Intracellular delivery of Parkin-RING0-based fragments corrects Parkin-induced mitochondrial dysfunction through interaction with SLP-2.

BACKGROUND: Loss-of-function mutations in the PRKN gene, encoding Parkin, are the most common cause of autosomal recessive Parkinson's disease (PD). We have previously identified mitoch ondrial Stomatin-like protein 2 (SLP-2), which functions in the assembly of respiratory chain proteins, as a Parkin-binding protein. Selective knockdown of either Parkin or SLP-2 led to reduced mitochondrial and neuronal function in neuronal cells and Drosophila, where a double knockdown led to a further worsening of Parkin-deficiency phenotypes. Here, we investigated the minimal Parkin region involved in the Parkin-SLP-2 interaction and explored the ability of Parkin-fragments and peptides from this minimal region to restore mitochondrial function. METHODS: In fibroblasts, human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)-derived neurons, and neuroblastoma cells the interaction between Parkin and SLP-2 was investigated, and the Parkin domain responsible for the binding to SLP-2 was mapped. High resolution respirometry, immunofluorescence analysis and live imaging were used to analyze mitochondrial function. RESULTS: Using a proximity ligation assay, we quantitatively assessed the Parkin-SLP-2 interaction in skin fibroblasts and hiPSC-derived neurons. When PD-associated PRKN mutations were present, we detected a significantly reduced interaction between the two proteins. We found a preferential binding of SLP-2 to the N-terminal part of Parkin, with a highest affinity for the RING0 domain. Computational modeling based on the crystal structure of Parkin protein predicted several potential binding sites for SLP-2 within the Parkin RING0 domain. Amongst these, three binding sites were observed to overlap with natural PD-causing missense mutations, which we demonstrated interfere substantially with the binding of Parkin to SLP-2. Finally, delivery of the isolated Parkin RING0 domain and a Parkin mini-peptide, conjugated to cell-permeant and mitochondrial transporters, rescued compromised mitochondrial function in Parkin-deficient neuroblastoma cells and hiPSC-derived neurons with endogenous, disease causing PRKN mutations. CONCLUSIONS: These findings place further emphasis on the importance of the protein-protein interaction between Parkin and SLP-2 for the maintenance of optimal mitochondrial function. The possibility of restoring an abolished binding to SLP-2 by delivering the Parkin RING0 domain or the Parkin mini-peptide involved in this specific protein-protein interaction into cells might represent a novel organelle-specific therapeutic approach for correcting mitochondrial dysfunction in Parkin-linked PD.

Assessing direct analysis in real-time mass spectrometry for the identification and serotyping of Legionella pneumophila.

AIMS: The efficacy of ambient mass spectrometry to identify and serotype Legionella pneumophila was assessed. To this aim, isolated waterborne colonies were submitted to a rapid extraction method and analysed by direct analysis in real-time mass spectrometry (DART-HRMS). METHODS AND RESULTS: The DART-HRMS profiles, coupled with partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA), were first evaluated for their ability to differentiate Legionella spp. from other bacteria. The resultant classification model achieved an accuracy of 98.1% on validation. Capitalising on these encouraging results, DART-HRMS profiling was explored as an alternative approach for the identification of L. pneumophila sg. 1, L. pneumophila sg. 2-15 and L. non-pneumophila; therefore, a different PLS-DA classifier was built. When tested on a validation set, this second classifier reached an overall accuracy of 95.93%. It identified the harmful L. pneumophila sg. 1 with an impressive specificity (100%) and slightly lower sensitivity (91.7%), and similar performances were reached in the classification of L. pneumophila sg. 2-15 and L. non-pneumophila. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study show the DART-HMRS method has good accuracy, and it is an effective method for Legionella serogroup profiling. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: These preliminary findings could open a new avenue for the rapid identification and quick epidemiologic tracing of L. pneumophila, with a consequent improvement to risk assessment.

In vitro assessment of TAT - Ciliary Neurotrophic Factor therapeutic potential for peripheral nerve regeneration.

