Group A Streptococcus tissue invasion by CD44-mediated cell signalling.

Streptococcus pyogenes (also known as group A Streptococcus, GAS), the agent of streptococcal sore throat and invasive soft-tissue infections, attaches to human pharyngeal or skin epithelial cells through specific recognition of its hyaluronic acid capsular polysaccharide by the hyaluronic-acid-binding protein CD44 (refs 1, 2). Because ligation of CD44 by hyaluronic acid can induce epithelial cell movement on extracellular matrix, we investigated whether molecular mimicry by the GAS hyaluronic acid capsule might induce similar cellular responses. Here we show that CD44-dependent GAS binding to polarized monolayers of human keratinocytes induced marked cytoskeletal rearrangements manifested by membrane ruffling and disruption of intercellular junctions. Transduction of the signal induced by GAS binding to CD44 on the keratinocyte surface involved Rac1 and the cytoskeleton linker protein ezrin, as well as tyrosine phosphorylation of cellular proteins. Studies of bacterial translocation in two models of human skin indicated that cell signalling triggered by interaction of the GAS capsule with CD44 opened intercellular junctions and promoted tissue penetration by GAS through a paracellular route. These results support a model of host cytoskeleton manipulation and tissue invasion by an extracellular bacterial pathogen.     

Cloning of two plastid division ftsZ genes from Nicotiana tabacum and their expression in E.coli

Two cDNAs of plastid division gene NtFtsZ1-1 and NtFtsZ1-2 are isolated from Nicotiana tabacum by RT-PCR and rapid amplification cDNA ends (RACE) method. Analysis of the deduced amino acid sequences encoded by NtFtsZ1-1 and NtFtsZ1-2 indicate that these two proteins possess the typical conservative motifs and GTP binding sites existing in all FtsZ proteins. The existence of putative plastid transit peptide in their N-terminal suggests that there are at least two transit-peptide containing FtsZ proteins in higher plants. Phylogenetic analysis based on amino acid sequences of FtsZ proteins also supports this interference. These two NtFtsZ genes demonstrate a similar expression pattern during the plant development, detected by Northern blot. Expression of NtFtsZ1-1 and NtFtsZ1-2 in E.coli interrupts the normal division process of host cells. These results suggest the diverse functions of FtsZ proteins in higher plants.     

n-FI-内射模和n-FI-平坦模的若干性质

本文讨论了n-FI-内射模和n-FI-平坦模之间的关系以及它们的若干性质.证明了(Fn,(Fn)⊥)是完备的余挠理论,并给出(Fn,(Fn)⊥)是遗传的余挠理论的充要条件,其中Fn表示n-FI-平坦右R-模类.     

The Shigella flexneri effector OspI deamidates UBC13 to dampen the inflammatory response

Many bacterial pathogens can enter various host cells and then survive intracellularly, transiently evade humoral immunity, and further disseminate to other cells and tissues. When bacteria enter host cells and replicate intracellularly, the host cells sense the invading bacteria as damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) and pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) by way of various pattern recognition receptors. As a result, the host cells induce alarm signals that activate the innate immune system. Therefore, bacteria must modulate host inflammatory signalling and dampen these alarm signals. How pathogens do this after invading epithelial cells remains unclear, however. Here we show that OspI, a Shigella flexneri effector encoded by ORF169b on the large plasmid and delivered by the type ΙΙΙ secretion system, dampens acute inflammatory responses during bacterial invasion by suppressing the tumour-necrosis factor (TNF)-receptor-associated factor 6 (TRAF6)-mediated signalling pathway. OspI is a glutamine deamidase that selectively deamidates the glutamine residue at position 100 in UBC13 to a glutamic acid residue. Consequently, the E2 ubiquitin-conjugating activity required for TRAF6 activation is inhibited, allowing S. flexneri OspI to modulate the diacylglycerol-CBM (CARD-BCL10-MALT1) complex-TRAF6-nuclear-factor-κB signalling pathway. We determined the 2.0 ? crystal structure of OspI, which contains a putative cysteine-histidine-aspartic acid catalytic triad. A mutational analysis showed this catalytic triad to be essential for the deamidation of UBC13. Our results suggest that S. flexneri inhibits acute inflammatory responses in the initial stage of infection by targeting the UBC13-TRAF6 complex.     

