A mutation in the conserved helix termination peptide of keratin 5 in hereditary skin blistering.

In the hereditary blistering condition epidermolysis bullosa simplex, the skin blisters on trauma following rupture of epidermal basal cells. Clinical variations range from severely incapacitating, especially in early childhood, to mild forms that may not even present clinically. Dowling-Meara epidermolysis bullosa simplex is characterized by clusters of epidermal blisters and keratin clumping in the cytoplasm; recent reports describe potentially causal mutations in keratin 14 (refs 2, 3). Here we describe a 'complementary' mutation at the other end of the other keratin expressed by these cells (K5, coexpressed with K14), a change from a Glu to a Gly in the helix termination peptide, detected by altered antibody binding and confirmed by sequencing using the polymerase chain reaction. The two conserved helix boundary peptides are predicted to be essential for filament assembly, and the requirement for two complementary (type I and type II) keratins is absolute. Epidermolysis bullosa simplex diseases demonstrate the function of the keratin cytoskeleton in resisting compaction stresses which otherwise lead to cell lysis.     

BH3-only Bcl-2 family member Bim is required for apoptosis of autoreactive thymocytes

During lymphocyte development, the assembly of genes coding for antigen receptors occurs by the combinatorial linking of gene segments. The stochastic nature of this process gives rise to lymphocytes that can recognize self-antigens, thereby having the potential to induce autoimmune disease. Such autoreactive lymphocytes can be silenced by developmental arrest or unresponsiveness (anergy), or can be deleted from the repertoire by cell death. In the thymus, developing T lymphocytes (thymocytes) bearing a T-cell receptor (TCR)-CD3 complex that engages self-antigens are induced to undergo programmed cell death (apoptosis), but the mechanisms ensuring this 'negative selection' are unclear. We now report that thymocytes lacking the pro-apoptotic Bcl-2 family member Bim (also known as Bcl2l11) are refractory to apoptosis induced by TCR-CD3 stimulation. Moreover, in transgenic mice expressing autoreactive TCRs that provoke widespread deletion, Bim deficiency severely impaired thymocyte killing. TCR ligation upregulated Bim expression and promoted interaction of Bim with Bcl-XL, inhibiting its survival function. These findings identify Bim as an essential initiator of apoptosis in thymocyte-negative selection.     

Dll4 signalling through Notch1 regulates formation of tip cells during angiogenesis

In sprouting angiogenesis, specialized endothelial tip cells lead the outgrowth of blood-vessel sprouts towards gradients of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-A. VEGF-A is also essential for the induction of endothelial tip cells, but it is not known how single tip cells are selected to lead each vessel sprout, and how tip-cell numbers are determined. Here we present evidence that delta-like 4 (Dll4)-Notch1 signalling regulates the formation of appropriate numbers of tip cells to control vessel sprouting and branching in the mouse retina. We show that inhibition of Notch signalling using gamma-secretase inhibitors, genetic inactivation of one allele of the endothelial Notch ligand Dll4, or endothelial-specific genetic deletion of Notch1, all promote increased numbers of tip cells. Conversely, activation of Notch by a soluble jagged1 peptide leads to fewer tip cells and vessel branches. Dll4 and reporters of Notch signalling are distributed in a mosaic pattern among endothelial cells of actively sprouting retinal vessels. At this location, Notch1-deleted endothelial cells preferentially assume tip-cell characteristics. Together, our results suggest that Dll4-Notch1 signalling between the endothelial cells within the angiogenic sprout serves to restrict tip-cell formation in response to VEGF, thereby establishing the adequate ratio between tip and stalk cells required for correct sprouting and branching patterns. This model offers an explanation for the dose-dependency and haploinsufficiency of the Dll4 gene, and indicates that modulators of Dll4 or Notch signalling, such as gamma-secretase inhibitors developed for Alzheimer's disease, might find usage as pharmacological regulators of angiogenesis.     

A molecular information ratchet

Motor proteins and other biological machines are highly efficient at converting energy into directed motion and driving chemical systems away from thermodynamic equilibrium. But even though these biological structures have inspired the design of many molecules that mimic aspects of their behaviour, artificial nanomachine systems operate almost exclusively by moving towards thermodynamic equilibrium, not away from it. Here we show that information about the location of a macrocycle in a rotaxane-a molecular ring threaded onto a molecular axle-can be used, on the input of light energy, to alter the kinetics of the shuttling of the macrocycle between two compartments on the axle. For an ensemble of such molecular machines, the macrocycle distribution is directionally driven away from its equilibrium value without ever changing the relative binding affinities of the ring for the different parts of the axle. The selective transport of particles between two compartments by brownian motion in this way bears similarities to the hypothetical task performed without an energy input by a 'demon' in Maxwell's famous thought experiment. Our observations demonstrate that synthetic molecular machines can operate by an information ratchet mechanism, in which knowledge of a particle's position is used to control its transport away from equilibrium.