scholarly journals Quantitative Approaches to Study Retinal Neurogenesis

Biomedicines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 1222
Author(s):  
Diego Pérez-Dones ◽  
Mario Ledesma-Terrón ◽  
David G. Míguez

The study of the development of the vertebrate retina can be addressed from several perspectives: from a purely qualitative to a more quantitative approach that takes into account its spatio-temporal features, its three-dimensional structure and also the regulation and properties at the systems level. Here, we review the ongoing transition toward a full four-dimensional characterization of the developing vertebrate retina, focusing on the challenges at the experimental, image acquisition, image processing and quantification. Using the developing zebrafish retina, we illustrate how quantitative data extracted from these type of highly dense, three-dimensional tissues depend strongly on the image quality, image processing and algorithms used to segment and quantify. Therefore, we propose that the scientific community that focuses on developmental systems could strongly benefit from a more detailed disclosure of the tools and pipelines used to process and analyze images from biological samples.

Author(s):  
Diego Perez-Dones ◽  
Mario Ledesma-Terron ◽  
David G Míguez

The study of the development of the vertebrate retina can be addressed from several perspectives: from purely qualitative to a more quantitative approach that takes into account its spatiotemporal features, its three dimensional structure and also the regulation and properties at the systems level. Here we review the ongoing transition towards a full four-dimensional characterization of the developing vertebrate retina, focusing on the challenges at the experimental, image acquisition, image processing and quantification. Using the developing zebrafish retina, we illustrate how quantitative data extracted from these type of highly dense three-dimensional tissues depends strongly on the image quality, image processing and algorithms used to segment and quantify. Therefore, we propose that the scientific community that focuses on developmental systems could strongly benefit from a more detailed disclosure of the tools and pipelines used to process and analyze images from biological samples.


Author(s):  
B.V.V. Prasad ◽  
E. Marietta ◽  
J.W. Burns ◽  
M.K. Estes ◽  
W. Chiu

Rotaviruses are spherical, double-shelled particles. They have been identified as a major cause of infantile gastroenteritis worldwide. In our earlier studies we determined the three-dimensional structures of double-and single-shelled simian rotavirus embedded in vitreous ice using electron cryomicroscopy and image processing techniques to a resolution of 40Å. A distinctive feature of the rotavirus structure is the presence of 132 large channels spanning across both the shells at all 5- and 6-coordinated positions of a T=13ℓ icosahedral lattice. The outer shell has 60 spikes emanating from its relatively smooth surface. The inner shell, in contrast, exhibits a bristly surface made of 260 morphological units at all local and strict 3-fold axes (Fig.l).The outer shell of rotavirus is made up of two proteins, VP4 and VP7. VP7, a glycoprotein and a neutralization antigen, is the major component. VP4 has been implicated in several important functions such as cell penetration, hemagglutination, neutralization and virulence. From our earlier studies we had proposed that the spikes correspond to VP4 and the rest of the surface is composed of VP7. Our recent structural studies, using the same techniques, with monoclonal antibodies specific to VP4 have established that surface spikes are made up of VP4.


1998 ◽  
Vol 79 (01) ◽  
pp. 104-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Osamu Takamiya

