The structural basis of yeast prion strain variants

Among the many surprises to arise from studies of prion biology, perhaps the most unexpected is the strain phenomenon whereby a single protein can misfold into structurally distinct, infectious states that cause distinguishable phenotypes. Similarly, proteins can adopt a spectrum of conformations in non-infectious diseases of protein folding; some are toxic and others are well tolerated. However, our understanding of the structural differences underlying prion strains and how these differences alter their physiological impact remains limited. Here we use a combination of solution NMR, amide hydrogen/deuterium (H/D) exchange and mutagenesis to study the structural differences between two strain conformations, termed Sc4 and Sc37 (ref. 5), of the yeast Sup35 prion. We find that these two strains have an overlapping amyloid core spanning most of the Gln/Asn-rich first 40 amino acids that is highly protected from H/D exchange and very sensitive to mutation. These features indicate that the cores are composed of tightly packed beta-sheets possibly resembling 'steric zipper' structures revealed by X-ray crystallography of Sup35-derived peptides. The stable structure is greatly expanded in the Sc37 conformation to encompass the first 70 amino acids, revealing why this strain shows increased fibre stability and decreased ability to undergo chaperone-mediated replication. Our findings establish that prion strains involve large-scale conformational differences and provide a structural basis for understanding a broad range of functional studies, including how conformational changes alter the physiological impact of prion strains.     

An origin of the radio jet in M87 at the location of the central black hole

Powerful radio jets from active galactic nuclei are thought to be powered by the accretion of material onto the supermassive black hole (the 'central engine'). M87 is one of the closest examples of this phenomenon, and the structure of its jet has been probed on a scale of about 100 Schwarzschild radii (R(s), the radius of the event horizon). However, the location of the central black hole relative to the jet base (a bright compact radio 'core') remains elusive. Observations of other jets indicate that the central engines are located about 10(4)-10(6)R(s) upstream from the radio core. Here we report radio observations of M87 at six frequencies that allow us to achieve a positional accuracy of about 20?microarcseconds. As the jet base becomes more transparent at higher frequencies, the multifrequency position measurements of the radio core enable us to determine the upstream end of the jet. The data reveal that the central engine of M87 is located within 14-23R(s) of the radio core at 43?GHz. This implies that the site of material infall onto the black hole and the eventual origin of the jet reside in the bright compact region seen on the image at 43?GHz.     

The genome sequence and structure of rice chromosome 1

The rice species Oryza sativa is considered to be a model plant because of its small genome size, extensive genetic map, relative ease of transformation and synteny with other cereal crops. Here we report the essentially complete sequence of chromosome 1, the longest chromosome in the rice genome. We summarize characteristics of the chromosome structure and the biological insight gained from the sequence. The analysis of 43.3 megabases (Mb) of non-overlapping sequence reveals 6,756 protein coding genes, of which 3,161 show homology to proteins of Arabidopsis thaliana, another model plant. About 30% (2,073) of the genes have been functionally categorized. Rice chromosome 1 is (G + C)-rich, especially in its coding regions, and is characterized by several gene families that are dispersed or arranged in tandem repeats. Comparison with a draft sequence indicates the importance of a high-quality finished sequence.     

Supramolecular Organization of Porphyrin and Phthalocyanine by Complementary Coordination

1 Results We have already established a methodology of supramolecular organization of porphyrin and phthalocyanine by complementary coordination of the imidazolyl substituent to their metal centers.Since the stability constants reached a range of 1011 to 1012 M-1 in nonpolar solvents,it allowed construction of stable structures such as special pair of photosynthetic reaction center and light-harvesting antenna complex of photosynthetic bacteria.Here,we report one-dimensional array of porphyrin for the d...     

大型集装箱船拖曳水池敞开式风场中风阻试验与数值计算

就拖曳水池开展了风场研究,对敞开式风场风阻试验进行了可行性验证.在此基础上,对一缩尺比为1.0∶87.5的3 100箱集装箱船模进行了风阻测试与集装箱布置优化分析,结合一系列布置方案试验结果以及计算流体力学CFD数值模拟计算,讨论了集装箱布置对船舶风阻的影响.结果表明:敞开式风场中风阻试验是一种简单有效的新式测量方法;试验结果与CFD及ITTC推荐公式进行了交叉验证,具有一定可靠性,CFD在精度与细节模拟上效果更佳;布置优化可以有效减少大型集装箱船风阻.     

The physical basis of how prion conformations determine strain phenotypes

A principle that has emerged from studies of protein aggregation is that proteins typically can misfold into a range of different aggregated forms. Moreover, the phenotypic and pathological consequences of protein aggregation depend critically on the specific misfolded form. A striking example of this is the prion strain phenomenon, in which prion particles composed of the same protein cause distinct heritable states. Accumulating evidence from yeast prions such as [PSI+] and mammalian prions argues that differences in the prion conformation underlie prion strain variants. Nonetheless, it remains poorly understood why changes in the conformation of misfolded proteins alter their physiological effects. Here we present and experimentally validate an analytical model describing how [PSI+] strain phenotypes arise from the dynamic interaction among the effects of prion dilution, competition for a limited pool of soluble protein, and conformation-dependent differences in prion growth and division rates. Analysis of three distinct prion conformations of yeast Sup35 (the [PSI+] protein determinant) and their in vivo phenotypes reveals that the Sup35 amyloid causing the strongest phenotype surprisingly shows the slowest growth. This slow growth, however, is more than compensated for by an increased brittleness that promotes prion division. The propensity of aggregates to undergo breakage, thereby generating new seeds, probably represents a key determinant of their physiological impact for both infectious (prion) and non-infectious amyloids.     

‘Disfacilitation’ of red nucleus neurones

Résumé Dans les neurones du noyau rouge, il a été demontré par l'enregistrement intracellulaire que les potentiels hyperpolarisants de longue durée sont produits par la stimulation de la région du noyau interposé et du cortex cérébelleux. En changeant le potentiel de membrane de la cellule, l'amplitude de l'hyperpolarisation diminue ou augmente parallèlement avec celle du potentiel postsynaptique excitateur (EPSP). En conséquence, l'hyperpolarisation ne provient pas du potentiel postsynaptique inhibiteur (IPSP), mais d'une réduction de l'effet tonique facilitateur exercé par le noyan interposé sur les neurones du noyau rouge («disfacilitation»).