Maintenance of adult tissues is carried out by stem cells and is sustained throughout life in a highly ordered manner. Homeostasis within the stem-cell compartment is governed by positive- and negative-feedback regulation of instructive extrinsic and intrinsic signals. ErbB signalling is a prerequisite for maintenance of the intestinal epithelium following injury and tumour formation. As ErbB-family ligands and receptors are highly expressed within the stem-cell niche, we hypothesize that strong endogenous regulators must control the pathway in the stem-cell compartment. Here we show that Lrig1, a negative-feedback regulator of the ErbB receptor family, is highly expressed by intestinal stem cells and controls the size of the intestinal stem-cell niche by regulating the amplitude of growth-factor signalling. Intestinal stem-cell maintenance has so far been attributed to a combination of Wnt and Notch activation and Bmpr inhibition. Our findings reveal ErbB activation as a strong inductive signal for stem-cell proliferation. This has implications for our understanding of ErbB signalling in tissue development and maintenance and the progression of malignant disease.

SWI/SNF chromatin remodeling enzymes play a critical role in the development of T helper lymphocytes, including Th2 cells, and directly program chromatin structure at Th2 cytokine genes. Different versions of SWI/SNF complexes, including BAF and PBAF, have been described based on unique subunit composition. However, the relative role of BAF and PBAF in Th cell function and cytokine expression has not been reported.

Evolution at a protein site can be characterized from two different perspectives, by its rate and by the breadth of the set of acceptable amino acids.

Increasing the communication speed of brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) is a major aim of current BCI-research. The idea to automatically detect error-related potentials (ErrPs) in order to veto erroneous decisions of a BCI has been existing for more than one decade, but this approach was so far little investigated in online mode.

Plant growth is greatly affected by low temperatures, and the expression of a number of genes is induced by cold stress. Although many genes in the cold signaling pathway have been identified in Arabidopsis, little is known about the transcription factors involved in the cold stress response in apple.

In flowering plants, the development of male reproductive organs is controlled precisely to achieve successful fertilization and reproduction. Despite the increasing knowledge of genes that contribute to anther development, the regulatory mechanisms controlling this process are still unclear.

Keratin 16 (KRT16 in human, Krt16 in mouse), a type I intermediate filament protein, is constitutively expressed in epithelial appendages and is induced in the epidermis upon wounding and other stressors. Mutations altering the coding sequence of KRT16 cause pachyonychia congenita (PC), a rare autosomal dominant disorder characterized by hypertrophic nail dystrophy, oral leukokeratosis, and palmoplantar keratoderma (PPK). PPK associated with PC is extremely painful and compromises patient mobility, making it the most debilitating PC symptom. In this study, we show that, although inherited in a recessive manner, the inactivation of Krt16 in mice consistently causes oral lesions as well as PPK-like hyperkeratotic calluses on Krt16(-/-) front and hind paws, which severely compromise the animals' ability to walk. Our findings call into question the view that PC-related PPK arises exclusively as a gain-of-function on account of dominantly acting mutated keratins, and highlight the key role of modifiers in the clinical heterogeneity of PC symptoms.

Nucleotide excision repair (NER) is responsible for protecting DNA in skin cells against UVR-induced damage. Using a candidate pathway approach, a matched case-control study nested within a prospective, community-based cohort was carried out to test the hypothesis that single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in NER genes are associated with susceptibility to non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC). Histologically confirmed cases of NMSC (n=900) were matched to controls (n=900) on the basis of age, gender, and skin type. Associations were measured between NMSC and 221 SNPs in 26 NER genes. Using the additive model, two tightly linked functional SNPs in ERCC6 were significantly associated with increased risk of NMSC: rs2228527 (odds ratio (OR) 1.57, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.20-2.05) and rs2228529 (OR 1.57, 95% CI 1.20-2.05). These associations were confined to basal cell carcinoma (BCC) of the skin (rs2228529, OR 1.78, 95% CI 1.30-2.44; rs2228527, OR 1.78, 95% CI 1.31-2.43). These hypothesis-generating findings suggest that functional variants in ERCC6 may be associated with an increased risk of NMSC that may be specific to BCC.

Gaucher disease is a lysosomal storage disorder caused by a defect in the degradation of glucosylceramide catalyzed by the lysosomal enzyme β-glucocerebrosidase (GBA). GBA reaches lysosomes via association with its receptor, lysosomal integral membrane protein type 2 (LIMP-2). We found that distinct phosphatidylinositol 4-kinases (PI4Ks) play important roles at multiple steps in the trafficking pathway of the LIMP-2/GBA complex. Acute depletion of phosphatidylinositol 4-phosphate in the Golgi caused accumulation of LIMP-2 in this compartment, and PI4KIIIβ was found to be responsible for controlling the exit of LIMP-2 from the Golgi. In contrast, depletion of PI4KIIα blocked trafficking at a post-Golgi compartment, leading to accumulation of LIMP-2 in enlarged endosomal vesicles. PI4KIIα depletion also caused secretion of missorted GBA into the medium, which was attenuated by limiting LIMP-2/GBA exit from the Golgi by PI4KIIIβ inhibitors. These studies identified PI4KIIIβ and PI4KIIα as important regulators of lysosomal delivery of GBA, revealing a new element of control to sphingolipid homeostasis by phosphoinositides.

