The Quality Changes and Proteomic Analysis of Cattle Muscle Postmortem during Rigor Mortis

Rigor mortis occurs in a relatively early postmortem period and is a complex biochemical process in the conversion of muscle to meat. Understanding the quality changes and biomarkers during rigor mortis can provide a theoretical basis for maintaining and improving meat quality. Herein, a tandem mass tag proteomic method is used to investigate the effects of differentially expressed proteins on the meat quality of cattle Longissimus lumborum muscle postmortem (0, 6, and 24 h). The pH, total sulfhydryl content and sarcomere length decrease significantly during storage. In contrast, meat color values (L*, a*, and b*) and the myofibril fragmentation index increase significantly. Altogether, 147 differentially expressed proteins are identified, most being categorized as metabolic enzymes, mitochondrial proteins, necroptosis and ferroptosis proteins and structural proteins. The results also reveal additional proteins that are potentially involved in rigor mortis, such as cardiac phospholamban, acetyl-coenzyme A acyltransferase, and ankyrin repeat domain 2. The current results provide proteomic insights into the changes in meat quality during rigor mortis.

Human Cytomegalovirus Hijacks WD Repeat Domain 11 for Virion Assembly Compartment Formation and Virion Morphogenesis

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) has a large (∼235-kb) genome with over 200 predicted open reading frames and exploits numerous cellular factors to facilitate its replication. A key feature of HCMV-infected cells is the emergence of a distinctive membranous cytoplasmic compartment termed the virion assembly compartment (vAC). Here we report that host protein WD repeat domain 11 (WDR11) plays a key role in vAC formation and virion morphogenesis. We found that WDR11 was up-regulated at both mRNA and protein levels during HCMV infection. At the late stage of HCMV replication, WDR11 relocated to the vAC and co-localized with markers of the trans-Golgi network (TGN) and vAC. Depletion of WDR11 hindered HCMV-induced membrane reorganization of the Golgi and TGN, altered vAC formation, and impaired HCMV secondary envelopment and virion morphogenesis. Further, motifs critical for the localization of WDR11 in TGN were identified by alanine-scanning mutagenesis. Mutation of these motifs led to WDR11 mislocation outside of the TGN and loss of vAC formation. Taken together, these data indicate that host protein WDR11 is required for efficient viral replication at the stage of virion assembly, possibly by facilitating the remodeling of the endomembrane system for vAC formation and virion morphogenesis. Importance During the late phase of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection, the endomembrane system is dramatically reorganized, resulting in the formation of a unique structure termed the virion assembly compartment (vAC), which is critical for the assembly of infectious virions. The mechanism of HCMV-induced vAC formation is still not fully understood. In this report, we identified a host factor, WDR11, that plays an important role in vAC formation. Our findings argue that WDR11 contributes to the relocation of the Golgi and trans-Golgi network to the vAC, a membrane reorganization process that appears to be required for efficient virion maturation. The present work provides new insights into the vAC formation and HCMV virion morphogenesis and a potential novel target for anti-viral treatment.

microRNA-155-3p delivered by M2 macrophages-derived exosomes enhances the progression of medulloblastoma through regulation of WDR82

Objective Exosomes, membranous nanovesicles, naturally bringing proteins, mRNAs, and microRNAs (miRNAs), play crucial roles in tumor pathogenesis. This study was to investigate the role of miR-155-3p from M2 macrophages-derived exosomes (M2-Exo) in promoting medulloblastoma (MB) progression by mediating WD repeat domain 82 (WDR82). Methods miR-155-3p expression was detected by RT-qPCR. The relationship of miR-155-3p with clinicopathological features of MB patients was analyzed. M2-Exo were isolated and identified by TEM, NTA and Western blot. CCK-8 assay, colony formation assay, flow cytometry, wound healing assay, and Transwell assay were performed to explore the role of miR-155-3p-enriched M2-Exo on the progression of MB cells. Luciferase assay were used to identify the relationship between miR-155-3p and WDR82. The effect of miR-155-3p-enriched M2-Exo on tumorigenesis of MB was confirmed by the xenograft nude mice model. Results miR-155-3p was up-regulated in MB tissues of patients and MB cell lines. High miR-155-3p expression was correlated with the pathological type and molecular subtype classification of MB patients. WDR82 was a direct target of miR-155-3p. miR-155-3p was packaged into M2-Exo. miR-155-3p-enriched M2-Exo promoted the progression of Daoy cells. miR-155-3p-enriched M2-Exo promoted in vivo tumorigenesis. Conclusion The study highlights that miR-155-3p-loaded M2-Exo enhances the growth of MB cells via down-regulating WDR82, which might provide a deep insight into MB mechanism.

