Novel Fast and Reliable Method for Nano-Erythrosome Production Using Shear Force.

PURPOSE: The production of nano-erythrosomes (NEs) by extrusion, which is considered the "gold standard", has several disadvantages such as difficult equipment assembly, long procedure time, variable pressure, and problems with sterility. An alternative approach, using ultrasound probe, has been shown to overheat the sample and have suboptimal results compared to the extrusion method. In our study, we propose, develop, and test a new method for the fabrication of NEs based on shear force and then compare it to the "gold standard" extrusion approach. METHODS: The new method consists of mechanical shear force disruption of the hemoglobin-depleted erythrocyte ghost membranes, with the aid of a rotor stator based tissue homogenizer. Using the same batches of erythrocyte ghost membranes, we compared NEs produced by shear force to NEs produced by the well-established extrusion approach. NEs were characterized for yield, size, encapsulation efficiency, morphology, and stability by flow cytometry (FC), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and zeta potential analysis. RESULTS: The shear force based process was easier to set up, significantly faster, had better sterility control, and decreased variability between batches. The shear force method generated NEs with the desired size distribution (particles diameter ~125 nm), which were morphologically and functionally equivalent to the NEs produced by extrusion. NEs produced by shear force were stable in terms of counts, size, and fluorescence intensity for 3 weeks at +4°C. Moreover, they showed colloidal stability and minimal influence to centrifugal stress, turbulence shock, and hemolytic potential. CONCLUSION: The newly proposed shear force method allows faster, easier, and highly reproducible NEs production when compared to the conventional extrusion approach. The new setup allows simultaneous production of sterile batches of NEs, which have homogenous size distribution, good stability, and improved shelf life storage. The ability of the shear force method to process also high concentration samples indicates a future potential development of large-scale NEs production and industrial application, which has been a challenge for the extrusion method.

Unexpectedly decreased plasma cytokines in patients with chronic back pain.

INTRODUCTION: Chronic back pain is one of the most important socioeconomic problems that affects the global population. Elevated levels of inflammatory mediators, such as cytokines, have been correlated with pain, but their role in chronic back pain remains unclear. The effectiveness of anti-inflammatory drugs seems to be limited for chronic back pain. The authors wanted to investigate the levels of inflammatory mediators in long-term medically treated patients with persistent chronic back pain. METHODS: Cytokine plasma levels of patients with chronic back pain (n=23), compared to pain-free healthy controls (n=30), were investigated by immunoassay. Patients with chronic back pain were exposed to long-term conservative medical therapy with physiotherapy and anti-inflammatories, also combined with antidepressants and/or muscle-relaxants. RESULTS: The patients with chronic back pain expressed lower levels of the chemokines MCP1, CCL5, and CXCL6 compared to pain-free healthy controls. Significantly lower concentrations of the anti-inflammatory cytokines, interleukin (IL)-4 and granulocyte-colony stimulating factor were also found. Interestingly, levels of proinflammatory cytokines (IL-2, IL-6, IL-1ß, tumor necrosis factor alpha), IL-10, granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor, and stromal cell-derived factor 1 alpha showed no significant differences between both groups. CONCLUSION: This decrease of inflammatory mediators in medically treated patients with chronic back pain is of unclear origin and might be either a long-term side effect of medical therapy or related to chronic pain. Further longitudinal research is necessary to elucidate the underlying cause of these findings.

VEGF vascularization pathway in human intervertebral disc does not change during the disc degeneration process.