SummaryMurine monoclonal antibodies (designated hVII-B101/B1, hVIIDC2/D4 and hVII-DC6/3D8) directed against human factor VII (FVII) were prepared and characterized, with more extensive characterization of hVII-B101/B1 that did not bind reduced FVIIa. The immunoglobulin of the three monoclonal antibodies consisted of IgG1. These antibodies did not inhibit procoagulant activities of other vitamin K-dependent coagulation factors except FVII and did not cross-react with proteins in the immunoblotting test. hVII-DC2/D4 recognized the light chain after reduction of FVIIa with 2-mercaptoethanol, and hVIIDC6/3D8 the heavy chain. hVII-B101/B1 bound FVII without Ca2+, and possessed stronger affinity for FVII in the presence of Ca2+. The Kd for hVII-B101/B1 to FVII was 1.75 x 10–10 M in the presence of 5 mM CaCl2. The antibody inhibited the binding of FVII to tissue factor in the presence of Ca2+. hVII-B101/B1 also inhibited the activation of FX by the complex of FVIIa and tissue factor in the presence of Ca2+. Furthermore, immunoblotting revealed that hVII-B101/B1 reacted with non-reduced γ-carboxyglutaminic acid (Gla)-domainless-FVII and/or FVIIa. hVII-B101/B1 showed a similar pattern to that of non-reduced proteolytic fragments of FVII by trypsin with hVII-DC2/D4 on immunoblotting test. hVII-B101/B1 reacted differently with the FVII from the dysfunctional FVII variant, FVII Shinjo, which has a substitution of Gln for Arg at residue 79 in the first epidermal growth factor (1st EGF)-like domain (Takamiya O, et al. Haemosta 25, 89-97,1995) compared with normal FVII, when used as a solid phase-antibody for ELISA by the sandwich method. hVII-B101/B1 did not react with a series of short peptide sequences near position 79 in the first EGF-like domain on the solid-phase support for epitope scanning. These results suggested that the specific epitope of the antibody, hVII-B101/B1, was located in the three-dimensional structure near position 79 in the first EGF-like domain of human FVII.


Biochemistry ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 32 (47) ◽  
pp. 12812-12820 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara L. Golden ◽  
David W. Hoffman ◽  
V. Ramakrishnan ◽  
Stephen W. White

1998 ◽  
Vol 4 (S2) ◽  
pp. 32-33
Author(s):  
M. F. Schmid ◽  
P. Matsudaira ◽  
M. T. Dougherty ◽  
M. B. Sherman ◽  
C. Henn ◽  
...  

Collaboration between local microscopists and image processing specialists, and their remote biological colleagues, has been hampered by the difficulty of i) transferring the three-dimensional reconstructions of macromolecules resulting from the cryomicroscopy and image processing, ii) viewing the results in a meaningful way, and iii) communicating the results and the interpretations derived therefrom to each other.The acrosomal process is an intracellular quasi-crystalline organelle in the head of the sperm of the horseshoe crab Limulus polyphemus. It consists of 100 - 130 actin-scruin filaments packed together in a pseudo-hexagonal lattice and is up to 60 μm long with a diameter of 0.1 μm. Scruin-scruin interactions are responsible for cross-linking the actin filaments together in the bundle. Our goal was to reveal interfilament interactions in the bundle. We have taken tilt series images in the electron microscope to reconstruct its three-dimensional structure at 45 Å resolution.


Author(s):  
Vineela Balisetty ◽  
Kanamaluru Vidyasagar

The quaternary A 2W3SeO12 (A = NH4, Cs, Rb, K or Tl) selenites have been prepared in the form of single crystals by hydrothermal and novel solid-state reactions. They were characterized by X-ray diffraction, thermal and spectroscopic studies. All of them have a hexagonal tungsten oxide (HTO) related [W3SeO12]2− anionic framework with pyramidally coordinated Se4+ ions. The known A 2W3SeO12 (A = NH4, Cs or Rb) compounds are isostructural with the Cs2W3TeO12 compound and have a non-centrosymmetric layered structure containing intra-layer Se—O bonds. The new compound K2W3SeO12(α) is isostructural with the K2W3TeO12 compound and has a centrosymmetric three-dimensional structure containing interlayer Se—O bonds. It is inferred that the new Tl2W3SeO12 compound has the same three-dimensional structure as K2W3SeO12(α).


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Celestine N Chi ◽  
Ravi Teja Inturi ◽  
Sandra Martinez Lara ◽  
Mahmoud Darweesh

The emergence of the first eukaryotic cell was preceded by evolutionary events which are still highly debatable. Recently, comprehensive metagenomics analysis has uncovered that the Asgard super-phylum is the closest yet known archaea host of eukaryotes. However, it remains to be established if a large number of eukaryotic signature proteins predicated to be encoded by the Asgard super-phylum are functional at least, in the context of a eukaryotic cell. Here, we determined the three-dimensional structure of profilin from Thorarchaeota by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and show that this profilin has a rigid core with a flexible N-terminus which was previously implicated in polyproline binding. In addition, we also show that thorProfilin co-localizes with eukaryotic actin in cultured HeLa cells. This finding reaffirm the notion that Asgardean encoded proteins possess eukaryotic-like characteristics and strengthen likely existence of a complex cytoskeleton already in a last eukaryotic common ancestor


