Attachment of transported vesicles to microtubules in axoplasm is facilitated by AMP-PNP

Axoplasm extruded from the squid giant axon has been used to analyse the molecular mechanisms of intracellular vesicle transport. Using video-enhanced light microscopy, vesicle transport can be observed directly on individual microtubules at the edge of the axoplasm. Here we report that AMP-PNP (adenyl-5'-yl imidodiphosphate), a non-hydrolysable analogue of ATP, reversibly inhibited vesicle transport. Moreover, vesicles in solution attach to the microtubules and form relatively stable complexes. AMP-PNP may produce this effect by binding to an ATP-binding site on the transport machinery, thereby stabilizing the motility complex that is normally formed by a transported vesicle, an ATPase and a microtubule. The effects of AMP-PNP on the vesicle transport system indicate that the enzymatic machinery of this system differs significantly from that of the actomyosin system or the dynein-microtubule system.     

Actin-dependent organelle movement in squid axoplasm.

Studies of organelle movement in axoplasm extruded from the squid giant axon have led to the basic discoveries of microtubule-dependent organelle motility and the characterization of the microtubule-based motor proteins kinesin and cytoplasmic dynein. Rapid organelle movement in higher animal cells, especially in neurons, is considered to be microtubule-based. The role of actin filaments, which are also abundant in axonal cytoplasm, has remained unclear. The inhibition of organelle movement in axoplasm by actin-binding proteins such as DNase I, gelsolin and synapsin I has been attributed to their ability to disorganize the microtubule domains where most of the actin-filaments are located. Here we provide evidence of a new type of organelle movement in squid axoplasm which is independent of both microtubules and microtubule-based motors. This movement is ATP-dependent, unidirectional, actin-dependent, and probably generated by a myosin-like motor. These results demonstrate that an actomyosin-like mechanism can be directly involved in the generation of rapid organelle transport in nerve cells.     

Stabilization of sea urchin flagellar microtubules by histone H1.

Complex microtubule assemblies are essential components of eukaryotic cilia and flagella. They are extremely stable and are not affected by agents that normally induce polymer disassembly. The molecular basis of this microtubular stability is unknown, and it is not related to any feature of the constitutive tubulin. In sea urchin sperm flagella, axonemal microtubules are found to be stabilized by a protein identical to histone H1, a result that defines a new role for this histone and provides evidence for a concerted evolution of chromatin and microtubular structures.     

Assembly of microtubules from nucleotide-depleted tubulin

In vitro assembly of microtubules from tubulin is considered to have an absolute requirement for added GTP (or a non-hydrolysable GTP-analogue) involving binding at the E(exchangeable)-site located on the beta-subunit of the tubulin dimer. By contrast, GDP inhibits assembly. Nucleotide hydrolysis has been implicated in the dynamic properties of microtubules, treadmilling and mechanical coupling. Here we demonstrate that assembly is not necessarily dependent on the presence of GTP at the E-site; microtubules can be formed efficiently in the absence of GTP in the presence of pyrophosphate. These microtubules, which have normal morphology and lability at cold temperatures, contain N(non-exchangeable)-site GTP and a significant proportion of E-site GDP. This demonstrates the possibility of direct incorporation of GDP-containing tubulin dimer during assembly which probably derives from microtubule-associated protein (MAP)-containing oligomers. This finding has important implications for the mechanism of microtubule elongation. The effects of pyrophosphate suggest that charge neutralization by the bidentate ligand is an essential step in promoting microtubule assembly, and that this interaction involves only a minimal conformational change in the protein.     

Large-scale vortex lattice emerging from collectively moving microtubules

Spontaneous collective motion, as in some flocks of bird and schools of fish, is an example of an emergent phenomenon. Such phenomena are at present of great interest and physicists have put forward a number of theoretical results that so far lack experimental verification. In animal behaviour studies, large-scale data collection is now technologically possible, but data are still scarce and arise from observations rather than controlled experiments. Multicellular biological systems, such as bacterial colonies or tissues, allow more control, but may have many hidden variables and interactions, hindering proper tests of theoretical ideas. However, in systems on the subcellular scale such tests may be possible, particularly in in vitro experiments with only few purified components. Motility assays, in which protein filaments are driven by molecular motors grafted to a substrate in the presence of ATP, can show collective motion for high densities of motors and attached filaments. This was demonstrated recently for the actomyosin system, but a complete understanding of the mechanisms at work is still lacking. Here we report experiments in which microtubules are propelled by surface-bound dyneins. In this system it is possible to study the local interaction: we find that colliding microtubules align with each other with high probability. At high densities, this alignment results in self-organization of the microtubules, which are on average 15?μm long, into vortices with diameters of around 400?μm. Inside the vortices, the microtubules circulate both clockwise and anticlockwise. On longer timescales, the vortices form a lattice structure. The emergence of these structures, as verified by a mathematical model, is the result of the smooth, reptation-like motion of single microtubules in combination with local interactions (the nematic alignment due to collisions)--there is no need for long-range interactions. Apart from its potential relevance to cortical arrays in plant cells and other biological situations, our study provides evidence for the existence of previously unsuspected universality classes of collective motion phenomena.     