In regenerative neurobiology, Ciliary Neurotrophic Factor (CNTF) is raising high interest as a multifunctional neurocytokine, playing a key role in the regeneration of injured peripheral nerves. Despite its promising trophic and regulatory activity, its clinical application is limited by the onset of severe side effects, due to the lack of efficient intracellular trafficking after administration. In this study, recombinant CNTF linked to the transactivator transduction domain (TAT) was investigated in vitro and found to be an optimized fusion protein which preserves neurotrophic activity, besides enhancing cellular uptake for therapeutic advantage. Moreover, a compelling protein delivery method was defined, in the future perspective of improving nerve regeneration strategies. Following determination of TAT-CNTF molecular weight and concentration, its specific effect on neural SH-SY5Y and PC12 cultures was assessed. Cell proliferation assay demonstrated that the fusion protein triggers PC12 cell growth within 6h of stimulation. At the same time, the activation of signal transduction pathway and enhancement of cellular trafficking were found to be accomplished in both neural cell lines after specific treatment with TAT-CNTF. Finally, the recombinant growth factor was successfully loaded on oxidized polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) scaffolds, and more efficiently released when polymer oxidation rate increased. Taken together, our results highlight that the TAT domain addiction to the protein sequence preserves CNTF specific neurotrophic activity in vitro, besides improving cellular uptake. Moreover, oxidized PVA could represent an ideal biomaterial for the development of nerve conduits loaded with the fusion protein to be delivered to the site of nerve injury.

The Parkinson disease-related protein DJ-1 counteracts mitochondrial impairment induced by the tumour suppressor protein p53 by enhancing endoplasmic reticulum-mitochondria tethering.

DJ-1 was first identified as an oncogene. More recently, mutations in its gene have been found causative for autosomal recessive familial Parkinson disease. Numerous studies support the DJ-1 role in the protection against oxidative stress and maintenance of mitochondria structure; however, the mechanism of its protective function remains largely unknown. We investigated whether mitochondrial Ca(2+) homeostasis, a key parameter in cell physiology, could be a target for DJ-1 action. Here, we show that DJ-1 modulates mitochondrial Ca(2+) transients induced upon cell stimulation with an 1,4,5-inositol-tris-phosphate agonist by favouring the endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-mitochondria tethering. A reduction of DJ-1 levels results in mitochondria fragmentation and decreased mitochondrial Ca(2+) uptake in stimulated cells. To functionally couple these effects with the well-recognized cytoprotective role of DJ-1, we investigated its action in respect to the tumour suppressor p53. p53 overexpression in HeLa cells impairs their ability to accumulate Ca(2+) in the mitochondrial matrix, causes alteration of the mitochondrial morphology and reduces ER-mitochondria contact sites. Mitochondrial impairments are independent from Drp1 activation, since the co-expression of the dominant negative mutant of Drp1 failed to abolish them. DJ-1 overexpression prevents these alterations by re-establishing the ER-mitochondria tethering. Similarly, the co-expression of the pro-fusion protein Mitofusin 2 blocks the effects induced by p53 on mitochondria, confirming that the modulation of the ER-mitochondria contact sites is critical to mitochondria integrity. Thus, the impairment of ER-mitochondria communication, as a consequence of DJ-1 loss-of-function, may be detrimental for mitochondria-related processes and be at the basis of mitochondrial dysfunction observed in Parkinson disease.

The Parkinson's disease-related protein DJ-1 protects dopaminergic neurons in vivo and cultured cells from alpha-synuclein and 6-hydroxydopamine toxicity.

BACKGROUND: Dopaminergic degeneration is a major finding in brains of patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), together with Lewy bodies, intraneuronal inclusions mainly composed of the fibrillogenic protein α-synuclein (α-syn). The familial-PD-related protein DJ-1 was reported to reduce dopaminergic degeneration triggered by α-syn or by the dopaminergic-selective neurotoxin 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA). OBJECTIVE: The aim was to further investigate the role of DJ-1 in dopaminergic degeneration and to see whether a cell-permeable recombinant form of DJ-1 (TAT-DJ-1) could restore dopamine depletion in vivo, thus representing an innovative therapeutic approach. METHODS: We developed in vitro (PC12/TetOn cells and mouse primary mesencephalic neurons) and in vivo models [including DJ-1 knockout (-/-) mice] to investigate DJ-1 in dopaminergic degeneration. RESULTS: We found that in PC12/TetOn cells overexpressing α-syn with the familial-PD linked mutation A30P, DJ-1 silencing increased α-syn (A30P) toxicity. Primary mesencephalic neurons from DJ-1 (-/-) mice were more vulnerable to a cell-permeable form of α-syn (TAT-α-syn) and to 6-OHDA. Intrastriatally administered TAT-DJ-1 reduced 6-OHDA toxicity in vivo in C57BL/6 mice. Finally, when we injected TAT-α-syn (A30P) in the striatum of DJ-1 (-/-) animals, dopamine was depleted more than in the control strain. CONCLUSION: DJ-1 appears to have a protective role against dopaminergic degeneration triggered by α-syn or 6-OHDA, reinforcing the possible therapeutic importance of this protein in PD.