To test the hypothesis that gouty arthritis (gout) is a risk factor for incidence of heart failure and for echocardiographic measures signifying subclinical heart failure.

The output of cortical pyramidal cells reflects the balance between excitatory inputs of cortical and subcortical origin, and inhibitory inputs from distinct populations of cortical GABAergic interneurons, each of which selectively innervate different domains of neuronal pyramidal cells (i.e., dendrites, soma and axon initial segment [AIS]). In Alzheimer's disease (AD), the presence of amyloid-β (Aβ) plaques alters the synaptic input to pyramidal cells in a number of ways. However, the effects of Aβ plaques on the AIS have still not been investigated to date. This neuronal domain is involved in input integration, as well as action potential initiation and propagation, and it exhibits Ca2+- and activity-dependent structural plasticity. The AIS is innervated by GABAergic axon terminals from chandelier cells, which are thought to exert a strong influence on pyramidal cell output. In the AβPP/PS1 transgenic mouse model of AD, we have investigated the effects of Aβ plaques on the morphological and neurochemical features of the AIS, including the cisternal organelle, using immunocytochemistry and confocal microscopy, as well as studying the innervation of the AIS by chandelier cell axon terminals. There is a strong reduction in GABAergic terminals that appose AIS membrane surfaces that are in contact with Aβ plaques, indicating altered inhibitory synapsis at the AIS. Thus, despite a lack of gross structural alterations in the AIS, this decrease in GABAergic innervation may deregulate AIS activity and contribute to the hyperactivity of neurons in contact with Aβ plaques.

The widespread noradrenergic innervation in the brain promotes arousal and learning by molecular mechanisms that remain largely undefined. Recent work shows that the β(2)-adrenergic receptor (β(2)AR) is linked to the AMPA-type glutamate receptor subunit GluA1 via stargazin and PSD-95 (Joiner ML, Lise MF, Yuen EY, Kam AY, Zhang M, Hall DD, Malik ZA, Qian H, Chen Y, Ulrich JD, Burette AC, Weinberg RJ, Law PY, El-Husseini A, Yan Z, Hell JW. EMBO J 29: 482-495, 2010). We now demonstrate that the β(2)AR plays a prominent role in long-term potentiation (LTP) induced by a train of 900 stimuli at 5 Hz (prolonged theta-tetanus-LTP, or PTT-LTP) in the hippocampal CA1 region in mice, which requires simultaneous β-adrenergic stimulation. Although PTT-LTP was impaired in hippocampal slices from β(1)AR and β(2)AR knockout (KO) mice, only β(2)AR-selective stimulation with salbutamol supported this PTT-LTP in wild-type (WT) slices, whereas β(1)AR-selective stimulation with dobutamine (+ prazosin) did not. Furthermore, only the β(2)AR-selective antagonist ICI-118551 and not the β(1)AR-selective antagonist CGP-20712 inhibited PTT-LTP and phosphorylation of GluA1 on its PKA site S845 in WT slices. Our analysis of S845A knockin (KI) mice indicates that this phosphorylation is relevant for PTT-LTP. These results identify the β(2)AR-S845 signaling pathway as a prominent regulator of synaptic plasticity.

Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) enter the systemic circulation in response to cues related to vascular damage and need for neovascularization. Thus, EPCs could become readily accessible informers of vascular status and enable the survey of vascular pathologies during preclinical stages. To identify EPC changes with biomarker potential, we investigated whether discrete EPC abnormalities were associated with early nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR). Two EPC subtypes with different functions have been characterized to date-one solely committed to the endothelial lineage and the other carrying both endothelial and monocytic markers. We found that only the latter, colony-forming units (CFU)-Hill cells, manifested abnormalities in type 1 diabetic patients with NPDR compared with control subjects. The abnormalities consisted in an increased number of colonies formed in vitro and downregulation of the molecules that facilitate homing at sites of vascular injury. The abnormalities were absent in type 1 diabetic patients free of retinopathy and other complications, despite long diabetes duration, but were detected in some of the patients without clinical retinopathy after short diabetes duration. CFU-Hill cells are potential informers of diabetic microangiopathy but may be preempted from carrying out reparative functions if the molecular abnormalities compromise interactions with the damaged vascular wall.

To determine whether a mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) intervention is effective for reducing psychosocial distress (i.e., depression, psychosocial stress) and the progression of nephropathy (i.e., albuminuria) and for improving the subjective health status of patients with type 2 diabetes.

