Knockout of cyclophilin D in Ppif⁻/⁻ mice increases stability of brain mitochondria against Ca²âº stress.

The mitochondrial peptidyl prolyl isomerase cyclophilin D (CypD) activates permeability transition (PT). To study the role of CypD in this process we compared the functions of brain mitochondria isolated from wild type (BMWT) and CypD knockout (Ppif(-/-)) mice (BMKO) with and without CypD inhibitor Cyclosporin A (CsA) under normal and Ca(2+) stress conditions. Our data demonstrate that BMKO are characterized by higher rates of glutamate/malate-dependent oxidative phosphorylation, higher membrane potential and higher resistance to detrimental Ca(2+) effects than BMWT. Under the elevated Ca(2+) and correspondingly decreased membrane potential the dose response in BMKO shifts to higher Ca(2+) concentrations as compared to BMWT. However, significantly high Ca(2+) levels result in complete loss of membrane potential in BMKO, too. CsA diminishes the loss of membrane potential in BMWT but has no protecting effect in BMKO. The results are in line with the assumption that PT is regulated by CypD under the control of matrix Ca(2+). Due to missing of CypD the BMKO can favor PT only at high Ca(2+) concentrations. It is concluded that CypD sensitizes the brain mitochondria to PT, and its inhibition by CsA or CypD absence improves the complex I-related mitochondrial function and increases mitochondria stability against Ca(2+) stress.

Ethanol sensitizes the nervous system of Caenorhabditis elegans nematode to heat stress.

Ethanol sensitizes the nervous system of C. elegans to heat stress, which manifested in exacerbation of locomotion disturbances induced by exposure to constant temperature 36°C. Adaptation of C. elegans to high temperature by heat shock (1 h at 32°C and 1 h at 18°C) or two-hour exposure at 30°C resulted considerably reduced sensitivity of the nervous system to the negative effects of ethanol under conditions of heat stress.

[Characterization of new Caenorhabditis elegans lines with a high thermotolerance].

The lines of Caenorhabditis elegans displaying low (LT) and high (HT1, HT2, and HT3) thermotolerance were obtained from the wild line N2 by artificial selection for thermostability of locomotion and by natural selection in laboratory for thermotolerance of fertility under tolerable environmental temperature elevation. All these lines are new genetic variants that emerged during the experiment. The worms of lines HT2 and HT3 displayed an elevated upper temperature limit for reproduction (from 26 to 27.5 degrees C), thermostability of locomotion at 36 degrees C, and survival at 37 degrees C as compared with the line N2. The results have demonstrated that adaptation of C. elegans to high temperatures is an appropriate laboratory model for studying the mechanisms involved in the evolution of thermotolerance of poikilothermic Metazoa.

Structure of photoreactive binary system of oligonucleotide conjugates assembled on the target nucleotide sequence.

Recently we have developed an approach to superspecific photomodification of nucleic acids by binary systems of oligonucleotides conjugated to precursor groups capable of assembling into photoactivatable structure upon simultaneous binding of the conjugates to the target. We have investigated the solution structure of a model binary system 1:2:3, where 1 is the target 12-mer 5'-pdGTATCAGTTTCT, 2 is the photoreactive conjugate 5'-dAGAAACp-NH(CH2)2NH-Az and 3 is the sensitizing conjugate 5'-Pyr-pdTGATAC (Az is p-azidotetrafluorobenzoyl group and Pyr is the pyrenyl-1-methylamino group). The photoreaction within this complex results in crosslinking of reagent 2 with N7-position of the G7 residue of the target thus indicating that the photoreactive Az residue is located in the major groove near the G7 residue. The center-to-center distances between the Pyr and Az moieties in complex 1:2:3 independently determined by the Pyr-group fluorescence quenching and the Az-group sensitized photodecomposition were 11.2 and 12.6 A, respectively.

[Sensitized photomodification of DNA with binary sysytems of oligonucleotide conjugates. VI. Effect of substituents in the anthracene residue of the sensitizer]. / Sensibilizirovannaia fotomodifikatsiia DNK binarnymi sistemami oligonukleotidnykh kon''iugatov. VI. Vliianie zamestitelei v antratsenovom ostatke sensibilizatora.

