ALBERT

Description: Variation in vectorial capacity for human malaria among Anopheles mosquito species is determined by many factors, including behavior, immunity, and life history. To investigate the genomic basis of vectorial capacity and explore new avenues for vector control, we sequenced the genomes of 16 anopheline mosquito species from diverse locations spanning ~100 million years of evolution. Comparative analyses show faster rates of gene gain and loss, elevated gene shuffling on the X chromosome, and more intron losses, relative to Drosophila. Some determinants of vectorial capacity, such as chemosensory genes, do not show elevated turnover but instead diversify through protein-sequence changes. This dynamism of anopheline genes and genomes may contribute to their flexible capacity to take advantage of new ecological niches, including adapting to humans as primary hosts.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4380271/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4380271/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Neafsey, Daniel E -- Waterhouse, Robert M -- Abai, Mohammad R -- Aganezov, Sergey S -- Alekseyev, Max A -- Allen, James E -- Amon, James -- Arca, Bruno -- Arensburger, Peter -- Artemov, Gleb -- Assour, Lauren A -- Basseri, Hamidreza -- Berlin, Aaron -- Birren, Bruce W -- Blandin, Stephanie A -- Brockman, Andrew I -- Burkot, Thomas R -- Burt, Austin -- Chan, Clara S -- Chauve, Cedric -- Chiu, Joanna C -- Christensen, Mikkel -- Costantini, Carlo -- Davidson, Victoria L M -- Deligianni, Elena -- Dottorini, Tania -- Dritsou, Vicky -- Gabriel, Stacey B -- Guelbeogo, Wamdaogo M -- Hall, Andrew B -- Han, Mira V -- Hlaing, Thaung -- Hughes, Daniel S T -- Jenkins, Adam M -- Jiang, Xiaofang -- Jungreis, Irwin -- Kakani, Evdoxia G -- Kamali, Maryam -- Kemppainen, Petri -- Kennedy, Ryan C -- Kirmitzoglou, Ioannis K -- Koekemoer, Lizette L -- Laban, Njoroge -- Langridge, Nicholas -- Lawniczak, Mara K N -- Lirakis, Manolis -- Lobo, Neil F -- Lowy, Ernesto -- MacCallum, Robert M -- Mao, Chunhong -- Maslen, Gareth -- Mbogo, Charles -- McCarthy, Jenny -- Michel, Kristin -- Mitchell, Sara N -- Moore, Wendy -- Murphy, Katherine A -- Naumenko, Anastasia N -- Nolan, Tony -- Novoa, Eva M -- O'Loughlin, Samantha -- Oringanje, Chioma -- Oshaghi, Mohammad A -- Pakpour, Nazzy -- Papathanos, Philippos A -- Peery, Ashley N -- Povelones, Michael -- Prakash, Anil -- Price, David P -- Rajaraman, Ashok -- Reimer, Lisa J -- Rinker, David C -- Rokas, Antonis -- Russell, Tanya L -- Sagnon, N'Fale -- Sharakhova, Maria V -- Shea, Terrance -- Simao, Felipe A -- Simard, Frederic -- Slotman, Michel A -- Somboon, Pradya -- Stegniy, Vladimir -- Struchiner, Claudio J -- Thomas, Gregg W C -- Tojo, Marta -- Topalis, Pantelis -- Tubio, Jose M C -- Unger, Maria F -- Vontas, John -- Walton, Catherine -- Wilding, Craig S -- Willis, Judith H -- Wu, Yi-Chieh -- Yan, Guiyun -- Zdobnov, Evgeny M -- Zhou, Xiaofan -- Catteruccia, Flaminia -- Christophides, George K -- Collins, Frank H -- Cornman, Robert S -- Crisanti, Andrea -- Donnelly, Martin J -- Emrich, Scott J -- Fontaine, Michael C -- Gelbart, William -- Hahn, Matthew W -- Hansen, Immo A -- Howell, Paul I -- Kafatos, Fotis C -- Kellis, Manolis -- Lawson, Daniel -- Louis, Christos -- Luckhart, Shirley -- Muskavitch, Marc A T -- Ribeiro, Jose M -- Riehle, Michael A -- Sharakhov, Igor V -- Tu, Zhijian -- Zwiebel, Laurence J -- Besansky, Nora J -- 092654/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom -- R01 AI050243/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- R01 AI063508/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- R01 AI073745/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- R01 AI076584/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- R01 AI080799/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- R01 AI104956/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- R21 AI101459/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- R56 AI107263/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- SC1 AI109055/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- U19 AI089686/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- U19 AI110818/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- U41 HG007234/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- U54 HG003067/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Jan 2;347(6217):1258522. doi: 10.1126/science.1258522. Epub 2014 Nov 27.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Genome Sequencing and Analysis Program, Broad Institute, 415 Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. neafsey@broadinstitute.org nbesansk@nd.edu. ; Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. The Broad Institute of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard, 415 Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. Department of Genetic Medicine and Development, University of Geneva Medical School, Rue Michel-Servet 1, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland. Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Rue Michel-Servet 1, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland. ; Department of Medical Entomology and Vector Control, School of Public Health and Institute of Health Researches, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. ; George Washington University, Department of Mathematics and Computational Biology Institute, 45085 University Drive, Ashburn, VA 20147, USA. ; European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Bioinformatics Institute, EMBL-EBI, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SD, UK. ; National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme, Ministry of Health, Tafea Province, Vanuatu. ; Department of Public Health and Infectious Diseases, Division of Parasitology, Sapienza University of Rome, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy. ; Department of Biological Sciences, California State Polytechnic-Pomona, 3801 West Temple Avenue, Pomona, CA 91768, USA. ; Tomsk State University, 36 Lenina Avenue, Tomsk, Russia. ; Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Eck Institute for Global Health, 211B Cushing Hall, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA. ; Genome Sequencing and Analysis Program, Broad Institute, 415 Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. ; Inserm, U963, F-67084 Strasbourg, France. CNRS, UPR9022, IBMC, F-67084 Strasbourg, France. ; Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, London SW7 2AZ, UK. ; Faculty of Medicine, Health and Molecular Science, Australian Institute of Tropical Health Medicine, James Cook University, Cairns 4870, Australia. ; Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, Silwood Park Campus, Ascot SL5 7PY, UK. ; Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. The Broad Institute of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard, 415 Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. ; Department of Mathematics, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6, Canada. ; Department of Entomology and Nematology, One Shields Avenue, University of California-Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA. ; Institut de Recherche pour le Developpement, Unites Mixtes de Recherche Maladies Infectieuses et Vecteurs Ecologie, Genetique, Evolution et Controle, 911, Avenue Agropolis, BP 64501 Montpellier, France. ; Division of Biology, Kansas State University, 271 Chalmers Hall, Manhattan, KS 66506, USA. ; Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Foundation for Research and Technology, Hellas, Nikolaou Plastira 100 GR-70013, Heraklion, Crete, Greece. ; Centre of Functional Genomics, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy. ; Genomics Platform, Broad Institute, 415 Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. ; Centre National de Recherche et de Formation sur le Paludisme, Ouagadougou 01 BP 2208, Burkina Faso. ; Program of Genetics, Bioinformatics, and Computational Biology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA. ; School of Life Sciences, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV 89154, USA. ; Department of Medical Research, No. 5 Ziwaka Road, Dagon Township, Yangon 11191, Myanmar. ; European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Bioinformatics Institute, EMBL-EBI, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SD, UK. Baylor College of Medicine, 1 Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX 77030, USA. ; Boston College, 140 Commonwealth Avenue, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467, USA. ; Department of Biochemistry, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA. Program of Genetics, Bioinformatics, and Computational Biology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA. ; Harvard School of Public Health, Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Boston, MA 02115, USA. Dipartimento di Medicina Sperimentale e Scienze Biochimiche, Universita degli Studi di Perugia, Perugia, Italy. ; Department of Entomology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA. ; Computational Evolutionary Biology Group, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PT, UK. ; Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA. ; Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, London SW7 2AZ, UK. Bioinformatics Research Laboratory, Department of Biological Sciences, New Campus, University of Cyprus, CY 1678 Nicosia, Cyprus. ; Wits Research Institute for Malaria, Faculty of Health Sciences, and Vector Control Reference Unit, National Institute for Communicable Diseases of the National Health Laboratory Service, Sandringham 2131, Johannesburg, South Africa. ; National Museums of Kenya, P.O. Box 40658-00100, Nairobi, Kenya. ; Department of Biology, University of Crete, 700 13 Heraklion, Greece. ; Eck Institute for Global Health and Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, 317 Galvin Life