Enhanced parkin levels favor ER-mitochondria crosstalk and guarantee Ca(2+) transfer to sustain cell bioenergetics.

Loss-of-function mutations in PINK1 or parkin genes are associated with juvenile-onset autosomal recessive forms of Parkinson disease. Numerous studies have established that PINK1 and parkin participate in a common mitochondrial-quality control pathway, promoting the selective degradation of dysfunctional mitochondria by mitophagy. Upregulation of parkin mRNA and protein levels has been proposed as protective mechanism against mitochondrial and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress. To better understand how parkin could exert protective function we considered the possibility that it could modulate the ER-mitochondria inter-organelles cross talk. To verify this hypothesis we investigated the effects of parkin overexpression on ER-mitochondria crosstalk with respect to the regulation of two key cellular parameters: Ca(2+) homeostasis and ATP production. Our results indicate that parkin overexpression in model cells physically and functionally enhanced ER-mitochondria coupling, favored Ca(2+) transfer from the ER to the mitochondria following cells stimulation with an 1,4,5 inositol trisphosphate (InsP(3)) generating agonist and increased the agonist-induced ATP production. The overexpression of a parkin mutant lacking the first 79 residues (ΔUbl) failed to enhance the mitochondrial Ca(2+) transients, thus highlighting the importance of the N-terminal ubiquitin like domain for the observed phenotype. siRNA-mediated parkin silencing caused mitochondrial fragmentation, impaired mitochondrial Ca(2+) handling and reduced the ER-mitochondria tethering. These data support a novel role for parkin in the regulation of mitochondrial homeostasis, Ca(2+) signaling and energy metabolism under physiological conditions.

Protein disulfide isomerase and glutathione are alternative substrates in the one Cys catalytic cycle of glutathione peroxidase 7.

BACKGROUND: Mammalian GPx7 is a monomeric glutathione peroxidase of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), containing a Cys redox center (CysGPx). Although containing a peroxidatic Cys (CP) it lacks the resolving Cys (CR), that confers fast reactivity with thioredoxin (Trx) or related proteins to most other CysGPxs. METHODS: Reducing substrate specificity and mechanism were addressed by steady-state kinetic analysis of wild type or mutated mouse GPx7. The enzymes were heterologously expressed as a synuclein fusion to overcome limited expression. Phospholipid hydroperoxide was the oxidizing substrate. Enzyme-substrate and protein-protein interaction were analyzed by molecular docking and surface plasmon resonance analysis. RESULTS: Oxidation of the CP is fast (k+1>10(3)M(-1)s(-1)), however the rate of reduction by GSH is slow (k'+2=12.6M(-1)s(-1)) even though molecular docking indicates a strong GSH-GPx7 interaction. Instead, the oxidized CP can be reduced at a fast rate by human protein disulfide isomerase (HsPDI) (k+1>10(3)M(-1)s(-1)), but not by Trx. By surface plasmon resonance analysis, a KD=5.2µM was calculated for PDI-GPx7 complex. Participation of an alternative non-canonical CR in the peroxidatic reaction was ruled out. Specific activity measurements in the presence of physiological reducing substrate concentration, suggest substrate competition in vivo. CONCLUSIONS: GPx7 is an unusual CysGPx catalyzing the peroxidatic cycle by a one Cys mechanism in which GSH and PDI are alternative substrates. GENERAL SIGNIFICANCE: In the ER, the emerging physiological role of GPx7 is oxidation of PDI, modulated by the amount of GSH.

The intracellular delivery of TAT-aequorin reveals calcium-mediated sensing of environmental and symbiotic signals by the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus Gigaspora margarita.

Arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) is an ecologically relevant symbiosis between most land plants and Glomeromycota fungi. The peculiar traits of AM fungi have so far limited traditional approaches such as genetic transformation. The aim of this work was to investigate whether the protein transduction domain of the HIV-1 transactivator of transcription (TAT) protein, previously shown to act as a potent nanocarrier for macromolecule delivery in both animal and plant cells, may translocate protein cargoes into AM fungi. We evaluated the internalization into germinated spores of Gigaspora margarita of two recombinant TAT fusion proteins consisting of either a fluorescent (GFP) or a luminescent (aequorin) reporter linked to the TAT peptide. Both TAT-fused proteins were found to enter AM fungal mycelia after a short incubation period (5-10 min). Ca2+ measurements in G. margarita mycelia pre-incubated with TAT-aequorin demonstrated the occurrence of changes in the intracellular free Ca2+ concentration in response to relevant stimuli, such as touch, cold, salinity, and strigolactones, symbiosis-related plant signals. These data indicate that the cell-penetrating properties of the TAT peptide can be used as an effective strategy for intracellularly delivering proteins of interest and shed new light on Ca2+ homeostasis and signalling in AM fungi.

α-Synuclein controls mitochondrial calcium homeostasis by enhancing endoplasmic reticulum-mitochondria interactions.

α-Synuclein has a central role in Parkinson disease, but its physiological function and the mechanism leading to neuronal degeneration remain unknown. Because recent studies have highlighted a role for α-synuclein in regulating mitochondrial morphology and autophagic clearance, we investigated the effect of α-synuclein in HeLa cells on mitochondrial signaling properties focusing on Ca(2+) homeostasis, which controls essential bioenergetic functions. By using organelle-targeted Ca(2+)-sensitive aequorin probes, we demonstrated that α-synuclein positively affects Ca(2+) transfer from the endoplasmic reticulum to the mitochondria, augmenting the mitochondrial Ca(2+) transients elicited by agonists that induce endoplasmic reticulum Ca(2+) release. This effect is not dependent on the intrinsic Ca(2+) uptake capacity of mitochondria, as measured in permeabilized cells, but correlates with an increase in the number of endoplasmic reticulum-mitochondria interactions. This action specifically requires the presence of the C-terminal α-synuclein domain. Conversely, α-synuclein siRNA silencing markedly reduces mitochondrial Ca(2+) uptake, causing profound alterations in organelle morphology. The enhanced accumulation of α-synuclein into the cells causes the redistribution of α-synuclein to localized foci and, similarly to the silencing of α-synuclein, reduces the ability of mitochondria to accumulate Ca(2+). The absence of efficient Ca(2+) transfer from endoplasmic reticulum to mitochondria results in augmented autophagy that, in the long range, could compromise cellular bioenergetics. Overall, these findings demonstrate a key role for α-synuclein in the regulation of mitochondrial homeostasis in physiological conditions. Elevated α-synuclein expression and/or eventually alteration of the aggregation properties cause the redistribution of the protein within the cell and the loss of modulation on mitochondrial function.

Long-term results of transcatheter atrial fibrillation ablation in patients with impaired left ventricular systolic function.

INTRODUCTION: Long-term outcome of AF ablation in patients with impaired LVEF is unknown. The aim of this study is to evaluate sinus rhythm (SR) maintenance, clinical status, and echocardiographic parameters over a long-term period following atrial fibrillation (AF) transcatheter ablation in patients with left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) <50%. METHODS AND RESULTS: A total of 196 patients (87.2% males, age 60.5 ± 10.2 years) with LVEF <50% underwent radiofrequency transcatheter ablation for paroxysmal (22.4%) or persistent (77.6%) AF. Patients were followed up for 46.2 (16.4-63.5) months regarding AF recurrences, functional class, and echocardiographic parameters. All patients underwent pulmonary vein isolation, while 167 (85.2%) required additional atrial lesions. Eleven (5.6%) patients suffered procedural complications. During follow-up, 58 (29.6%) patients required repeated ablations. At the follow-up end, 15 (7.7%) patients died, while 74 (37.8%) documented at least one episode of AF, atrial flutter, or atrial ectopic tachycardia. Eighty-three (47.2%) patients maintained antiarrhythmic drugs. During follow-up, NYHA class improved by at least one class more frequently among patients maintaining SR compared to those experiencing relapses (70.6% vs 47.9%, P = 0.003). LVEF showed a broader relative increase in patients maintaining SR (32.7% vs 21.4%; P = 0.047) and mitral regurgitation grading significantly decreased (P <0.001) only within these patients. At multivariable analysis SR maintenance emerged as an independent predictor (odds ratio 4.26, 95% CI 1.69-10.74, P = 0.002) of long-term clinical improvement (reduction in NYHA class ≥ 1 and relative increase in LVEF ≥ 10%). CONCLUSIONS: Although not substantially worse than in patients with preserved LVEF, AF ablation in patients with impaired LVEF is affected by high long-term recurrence rate. Among these patients SR maintenance is associated with greater clinical improvement.

