MinCD cell division proteins form alternating copolymeric cytomotive filaments.

During bacterial cell division, filaments of the tubulin-like protein FtsZ assemble at midcell to form the cytokinetic Z-ring. Its positioning is regulated by the oscillation of MinCDE proteins. MinC is activated by MinD through an unknown mechanism and prevents Z-ring assembly anywhere but midcell. Here, using X-ray crystallography, electron microscopy and in vivo analyses, we show that MinD activates MinC by forming a new class of alternating copolymeric filaments that show similarity to eukaryotic septin filaments. A non-polymerizing mutation in MinD causes aberrant cell division in Escherichia coli. MinCD copolymers bind to membrane, interact with FtsZ and are disassembled by MinE. Imaging a functional msfGFP-MinC fusion protein in MinE-deleted cells reveals filamentous structures. EM imaging of our reconstitution of the MinCD-FtsZ interaction on liposome surfaces reveals a plausible mechanism for regulation of FtsZ ring assembly by MinCD copolymers.

Vaccination and the politics of medical knowledge in nineteenth-century Japan.

The adoption of the cowpox vaccine in nineteenth-century Japan has often been seen as a more straightforward development than its introduction to other non-Western countries. However, the research leading to this conclusion has been based primarily on sources written by Japanese practitioners of Westernstylemedicine (ranpoˉ), while the perspectives of Chinese-style (kanpoˉ) practitioners,who were more numerous than ranpoˉ practitioners but less likely to have shown immediate enthusiasm for vaccination, have been largely neglected. Kanpoˉdoctors typically learned about vaccination from Chinese rather than European sources and often held an ambivalent attitude toward the vaccine's foreign origins.This article develops an analysis of kanpoˉ writings on vaccination and suggests that skepticism about the vaccine remained widespread for at least a decade after its initial arrival in Japan, providing new insights into both the initial opposition and the subsequent acceptance of the technique.

Complexes of the copper-containing amine oxidase from Arthrobacter globiformis with the inhibitors benzylhydrazine and tranylcypromine.

Complexes of Arthrobacter globiformis amine oxidase (AGAO) with the inhibitors benzylhydrazine and tranylcypromine (an antidepressant drug) have been refined at 1.86 and 1.65 A resolution, respectively. Both inhibitors form covalent adducts with the TPQ cofactor. A tyrosine residue, proposed to act as a gate to the AGAO active site, is in its open conformation.

Probing FtsZ and tubulin with C8-substituted GTP analogs reveals differences in their nucleotide binding sites.

The cytoskeletal proteins, FtsZ and tubulin, play a pivotal role in prokaryotic cell division and eukaryotic chromosome segregation, respectively. Selective inhibitors of the GTP-dependent polymerization of FtsZ could constitute a new class of antibiotics, while several inhibitors of tubulin are widely used in antiproliferative therapy. In this work, we set out to identify selective inhibitors of FtsZ based on the structure of its natural ligand, GTP. We found that GTP analogs with small hydrophobic substituents at C8 of the nucleobase efficiently inhibit FtsZ polymerization, whereas they have an opposite effect on the polymerization of tubulin. The inhibitory activity of the GTP analogs on FtsZ polymerization allowed us to crystallize FtsZ in complex with C8-morpholino-GTP, revealing the binding mode of a GTP derivative containing a nonmodified triphosphate chain.

Structural insights into the conformational variability of FtsZ.

FtsZ is a prokaryotic homologue of the eukaryotic cytoskeletal protein tubulin and plays a central role in prokaryotic cell division. Both FtsZ and tubulin are known to pass through cycles of polymerization and depolymerization, but the structural mechanisms underlying this cycle remain to be determined. Comparison of tubulin structures obtained in different states has led to a model in which the tubulin monomer undergoes a conformational switch between a "straight" form found in the walls of microtubules and a "curved" form associated with depolymerization, and it was proposed recently that this model may apply also to FtsZ. Here, we present new structures of FtsZ from47 Aquifex aeolicus,47 Bacillus subtilis, Methanococcus jannaschii and Pseudomonas aeruginosa that provide strong constraints on any proposed role for a conformational switch in the FtsZ monomer. By comparing the full range of FtsZ structures determined in different crystal forms and nucleotide states, and in the presence or in the absence of regulatory proteins, we find no evidence of a conformational change involving domain movement. Our new structural data make it clear that the previously proposed straight and curved conformations of FtsZ were related to inter-species differences in domain orientation rather than two interconvertible conformations. We propose a new model in which lateral interactions help determine the curvature of protofilaments.

Structural basis of ubiquitin recognition by mammalian Eap45 GLUE domain.

ESCRT-II, a complex that sorts ubiquitinated membrane proteins to lysosomes, localizes to endosomes through interaction between the Vps36 subunit's GLUE domain and phosphatidylinositides (PIs). In yeast, a ubiquitin (Ub)-interacting NZF domain is inserted in Vps36 GLUE, whereas its mammalian counterpart, Eap45 GLUE, lacks the NZF domain. In the Eap45 GLUE-Ub complex structure, Ub binds far from the proposed PI-binding site of Eap45 GLUE, suggesting their independent binding.

Eap45 in mammalian ESCRT-II binds ubiquitin via a phosphoinositide-interacting GLUE domain.

Ubiquitination serves as a key sorting signal in the lysosomal degradation of endocytosed receptors through the ability of ubiquitinated membrane proteins to be recognized and sorted by ubiquitin-binding proteins along the endocytic route. The ESCRT-II complex in yeast contains one such protein, Vps36, which harbors a ubiquitin-binding NZF domain and is required for vacuolar sorting of ubiquitinated membrane proteins. Surprisingly, the presumptive mammalian ortholog Eap45 lacks the ubiquitin-binding module of Vps36, and it is thus not clear whether mammalian ESCRT-II functions to bind ubiquitinated cargo. In this paper, we provide evidence that Eap45 contains a novel ubiquitin-binding domain, GLUE (GRAM-like ubiquitin-binding in Eap45), which binds ubiquitin with similar affinity and specificity as other ubiquitin-binding domains. The GLUE domain shares similarities in its primary and predicted secondary structures to phosphoinositide-binding GRAM and PH domains. Accordingly, we find that Eap45 binds to a subset of 3-phosphoinositides, suggesting that ubiquitin recognition could be coordinated with phosphoinositide binding. Furthermore, we show that Eap45 colocalizes with ubiquitinated proteins on late endosomes. These results are consistent with a role for Eap45 in endosomal sorting of ubiquitinated cargo.

Using xenon as a probe for dioxygen-binding sites in copper amine oxidases.

Potential dioxygen-binding sites in three Cu amine oxidases have been investigated by recording X-ray diffraction data at 1.7-2.2A resolution for crystals under a high pressure of xenon gas. Electron-density difference maps and crystallographic refinement provide unequivocal evidence for a number of Xe-binding sites in each enzyme. Only one of these sites is present in all three Cu amine oxidases studied. Structural changes elsewhere in the protein molecules are insignificant. The results illustrate the use of xenon as a probe for cavities, in which a protein may accommodate a dioxygen molecule. The finding of a potential dioxygen-binding cavity close to the active site of Cu amine oxidases may be relevant to the function of the enzymes, since the formation of a transient protein-dioxygen complex is a likely step in the catalytic mechanism. No evidence was found for xenon binding in a region of the molecule that was previously identified in two other Cu amine oxidases as a potential transient dioxygen-binding site.