Spaceflight induces changes in gene expression profiles linked to insulin and estrogen.

Organismal adaptations to spaceflight have been characterized at the molecular level in model organisms, including Drosophila and C. elegans. Here, we extend molecular work to energy metabolism and sex hormone signaling in mice and humans. We found spaceflight induced changes in insulin and estrogen signaling in rodents and humans. Murine changes were most prominent in the liver, where we observed inhibition of insulin and estrogen receptor signaling with concomitant hepatic insulin resistance and steatosis. Based on the metabolic demand, metabolic pathways mediated by insulin and estrogen vary among muscles, specifically between the soleus and extensor digitorum longus. In humans, spaceflight induced changes in insulin and estrogen related genes and pathways. Pathway analysis demonstrated spaceflight induced changes in insulin resistance, estrogen signaling, stress response, and viral infection. These data strongly suggest the need for further research on the metabolic and reproductive endocrinologic effects of space travel, if we are to become a successful interplanetary species.

Crk adaptor proteins are necessary for the development of the zebrafish retina.

BACKGROUND: The development of the central nervous system (CNS) requires critical cell signaling molecules to coordinate cell proliferation and migration in order to structure the adult tissue. Chicken tumor virus #10 Regulator of Kinase (CRK) and CRK-like (CRKL) are adaptor proteins with pre-metazoan ancestry and are known to be required for patterning laminated structures downstream of Reelin (RELN), such as the cerebral cortex, cerebellum, and hippocampus. CRK and CRKL also play crucial roles in a variety of other growth factor and extracellular matrix signaling cascades. The neuronal retina is another highly laminated structure within the CNS that is dependent on migration for proper development, but the cell signaling mechanisms behind neuronal positioning in the retina are only partly understood. RESULTS: We find that crk and crkl have largely overlapping expression within the developing zebrafish nervous system. We find that their disruption results in smaller eye size and loss of retinal lamination. CONCLUSIONS: Our data indicate that Crk adaptors are critical for proper development of the zebrafish neural retina in a crk/crkl dose-dependent manner.

Investigating the impact of the phosphorylation status of tyrosine residues within the TACC domain of TACC3 on microtubule behavior during axon growth and guidance.

Axon guidance is a critical process in forming the connections between a neuron and its target. The growth cone steers the growing axon toward the appropriate direction by integrating extracellular guidance cues and initiating intracellular signal transduction pathways downstream of these cues. The growth cone generates these responses by remodeling its cytoskeletal components. Regulation of microtubule dynamics within the growth cone is important for making guidance decisions. TACC3, as a microtubule plus-end binding (EB) protein, modulates microtubule dynamics during axon outgrowth and guidance. We have previously shown that Xenopus laevis embryos depleted of TACC3 displayed spinal cord axon guidance defects, while TACC3-overexpressing spinal neurons showed increased resistance to Slit2-induced growth cone collapse. Tyrosine kinases play an important role in relaying guidance signals to downstream targets during pathfinding events via inducing tyrosine phosphorylation. Here, in order to investigate the mechanism behind TACC3-mediated axon guidance, we examined whether tyrosine residues that are present in TACC3 have any role in regulating TACC3's interaction with microtubules or during axon outgrowth and guidance behaviors. We find that the phosphorylatable tyrosines within the TACC domain are important for the microtubule plus-end tracking behavior of TACC3. Moreover, TACC domain phosphorylation impacts axon outgrowth dynamics such as growth length and growth persistency. Together, our results suggest that tyrosine phosphorylation of TACC3 affects TACC3's microtubule plus-end tracking behavior as well as its ability to mediate axon growth dynamics in cultured embryonic neural tube explants.

Dimerization of small integral membrane protein 1 promotes cell surface presentation of the Vel blood group epitope.

The Vel blood group antigen is carried on the short extracellular segment of the 78-amino-acid-long, type II transmembrane protein SMIM1 of unknown function. Here, using biochemical analysis and flow cytometry of cells expressing wild-type and mutant alleles of SMIM1, we demonstrate that dimerization of SMIM1 promotes cell surface display of the Vel epitope. We show that SMIM1 dimerization is mediated both by an extracellular Cys77-dependent, homomeric disulfide linkage and via a GxxxG helix-helix interaction motif in the transmembrane domain. These results provide important context for the observed variability in reactivity patterns of clinically important anti-Vel identified in patient sera.

PKC induces release of a functional ectodomain of the guidance cue semaphorin6A.

Semaphorins (Semas) are a family of secreted and transmembrane proteins that play critical roles in development. Interestingly, several vertebrate transmembrane Sema classes are capable of producing functional soluble ectodomains. However, little is known of soluble Sema6 ectodomains in the nervous system. Herein, we show that the soluble Sema6A ectodomain, sSema6A, exhibits natural and protein kinase C (PKC)-induced release. We show that PKC mediates Sema6A phosphorylation at specific sites and while this phosphorylation is not the primary mechanism regulating sSema6A production, we found that the intracellular domain confers resistance to ectodomain release. Finally, sSema6A is functional as it promotes the cohesion of zebrafish early eye field explants. This suggests that in addition to its canonical contact-mediated functions, Sema6A may have regulated, long-range, forward-signaling capacity.