Photomodification of ssDNA by binary systems of oligonucleotide conjugates complementary to the adjacent sequences of the target DNA was studied. One of the conjugates comprised a substituted anthracene as a sensitizer; the other, p-azidotetrafluorobenzaldehyde 3-aminopropionylhydrazone as a photoreagent. The sensitized photomodification is initiated by the 365-580-nm light through an efficient energy transfer from the photoexcitated sensitizer onto the photoreagent in a complementary complex of the binary system with the DNA target where the sensitizer and the photoreagent are sterically converged. Influence of substituents in the anthracene residue on the efficiency of the DNA sensitized photomodification was considered. The oligonucleotide conjugate of anthracene-9-al 3-aminopropionylhydrazone allows highly specific initiation of the sensitized photomodification upon irradiation with visible light at > 460 nm in conditions generating no photoreaction in the sensitizer's absence.

[Sensitized photomodification of DNA with binary systems of oligonucleotide conjugates. V. Effect of the structure of the target DNA. Quantitative photomodification]. / Sensibilizirovannaia fotomodifikatsiia DNK binarnymi sistemami oligonukleotidnykh kon''iugatov. V. Vliianie stroeniia DNK-misheni. Kolichestvennaia fotomodifikatsiia.

A sensitized photomodification of several single-stranded target DNAs by binary systems of oligonucleotide conjugates complementary to the adjacent regions of DNA was performed. One of the conjugates contained a sensitizer (pyrene, anthracene, or 1,2-benzanthracene), and another conjugate contained a photoreagent 4-azidotetrafluorobenzalhydrazone. The sensitized photomodification is initiated by irradiation at 365-580 nm due to effective energy transfer from the excited sensitizer to the photoreagent in a complementary complex of the binary system with the target DNA where the sensitizer and photoreagent are brought sterically together. Conditions for the quantitative photomodification of a single-stranded DNA by the binary system of oligonucleotide conjugates were found. The maximum degree of photomodification depends on the number of guanosine residues in the (pG)n sequence of the target DNA at the modification site: at n = 1 the yield of covalent adducts was 62-68%, at n = 2, 75-82%, and at n = 4, 98-99%.

[Sensitized photomodification of DNA with binary systems of oligonucleotide conjugates. IV. Photoinduced electron transfer]. / Sensibilizirovannaia fotomodifikatsiia DNK binarnymi sistemami oligonucleotidnykh kon''iugatov. IV. Foroinditsirovannyi perenos élektronov.

The photomodification of single-stranded DNA sensitized to visible light (450-580 nm) by a binary system of oligonucleotide conjugates complementary to adjacent DNA sequences was studied. One oligonucleotide carries a residue of the photoreagent p-azidotetrafluorobenzaldehyde hydrazone at its 3'-terminal phosphate, and the other has a residue of the sensitizer, perylene or 1,2-benzanthracene, at the 5'-terminal phosphate. The rate of photomodification sensitized by the perylene derivative is 300,000-fold higher than the rate of photomodification in the absence of the sensitizer. Since the excitation energy of perylene is lower than the energy necessary for the initiation of azide photodecomposition, it is likely that the sensitization in the complementary complex occurs by electron transfer from the azido group of the photoreagent to the excited sensitizer. The sensitization by the 1,2-benzanthracene oligonucleotide derivative occurs by means of singlet-singlet energy transfer, which enables this sensitizer to act as a unconsumable catalyst each molecule of which is able to initiate the photomodification of more than 20 DNA molecules. By both mechanisms, the photomodification occurs with high specificity on the G11 residue of the target DNA. The degree of sensitized photomodification reaches 72%.

Sensitized photomodification of single-stranded DNA by a binary system of oligonucleotide conjugates.

A photoactivatable binary system of oligonucleotide conjugates that form reactive species when assembling on a target nucleotide sequence has been developed. The binary system consists of two oligonucleotides. One contains a photosensitizing group, and the second contains a photoreactive group. Binding of the oligonucleotides to adjacent sequences in the target nucleic acid brings the groups in contact, which allows transfer of the absorbed energy from the sensitizer to the reagent and triggers crosslinking of the reagent to the target. One advantage of the binary system is the improved specificity, which is determined by independent binding of two oligonucleotides to the target sequence. Another advantage is the very high efficiency of the reaction achieved because each molecule of the target-bound sensitizing conjugate can activate many photoreactive oligonucleotide conjugate molecules bound to the target sequence.