Upstream kinases of plant Sn RK s are involved in salt stress tolerance

Barajas&#x2010,Lopez, Juan de Dios,Moreno, Jose Ramon,Gamez&#x2010,Arjona, Francisco M.,Pardo, Jose M.,Punkkinen, Matleena,Zhu, Jian&#x2010,Kang,Quintero, Francisco J.,Fujii, Hiroaki John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2018 The Plant journal Vol.93 No.1

<▼1><P><B>Summary</B></P><P>Sucrose non‐fermenting 1‐related protein kinases (SnRKs) are important for plant growth and stress responses. This family has three clades: SnRK1, SnRK2 and SnRK3. Although plant SnRKs are thought to be activated by upstream kinases, the overall mechanism remains obscure. Geminivirus Rep‐Interacting Kinase (GRIK)1 and GRIK2 phosphorylate SnRK1s, which are involved in sugar/energy sensing, and the <I>grik1‐1 grik2‐1</I> double mutant shows growth retardation under regular growth conditions. In this study, we established another Arabidopsis mutant line harbouring a different allele of gene <I>GRIK1</I> (<I>grik1‐2 grik2‐1</I>) that grows similarly to the wild‐type, enabling us to evaluate the function of GRIKs under stress conditions. In the <I>grik1‐2 grik2‐1</I> double mutant, phosphorylation of SnRK1.1 was reduced, but not eliminated, suggesting that the <I>grik1‐2</I> mutation is a weak allele. In addition to high sensitivity to glucose, the <I>grik1‐2 grik2‐1</I> mutant was sensitive to high salt, indicating that GRIKs are also involved in salinity signalling pathways. Salt Overly Sensitive (SOS)2, a member of the SnRK3 subfamily, is a critical mediator of the response to salinity. GRIK1 phosphorylated SOS2 <I>in vitro</I>, resulting in elevated kinase activity of SOS2. The salt tolerance of <I>sos2</I> was restored to normal levels by wild‐type SOS2, but not by a mutated form of SOS2 lacking the T168 residue phosphorylated by GRIK1. Activation of SOS2 by GRIK1 was also demonstrated in a reconstituted system in yeast. Our results indicate that GRIKs phosphorylate and activate SnRK1 and other members of the SnRK3 family, and that they play important roles in multiple signalling pathways <I>in vivo</I>.</P></▼1><▼2><P><B>Significance Statement</B></P><P>Since plants face diverse, often coincidental stresses throughout their lifetime, they have to integrate multiple signals to organize growth, development and stress responses. This work shows that GRIKs, which are essential players in sugar signalling pathway as upstream kinases of SnRK1s, also work in salt tolerance of Arabidopsis and identified SOS2, a SnRK3, as a potential substrate of GRIKs in the salinity signalling pathway.</P></▼2>

Nanoscale Assembly in Biological Systems: From Neuronal Cytoskeletal Proteins to Curvature Stabilizing Lipids

Safinya, Cyrus R.,Raviv, Uri,Needleman, Daniel J.,Zidovska, Alexandra,Choi, Myung Chul,Ojeda&#x2010,Lopez, Miguel A.,Ewert, Kai K.,Li, Youli,Miller, Herbert P.,Quispe, Joel,Carragher, Bridget,Potter, WILEY‐VCH Verlag 2011 ADVANCED MATERIALS Vol.23 No.20

<P><B>Abstract</B></P><P>The review will describe experiments inspired by the rich variety of bundles and networks of interacting microtubules (MT), neurofilaments, and filamentous‐actin in neurons where the nature of the interactions, structures, and structure‐function correlations remain poorly understood. We describe how three‐dimensional (3D) MT bundles and 2D MT bundles may assemble, in cell free systems in the presence of counter‐ions, revealing structures not predicted by polyelectrolyte theories. Interestingly, experiments reveal that the neuronal protein tau, an abundant MT‐associated‐protein in axons, modulates the MT diameter providing insight for the control of geometric parameters in bio‐ nanotechnology. In another set of experiments we describe lipid‐protein‐nanotubes, and lipid nano‐ tubes and rods, resulting from membrane shape evolution processes involving protein templates and curvature stabilizing lipids. Similar membrane shape changes, occurring in cells for the purpose of specific functions, are induced by interactions between membranes and proteins. The biological materials systems described have applications in bio‐nanotechnology.</P>