OBJECTIVE: During degeneration of the intervertebral disc ingrowth of blood vessels and nerves into the disc are associated with back pain. Vascular endothelial growth factors promote vasculogenesis by binding to the membrane vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 1, while shorter soluble forms of this receptor can inhibit vascularization. We hypothesized that membrane and soluble receptor forms might change between stages of intervertebral disc degeneration. RESULTS: Expression of soluble and membrane forms of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 1 in human degenerated intervertebral discs and healthy bovine caudal discs was assessed by qRT-PCR and immunoblot. Comparative microarray meta-analysis across disc degeneration grades showed that membrane and soluble forms of this receptor, together with other components of classic vascularization pathways, are constitutively expressed across human disc degeneration stages. Contrary to our hypothesis, we observed that expression of the classic vascularization pathway is stable across degeneration stages and we assume that soluble vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 1 does not contribute to prevent disc degeneration. However, we observed increased expression levels of genes involved in alternative vascularization signalling pathways in severely degenerated discs, suggesting that abnormal vascularization is part of the pathological progression of disc degeneration.

An in vitro expansion score for tissue-engineering applications with human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells.

Human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have limited growth potential in vitro and cease to divide due to replicative senescence, which from a tissue-engineering perspective has practical implications, such as defining the correct starting points for differentiation and transplantation. Time spent in culture before the loss of required differentiation potential is different and reflects patient variability, which is a problem for cell expansion. This study aimed to develop a score set which can be used to quantify the senescent state of MSCs and predict whether cells preserve their ability to differentiate to osteogenic, adipogenic and chondrogenic phenotypes, based on colony-forming unit (CFU) assay, population doubling time (PDT), senescence-associated ß-galactosidase (SA-ß-Gal) activity, cell size, telomere length and gene expression of MSCs cultured in vitro over 11 passages. This set of morphological, physiological and genetic senescence markers was correlated to the ability of MSCs to differentiate. Differentiation efficiency was assessed by marker genes and protein expression. CFUs decreased with increasing passage number, whereas SA-ß-Gal activity and PDT increased; however, the correlation with MSCs' differentiation potential was sometimes unexpected. The expression of genes related to senescence was higher in late-passage cells than in early-passage cells. Early-passage cells underwent efficient osteogenic differentiation, with mid-passage cells performing best in chondrogenic differentiation. Late-passage cells preserve only adipogenic differentiation potential. Based on this marker set, we propose a senescence score in which combined markers give a reliable quality control of MSCs, not depending only on mechanistic passage number.

BMP-2 and TGF-ß3 do not prevent spontaneous degeneration in rabbit disc explants but induce ossification of the annulus fibrosus.

INTRODUCTION: Different approaches for disc regeneration are currently under investigation. Beside gene therapy and tissue engineering techniques, the application of growth and differentiation factors own promising potential. Studies using reduced intervertebral disc models, such as cell or tissue fragment cultures, have limited validity and show controversial results depending on the employed experimental model. Therefore, the goal of the current study was to investigate the effect of BMP-2 and TGF-ß3 on intervertebral disc degeneration using an in vitro full-organ disc/endplate culture system. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Intervertebral rabbit disc explants were cultured in the presence of 1 µg/ml BMP-2 or TGF-ß3 for 21 days in DMEM/F12 media. Nucleus and annulus were analyzed for gene expression of collagen type I and II (Col I/II), aggrecan, collagenases (MMP-1/MMP-13) with RT-qPCR, histological changes with bone and proteoglycan-specific staining (von Kossa, toluidine blue) and differences in cellularity (DNA) and proteoglycan content (alcian blue binding assay). RESULTS: The results demonstrate that disc proteoglycan concentration decreased with time in the TGF-ß3 and BMP-2 groups. In the annulus fibrosus (AF), TGF-ß3 and BMP-2 resulted in an up-regulation of Col I and type II, and of aggrecan gene expression. In contrast, MMP genes were inhibited. In the nucleus, the growth factors decreased gene expression of aggrecan and spontaneous Col I up-regulation was inhibited by TGF-ß3, whereas expression of Col II was decreased with BMP-2. There was no effect on expression of MMP-1 and MMP-13 for most sampling points. However, TGF-ß3 and BMP-2 induced ossification of the AF was demonstrated by histology. CONCLUSION: It can be concluded that both growth factors, at the tested concentrations, may not be suitable to regenerate the whole intervertebral disc organ but they are interesting candidates for being injected alone or in combination into a painful intervertebral disc to induce osseous fusion (spondylodesis).

