Human adenovirus Ad-36 induces adipogenesis via its E4 orf-1 gene.

OBJECTIVE: Understanding the regulation of adipocyte differentiation by cellular and extracellular factors is crucial for better management of chronic conditions such as obesity, insulin resistance and lipodystrophy. Experimental infection of rats with a human adenovirus type 36 (Ad-36) improves insulin sensitivity and promotes adipogenesis, reminiscent of the effect of thiozolinediones. Therefore, we investigated the role of Ad-36 as a novel regulator of the adipogenic process. DESIGN AND RESULTS: Even in the absence of adipogenic inducers, infection of 3T3-L1 preadipocytes and human adipose-derived stem cells (hASC) by Ad-36, but not Ad-2 that is another human adenovirus, modulated regulatory points that spanned the entire adipogenic cascade ranging from the upregulation of cAMP, phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase and p38 signaling pathways, downregulation of Wnt10b expression, and increased expression of CCAAT/enhancer binding protein-beta and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma2 and consequential lipid accumulation. Next, we identified that E4 open reading frame (orf)-1 gene of the virus is necessary and sufficient for Ad-36-induced adipogenesis. Selective knockdown of E4 orf-1 by RNAi abrogated Ad-36-induced adipogenic signaling cascade in 3T3-L1 cells and hASC. Compared to the null vector, selective expression of Ad-36 E4 orf-1 in 3T3-L1 induced adipogenesis, which was abrogated when the PDZ-binding domain of the protein was deleted. CONCLUSION: Thus, Ad-36 E4 orf-1 is a novel inducer of rodent and human adipocyte differentiation process.

DNA replication and daughter cell budding are not tightly linked in the protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii.

In the protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii, cell division occurs by an unusual internal budding process whereby two daughter cells develop within and eventually subsume the mother cell. We have examined this process using inhibitors targeted at specific events in the cell cycle. By adding inhibitors to newly established parasites we were able to examine the effects of the inhibitors on parasites treated at the start of intracellular development and many hours prior to the onset of daughter cell budding. As with other eukaryotes, inhibitors of nuclear DNA synthesis blocked parasite DNA synthesis and prevented cell division. Examination of parasites treated with the nuclear DNA synthesis inhibitor aphidicolin showed that the formation of daughter apical complexes and the initiation of budding occurred as normal and only the inability of the nucleus to become incorporated into the daughter cells prevented successful cell division. Moreover, these inhibitory effects of aphidicolin were not reversible. The initiation of nuclear DNA synthesis and cell division in newly invaded Toxoplasma required both gene transcription and protein synthesis, although inhibitors of mitochondrial DNA synthesis, transcription and protein synthesis did not block parasite division. Thus, unlike most eukaryotes, Toxoplasma tachyzoites have separated nuclear DNA replication and mitosis from the events associated with cell division (daughter cell budding). This implies that Toxoplasma tachyzoites may have dispensed with specific cell cycle checkpoints present in other eukaryotes with, in particular, a DNA-replication checkpoint control either missing, or downregulated in this stage of the parasite life cycle.

A plastid segregation defect in the protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii.

Apicomplexan parasites--including the causative agents of malaria (Plasmodium sp.) and toxoplasmosis (Toxoplasma gondii)--harbor a secondary endosymbiotic plastid, acquired by lateral genetic transfer from a eukaryotic alga. The apicoplast has attracted considerable attention, both as an evolutionary novelty and as a potential target for chemotherapy. We report a recombinant fusion (between a nuclear-encoded apicoplast protein, the green fluorescent protein and a rhoptry protein) that targets to the apicoplast but grossly alters its morphology, preventing organellar segregation during parasite division. Apicoplast-deficient parasites replicate normally in the first infectious cycle and can be isolated by fluorescence-activated cell sorting, but die in the subsequent host cell, confirming the 'delayed death' phenotype previously described pharmacologically, and validating the apicoplast as essential for parasite viability.