Robust trypsin coating on electrospun polymer nanofibers in rigorous conditions and its uses for protein digestion

Ahn, Hye&#x2010,Kyung,Kim, Byoung Chan,Jun, Seung&#x2010,Hyun,Chang, Mun Seock,Lopez&#x2010,Ferrer, Daniel,Smith, Richard D.,Gu, Man Bock,Lee, Sang&#x2010,Won,Kim, Beom Soo,Kim, Jungbae Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company 2010 Biotechnology and bioengineering Vol.107 No.6

<P><B>Abstract</B></P><P>An efficient protein digestion in proteomic analysis requires the stabilization of proteases such as trypsin. In the present work, trypsin was stabilized in the form of enzyme coating on electrospun polymer nanofibers (EC‐TR), which crosslinks additional trypsin molecules onto covalently attached trypsin (CA‐TR). EC‐TR showed better stability than CA‐TR in rigorous conditions, such as at high temperatures of 40 and 50°C, in the presence of organic co‐solvents, and at various pH's. For example, the half‐lives of CA‐TR and EC‐TR were 1.42 and 231 h at 40°C, respectively. The improved stability of EC‐TR can be explained by covalent linkages on the surface of trypsin molecules, which effectively inhibits the denaturation, autolysis, and leaching of trypsin. The protein digestion was performed at 40°C by using both CA‐TR and EC‐TR in digesting a model protein, enolase. EC‐TR showed better performance and stability than CA‐TR by maintaining good performance of enolase digestion under recycled uses for a period of 1 week. In the same condition, CA‐TR showed poor performance from the beginning and could not be used for digestion at all after a few usages. The enzyme coating approach is anticipated to be successfully employed not only for protein digestion in proteomic analysis but also for various other fields where the poor enzyme stability presently hampers the practical applications of enzymes. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2010;107: 917–923. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.</P>

On the Fragile Relationship Between El Niño and California Rainfall

Lee, Sang&#x2010,Ki,Lopez, Hosmay,Chung, Eui&#x2010,Seok,DiNezio, Pedro,Yeh, Sang&#x2010,Wook,Wittenberg, Andrew T. American Geophysical Union 2018 Geophysical research letters Vol.45 No.2

<P>The failed influence of the 2015-2016 El Nino on California rainfall has renewed interest in the relationship between El Nino and U.S. rainfall variability. Here we perform statistical data analyses and simple model experiments to show that sufficiently warm and persistent sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTAs) in the far eastern equatorial Pacific are required to excite an anomalous cyclone in the North Pacific that extends to the east across the U.S. West Coast and thus increases rainfall over California. Among the four most frequently recurring El Nino patterns considered in this study, only the persistent El Nino, which is often characterized by the warm SSTAs in the far eastern equatorial Pacific persisting throughout the winter and spring, is linked to such extratropical teleconnection patterns and significantly increased rainfall over the entire state of California. During the last 69 years, only three of the 25 El Nino events (i.e., 1957-1958, 1982-1983, and 1997-1998) are clearly identified as the persistent El Nino. In addition, the monthly rainfall variance explained by El Nino is less than half that caused by internal variability during the 25 El Nino. Therefore, the rarity of persistent El Nino events combined with the large influence of internal variability effectively explains the fragile relationship between El Nino and California rainfall.</P>

Donor Islet Endothelial Cells in Pancreatic Islet Revascularization

Nyqvist, Daniel,Speier, Stephan,Rodriguez-Diaz, Rayner,Molano, R. Damaris,Lipovsek, Sa&#x161,a,Rupnik, Marjan,Dicker, Andrea,Ilegems, Erwin,Zahr-Akrawi, Elsie,Molina, Judith,Lopez-Cabeza, Maite,Villat American Diabetes Association 2011 Diabetes Vol.60 No.10