Analysis of the evolution of COVID-19 disease understanding through temporal knowledge graphs.

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted two critical barriers hindering rapid response to novel pathogens. These include inefficient use of existing biological knowledge about treatments, compounds, gene interactions, proteins, etc. to fight new diseases, and the lack of assimilation and analysis of the fast-growing knowledge about new diseases to quickly develop new treatments, vaccines, and compounds. Overcoming these critical challenges has the potential to revolutionize global preparedness for future pandemics. Accordingly, this article introduces a novel knowledge graph application that functions as both a repository of life science knowledge and an analytics platform capable of extracting time-sensitive insights to uncover evolving disease dynamics and, importantly, researchers' evolving understanding. Specifically, we demonstrate how to extract time-bounded key concepts, also leveraging existing ontologies, from evolving scholarly articles to create a single temporal connected source of truth specifically related to COVID-19. By doing so, current knowledge can be promptly accessed by both humans and machines, from which further understanding of disease outbreaks can be derived. We present key findings from the temporal analysis, applied to a subset of the resulting knowledge graph known as the temporal keywords knowledge graph, and delve into the detailed capabilities provided by this innovative approach.

Superiority of PLK-2 as α-synuclein phosphorylating agent relies on unique specificity determinants.

Phosphorylation of α-synuclein at Ser-129 is of crucial relevance to Parkinson's disease and related synucleinopathies. Here we provide biochemical evidence that PLK2 and to a lesser extent PLK3 are superior over CK2, as catalysts of Ser-129 phosphorylation both in full length α-synuclein and in a peptide reproducing the C-terminal segment of the protein. By using substituted peptides we also show that the sequence surrounding Ser-129 is optimally shaped for undergoing phosphorylation by PLK2, with special reference to the two acidic residues at positions n-3 (Glu-126) and n+2 (Glu-131) whose replacement with alanine abrogates phosphorylation.

Ambient mass spectrometry for rapid authentication of milk from Alpine or lowland forage.

Metabolomics approaches, such as direct analysis in real time-high resolution mass spectrometry (DART-HRMS), allow characterising many polar and non-polar compounds useful as authentication biomarkers of dairy chains. By using both a partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) and a linear discriminant analysis (LDA), this study aimed to assess the capability of DART-HRMS, coupled with a low-level data fusion, discriminate among milk samples from lowland (silages vs. hay) and Alpine (grazing; APS) systems and identify the most informative biomarkers associated with the main dietary forage. As confirmed also by the LDA performed against the test set, DART-HRMS analysis provided an accurate discrimination of Alpine samples; meanwhile, there was a limited capacity to correctly recognise silage- vs. hay-milks. Supervised multivariate statistics followed by metabolomics hierarchical cluster analysis allowed extrapolating the most significant metabolites. Lowland milk was characterised by a pool of energetic compounds, ketoacid derivates, amines and organic acids. Seven informative DART-HRMS molecular features, mainly monoacylglycerols, could strongly explain the metabolomic variation of Alpine grazing milk and contributed to its classification. The misclassification between the two lowland groups confirmed that the intensive dairy systems would be characterised by a small variation in milk composition.

Exogenous human α-Synuclein acts in vitro as a mild platelet antiaggregant inhibiting α-thrombin-induced platelet activation.