The copper-inducible ComR (YcfQ) repressor regulates expression of ComC (YcfR), which affects copper permeability of the outer membrane of Escherichia coli.

The pathway of copper entry into Escherichia coli is still unknown. In an attempt to shed light on this process, a lux-based biosensor was utilized to monitor intracellular copper levels in situ. From a transposon-mutagenized library, strains were selected in which copper entry into cells was reduced, apparent as clones with reduced luminescence when grown in the presence of copper (low-glowers). One low-glower had a transposon insertion in the comR gene, which encodes a TetR-like transcriptional regulator. The mutant strain could be complemented by the comR gene on a plasmid, restoring luminescence to wild-type levels. ComR did not regulate its own expression, but was required for copper-induction of the neighboring, divergently transcribed comC gene, as shown by real-time quantitative PCR and with a promoter-lux fusion. The purified ComR regulator bound to the promoter region of the comC gene in vitro and was released by copper. By membrane fractionation, ComC was shown to be localized in the outer membrane. When grown in the presence of copper, ∆comC cells had higher periplasmic and cytoplasmic copper levels, compared to the wild-type, as assessed by the activation of the periplasmic CusRS sensor and the cytoplasmic CueR sensor, respectively. Thus, ComC is an outer membrane protein which lowers the permeability of the outer membrane to copper. The expression of ComC is controlled by ComR, a novel, TetR-like copper-responsive repressor.

Influence of different commercial scaffolds on the in vitro differentiation of human mesenchymal stem cells to nucleus pulposus-like cells.

INTRODUCTION: Cell-based therapies for regeneration of the degenerated intervertebral disc (IVD) are an alternative to current surgical intervention. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), in combination with a scaffold, might be ideal candidates for regenerating nucleus pulposus (NP), the pressure-distributing part of the IVD. While the use of growth factors for MSCs differentiation currently receives major attention, in this study we compare the performance of sponge-like matrixes in supporting cell differentiation into NP-like cells. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Four types matrixes approved as medical devices for other applications were tested as scaffolds for MSCs: two made of equine or porcine collagen, one of gelatin and one of chitosan. Bone marrow-derived human MSCs were seeded in these scaffolds or embedded in alginate, as a three-dimensional control. After five weeks in culture, NP-like differentiation of the cell-scaffold constructs was analyzed by qRT-PCR, histology, total DNA quantification, proteoglycan accumulation and immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: MSCs in collagen matrixes and gelatin produced more mRNA and proteins of the chondrogenic markers collagen type I, collagen type II (COL2) and aggrecan (ACAN), when compared with cells embedded in alginate or chitosan. Proteoglycan accumulation and cell survival were also higher in collagen and gelatin matrixes. Gene expression results were also confirmed by histological and immunohistochemical staining. In contrast to alginate control, the gene expression of the undesired bone marker osteopontin was lower in all tested groups. In porcine collagen supports, MSC expression ratio between COL2/ACAN closely resembled the expression of nucleus pulposus cells, but gene expression of recently described NP markers keratin19, PAX1 and FOXF1 was lower. CONCLUSIONS: Collagen supports provide a readily available, medically approved and effective scaffold for chondrogenic differentiation in vitro, but the phenotype of differentiated MSCs is not yet completely equivalent to that of NP cells.

The in vitro effects of dexamethasone, insulin and triiodothyronine on degenerative human intervertebral disc cells under normoxic and hypoxic conditions.

