分类： 生物学 >> 生物物理学 >> 生物物理、生物化学与分子生物学 提交时间： 2016-05-05
摘要： Autofocusing is a fundamental step towards automated microscopic screening of Caenorhabditis elegans. Determining the optimal focus in an optical microscope is based on a clarity-evaluation function that is applied to images acquired from different focuses of the same field. The maximum value of the function is considered as the point of optimal focus. In this paper, 16 autofocus algorithms which were collected from well-known algorithms as well as the most recently proposed focusing algorithms have been evaluated. Through these evaluations, an optimal algorithm was found for C. elegants lipid droplets to set up an automatic screening system. Many features were assessed in this paper, for instance accuracy, computational time, addition of noise, and focusing curve. Our results have shown that most of the algorithms show an overall high performance for this type of image, and absolute Tenengrad algorithm will be our first choice for its best performance considering accuracy.
分类： 生物学 >> 生物物理学 提交时间： 2016-05-11
Zhou, Ying
Fleming, Joy
Wang, Liwei
Wang, Yingying
Zhang, Xiaoli
Wei, Wenjing
Bi, Lijun
Chen, Tao
Zhou, Lin
Deng, Jiaoyu
Wang, Xude
摘要： Lysine acetylation is an important post-translational modification and is known to regulate many eukaryotic cellular processes. Little, however, is known about acetylated proteins in prokaryotes. Here, using immunoblotting, mass spectrometry and mutagenesis studies, we investigate the acetylation dynamics of the DNA repair protein Ku and its relationship with the deacetylase protein Sir2 and the non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) pathway in Mycobacterium smegmatis. We report that acetylation of Ku increases with growth, while NHEJ activity decreases, providing support for the hypothesis that acetylation of Ku may be involved in the DNA damage response in bacteria. Ku has multiple lysine sites. Our results indicate that K29 is an important acetylation site and that deficiency of Sir2 or mutation of K29 affects the quantity of Ku and its acetylation dynamics. Our findings expand knowledge of acetylation targets in prokaryotes and indicate a new direction for further research on bacterial DNA repair mechanisms.
分类： 生物学 >> 生物物理学 提交时间： 2016-05-11
摘要： Fatty acid degradation protein D32 (FadD32), an enzyme required for mycolic acid biosynthesis and essential for mycobacterial growth, has recently been identified as a valid and promising target for anti-tuberculosis drug development. Here we report the crystal structures of Mycobacterium smegmatis FadD32 in the apo and ATP-bound states at 2.4 angstrom and 2.25 angstrom resolution, respectively. FadD32 consists of two globular domains connected by a flexible linker. ATP binds in a cleft at the interface between the N- and C-terminal domains and its binding induces significant local conformational changes in FadD32. The binding sites of meromycolic acid and phosphopantetheine are identified by structural comparison with other members of the adenylating enzyme superfamily. These results will improve our understanding of the catalytic mechanism of FadD32 and help in the design of inhibitors of this essential enzyme.
分类： 生物学 >> 生物物理学 >> 生物物理、生物化学与分子生物学 提交时间： 2016-05-12
Fan Shang-Hua
Yu Zi-Niu
Fan Shang-Hua
Zhou Ying
Zhang Hong-Tai
Fleming, Joy
Zhang Xian-En
Bi Li-Jun
Fan Shang-Hua
Zhou Ying
Zhang Hong-Tai
Fleming, Joy
Zhang Xian-En
Bi Li-Jun
摘要： MutM (Formamidopyrimidine-DNA glycosylase, Fpg), a bifunctional base excision repair enzyme (DNA glycosylase/AP lyase), is involved in the repair of many kinds of DNA damage, including the formation of 8-oxoguanine, 5-formyluracil, and C/C mismatches, through recognizing DNA damage and removing damaged bases. The mechanisms of MutM involvement, however, with the exception of 8-oxoG, are poorly understood. Here, we identified proteins which interact with MutM in Mycobacterium smegmatis using methods of tandem affinity purification and mass spectrometry and used Far-western and GST pull-down analysis to validate the interactions between MutM and DEAD-box rna helicase, RpsC, and UvrA. Results demonstrated that tandem affinity purification is a suitable method for identifying MutM interacting proteins and provided insights into the mechanism by which MutM is involved in DNA damage repair.