Early pubertal onset in females is associated with increased risk for adult obesity and cardiovascular disease, but whether this relationship is independent of preceding childhood growth events is unclear. Furthermore, the association between male puberty and adult disease remains unknown. To clarify the link between puberty and adult health, we evaluated the relationship between pubertal timing and risk factors for type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease in both males and females from a large, prospective, and randomly ascertained birth cohort from Northern Finland.

Mass spectrometric sequencing of low abundance, integral membrane proteins, particularly the transmembrane domains, presents challenges that span the multiple phases of sample preparation including solubilization, purification, enzymatic digestion, peptide extraction, and chromatographic separation. We describe a method through which we have obtained high peptide coverage for 12 γ-aminobutyric acid type A receptor (GABAA receptor) subunits from 2 picomoles of affinity-purified GABAA receptors from rat brain neocortex. Focusing on the α₁ subunit, we identified peptides covering 96% of the protein sequence from fragmentation spectra (MS2) using a database searching algorithm and deduced 80% of the amino acid residues in the protein from de novo sequencing of Orbitrap spectra. The workflow combined microscale membrane protein solubilization, protein delipidation, in-solution multi-enzyme digestion, multiple stationary phases for peptide extraction, and acquisition of high-resolution full scan and fragmentation spectra. For de novo sequencing of peptides containing the transmembrane domains, timed digestions with chymotrypsin were utilized to generate peptides with overlapping sequences that were then recovered by sequential solid phase extraction using a C4 followed by a porous graphitic carbon stationary phase. The specificity of peptide identifications and amino acid residue sequences was increased by high mass accuracy and charge state assignment to parent and fragment ions. Analysis of three separate brain samples demonstrated that 78% of the sequence of the α₁ subunit was observed in all three replicates with an additional 13% covered in two of the three replicates, indicating a high degree of sequence coverage reproducibility. Label-free quantitative analysis was applied to the three replicates to determine the relative abundances of 11 γ-aminobutyric acid type A receptor subunits. The deep sequence MS data also revealed two N-glycosylation sites on the α₁ subunit, confirmed two splice variants of the γ₂ subunit (γ₂L and γ₂S) and resolved a database discrepancy in the sequence of the α₅ subunit.

Metabolism of xenobiotics remains a central challenge for the discovery and development of drugs, cosmetics, nutritional supplements, and agrochemicals. Metabolic transformations are frequently related to the incidence of toxic effects that may result from the emergence of reactive species, the systemic accumulation of metabolites, or by induction of metabolic pathways. Experimental investigation of the metabolism of small organic molecules is particularly resource demanding; hence, computational methods are of considerable interest to complement experimental approaches. This review provides a broad overview of structure- and ligand-based computational methods for the prediction of xenobiotic metabolism. Current computational approaches to address xenobiotic metabolism are discussed from three major perspectives: (i) prediction of sites of metabolism (SOMs), (ii) elucidation of potential metabolites and their chemical structures, and (iii) prediction of direct and indirect effects of xenobiotics on metabolizing enzymes, where the focus is on the cytochrome P450 (CYP) superfamily of enzymes, the cardinal xenobiotics metabolizing enzymes. For each of these domains, a variety of approaches and their applications are systematically reviewed, including expert systems, data mining approaches, quantitative structure-activity relationships (QSARs), and machine learning-based methods, pharmacophore-based algorithms, shape-focused techniques, molecular interaction fields (MIFs), reactivity-focused techniques, protein-ligand docking, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, and combinations of methods. Predictive metabolism is a developing area, and there is still enormous potential for improvement. However, it is clear that the combination of rapidly increasing amounts of available ligand- and structure-related experimental data (in particular, quantitative data) with novel and diverse simulation and modeling approaches is accelerating the development of effective tools for prediction of in vivo metabolism, which is reflected by the diverse and comprehensive data sources and methods for metabolism prediction reviewed here. This review attempts to survey the range and scope of computational methods applied to metabolism prediction and also to compare and contrast their applicability and performance.

Nanotechnology-based bioassays that detect the presence and/or absence of a combination of cell markers are increasingly used to identify stem or progenitor cells, assess cell heterogeneity, and evaluate tumor malignancy and/or chemoresistance. Delivery methods that enable nanoparticles to rapidly detect emerging, intracellular markers within cell clusters of biopsies will greatly aid in tumor characterization, analysis of functional state and development of treatment regimens.

Crystal methamphetamine smoking is associated with many negative health consequences, including the potential for transmission of hepatitis. We examined whether or not a kit for crystal methamphetamine smoking might have some potential to reduce the negative health effects of crystal methamphetamine smoking.

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is ubiquitous in the population but generally causes only mild or asymptomatic infection except in immune suppressed individuals. HCMV employs numerous strategies for manipulating infected cells, including mimicry of G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs). The HCMV US27 gene product is a putative GPCR, yet no ligand or signaling has been identified for this receptor. In the present study, immunofluorescence microscopy was used to examine the cellular distribution of wild type US27, as well as US27 deletion mutants and chimeric receptors.