Posttranslational Modifications of the Histone 3 Tail and Their Impact on the Activity of Histone Lysine Demethylases in Vitro.

Posttranslational Modifications of the Histone 3 Tail and Their Impact on the Activity of Histone Lysine Demethylases In Vitro.

PLoS One. 2013; 8(7): e67653
Lohse B, Helgstrand C, Kristensen JB, Leurs U, Cloos PA, Kristensen JL, Clausen RP

Posttranslational modifications (PTMs) of the histone H3 tail such as methylation, acetylation and phosphorylation play important roles in epigenetic signaling. Here we study the effect of some of these PTMs on the demethylation rates of methylated lysine 9 in vitro using peptide substrates mimicking histone H3. Various combinations with other PTMs were employed to study possible cross-talk effects by comparing enzyme kinetic characteristics. We compared the kinetics of histone tail substrates for truncated histone lysine demethylases KDM4A and KDM4C containing only the catalytic core (cc) and some combinations were characterized on full length (FL) KDM4A and KDM4C. We found that the substrates combining trimethylated K4 and K9 resulted in a significant increase in the catalytic activity for FL-KDM4A. For the truncated versions of KDM4A and KDM4C a two-fold increase in the catalytic activity toward bis-trimethylated substrates could be observed. Furthermore, a significant difference in the catalytic activity between dimethylated and trimethylated substrates was found for full length demethylases in line with what has been reported previously for truncated demethylases. Histone peptide substrates phosphorylated at T11 could not be demethylated by neither truncated nor full length KDM4A and KDM4C, suggesting that phosphorylation of threonine 11 prevents demethylation of the H3K9me3 mark on the same peptide. Acetylation of K14 was also found to influence demethylation rates significantly. Thus, for truncated KDM4A, acetylation on K14 of the substrate leads to an increase in enzymatic catalytic efficiency (k cat/K m), while for truncated KDM4C it induces a decrease, primarily caused by changes in K m. This study demonstrates that demethylation activities towards trimethylated H3K9 are significantly influenced by other PTMs on the same peptide, and emphasizes the importance of studying these interactions at the peptide level to get a more detailed understanding of the dynamics of epigenetic marks. HubMed – drug

Livestock-Associated Methicillin and Multidrug Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Is Present among Industrial, Not Antibiotic-Free Livestock Operation Workers in North Carolina.

PLoS One. 2013; 8(7): e67641
Rinsky JL, Nadimpalli M, Wing S, Hall D, Baron D, Price LB, Larsen J, Stegger M, Stewart J, Heaney CD

Administration of antibiotics to food animals may select for drug-resistant pathogens of clinical significance, such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). In the United States, studies have examined prevalence of MRSA carriage among individuals exposed to livestock, but prevalence of multidrug-resistant S. aureus (MDRSA) carriage and the association with livestock raised with versus without antibiotic selective pressure remains unclear. We aimed to examine prevalence, antibiotic susceptibility, and molecular characteristics of S. aureus among industrial livestock operation (ILO) and antibiotic-free livestock operation (AFLO) workers and household members in North Carolina.Participants in this cross-sectional study were interviewed and provided a nasal swab for S. aureus analysis. Resulting S. aureus isolates were assessed for antibiotic susceptibility, multi-locus sequence type, and absence of the scn gene (a marker of livestock association).Among 99 ILO and 105 AFLO participants, S. aureus nasal carriage prevalence was 41% and 40%, respectively. Among ILO and AFLO S. aureus carriers, MRSA was detected in 7% (3/41) and 7% (3/42), respectively. Thirty seven percent of 41 ILO versus 19% of 42 AFLO S. aureus-positive participants carried MDRSA. S. aureus clonal complex (CC) 398 was observed only among workers and predominated among ILO (13/34) compared with AFLO (1/35) S. aureus-positive workers. Only ILO workers carried scn-negative MRSA CC398 (2/34) and scn-negative MDRSA CC398 (6/34), and all of these isolates were tetracycline resistant.Despite similar S. aureus and MRSA prevalence among ILO and AFLO-exposed individuals, livestock-associated MRSA and MDRSA (tetracycline-resistant, CC398, scn-negative) were only present among ILO-exposed individuals. These findings support growing concern about antibiotics use and confinement in livestock production, raising questions about the potential for occupational exposure to an opportunistic and drug-resistant pathogen, which in other settings including hospitals and the community is of broad public health importance. HubMed – drug

Predicting and Analyzing Interactions between Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Its Human Host.