分类： 生物学 >> 生物物理学 提交时间： 2016-05-12
摘要： The prokaryotic mechanosensitive channel of large conductance (MscL) is a pressure-relief valve protecting the cell from lysing during acute osmotic downshock. When the membrane is stretched, MscL responds to the increase of membrane tension and opens a nonselective pore to about 30 angstrom wide, exhibiting a large unitary conductance of similar to 3 nS. A fundamental step toward understanding the gating mechanism of MscL is to decipher the molecular details of the conformational changes accompanying channel opening. By applying fusion-protein strategy and controlling detergent composition, we have solved the structures of an archaeal MscL homolog from Methanosarcina acetivorans trapped in the closed and expanded intermediate states. The comparative analysis of these two new structures reveals significant conformational rearrangements in the different domains of MscL. The large changes observed in the tilt angles of the two transmembrane helices (TM1 and TM2) fit well with the helix-pivoting model derived from the earlier geometric analyses based on the previous structures. Meanwhile, the periplasmic loop region transforms from a folded structure, containing an.-shaped loop and a short beta-hairpin, to an extended and partly disordered conformation during channel expansion. Moreover, a significant rotating and sliding of the N-terminal helix (N-helix) is coupled to the tilting movements of TM1 and TM2. The dynamic relationships between the N-helix and TM1/TM2 suggest that the N-helix serves as a membrane-anchored stopper that limits the tilts of TM1 and TM2 in the gating process. These results provide direct mechanistic insights into the highly coordinated movement of the different domains of the MscL channel when it expands.
分类： 生物学 >> 生物物理学 >> 免疫学 提交时间： 2016-05-05
Xia, Pengyan
Ye, Buqing
Wang, Shuo
Du, Ying
Xiong, Zhen
Fan, Zusen
Zhu, Xiaoxiao
Xiong, Zhen
Fan, Zusen
Tian, Yong
Tian, Yong
摘要： Cyclic GMP-AMP synthase (cGAS) senses cytosolic DNA during viral infection and catalyzes synthesis of the dinucleotide cGAMP, which activates the adaptor STING to initiate antiviral responses. Here we found that deficiency in the carboxypeptidase CCP5 or CCP6 led to susceptibility to DNA viruses. CCP5 and CCP6 were required for activation of the transcription factor IRF3 and interferons. Polyglutamylation of cGAS by the enzyme TTLL6 impeded its DNA-binding ability, whereas TTLL4-mediated monoglutamylation of cGAS blocked its synthase activity. Conversely, CCP6 removed the polyglutamylation of cGAS, whereas CCP5 hydrolyzed the monoglutamylation of cGAS, which together led to the activation of cGAS. Therefore, glutamylation and deglutamylation of cGAS tightly modulate immune responses to infection with DNA viruses.
分类： 生物学 >> 生物物理学 >> 生物物理、生物化学与分子生物学 提交时间： 2016-05-12
Fan, Shanghua
Chen, Guanjun
Li, De-Feng
Wang, Da-Cheng
Fleming, Joy
Zhang, Hongtai
Zhou, Ying
Zhang, Xian-En
Bi, Lijun
Li, De-Feng
Wang, Da-Cheng
Fleming, Joy
Zhang, Hongtai
Zhou, Ying
Zhang, Xian-En
Bi, Lijun
Zhou, Lin
Chen, Tao
Zhou, Jie
摘要： The biotin biosynthesis pathway is an attractive target for development of novel drugs against mycobacterial pathogens, however there are as yet no suitable inhibitors that target this pathway in mycobacteria. 7-Keto-8-aminopelargonic acid synthase (KAPA synthase, BioF) is the enzyme which catalyzes the first committed step of the biotin synthesis pathway, but both its structure and function in mycobacteria remain unresolved. Here we present the crystal structure of Mycobacterium smegmatis BioF (MsBioF). The structure reveals an incomplete dimer, and the active site organization is similar to, but distinct from Escherichia coli 8-amino-7-oxononanoate synthase (EcAONS), the E. coli homologue of BioF. To investigate the influence of structural characteristics on the function of MsBioF, we deleted bioF in M. smegmatis and confirmed that BioF is required for growth in the absence of exogenous biotin. Based on structural and mutagenesis studies, we confirmed that pyridoxal 5'-phosphate (PLP) binding site residues His129, Lys235 and His200 are essential for MsBioF activity in vivo and residue Glul 71 plays an important, but not essential role in MsBioF activity. The N-terminus (residues 1-37) is also essential for MsBioF activity in vivo. The structure and function of MsBioF reported here provides further insights for developing new anti-tuberculosis inhibitors aimed at the biotin synthesis pathway. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
点击量
待评议
点击量
下载量
评论
