A novel chorismate mutase effector secreted from root-knot nematode Meloidogyne enterolobii manipulates plant immunity to promote parasitism

Meloidogyne spp.is an economically important plant-parasitic nematode distributed worldwide.To fight with host immune system for successful parasitism,plant parasitic nematodes secrete effectors to promote infection.In this study,we identified one chorismate mutase(CM)effector from M.enterolobii,named Me-CM.Spatial and temporal expression assays exhibited Me-cm is expressed in esophageal glands and up-regulated at parasitic-stage juveniles.Me-CM affects the pathogenicity of M.enterolobii based on the reduced infection rate,number of galls,egg masses,eggs per mass and multiplication rate collected from RNA silencing experiments.We showed that Me-CM localized in the cytoplasm and nucleus of plant cells and decreased the expression level of the marker gene PR1 of salicylic acid(SA)pathway.Besides,constitutive expression of Me-cm in Arabidopsis thaliana significantly reduced salicylic acid concentration.These results suggested that M.enterolobii may secrete effector Me-CM to fight with plantimmunesystemsvia regulating SA signaling pathway when interacting with host plants,ultimately facilitating parasitism.

A chorismate mutase from Radopholus similis plays an essential role in pathogenicity

In the process of infecting plants, plant parasitic nematodes release a series of proteins that play an essential role in the successful infection and pathogenesis of plant cells and tissues through stylets or body walls. In this study,based on transcriptome data, a chorismate mutase gene of Radopholus similis(RsCM) was identified and cloned,which is a single copy gene specifically expressed in the oesophageal gland and highly expressed in juveniles and females. Transient expression of RsCM in tobacco leaves showed that it was localised in the cytoplasm and nucleus of tobacco leaf cells, which inhibited the pattern-triggered immunity(PTI) induced by flg22, including callose deposition and defence gene expression, and cell death induced by immune elicitors BAX, but could not inhibit cell death induced by immune elicitors Gpa2/RBP-1. The RNA interference(RNAi) transgenic tomato of RsCM obviously inhibited the infection, pathogenicity, and reproduction of R. similis. However, the resistance of the overexpression transgenic tomato of RsCM to R. similis infection was significantly reduced, and the expression levels of two salicylic acid(SA) pathway genes(PR1 and PR5) in roots infected by the nematode were significantly down-regulated,which indicated that RsCM might be involved in the inhibition of SA pathway. The results of this study demonstrate that RsCM suppresses the host immune system and might be a new target for the control of R. similis, which also provides new data for the function and mechanism of CM genes of migratory parasitic plant nematodes.

Clinical and prognostic significance of expression of phosphoglycerate mutase family member 5 and Parkin in advanced colorectal cancer

BACKGROUND Drugs targeting mitochondria can induce mitophagy and restrain proliferation in colorectal cancer(CRC)cells.Phosphoglycerate mutase family member 5(PGAM5)activates serine/threonine PTEN-induced putative kinase 1/Parkin pathway-mediated mitophagy.However,there are few studies on the clinical and prognostic significance of expression of PGAM5 protein and mitophagy-related protein Parkin in patients.AIM To assess the clinical significance of PGAM5 and Parkin proteins,as biomarkers for diagnosis and prognosis of CRC,by studying their expression in advanced CRC tissues and their association with clinicopathological parameters.METHODS The expression of PGAM5 and Parkin in CRC tissues from 100 patients was determined by immunohistochemistry.Each case was evaluated by using a combined scoring method based on signal intensity staining(scored 0-3)and the proportion of positively stained cancer cells(scored 0-4).The final staining score was calculated as the intensity score multiplied by the proportion score.Specimens were categorized as either high or low expression according to the Youden index,and the association between the expression of PGAM5 or Parkin and clinicopathological factors was ascertained.Additionally,we employed western blot to measure PGAM5 and Parkin protein expression in six matched pairs of CRC and adjacent non-tumor tissues.RESULTS Immunohistochemical and western blot findings showed that both PGAM5 and Parkin protein expression in tumor tissues was significantly higher than that in the adjacent tissues:PGAM5 and Parkin were mainly expressed in the cytoplasm of colonic epithelial cells.PGAM5 and Parkin protein levels were significantly positively correlated in advanced CRC tissues.Moreover,reduced Parkin protein expression was an independent prognostic factor for overall survival and progression-free survival in CRC patients as evinced by multivariate analysis.CONCLUSION The expression of PGAM5 protein and mitophagy-related protein Parkin has diagnostic significance for CRC and may become new biomarkers.Parkin may be a potential marker for the survival of CRC patients.

