Quantitative risk assessment of China's first liquid hydrogen refueling station.

Hydrogen refueling stations (HRSs) are among the most important infrastructures for fuel cell vehicles. However, the safety issue of HRSs has become a key constraint to the wide application and development of hydrogen energy. This article presents a quantitative risk assessment of the first liquid HRS (LHRS) in China and conducts a comprehensive assessment in terms of both individual (IR) and societal risks (SRs). The results showed that both the IRs and SRs related to the LHRS exceeded the risk acceptance criteria. The rupture of the flexible hose of the dispenser and the leak from the compressor are the main contributors to these risks. On the other hand, implementing appropriate mitigation measures on the level of the LHRS dispenser and compressor, including the addition of breakaway couplings in the flexible hose of the dispenser, the installation of hydrogen detection sensors, the arrangement of automatic and manual emergency shutdown buttons, and the elevation of the compressor, is capable of reducing the risk of the LHRS to be within the risk acceptance criteria.

Giant axon formation in mice lacking Kell, XK, or Kell and XK: animal models of McLeod neuroacanthocytosis syndrome.

McLeod neuroacanthocytosis syndrome (MLS) is a rare X-linked multisystem disease caused by XK gene mutations and characterized by hematological and neurological abnormalities. XK, a putative membrane transporter, is expressed ubiquitously and is covalently linked to Kell, an endothelin-3-converting enzyme (ECE-3). Absence of XK results in reduction of Kell at sites where both proteins are coexpressed. To elucidate the functional roles of XK, Kell, and the XK-Kell complex associated with pathogenesis in MLS, we studied the pathology of the spinal cord, anterior roots, sciatic nerve, and skeletal muscle from knockout mouse models, using Kel(-/-), Xk(-/-), Kel(-/-)Xk(-/-), and wild-type mice aged 6 to 18 months. A striking finding was that giant axons were frequently associated with paranodal demyelination. The pathology suggests probable anterograde progression from the spinal cord to the sciatic nerve. The neuropathological abnormalities were found in all three genotypes, but were more marked in the double-knockout Kel(-/-)Xk(-/-) mice than in either Kel(-/-) or Xk(-/-) mice. Skeletal muscles from Xk(-/-) and Kel(-/-)Xk(-/-) mice showed mild abnormalities, but those from Kel(-/-) mice were similar to the wild type. The more marked neuropathological abnormalities in Kel(-/-)Xk(-/-) mice suggest a possible functional association between XK and Kell in nonerythroid tissues.

Changes in red cell ion transport, reduced intratumoral neovascularization, and some mild motor function abnormalities accompany targeted disruption of the Mouse Kell gene (Kel).

Kell (ECE-3), a highly polymorphic blood group glycoprotein, displays more than 30 antigens that produce allo-antibodies and, on red blood cells (RBCs), is complexed through a single disulfide bond with the integral membrane protein, XK. XK is a putative membrane transporter whose absence results in a late onset form of neuromuscular abnormalities known as the McLeod syndrome. Although Kell glycoprotein is known to be an endothelin-3-converting enzyme, the full extent of its physiological function is unknown. To study the functions of Kell glycoprotein, we undertook targeted disruption of the murine Kel gene by homologous recombination. RBCs from Kel(-/-) mice lacked Kell glycoprotein, Kell/XK complex, and endothelin-3-converting enzyme activity and had reduced levels of XK. XK mRNA levels in spleen, brain, and testis were unchanged. In Kel(-/-) mice RBC Gardos channel activity was increased and the normal enhancement by endothelin-3 was blunted. Analysis of the microvessels of tumors produced from LL2 cells indicated that the central portion of tumors from wild-type mice were populated with many mature blood vessels, but that vessels in tumors from Kel(-/-) mice were fewer and smaller. The absence of Kell glycoprotein mildly affected some motor activities identified by foot splay on the drop tests. The targeted disruption of Kel in mouse enabled us to identify phenotypes that would not be easily detected in humans lacking Kell glycoprotein. In this regard, the Kell knockout mouse provides a good animal model for the study of normal and/or pathophysiological functions of Kell glycoprotein.

Characterization of STIP, a multi-domain nuclear protein, highly conserved in metazoans, and essential for embryogenesis in Caenorhabditis elegans.

We report here the identification and characterization of STIP, a multi-domain nuclear protein that contains a G-patch, a coiled-coil, and several short tryptophan-tryptophan repeats highly conserved in metazoan species. To analyze their functional role in vivo, we cloned nematode stip-1 genes and determined the spatiotemporal pattern of Caenorhabditis elegans STIP-1 protein. RNA analyses and Western blots revealed that stip-1 mRNA was produced via trans-splicing and translated as a 95-kDa protein. Using reporter constructs, we found STIP-1 to be expressed at all developmental stages and in many tissue/cell types including worm oocyte nuclei. We found that STIP-1 is targeted to the nucleus and forms large polymers with a rod-like shape when expressed in mammalian cells. Using deletion mutants, we mapped the regions of STIP-1 involved in nuclear import and polymer assembly. We further showed that knockdown of C. elegans stip-1 by RNA interference arrested development and resulted in morphologic abnormalities around the 16-cell stage followed by 100% lethality, suggesting its essential role in worm embryogenesis. Importantly, the embryonic lethal phenotype could be faithfully rescued with Drosophila and human genes via transgenic expression. Our data provide the first direct evidence that STIP have a conserved essential nuclear function across metazoans from worms to humans.