Proteasome inhibitors block intracellular growth and replication of Toxoplasma gondii.

Lactacystin, a specific inhibitor of proteasomes in eukaryotic cells, did not block parasite entry or the establishment of the parasitophorous vacuole, but did inhibit parasite growth and daughter cell budding, as well as DNA synthesis. Two other proteasome inhibitors, MG-132 and proteasome inhibitor 1, also blocked parasite growth and intracellular development. Adding lactacystin to established, dividing parasites, rapidly blocked parasite growth and daughter cell budding at all stages in the process. Pre-treating host cells with lactacystin did not block parasite entry or development. Moreover, under the conditions used, the host cells appeared not to be adversely affected indicating that host cell proteasome activity was not essential for parasite entry or development. Concomitant with these effects on parasite growth and division were morphological changes in the parasite including the appearance of whorls of ER-derived membranes presumably related to the failure to breakdown misfolded proteins. These changes were specific to lactacystin and were not seen in parasites treated with other protease inhibitors. Although the ER-derived structures resembled autophagic bodies, similar structures could not be induced by serum starvation nor did the membranous whorls acidify or undergo morphological changes consistent with autophagosomal maturation. These results highlight the possible role of proteasome activity in Toxoplasma in intracellular development and the regulation of parasite replication. However, how the dividing parasite recycles its organelles and the functional relationship between any lysosomal autophagic pathway and proteasomes in the parasite remains unresolved.

Microtubules, but not actin filaments, drive daughter cell budding and cell division in Toxoplasma gondii.

We have used drugs to examine the role(s) of the actin and microtubule cytoskeletons in the intracellular growth and replication of the intracellular protozoan parasite, Toxoplasma gondii. By using a 5 minute infection period and adding the drugs shortly after entry we can treat parasites at the start of intracellular development and 6-8 hours prior to the onset of daughter cell budding. Using this approach we found, somewhat surprisingly, that reagents that perturb the actin cytoskeleton in different ways (cytochalasin D, latrunculin A and jasplakinolide) had little effect on parasite replication although they had the expected effects on the host cells. These actin inhibitors did, however, disrupt the orderly turnover of the mother cell organelles leading to the formation of a large residual body at the posterior end of each pair of budding parasites. Treating established parasite cultures with the actin inhibitors blocked ionophore-induced egression of tachyzoites from the host cells, demonstrating that intracellular parasites were susceptible to the effects of these inhibitors. In contrast, the anti-microtubule drugs oryzalin and taxol, and to a much lesser extent nocodazole, which affect microtubule dynamics in different ways, blocked parasite replication by disrupting the normal assembly of the apical conoid and the microtubule inner membrane complex (IMC) in the budding daughter parasites. Centrosome replication and assembly of intranuclear spindles, however, occurred normally. Thus, daughter cell budding per se is dependent primarily on the parasite microtubule system and does not require a dynamic actin cytoskeleton, although disruption of actin dynamics causes problems in the turnover of parasite organelles.

Actin filaments and microtubules play different roles during bristle elongation in Drosophila.

Developing bristles in Drosophila pupae contain 7-11 bundles of crosslinked actin filaments and a large population of microtubules. During bristle growth the rate of cell elongation increases with bristle length. Thin section EM shows that bundle size is correlated with the amount of cytoplasm at all points along the bristle. Thus, as the bristle elongates and tapers, fewer actin filaments are used. To ensure penetration of inhibitors we isolated thoraces and cultured them in vitro; bristles elongate at rates identical to bristles growing in situ. Interestingly, inhibitors of actin filament assembly (cytochalasin D and latrunculin A) dramatically curtailed bristle elongation while a filament stabilizer (jasplakinolide) accelerated elongation. In contrast, inhibitors of microtubule dynamics (nocodazole, vinblastine, colchicine and taxol) did not affect bristle elongation. Surprisingly, the bristle microtubules are stable and do not turn over. Furthermore, the density of microtubules decreases as the bristle elongates. These two facts coupled with calculations and kinetics of elongation and the fact that the microtubules are short indicate that the microtubules are assembled early in development and then transported distally as the bristle grows. We conclude that actin assembly is crucial for bristle cell elongation and that microtubules must furnish other functions such as to provide bulk to the bristle cytoplasm as well as playing a role in vesicle transport.