Structural basis for Duffy recognition by the malaria parasite Duffy-binding-like domain

Molecular processes that govern pathogenic features of erythrocyte invasion and cytoadherence in malaria are reliant on Plasmodium-specific Duffy-binding-like domains (DBLs). These cysteine-rich modules recognize diverse host cell-surface receptors during pathogenesis. DBLs of parasite erythrocyte-binding proteins mediate invasion, and those from the antigenically variant P. falciparum erythrocyte membrane protein 1 (PfEMP1) have been implicated in cytoadherence. The simian and human malarial parasites, P. knowlesi and P. vivax, invade human erythrocytes exclusively through the host DARC receptor (Duffy antigen receptor for chemokines). Here we present the crystal structure of the P. knowlesi DBL domain (Pkalpha-DBL), which binds to DARC during invasion of human erythrocytes. Pkalpha-DBL retains the overall fold observed in DBLs from P. falciparum erythrocyte-binding antigen (EBA)-175 (ref. 4). Mapping the residues that have previously been implicated in binding highlights a fairly flat but exposed site for DARC recognition in subdomain 2 of Pkalpha-DBL; this is in sharp contrast to receptor recognition by EBA-175 (ref. 4). In Pkalpha-DBL, the residues that contact DARC and the clusters of residues under immune pressure map to opposite surfaces of the DBL, and suggest a possible mechanism for immune evasion by P. vivax. Our comparative structural analysis of Pkalpha-DBL and P. falciparum EBA-175 provides a framework for the understanding of malaria parasite DBLs, and may affect the development of new prophylactic and therapeutic strategies.     

Shigella flexneri induces apoptosis in infected macrophages.

The Gram-negative bacterial pathogen Shigella flexneri causes dysentery by invading the human colonic mucosa. Bacteria are phagocytosed by enterocytes, escape from the phagosome into the cytoplasm and spread to adjacent cells. After crossing the epithelium, Shigella reaches the lamina propria of intestinal villi, the first line of defence. This tissue is densely populated with phagocytes that are killed in great numbers, resulting in abscesses. The genes required for cell invasion and macrophage killing are located on a 220-kilobase plasmid. We report here on the mechanism of cytotoxicity used by S. flexneri to kill macrophages. Each of four different strains was tested for its capacity to induce cell death. An invasive strain induced programmed cell death (apoptosis), whereas its non-invasive, plasmidcured isogenic strain was not toxic; neither was a mutant in ipa B (ref. 10) (invasion protein antigen), a gene necessary for entry. A non-invasive strain expressing the haemolysin operon of Escherichia coli induced accidental cell death (necrosis), demonstrating that other bacterial cytotoxic mechanisms do not lead to apoptosis. This is the first evidence that an invasive bacterial pathogen can induce suicide in its host cells.     

单调增加的连续函数的Picard迭代序列的收敛定理

证明了若f:[a,b]→[a,b]为单调增加的连续函数,λ∈(0,1),定义Fλ:[a,b]→[a,b],Fλx=(1-λ)x+λf(x),x1∈[a,b],xn+1=Fλxn=Fλnx1,n≥1,则{xn}单调地收敛于f的1个不动点.     

扇图的笛卡儿积的测地数(英文)

对于图G内的任意两点u和v,u-v测地线是指u和v之间的最短路.I(u,v)表示位于u-v测地线上所有点的集合,对于V(G)S,I(S)表示所有I(u,v)的并,这里u,v∈S.G的测地数g(G)是使I(S)=V(G)的点集S的最小基数.文章研究了Pm×Fn和Cm×Fn的测地数,这里Pm表示m阶路,Cm表示m阶圈,Fn表示n阶扇图。     

Signal sequence directs localized secretion of bacterial surface proteins

All living cells require specific mechanisms that target proteins to the cell surface. In eukaryotes, the first part of this process involves recognition in the endoplasmic reticulum of amino-terminal signal sequences and translocation through Sec translocons, whereas subsequent targeting to different surface locations is promoted by internal sorting signals. In bacteria, N-terminal signal sequences promote translocation across the cytoplasmic membrane, which surrounds the entire cell, but some proteins are nevertheless secreted in one part of the cell by poorly understood mechanisms. Here we analyse localized secretion in the Gram-positive pathogen Streptococcus pyogenes, and show that the signal sequences of two surface proteins, M protein and protein F (PrtF), direct secretion to different subcellular regions. The signal sequence of M protein promotes secretion at the division septum, whereas that of PrtF preferentially promotes secretion at the old pole. Our work therefore shows that a signal sequence may contain information that directs the secretion of a protein to one subcellular region, in addition to its classical role in promoting secretion. This finding identifies a new level of complexity in protein translocation and emphasizes the potential of bacterial systems for the analysis of fundamental cell-biological problems.     

A consensus amino-acid sequence repeat in Torpedo and mammalian Ca2+-dependent membrane-binding proteins

A group of calcium-binding proteins which bind to biomembranes has recently been identified in widely different cells and tissues (refs 1-7, reviewed in ref. 8). Three of these proteins (p70, p36 and p32.5) cross-react with antiserum to calelectrin, a Ca2+-binding protein (relative molecular mass 34,000 (34K] from the ray Torpedo marmorata, giving rise to their designation as calelectrin-related proteins. We now report that calelectrin, p36 and p32.5 contain a 17-amino-acid consensus sequence which is conserved and present in multiple copies. We suggest that this sequence may be common to other members of this new group of Ca2+-binding proteins and may underlie their unusual mode of combination with biomembranes.     