Insights into extensive deletions around the XK locus associated with McLeod phenotype and characterization of two novel cases.

The McLeod phenotype is derived from various forms of XK gene defects that result in the absence of XK protein, and is defined hematologically by the absence of Kx antigen, weakening of Kell system antigens, and red cell acanthocytosis. Individuals with the McLeod phenotype usually develop late-onset neuromuscular abnormalities known as the McLeod syndrome (MLS). MLS is an X-linked multi-system disorder caused by absence of XK alone, or when the disorder is caused by large deletions, it may be accompanied with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), chronic granulomatous disease (CYBB), retinitis pigmentosa (RPGR), and ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency (OTC). XK defects derived from a large deletion at the XK locus (Xp21.1) have not been characterized at the molecular level. In this study, the deletion breakpoints of two novel cases of McLeod phenotype with extensive deletions are reported. Case 1 has greater than 1.12 million base-pairs (mb) deletion around the XK locus with 7 genes affected. Case 2 has greater than 5.65 mb deletion from TCTE1L to DMD encompassing 20 genes. Phylogenetic analyses demonstrated that DMD, XK and CYBB have close paralogs, some of which may partially substitute for the functions of their counterparts. The loci around XK are highly conserved from fish to human; however, the disorders are probably specific to mammals, and may coincide with the translocation of the loci to the X chromosome after the speciation in birds. The non-synonymous to synonymous nucleotide substitution rate ratio (omega=dN/dS) in these genes was examined. CYBB and RPGR show evidence of positive selection, whereas DMD, XK and OTC are subject to selective constraint.

Expression profiles of mouse Kell, XK, and XPLAC mRNA.

Kell and XK are related because in red cells they exist as a disulfide-bonded complex. Kell is an endothelin-3-converting enzyme, and XK is predicted to be a transporter. Absence of XK, which is accompanied by reduced Kell on red cells, results in acanthocytosis and late-onset forms of central nervous system and neuromuscular abnormalities that characterize the McLeod syndrome. In this study, expression of mouse XK, XPLAC, a homolog of XK, and Kell were compared by in situ hybridization histochemistry (ISHH) and RT-PCR. ISHH showed that Kell and XK are coexpressed in erythroid tissues. ISHH detected XK, but not Kell, mRNA in testis, but RT-PCR indicated that both Kell and XK are coexpressed. XK, but not Kell, was significantly expressed in brain, spinal cord, small intestine, heart, stomach, bladder, and kidney. ISHH did not detect XK in skeletal muscle but RT-PCR did. In brain, XK was predominantly expressed in neuronal rather than in supportive cells. By contrast, XPLAC was predominantly expressed in the thymus. Coexpression of Kell and XK in erythroid tissues and the different expressions in non-erythroid tissues suggest that XK may have a complementary hematological function with Kell and a separate role in other tissues.

Dusty protein kinases: primary structure, gene evolution, tissue specific expression and unique features of the catalytic domain.

Ser/Thr- and Tyr-Protein kinases constitute a key switch underlying the dynamic nature and graded regulation of signal transduction and pathway activities in cellular organization. Here we describe the identification and characterization of Dusty, a single-copy gene that arose in metazoan evolution and encodes a putative dual Ser/Thr and Tyr protein kinase with unique structural features. Dusty is widely expressed in vertebrates, broadly distributed in the central nervous system, and deregulated in certain human cancers. Confocal imaging of transiently expressed human Dusty-GFP fusion proteins showed a cytoplasmic distribution. Dusty proteins from lower to higher species display an increasing degree of sequence conservation from the N-terminal non-catalytic domain to C-terminal catalytic domain. The non-catalytic region has eight conserved cysteine residues, multiple potential kinase-docking motifs and phosphorylation sites, whereas the catalytic domain is divergent and about equally distant of Ser/Thr and Tyr protein kinases. Homology analyses identified the essential catalytic residues, suggesting that Dusty homologues all possess the enzymatic activity of a protein kinase. Taken together, Dusty is a unique evolutionarily selected group of divergent protein kinases that may play important functional roles in the brain and other tissues of vertebrates.

Identification of two new members, XPLAC and XTES, of the XK family.