Sciences Building, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA. ; Virginia Bioinformatics Institute, 1015 Life Science Circle, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA. ; Kenya Medical Research Institute-Wellcome Trust Research Programme, Centre for Geographic Medicine Research - Coast, P.O. Box 230-80108, Kilifi, Kenya. ; Harvard School of Public Health, Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Boston, MA 02115, USA. ; Department of Entomology, 1140 East South Campus Drive, Forbes 410, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA. ; Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, School of Medicine, University of California Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, USA. ; Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, London SW7 2AZ, UK. Centre of Functional Genomics, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy. ; Department of Pathobiology, University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, 3800 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. ; Regional Medical Research Centre NE, Indian Council of Medical Research, P.O. Box 105, Dibrugarh-786 001, Assam, India. ; Department of Biology, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM 88003, USA. Molecular Biology Program, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM 88003, USA. ; Department of Vector Biology, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Pembroke Place, Liverpool, L3 5QA, UK. ; Center for Human Genetics Research, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37235, USA. ; Center for Human Genetics Research, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37235, USA. Department of Biological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235, USA. ; Department of Genetic Medicine and Development, University of Geneva Medical School, Rue Michel-Servet 1, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland. Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Rue Michel-Servet 1, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland. ; Department of Entomology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77807, USA. ; Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand. ; Fundacao Oswaldo Cruz, Avenida Brasil 4365, RJ Brazil. Instituto de Medicina Social, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. ; School of Informatics and Computing, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA. ; Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, Center for Research in Molecular Medicine and Chronic Diseases, Instituto de Investigaciones Sanitarias, University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, A Coruna, Spain. ; Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton, Cambridgeshire, CB10 1SA, UK. ; School of Natural Sciences and Psychology, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool L3 3AF, UK. ; Department of Cellular Biology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA. ; Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. The Broad Institute of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard, 415 Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. Department of Computer Science, Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, CA 91711, USA. ; Program in Public Health, College of Health Sciences, University of California, Irvine, Hewitt Hall, Irvine, CA 92697, USA. ; Department of Biological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235, USA. ; Department of Vector Biology, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Pembroke Place, Liverpool, L3 5QA, UK. Malaria Programme, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Cambridge CB10 1SJ, UK. ; Eck Institute for Global Health and Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, 317 Galvin Life Sciences Building, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA. Centre of Evolutionary and Ecological Studies (Marine Evolution and Conservation group), University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, NL-9747 AG Groningen, Netherlands. ; Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, 16 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. ; Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA. School of Informatics and Computing, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA. ; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road NE MSG49, Atlanta, GA 30329, USA. ; Department of Biology, University of Crete, 700 13 Heraklion, Greece. Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Foundation for Research and Technology, Hellas, Nikolaou Plastira 100 GR-70013, Heraklion, Crete, Greece. Centre of Functional Genomics, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy. ; Boston College, 140 Commonwealth Avenue, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467, USA. Biogen Idec, 14 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. ; Laboratory of Malaria and Vector Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, 12735 Twinbrook Parkway, Rockville, MD 20852, USA. ; Department of Entomology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA. Program of Genetics, Bioinformatics, and Computational Biology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA. ; Program of Genetics, Bioinformatics, and Computational Biology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA. Department of Biochemistry, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA. ; Departments of Biological Sciences and Pharmacology, Institutes for Chemical Biology, Genetics and Global Health, Vanderbilt University and Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37235, USA. ; Eck Institute for Global Health and Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, 317 Galvin Life Sciences Building, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA. neafsey@broadinstitute.org nbesansk@nd.edu.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25554792" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: The mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) protein kinase is a master growth regulator that responds to multiple environmental cues. Amino acids stimulate, in a Rag-, Ragulator-, and vacuolar adenosine triphosphatase-dependent fashion, the translocation of mTORC1 to the lysosomal surface, where it interacts with its activator Rheb. Here, we identify SLC38A9, an uncharacterized protein with sequence similarity to amino acid transporters, as a lysosomal transmembrane protein that interacts with the Rag guanosine triphosphatases (GTPases) and Ragulator in an amino acid-sensitive fashion. SLC38A9 transports arginine with a high Michaelis constant, and loss of SLC38A9 represses mTORC1 activation by amino acids, particularly arginine. Overexpression of SLC38A9 or just its Ragulator-binding domain makes mTORC1 signaling insensitive to amino acid starvation but not to Rag activity. Thus, SLC38A9 functions upstream of the Rag GTPases and is an excellent candidate for being an arginine sensor for the mTORC1 pathway.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4295826/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4295826/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Wang, Shuyu -- Tsun, Zhi-Yang -- Wolfson, Rachel L -- Shen, Kuang -- Wyant, Gregory A -- Plovanich, Molly E -- Yuan, Elizabeth D -- Jones, Tony D -- Chantranupong, Lynne -- Comb, William -- Wang, Tim -- Bar-Peled, Liron -- Zoncu, Roberto -- Straub, Christoph -- Kim, Choah -- Park, Jiwon -- Sabatini, Bernardo L -- Sabatini, David M -- AI47389/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- F30 CA180754/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- F31 AG044064/AG/NIA NIH HHS/ -- F31 CA180271/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- R01 CA103866/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- R37 AI047389/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- T32 GM007287/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- T32 GM007753/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- Howard Hughes Medical Institute/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Jan 9;347(6218):188-94. doi: 10.1126/science.1257132. Epub 2015 Jan 7.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Biology, 9 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. Broad Institute of Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 7 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. ; Harvard Medical School, 260 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA. ; Department of Neurobiology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School, 220 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA. ; Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Biology, 9 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. Broad Institute of Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 7 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. sabatini@wi.mit.edu.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25567906" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Voltage-gated sodium (Nav) channels propagate action potentials in excitable cells. Accordingly, Nav channels are therapeutic targets for many cardiovascular and neurological disorders. Selective inhibitors have been challenging to design because the nine mammalian Nav channel isoforms share high sequence identity and remain recalcitrant to high-resolution structural studies. Targeting the human Nav1.7 channel involved in pain perception, we present a protein-engineering strategy that has allowed us to determine crystal structures of a novel receptor site in complex with isoform-selective antagonists. GX-936 and related inhibitors bind to the activated state of voltage-sensor domain IV (VSD4), where their anionic aryl sulfonamide warhead engages the fourth arginine gating charge on the S4 helix. By opposing VSD4 deactivation, these compounds inhibit Nav1.7 through a voltage-sensor trapping mechanism, likely by stabilizing inactivated states of the channel. Residues from the S2 and S3 helices are key determinants of isoform selectivity, and bound phospholipids implicate the membrane as a modulator of channel function and pharmacology. Our results help to elucidate the molecular basis of voltage sensing and establish structural blueprints to design selective Nav channel antagonists.