Dual fates of exogenous tau seeds: lysosomal clearance vs. cytoplasmic amplification

Tau assembly propagation from the extracellular to intracellular space of a cell may underlie neurodegenerative tauopathies. The first step involves tau binding to heparan sulfate proteoglycans on the cell surface, followed by macropinocytosis. Pathological tau assemblies are thought to exit the vesicular compartment as seeds for replication in the cytoplasm. Tau uptake is highly efficient, but only ~1-10% of cells that take up aggregates exhibit seeding. To investigate the basis for this observation, we used fluorescently tagged full-length (FL) tau fibrils added to native U2OS cells, and biosensor cells expressing FL tau or repeat domain fused to mClover (Clo). FL tau-Clo bound tubulin, but seeds triggered its aggregation in multiple locations simultaneously in the cytoplasm, generally independent of visible exogenous aggregates. Most exogenous tau trafficked to the lysosome, but imaging revealed a small percentage that slowly and steadily accumulated in the cytosol. Intracellular expression of Gal3-mRuby, which binds intravesicular galactosides and forms puncta upon vesicle rupture, revealed no evidence of vesicle damage following tau exposure. In fact, most seeded cells had no evidence of lysosome rupture. However, live cell imaging indicated that cells with pre-existing Gal3-positive puncta exhibited seeding at a slightly higher rate than the general population, indicating a potential role for vesicle instability as a predisposing factor. Clearance of tau seeds occurred rapidly in both vesicular and cytosolic fractions. Bafilomycin inhibited vesicular clearance, whereas MG132 inhibited cytosolic clearance. Tau seeds that enter the cell thus have at least two fates: lysosomal clearance that degrades most tau, and entry into the cytosol, where seeds replicate, and are cleared by the proteasome.

Seed-competent tau monomer initiates pathology in PS19 tauopathy mice

Tau aggregation into ordered assemblies causes myriad neurodegenerative tauopathies. We previously reported that tau monomer exists in either inert (Mi) or seed-competent (Ms) conformational ensembles, and that Ms encodes strains, which are biologically active, self-propagating assemblies. We have previously isolated Ms from tauopathy brains, but it is unknown if disease begins with Ms formation followed by fibril assembly, or if Ms derives from fibrils and is an epiphenomenon. Consequently, we studied a tauopathy mouse model (PS19) that expresses full-length human (1N4R) tau containing a disease-associated mutation (P301S). Using tau repeat domain biosensor cells, we detected insoluble tau seeding activity at 2 months. We found insoluble tau protein assemblies by immunoblot at 3 months. We next immunopurified monomer from mice aged 1-6 weeks using size exclusion chromatography. We detected soluble seeding activity at 4 weeks, before insoluble material or larger assemblies, with assemblies ranging from n=1-3 tau units. By 5 and 6 weeks, large soluble assemblies had formed. This indicated the first detectable pathological forms of tau were Ms. We next tested for post-translational modifications of tau monomer from 1-6 weeks. We detected no phosphorylation unique to Ms in PS19 or Alzheimer disease brain. We conclude that tauopathy begins with formation of Ms monomer, whose activity is phosphorylation-independent. Ms self-assembles to form oligomers before it forms insoluble fibrils. The conversion of tau monomer from Mi to Ms thus constitutes the first detectable step in the initiation of tauopathy in this mouse model, with obvious implications for origins of disease in humans.

Exosomes Regulate NLRP3 Inflammasome in Diseases

Emerging evidence has suggested the unique and critical role of exosomes as signal molecules vector in various diseases. Numerous researchers have been trying to identify how these exosomes function in immune progression, as this could promote their use as biomarkers for the disease process and potential promising diagnostic tools. NOD-like receptor (NLR) family, pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3), a tripartite protein, contains three functional domains a central nucleotide-binding and oligomerization domain (NACHT), an N-terminal pyrin domain (PYD), and a leucine-rich repeat domain (LRR). Of note, existing studies have identified exosome as a novel mediator of the NLRP3 inflammasome, which is critical in diseases progression. However, the actual mechanisms and clinical treatment related to exosomes and NLRP3 are still not fully understood. Herein, we presented an up-to-date review of exosomes and NLRP3 in diseases, outlining what is known about the role of exosomes in the activation of NLRP3 inflammasome and also highlighting areas of this topic that warrant further study.

