBAV to ident...
Source: FEBS Open Bio - May 27, 2015 Category: Molecular Biology Source Type: research
Functional roles of N-terminal and C-terminal domains in the overall activity of a novel single-stranded DNA binding protein of Deinococcus radiodurans
Publication date: 2015 Source:FEBS Open Bio, Volume 5 Author(s): Aman K. Ujaoney , Bhakti Basu , K. Muniyappa , Shree K. Apte Single-stranded DNA binding protein (Ssb) of Deinococcus radiodurans comprises N- and C-terminal oligonucleotide/oligosaccharide binding (OB) folds connected by a beta hairpin connector. To assign functional roles to the individual OB folds, we generated three Ssb variants: SsbN (N-terminal without connector), SsbNC (N-terminal with connector) and SsbC (C-terminal), each harboring one OB fold. Both SsbN and SsbNC displayed weak single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) binding activity, compared to the fu...
Source: FEBS Open Bio - May 18, 2015 Category: Molecular Biology Source Type: research
Immunoglobulin isotype isolated from human placental extract does not interfere in complement-mediated bacterial opsonization within the wound milieu
Publication date: 2015 Source:FEBS Open Bio, Volume 5 Author(s): Kanika Sharma , Debasish Bhattacharyya The wound healing potency of an aqueous extract of placenta can be evaluated through the presence of numerous regulatory components. The presence of glycans was detected by thin layer chromatography and fluorophore-assisted carbohydrate electrophoresis. Mass spectrometric analysis revealed the existence of multiple fragments of immunoglobulin G (IgG). IgG was present in the extract at a concentration of 25.2±3.97μg/ml. IgG possesses anti-complementary activity by diverting the complement activation from target su...
Source: FEBS Open Bio - May 17, 2015 Category: Molecular Biology Source Type: research
Differential adaptive responses to 1- or 2-day fasting in various mouse tissues revealed by quantitative PCR analysis
This study evaluated adaptive cellular responses after 1- or 2-day fasting in 13 mouse tissues by quantitative PCR using 15 marker primer sets for the activation of ubiquitin–proteasome (Atrogin-1 and MuRF1), autophagy–lysosome (LC3b, p62 and Lamp2), amino acid response (Asns, Trib3, Herpud1, xCT, and Chop), Nrf2-mediated antioxidant (HO-1 and Gsta1), and amino acid transport (Slc38a2, Slc7a5, and Slc7a1) systems. Differential activation profiles obtained in seven highly (thymus, liver, spleen, and small intestine) or mildly (stomach, kidney, and colon) atrophied tissues as well as in six non-atrophied tissues (brain, ...
Source: FEBS Open Bio - May 17, 2015 Category: Molecular Biology Source Type: research
Oligomerized CARD16 promotes caspase-1 assembly and IL-1β processing
Publication date: 2015 Source:FEBS Open Bio, Volume 5 Author(s): Tadayoshi Karasawa , Akira Kawashima , Fumitake Usui , Hiroaki Kimura , Koumei Shirasuna , Yoshiyuki Inoue , Takanori Komada , Motoi Kobayashi , Yoshiko Mizushina , Junji Sagara , Masafumi Takahashi Increasing evidence indicates that caspase recruitment domain (CARD)-mediated caspase-1 (CASP1) assembly is an essential process for its activation and subsequent interleukin (IL)-1β release, leading to the initiation of inflammation. Both CARD16 and CARD17 were previously reported as inhibitory homologs of CASP1; however, their molecular function ...
Source: FEBS Open Bio - May 17, 2015 Category: Molecular Biology Source Type: research
Blocking c-Met signaling enhances bone morphogenetic protein-2-induced osteoblast differentiation
Publication date: 2015 Source:FEBS Open Bio, Volume 5 Author(s): Seiji Shibasaki , Sachie Kitano , Miki Karasaki , Sachi Tsunemi , Hajime Sano , Tsuyoshi Iwasaki We previously demonstrated that blocking hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) receptor/c-Met signaling inhibited arthritis and articular bone destruction in mouse models of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). In the present study, we investigated the role of c-Met signaling in osteoblast differentiation using the C2C12 myoblast cell line derived from murine satellite cells and the MC3T3-E1 murine pre-osteoblast cell line. Osteoblast differentiation was induced by treat...