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Ahuja, Shivani -- Mukund, Susmith -- Deng, Lunbin -- Khakh, Kuldip -- Chang, Elaine -- Ho, Hoangdung -- Shriver, Stephanie -- Young, Clint -- Lin, Sophia -- Johnson, J P Jr -- Wu, Ping -- Li, Jun -- Coons, Mary -- Tam, Christine -- Brillantes, Bobby -- Sampang, Honorio -- Mortara, Kyle -- Bowman, Krista K -- Clark, Kevin R -- Estevez, Alberto -- Xie, Zhiwei -- Verschoof, Henry -- Grimwood, Michael -- Dehnhardt, Christoph -- Andrez, Jean-Christophe -- Focken, Thilo -- Sutherlin, Daniel P -- Safina, Brian S -- Starovasnik, Melissa A -- Ortwine, Daniel F -- Franke, Yvonne -- Cohen, Charles J -- Hackos, David H -- Koth, Christopher M -- Payandeh, Jian -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Dec 18;350(6267):aac5464. doi: 10.1126/science.aac5464.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Structural Biology, Genentech Inc., South San Francisco, CA 94080, USA. ; Department of Neuroscience, Genentech Inc., South San Francisco, CA 94080, USA. ; Department of Biology, Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc., Burnaby, British Columbia, V5G 4W8, Canada. ; Department of Discovery Chemistry, Genentech Inc., South San Francisco, CA 94080, USA. ; Department of Biochemical and Cellular Pharmacology, Genentech Inc., South San Francisco, CA 94080, USA. ; Department of Chemistry, Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc., Burnaby, British Columbia, V5G 4W8, Canada. ; Department of Neuroscience, Genentech Inc., South San Francisco, CA 94080, USA. hackos.david@gene.com koth.christopher@gene.com payandeh.jian@gene.com. ; Department of Structural Biology, Genentech Inc., South San Francisco, CA 94080, USA. hackos.david@gene.com koth.christopher@gene.com payandeh.jian@gene.com.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26680203" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Nucleotide analog inhibitors have shown clinical success in the treatment of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, despite an incomplete mechanistic understanding of NS5B, the viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase. Here we study the details of HCV RNA replication by determining crystal structures of stalled polymerase ternary complexes with enzymes, RNA templates, RNA primers, incoming nucleotides, and catalytic metal ions during both primed initiation and elongation of RNA synthesis. Our analysis revealed that highly conserved active-site residues in NS5B position the primer for in-line attack on the incoming nucleotide. A beta loop and a C-terminal membrane-anchoring linker occlude the active-site cavity in the apo state, retract in the primed initiation assembly to enforce replication of the HCV genome from the 3' terminus, and vacate the active-site cavity during elongation. We investigated the incorporation of nucleotide analog inhibitors, including the clinically active metabolite formed by sofosbuvir, to elucidate key molecular interactions in the active site.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Appleby, Todd C -- Perry, Jason K -- Murakami, Eisuke -- Barauskas, Ona -- Feng, Joy -- Cho, Aesop -- Fox, David 3rd -- Wetmore, Diana R -- McGrath, Mary E -- Ray, Adrian S -- Sofia, Michael J -- Swaminathan, S -- Edwards, Thomas E -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Feb 13;347(6223):771-5. doi: 10.1126/science.1259210.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Gilead Sciences, 333 Lakeside Drive, Foster City, CA 94404, USA. todd.appleby@gilead.com tedwards@be4.com. ; Gilead Sciences, 333 Lakeside Drive, Foster City, CA 94404, USA. ; Beryllium, 7869 NE Day Road West, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110, USA. ; Beryllium, 7869 NE Day Road West, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110, USA. todd.appleby@gilead.com tedwards@be4.com.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25678663" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: The shortage of organs for transplantation is a major barrier to the treatment of organ failure. Although porcine organs are considered promising, their use has been checked by concerns about the transmission of porcine endogenous retroviruses (PERVs) to humans. Here we describe the eradication of all PERVs in a porcine kidney epithelial cell line (PK15). We first determined the PK15 PERV copy number to be 62. Using CRISPR-Cas9, we disrupted all copies of the PERV pol gene and demonstrated a 〉1000-fold reduction in PERV transmission to human cells, using our engineered cells. Our study shows that CRISPR-Cas9 multiplexability can be as high as 62 and demonstrates the possibility that PERVs can be inactivated for clinical application of porcine-to-human xenotransplantation.