Avirulence gene based RFLP and rep-PCR distinguish the genetic variation of Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae pathotypes in Bangladesh

Bacterial blight (BB) caused by X. oryzae pv. oryzae is one of the devastating diseases of rice mostly in Asia. Genomes of X. oryzae pv. oryzae is highly variable due to rearrangement of the large contents of transposable elements and dynamic changes of X. oryzae pv. oryzae population regulated efficiency of the control measures used for BB management of rice worldwide. In this study, genetic variation of X. oryzae pv. oryzae pathotypes of Bangladesh was studied using aviruelnce gene based RFLP and rep-PCR techniques aimed to formulate pathogen targeted effective control measures against BB of rice. Eight pathotypes of X. oryzae pv. oryzae field isolates were identified based on their reactions against 10 Near Isogenic Lines (NILs). Among eight pathotypes, pathotypes IV and V contained higher number of isolates which were 30.13% and 23.01% respectively while pathotype VIII revealed as minimum containing only 2.51% of total isolates. These eight pathotypes were studied for their genetic variation by RFLP using avrBs3 repeat domain as probe. The results conceded that Bangladeshi X. oryzae pv. oryzae strains seem carrying a minimum of two and maximum of nine avrBs3 family genes homologs. The resistance phenotype on IRBB7 and IRBB10 NILs also indicated presence of two major avrBs3 family genes viz. avrxa7 and avrXa10 in some pathotypes. Relationship of phylogenicity exhibited that X. oryzae pv. oryzae pathotypes assorted into two RFLP haplotypes as well as these haplotypes are largely distributed in Bangladesh. Phylogenetic analyses carried out by (REP, ERIC), rep-PCR and BOX depicted the presence of two main molecular haplotypes of X. oryzae pv. oryzae pathotypes. The relationship between pathotypes and molecular haplotypes of X. oryzae pv. oryzae in Bangladesh indicated that the same lineage possesses different pathotypes and different lineage possesses different pathotypes. The results indicated that eight different pathotypes might have originated from common inherited haplotypes with a wide genetic variation.

PNC2 (SLC25A36) deficiency associated with the hyperinsulinism/hyperammonemia syndrome

Context The hyperinsulinism/hyperammonemia (HI/HA) syndrome, the second most common form of congenital hyperinsulinism, has been associated to dominant mutations in GLUD1, coding for the mitochondrial enzyme glutamate dehydrogenase, that increase enzyme activity by reducing its sensitivity to allosteric inhibition by GTP. Objective To identify the underlying genetic aetiology in two siblings who presented with the biochemical features of HI/HA syndrome but did not carry pathogenic variants in GLUD1, and to determine the functional impact of the newly identified mutation. Main Outcome Measures The patients were investigated by whole exome sequencing. Yeast complementation studies and biochemical assays on the recombinant mutated protein were performed. The consequences of stable slc25a36 silencing in HeLa cells were also investigated. Results A homozygous splice site variant was identified in solute carrier family 25, member 36 (SLC25A36), encoding the pyrimidine nucleotide carrier 2 (PNC2), a mitochondrial nucleotide carrier that transports pyrimidine as well as guanine nucleotides across the inner mitochondrial membrane. The mutation leads to a 26 aa in-frame deletion in the first repeat domain of the protein which abolished transport activity. Furthermore, knockdown of slc25a36 expression in HeLa cells caused a marked reduction in the mitochondrial GTP content which likely leads to an hyperactivation of glutamate dehydrogenase in our patients. Conclusions We report for the first time a mutation in PNC2/SLC25A36 leading to HI/HA and provide functional evidence of the molecular mechanism responsible for this phenotype. Our findings underscore the importance of mitochondrial nucleotide metabolism and expand the role of mitochondrial transporters in insulin secretion.

Rab40c Regulates Focal Adhesions and Protein Phosphatase 6 Activity by Controlling ANKRD28 Ubiquitylation and Degradation

ABSTRACTRab40c is a SOCS box–containing protein which binds Cullin5 to form a ubiquitin E3 ligase complex (Rab40c/CRL5) to regulate protein ubiquitylation. However, the exact functions of Rab40c remain to be determined, and what proteins are the targets of Rab40c-Cullin5 mediated ubiquitylation in mammalian cells are unknown. Here we showed that in migrating MDA-MB-231 cells Rab40c regulates focal adhesion’s number, size, and distribution. Mechanistically, we found that Rab40c binds the protein phosphatase 6 (PP6) complex and ubiquitylates one of its subunits, ankyrin repeat domain 28 (ANKRD28), thus, leading to its lysosomal degradation. Furthermore, we identified that phosphorylation of FAK and MOB1 is decreased in Rab40c knock-out cells, which may contribute to focal adhesion site regulation by Rab40c. Thus, we propose a model where Rab40c/CRL5 regulates ANKRD28 ubiquitylation and degradation, leading to a decrease in PP6 activity, which ultimately affects FAK and Hippo pathway signaling to alter focal adhesion dynamics.