α-Synuclein (αSyn) is a small disordered protein, highly conserved in vertebrates and involved in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease (PD). Indeed, αSyn amyloid aggregates are present in the brain of patients with PD. Although the pathogenic role of αSyn is widely accepted, the physiological function of this protein remains elusive. Beyond the central nervous system, αSyn is expressed in hematopoietic tissue and blood, where platelets are a major cellular host of αSyn. Platelets play a key role in hemostasis and are potently activated by thrombin (αT) through the cleavage of protease-activated receptors. Furthermore, both αT and αSyn could be found in the same spatial environment, i.e. the platelet membrane, as αT binds to and activates platelets that can release αSyn from α-granules and microvesicles. Here, we investigated the possibility that exogenous αSyn could interfere with platelet activation induced by different agonists in vitro. Data obtained from distinct experimental techniques (i.e. multiple electrode aggregometry, rotational thromboelastometry, immunofluorescence microscopy, surface plasmon resonance, and steady-state fluorescence spectroscopy) on whole blood and platelet-rich plasma indicate that exogenous αSyn has mild platelet antiaggregating properties in vitro, acting as a negative regulator of αT-mediated platelet activation by preferentially inhibiting P-selectin expression on platelet surface. We have also shown that both exogenous and endogenous (i.e. cytoplasmic) αSyn preferentially bind to the outer surface of activated platelets. Starting from these findings, a coherent model of the antiplatelet function of αSyn is proposed.

The mitochondrial chaperone TRAP1 regulates F-ATP synthase channel formation.

Binding of the mitochondrial chaperone TRAP1 to client proteins shapes bioenergetic and proteostatic adaptations of cells, but the panel of TRAP1 clients is only partially defined. Here we show that TRAP1 interacts with F-ATP synthase, the protein complex that provides most cellular ATP. TRAP1 competes with the peptidyl-prolyl cis-trans isomerase cyclophilin D (CyPD) for binding to the oligomycin sensitivity-conferring protein (OSCP) subunit of F-ATP synthase, increasing its catalytic activity and counteracting the inhibitory effect of CyPD. Electrophysiological measurements indicate that TRAP1 directly inhibits a channel activity of purified F-ATP synthase endowed with the features of the permeability transition pore (PTP) and that it reverses PTP induction by CyPD, antagonizing PTP-dependent mitochondrial depolarization and cell death. Conversely, CyPD outcompetes the TRAP1 inhibitory effect on the channel. Our data identify TRAP1 as an F-ATP synthase regulator that can influence cell bioenergetics and survival and can be targeted in pathological conditions where these processes are dysregulated, such as cancer.

Rapid, novel screening of toxicants in poison baits, and autopsy specimens by ambient mass spectrometry.

Animal poisoning and dissemination of baits in the environment have public health and ethological implications, which can be followed by criminal sanctions for those responsible. The reference methods for the analysis of suspect baits and autopsy specimens are founded on chromatographic-based techniques. They are extremely robust and sensitive, but also very expensive and laborious. For this reason, we developed an ambient mass spectrometry (AMS) method able to screen for 40 toxicants including carbamates, organophosphate and chlorinated pesticides, coumarins, metaldehyde, and strychnine. Spiked samples were firstly purified and extracted by dispersive solid phase extraction (QuEChERS) and then analyzed by direct analysis in real time high-resolution mass spectrometry (DART-HRMS). To verify the performance of this new approach, 115 authentic baits (n = 59) and necropsy specimens (gastrointestinal content and liver, n = 56) were assessed by the official reference methods and combined QuEChERS-DART-HRMS. The agreement between the results allowed evaluation of the performances of the new screening method for a variety of analytes and calculation of the resultant statistical indicators (the new method had overall accuracy 89.57%, sensitivity of 88.24%, and a specificity of 91.49%). Taking into account only the baits, 96.61% of overall accuracy was achieved with 57/59 samples correctly identified (statistical sensitivity 97.50%, statistical specificity 94.74%). Successful identification of the bitter compound, denatonium benzoate, in all the samples that contained rodenticides (28/28) was also achieved. We believe initial screening of suspect poison baits could guide the choice of reference confirmatory methods, reduce the load in official laboratories, and help the early stages of investigations into cases of animal poisoning.

TAT-mediated aequorin transduction: an alternative approach for effective calcium measurements in plant cells.