Identification and characterization of the antigen-specific subpopulation of alloreactive CD4+ T cells in vitro and in vivo.

We report the identification and characterization of the small subpopulation of alloantigen-specific T cells in vitro and in vivo. This subpopulation of T cells was distinguished by up-regulation of cell surface CD4 expression. These CD4high T cells were alloantigen specific in proliferation assays in vitro, and they expressed memory/activation markers, including CD44high and CD69high. Further studies demonstrated that these allospecific CD4high cells were also present (< or = 1% of CD4+ T cells) in vivo in BALB/c (H-2d) recipients of C57BL/6 (H-2b) skin allografts. CD4high T cells isolated from regional draining lymph nodes in these skin graft recipients reacted in a donor-specific fashion to C57BL/6 splenocyte stimulator cells in mixed lymphocyte culture. Adoptive transfer of CD4high, but not CD4normal T cells, just before skin engraftment in CD4 knockout mice, reconstituted rejection. The discovery that a small subpopulation of CD4high lymph node cells contained all of the alloantigen-specific T cells may allow study of tissue-specificity and subsequent alloantigen identification in transplantation.

Regulation of actin filament cross-linking and bundle shape in Drosophila bristles.

Previous studies demonstrate that in developing Drosophila bristles, two cross-linking proteins are required sequentially to bundle the actin filaments that support elongating bristle cells. The forked protein initiates the process and facilitates subsequent cross-linking by fascin. Using cross-linker-specific antibodies, mutants, and drugs we show that fascin and actin are present in excessive amounts throughout bundle elongation. In contrast, the forked cross-linker is limited throughout bundle formation, and accordingly, regulates bundle size and shape. We also show that regulation of cross-linking by phosphorylation can affect bundle size. Specifically, inhibition of phosphorylation by staurosporine results in a failure to form large bundles if added during bundle formation, and leads to a loss of cross-linking by fascin if added after the bundles form. Interestingly, inhibition of dephosphorylation by okadaic acid results in the separation of the actin bundles from the plasma membrane. We further show by thin section electron microscopy analysis of mutant and wild-type bristles that the amount of material that connects the actin bundles to the plasma membrane is also limited throughout bristle elongation. Therefore, overall bundle shape is determined by the number of actin filaments assembled onto the limited area provided by the connector material. We conclude that assembly of actin bundles in Drosophila bristles is controlled in part by the controlled availability of a single cross-linking protein, forked, and in part by controlled phosphorylation of cross-links and membrane actin connector proteins.

The plastid of Toxoplasma gondii is divided by association with the centrosomes.

Apicomplexan parasites harbor a single nonphotosynthetic plastid, the apicoplast, which is essential for parasite survival. Exploiting Toxoplasma gondii as an accessible system for cell biological analysis and molecular genetic manipulation, we have studied how these parasites ensure that the plastid and its 35-kb circular genome are faithfully segregated during cell division. Parasite organelles were labeled by recombinant expression of fluorescent proteins targeted to the plastid and the nucleus, and time-lapse video microscopy was used to image labeled organelles throughout the cell cycle. Apicoplast division is tightly associated with nuclear and cell division and is characterized by an elongated, dumbbell-shaped intermediate. The plastid genome is divided early in this process, associating with the ends of the elongated organelle. A centrin-specific antibody demonstrates that the ends of dividing apicoplast are closely linked to the centrosomes. Treatment with dinitroaniline herbicides (which disrupt microtubule organization) leads to the formation of multiple spindles and large reticulate plastids studded with centrosomes. The mitotic spindle and the pellicle of the forming daughter cells appear to generate the force required for apicoplast division in Toxoplasma gondii. These observations are discussed in the context of autonomous and FtsZ-dependent division of plastids in plants and algae.