Fyn-dependent phosphorylation of PlexinA1 and PlexinA2 at conserved tyrosines is essential for zebrafish eye development.

Plexins (Plxns) are semaphorin (Sema) receptors that play important signaling roles, particularly in the developing nervous system and vasculature. Sema-Plxn signaling regulates cellular processes such as cytoskeletal dynamics, proliferation, and differentiation. However, the receptor-proximal signaling mechanisms driving Sema-Plxn signal transduction are only partially understood. Plxn tyrosine phosphorylation is thought to play an important role in these signaling events as receptor and nonreceptor tyrosine kinases have been shown to interact with Plxn receptors. The Src family kinase Fyn can induce the tyrosine phosphorylation of PlxnA1 and PlxnA2. However, the Fyn-dependent phosphorylation sites on these receptors have not been identified. Here, using mass spectrometry-based approaches, we have identified highly conserved, Fyn-induced PlexinA (PlxnA) tyrosine phosphorylation sites. Mutation of these sites to phenylalanine results in significantly decreased Fyn-dependent PlxnA tyrosine phosphorylation. Furthermore, in contrast to wild-type human PLXNA2 mRNA, mRNA harboring these point mutations cannot rescue eye developmental defects when coinjected with a plxnA2 morpholino in zebrafish embryos. Together these data suggest that Fyn-dependent phosphorylation at two critical tyrosines is a key feature of vertebrate PlxnA1 and PlxnA2 signal transduction.

Chagas disease vector blood meal sources identified by protein mass spectrometry.

Chagas disease is a complex vector borne parasitic disease involving blood feeding Triatominae (Hemiptera: Reduviidae) insects, also known as kissing bugs, and the vertebrates they feed on. This disease has tremendous impacts on millions of people and is a global health problem. The etiological agent of Chagas disease, Trypanosoma cruzi (Kinetoplastea: Trypanosomatida: Trypanosomatidae), is deposited on the mammalian host in the insect's feces during a blood meal, and enters the host's blood stream through mucous membranes or a break in the skin. Identifying the blood meal sources of triatomine vectors is critical in understanding Chagas disease transmission dynamics, can lead to identification of other vertebrates important in the transmission cycle, and aids management decisions. The latter is particularly important as there is little in the way of effective therapeutics for Chagas disease. Several techniques, mostly DNA-based, are available for blood meal identification. However, further methods are needed, particularly when sample conditions lead to low-quality DNA or to assess the risk of human cross-contamination. We demonstrate a proteomics-based approach, using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) to identify host-specific hemoglobin peptides for blood meal identification in mouse blood control samples and apply LC-MS/MS for the first time to Triatoma dimidiata insect vectors, tracing blood sources to species. In contrast to most proteins, hemoglobin, stabilized by iron, is incredibly stable even being preserved through geologic time. We compared blood stored with and without an anticoagulant and examined field-collected insect specimens stored in suboptimal conditions such as at room temperature for long periods of time. To our knowledge, this is the first study using LC-MS/MS on field-collected arthropod disease vectors to identify blood meal composition, and where blood meal identification was confirmed with more traditional DNA-based methods. We also demonstrate the potential of synthetic peptide standards to estimate relative amounts of hemoglobin acquired when insects feed on multiple blood sources. These LC-MS/MS methods can contribute to developing Ecohealth control strategies for Chagas disease transmission and can be applied to other arthropod disease vectors.

Identification of target genes downstream of semaphorin6A/PlexinA2 signaling in zebrafish.

BACKGROUND: Semaphorin (Sema)/Plexin (Plxn) signaling is important for many aspects of neuronal development, however, the transcriptional regulation imposed by this signaling pathway is unknown. Previously, we identified an essential role for Sema6A/PlxnA2 signaling in regulating proliferation and cohesion of retinal precursor cells (RPCs) during early eye development. This study used RNA isolated from control, Sema6A-deficient and PlxnA2-deficient zebrafish embryos in a microarray analysis to identify genes that were differentially expressed when this signaling pathway was disrupted. RESULTS: We uncovered a set of 58 transcripts, and all but 1 were up-regulated in both sema6A and plxnA2 morphants. We validated gene expression changes in subset of candidates that are suggested to be involved in proliferation, migration or neuronal positioning. We further functionally evaluated one gene, rasl11b, as contributing to disrupted proliferation in sema6A and plxna2 morphants. Our results suggest rasl11b negatively regulates proliferation of RPCs in the developing zebrafish eye. CONCLUSIONS: Microarray analysis has generated a resource of target genes downstream of Sema6A/PlxnA2 signaling, which can be further investigated to elucidate the downstream effects of this well-studied neuronal and vascular guidance signaling pathway. Developmental Dynamics 246:539-549, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.