Kinetic Studies of a Coenzyme B12 Dependent Reaction Catalyzed by Glutamate Mutase from <i>Clostridium cochlearium</i>

The coenzyme B12 dependent glutamate mutase is composed of two apoenzyme proteins subunits;S and E2, which while either fused or separate assemble with coenzyme B12 to form an active holoenzyme (E2S2-B12) for catalyzing the reversible isomerization between (S)-glutamate and (2S, 3S)-3-methylas- partate. In order to assay the activity of glutamate mutase by UV spectrophotometry, this reaction is often coupled with methylaspartase which deaminates (2S, 3S)-3-methylaspartate to form mesaconate (λmax = 240 nm, Ɛ240 = 3.8 mM-1·cm-1). The activities of different reconstitutions of glutamate mutase from separate apoenzyme components S and E in varied amounts of coenzyme B12 and adenosylpeptide B12 as cofactors were measured by this assay and used to reveal the binding properties of the cofactor by the Michaelis- Menten Method. The values of Km for coenzyme B12 in due to reconstitutions of holoenzyme in 2, 7 and 14 S: E were determined as;1.12 ± 0.04 μM, 0.7 ± 0.05 μM and 0.52 ± 0.06 μM, respectively, so as those of adenosylpeptide B12;1.07 ± 0.04 μM and 0.35 ± 0.05 μM as obtained from respective 2 and 14 S: E compositions of holoenzyme. Analysis of these kinetics results curiously associates the increasing affinity of cofactors to apoenzyme with increased amount of component S used in reconstituting holoenzyme from separate apoenzyme components and cofactor. Moreover, in these studies a new method for assaying the activity of glutamate mutase was developed, whereby glutamate mutase activity is measured via depletion of NADH (λmax = 340 nm, Ɛ340 = 6.3 mM-1·cm-1) as determined by UV spectrophotometry after addition of (2S, 3S)-3-methylaspartate and pyruvate to a mixture of E2S2-B12 and two auxiliary holoenzymes system;pyridoxal-5-phosphate dependent glutamate-pyruvate aminotransferase and NADH dependent (R)-2-hydroxyglutarate dehydrogenase. The activity of glutamate-pyruvate aminotransferase was relatively complete recovered upon the addition of (S)-glutamate and pyruvate to the mixtures of hologlutamate-pyruvate aminotransferase and (R)-2-hydroxylglutarate dehydrogenase which were incubated with each putative inhibitor of glutamate mutase. Additionally, the new assay was used to determine the kinetic constants of (2S, 3S)-3-methylaspartate in the reaction of glutamate mutase as Km= 7 ± 0.07 mM and kcat= 0.54 ± 0.6 s-1. Application of Briggs-Haldane formula allowed the calculation of an equilibrium constant of the reversible isomerization, Keq = [(S)-glutamate] × [(2S, 3S)-3-methylaspartate]-1 = 16, where the kinetic constants of (S)-glutamate were determined by the standard methylaspartase coupled assay.

