Modulation of cellular membrane properties as a potential therapeutic strategy to counter lipointoxication in obstructive pulmonary diseases.

Maintaining the equilibrium between saturated and unsaturated fatty acids within membrane phospholipids (PLs) is crucial to sustain the optimal membrane biophysical properties, compatible with selective organelle-based processes. Lipointoxication is a pathological condition under which saturated PLs tend to accumulate within the cell at the expense of unsaturated species, with major impacts on organelle function. Here, we show that human bronchial epithelial cells extracted from lungs of patients with Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases (OPDs), i. e. Cystic Fibrosis (CF) individuals and Smokers, display a characteristic lipointoxication signature, with excessive amounts of saturated PLs. Reconstitution of this signature in cellulo and in silico revealed that such an imbalance results in altered membrane properties and in a dramatic disorganization of the intracellular network of bronchial epithelial cells, in a process which can account for several OPD traits. Such features include Endoplasmic Reticulum-stress, constitutive IL8 secretion, bronchoconstriction and, ultimately, epithelial cell death by apoptosis. We also demonstrate that a recently-identified lipid-like molecule, which has been shown to behave as a "membrane-reshaper", counters all the lipointoxication hallmarks tested. Altogether, these insights highlight the modulation of membrane properties as a potential new strategy to heal and prevent highly detrimental symptoms associated with OPDs.

Transcriptomics and Lipidomics of the Environmental Strain Rhodococcus ruber Point out Consumption Pathways and Potential Metabolic Bottlenecks for Polyethylene Degradation.

Polyethylene (PE), one of the most prominent synthetic polymers used worldwide, is very poorly biodegradable in the natural environment. Consequently, PE represents by itself more than half of all plastic wastes. PE biodegradation is achieved through the combination of abiotic and biotic processes. Several microorganisms have been shown to grow on the surface of PE materials, among which are the species of the Rhodococcus genus, suggesting a potent ability of these microorganisms to use, at least partly, PE as a potent carbon source. However, most of them, if not all, fail to induce a clear-cut degradation of PE samples, showing that bottlenecks to reach optimal biodegradation clearly exist. To identify the pathways involved in PE consumption, we used in the present study a combination of RNA-sequencing and lipidomic strategies. We show that short-term exposure to various forms of PE, displaying different molecular weight distributions and oxidation levels, lead to an increase in the expression of 158 genes in a Rhodococcus representative, R. ruber. Interestingly, one of the most up-regulated pathways is related to alkane degradation and ß-oxidation of fatty acids. This approach also allowed us to identify metabolic limiting steps, which could be fruitfully targeted for optimized PE consumption by R. ruber.

Targeting surface voids to counter membrane disorders in lipointoxication-related diseases.

Saturated fatty acids (SFA), which are abundant in the so-called western diet, have been shown to efficiently incorporate within membrane phospholipids and therefore impact on organelle integrity and function in many cell types. In the present study, we have developed a yeast-based two-step assay and a virtual screening strategy to identify new drugs able to counter SFA-mediated lipointoxication. The compounds identified here were effective in relieving lipointoxication in mammalian ß-cells, one of the main targets of SFA toxicity in humans. In vitro reconstitutions and molecular dynamics simulations on bilayers revealed that these molecules, albeit according to different mechanisms, can generate voids at the membrane surface. The resulting surface defects correlate with the recruitment of loose lipid packing or void-sensing proteins required for vesicular budding, a central cellular process that is precluded under SFA accumulation. Taken together, the results presented here point at modulation of surface voids as a central parameter to consider in order to counter the impacts of SFA on cell function.

Structural insight into negative DNA supercoiling by DNA gyrase, a bacterial type 2A DNA topoisomerase.

Type 2A DNA topoisomerases (Topo2A) remodel DNA topology during replication, transcription and chromosome segregation. These multisubunit enzymes catalyze the transport of a double-stranded DNA through a transient break formed in another duplex. The bacterial DNA gyrase, a target for broad-spectrum antibiotics, is the sole Topo2A enzyme able to introduce negative supercoils. We reveal here for the first time the architecture of the full-length Thermus thermophilus DNA gyrase alone and in a cleavage complex with a 155 bp DNA duplex in the presence of the antibiotic ciprofloxacin, using cryo-electron microscopy. The structural organization of the subunits of the full-length DNA gyrase points to a central role of the ATPase domain acting like a 'crossover trap' that may help to sequester the DNA positive crossover before strand passage. Our structural data unveil how DNA is asymmetrically wrapped around the gyrase-specific C-terminal ß-pinwheel domains and guided to introduce negative supercoils through cooperativity between the ATPase and ß-pinwheel domains. The overall conformation of the drug-induced DNA binding-cleavage complex also suggests that ciprofloxacin traps a DNA pre-transport conformation.