Biochimie openPub Date : 2016-06-01DOI: 10.1016/j.biopen.2016.03.001
Janaína K.L. Campos , Chrisjacele S.F. Araújo , Tiago F.S. Araújo , Andréa F.S. Santos , José A. Teixeira , Vera L.M. Lima , Luana C.B.B. Coelho
{"title":"Anti-inflammatory and antinociceptive activities of Bauhinia monandra leaf lectin","authors":"Janaína K.L. Campos , Chrisjacele S.F. Araújo , Tiago F.S. Araújo , Andréa F.S. Santos , José A. Teixeira , Vera L.M. Lima , Luana C.B.B. Coelho","doi":"10.1016/j.biopen.2016.03.001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopen.2016.03.001","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>A galactose-specific lectin from <em>Bauhinia monandra</em> leaves (BmoLL) has been purified through ammonium sulfate fractionation followed by guar gel affinity chromatography column. This study aimed to evaluate the potential anti-inflammatory and antinociceptive activity of pure BmoLL in mice. Anti-inflammatory activity was evaluated by 1% carrageenan-induced inflammation in mice treated with BmoLL. Acetic acid-induced abdominal writhing and hot plate methods evaluated antinociceptive activity. BmoLL significantly inhibited the carrageenan-induced paw edema by 47% (30 mg/kg) and 60.5% (60 mg/kg); acetylsalicylic acid (ASA, 100 mg/kg) showed inhibition of 70.5%, in comparison to controls. Leukocyte migration, an immune response to the inflammation process, was significantly reduced in presence of BmoLL; in mice treated with ASA the decrease in leukocyte migration was similar to 15 mg/kg of the lectin. BmoLL at doses of 15, 30 and 60 mg/kg significantly reduced the number of animal contortions by 43.1, 50.1 and 71.3%, respectively. BmoLL leukocyte migration was significantly reduced; in mice treated with ASA the decrease in leukocyte migration was similar to 15 mg/kg of the lectin. BmoLL at doses of 15, 30 and 60 mg/kg significantly reduced the number of animal contortions by 43.1, 50.1 and 71.3%, respectively. The lectin (30 and 60 mg/kg) showed a significant effect in the hot plate assay. BmoLL anti-inflammatory and antinociceptive effects were dose-dependent. The search for new and natural compounds, with minimal side effects, to control pain and inflammation, is constantly increasing. BmoLL has great potential as a natural anti-inflammatory product that can be explored for pharmacological purposes.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":92004,"journal":{"name":"Biochimie open","volume":"2 ","pages":"Pages 62-68"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/j.biopen.2016.03.001","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"91683369","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Biochimie openPub Date : 2016-06-01DOI: 10.1016/j.biopen.2016.05.001
Jean-Michel Terme, Sébastien Lemaire, Didier Auboeuf, Vincent Mocquet, Pierre Jalinot
{"title":"The proto-oncogenic protein TAL1 controls TGF-β1 signaling through interaction with SMAD3","authors":"Jean-Michel Terme, Sébastien Lemaire, Didier Auboeuf, Vincent Mocquet, Pierre Jalinot","doi":"10.1016/j.biopen.2016.05.001","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.biopen.2016.05.001","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>TGF-β1 is involved in many aspects of tissue development and homeostasis including hematopoiesis. The TAL1 transcription factor is also an important player of this latter process and is expressed very early in the myeloid and erythroid lineages. We previously established a link between TGF-β1 signaling and TAL1 by showing that the cytokine was able to induce its proteolytic degradation by the ubiquitin proteasome pathway. In this manuscript we show that TAL1 interacts with SMAD3 that acts in the pathway downstream of TGF-β1 association with its receptor. TAL1 expression strengthens the positive or negative effect of SMAD3 on various genes. Both transcription factors activate the inhibitory SMAD7 factor through the E box motif present in its transcriptional promoter. DNA precipitation assays showed that TAL1 present in Jurkat or K562 cells binds to this SMAD binding element in a SMAD3 dependent manner. SMAD3 and TAL1 also inhibit several genes including <em>ID1</em>, <em>hTERT</em> and <em>TGF-β1</em> itself. In this latter case TAL1 and SMAD3 can impair the positive effect exerted by E47. Our results indicate that TAL1 expression can modulate TGF-β1 signaling by interacting with SMAD3 and by increasing its transcriptional properties. They also suggest the existence of a negative feedback loop between TAL1 expression and TGF-β1 signaling.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":92004,"journal":{"name":"Biochimie open","volume":"2 ","pages":"Pages 69-78"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/j.biopen.2016.05.001","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"35991974","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Biochimie openPub Date : 2016-06-01DOI: 10.1016/j.biopen.2016.02.004
Lydia Kobbi, José Dias, Martine Comisso, Marc Mirande