SEQUENCE ANALYSIS OF A NOVEL INSECT PHOSPHOGLYCERATEMUTASE GENE FROM THE CHINESE HONEYBEE, APIS CERANA

A clone inserted with 1 104 bp fragment containing a 765bp Open Reading Frame(ORF), encoding a putative 2,3-bisphosphoglycerate(2,3BPG) dependent Phosphoglycerate mutase(dPGAM) that catalyzes the transfer of a phosphate group from the C3 carbon atom to the C2 carbon atom of phosphoglycerate, was screened by mass sequencing from the cDNA library of the venom glands of Apis cerana. The deduced amino acid sequence shared high similarities (39%-88%)with the dPGAM of 7 other organisms, but the similarities with the iPGAM of 4 other organisms were low (10%-12%). Moreover, the alignment of Ac-PGAM with the dPGAMs from 7 other organisms showed that all the active site amino acid residues were conserved. This result shows that Ac-PGAM is a typical dPGAM. Thus, this is the second PGAM gene reported in Insecta. Furthermore, phylogenetic analysis showed that the evolutionary tree of PGAMs reflects the systematic relationship of species.

Phosphoglycerate mutase 1 prostate cancer cell growth, knockdown inhibits migration, and invasion

Phosphoglycerate mutase 1 （PGAM1） is upregulated in many cancer types and involved in cell proliferation, migration, invasion, and apoptosis. However, the relationship between PGAM 1 and prostate cancer is poorly understood. The present study investigated the changes in PGAM1 expression in prostate cancer tissues compared with normal prostate tissues and examined the cellular function of PGAM1 and its relationship with clinicopathological variables. Immunohistochemistry and Western blotting revealed that PGAM 1 expression was upregulated in prostate cancer tissues and cell lines. PGAM 1 expression was associated with Gleason score （P = 0.01） and T-stage （P = 0.009）. Knockdown of PGAM 1 by siRNA in PC-3 and 22Rv I prostate cancer cell lines inhibited cell proliferation, migration, and invasion and enhanced cancer cell apoptosis. In a nude mouse xenograft model, PGAM1 knockdown markedly suppressed tumor growth. Deletion of PGAM1 resulted in decreased expression of Bcl-2, enhanced expression of Bax, caspases-3 and inhibition of MMP-2 and MMP-9 expression. Our results indicate that PGAM1 may play an important role in prostate cancer progression and aggressiveness, and that it might be a valuable marker of poor prognosis and a potential therapeutic target for prostate cancer.

Role of vitamin B_(12) on methylmalonyl-CoA mutase activity

Vitamin B 12 is an organometallic compound with important metabolic derivatives that act as cofactors of certain enzymes,which have been grouped into three subfamilies depending on their cofactors.Among them,methylmalonyl-CoA mutase (MCM) has been extensively studied.This enzyme catalyzes the reversible isomerization of L-methylmalonyl-CoA to succinyl-CoA using adenosylcobalamin (AdoCbl) as a cofactor participating in the generation of radicals that allow isomerization of the substrate.The crystal structure of MCM determined in Propionibacterium freudenreichii var.shermanii has helped to elucidate the role of this cofactor AdoCbl in the reaction to specify the mechanism by which radicals are generated from the coenzyme and to clarify the interactions between the enzyme,coenzyme,and substrate.The existence of human methylmalonic acidemia (MMA) due to the presence of mutations in MCM shows the importance of its role in metabolism.The recent crystallization of the human MCM has shown that despite being similar to the bacterial protein,there are significant differences in the structural organization of the two proteins.Recent studies have identified the involvement of an accessory protein called MMAA,which interacts with MCM to prevent MCM's inactivation or acts as a chaperone to promote regeneration of inactivated enzyme.The interdisciplinary studies using this protein as a model in different organisms have helped to elucidate the mechanism of action of this isomerase,the impact of mutations at a functional level and their repercussion in the development and progression of MMA in humans.It is still necessary to study the mechanisms involved in more detail using new methods.

Pectate lyase is a factor in the adaptability for Heterodera glycines infecting tobacco

The soybean cyst nematode, Heterodeara glycines, is a serious pathogen of soybean, and reported to be the host of a wide range of Fabaceae. In the present study, the host specificity and reproductivity of two populations of H. glycines collected from soybean and tobacco were identified and characterized. The comparative identity between β-1,4-endoglucanase, pectate lyase and chorismate mutase of H. glycines parasitizing on soybean and tobacco were 99, 97 and 98%, respectively. The qR T-PCR analysis indicated that the expression of pectate lyase 2 gene was significantly higher in second-stage juveniles of H. glycines Henan population parasitizing on tobacco than that of H. glycines Shanxi population parasitizing on soybean. In addition, the pectic acid content of cell wall was significantly higher(45%) in the roots of tobacco than the roots of soybean. Our results indicate that the changes in transcript parasitism genes may be a result of long-term evolution illustrating how a plant-parasitic nematode adapts to the host environment for optimal infestation and survival.

