Phosphodiesterases 4B and 4D Differentially Regulate cAMP Signaling in Calcium Handling Microdomains of Mouse Hearts.

The ubiquitous second messenger 3',5'-cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) regulates cardiac excitation-contraction coupling (ECC) by signaling in discrete subcellular microdomains. Phosphodiesterase subfamilies 4B and 4D are critically involved in the regulation of cAMP signaling in mammalian cardiomyocytes. Alterations of PDE4 activity in human hearts has been shown to result in arrhythmias and heart failure. Here, we sought to systematically investigate specific roles of PDE4B and PDE4D in the regulation of cAMP dynamics in three distinct subcellular microdomains, one of them located at the caveolin-rich plasma membrane which harbors the L-type calcium channels (LTCCs), as well as at two sarco/endoplasmic reticulum (SR) microdomains centered around SR Ca2+-ATPase (SERCA2a) and cardiac ryanodine receptor type 2 (RyR2). Transgenic mice expressing Förster Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET)-based cAMP-specific biosensors targeted to caveolin-rich plasma membrane, SERCA2a and RyR2 microdomains were crossed to PDE4B-KO and PDE4D-KO mice. Direct analysis of the specific effects of both PDE4 subfamilies on local cAMP dynamics was performed using FRET imaging. Our data demonstrate that all three microdomains are differentially regulated by these PDE4 subfamilies. Whereas both are involved in cAMP regulation at the caveolin-rich plasma membrane, there are clearly two distinct cAMP microdomains at the SR formed around RyR2 and SERCA2a, which are preferentially controlled by PDE4B and PDE4D, respectively. This correlates with local cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA) substrate phosphorylation and arrhythmia susceptibility. Immunoprecipitation assays confirmed that PDE4B is associated with RyR2 along with PDE4D. Stimulated Emission Depletion (STED) microscopy of immunostained cardiomyocytes suggested possible co-localization of PDE4B with both sarcolemmal and RyR2 microdomains. In conclusion, our functional approach could show that both PDE4B and PDE4D can differentially regulate cardiac cAMP microdomains associated with calcium homeostasis. PDE4B controls cAMP dynamics in both caveolin-rich plasma membrane and RyR2 vicinity. Interestingly, PDE4B is the major regulator of the RyR2 microdomain, as opposed to SERCA2a vicinity, which is predominantly under PDE4D control, suggesting a more complex regulatory pattern than previously thought, with multiple PDEs acting at the same location.

cAMP Imaging at Ryanodine Receptors Reveals ß2-Adrenoceptor Driven Arrhythmias.

[Figure: see text].

Microbial Fermentation of Industrial Rice-Starch Byproduct as Valuable Source of Peptide Fractions with Health-Related Activity.

The rice-starch processing industry produces large amounts of a protein-rich byproducts during the conversion of broken rice to powder and crystal starch. Given the poor protein solubility, this material is currently discarded or used as animal feed. To fully exploit rice's nutritional properties and reduce this waste, a biotechnological approach was adopted, inducing fermentation with selected microorganisms capable of converting the substrate into peptide fractions with health-related bioactivity. Lactic acid bacteria were preferred to other microorganisms for their safety, efficient proteolytic system, and adaptability to different environments. Peptide fractions with different molecular weight ranges were recovered from the fermented substrate by means of cross-flow membrane filtration. The fractions displayed in vitro antioxidant, antihypertensive, and anti-tyrosinase activities as well as cell-based anti-inflammatory and anti-aging effects. In the future, the peptide fractions isolated from this rice byproduct could be directly exploited as health-promoting functional foods, dietary supplements, and pharmaceutical preparations. The suggested biotechnological process harnessing microbial bioconversion may represent a potential solution for many different protein-containing substrates currently treated as byproducts (or worse, waste) by the food industry.

Angiotensin-II-Evoked Ca2+ Entry in Murine Cardiac Fibroblasts Does Not Depend on TRPC Channels.