XK, a putative membrane transporter, is a component of the XK/Kell complex of the Kell blood group system. XK's substrate is unknown but absence of the protein, as occurs in the McLeod phenotype, is associated with red cell acanthocytosis and late onset central nervous system and neuromuscular abnormalities known as the McLeod syndrome. We have cloned two cDNAs, XPLAC (GenBank accession no. AY589511) and XTES (GenBank accession no. AY989815), which are closely related to XK and define them together as the XK family. XPLAC has a 2.9 kb cDNA that encodes 462 amino acids and XTES has a 1.6 kb cDNA coding 459 amino acids. The predicted molecular weights are 53.6 kDa for XPLAC and 53.4 kDa for XTES, which are similar to that of XK, which is 50.9 kDa. Unlike XK which is ubiquitously expressed XPLAC is expressed mostly in placenta and adrenal gland while XTES is exclusively expressed in primate testis. XPLAC has 37% and XTES has 31% amino acid identity with XK protein and they are predicted to have a similar topology to XK. XPLAC, like XK, has 3 exons and is located on X chromosome at q22.1, while XTES has 4 exons and is located at 22q11.1. Phylogenetic analysis shows that there are at least 5 additional vertebrate genes that are evolutionarily distantly related to the XK family. A domain with consensus sequences (ced-8 domain) for the extended family is described.

Evolutionary conservation and diversification of Rh family genes and proteins.

Rhesus (Rh) proteins were first identified in human erythroid cells and recently in other tissues. Like ammonia transporter (Amt) proteins, their only homologues, Rh proteins have the 12 transmembrane-spanning segments characteristic of transporters. Many think Rh and Amt proteins transport the same substrate, NH(3)/NH(4)(+), whereas others think that Rh proteins transport CO(2) and Amt proteins NH(3). In the latter view, Rh and Amt are different biological gas channels. To reconstruct the phylogeny of the Rh family and study its coexistence with and relationship to Amt in depth, we analyzed 111 Rh genes and 260 Amt genes. Although Rh and Amt are found together in organisms as diverse as unicellular eukaryotes and sea squirts, Rh genes apparently arose later, because they are rare in prokaryotes. However, Rh genes are prominent in vertebrates, in which Amt genes disappear. In organisms with both types of genes, Rh had apparently diverged away from Amt rapidly and then evolved slowly over a long period. Functionally divergent amino acid sites are clustered in transmembrane segments and around the gas-conducting lumen recently identified in Escherichia coli AmtB, in agreement with Rh proteins having new substrate specificity. Despite gene duplications and mutations, the Rh paralogous groups all have apparently been subject to strong purifying selection indicating functional conservation. Genes encoding the classical Rh proteins in mammalian red cells show higher nucleotide substitution rates at nonsynonymous codon positions than other Rh genes, a finding that suggests a possible role for these proteins in red cell morphogenetic evolution.

Magmas gene structure and evolution.

Magmas is a nuclear encoded protein found in the mitochondria of mammalian cells. It participates in granulocyte-macrophage-colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) signaling in hematopoietic cells and has an essential role in invertebrate development. In order to characterize the protein structural features and gene evolution of Magmas, a dataset containing 61 Magmas homologs from 52 species distributed among animals, plants and fungi was analyzed. All Magmas members were found to possess three novel sequence motifs in addition to a conserved leader peptide. Phylogenetic tree and dN/dS rate ratios showed that Magmas was evolutionarily conserved. Analysis of Magmas gene organization demonstrated incremental intron acquisition in plants and vertebrates. Significant genetic diversity in Magmas was observed from kingdom specific amino acid signatures, the presence of predicted signal peptides that target the protein to other intracellular locations besides the mitochondria, and the detection of multiple isoforms in higher animals. These studies demonstrate that Magmas members constitute an important family of conserved proteins having multifunctional activities, and provide a basis for future experiments.

The structure, expression and function prediction of DAZAP2, a down-regulated gene in multiple myeloma.

In our previous studies, DAZAP2 gene expression was down-regulated in untreated patients of multiple myeloma (MM). For better studying the structure and function of DAZAP2, a full-length cDNA was isolated from mononuclear cells of a normal human bone marrow, sequenced and deposited to Genbank (AY430097). This sequence has an identical ORF (open reading frame) as the NM_014764 from human testis and the D31767 from human cell line KG-1. Phylogenetic analysis and structure prediction reveal that DAZAP2 homologues are highly conserved throughout evolution and share a polyproline region and several potential SH2/SH3 binding sites. DAZAP2 occurs as a single-copy gene with a four-exon organization. We further noticed that the functional DAZAP2 gene is located on Chromosome 12 and its pseudogene gene is on Chromosome 2 with electronic location of human chromosome in Genbank, though no genetic abnormalities of MM have been reported on Chromosome 12. The ORF of human DAZAP2 encodes a 17-kDa protein, which is highly similar to mouse Prtb. The DAZAP2 protein is mainly localized in cytoplasm with a discrete pattern of punctuated distribution. DAZAP2 may associate with carcinogenesis of MM and participate in yet-to-be identified signaling pathways to regulate proliferation and differentiation of plasma cells.