Cell-penetrating peptides are short cationic peptides with the property of translocating across the plasma membrane and transferring macromolecules otherwise unable to permeate cell membranes. We investigated the potential ability of the protein transduction domain derived from amino acids 47-57 of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) TAT (transactivator of transcription) protein to be used as a nanocarrier for the delivery of aequorin, a Ca(2+)-sensitive photoprotein widely used as a reliable Ca(2+) reporter in cell populations. The TAT peptide, either covalently linked to apoaequorin or ionically bound to plasmids encoding differentially targeted aequorin, was supplied to plant suspension-cultured cells. The TAT-aequorin fusion protein was found to be rapidly and effectively translocated into plant cells. The chimeric molecule was internalized in fully active biological form and at levels suitable to monitor intracellular Ca(2+) concentrations. Plant cells incubated for just 5 min with TAT-aequorin responded to different environmental stimuli with the expected Ca(2+) signatures. On the other hand, TAT-mediated plasmid internalization did not provide the necessary level of transformation efficiency to allow calibration of luminescence signals into Ca(2+) concentration values. These results indicate that TAT-mediated aequorin transduction is a promising alternative to traditional plant transformation methods to monitor intracellular Ca(2+) dynamics rapidly and effectively in plant cells.

The nuclear import of the transcription factor MyoD is reduced in mesenchymal stem cells grown in a 3D micro-engineered niche.

Smart biomaterials are increasingly being used to control stem cell fate in vitro by the recapitulation of the native niche microenvironment. By integrating experimental measurements with numerical models, we show that in mesenchymal stem cells grown inside a 3D synthetic niche both nuclear transport of a myogenic factor and the passive nuclear diffusion of a smaller inert protein are reduced. Our results also suggest that cell morphology modulates nuclear proteins import through a partition of the nuclear envelope surface, which is a thin but extremely permeable annular portion in cells cultured on 2D substrates. Therefore, our results support the hypothesis that in stem cell differentiation, the nuclear import of gene-regulating transcription factors is controlled by a strain-dependent nuclear envelope permeability, probably related to the reorganization of stretch-activated nuclear pore complexes.

Doppel and PrPC co-immunoprecipitate in detergent-resistant membrane domains of epithelial FRT cells.

Dpl (doppel) is a paralogue of the PrPC (cellular prion protein), whose misfolded conformer (the scrapie prion protein, PrPSc) is responsible for the onset of TSEs (transmissible spongiform encephalopathies) or prion diseases. It has been shown that the ectopic expression of Dpl in the brains of some lines of PrP-knockout mice provokes cerebellar ataxia, which can be rescued by the reintroduction of the PrP gene, suggesting a functional interaction between the two proteins. It is, however, still unclear where, and under which conditions, this event may occur. In the present study we addressed this issue by analysing the intracellular localization and the interaction between Dpl and PrPC in FRT (Fischer rat thyroid) cells stably expressing the two proteins separately or together. We show that both proteins localize prevalently on the basolateral surface of FRT cells, in both singly and doubly transfected clones. Interestingly we found that they associate with DRMs (detergent-resistant membranes) or lipid rafts, from where they can be co-immunoprecipitated in a cholesterol-dependent fashion. Although the interaction between Dpl and PrPC has been suggested before, our results provide the first clear evidence that this interaction occurs in rafts and is dependent on the integrity of these membrane microdomains. Furthermore, both Dpl and PrPC could be immunoprecipitated with flotillin-2, a raft protein involved in endocytosis and cell signalling events, suggesting that they share the same lipid environment.

Advantages and limitations of a supernegative GFP in facilitating MyoD intracellular tracking.

Despite intracellular molecular dynamics being fundamental to understand pathological, biomechanical or biochemical events, several processes are still not clear because of the difficulty of monitoring and measuring these phenomena. To engineer an effective fluorescent tool useful to improve protein intracellular tracking studies, we fused a supernegative green fluorescent protein, (-30)GFP, to a myogenic transcription factor, MyoD. The (-30)GFP-MyoD was able to pass the plasma membrane when complexed with cationic lipids. Fluorescence confocal microscopy showed the protein delivery in just 3 hours with high levels of protein transduction efficiency. Confocal acquisitions also confirmed the maintenance of the MyoD nuclear localization. To examine how the supernegative GFP influenced MyoD activity, we did gene expression analyses, which showed an inhibitory effect of (-30)GFP on transcription factor function. This negative effect was possibly due to a charge-driven interference mechanism, as suggested by further investigations by molecular dynamics simulations. Summarizing these results, despite the functional limitations related to the charge structural characteristics that specifically affected MyoD function, we found (-30)GFP is a suitable fluorescent label for improving protein intracellular tracking studies, such as nucleocytoplasmic transport in mechanotransduction.