人CREB4转核机制的初步研究

cAMP 反应元件结合蛋白（cAMP response element-binding proteins，CREB）是一个哺乳动物转录因子家族，通过cAMP 反应元件（cAMP response element，CRE）调节cAMP和钙离子依赖性基因的表达.CREB4是CREB转录因子家族的一员.经酵母双杂交筛选人胎脑文库发现CREB4^215-279aa可能与核转运因子kayopherinα2相互作用，提示karyopherinα2可能参与CREB4的跨膜转运过程.亚细胞定位结果显示，CREB4全长定位于细胞质，而缺失C端假定转膜结构域的CREB4^1-279aa蛋白则转移至细胞核内.荧光共定位进一步显示，CREB4和karyopherinα2共定位于细胞质中，CREB4^1-279aa和karyopherinα2共定位于细胞核中.结果提示C端被切除之后，CREB4被karyopherinα2转运到核内发挥转录作用.     

Crystal structure of squid rhodopsin

Invertebrate phototransduction uses an inositol-1,4,5-trisphosphate signalling cascade in which photoactivated rhodopsin stimulates a G(q)-type G protein, that is, a class of G protein that stimulates membrane-bound phospholipase Cbeta. The same cascade is used by many G-protein-coupled receptors, indicating that invertebrate rhodopsin is a prototypical member. Here we report the crystal structure of squid (Todarodes pacificus) rhodopsin at 2.5 A resolution. Among seven transmembrane alpha-helices, helices V and VI extend into the cytoplasmic medium and, together with two cytoplasmic helices, they form a rigid protrusion from the membrane surface. This peculiar structure, which is not seen in bovine rhodopsin, seems to be crucial for the recognition of G(q)-type G proteins. The retinal Schiff base forms a hydrogen bond to Asn 87 or Tyr 111; it is far from the putative counterion Glu 180. In the crystal, a tight association is formed between the amino-terminal polypeptides of neighbouring monomers; this intermembrane dimerization may be responsible for the organization of hexagonally packed microvillar membranes in the photoreceptor rhabdom.     

牛染色体易位的研究综观

牛染色体易位是常见的牛染色体畸变类型，文中综述了牛染色体的罗伯逊易位、Ｘ／常染色体易位和其它易位，着重讨论了１／２９罗位逊易位的分布、起源和表型效应，指出该易平虽然可能导致某种程度的育性降低，但其对表型效应的影响尚存在争议；并针对“根除”或“从群体中剔除罗伯逊易位”观点，提出了不同的韵意见。     

柔性装配系统转位机构总体设计

设计了一种可用于多种小型机电产品装配的四工位回转式机器人柔性装配工作站,主要对其结构、功能和控制系统做了一个总体设计.可适应一定范围内不同型号、不同工艺要求、不同批量的不同产品自动装配的需要.     

Energy source of flagellar type III secretion

Bacterial flagella contain a specialized secretion apparatus that functions to deliver the protein subunits that form the filament and other structures to outside the membrane. This apparatus is related to the injectisome used by many gram-negative pathogens and symbionts to transfer effector proteins into host cells; in both systems this export mechanism is termed 'type III' secretion. The flagellar secretion apparatus comprises a membrane-embedded complex of about five proteins, and soluble factors, which include export-dedicated chaperones and an ATPase, FliI, that was thought to provide the energy for export. Here we show that flagellar secretion in Salmonella enterica requires the proton motive force (PMF) and does not require ATP hydrolysis by FliI. The export of several flagellar export substrates was prevented by treatment with the protonophore CCCP, with no accompanying decrease in cellular ATP levels. Weak swarming motility and rare flagella were observed in a mutant deleted for FliI and for the non-flagellar type-III secretion ATPases InvJ and SsaN. These findings show that the flagellar secretion apparatus functions as a proton-driven protein exporter and that ATP hydrolysis is not essential for type III secretion.     

PTA/AOT自发形成囊泡作为药物载体的缓释性研究

用无毒的阳离子表面活性剂PTA与阴离子表面活性剂AOT的溶液自发形成囊泡,并将之作为阿司匹林药物的载体开展在模拟肠液及模拟胃液中的缓释性研究。结果表明,用该体系的囊泡包封药物在模拟肠液或模拟胃液中均有一定的缓释作用。但随着体系组成配比、药物包封量以及环境的不同,其缓释效果有所不同。