Identification of kinesin in sea urchin eggs, and evidence for its localization in the mitotic spindle

To understand the molecular basis of microtubule-associated motility during mitosis, the mechanochemical factors that generate the relevant motile force must be identified. Myosin, the ATPase that interacts with actin to produce the force for muscle contraction and other forms of cell motility, is believed to be involved in cytokinesis but not in mitosis. Dynein, the mechanochemical enzyme that drives microtubule sliding in eukaryotic cilia and flagella, has been identified in the cytoplasm of sea urchin eggs, but the evidence that it is involved in cytoplasmic microtubule-based motility (rather than serving as a precursor for embryonic cilia) is equivocal. Microtubule-associated ATPases have been prepared from other tissues, but their role in cytoplasmic motility is also unknown. Recent work on axoplasmic transport, however, has led to the identification of a novel mechanochemical protein called kinesin, which is thought to generate the force for moving vesicles along axonal microtubules. These results suggest that kinesin may also be a mechanochemical factor for non-axoplasmic forms of microtubule-based motility, such as mitosis. We describe here the identification and isolation of a kinesin-like protein from the cytoplasm of sea urchin eggs. We present evidence that this protein is localized in the mitotic spindle, and propose that it may be a mechanochemical factor for some form of motility associated with the mitotic spindle.     

Scatter factor is a fibroblast-derived modulator of epithelial cell mobility

Various factors are known to regulate cell growth and differentiation, but less is known of agents which affect movement and positioning, particularly in epithelial-mesenchymal interactions. Cultured human embryo fibroblasts release a protein with a relative molecular mass (Mr) of approximately 50,000 (50K) that affects epithelial cells by causing a disruption of junctions, an increase in local motility and a scattering of contiguous sheets of cells. To investigate specificity, a range of cells has been examined for the ability to produce the factor and for sensitivity to its action. Most freshly isolated normal epithelia and epithelia from cell lines of normal tissue, but not epithelia from tumour cell lines or fibroblasts, were sensitive to scatter factor. In contrast, production of the factor, as identified by activity and by chromatography, was restricted to embryonic fibroblasts and certain variants of 3T3 and BHK21 cells and their transformed derivatives. We conclude that the scatter factor is a paracrine effector of epithelial-mesenchymal interaction, which affects the intercellular connections and mobility of normal epithelial cells. The factor might be involved in epithelial migration, such as occurs in embryogenesis or wound healing.     

T-cell priming by dendritic cells in lymph nodes occurs in three distinct phases

Primary T-cell responses in lymph nodes (LNs) require contact-dependent information exchange between T cells and dendritic cells (DCs). Because lymphocytes continually enter and leave normal LNs, the resident lymphocyte pool is composed of non-synchronized cells with different dwell times that display heterogeneous behaviour in mouse LNs in vitro. Here we employ two-photon microscopy in vivo to study antigen-presenting DCs and naive T cells whose dwell time in LNs was synchronized. During the first 8 h after entering from the blood, T cells underwent multiple short encounters with DCs, progressively decreased their motility, and upregulated activation markers. During the subsequent 12 h T cells formed long-lasting stable conjugates with DCs and began to secrete interleukin-2 and interferon-gamma. On the second day, coinciding with the onset of proliferation, T cells resumed their rapid migration and short DC contacts. Thus, T-cell priming by DCs occurs in three successive stages: transient serial encounters during the first activation phase are followed by a second phase of stable contacts culminating in cytokine production, which makes a transition into a third phase of high motility and rapid proliferation.     

Cytokine-induced pseudopodial protrusion is coupled to tumour cell migration

Pseudopodia protrusion is a prominent feature of actively motile cells in vitro and invading tumour cells in vivo; however, the function and regulation of pseudopodia are poorly understood. Tumour autocrine motility factor (AMF) represents a new class of cytokines which are secreted by tumour cells and embryonic cells and induce random motility in the producer cells or in heterologous cells with appropriate receptors. Here we report that a major effect of this factor is to induce the extension of cell pseudopodia before cell translocation. Using a new method to quantify and isolate pseudopodia, we find that human breast carcinoma cell AMF (at concentrations of 1 nM or below) stimulates random pseudopodia formation in a dose-dependent and time-dependent manner. Anti-AMF antibodies inhibit pseudopodia protrusion and cell motility, showing the importance of pseudopodia formation during locomotion. AMF-stimulated motility and pseudopodia formation occur on a wide variety of adhesive substrata which suggests that certain intrinsic motility events are independent of the attachment mechanism. Induced pseudopodia show a prominent axial actin network in the electron microscope. The number of laminin receptor and fibronectin RGD recognition sites is increased by a factor of 20 in the induced pseudopodia when compared to the average distribution in unstimulated cells. Exploratory pseudopodia regulated by cell-derived motility factors contain receptors for matrix proteins and could serve as 'senseorgans' essential to the process of cell locomotion.     