Cysteine methylation disrupts ubiquitin-chain sensing in NF-κB activation

NF-κB is crucial for innate immune defence against microbial infection. Inhibition of NF-κB signalling has been observed with various bacterial infections. The NF-κB pathway critically requires multiple ubiquitin-chain signals of different natures. The question of whether ubiquitin-chain signalling and its specificity in NF-κB activation are regulated during infection, and how this regulation takes place, has not been explored. Here we show that human TAB2 and TAB3, ubiquitin-chain sensory proteins involved in NF-κB signalling, are directly inactivated by enteropathogenic Escherichia coli NleE, a conserved bacterial type-III-secreted effector responsible for blocking host NF-κB signalling. NleE harboured an unprecedented S-adenosyl-l-methionine-dependent methyltransferase activity that specifically modified a zinc-coordinating cysteine in the Npl4 zinc finger (NZF) domains in TAB2 and TAB3. Cysteine-methylated TAB2-NZF and TAB3-NZF (truncated proteins only comprising the NZF domain) lost the zinc ion as well as the ubiquitin-chain binding activity. Ectopically expressed or type-III-secretion-system-delivered NleE methylated TAB2 and TAB3 in host cells and diminished their ubiquitin-chain binding activity. Replacement of the NZF domain of TAB3 with the NleE methylation-insensitive Npl4 NZF domain resulted in NleE-resistant NF-κB activation. Given the prevalence of zinc-finger motifs and activation of cysteine thiol by zinc binding, methylation of zinc-finger cysteine might regulate other eukaryotic pathways in addition to NF-κB signalling.     

兽疫链球菌磷脂酰甘油磷酸合成酶基因的分离

根据化脓链球菌(Streptococcus pyogenes)磷脂酰甘油磷酸合成酶（phosphatidylglycerophosphate synthase, PGPS）基因序列设计引物,通过PCR从兽疫链球菌（Streptococcus zooepidemicus）基因组中克隆得到开读框为531bp的同源序列pgsa-sz。pgsa-sz的预测编码蛋白含有176个氨基酸残基,分子量19400,等电点8.8,其中含有63个疏水氨基酸,预示其可能的膜结合特性。二级结构预测发现该蛋白含3个跨膜域。此外,该蛋白与S. pyogenes的PGPS具有85％的氨基酸序列相似性。将该蛋白与金黄色葡萄球菌(Staphylococcus aureus)、枯草芽孢杆菌(Bacillus subtilis)、大肠杆菌(Escherichia coli)和酿酒酵母(Saccharomyces cerevisiae)的PGPS进行序列比对,发现该蛋白包含PGPS中保守的活性位点区域。上述结果表明,pgsa-sz为S. zooepidemicus细胞膜中PGPS的编码基因。     

关于Fibonacci多项式通项的证明

Fibonacci多项式是以递推方式定义:F0(x)=1,F1(x)=x,F n+2(x)=x F n+1(x)+F n(x).利用代数知识,给出Fibonacci多项式通项的行列式形式和矩阵、向量乘积形式的通项公式证明.     

分式化时模的模型论性质的保持性

将环R的分式环S^-1R上的模M_S^-1R“限制”到R上时,模理论的纯性、纯入射性、初等等价、初等嵌入等模型论性质都是保持的。还讨论了(S^-1M)_S^-1R与M_R之间模型论性质的保持性。     

Plant recognition of symbiotic bacteria requires two LysM receptor-like kinases

Although most higher plants establish a symbiosis with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, symbiotic nitrogen fixation with rhizobia is a salient feature of legumes. Despite this host range difference, mycorrhizal and rhizobial invasion shares a common plant-specified genetic programme controlling the early host interaction. One feature distinguishing legumes is their ability to perceive rhizobial-specific signal molecules. We describe here two LysM-type serine/threonine receptor kinase genes, NFR1 and NFR5, enabling the model legume Lotus japonicus to recognize its bacterial microsymbiont Mesorhizobium loti. The extracellular domains of the two transmembrane kinases resemble LysM domains of peptidoglycan- and chitin-binding proteins, suggesting that they may be involved directly in perception of the rhizobial lipochitin-oligosaccharide signal. We show that NFR1 and NFR5 are required for the earliest physiological and cellular responses to this lipochitin-oligosaccharide signal, and demonstrate their role in the mechanism establishing susceptibility of the legume root for bacterial infection.