<P><B>OBJECTIVE</B></P><P>Freshly isolated pancreatic islets contain, in contrast to cultured islets, intraislet endothelial cells (ECs), which can contribute to the formation of functional blood vessels after transplantation. We have characterized how donor islet endothelial cells (DIECs) may contribute to the revascularization rate, vascular density, and endocrine graft function after transplantation of freshly isolated and cultured islets.</P><P><B>RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS</B></P><P>Freshly isolated and cultured islets were transplanted under the kidney capsule and into the anterior chamber of the eye. Intravital laser scanning microscopy was used to monitor the revascularization process and DIECs in intact grafts. The grafts’ metabolic function was examined by reversal of diabetes, and the ultrastructural morphology by transmission electron microscopy.</P><P><B>RESULTS</B></P><P>DIECs significantly contributed to the vasculature of fresh islet grafts, assessed up to 5 months after transplantation, but were hardly detected in cultured islet grafts. Early participation of DIECs in the revascularization process correlated with a higher revascularization rate of freshly isolated islets compared with cultured islets. However, after complete revascularization, the vascular density was similar in the two groups, and host ECs gained morphological features resembling the endogenous islet vasculature. Surprisingly, grafts originating from cultured islets reversed diabetes more rapidly than those originating from fresh islets.</P><P><B>CONCLUSIONS</B></P><P>In summary, DIECs contributed to the revascularization of fresh, but not cultured, islets by participating in early processes of vessel formation and persisting in the vasculature over long periods of time. However, the DIECs did not increase the vascular density or improve the endocrine function of the grafts.</P>

Super-stretchable Graphene Oxide Macroscopic Fibers with Outstanding Knotability Fabricated by Dry Film Scrolling

Cruz-Silva, Rodolfo,Morelos-Gomez, Aaron,Kim, Hyung-ick,Jang, Hong-kyu,Tristan, Ferdinando,Vega-Diaz, Sofia,Rajukumar, Lakshmy P.,Eli&#x301,as, Ana Laura,Perea-Lopez, Nestor,Suhr, Jonghwan,Endo, Morin American Chemical Society 2014 ACS NANO Vol.8 No.6

<P>Graphene oxide (GO) has recently become an attractive building block for fabricating graphene-based functional materials. GO films and fibers have been prepared mainly by vacuum filtration and wet spinning. These materials exhibit relatively high Young’s moduli but low toughness and a high tendency to tear or break. Here, we report an alternative method, using bar coating and drying of water/GO dispersions, for preparing large-area GO thin films (<I>e.g.</I>, 800–1200 cm<SUP>2</SUP> or larger) with an outstanding mechanical behavior and excellent tear resistance. These dried films were subsequently scrolled to prepare GO fibers with extremely large elongation to fracture (up to 76%), high toughness (up to 17 J/m<SUP>3</SUP>), and attractive macroscopic properties, such as uniform circular cross section, smooth surface, and great knotability. This method is simple, and after thermal reduction of the GO material, it can render highly electrically conducting graphene-based fibers with values up to 416 S/cm at room temperature. In this context, GO fibers annealed at 2000 °C were also successfully used as electron field emitters operating at low turn on voltages of <I>ca.</I> 0.48 V/μm and high current densities (5.3 A/cm<SUP>2</SUP>). Robust GO fibers and large-area films with fascinating architectures and outstanding mechanical and electrical properties were prepared with bar coating followed by dry film scrolling.</P><P><B>Graphic Abstract</B> <IMG SRC='http://pubs.acs.org/appl/literatum/publisher/achs/journals/content/ancac3/2014/ancac3.2014.8.issue-6/nn501098d/production/images/medium/nn-2014-01098d_0007.gif'></P><P><A href='http://pubs.acs.org/doi/suppl/10.1021/nn501098d'>ACS Electronic Supporting Info</A></P>