Mechanoelectrical transduction of adult outer hair cells studied in a gerbil hemicochlea

Sensory receptor cells of the mammalian cochlea are morphologically and functionally dichotomized. Inner hair cells transmit auditory information to the brain, whereas outer hair cells (OHC) amplify the mechanical signal, which is then transduced by inner hair cells. Amplification by OHCs is probably mediated by their somatic motility in a mechanical feedback process. OHC motility in vivo is thought to be driven by the cell's receptor potential. The first steps towards the generation of the receptor potential are the deflection of the stereociliary bundle, and the subsequent flow of transducer current through the mechanosensitive transducer channels located at their tips. Quantitative relations between transducer currents and basilar membrane displacements are lacking, as well as their variation along the cochlear length. To address this, we simultaneously recorded OHC transducer currents (or receptor potentials) and basilar membrane motion in an excised and bisected cochlea, the hemicochlea. This preparation permits recordings from adult OHCs at various cochlear locations while the basilar membrane is mechanically stimulated. Furthermore, the stereocilia are deflected by the same means of stimulation as in vivo. Here we show that asymmetrical transducer currents and receptor potentials are significantly larger than previously thought, they possess a highly restricted dynamic range and strongly depend on cochlear location.     

宫颈癌变细胞傅里叶红外光谱(FTIR)测定方法研究

提出了一种测定宫颈细胞发生早期癌变的新方法,利用高分辨傅里叶变换红外光谱(FTIR),对正常细胞和千余名宫颈癌患者的细胞进行了对比研究,还就妇女普检中的50例样品与中国肿瘤研究院病理结果做了对照。初步得出该研究能在分子水平上揭示出癌变细胞与正常细胞的明显差别,并且通过谱图解析,可直接阐明引起谱图变化的主要原因、细胞癌变的可能机理,为肿瘤的早期诊断展现了良好的前景。     

Mesenchymal stem cells within tumour stroma promote breast cancer metastasis

Mesenchymal stem cells have been recently described to localize to breast carcinomas, where they integrate into the tumour-associated stroma. However, the involvement of mesenchymal stem cells (or their derivatives) in tumour pathophysiology has not been addressed. Here, we demonstrate that bone-marrow-derived human mesenchymal stem cells, when mixed with otherwise weakly metastatic human breast carcinoma cells, cause the cancer cells to increase their metastatic potency greatly when this cell mixture is introduced into a subcutaneous site and allowed to form a tumour xenograft. The breast cancer cells stimulate de novo secretion of the chemokine CCL5 (also called RANTES) from mesenchymal stem cells, which then acts in a paracrine fashion on the cancer cells to enhance their motility, invasion and metastasis. This enhanced metastatic ability is reversible and is dependent on CCL5 signalling through the chemokine receptor CCR5. Collectively, these data demonstrate that the tumour microenvironment facilitates metastatic spread by eliciting reversible changes in the phenotype of cancer cells.     

RGD对人纤维肉瘤细胞HT1080增殖、黏附及转移影响的研究

利用合成的RGD(Arg-Gly-Asp)三肽研究了其抑制人纤维肉瘤细胞HT1080的增殖、黏附及转移作用.采用MTT法检测了不同浓度的RGD对HT1080细胞增殖及黏附纤维粘连蛋白(fibronectin)能力的影响;采用细胞划痕法研究了RGD对HT1080细胞在纤维粘连蛋白中迁移能力的影响.结果表明,合成的RGD能抑制HT1080细胞的增殖,并具有抗肿瘤细胞黏附、抗转移的活性.     