TRPC proteins form cation conducting channels regulated by different stimuli and are regulators of the cellular calcium homeostasis. TRPC are expressed in cardiac cells including cardiac fibroblasts (CFs) and have been implicated in the development of pathological cardiac remodeling including fibrosis. Using Ca2+ imaging and several compound TRPC knockout mouse lines we analyzed the involvement of TRPC proteins for the angiotensin II (AngII)-induced changes in Ca2+ homeostasis in CFs isolated from adult mice. Using qPCR we detected transcripts of all Trpc genes in CFs; Trpc1, Trpc3 and Trpc4 being the most abundant ones. We show that the AngII-induced Ca2+ entry but also Ca2+ release from intracellular stores are critically dependent on the density of CFs in culture and are inversely correlated with the expression of the myofibroblast marker α-smooth muscle actin. Our Ca2+ measurements depict that the AngII- and thrombin-induced Ca2+ transients, and the AngII-induced Ca2+ entry and Ca2+ release are not affected in CFs isolated from mice lacking all seven TRPC proteins (TRPC-hepta KO) compared to control cells. However, pre-incubation with GSK7975A (10 µM), which sufficiently inhibits CRAC channels in other cells, abolished AngII-induced Ca2+ entry. Consequently, we conclude the dispensability of the TRPC channels for the acute neurohumoral Ca2+ signaling evoked by AngII in isolated CFs and suggest the contribution of members of the Orai channel family as molecular constituents responsible for this pathophysiologically important Ca2+ entry pathway.

Using FRET-Based Fluorescent Sensors to Monitor Cytosolic and Membrane-Proximal Extracellular ATP Levels.

The assessment of local concentrations of extracellular ATP (eATP) at the site of receptor binding remains a challenge in the field of purinergic signaling. In many cases, biosensors exploiting the principle of Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) have provided useful tools to visualize local concentrations of metabolites. A series of FRET-based biosensors based on the epsilon subunits of bacterial ATP synthases have been described for the visualisation of ATP. These sensors carry ATP-sensing units with different affinities for ATP, permitting imaging of ATP under the widely different concentration conditions found in subcellular locations such as the cytoplasm and the membrane-proximal extracellular space.

Heart failure leads to altered ß2-adrenoceptor/cyclic adenosine monophosphate dynamics in the sarcolemmal phospholemman/Na,K ATPase microdomain.

AIMS: Cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) regulates cardiac excitation-contraction coupling by acting in microdomains associated with sarcolemmal ion channels. However, local real time cAMP dynamics in such microdomains has not been visualized before. We sought to directly monitor cAMP in a microdomain formed around sodium-potassium ATPase (NKA) in healthy and failing cardiomyocytes and to better understand alterations of cAMP compartmentation in heart failure. METHODS AND RESULTS: A novel Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET)-based biosensor termed phospholemman (PLM)-Epac1 was developed by fusing a highly sensitive cAMP sensor Epac1-camps to the C-terminus of PLM. Live cell imaging in PLM-Epac1 and Epac1-camps expressing adult rat ventricular myocytes revealed extensive regulation of NKA/PLM microdomain-associated cAMP levels by ß2-adrenoceptors (ß2-ARs). Local cAMP pools stimulated by these receptors were tightly controlled by phosphodiesterase (PDE) type 3. In chronic heart failure following myocardial infarction, dramatic reduction of the microdomain-specific ß2-AR/cAMP signals and ß2-AR dependent PLM phosphorylation was accompanied by a pronounced loss of local PDE3 and an increase in PDE2 effects. CONCLUSIONS: NKA/PLM complex forms a distinct cAMP microdomain which is directly regulated by ß2-ARs and is under predominant control by PDE3. In heart failure, local changes in PDE repertoire result in blunted ß2-AR signalling to cAMP in the vicinity of PLM.

FRET Microscopy for Real-Time Visualization of Second Messengers in Living Cells.

Förster Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) microscopy is a useful tool in molecular biology and medical research to monitor and quantify real-time dynamics of protein-protein interactions and biochemical processes. Using this well-established technique, many novel signaling mechanisms can be investigated in intact cells or tissues and even in various subcellular compartments. Here, we describe how to perform FRET measurements in living cells expressing FRET-based biosensors and how to evaluate these data. This general protocol can be applied for FRET measurements with various fluorescent biosensors.

Peptide Fractions Obtained from Rice By-Products by Means of an Environment-Friendly Process Show In Vitro Health-Related Bioactivities.

