Amyloid β-peptide (Aβ) oligomerization is believed to contribute to the neuronal dysfunction in Alzheimer disease (AD). Despite decades of research, many details of Aβ oligomerization in neurons still need to be revealed. Förster Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) is a simple but effective way to study molecular interactions. Here we use a confocal microscope with a sensitive Airyscan detector for FRET detection. By live cell FRET imaging, we detect Aβ42 oligomerization in primary neurons. The neurons were incubated with fluorescently labelled Aβ42 in the cell culture medium for 24 hours. Aβ42 were internalized and oligomerized into the lysosomes/late endosomes in a concentration-dependent manner. Both the cellular uptake and intracellular oligomerization of Aβ42 were significantly higher than for Aβ40. These findings provide a better understanding of Aβ42 oligomerization in neurons.

Protein oligomerzation is key to countless physiological processes, but also to abnormal amyloid conformations implicated in over 25 mortal human diseases. Angiogenin (h-ANG), a ribonuclease A family member, produces RNA fragments that regulate ribosome formation, the creation of new blood vessels and stress granule function. Too little h-ANG activity leads abnormal protein oligomerization resulting in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) or Parkinson’s disease. While a score of disease linked h-ANG mutants has been studied by X-ray diffraction, some elude crystallization. There is also debate regarding the structure that RNA fragments adopt after cleavage by h-ANG. Here, to better understand the beginning of the process that leads to aberrant protein oligomerization, the solution secondary structure and residue-level dynamics of WT h-ANG and two mutants: H13A and R121C, are characterized by multidimensional heteronuclear NMR spectroscopy under near physiological conditions. All three variants are found to adopt well folded and highly rigid structures in solution, although the elements of secondary structure are somewhat shorter than those observed in cystallography studies. R121C alters the environment of nearby residues only. By constrast, the mutation H13A affects local residues as well as nearby active site residues residues K41 and H119. The conformation characterization by CD and 1D 1H NMR spectroscopies of tRNAAla before and after h-ANG cleavage reveals a retention of most duplex structure and little or no G-quadruplex formation.

In spite of large-scale investigations of homogeneous single-site metallocene catalysts and systems based on them, the problem of controlling their activity, chemo- and stereoselectivity with the aim of developing efficient methods for the preparation of practically useful products of alkenes transformation, such as dimers, oligomers, and polymers, still remains topical. Here we studied catalytic activity of differently structured zirconocenes (10 examples of cyclopentadienyl and indenyl complexes) and co-catalysts activating the system, namely HAlBui2, MMAO-12 or (Ph3C)[B(C6F5)4] at low activator/Zr ratios in 1-hexene oligomerization reaction. The influence of catalyst structure and system composition on alkene conversion, type of products formed and reaction stereoselectivity was investigated. The composition of hydride intermediates forming in the systems L2ZrCl2 (L2= ansa-Me2CCp2)-HAlBui2-activator was studied by NMR and the participation of biszirconium hydride complex as the precursor of catalytically active sites of the alkene dimerization reaction was shown.

Most neurodegenerative diseases have the characteristics of proteinopathies, i.e. they cause lesions to appear in vulnerable regions of the nervous system, corresponding to protein aggregates that progressively spread through the neuronal network as the symptoms progress. Alzheimer's disease is one of these proteinopathies. It is characterized by two lesions, neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) and senile plaques, formed essentially of amyloid peptides (Aβ). A combination of factors ranging from genetic mutations to age-related changes in the cellular context converge in this disease to accelerate Aβ deposition. Over the last two decades, numerous studies have attempted to elucidate how structural determinants of its precursor (APP) modify Aβ production, and to understand the processes leading to the formation of different Aβ aggregates; e.g. fibrils and oligomers. The synthesis proposed in this review indicates that the same motifs can control APP function and Aβ production essentially by regulating membrane dimerization, and subsequently Aβ aggregation processes. The distinct properties of these motifs and the cellular context regulate the APP conformation to trigger the transition to the amyloid pathology. This concept can be transposed to the study of other proteinopathies, providing a framework for improving our understanding of these mechanisms that devastate neuronal functions.

Hantaviruses are enveloped viruses that possess a tri-segmented, negative-sense RNA genome. The viral S-segment encodes the multifunctional nucleocapsid protein (N), which is involved in genome packaging, intracellular protein transport, immunoregulation and several other crucial processes during hantavirus infection. In this study we have generated fluorescently tagged N protein constructs derived from Puumalavirus, the dominant hantavirus species in Central, Northern and Eastern Europe. We have comprehensively characterized this protein in the rodent cell line CHO-K1, monitoring the dynamics of N protein complex formation and investigating co-localization with host proteins as well as the viral glycoproteins Gc and Gn. We found a significant spatial correlation of N with vimentin, actin and P-bodies, but not with microtubules. N constructs also co-localized with Gn and Gc, albeit not as strong as the glycoproteins associated with each other. Moreover, we as-sessed oligomerization of N constructs, observing efficient and concentration-dependent multi-merization, with complexes comprising more than 10 individual proteins.

