Fam96b recruits brain-type creatine kinase to fuel mitotic spindle formation.

Mitosis is a complicated and ordered process with high energy demands and metabolite fluxes. Cytosolic creatine kinase (CK), an enzyme involved in ATP homeostasis, has been shown to be essential to chromosome movement during mitotic anaphase in sea urchin. However, it remains elusive for the molecular mechanism underlying the recruitment of cytosolic CK by the mitotic apparatus. In this study, Fam96b/MIP18, a component of the MMXD complex with a function in Fe/S cluster supply, was identified as a brain-type CK (CKB)-binding protein. The binding of Fam96b with CKB was independent of the presence of CKB substrates and did not interfere with CKB activity. Fam96b was prone to oligomerize via the formation of intermolecular disulfide bonds, while the binding of enzymatically active CKB could modulate Fam96b oligomerization. Oligomerized Fam96b recruited CKB and the MMXD complex to associate with the mitotic spindle. Depletion of Fam96b or CKB by siRNA in the HeLa cells led to mitotic defects, which further resulted in retarded cell proliferation, increased cell death and aberrant cell cycle progression. Rescue experiments indicated that both Fam96b oligomerization and CKB activity were essential to the proper formation of mitotic spindle. These findings suggest that Fam96b may act as a scaffold protein to coordinate the supply and homeostasis of ATP and Fe/S clusters during mitosis.

Burden of Outpatient Visits Attributable to Ambient Temperature in Qingdao, China.

Climate change has been referred to as one of the greatest threats to human health, with reports citing likely increases in extreme meteorological events. In this study, we estimated the relationships between temperature and outpatients at a major hospital in Qingdao, China, during 2015-2017, and assessed the morbidity burden. The results showed that both low and high temperatures were associated with an increased risk of outpatient visits. High temperatures were responsible for more morbidity than low temperatures, with an attributed fraction (AF) of 16.86%. Most temperature-related burdens were attributed to moderate cold and hot temperatures, with AFs of 5.99% and 14.44%, respectively, with the young (0-17) and male showing greater susceptibility. The results suggest that governments should implement intervention measures to reduce the adverse effects of non-optimal temperatures on public health-especially in vulnerable groups.

DsCaf1 is involved in environmental stress response of Dunaliella salina.

Regulation of mRNA fates can alter the gene-expression profile promptly and specifically. Deadenylation is a process of which the poly(A) tail is degraded by deadenylases. By regulating mRNA turnover, deadenylases are involved in various vital cellular processes including stress responses. However, it is unclear whether deadenylases play a role in the adaption/tolerance of extremophiles. In this research, we cloned the deadenylase caf1 from Dunaliella salina (dscaf1), a unicellular green alga with exceptional halotolerance. In silicon analysis indicated that compared with the mesophilic alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii caf1, dscaf1 promoter contained more elements responsive to abiotic stresses. Dscaf1 had an extremely high expression level under hypersaline conditions. When the D. salina cells were subject to stress shock, a two-stage response was observed for dscaf1 expression. The mRNA level of dscaf1 had an immediate 2-4 fold increase and followed by an ∼10 fold increase after hyperosmotic, heat or UV treatment, while had an about 3 fold increase quickly followed by an abrupt decrease after hypoosmotic or cold shock. The dissimilarity in dscaf1 expression patterns suggested that DsCaf1 is a stress-responsive deadenylase with the ability to regulate fates of a specific group of mRNAs for a certain type of stress.