Magnetospirillum magneticum strain AMB-1 belongs to the family of magnetotactic bacteria. It possesses a magnetosome chain aligning, with the assistance of cytoskeleton filaments MamK, along the long axis of the spira...Magnetospirillum magneticum strain AMB-1 belongs to the family of magnetotactic bacteria. It possesses a magnetosome chain aligning, with the assistance of cytoskeleton filaments MamK, along the long axis of the spiral cells. Most fresh M. magneticum AMB-1 cells exhibit spiral morphology. In addition, other cell shapes such as curved and spherical were also observed in this organism. Interestingly, the spherical cell shape increased steadily with prolonged incubation time. As the actin-like cytoskeleton protein MreB is involved in maintenance of cell shapes in rod-shaped bacteria such as Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis, the correlation between MreB protein levels and cell shape was investigated in this study. Immunoblotting analysis showed that the quantity of MreB decreased when the cell shape changed along with incubation time. As an internal control, the quantity of MamA was not obviously changed under the same conditions. Cell shape directs cell-wall synthesis during growth and division. MreB is required for maintaining the cell shape. Thus, MreB might play an essential role in maintaining the spiral shape of M. magneticum AMB-1 cells.展开更多
Mesenchymal stem cell differentiation towards osteogenic, chondrogenic and adipogenic lineages have been extensively described and reproduced in the literature. In contrast, cardiomyogenic differentiation still remain...Mesenchymal stem cell differentiation towards osteogenic, chondrogenic and adipogenic lineages have been extensively described and reproduced in the literature. In contrast, cardiomyogenic differentiation still remains largely controversial. In this study the authors aim to shed new light into this unclear phenomenon and test whether BMMSC （bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells） and ATMSC （adipose tissue derived mesenchymal stem cells） are able to differentiate into functional cardiomyocytes, investigating two differentiation protocols. AT and BMMSC behaved differently when cultured in differentiation media and presented lower levels of proliferation and alkaline phosphatase production, expression of cardiomyocyte-specific transcription factors such as GATA-4, Nkx2-5 and proteins such as ct and 13 Myosin Heavy Chains. Furthermore, MSC started to express higher levels of Connexin-43 and c~ sarcomeric actinin protein. Unfortunately, though, MSC did not present cardiomyocyte-like electrophysiological properties. In order to analyze a possible explanation for such limited plasticity, the authors decided to address the issue using a quantitative approach. Gene expression was quantified by Real time PCR, and, for the first time, the authors show that a possible explanation for limited plasticity of MSC is that even though differentiated cells presented differential gene expression, the levels of key cardiomyogenic genes did not reach expression levels presented by adult cardiomyocytes, nor were maintained along differentiation, reaching peaks at 4 days of stimulation, and decaying thereafter.展开更多
基金Supported by the CAS/SAFEA International Partnership Program for Creative Research Teams (Research and Applications of Marine Functional Genomics)the Haiwaijie chuxuezhe-Fund of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (2006-1-15)+1 种基金the fund from MATHAB (No. MH200804)a CNRS scholarship for FZ, and National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 40776094)
文摘Magnetospirillum magneticum strain AMB-1 belongs to the family of magnetotactic bacteria. It possesses a magnetosome chain aligning, with the assistance of cytoskeleton filaments MamK, along the long axis of the spiral cells. Most fresh M. magneticum AMB-1 cells exhibit spiral morphology. In addition, other cell shapes such as curved and spherical were also observed in this organism. Interestingly, the spherical cell shape increased steadily with prolonged incubation time. As the actin-like cytoskeleton protein MreB is involved in maintenance of cell shapes in rod-shaped bacteria such as Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis, the correlation between MreB protein levels and cell shape was investigated in this study. Immunoblotting analysis showed that the quantity of MreB decreased when the cell shape changed along with incubation time. As an internal control, the quantity of MamA was not obviously changed under the same conditions. Cell shape directs cell-wall synthesis during growth and division. MreB is required for maintaining the cell shape. Thus, MreB might play an essential role in maintaining the spiral shape of M. magneticum AMB-1 cells.
文摘Mesenchymal stem cell differentiation towards osteogenic, chondrogenic and adipogenic lineages have been extensively described and reproduced in the literature. In contrast, cardiomyogenic differentiation still remains largely controversial. In this study the authors aim to shed new light into this unclear phenomenon and test whether BMMSC （bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells） and ATMSC （adipose tissue derived mesenchymal stem cells） are able to differentiate into functional cardiomyocytes, investigating two differentiation protocols. AT and BMMSC behaved differently when cultured in differentiation media and presented lower levels of proliferation and alkaline phosphatase production, expression of cardiomyocyte-specific transcription factors such as GATA-4, Nkx2-5 and proteins such as ct and 13 Myosin Heavy Chains. Furthermore, MSC started to express higher levels of Connexin-43 and c~ sarcomeric actinin protein. Unfortunately, though, MSC did not present cardiomyocyte-like electrophysiological properties. In order to analyze a possible explanation for such limited plasticity, the authors decided to address the issue using a quantitative approach. Gene expression was quantified by Real time PCR, and, for the first time, the authors show that a possible explanation for limited plasticity of MSC is that even though differentiated cells presented differential gene expression, the levels of key cardiomyogenic genes did not reach expression levels presented by adult cardiomyocytes, nor were maintained along differentiation, reaching peaks at 4 days of stimulation, and decaying thereafter.