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Yang, Luhan -- Guell, Marc -- Niu, Dong -- George, Haydy -- Lesha, Emal -- Grishin, Dennis -- Aach, John -- Shrock, Ellen -- Xu, Weihong -- Poci, Jurgen -- Cortazio, Rebeca -- Wilkinson, Robert A -- Fishman, Jay A -- Church, George -- P50 HG005550/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Nov 27;350(6264):1101-4. doi: 10.1126/science.aad1191. Epub 2015 Oct 11.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA. eGenesis Biosciences, Boston, MA 02115, USA. gchurch@genetics.med.harvard.edu luhan.yang@egenesisbio.com. ; Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA. eGenesis Biosciences, Boston, MA 02115, USA. ; Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. College of Animal Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China. ; Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. ; Department of Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. ; Transplant Infectious Disease and Compromised Host Program, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26456528" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: The inefficient clearance of dying cells can lead to abnormal immune responses, such as unresolved inflammation and autoimmune conditions. We show that tumor suppressor p53 controls signaling-mediated phagocytosis of apoptotic cells through its target, Death Domain1alpha (DD1alpha), which suggests that p53 promotes both the proapoptotic pathway and postapoptotic events. DD1alpha appears to function as an engulfment ligand or receptor that engages in homophilic intermolecular interaction at intercellular junctions of apoptotic cells and macrophages, unlike other typical scavenger receptors that recognize phosphatidylserine on the surface of dead cells. DD1alpha-deficient mice showed in vivo defects in clearing dying cells, which led to multiple organ damage indicative of immune dysfunction. p53-induced expression of DD1alpha thus prevents persistence of cell corpses and ensures efficient generation of precise immune responses.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Yoon, Kyoung Wan -- Byun, Sanguine -- Kwon, Eunjeong -- Hwang, So-Young -- Chu, Kiki -- Hiraki, Masatsugu -- Jo, Seung-Hee -- Weins, Astrid -- Hakroush, Samy -- Cebulla, Angelika -- Sykes, David B -- Greka, Anna -- Mundel, Peter -- Fisher, David E -- Mandinova, Anna -- Lee, Sam W -- CA142805/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- CA149477/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- CA80058/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- DK062472/DK/NIDDK NIH HHS/ -- DK091218/DK/NIDDK NIH HHS/ -- DK093378/DK/NIDDK NIH HHS/ -- DK57683/DK/NIDDK NIH HHS/ -- S10RR027673/RR/NCRR NIH HHS/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Jul 31;349(6247):1261669. doi: 10.1126/science.1261669.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Cutaneous Biology Research Center, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Building 149, 13th Street, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA. ; Department of Pathology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA. ; Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA. ; Center for Regenerative Medicine and Technology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA. ; Department of Medicine, Glom-NExT Center for Glomerular Kidney Disease and Novel Experimental Therapeutics, Brigham and Women's Hospital, and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA. ; Cutaneous Biology Research Center, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Building 149, 13th Street, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA. Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, 7 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. ; Cutaneous Biology Research Center, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Building 149, 13th Street, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA. Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, 7 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. swlee@mgh.harvard.edu.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26228159" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: The nuclear pore complex (NPC) constitutes the sole gateway for bidirectional nucleocytoplasmic transport. We present the reconstitution and interdisciplinary analyses of the ~425-kilodalton inner ring complex (IRC), which forms the central transport channel and diffusion barrier of the NPC, revealing its interaction network and equimolar stoichiometry. The Nsp1*Nup49*Nup57 channel nucleoporin heterotrimer (CNT) attaches to the IRC solely through the adaptor nucleoporin Nic96. The CNT*Nic96 structure reveals that Nic96 functions as an assembly sensor that recognizes the three-dimensional architecture of the CNT, thereby mediating the incorporation of a defined CNT state into the NPC. We propose that the IRC adopts a relatively rigid scaffold that recruits the CNT to primarily form the diffusion barrier of the NPC, rather than enabling channel dilation.