Group IV phospholipase A₂α (cPLA₂α) regulates the production of prostaglandins and leukotrienes via the formation of arachidonic acid from membrane phospholipids. The targeting and membrane binding of cPLA₂α to the Golgi involves the N-terminal C2 domain whereas the catalytic domain produces arachidonic acid. Although most studies of cPLA₂α concern its catalytic activity, it is also linked to homeostatic processes involving the generation of vesicles that traffic material from the Golgi to the plasma membrane. Here we investigate how membrane curvature influences the homeostatic role of cPLA₂α in vesicular trafficking. The cPLA₂α C2 domain is known to induce changes in positive membrane curvature, a process which is dependent on cPLA₂α membrane penetration. We show that cPLA₂α undergoes C2 domain-dependent oligomerization on membranes in vitro and in A549 cells. We found that the association of the cPLA₂α C2 domain with membranes is limited to membranes with positive curvature, and enhanced C2 domain oligomerization was observed on vesicles ~50 nm in diameter. We demonstrated that the cPLA₂α C2 domain generates cholesterol enriched Golgi-derived vesicles independently of cPLA₂α catalytic activity. Our results therefore provide novel insight into the molecular forces that mediate C2 domain-dependent membrane localization in vitro and in cells.

Although there are a large number of databases available for regulatory elements, bottleneck has been created by the lack of bioinformatics tools for predicting types of mechanisms underlying actions of regulatory elements. To reduce the gap, we developed ARabidopsis Transcription regulatory Factor Domain-domain interaction Analysis Tool- Liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS), Oligomerization, GO analysis (ART FounDATion-LOG), a useful toolkit for protein-nucleic acid interactions (PNI) and protein-protein interactions (PPI) analysis based on domain-domain interaction (DDI). LLPS, protein oligomerization, structural properties of protein domains, and protein modifications are major components in orchestrating spatio-temporal dynamics of PPI and PNI. Our goal is to integrate PPI/PNI information into development of prediction model for identifying important genetic variants in peach. The program unified inter-database relational keys by protein domains for facilitating inference from the model species. Key advantage of the program lies in the integrated information of related features: LOG, structural characterization of domain (e.g. domain linker, intrinsically disordered regions, DDI, domain-motif (peptide) interaction, beta-sheet and transmembrane helices), and post-translational modification. We provided simple tests to demonstrate how to use the program. The program may be applied to other eukaryotic organisms. The program codes and data are freely available for download at and https://sourceforge.net/projects/artfoundation-log/.

Current theories of autoimmunity are diverse, sometimes contradictory, and suffer from incompleteness. Although substantial evidence exists that adaptive and innate immunity, sex, genetic predisposition, and the microbiome all play essential roles in autoimmune disease etiologies and pathogenesis, and that antigen processing is altered during disease induction, no existing theory integrates all of these factors through a single, coherent mechanism. In an attempt to focus the field on the need to elucidate such an integrative mechanism, I propose one possibility here that, if nothing else, helps to identify the nature of the problems that need to be addressed. My theory is that autoimmune diseases are induced by normal immunological responses to unique pairs of complementary antigens, at least one of which is a molecular mimic of a host target. Each antigen in the complementary pair induces a complementary immune response (T or B cell); although each immune response is idiotypic in origin, the antigenic complementarity results in what appears to be an idiotype-anti-idiotype relationship between the responses. Additionally, because of the antigenic complementarity, each immune response mimics one of antigens, abrogating the distinction between self and non-self. If at least one of the antigens mimics a host antigen, then the resulting immunological civil war spreads to a host tissue. Complementary antigens also alter antigen processing so that antigens that would normally be proteolytically digested are presented by the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) to T and B cell receptors inducing a cross-reactive immune response. The resulting civil war is supported by the innate immune system due to the complementarity of the initiating antigens.. Complementary antigens stimulate synergistic toll-like receptors (TLR) and/or nucleotide-binding oligomerization receptors (NOD) resulting in up-regulation of cytokine production and further stimulation of the adaptive immune response. Because the immune responses (e.g., antibodies) mimic the initiating antigens, this synergistic activation of innate immunity becomes chronic. Additionally, TLR and NOD function are highly sensitive to sex hormones, some becoming up-regulated and some down-regulated in the presence of either testosterone or estrogens. This sensitivity explains how sex modifies susceptibility to autoimmune diseases. Genetic mutations in TLR, NOD and MHC further alter antigen presentation and the degree to which antigens stimulate an immune response explaining how genetics also modifies susceptibility. Finally, sex hormones also alter the host microbiome, which in turn modulates autoimmune disease risk by shaping the immunological nature of self and by mediating susceptibility to microbial infection. Moreover, it appears that the microbiome camouflages itself from the immune system by mimicking the host antigenic repertoire; the mimicry between the antigens of the microbiome and the host results in selective attacks on microbiome constituents concomitant with any autoimmune attack on host tissues. This antigenic complementarity theory thereby integrates all major elements known to affect, or be affected by, autoimmune diseases and provides a set of testable implications.