Guide for Current Nutrigenetic, Nutrigenomic, and Nutriepigenetic Approaches for Precision Nutrition Involving the Prevention and Management of Chronic Diseases Associated with Obesity

Ramos-Lopez, Omar,Milagro, Fermí,n I.,Allayee, Hooman,Chmurzynska, Agata,Choi, Myung Sook,Curi, Rui,De Caterina, Raffaele,Ferguson, Lynnette R.,Goni, Leticia,Kang, Jing X.,Kohlmeier, Martin,Mart S. Karger AG 2017 Journal of nutrigenetics and nutrigenomics Vol.10 No.1

<P>Chronic diseases, including obesity, are major causes of morbidity and mortality in most countries. The adverse impacts of obesity and associated comorbidities on health remain a major concern due to the lack of effective interventions for prevention and management. Precision nutrition is an emerging therapeutic approach that takes into account an individual's genetic and epigenetic information, as well as age, gender, or particular physiopathological status. Advances in genomic sciences are contributing to a better understanding of the role of genetic variants and epigenetic signatures as well as gene expression patterns in the development of diverse chronic conditions, and how they may modify therapeutic responses. This knowledge has led to the search for genetic and epigenetic biomarkers to predict the risk of developing chronic diseases and personalizing their prevention and treatment. Additionally, original nutritional interventions based on nutrients and bioactive dietary compounds that can modify epigenetic marks and gene expression have been implemented. Although caution must be exercised, these scientific insights are paving the way for the design of innovative strategies for the control of chronic diseases accompanying obesity. This document provides a number of examples of the huge potential of understanding nutrigenetic, nutrigenomic, and nutriepigenetic roles in precision nutrition.</P>

Were the main mountain ranges in the Korean Peninsula a glacial refugium for plants? Insights from the congeneric pair Lilium cernuum - Lilium amabile

Chung, M.Y.,Chung, M.G.,Lopez-Pujol, J.,Ren, M.X.,Zhang, Z.Y.,Park, S.J. Pergamon Press ; Elsevier Science Ltd 2014 Biochemical systematics and ecology Vol.53 No.-

The main Korean mountain range (the so-called ''Baekdudaegan''), which stretches from north to south across most of the country, has been thought to harbor glacial refugia for boreal plant species, where they likely found relatively stable habitats and maintained large population sizes. Under this scenario, high levels of genetic variation and low or moderate degree of differentiation among populations within these species were expected. To test this hypothesis, we examined levels of allozyme diversity (14 loci) in eight populations of the boreal herb Lilium cernuum, which in Korea occurs largely along the Baekdudaegan and, as a reference, in eight populations of its congener Lilium amabile, a temperate species that is distributed on lower hillsides in peripheral regions of the Baekdudaegan. L. cernuum harbored higher levels of genetic variation within populations than L. amabile (%P = 49.1 vs. 25.0, A = 1.71 vs. 1.34, and H<SUB>e</SUB> = 0.159 vs. 0.048). Genetic differentiation among populations was low for both species (F<SUB>ST</SUB> = 0.119 and 0.014 for L. cernuum and L. amabile, respectively). A series of historical and ecological factors may explain the contrasting levels of genetic diversity between L. cernuum and L. amabile: occurrence within the main ranges of the Baekdudaegan (enduring the glacial periods in macrorefugia) vs. low elevation peripheral areas (in microrefugia) and shade-tolerant vs. shade-intolerant. This study, as well as previous population genetics studies, strongly suggests that the Baekdudaegan merits high priority for conservation given its proposed role as glacial refugia for montane species.

Measurement of theB+→ωl+νandB+→ηl+νbranching fractions

Aubert, B.,Bona, M.,Karyotakis, Y.,Lees, J. P.,Poireau, V.,Prencipe, E.,Prudent, X.,Tisserand, V.,Garra Tico, J.,Grauges, E.,Lopez, L.,Palano, A.,Pappagallo, M.,Eigen, G.,Stugu, B.,Sun, L.,Abrams, G. American Physical Society 2009 PHYSICAL REVIEW D - Vol.79 No.5