[en] Azospirillum brasilense is a diazotroph that associates with important agricultural crops and thus has potential to be a nitrogen biofertilizer. The A. brasilense transcription regulator NifA, which seems to be constitutively expressed, activates the transcription of nitrogen fixation genes. It has been suggested that the nitrogen status-signaling protein GlnB regulates NifA activity by direct interaction with the NifA N-terminal GAF domain, preventing the inhibitory effect of this domain under conditions of nitrogen fixation. In the present study, we show that an N-terminal truncated form of NifA no longer required GlnB for activity and lost regulation by ammonium. On the other hand, in trans co-expression of the N-terminal GAF domain inhibited the N-truncated protein in response to fixed nitrogen levels. We also used pull-down assays to show in vitro interaction between the purified N-terminal GAF domain of NifA and the GlnB protein. The results showed that A. brasilense GlnB interacts directly with the NifA N-terminal domain and this interaction is dependent on the presence of ATP and 2-oxoglutarate

[en] The AMPS argument for black hole firewalls seems to arise not only from the assumption of local effective field theory outside the stretched horizon but also from an overcounting of internal black hole states that include states that are singular in the past. Here I propose to exclude such singular states by Extreme Cosmic Censorship (the conjectured principle that the universe is entirely nonsingular, except for transient singularities inside black and/or white holes). I argue that the remaining set of nonsingular realistic states do not have firewalls but yet preserve information in Hawking radiation from black holes that form from nonsingular initial states

[en] Imitation Switch (ISWI) is a member of the SWI2/SNF2 superfamily of ATP-dependent chromatin remodelers, which are involved in multiple nuclear functions, including transcriptional regulation, replication, and chromatin assembly. Mammalian genomes encode two ISWI orthologs, SNF2H and SNF2L. In order to clarify the molecular mechanisms governing the expression of human SNF2L gene, we functionally examined the transcriptional regulation of human SNF2L promoter. Reporter gene assays demonstrated that the minimal SNF2L promoter was located between positions -152 to -86 relative to the transcription start site. In this region we have identified a cAMP-response element (CRE) located at -99 to -92 and a Sp1-binding site at -145 to -135 that play a critical role in regulating basal activity of human SNF2L gene, which were proven by deletion and mutation of specific binding sites, EMSA, and down-regulating Sp1 and CREB via RNAi. This study provides the first insight into the mechanisms that control basal expression of human SNF2L gene

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[en] Highlights: ► ATP-treated sciatic explants shows the decreased expression of p75NGFR. ► Extracellular ATP inhibits the expression of phospho-ERK1/2. ► Lysosomal exocytosis is involved in Schwann cell dedifferentiation. ► Extracellular ATP blocks Schwann cell proliferation in sciatic explants. -- Abstract: After nerve injury, Schwann cells proliferate and revert to a phenotype that supports nerve regeneration. This phenotype-changing process can be viewed as Schwann cell dedifferentiation. Here, we investigated the role of extracellular ATP in Schwann cell dedifferentiation and proliferation during Wallerian degeneration. Using several markers of Schwann cell dedifferentiation and proliferation in sciatic explants, we found that extracellular ATP inhibits Schwann cell dedifferentiation and proliferation during Wallerian degeneration. Furthermore, the blockage of lysosomal exocytosis in ATP-treated sciatic explants is sufficient to induce Schwann cell dedifferentiation. Together, these findings suggest that ATP-induced lysosomal exocytosis may be involved in Schwann cell dedifferentiation.

[en] Higghlights• Profilin associates with activated PKCε. • Profilin does not activate PKCε directly. • Profilin facilitates PKCε activation by accelerating ATP supply. Profilin catalyzes the exchange of actin-bound ADP to ATP. The present study investigated the role of profilin in PKCε activation. Profilin associated with PKCε in differentiated PC-12 cells under the basal conditions, which was inhibited by the PKC inhibitor GF109203X. The selective PKCε activator DCP-LA markedly increased the association, which was clearly prevented by GF109203X. The basal PKC activity in PC-12 cells was attenuated by knocking-down profilin, while the basal activities of PKA and CaMKII were not affected. DCP-LA enhanced the PKC activity to approximately 3.5 folds of the basal levels, and the effect was suppressed by knocking-down profilin. In the cell-free system, PKCε was not activated by profilin alone. DCP-LA activated PKCε in an ATP concentration (2–500 μM)-dependent manner, and addition of profilin shifted the ATP concentration/DCP-LA-induced PKCε activity relation curve to the left (the direction of lower ATP concentrations). Taken together, the results of the present study indicate that profilin binds to activated PKCε and facilitates PKCε activation by accelerating ATP supply to PKCε.

[en] Forkhead box O (FOXO) transcription factors play an important role in a wide range of biological processes, including cell cycle control, apoptosis, detoxification of reactive oxygen species, and gluconeogenesis through regulation of gene expression. In this study, we demonstrated that PARP-1 functions as a negative regulator of FOXO1. We showed that PARP-1 directly binds to and poly(ADP-ribosyl)ates FOXO1 protein. PARP-1 represses FOXO1-mediated expression of cell cycle inhibitor p27^Kip1 gene. Notably, poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation activity was not required for the repressive effect of PARP-1 on FOXO1 function. Furthermore, knockdown of PARP-1 led to a decrease in cell proliferation in a manner dependent on FOXO1 function. Chromatin immunoprecipitation experiments confirmed that PARP-1 is recruited to the p27^Kip1 gene promoter through a binding to FOXO1. These results suggest that PARP-1 acts as a corepressor for FOXO1, which could play an important role in proper cell proliferation by regulating p27^Kip1 gene expression.

[en] A new ceramid (2S*, 3S*, 4E, 8E)-2N-(hexadecanoyl)-4 (E), 8 (E)-docosadiene-1, 3-diol (1), along with the previously identified one (2S*, 3S*, 4E, 8E)-2N-(tetradecanoyl)-4 (E), 8 (E)-icosadiene-1, 3-diol (2), and the dihydroxy steroid, 24-methyl-cholest-5 (E), 22 (E)-dien-3?,7?-diol (3) were identified from the Red Sea black coral Antipathies dichotoma. Extensive spectroscopic data 1D and 2D- NMR, UV, IR and MS were the bases for structure elucidation of all isolated metabolites. The spectral values for compound 3 are reported here for the first time. All compounds have been estimated toward their cytotoxicity, against several cancer cell lines; HepG2, WI 38, VERO and MCF-7. They showed strong to moderate cytotoxic activities. Compounds 1 and 2 displayed strong antiproliferative activities against HepG2 and MCF-7 cell lines. 3 displayed almost weak activity towards all investigated cell lines. (author)