Degeneration of intervertebral discs (IVD) is one of the main causes of back pain and tissue engineering has been proposed as a treatment. Tissue engineering requires the use of highly expensive growth factors, which might, in addition, lack regulatory approval for human use. In an effort to find readily available differentiation factors, we tested three molecules--dexamethasone, triiodothyronine (T3) and insulin--on human IVD cells isolated after surgery, expanded in vitro and transferred into alginate beads. Triplicates containing 40 ng/ml dexamethasone, 10 nM T3 and 10 µg/ml insulin, together with a positive control (10 ng/mL transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta 1), were sampled weekly over six weeks and compared to a negative control. Furthermore, we compared the results to cultures with optimized chondrogenic media and under hypoxic condition (2% O2). Glycosaminoglycan (GAG) determination by Alcian Blue assay and histological staining showed dexamethasone to be more effective than T3 and insulin, but less than TGF-beta1. DNA quantification showed that only dexamethasone stimulated cell proliferation. qPCR demonstrated that TGF-beta1 and the optimized chondrogenic groups increased the expression of collagen type II, while aggrecan was stimulated in cultures containing dexamethasone. Hypoxia increased GAG accumulation, collagen type II and aggrecan expression, but had no effect on or even lowered cell number. In conclusion, dexamethasone is a valuable and cost-effective molecule for chondrogenic and viability induction of IVD cells under normoxic and hypoxic conditions, while insulin and T3 did not show significant differences.

Human mesenchymal stem cell co-culture modulates the immunological properties of human intervertebral disc tissue fragments in vitro.

The capacity of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) to differentiate into intervertebral disc (IVD)-like cells has been well described, but their ability to modulate the inflammatory processes in the IVD remains unclear. We found that tissue obtained by discectomy of degenerated and post-traumatic IVD contains significant amounts of IgG antibodies, a sign of lymphocyte infiltration. Further we investigated whether MSCs in vitro, which were characterized for their multilineage differentiation potential and may have immunomodulatory effects on IVD fragments. IVD fragments were co-cultured in contact with peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBLs) and MSCs, and as functional controls we used contact co-cultures of PBLs stimulated with pokeweed mitogen (2.5 µg/mL) and MSCs. The time course of lymphocyte proliferation (Alamar Blue), IgG (ELISA) and gene expression (RT-PCR) of anti-inflammatory cytokines (TGF-ß1, IL-10) by MSCs and pro-inflammatory molecules (IL-1α, IL-1ß and TNF-α) by the IVD fragments were analyzed. Depending on the response to the presence of MSCs, the IVD fragments (n = 13) were divided in two groups: responders (n = 9), where inflammation was inhibited by MSCs and non-responders (n = 4), where MSCs did not decrease inflammation. At 1 week in co-culture, MSCs reduced significantly the IgG production in the IVD responders group to 69% and PBLs proliferation to 57% of the control. MSCs expression of the anti-inflammatory TGF-ß1 increased with time, while IL-10 was expressed only at day 1. IVD gene expression of TNF-α decreased constantly, whereas IL-1α and IL-1ß expression increased. In conclusion, these data suggest that MSCs may modulate disc-specific inflammatory and pain status and aid regeneration of the host tissue.

The stress response protein Gls24 is induced by copper and interacts with the CopZ copper chaperone of Enterococcus hirae.

Intracellular copper routing in Enterococcus hirae is accomplished by the CopZ copper chaperone. Under copper stress, CopZ donates Cu(+) to the CopY repressor, thereby releasing its bound zinc and abolishing repressor-DNA interaction. This in turn induces the expression of the cop operon, which encodes CopY and CopZ, in addition to two copper ATPases, CopA and CopB. To gain further insight into the function of CopZ, the yeast two-hybrid system was used to screen for proteins interacting with the copper chaperone. This led to the identification of Gls24, a member of a family of stress response proteins. Gls24 is part of an operon containing eight genes. The operon was induced by a range of stress conditions, but most notably by copper. Gls24 was overexpressed and purified, and was shown by surface plasmon resonance analysis to also interact with CopZ in vitro. Circular dichroism measurements revealed that Gls24 is partially unstructured. The current findings establish a novel link between Gls24 and copper homeostasis.

Apoptosis and gene expression of collagenases but not gelatinases in rabbit disc fragment cultures.