Construction of Escherichia coli by Metabolic Engineering for Synthesis of Mesaconic Acid

Mesaconic acid has a special chemical structure and can undergo a series of reactions such as polymerization and addition. It is an important chemical intermediate and widely used in material, chemical and other industries. The chemical synthesis of mesaconic acid requires nitric acid, which is dangerous and harmful to the environment. The production of mesaconic acid by microbial fermentation has the characteristics of low raw material price, high efficiency and strong specificity, and thus a strong industrial application prospect. Mesaconic acid is an intermediate product of glutamic acid degradation pathway of microorganisms such as Clostridium tetani. However, at present, few reports have been conducted on the production of mesaconic acid by metabolic engineering microorganisms. In this study, glutamate mutase(GLM) and 3-methylaspartate ammonialyase(MAL) from C. tetani were recombined and expressed in Escherichia coli, and the obtained strain, BL21(DE3)/pETDuet-1-MAL-mutS-mutE, achieved the yield of mesaconic acid of 1.06 g/L. Compared with the wild type, the yields of mesaconic acid from mutants G133A and G133S increased by 21% and 16%, respectively. After 24 h of flask fermentation, the yields of mesaconic acid reached 1.28 and 1.23 g/L, respectively. This study can provide reference for microbial synthesis of mesaconic acid.

Cerebrovascular disorder

930179 A study on senescence of red blood cellin patients with stroke.QIAN Caiyun(钱采韵),et al.Dept Neurol,1st Affili Hosp ZhongshanMed Univ,Guangzhou,510080.Chin J NervMent Dis 1992;18(3):146-148.Measurements of malonyldialdehyde(MDA)and superoxide dismutase(SOD)were per-formed on the patients with cerebral infarction(27 cases),cerebral hemorrhage(18 cases)and42 age-matched healthy controls.The resultsshowed that MDA content increased significant-

10.4.Cor pulmonale

920074 Influence of atmospheric pressurefluctuation on condition of patients with corpulmonale.LI Jmgzhou (李景周),et al.1st Hosp,Fangshan District,Beijing,102400.Chin J Tuberc& Respir Dis 1991; 14 (4): 231-232.Based on investigation of 632 patients with corpulmonale,we found that there were a closecorresponding relationships of attack,exacerba-

Effects of Co^(2+) on the erythromycin biosynthesis

Erythromycin biosynthesis is a highly com-plicated process,which involves both primary metabolism and secondary metabolism.The specific activities of the key enzymes related to glucose metabolism such as hexose kinase(HK),glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase(6-PDH),phos-phofructokinase(PFK),and isocitrate dehydrogenase(ICD),were determined in Saccharopolyspora erythraea.The spe-cific activities of the enzymes involved in secondary metabo-lism,such as methylmalonyl-coenzyme A mutase(MCM)and methylmalonyl-coenzyme A transcarboxylase(MCT),were detected as well.Some organic acids contained in fermentation broth were also analyzed.The results show that Co^(2+) is able to increase erythromycin biosynthesis.It maybe due to Co^(2+) improving the specific activities of methylmalo-nyl-coenzyme A mutase and methylmalonyl-coenzyme A transcarboxylase.Meanwhile,it also enhances the flux of the glucose metabolism pathway.

Toxic and drug-induced liver disease

2009211 Effects of curcumin solid dispersion on oxidative stress of alcoholic hepatic injury in rats.HAN Gang(韩刚),et al.Pharmac Sci,North China Coal Med Univ,Tangshan 063000.World Chin J Digestol,2009;17(5):500-503.