{"title":"Association of human mitochondrial lysyl-tRNA synthetase with HIV-1 GagPol does not require other viral proteins","authors":"Lydia Kobbi, José Dias, Martine Comisso, Marc Mirande","doi":"10.1016/j.biopen.2016.02.004","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.biopen.2016.02.004","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>In human, the cytoplasmic (cLysRS) and mitochondrial (mLysRS) species of lysyl-tRNA synthetase are encoded by a single gene. Following HIV-1 infection, mLysRS is selectively taken up into viral particles along with the three tRNA<sup>Lys</sup> isoacceptors. The GagPol polyprotein precursor is involved in this process. With the aim to reconstitute in vitro the HIV-1 tRNA<sub>3</sub><sup>Lys</sup> packaging complex, we first searched for the putative involvement of another viral protein in the selective viral hijacking of mLysRS only. After screening all the viral proteins, we observed that Vpr and Rev have the potential to interact with mLysRS, but that this association does not take place at the level of the assembly of mLysRS into the packaging complex. We also show that tRNA<sub>3</sub><sup>Lys</sup> can form a ternary complex with the two purified proteins mLysRS and the Pol domain of GagPol, which mimicks its packaging complex.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":92004,"journal":{"name":"Biochimie open","volume":"2 ","pages":"Pages 52-61"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/j.biopen.2016.02.004","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"35989012","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Biochimie openPub Date : 2016-06-01DOI: 10.1016/j.biopen.2015.11.004
Michael W. Lassalle , Shinobu Kondou
{"title":"Uncovering the role of the flexible C-terminal tail: A model study with Strep-tagged GFP","authors":"Michael W. Lassalle , Shinobu Kondou","doi":"10.1016/j.biopen.2015.11.004","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.biopen.2015.11.004","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Recently, it has been recognized that, much like an electric current in an electric circuit, dynamic disruptions from flexible, unstructured regions distal to the active region are transferred through the contact network to the active site and influence protein stability and/or function. As transmembrane proteins frequently possess the β-barrel structure, studies of proteins with this topology are required. The unstructured lid segments of the β-barrel GFP protein are conserved and could play a role in the backbone stabilization required for chromophore function. A study of the disordered C-terminus and the function within the lid is necessary. In this study, we entirely truncated the flexible C-terminal tail and investigated the N-terminal Strep-tagged GFP by fluorescence spectroscopy, and the temperature- and GdnHCl-induced unfolding by circular dichroism. The introduction of the unstructured Strep-tag itself changed the unfolding pathway. Truncating the entire flexible tail did not decrease the fluorescence intensity to a large extent; however, the protein stability changed dramatically. The temperature for half-denaturation T<sub>1/2</sub> changed significantly from 79 °C for the wild-type to 72.8 °C for the mutant. Unfolding kinetics at different temperatures have been induced by 4 M GdnHCl, and the apparent Arrhenius activation energy decreased by 40% as compared to the wild-type.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":92004,"journal":{"name":"Biochimie open","volume":"2 ","pages":"Pages 1-8"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/j.biopen.2015.11.004","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"35989006","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Biochimie openPub Date : 2016-06-01DOI: 10.1016/j.biopen.2016.02.002
Alaaldin Idris H. Khairy , Mi Jeong Oh , Seung Min Lee , Da Som Kim , Kwang Soo Roh
{"title":"Nitric oxide overcomes Cd and Cu toxicity in in vitro-grown tobacco plants through increasing contents and activities of rubisco and rubisco activase","authors":"Alaaldin Idris H. Khairy , Mi Jeong Oh , Seung Min Lee , Da Som Kim , Kwang Soo Roh","doi":"10.1016/j.biopen.2016.02.002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopen.2016.02.002","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Toxic heavy metals such as cadmium (Cd) and copper (Cu) are global problems that are a growing threat to the environment. Despite some heavy metals are required for plant growth and development, others are considered toxic elements and do not play any known physiological role in plant cells. Elevated doses of Cd or Cu cause toxicity in plants and generate damages due to the stress condition and eventually cause a significant reduction in quantity and quality of crop plants. The nitric oxide (NO) donor sodium nitroprusside (SNP) is reported to alleviate the toxicity of some heavy metals like Cd and Cu. In the current study, the role of NO in alleviating stresses of Cd and Cu was investigated in <em>in vitro</em>-grown tobacco (<em>Nicotiana tabacum</em>) Based on plant growth, total chlorophyll contents, contents and activities of rubisco and rubisco activase. According to the results of this study, the growth and total chlorophyll contents of Cd/Cu stressed plants were hugely decreased in the absence of SNP, while the supplementation of SNP resulted in a significant increase of both fresh weight and total chlorophyll contents. Remarkable reductions of Rubisco and rubisco activase contents and activities were observed in Cd and Cu-induced plants. SNP supplementation showed the highest contents and activities of rubisco and rubisco activase compared to the control and Cu/Cd-stressed plants. Taken together, our findings suggest that SNP could play a protective role in regulation of plant responses to abiotic stresses such as Cd and Cu by enhancing Rubisco and Rubisco activase.