OBJECT: The object of this study was to characterize the biological response of isolated intervertebral disc fragments to in vitro culture conditions with respect to cell death and inflammatory and catabolic changes. The acquired data could help to gain a better understanding of the biological reaction of disc tissue when exposed to environmental changes along with altered nutritional and osmotic conditions, as are encountered in different in vitro disc models or disc diseases in vivo. METHODS: Intervertebral disc anulus fragments were isolated from Burgundy rabbits and cultured in standard media for 3 days. The disc fragments were analyzed for their swelling properties, proteoglycan loss on histological studies, lactate dehydrogenase activity, apoptosis, gene expression of collagenases and gelatinases, and for proinflammatory (MCP-1, IL-8, and IL-6) and apoptosis-associated (TNF-alpha, Fas-L, and caspase 3) genes. RESULTS: The results demonstrate that disc specimens were swelling, and a loss of proteoglycans with disarrangement of anulus architecture was observed. The disc cells underwent rapid apoptosis with upregulation of various proinflammatory genes. Both collagenases, matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-1 and MMP-13, were increasingly transcribed, whereas the gelatinases MMP-2 and MMP-9 did not respond or were downregulated. CONCLUSIONS: Cultured disc fragments swell and undergo necrotic and apoptotic cell death combined with a catabolic gene response and gene expression of proinflammatory and chemoattractant proteins. Some of these findings have been demonstrated before in various spinal disorders. In addition, disc fragments are not suitable for long-term culture if a stable disc metabolism is desired, and the described changes have to be considered when using isolated disc material for in vitro cultures.

Vertebral endplate trauma induces disc cell apoptosis and promotes organ degeneration in vitro.

There is a major controversy whether spinal trauma with vertebral endplate fractures can result in post-traumatic disc degeneration. Intervertebral discs, which are adjacent to burst endplates, are frequently removed and an intercorporal spondylodesis is performed. In any case, the biological effects within the discs following endplate fractures are poorly elucidated to date. The aim of our investigations was therefore to establish a novel disc/endplate trauma culture model to reproducibly induce endplate fractures and investigate concurrent disc changes in vitro. This model is based on a full-organ disc/endplate culture system, which has been validated by the authors before. Intervertebral disc/endplate specimens were isolated from Burgundy rabbits and cultured in standard media (DMEM/F12, 10%FCS). Burst endplate fractures were induced in half of the specimens with a custom-made fracture device and subsequently cultured for 9 days. The biological effects such as necrotic or apoptotic cell death and the expression of pro-apoptotic genes and other genes involved in organ degeneration, e.g. matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) were analyzed. Cell damage was assessed by quantification of the lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity in the supernatant. The expression of genes involved in the cellular apoptotic pathway (caspase 3) and the pro-apoptotic proteins FasL and TNF-alpha were monitored. The results demonstrate that LDH levels increased significantly post trauma compared to the control and remained elevated for 3 days. Furthermore, a constant up-regulation of the caspase 3 gene in both disc compartments was present. The pro-apoptotic proteins FasL and TNF-alpha were up regulated predominantly in the nucleus whereas the MMP-1 and -13 transcripts (collagenases) were increased in both disc structures. From this study we can conclude that endplate burst fractures result in both necrotic and apoptotic cell death in nucleus and annulus tissue. Moreover, FasL and TNF-alpha expression by nucleus cells may lead to continued apoptosis induced by Fas- and TNF-alpha receptor bearing cells. In addition TNF-alpha over-expression has potentially deleterious effects on disc metabolism such as over-expression of matrix proteinases. Taken together, the short term biological response of the disc following endplate fracture exhibits characteristics, which may initiate the degeneration of the organ.

Establishment of a novel intervertebral disc/endplate culture model: analysis of an ex vivo in vitro whole-organ rabbit culture system.