Recently, the isolation of new health-related bioactive molecules derived from agro-food industrial by-products by means of environment-friendly extraction processes has become of particular interest. In the present study, a protein by-product from the rice starch industry was hydrolysed with five commercial proteolytic enzymes, avoiding the use of solvents or chemicals. The digestion processes were optimised, and the digestates were separated in fractions with four different molecular weight ranges by using a cross-flow membrane filtration technique. Total hydrolysates and fractions were tested in vitro for a wide range of biological activities. For the first time rice-derived peptides were assayed for anti-tyrosinase, anti-inflammatory, cytotoxicity and irritation capacities. Antioxidant and anti-hypertensive activities were also evaluated. Protamex, Alcalase and Neutrase treatments produced peptide fractions with valuable bioactivities without resulting cytotoxic or irritant. Highest levels of bioactivity were detected in Protamex-derived samples, followed by samples treated with Alcalase. Based on the present results, a future direct exploitation of isolated peptide fractions in the nutraceutical, functional food and cosmetic industrial fields may be foreseen.

Extracellular aromatic biosurfactant produced by Tsukamurella pseudospumae and T. spumae during growth on n-hexadecane.

Biosurfactants are surface-active agents produced by microorganisms and show increasing significance in various industrial applications. A great variety of these secondary metabolites are described to occur within actinomycetes, amongst trehalose lipids and oligosaccharide lipids produced by the family Tsukamurellaceae. This study reports on the production of not yet described compounds with surface active behavior by non-pathogenic Tsukamurella pseudospumae and Tsukamurella spumae during growth on hydrophobic carbon sources. Extracts of the purified compounds differ in terms of structure and performance properties to other biosurfactants described within their family. Infrared and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopic analysis revealed the presence of aromatic moieties within the surfactant produced, which to date is only known to occur within phenolic glycolipids of some mycobateria.

Advances in inline quantification of co-eluting proteins in chromatography: Process-data-based model calibration and application towards real-life separation issues.

Pooling decisions in preparative liquid chromatography for protein purification are usually based on univariate UV absorption measurements that are not able to differentiate between product and co-eluting contaminants. This can result in inconsistent pool purities or yields, if there is a batch-to-batch variability of the feedstock. To overcome this analytical bottleneck, a tool for selective inline quantification of co-eluting model proteins using mid-UV absorption spectra and Partial Least Squares Regression (PLS) was presented in a previous study and applied for real-time pooling decisions. In this paper, a process-data-based method for the PLS model calibration will be introduced that allows the application of the tool towards chromatography steps of real-life processes. The process-data-based calibration method uses recorded inline mid-UV absorption spectra that are correlated with offline fraction analytics to calibrate PLS models. In order to generate average spectra from the inline data, a Visual Basic for Application macro was successfully developed. The process-data-based model calibration was established using a ternary model protein system. Afterwards, it was successfully demonstrated in two case studies that the calibration method is applicable towards real-life separation issues. The calibrated PLS models allowed a successful quantification of the co-eluting species in a cation-exchange-based aggregate and fraction removal during the purification of monoclonal antibodies and of co-eluting serum proteins in an anion-exchange-based purification of Cohn supernatant I. Consequently, the presented process-data-based PLS model calibration in combination with the tool for selective inline quantification has a great potential for the monitoring of future chromatography steps and may contribute to manage batch-to-batch variability by real-time pooling decisions.

Trehalose lipid biosurfactants produced by the actinomycetes Tsukamurella spumae and T. pseudospumae.

Actinomycetales are known to produce various secondary metabolites including products with surface-active and emulsifying properties known as biosurfactants. In this study, the nonpathogenic actinomycetes Tsukamurella spumae and Tsukamurella pseudospumae are described as producers of extracellular trehalose lipid biosurfactants when grown on sunflower oil or its main component glyceryltrioleate. Crude extracts of the trehalose lipids were purified using silica gel chromatography. The structure of the two trehalose lipid components (TL A and TL B) was elucidated using a combination of matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight/time-of-flight/tandem mass spectroscopy (MALDI-ToF-ToF/MS/MS) and multidimensional NMR experiments. The biosurfactants were identified as 1-α-glucopyranosyl-1-α-glucopyranosid carrying two acyl chains varying of C4 to C6 and C16 to C18 at the 2' and 3' carbon atom of one sugar unit. The trehalose lipids produced demonstrate surface-active behavior and emulsifying capacity. Classified as risk group 1 organisms, T. spumae and T. pseudospumae hold potential for the production of environmentally friendly surfactants.