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":92004,"journal":{"name":"Biochimie open","volume":"2 ","pages":"Pages 41-51"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/j.biopen.2016.02.002","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"91683370","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Biochimie openPub Date : 2016-06-01DOI: 10.1016/j.biopen.2016.01.001
Schammim Ray Amith, Jodi Marie Wilkinson, Larry Fliegel
{"title":"Assessing Na+/H+ exchange and cell effector functionality in metastatic breast cancer","authors":"Schammim Ray Amith, Jodi Marie Wilkinson, Larry Fliegel","doi":"10.1016/j.biopen.2016.01.001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopen.2016.01.001","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Metastasis is the leading cause of mortality in patients with breast cancer. In triple-negative breast cancer, high recurrence rates, increased invasive capacity of cells, and their aggressive ability to metastasize at secondary sites dictate patient survival. The Na<sup>+</sup>/H<sup>+</sup> exchanger isoform 1 (NHE1) plays a critical role in controlling the metastatic potential of these cells. Its activity results in an elevation of intracellular pH and in extracellular acidification, a key step in the establishment of the tumor microenvironment. Here, we describe assays for characterization of Na<sup>+</sup>/H<sup>+</sup> exchanger activity and its related downstream physiological effects on triple-negative breast cancer cells. Na<sup>+</sup>/H<sup>+</sup> exchanger activity can be routinely and rapidly measured in live cells with a fluorometric assay that assesses changes in intracellular pH. Characterization of downstream cell effector function as a result of Na<sup>+</sup>/H<sup>+</sup> exchanger activation can be evaluated by measuring directed cell migration and invasion. Cell migration is assessed with wound-healing assays, where a gap is introduced in a confluent monolayer of cells and the rate of gap closure is measured over time. Cell invasion is assessed in the short-term by transwell invasion assays that track cell movement through an extracellular matrix. Long-term invasiveness, growth and proliferation can be assessed with 3-D invasion assays using transwell inserts fitted with specialized scaffolds optimized for 3-D cell culture. Taken together these assays provide powerful tools for testing the effects of altering Na<sup>+</sup>/H<sup>+</sup> exchanger activity with chemical inhibition on the metastatic capacity of breast cancer cells.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":92004,"journal":{"name":"Biochimie open","volume":"2 ","pages":"Pages 16-23"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/j.biopen.2016.01.001","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"91683368","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The peptidyl-prolyl cis-trans isomerase activity of the wheat cyclophilin, TaCypA-1, is essential for inducing thermotolerance in Escherichia coli","authors":"Gundeep Kaur , Supreet Singh , Tanima Dutta , Harsimran Kaur , Brinderjit Singh , Ashwani Pareek , Prabhjeet Singh","doi":"10.1016/j.biopen.2015.11.003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopen.2015.11.003","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Growth at high temperatures is one of the desired features for industrial applications of microbes, as it results in decrease in contamination and enhanced solubility of certain substrates. In this study, it is demonstrated that heterologous expression of a wheat cyclophilin, TaCypA-1, confers thermotolerance to <em>Escherichia coli</em>. The TaCypA-1 possesses peptidyl-prolyl <em>cis-trans</em> isomerase (PPIase) activity that catalyses <em>cis</em> to <em>trans</em> isomerization of the peptidyl prolyl bonds, a rate limiting step in protein folding. Expression of deleted mutants of TaCypA-1, that lacked PPIase activity, resulted in abrogation of thermotolerance, providing the first evidence that this activity plays a key role in stress tolerance of cells and can be exploited for industrial applications. Further, we also demonstrate that TaCypA-1 interacts with calmodulin (CaM), and the CaM-binding domain is localized to amino acid residues 51–71 in the N-terminus region.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":92004,"journal":{"name":"Biochimie open","volume":"2 ","pages":"Pages 9-15"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/j.biopen.2015.11.003","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"91683424","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Biochimie openPub Date : 2015-01-01DOI: 10.1016/j.biopen.2015.11.001