PLoS One. 2013; 8(7): e67472
Rapanoel HA, Mazandu GK, Mulder NJ

The outcome of infection by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) depends greatly on how the host responds to the bacteria and how the bacteria manipulates the host, which is facilitated by protein-protein interactions. Thus, to understand this process, there is a need for elucidating protein interactions between human and Mtb, which may enable us to characterize specific molecular mechanisms allowing the bacteria to persist and survive under different environmental conditions. In this work, we used the interologs method based on experimentally verified intra-species and inter-species interactions to predict human-Mtb functional interactions. These interactions were further filtered using known human-Mtb interactions and genes that are differentially expressed during infection, producing 190 interactions. Further analysis of the subcellular location of proteins involved in these human-Mtb interactions confirms feasibility of these interactions. We also conducted functional analysis of human and Mtb proteins involved in these interactions, checking whether these proteins play a role in infection and/or disease, and enriching Mtb proteins in a previously predicted list of drug targets. We found that the biological processes of the human interacting proteins suggested their involvement in apoptosis and production of nitric oxide, whereas those of the Mtb interacting proteins were relevant to the intracellular environment of Mtb in the host. Mapping these proteins onto KEGG pathways highlighted proteins belonging to the tuberculosis pathway and also suggested that Mtb proteins might use the host to acquire nutrients, which is in agreement with the intracellular lifestyle of Mtb. This indicates that these interactions can shed light on the interplay between Mtb and its human host and thus, contribute to the process of designing novel drugs with new biological mechanisms of action. HubMed – drug

Assessment and Challenges of Ligand Docking into Comparative Models of G-Protein Coupled Receptors.

PLoS One. 2013; 8(7): e67302
Nguyen ED, Norn C, Frimurer TM, Meiler J

The rapidly increasing number of high-resolution X-ray structures of G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) creates a unique opportunity to employ comparative modeling and docking to provide valuable insight into the function and ligand binding determinants of novel receptors, to assist in virtual screening and to design and optimize drug candidates. However, low sequence identity between receptors, conformational flexibility, and chemical diversity of ligands present an enormous challenge to molecular modeling approaches. It is our hypothesis that rapid Monte-Carlo sampling of protein backbone and side-chain conformational space with Rosetta can be leveraged to meet this challenge. This study performs unbiased comparative modeling and docking methodologies using 14 distinct high-resolution GPCRs and proposes knowledge-based filtering methods for improvement of sampling performance and identification of correct ligand-receptor interactions. On average, top ranked receptor models built on template structures over 50% sequence identity are within 2.9 Å of the experimental structure, with an average root mean square deviation (RMSD) of 2.2 Å for the transmembrane region and 5 Å for the second extracellular loop. Furthermore, these models are consistently correlated with low Rosetta energy score. To predict their binding modes, ligand conformers of the 14 ligands co-crystalized with the GPCRs were docked against the top ranked comparative models. In contrast to the comparative models themselves, however, it remains difficult to unambiguously identify correct binding modes by score alone. On average, sampling performance was improved by 10(3) fold over random using knowledge-based and energy-based filters. In assessing the applicability of experimental constraints, we found that sampling performance is increased by one order of magnitude for every 10 residues known to contact the ligand. Additionally, in the case of DOR, knowledge of a single specific ligand-protein contact improved sampling efficiency 7 fold. These findings offer specific guidelines which may lead to increased success in determining receptor-ligand complexes. HubMed – drug

Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation in Colorado | Drug Rehabilitation Centers in Colorado
http://alcoholrehabcolorado.com Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation in Colorado residential facility deals with drug, alcohol, and prescription drug abuse throug…