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Stuwe, Tobias -- Bley, Christopher J -- Thierbach, Karsten -- Petrovic, Stefan -- Schilbach, Sandra -- Mayo, Daniel J -- Perriches, Thibaud -- Rundlet, Emily J -- Jeon, Young E -- Collins, Leslie N -- Huber, Ferdinand M -- Lin, Daniel H -- Paduch, Marcin -- Koide, Akiko -- Lu, Vincent -- Fischer, Jessica -- Hurt, Ed -- Koide, Shohei -- Kossiakoff, Anthony A -- Hoelz, Andre -- ACB-12002/PHS HHS/ -- AGM-12006/PHS HHS/ -- P30-CA014599/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- R01-GM090324/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- R01-GM111461/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- U01-GM094588/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- U54-GM087519/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Oct 2;350(6256):56-64. doi: 10.1126/science.aac9176. Epub 2015 Aug 27.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉California Institute of Technology, Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, 1200 East California Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA. ; Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA. ; Biochemistry Center of Heidelberg University, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany. ; California Institute of Technology, Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, 1200 East California Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA. hoelz@caltech.edu.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26316600" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: The discovery of Streptomyces-produced streptomycin founded the age of tuberculosis therapy. Despite the subsequent development of a curative regimen for this disease, tuberculosis remains a worldwide problem, and the emergence of multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis has prioritized the need for new drugs. Here we show that new optimized derivatives from Streptomyces-derived griselimycin are highly active against M. tuberculosis, both in vitro and in vivo, by inhibiting the DNA polymerase sliding clamp DnaN. We discovered that resistance to griselimycins, occurring at very low frequency, is associated with amplification of a chromosomal segment containing dnaN, as well as the ori site. Our results demonstrate that griselimycins have high translational potential for tuberculosis treatment, validate DnaN as an antimicrobial target, and capture the process of antibiotic pressure-induced gene amplification.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Kling, Angela -- Lukat, Peer -- Almeida, Deepak V -- Bauer, Armin -- Fontaine, Evelyne -- Sordello, Sylvie -- Zaburannyi, Nestor -- Herrmann, Jennifer -- Wenzel, Silke C -- Konig, Claudia -- Ammerman, Nicole C -- Barrio, Maria Belen -- Borchers, Kai -- Bordon-Pallier, Florence -- Bronstrup, Mark -- Courtemanche, Gilles -- Gerlitz, Martin -- Geslin, Michel -- Hammann, Peter -- Heinz, Dirk W -- Hoffmann, Holger -- Klieber, Sylvie -- Kohlmann, Markus -- Kurz, Michael -- Lair, Christine -- Matter, Hans -- Nuermberger, Eric -- Tyagi, Sandeep -- Fraisse, Laurent -- Grosset, Jacques H -- Lagrange, Sophie -- Muller, Rolf -- Howard Hughes Medical Institute/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Jun 5;348(6239):1106-12. doi: 10.1126/science.aaa4690.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Microbial Natural Products, Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS), Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research and Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbrucken, Germany. German Centre for Infection Research (DZIF), Partner Site Hannover-Braunschweig, Hannover, Germany. ; Department of Microbial Natural Products, Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS), Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research and Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbrucken, Germany. German Centre for Infection Research (DZIF), Partner Site Hannover-Braunschweig, Hannover, Germany. Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI), 38124 Braunschweig, Germany. ; Center for Tuberculosis Research, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21231, USA. KwaZulu-Natal Research Institute for Tuberculosis and HIV (K-RITH), Durban 4001, South Africa. ; Sanofi-Aventis R&D, LGCR/Chemistry, Industriepark Hochst, 65926 Frankfurt am Main, Germany. ; Sanofi-Aventis R&D, Infectious Diseases Therapeutic Strategic Unit, 31036 Toulouse, France. ; Sanofi-Aventis R&D, Strategy, Science Policy & External Innovation (S&I), 75008 Paris, France. ; Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI), 38124 Braunschweig, Germany. Sanofi-Aventis R&D, LGCR/Chemistry, Industriepark Hochst, 65926 Frankfurt am Main, Germany. ; Sanofi-Aventis R&D, Infectious Diseases Therapeutic Strategic Unit, 65926 Frankfurt, Germany. ; German Centre for Infection Research (DZIF), Partner Site Hannover-Braunschweig, Hannover, Germany. Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI), 38124 Braunschweig, Germany. ; Sanofi-Aventis R&D, Disposition Safety and Animal Research, 34184 Montpellier, France. ; Center for Tuberculosis Research, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21231, USA. ; Department of Microbial Natural Products, Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS), Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research and Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbrucken, Germany. German Centre for Infection Research (DZIF), Partner Site Hannover-Braunschweig, Hannover, Germany. rolf.mueller@helmholtz-hzi.de.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26045430" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Extremophiles, microorganisms thriving in extreme environmental conditions, must have proteins and nucleic acids that are stable at extremes of temperature and pH. The nonenveloped, rod-shaped virus SIRV2 (Sulfolobus islandicus rod-shaped virus 2) infects the hyperthermophilic acidophile Sulfolobus islandicus, which lives at 80 degrees C and pH 3. We have used cryo-electron microscopy to generate a three-dimensional reconstruction of the SIRV2 virion at ~4 angstrom resolution, which revealed a previously unknown form of virion organization. Although almost half of the capsid protein is unstructured in solution, this unstructured region folds in the virion into a single extended alpha helix that wraps around the DNA. The DNA is entirely in the A-form, which suggests a common mechanism with bacterial spores for protecting DNA in the most adverse environments.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉DiMaio, Frank -- Yu, Xiong -- Rensen, Elena -- Krupovic, Mart -- Prangishvili, David -- Egelman, Edward H -- GM035269/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 May 22;348(6237):914-7. doi: 10.1126/science.aaa4181.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Biochemistry, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA. ; Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22908, USA. ; Institut Pasteur, Department of Microbiology, 25 rue du Dr. Roux, Paris 75015, France. ; Institut Pasteur, Department of Microbiology, 25 rue du Dr. Roux, Paris 75015, France. egelman@virginia.edu david.prangishvili@pasteur.fr. ; Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22908, USA. egelman@virginia.edu david.prangishvili@pasteur.fr.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25999507" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Strigolactones are naturally occurring signaling molecules that affect plant development, fungi-plant interactions, and parasitic plant infestations. We characterized the function of 11 strigolactone receptors from the parasitic plant Striga hermonthica using chemical and structural biology. We found a clade of polyspecific receptors, including one that is sensitive to picomolar concentrations of strigolactone. A crystal structure of a highly sensitive strigolactone receptor from Striga revealed a larger binding pocket than that of the Arabidopsis receptor, which could explain the increased range of strigolactone sensitivity. Thus, the sensitivity of Striga to strigolactones from host plants is driven by receptor sensitivity. By expressing strigolactone receptors in Arabidopsis, we developed a bioassay that can be used to identify chemicals and crops with altered strigolactone levels.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Toh, Shigeo -- Holbrook-Smith, Duncan -- Stogios, Peter J -- Onopriyenko, Olena -- Lumba, Shelley -- Tsuchiya, Yuichiro -- Savchenko, Alexei -- McCourt, Peter -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Oct 9;350(6257):203-7. doi: 10.1126/science.aac9476.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Cell and Systems Biology, University of Toronto, 25 Willcocks Street, Toronto M5S 3B2, Canada. ; Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, Banting and Best Department of Medical Research, University of Toronto, 200 College Street, Toronto M5S 3E5, Canada. Center for Structural Genomics of Infectious Diseases, contracted by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA. ; Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, Banting and Best Department of Medical Research, University of Toronto, 200 College Street, Toronto M5S 3E5, Canada. ; Institute of Transformative Bio-Molecules, Nagoya University, Japan, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, Aichi 464-8602, Japan. ; Cell and Systems Biology, University of Toronto, 25 Willcocks Street, Toronto M5S 3B2, Canada. peter.mccourt@utoronto.ca.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26450211" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