| 1. |
- Åberg, N David, 1970, et al.
(författare)
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Peripheral administration of GH induces cell proliferation in the brain of adult hypophysectomized rats.
- 2009
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Ingår i: The Journal of endocrinology. - 1479-6805. ; 201:1, s. 141-50
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- IGF-I treatment has been shown to enhance cell genesis in the brains of adult GH- and IGF-I-deficient rodents; however, the influence of GH therapy remains poorly understood. The present study investigated the effects of peripheral recombinant bovine GH (bGH) on cellular proliferation and survival in the neurogenic regions (subventricular zone (SVZ), and dentate gyrus of the hippocampus), as well as the corpus callosum, striatum, parietal cortex, and piriform cortex. Hypopituitarism was induced in female rats by hypophysectomy, and the rats were supplemented with thyroxine and cortisone acetate. Subsequently, the rats received daily s.c. injections of bGH for either 6 or 28 days respectively. Following 5 days of peripheral bGH administration, the number of bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU)-positive cells was increased in the hippocampus, striatum, parietal cortex, and piriform cortex after 6 and 28 days. In the SVZ, however, BrdU-positive cells increased only after 28 days of bGH treatment. No significant change was observed in the corpus callosum. In the hippocampus, after 28 days of bGH treatment, the number of BrdU/NeuN-positive cells was increased proportionally to increase the number of BrdU-positive cells. (3)H-thymidine incorporation in vitro revealed that 24 h of bGH exposure was sufficient to increase cell proliferation in adult hippocampal progenitor cells. This study shows for the first time that 1) peripheral bGH treatment increased the number of newborn cells in the adult brain and 2) bGH exerted a direct proliferative effect on neuronal progenitor cells in vitro.
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| 2. |
- Engström, Patrik, 1982-, et al.
(författare)
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A comparative study of RNA and DNA as internal gene expression controls early in the developmental cycle of Chlamydia pneumoniae
- 2010
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Ingår i: FEMS Immunology and Medical Microbiology. - 0928-8244 .- 1574-695X. ; 58:2, s. 244-253
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Many microbial pathogens invade and proliferate within host cells and the molecular mechanism underlying this behavior is currently being revealed for several bacterial species. Testing clinically relevant antibacterial compounds and elucidating their effects on gene expression requires adequate controls, especially when studying genetically intractable organisms such as Chlamydia spp., for which various gene fusions cannot be constructed. Until now, relative mRNA levels in Chlamydia have been measured using different internal gene expression controls, including 16S rRNA, mRNAs, and DNA. Here, we compared the advantages and disadvantages of various internal expression controls during the early phase of Chlamydia pneumoniae development. The relative abundance of target mRNAs varied using the different internal control RNAs. This was partly due to variation in the transcript stability of the RNA species. Also, seven out of nine of the analyzed RNAs increased fivefold or more between 2 and 14 h postinfection, while the amount of DNA and number of cells remained essentially unaltered. Our results suggest that RNA should not be used as a gene expression control during the early phase of Chlamydia development, and that intrinsic bacterial DNA is preferable for that purpose because it is stable, abundant, and its relative amount is generally correlated with bacterial numbers.
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| 3. |
- Good, James A. D., 1985-, et al.
(författare)
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Attenuating Listeria monocytogenes virulence by targeting the regulatory protein PrfA
- 2016
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Ingår i: Cell chemical biology. - : Elsevier BV. - 2451-9448 .- 2451-9456. ; 23:3, s. 404-414
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The transcriptional activator PrfA, a member of the Crp/Fnr family, controls the expression of some key virulence factors necessary for infection by the human bacterial pathogen Listeria monocytogenes. Phenotypic screening identified ring-fused 2-pyridone molecules that at low micromolar concentrations attenuate L. monocytogenes infectivity by reducing the expression of virulence genes, without compromising bacterial growth. These inhibitors bind the transcriptional regulator PrfA and decrease its affinity for the consensus DNA binding site. Structural characterization of this interaction revealed that one of the ring-fused 2-pyridones, compound 1, binds within a hydrophobic pocket, located between the C- and N-terminal domains of PrfA, and interacts with residues important for PrfA activation. This indicates that these inhibitors maintain the DNA-binding helix-turn-helix motif of PrfA in a disordered state, thereby preventing a PrfA:DNA interaction. Ring-fused 2-pyridones represent a new class of chemical probes for studying virulence in L. monocytogenes.
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| 4. |
- Wallgren, Marcus, 1978-, et al.
(författare)
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Extreme temperature tolerance of a hyperthermophilic protein coupled to residual structure in the unfolded state
- 2008
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Ingår i: Journal of Molecular Biology. - : Elsevier BV. - 0022-2836 .- 1089-8638. ; 379:4, s. 845-858
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Understanding the mechanisms that dictate protein stability is of large relevance, for instance, to enable design of temperature-tolerant enzymes with high enzymatic activity over a broad temperature interval. In an effort to identify such mechanisms, we have performed a detailed comparative study of the folding thermodynamics and kinetics of the ribosomal protein S16 isolated from a mesophilic (S16meso) and hyperthermophilic (S16thermo) bacterium by using a variety of biophysical methods. As basis for the study, the 2.0 Å X-ray structure of S16thermo was solved using single wavelength anomalous dispersion phasing. Thermal unfolding experiments yielded midpoints of 59 and 111 °C with associated changes in heat capacity upon unfolding (ΔCp0) of 6.4 and 3.3 kJ mol− 1 K− 1, respectively. A strong linear correlation between ΔCp0 and melting temperature (Tm) was observed for the wild-type proteins and mutated variants, suggesting that these variables are intimately connected. Stopped-flow fluorescence spectroscopy shows that S16meso folds through an apparent two-state model, whereas S16thermo folds through a more complex mechanism with a marked curvature in the refolding limb indicating the presence of a folding intermediate. Time-resolved energy transfer between Trp and N-(4,4-difluoro-5,7-dimethyl-4-bora-3a,4a-diaza-s-indacene-3-yl)methyl iodoacetamide of proteins mutated at selected positions shows that the denatured state ensemble of S16thermo is more compact relative to S16meso. Taken together, our results suggest the presence of residual structure in the denatured state ensemble of S16thermo that appears to account for the large difference in quantified ΔCp0 values and, in turn, parts of the observed extreme thermal stability of S16thermo. These observations may be of general importance in the design of robust enzymes that are highly active over a wide temperature span.
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