2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
A.E. Naas ◽  
A.K. MacKenzie ◽  
B. Dalhus ◽  
V.G.H. Eijsink ◽  
P.B. Pope

Abstract Previous gene-centric analysis of a cow rumen metagenome revealed the first potentially cellulolytic polysaccharide utilization locus, of which the main catalytic enzyme (AC2aCel5A) was identified as a glycoside hydrolase (GH) family 5 endo-cellulase. Here we present the 1.8 Å three-dimensional structure of AC2aCel5A and characterization of its enzymatic activities. The enzyme possesses the archetypical (β/α)8-barrel found throughout the GH5 family and contains the two strictly conserved catalytic glutamates located at the C-terminal ends of β-strands 4 and 7. The enzyme is active on insoluble cellulose and acts exclusively on linear β-(1,4)-linked glucans. Co-crystallization of a catalytically inactive mutant with substrate yielded a 2.4 Å structure showing cellotriose bound in the −3 to −1 subsites. Additional electron density was observed between Trp178 and Trp254, two residues that form a hydrophobic “clamp”, potentially interacting with sugars at the +1 and +2 subsites. The enzyme’s active-site cleft was narrower compared to the closest structural relatives, which in contrast to AC2aCel5A, are also active on xylans, mannans and/or xyloglucans. Interestingly, the structure and function of this enzyme seem adapted to less-substituted substrates such as cellulose, presumably due to the insufficient space to accommodate the side-chains of branched glucans in the active-site cleft.


2003 ◽  
Vol 77 (6) ◽  
pp. 3669-3679 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caterina Trozzi ◽  
Linda Bartholomew ◽  
Alessandra Ceccacci ◽  
Gabriella Biasiol ◽  
Laura Pacini ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT The hepatitis C virus (HCV) serine protease is necessary for viral replication and represents a valid target for developing new therapies for HCV infection. Potent and selective inhibitors of this enzyme have been identified and shown to inhibit HCV replication in tissue culture. The optimization of these inhibitors for clinical development would greatly benefit from in vitro systems for the identification and the study of resistant variants. We report the use HCV subgenomic replicons to isolate and characterize mutants resistant to a protease inhibitor. Taking advantage of the replicons' ability to transduce resistance to neomycin, we selected replicons with decreased sensitivity to the inhibitor by culturing the host cells in the presence of the inhibitor and neomycin. The selected replicons replicated to the same extent as those in parental cells. Sequence analysis followed by transfection of replicons containing isolated mutations revealed that resistance was mediated by amino acid substitutions in the protease. These results were confirmed by in vitro experiments with mutant enzymes and by modeling the inhibitor in the three-dimensional structure of the protease.


1999 ◽  
Vol 181 (14) ◽  
pp. 4397-4403 ◽  
Author(s):  
Casper Jørgensen ◽  
Gert Dandanell

ABSTRACT In this work, the LysR-type protein XapR has been subjected to a mutational analysis. XapR regulates the expression of xanthosine phosphorylase (XapA), a purine nucleoside phosphorylase inEscherichia coli. In the wild type, full expression of XapA requires both a functional XapR protein and the inducer xanthosine. Here we show that deoxyinosine can also function as an inducer in the wild type, although not to the same extent as xanthosine. We have isolated and characterized in detail the mutants that can be induced by other nucleosides as well as xanthosine. Sequencing of the mutants has revealed that two regions in XapR are important for correct interactions between the inducer and XapR. One region is defined by amino acids 104 and 132, and the other region, containing most of the isolated mutations, is found between amino acids 203 and 210. These regions, when modelled into the three-dimensional structure of CysB from Klebsiella aerogenes, are placed close together and are most probably directly involved in binding the inducer xanthosine.


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