Induction of an acrosomal process in Toxoplasma gondii: visualization of actin filaments in a protozoan parasite.

The invasive stages of Toxoplasma gondii, an Apicomplexan parasite, actively invade their host cells in an actin-dependent way. However, despite containing biochemically significant amounts of actin, actin filaments have never been observed in these parasites. Jasplakinolide, a membrane-permeable actin-polymerizing and filament-stabilizing drug, induced the polymerization of actin filaments at the anterior end of each tachyzoite in association with the conoid, where they formed, in many cases, a prominent membrane-enclosed apical projection reminiscent of acrosomal processes of invertebrate sperm. These jasplakinolide-induced filaments decorated with myosin subfragment 1, demonstrating unequivocally that they were indeed actin. Jasplakinolide-treated tachyzoites were unable to invade host cells, but once the drug was removed the parasites were able to enter host cells. Actin polymerization at the apical end of the parasite is consistent with the role of the apical end in host-cell invasion powered by a jackhammer-like extension and retraction of the conoid complex coupled to the secretion and rearward capping of surface proteins.

Theileria parva: sporozoite entry into bovine lymphocytes is not dependent on the parasite cytoskeleton.

The main conclusion from the present study is that T. parva sporozoite entry is dependent on a functional host cell actin cytoskeleton and is not driven by the parasite. Treating lymphocytes with cytochalasin D resulted in a dose-dependent reduction in the levels of host cell infection. However, the primary effect was to block sporozoite binding and only at the highest concentration (20 microM) was sporozoite internalization significantly reduced. In fact at lower concentrations (1-10 microM) cytochalasin treatment lead to a relative increase in sporozoite internalization. The results are consistent with sporozoite entry being primarily a passive process and with a functional host cell actin cytoskeleton that is required only to maintain the molecular integrity of the surface membrane. Thus T. parva sporozoite entry differs from the process in other apicomplexans, although the results are consistent with a number of features of sporozoite biology. Treatment of lymphocytes with either the microtubule-destabilizing agent, nocodazole, or taxol, which induces microtubule polymerization, had no significant effect on sporozoite binding or entry. As both reagents had the expected effects on the lymphocyte microtubule system, it is unlikely that host cell microtubules are essential for successful sporozoite invasion or establishment.

Local delivery of TNF by retrovirus-transduced T lymphocytes exacerbates experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis.

Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) is an inflammatory autoimmune disease of the central nervous system that serves as a model for the human disease multiple sclerosis. Paralysis is "induced" by CD4+ T cells of the Th1 phenotype. Tumor necrosis factor (TNF), a Th1 type cytokine, has been shown to be upregulated in the CNS during the onset of EAE, and systemic manipulations of TNF have had substantial effects on disease progression. However, the precise role of TNF in EAE has been called into question by recent experiments utilizing TNF and lymphotoxin knockout mice. We demonstrate here that the local delivery of TNF by myelin basic protein (MBP)-specific T cells, retrovirally transduced to express TNF, exacerbated MBP-induced disease following adoptive transfer into syngeneic mice.

Acidic compartments and rhoptry formation in Toxoplasma gondii.

DAMP (3-(2,4-dinitroanilino)-3'amino-N-methyldipropylamine), which differentially accumulates in acidic compartments, was used to identify such compartments in Toxoplasma gondii tachyzoites at the electron microscope level. In both free tachyzoites and dividing intracellular parasites the only sites of DAMP accumulation were mature and forming rhoptries. No labelling of other secretory organelles (micronemes and dense granules), the ER, Golgi or any other membrane-bounded organelles or anything resembling a lysosomal system was observed. Labelling of the forming rhoptries was higher and more homogenous than in mature rhoptries in which labelling was confined to the expanded ends of each organelle. The acid pH-dependent accumulation of DAMP in the forming and mature rhoptries was blocked by ammonium chloride and monensin, reagents known to abolish intracellular pH gradients. Estimates of rhoptry pH, based on the level of DAMP accumulation, show that the intralumenal pH of forming rhoptries is more acidic (pH 5.5-3.5) than the mature rhoptries (pH 7.0-5.0).