Nicolás Forero-Baena, Diana Sánchez-Lancheros, July Constanza Buitrago, Victor Bustos, María Helena Ramírez-Hernández
{"title":"Identification of a nicotinamide/nicotinate mononucleotide adenylyltransferase in Giardia lamblia (GlNMNAT)","authors":"Nicolás Forero-Baena, Diana Sánchez-Lancheros, July Constanza Buitrago, Victor Bustos, María Helena Ramírez-Hernández","doi":"10.1016/j.biopen.2015.11.001","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.biopen.2015.11.001","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>\u0000<em>Giardia lamblia</em> is an intestinal protozoan parasite that causes giardiasis, a disease of high prevalence in Latin America, Asia and Africa. Giardiasis leads to poor absorption of nutrients, severe electrolyte loss and growth retardation. In addition to its clinical importance, this parasite is of special biological interest due to its basal evolutionary position and simplified metabolism, which has not been studied thoroughly. One of the most important and conserved metabolic pathways is the biosynthesis of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD). This molecule is widely known as a coenzyme in multiple redox reactions and as a substrate in cellular processes such as synthesis of Ca<sup>2+</sup> mobilizing agents, DNA repair and gene expression regulation. There are two pathways for NAD biosynthesis, which converge at the step catalyzed by nicotinamide/nicotinate mononucleotide adenylyltransferase (NMNAT, EC 2.7.7.1/18). Using bioinformatics tools, we found two NMNAT sequences in <em>Giardia lamblia</em> (<em>glnmnat-a</em> and <em>glnmnat-b</em>). We first verified the identity of the sequences <em>in silico</em>. Subsequently, <em>glnmnat-a</em> was cloned into an expression vector. The recombinant protein (His-GlNMNAT) was purified by nickel-affinity binding and was used in direct <em>in vitro</em> enzyme assays assessed by C18-HPLC, verifying adenylyltransferase activity with both nicotinamide (NMN) and nicotinic acid (NAMN) mononucleotides. Optimal reaction pH and temperature were 7.3 and 26 °C. Michaelis–Menten kinetics were observed for NMN and ATP, but saturation was not accomplished with NAMN, implying low affinity yet detectable activity with this substrate. Double-reciprocal plots showed no cooperativity for this enzyme. This represents an advance in the study of NAD metabolism in <em>Giardia</em> spp.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":92004,"journal":{"name":"Biochimie open","volume":"1 ","pages":"Pages 61-69"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/j.biopen.2015.11.001","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"35990546","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Biochimie openPub Date : 2015-01-01DOI: 10.1016/j.biopen.2015.05.001
Nolwenn Joffin , Anne-Marie Jaubert , Sylvie Durant , Robert Barouki , Claude Forest , Philippe Noirez
{"title":"Citrulline counteracts overweight- and aging-related effects on adiponectin and leptin gene expression in rat white adipose tissue","authors":"Nolwenn Joffin , Anne-Marie Jaubert , Sylvie Durant , Robert Barouki , Claude Forest , Philippe Noirez","doi":"10.1016/j.biopen.2015.05.001","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.biopen.2015.05.001","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>We recently demonstrated that citrulline (CIT) reduced the expression of inflammatory genes in cultured explants from retroperitoneal (RET) white adipose tissue (WAT) from young (2–4 months) but not old (25 months) rats. Here we show that in RET WAT from old rats and high-fat-diet-fed (HFD) young rats, the basal expression of the leptin gene was increased (275–345%) whereas that of the adiponectin gene was decreased (48–60%), when compared to those from control-diet-fed (CD) young rats. We show also that in RET WAT from old rats, a diet supplemented with CIT for 3 months reduced macrophage (F4/80, CD68) and inflammation (interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor-α) marker genes 23–97%. CIT supplementation lowered leptin mRNA 62% and increased adiponectin mRNA 232%. In cultured explants of RET WAT from 4 month-old CD, 4 month-old HFD and 25-month-old CD rats, the exposure to 2.5 mmol/L CIT for 24 h up-regulated adiponectin gene expression 151%, 362% and 216% respectively. In contrast, leptin gene expression was down-regulated 66% selectively in CIT-treated explants from 25-month-old CD rats. These results further support the proposed beneficial effect of CIT to counteract the deleterious effects of aging and overweight on the metabolic, inflammatory and endocrine functions of WAT.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":92004,"journal":{"name":"Biochimie open","volume":"1 ","pages":"Pages 1-5"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/j.biopen.2015.05.001","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"35990539","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}