STUDY DESIGN: Ex vivo in vitro study evaluating a novel intervertebral disc/endplate culture system. OBJECTIVES: To establish a whole-organ intervertebral disc culture model for the study of disc degeneration in vitro, including the characterization of basic cell and organ function. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: With current in vivo models for the study of disc and endplate degeneration, it remains difficult to investigate the complex disc metabolism and signaling cascades. In contrast, more controlled but simplified in vitro systems using isolated cells or disc fragments are difficult to culture due to the unconstrained conditions, with often-observed cell death or cell dedifferentiation. Therefore, there is a demand for a controlled culture model with preserved cell function that offers the possibility to investigate disc and endplate pathologies in a structurally intact organ. METHODS: Naturally constrained intervertebral disc/endplate units from rabbits were cultured in multi-well plates. Cell viability, metabolic activity, matrix composition, and matrix gene expression profile were monitored using the Live/Dead cell viability test (Invitrogen, Basel, Switzerland), tetrazolium salt reduction (WST-8), proteoglycan and deoxyribonucleic acid quantification assays, and quantitative polymerase chain reaction. RESULTS: Viability and organ integrity were preserved for at least 4 weeks, while proteoglycan and deoxyribonucleic acid content decreased slightly, and matrix genes exhibited a degenerative profile with up-regulation of type I collagen and suppression of collagen type II and aggrecan genes. Additionally, cell metabolic activity was reduced to one third of the initial value. CONCLUSIONS: Naturally constrained intervertebral rabbit discs could be cultured for several weeks without losing cell viability. Structural integrity and matrix composition were retained. However, the organ responded to the artificial environment with a degenerative gene expression pattern and decreased metabolic rate. Therefore, the described system serves as a promising in vitro model to study disc degeneration in a whole organ.

Influence of diurnal hyperosmotic loading on the metabolism and matrix gene expression of a whole-organ intervertebral disc model.

It is generally agreed that the mechanical environment of intervertebral disc cells plays an important role in maintaining a balanced matrix metabolism. The precise mechanism by which the signals are transduced into the cells is poorly understood. Osmotic changes in the extracellular matrix (ECM) are thought to be involved. Current in-vitro studies on this topic are mostly short-term and show conflicting data on the reaction of disc cells subjected to osmotic changes which is partially due to the heterogenous and often substantially-reduced culture systems. The aim of the study was therefore to investigate the effects of cyclic osmotic loading for 4 weeks on metabolism and matrix gene expression in a full-organ intervertebral disc culture system. Intervertebral disc/endplate units were isolated from New Zealand White Rabbits and cultured either in iso-osmotic media (335 mosmol/kg) or were diurnally exposed for 8 hours to hyper-osmotic conditions (485 mosmol/kg). Cell viability, metabolic activity, matrix composition and matrix gene expression profile (collagen types I/II and aggrecan) were monitored using Live/Dead cell viability assay, tetrazolium reduction test (WST 8), proteoglycan and DNA quantification assays and quantitative PCR. The results show that diurnal osmotic stimulation did not have significant effects on proteoglycan content, cellularity and disc cell viability after 28 days in culture. However, hyperosmolarity caused increased cell death in the early culture phase and counteracted up-regulation of type I collagen gene expression in nucleus and annulus cells. Moreover, the initially decreased cellular dehydrogenase activity recovered with osmotic stimulation after 4 weeks and aggrecan gene down-regulation was delayed, although the latter was not significant according to our statistical criteria. In contrast, collagen type II did not respond to the osmotic changes and was down-regulated in both groups. In conclusion, diurnal hyper-osmotic stimulation of a whole-organ disc/endplate culture partially inhibits a matrix gene expression profile as encountered in degenerative disc disease and counteracts cellular metabolic hypo-activity.

Interaction kinetics of the copper-responsive CopY repressor with the cop promoter of Enterococcus hirae.