Why are two different cross-linkers necessary for actin bundle formation in vivo and what does each cross-link contribute?

In developing Drosophila bristles two species of cross-linker, the forked proteins and fascin, connect adjacent actin filaments into bundles. Bundles form in three phases: (a) tiny bundles appear; (b) these bundles aggregate into larger bundles; and (c) the filaments become maximally cross-linked by fascin. In mutants that completely lack forked, aggregation of the bundles does not occur so that the mature bundles consist of <50 filaments versus approximately 700 for wild type. If the forked concentration is genetically reduced to half the wild type, aggregation of the tiny bundles occurs but the filaments are poorly ordered albeit with small patches of fascin cross-linked filaments. In mutants containing an excess of forked, all the bundles tend to aggregate and the filaments are maximally crossbridged by fascin. Alternatively, if fascin is absent, phases 1 and 2 occur normally but the resultant bundles are twisted and the filaments within them are poorly ordered. By extracting fully elongated bristles with potassium iodide which removes fascin but leaves forked, the bundles change from being straight to twisted and the filaments within them become poorly ordered. From these observations we conclude that (a) forked is used early in development to aggregate the tiny bundles into larger bundles; and (b) forked facilitates fascin entry into the bundles to maximally cross-link the actin filaments into straight, compact, rigid bundles. Thus, forked aligns the filaments and then directs fascin binding so that inappropriate cross-linking does not occur.

Actin filament cables in Drosophila nurse cells are composed of modules that slide passively past one another during dumping.

At a late stage in Drosophila oogenesis, nurse cells rapidly expel their cytoplasm into the oocyte via intracellular bridges by a process called nurse cell dumping. Before dumping, numerous cables composed of actin filaments appear in the cytoplasm and extend inward from the plasma membrane toward the nucleus. This actin cage prevents the nucleus, which becomes highly lobed, from physically blocking the intracellular bridges during dumping. Each cable is composed of a linear series of modules composed of approximately 25 cross-linked actin filaments. Adjacent modules overlap in the cable like the units of an extension ladder. During cable formation, individual modules are nucleated from the cell surface as microvilli, released, and then cross-linked to an adjacent forming module. The filaments in all the modules in a cable are unidirectionally polarized. During dumping as the volume of the cytoplasm decreases, the nucleus to plasma membrane distance decreases, compressing the actin cables that shorten as adjacent modules slide passively past one another just as the elements of an extension ladder slide past one another for storage. In Drosophila, the modular construction of actin cytoskeletons seems to be a generalized strategy. The behavior of modular actin cytoskeletons has implications for other actin-based cytoskeletal systems, e.g., those involved in Listeria movement, in cell spreading, and in retrograde flow in growth cones and fibroblasts.

The roles of temperature, pH and mosquito factors as triggers of male and female gametogenesis of Plasmodium berghei in vitro.

Developmentally arrested malarial gametocytes undergo gamete formation in the mosquito midgut immediately after ingestion of the infected bloodmeal. In the rodent malaria parasite Plasmodium berghei male gametogenesis (exflagellation) can be induced in vitro by a temperature decrease (from 39 degrees C in the vertebrate host to 20 degrees C) and a concomitant pH increase (from 7.3 in mouse blood to 8.0). We report the presence of additional Gametocyte Activating Factor(s) (GAF) present in Anopheles stephensi tissue extracts, which induce both male and female gametogenesis at the otherwise nonpermissive pH of 7.3 in vitro but are unable to overcome the low temperature requirement. All constituent cellular events of microgametogeneis studied here are induced by the same triggers in vitro. A temperature decrease is also required for exflagellation in the mosquito midgut. The possible role of GAF as a second obligatory natural trigger of gametogenesis is discussed.

The same but different: the biology of Theileria sporozoite entry into bovine cells.