橙色粘球菌四型菌毛膜复合物的发现

细菌四型菌毛(T4P)不仅在生物膜形成、DNA吸收和侵染致病等生物过程中发挥着重要的作用,同样也能够介导固体界面的滑动运动。尽管T4P具有非常重要的作用,但橙色粘球菌T4P系统中蛋白间组装机制的研究仍处于初级阶段。T4P系统pil N/O/P/Q单基因的敲除与回补实验显示敲除菌株导致橙色粘球菌群体运动完全丧失,而pil N/O/P/Q相应基因回补则恢复突变株群体运动。Pil N/O/P/Q蛋白通过酵母双杂交(Y2H)检测蛋白间的相互作用发现,定位于周质空间的Pil P不仅与外膜蛋白Pil Q的C末端相互作用,也与内膜蛋白Pil O相互作用。遗传学与酵母双杂实验结果显示着Pil P蛋白是联通内外膜的桥梁,暗示着Pil N/O/P/Q蛋白形成跨越内膜、细胞周质和外膜的整合复合物结构,并在菌毛延伸和收缩过程中发挥着重要的作用,为阐明橙色粘球菌菌毛的延伸与收缩的分子机制奠定坚实基础。     

Actin-based motility of vaccinia virus mimics receptor tyrosine kinase signalling.

Studies of the actin-based motility of the intracellular pathogens Listeria monocytogenes and Shigella flexneri have provided important insight into the events occurring at the leading edges of motile cells. Like the bacteria Listeria and Shigella, vaccinia virus, a relative of the causative agent of smallpox, uses actin-based motility to spread between cells. In contrast to Listeria or Shigella, the actin-based motility of vaccinia is dependent on an unknown phosphotyrosine protein, but the underlying mechanism remains obscure. Here we show that phosphorylation of tyrosine 112 in the viral protein A36R by Src-family kinases is essential for the actin-based motility of vaccinia. Tyrosine phosphorylation of A36R results in a direct interaction with the adaptor protein Nck and the recruitment of the Ena/VASP family member N-WASP to the site of actin assembly. We also show that Nck and N-WASP are essential for the actin-based motility of vaccinia virus. We suggest that vaccinia virus spreads by mimicking the signalling pathways that are normally involved in actin polymerization at the plasma membrane.     

DNA纳米机器药物递送研究进展

 天然分子机器是细胞正常功能（包括DNA复制、细胞内物质运输、离子平衡和细胞运动等）的重要执行者。受天然分子机器的启发,人工分子机器的概念被提出并逐步实践。DNA分子独特的理化性质使得其可作为自组装基元用于构建分子机器类纳米结构。DNA纳米结构具有形状可设计性、精确的可寻址性、结构动态响应性及良好的生物相容性,可以作为一种良好的药物递送载体材料。通过可寻址的负载特定功能元件从而构建DNA纳米载体和治疗型DNA纳米机器,可以靶向性地将药物传递到病变组织和细胞,响应性地释放药物,提高药物的细胞摄取率并降低其毒副作用,有望成为优秀的药物递送系统。基于DNA纳米结构的药物载体已经被用于递送小分子药物、寡核苷酸类药物和蛋白药物。以每类药物分子中的典型药物为例,介绍了DNA纳米载体和DNA纳米机器药物递送系统的研究进展,并讨论了其所面临的挑战及可能的发展趋势。     

部分有机污染物定量结构与生物降解性关系

通过“扩展”与“收缩”策略 ,筛选有机物结构描述参数 ,构建了描述有机污染物结构与生物降解性关系的模型 ,在此基础上讨论了影响有机物生物降解性的因素。结果表明 ,影响有机物生物降解性的主要因素是分子的局部几何结构特征以及分子中氢原子上的电荷分布和分子的前线轨道结构。     

Genomics, the cytoskeleton and motility

The draft human genome sequence is an important step in cataloguing the molecular hardware that supports the processes of life. Here I look at what we have learned from the draft sequence about our cytoskeletal and motility systems. Most cytoskeletal and motility proteins were discovered previously by biochemical isolation, traditional cloning methods or random sequences of complementary DNAs. The ongoing challenges of assembling and annotating genes for motor proteins with long, fragmented coding sequences emphasize the importance of expert knowledge of related proteins and confirmatory evidence from cDNA sequences.     

Steps and fluctuations of Listeria monocytogenes during actin-based motility

The actin-based motility of the bacterium, Listeria monocytogenes, is a model system for understanding motile cell functions involving actin polymerization. Although the biochemical and genetic aspects of Listeria motility have been intensely studied, biophysical data are sparse. Here we have used high-resolution laser tracking to follow the trailing ends of Listeria moving in the lamellae of COS7 cells. We found that pauses during motility occur frequently and that episodes of step-like motion often show pauses spaced at about 5.4 nm, which corresponds to the spatial periodicity of F-actin. We occasionally observed smaller steps (<3 nm), as well as periods of motion with no obvious pauses. Clearly, bacteria do not sense cytoplasmic viscoelasticity because they fluctuate 20 times less than adjacent lipid droplets. Instead, bacteria bind their own actin 'tails, and the anchoring proteins can 'step' along growing filaments within the actin tail. Because positional fluctuations are unusually small, the forces of association and propulsion must be very strong. Our data disprove the brownian ratchet models and limit alternative models, such as the 'elastic' brownian ratchet or the 'molecular' ratchet.     

