The GTPase-activating protein Rap1GAP uses a catalytic asparagine

Rap1 is a Ras-like guanine-nucleotide-binding protein (GNBP) that is involved in a variety of signal-transduction processes. It regulates integrin-mediated cell adhesion and might activate extracellular signal-regulated kinase. Like other Ras-like GNBPs, Rap1 is regulated by guanine-nucleotide-exchange factors (GEFs) and GTPase-activating proteins (GAPs). These GAPs increase the slow intrinsic GTPase reaction of Ras-like GNBPs by many orders of magnitude and allow tight regulation of signalling. The activation mechanism involves stabilization of the catalytic glutamine of the GNBP and, in most cases, the insertion of a catalytic arginine of GAP into the active site. Rap1 is a close homologue of Ras but does not possess the catalytic glutamine essential for GTP hydrolysis in all other Ras-like and Galpha proteins. Furthermore, RapGAPs are not related to other GAPs and apparently do not use a catalytic arginine residue. Here we present the crystal structure of the catalytic domain of the Rap1-specific Rap1GAP at 2.9 A. By mutational analysis, fluorescence titration and stopped-flow kinetic assay, we demonstrate that Rap1GAP provides a catalytic asparagine to stimulate GTP hydrolysis. Implications for the disease tuberous sclerosis are discussed.     

Prox1 function controls progenitor cell proliferation and horizontal cell genesis in the mammalian retina

Retinal progenitor cells regulate their proliferation during development so that the correct number of each cell type is made at the appropriate time. We found that the homeodomain protein Prox1 regulates the exit of progenitor cells from the cell cycle in the embryonic mouse retina. Cells lacking Prox1 are less likely to stop dividing, and ectopic expression of Prox1 forces progenitor cells to exit the cell cycle. During retinogenesis, Prox1 can be detected in differentiating horizontal, bipolar and AII amacrine cells. Horizontal cells are absent in retinae of Prox1-/- mice and misexpression of Prox1 in postnatal progenitor cells promotes horizontal-cell formation. Thus, Prox1 activity is both necessary and sufficient for progenitor-cell proliferation and cell-fate determination in the vertebrate retina.     

Engineering evolution to study speciation in yeasts

The Saccharomyces 'sensu stricto' yeasts are a group of species that will mate with one another, but interspecific pairings produce sterile hybrids. A retrospective analysis of their genomes revealed that translocations between the chromosomes of these species do not correlate with the group's sequence-based phylogeny (that is, translocations do not drive the process of speciation). However, that analysis was unable to infer what contribution such rearrangements make to reproductive isolation between these organisms. Here, we report experiments that take an interventionist, rather than a retrospective approach to studying speciation, by reconfiguring the Saccharomyces cerevisiae genome so that it is collinear with that of Saccharomyces mikatae. We demonstrate that this imposed genomic collinearity allows the generation of interspecific hybrids that produce a large proportion of spores that are viable, but extensively aneuploid. We obtained similar results in crosses between wild-type S. cerevisiae and the naturally collinear species Saccharomyces paradoxus, but not with non-collinear crosses. This controlled comparison of the effect of chromosomal translocation on species barriers suggests a mechanism for the generation of redundancy in the S. cerevisiae genome.     

A microRNA controlling left/right neuronal asymmetry in Caenorhabditis elegans

How left/right functional asymmetry is layered on top of an anatomically symmetrical nervous system is poorly understood. In the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, two morphologically bilateral taste receptor neurons, ASE left (ASEL) and ASE right (ASER), display a left/right asymmetrical expression pattern of putative chemoreceptor genes that correlates with a diversification of chemosensory specificities. Here we show that a previously undefined microRNA termed lsy-6 controls this neuronal left/right asymmetry of chemosensory receptor expression. lsy-6 mutants that we retrieved from a genetic screen for defects in neuronal left/right asymmetry display a loss of the ASEL-specific chemoreceptor expression profile with a concomitant gain of the ASER-specific profile. A lsy-6 reporter gene construct is expressed in less than ten neurons including ASEL, but not ASER. lsy-6 exerts its effects on ASEL through repression of cog-1, an Nkx-type homeobox gene, which contains a lsy-6 complementary site in its 3' untranslated region and that has been shown to control ASE-specific chemoreceptor expression profiles. lsy-6 is the first microRNA to our knowledge with a role in neuronal patterning, providing new insights into left/right axis formation.     

Bumblebees of the Azores (Apidae: Bombus)

Bombus terrestris and Bombus pratorum were found for the first time in the Azores in 2005. Until then Bombus ruderatus was the only bumblebee species known from this group of nine mid-Atlantic islands. The identity of B. terrestris was confirmed by DNA barcoding.     

A genome-wide association study of nonsynonymous SNPs identifies a type 1 diabetes locus in the interferon-induced helicase (IFIH1) region

In this study we report convincing statistical support for a sixth type 1 diabetes (T1D) locus in the innate immunity viral RNA receptor gene region IFIH1 (also known as mda-5 or Helicard) on chromosome 2q24.3. We found the association in an interim analysis of a genome-wide nonsynonymous SNP (nsSNP) scan, and we validated it in a case-control collection and replicated it in an independent family collection. In 4,253 cases, 5,842 controls and 2,134 parent-child trio genotypes, the risk ratio for the minor allele of the nsSNP rs1990760 A --> G (A946T) was 0.86 (95% confidence interval = 0.82-0.90) at P = 1.42 x 10(-10).     

Robust associations of four new chromosome regions from genome-wide analyses of type 1 diabetes

The Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium (WTCCC) primary genome-wide association (GWA) scan on seven diseases, including the multifactorial autoimmune disease type 1 diabetes (T1D), shows associations at P < 5 x 10(-7) between T1D and six chromosome regions: 12q24, 12q13, 16p13, 18p11, 12p13 and 4q27. Here, we attempted to validate these and six other top findings in 4,000 individuals with T1D, 5,000 controls and 2,997 family trios independent of the WTCCC study. We confirmed unequivocally the associations of 12q24, 12q13, 16p13 and 18p11 (P(follow-up) 相似文献   

Mutations in the gene encoding the 3'-5' DNA exonuclease TREX1 are associated with systemic lupus erythematosus

TREX1 acts in concert with the SET complex in granzyme A-mediated apoptosis, and mutations in TREX1 cause Aicardi-Goutières syndrome and familial chilblain lupus. Here, we report monoallelic frameshift or missense mutations and one 3' UTR variant of TREX1 present in 9/417 individuals with systemic lupus erythematosus but absent in 1,712 controls (P = 4.1 x 10(-7)). We demonstrate that two mutant TREX1 alleles alter subcellular targeting. Our findings implicate TREX1 in the pathogenesis of SLE.