Theileria are important tick-transmitted protozoan parasites that infect wild Bovidae and domestic animals throughout much of the world. Much of our understanding of Theileria sporozoite invasion of bovine cells is based on work on T. parva, the causative agent of East Coast fever in cattle throughout east, central and southern Africa. Sporozoite entry involves a defined series of sequential but separable steps that differ in important details from the invasion process in other apicomplexans such as Plasmodium and Toxoplasma. While the morphological features of invasion are fairly well documented, the detailed biology of the individual steps is only now becoming clear. This review summarizes much of this recent work on the biology of sporozoite entry. In particular, recent studies on the role of Ca2+ and cell activation processes in sporozoite entry suggest that the initial sporozoite binding event triggers the mobilization of intrasporozoite Ca2+ and the activation of both kinase and G-protein associated signalling processes in the parasite. These processes in turn regulate the invasive capacity of the sporozoite although the identity of these parasite molecules and how they contribute to the invasion process remain to be determined.

Local delivery of interleukin 4 by retrovirus-transduced T lymphocytes ameliorates experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis.

Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) is an inflammatory autoimmune disease of the central nervous system which serves as a model for the human disease multiple sclerosis. We demonstrate here that encephalitogenic T cells, transduced with a retroviral gene, construct to express interleukin 4, and can delay the onset and reduce the severity of EAE when adoptively transferred to myelin basic protein-immunized mice. Thus, T lymphocytes transduced with retroviral vectors can deliver "regulatory cytokines" in a site-specific manner and may represent a viable therapeutic strategy for the treatment of autoimmune disease.

Theileria parva sporozoite entry into bovine lymphocytes involves both parasite and host cell signal transduction processes.

Theileria parva sporozoites rapidly enter bovine lymphocytes. Since lymphocytes are normally nonphagocytes sporozoite binding to the host cell surface must initiate events in the host cell, leading to the internalization of the parasite. In the present study inhibitors of various key molecules in cell signal transduction and activation pathways, in combination with a method of quantitation, have been used to examine the possible role(s) of these systems in sporozoite entry. A variety of protein kinase inhibitors caused significant inhibition of sporozoite entry. Moreover, protein kinase activities in both the sporozoite and the host cell were essential to sporozoite invasion. Down-regulation of lymphocyte protein kinase C and inhibitors of phospholipase C but not phospholipase A2 activity also blocked sporozoite entry. Parasite entry could also be blocked by inhibitors of G protein activity. Treatment of sporozoites with AIF(3-5) blocked parasite binding while treatment of host cells inhibited sporozoite internalization. Furthermore, sporozoite entry was dependent on a cholera toxin-inhibitable process(es), whereas mastroparan and pertussis toxin had no significant inhibitory effects. Collectively these results provide initial evidence for both parasite protein kinase- and G protein-dependent processes as well as the participation of a variety of host cell signal transduction pathways in the sporozoite entry process.

Localization of ribosomal RNA and Pbs21-mRNA in the sexual stages of Plasmodium berghei using electron microscope in situ hybridization.

A reproducible technique for the ultrastructural localization of RNAs in malaria parasites has been developed which combines excellent structural preservation with high hybridization signals. Signals obtained following in situ hybridization with an antisense rRNA probe which recognizes all forms of small subunit (SSU) rRNA correlate with the density of ribosomes in the parasite cytoplasm and show that a) the male gametocyte has only 12 to 25% the ribosomes found in the female cell and asexual parasite and b) the probe did not hybridize with an electron-dense nuclear body previously called a nucleolus. We suggest this structure is either a transcription-, or a replication-factory. Using a probe for the sexual stage-specific protein Pbs21 mRNA, signal was found only in female gametocytes, zygotes and ookinetes and showed a non-random, clumped cytoplasmic distribution. It is not known at present whether the non-random distribution of the Pbs 21 mRNA is critical to the very delayed translation of the Pbs21 message into protein, which occurs only in the zygote and ookinete.