Trophic regulation of nerve cell morphology and innervation in the autonomic nervous system

A remarkable feature of nerve cells is the complex and variable pattern of their axonal and dendritic branches. Quantitative studies of a simple part of the nervous system in mammals provide evidence that neuronal geometry and innervation are regulated by long-term trophic interactions between neurons and their targets. This trophic linkage may explain how nerve cells adjust their function to the needs of bodies that vary markedly in size and form.     

生命科学前沿若干学科研究进展

人类基因组计划标志着人类有能力解析自己 后基因组计划和基因工程学、干细胞、生物信息学等技术的成果将为农业育种、基因药物、基因治疗、人类生育与脏器的再生和异种器官的移植、生物多样性的解读与保护以及分子生态学的研究带来前所未有的影响 文中对生命科学主要领域的研究进展进行了概述     

Pilus retraction powers bacterial twitching motility

Twitching and social gliding motility allow many gram negative bacteria to crawl along surfaces, and are implicated in a wide range of biological functions. Type IV pili (Tfp) are required for twitching and social gliding, but the mechanism by which these filaments promote motility has remained enigmatic. Here we use laser tweezers to show that Tfp forcefully retract. Neisseria gonorrhoeae cells that produce Tfp actively crawl on a glass surface and form adherent microcolonies. When laser tweezers are used to place and hold cells near a microcolony, retractile forces pull the cells toward the microcolony. In quantitative experiments, the Tfp of immobilized bacteria bind to latex beads and retract, pulling beads from the tweezers at forces that can exceed 80 pN. Episodes of retraction terminate with release or breakage of the Tfp tether. Both motility and retraction mediated by Tfp occur at about 1 microm s(-1) and require protein synthesis and function of the PilT protein. Our experiments establish that Tfp filaments retract, generate substantial force and directly mediate cell movement.     

Reverse engineering of the giant muscle protein titin

Through the study of single molecules it has become possible to explain the function of many of the complex molecular assemblies found in cells. The protein titin provides muscle with its passive elasticity. Each titin molecule extends over half a sarcomere, and its extensibility has been studied both in situ and at the level of single molecules. These studies suggested that titin is not a simple entropic spring but has a complex structure-dependent elasticity. Here we use protein engineering and single-molecule atomic force microscopy to examine the mechanical components that form the elastic region of human cardiac titin. We show that when these mechanical elements are combined, they explain the macroscopic behaviour of titin in intact muscle. Our studies show the functional reconstitution of a protein from the sum of its parts.     

Dogfish hair cells sense hydrostatic pressure

Many marine invertebrates and fish respond to hydrostatic pressure in order to regulate their depth and synchronize their behaviour to tidal cycles. Here we investigate the effect of hydrostatic pressure on the vestibular hair cells located in the labyrinth of the dogfish Scyliorhinus canicula, and find that it modulates their spontaneous activity and response to angular acceleration. This may explain not only the low resting activity of vertebrate hair cells but also how fish that do not have swim bladders can sense hydrostatic cues.     

蛇床子素对人精子细胞氧化应激损伤的保护作用

目的探讨蛇床子素对精子细胞氧化损伤的保护作用及机制.方法将收集的精子细胞分为5组,空白对照组无处理因素正常培养,模型组加入H2O2缺氧液培养1 h,各药物浓度组再加入H2O2缺氧液培养,同时加入50,150,450μmol/L蛇床子素培养液培养1 h,处理完毕后检测各组精子细胞存活率、精子活力、精子低渗膨胀实验、精子细胞SOD活力、MDA含量.结果蛇床子素可提高氧化损伤后精子存活率,增加精子活力,提高精子运动能力,提高精子细胞SOD活性,降低MDA含量,与模型组比较差异具有统计学意义(P0.05).结论 50,150,450μmol/L蛇床子素均能减轻精子细胞缺氧损伤,其机制可能与蛇床子素能提高精子氧化损伤时细胞膜稳定性、保护细胞完整性、提高精子活力有关.