In Enterococcus hirae, copper homeostasis is controlled by the cop operon, which encodes the copper-responsive repressor CopY, the copper chaperone CopZ, and two copper ATPases, CopA and CopB. The four genes are under control of CopY, which is a homodimeric zinc protein, [Zn(II)CopY]2. It acts as a copper-responsive repressor: when media copper is raised, CopY is released from the DNA, allowing transcription to proceed. This involves the conversion of [Zn(II)CopY]2 to [Cu(I)2CopY]2, which is no longer able to bind to the promoter. Binding analysis of [Zn(II)CopY]2 to orthologous promoters and to control DNA by surface plasmon resonance analysis defined the consensus sequence TACAnnTGTA as the repressor binding element, or " cop box", of Gram-positive bacteria. Association and dissociation rates for the CopY-DNA interaction in the absence and presence of added copper were determined. The dissociation rate of [Zn(II)CopY]2 from the promoter was 7.3 x 10(-6) s(-1) and was increased to 5 x 10(-5) s(-1) in the presence of copper. This copper-induced change may be the underlying mechanism of copper induction. Induction of the cop operon was also assessed in vivo with a biosensor containing a lux reporter system under the control of the E. hirae cop promoter. Half-maximal induction of this biosensor was observed at 5 microM media copper, which delineates the ambient copper concentration to which the cop operon responds in vivo.

Measurement of cytoplasmic copper, silver, and gold with a lux biosensor shows copper and silver, but not gold, efflux by the CopA ATPase of Escherichia coli.

Copper, silver, gold and other heavy metals are potentially toxic to cells. Copper is also essential and cellular levels must be carefully controlled. In contrast, there is no known biological role for silver or gold and they have not been recognized as metals that are under homeostatic control. Using a luminescent biosensor based of the Vibrio fischeri lux gene cluster under the control of the Escherichia coli copA promoter/CueR metal-responsive regulator, we could show that in E. coli, cytoplasmic copper and silver, but not gold, are regulated by the CopA ATPase, the major copper efflux pump.

The MerR family of transcriptional regulators.

The MerR family is a group of transcriptional activators with similar N-terminal helix-turn-helix DNA binding regions and C-terminal effector binding regions that are specific to the effector recognised. The signature of the family is amino acid similarity in the first 100 amino acids, including a helix-turn-helix motif followed by a coiled-coil region. With increasing recognition of members of this class over the last decade, particularly with the advent of rapid bacterial genome sequencing, MerR-like regulators have been found in a wide range of bacterial genera, but not yet in archaea or eukaryotes. The few MerR-like regulators that have been studied experimentally have been shown to activate suboptimal sigma(70)-dependent promoters, in which the spacing between the -35 and -10 elements recognised by the sigma factor is greater than the optimal 17+/-1 bp. Activation of transcription is through protein-dependent DNA distortion. The majority of regulators in the family respond to environmental stimuli, such as oxidative stress, heavy metals or antibiotics. A subgroup of the family activates transcription in response to metal ions. This subgroup shows sequence similarity in the C-terminal effector binding region as well as in the N-terminal region, but it is not yet clear how metal discrimination occurs. This subgroup of MerR family regulators includes MerR itself and may have evolved to generate a variety of specific metal-responsive regulators by fine-tuning the sites of metal recognition.

Copper homeostasis in Enterococcus hirae.

Copper is an essential component of life because of its convenient redox potential of 200-800 mV when bound to protein. Extensive insight into copper homeostasis has only emerged in the last decade and Enterococcus hirae has served as a paradigm for many aspects of the process. The cop operon of E. hirae regulates copper uptake, availability, and export. It consists of four genes that encode a repressor, CopY, a copper chaperone, CopZ, and two CPx-type copper ATPases, CopA and CopB. Most of these components have been conserved across the three evolutionary kingdoms. The four Cop proteins have been studied in vivo as well as in vitro and their function is understood in some detail.

The Escherichia coli copper-responsive copA promoter is activated by gold.

The copA gene of Escherichia coli encodes a copper transporter and its promoter is normally regulated by Cu(I) ions and CueR, a MerR-like transcriptional activator. We show that CueR can also be activated by gold salts and that Cys(112) and Cys(120) are involved in recognition of gold, silver, and copper salts. Gold activation is unaffected by copper chelating agents but is affected by general metal chelators. This is the first example of specific regulation of transcription by gold, and we briefly speculate that the biological effects of gold antiarthritic drugs may be through their effects on copper management in eukaryotic systems.