Source: FEBS Open Bio - May 17, 2015 Category: Molecular Biology Source Type: research
Antipsychotics inhibit glucose transport: Determination of olanzapine binding site in Staphylococcus epidermidis glucose/H+ symporter
Publication date: 2015 Source:FEBS Open Bio, Volume 5 Author(s): Petr Babkin , Alayna M. George Thompson , Cristina V. Iancu , D. Eric Walters , Jun-yong Choe The antipsychotic drug olanzapine is widely prescribed to treat schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders. However, it often causes unwanted side effects, including diabetes, due to disruption of insulin-dependant glucose metabolism through a mechanism yet to be elucidated. To determine if olanzapine can affect the first step in glucose metabolism – glucose transport inside cells – we investigated the effect of this drug on the transport activity of a ...
Source: FEBS Open Bio - May 17, 2015 Category: Molecular Biology Source Type: research
Novel insights into structure–function mechanism and tissue-specific expression profiling of full-length dxr gene from Cymbopogon winterianus
In this study, full length DXR from citronella was characterized through in silico and tissue-specific expression studies to explain its structure–function mechanism, mode of cofactor recognition and differential expression. The modelled DXR has a three-domain architecture and its active site comprised of a cofactor (NADPH) binding pocket and the substrate-binding pocket. Molecular dynamics simulation studies indicated that DXR model retained most of its secondary structure during 10ns simulation in aqueous solution. The modelled DXR superimposes well with its closest structural homolog but subtle variations in the charg...
Source: FEBS Open Bio - May 17, 2015 Category: Molecular Biology Source Type: research
4-Oxo-(E)-2-hexenal produced by Heteroptera induces permanent locomotive impairment in crickets that correlates with free thiol depletion
Publication date: 2015 Source:FEBS Open Bio, Volume 5 Author(s): Koji Noge , Judith X. Becerra Heteropterans produce 2-alkenals and 4-keto-2-alkenals that function as defense substances or pheromones. However, in spite of advances in heteropteran chemistry, it is still unclear how these compounds affect insect physiology. We found that exposure to 4-oxo-(E)-2-hexenal (OHE) induced permanent paralysis and death in crickets, an experimental model. The depletion of free thiols in leg tissues of OHE-treated crickets and the in vitro adduct formation of OHE with a thiol compound suggest that covalent binding of OHE to bio...
Source: FEBS Open Bio - May 17, 2015 Category: Molecular Biology Source Type: research
Crystal structure of human nicotinic acid phosphoribosyltransferase
Publication date: Available online 7 May 2015 Source:FEBS Open Bio Author(s): Ada Serena Marletta , Alberto Massarotti , Giuseppe Orsomando , Giulio Magni , Menico Rizzi , Silvia Garavaglia Nicotinic acid phosphoribosyltransferase (EC 2.4.2.11) (NaPRTase) is the rate-limiting enzyme in the three-step Preiss–Handler pathway for the biosynthesis of NAD. The enzyme catalyzes the conversion of nicotinic acid (Na) and 5-phosphoribosyl-1-pyrophosphate (PRPP) to nicotinic acid mononucleotide (NaMN) and pyrophosphate (PPi). Several studies have underlined the importance of NaPRTase for NAD homeostasis in mammals, but n...
Source: FEBS Open Bio - May 17, 2015 Category: Molecular Biology Source Type: research
p38α controls self-renewal and fate decision of neurosphere-forming cells in adult hippocampus
Publication date: Available online 8 May 2015 Source:FEBS Open Bio Author(s): Kento Yoshioka , Kana Namiki , Tatsuhiko Sudo , Yoshitoshi Kasuya Neural stem cells (NSC) from the adult hippocampus easily lose their activity in vitro. Efficient in vitro expansion of adult hippocampus-derived NSC is important for generation of tools for research and cell therapy. Here, we show that a single copy disruption or pharmacological inhibition of p38α enables successful long-term neurosphere culture of adult mouse hippocampal cells. Expanded neurospheres with high proliferative activity differentiated into the three neuronal ...
Source: FEBS Open Bio - May 17, 2015 Category: Molecular Biology Source Type: research
