Telomere dysfunction impairs DNA repair and enhances sensitivity to ionizing radiation

Telomeres are specialized nucleoprotein complexes that serve as protective caps of linear eukaryotic chromosomes. Loss of telomere function is associated with rampant genetic instability and loss of cellular viability and renewal potential. The telomere also participates in processes of chromosomal repair, as evidenced by the 'capture' or de novo synthesis of telomere repeats at double-stranded breaks and by the capacity of yeast telomeres to serve as repositories of essential components of the DNA repair machinery, particularly those involved in non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ). Here we used the telomerase-deficient mouse, null for the essential telomerase RNA gene (Terc), to assess the role of telomerase and telomere function on the cellular and organismal response to ionizing radiation. Although the loss of telomerase activity per se had no discernable impact on the response to ionizing radiation, the emergence of telomere dysfunction in late-generation Terc-/- mice imparted a radiosensitivity syndrome associated with accelerated mortality. On the cellular level, the gastrointestinal crypt stem cells and primary thymocytes showed increased rates of apoptosis, and mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) showed diminished dose-dependent clonogenic survival. The radiosensitivity of telomere dysfunctional cells correlated with delayed DNA break repair kinetics, persistent chromosomal breaks and cytogenetic profiles characterized by complex chromosomal aberrations and massive fragmentation. Our findings establish a intimate relationship between functionally intact telomeres and the genomic, cellular and organismal response to ionizing radiation.     

A receptor for phosphatidylserine-specific clearance of apoptotic cells

cytosis of cellular corpses. During apoptosis, the asymmetry of plasma membrane phospholipids is lost, which exposes phosphatidylserine externally. The phagocytosis of apoptotic cells can be inhibited stereospecifically by phosphatidylserine and its structural analogues, but not by other anionic phospholipids, suggesting that phosphatidylserine is specifically recognized. Using phage display, we have cloned a gene that appears to recognize phosphatidylserine on apoptotic cells. Here we show that this gene, when transfected into B and T lymphocytes, enables them to recognize and engulf apoptotic cells in a phosphatidylserine-specific manner. Flow cytometric analysis using a monoclonal antibody suggested that the protein is expressed on the surface of macrophages, fibroblasts and epithelial cells; this antibody, like phosphatidylserine liposomes, inhibited the phagocytosis of apoptotic cells and, in macrophages, induced an anti-inflammatory state. This candidate phosphatidylserine receptor is highly homologous to genes of unknown function in Caenorhabditis elegans and Drosophila melanogaster, suggesting that phosphatidylserine recognition on apoptotic cells during their removal by phagocytes is highly conserved throughout phylogeny.     

A one-hit model of cell death in inherited neuronal degenerations

In genetic disorders associated with premature neuronal death, symptoms may not appear for years or decades. This delay in clinical onset is often assumed to reflect the occurrence of age-dependent cumulative damage. For example, it has been suggested that oxidative stress disrupts metabolism in neurological degenerative disorders by the cumulative damage of essential macromolecules. A prediction of the cumulative damage hypothesis is that the probability of cell death will increase over time. Here we show in contrast that the kinetics of neuronal death in 12 models of photoreceptor degeneration, hippocampal neurons undergoing excitotoxic cell death, a mouse model of cerebellar degeneration and Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases are all exponential and better explained by mathematical models in which the risk of cell death remains constant or decreases exponentially with age. These kinetics argue against the cumulative damage hypothesis; instead, the time of death of any neuron is random. Our findings are most simply accommodated by a 'one-hit' biochemical model in which mutation imposes a mutant steady state on the neuron and a single event randomly initiates cell death. This model appears to be common to many forms of neurodegeneration and has implications for therapeutic strategies.     

Thermal emission spectra of the Earth and atmosphere from the Nimbus 4 Michelson interferometer experiment

Profiles of atmospheric temperature, humidity and ozone can be recovered from the thermal emission spectra in the interval 400 to 1,500 cm(-1) obtained from the Nimbus 4 satellite. The spectra can also be used to study surface restrahlen effects and other geophysical and meteorological phenomena.