ALBERT

Description: Mutations in the RP2 gene lead to a severe form of X-linked retinitis pigmentosa. RP2 patients frequently present with nonsense mutations and no treatments are currently available to restore RP2 function. In this study, we reprogrammed fibroblasts from an RP2 patient carrying the nonsense mutation c.519C〉T (p.R120X) into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC), and differentiated these cells into retinal pigment epithelial cells (RPE) to study the mechanisms of disease and test potential therapies. RP2 protein was undetectable in the RP2 R120X patient cells, suggesting a disease mechanism caused by complete lack of RP2 protein. The RP2 patient fibroblasts and iPSC-derived RPE cells showed phenotypic defects in IFT20 localization, Golgi cohesion and Gβ1 trafficking. These phenotypes were corrected by over-expressing GFP-tagged RP2. Using the translational read-through inducing drugs (TRIDs) G418 and PTC124 (Ataluren), we were able to restore up to 20% of endogenous, full-length RP2 protein in R120X cells. This level of restored RP2 was sufficient to reverse the cellular phenotypic defects observed in both the R120X patient fibroblasts and iPSC-RPE cells. This is the first proof-of-concept study to demonstrate successful read-through and restoration of RP2 function for the R120X nonsense mutation. The ability of the restored RP2 protein level to reverse the observed cellular phenotypes in cells lacking RP2 indicates that translational read-through could be clinically beneficial for patients.

Description: [1]  Today it is widely accepted that during its early evolution the Earth experienced a magma ocean that covered most its surface. The separation of metal from silicate was much facilitated in the environment of such a magma ocean. The differentiation mechanism is known as the ‘metal-rain scenario’. Our study will focus on the settling dynamics of these metal droplets. [2]  Because of the low viscosity of molten silicate and a higher rotation period of the Earth at that time the rotation has a potentially strong influence on the dynamics of the magma ocean. We use numerical 3D fluid simulations to analyze the combined effect of strong rotation and convection on the settling of the iron droplets. [3]  We show that the influence of rotation on the settling depends on the latitude. At the poles the influence of rotation is only marginal. At the equator, three different scenarios can be distinguished. First, at low rotation rates, the particles form a dense layer at the bottom. Second, for higher rotation rates the particles stay mostly suspended and layers form in the temperature field. Third, at higher rotation rates the particles form a ribbon-like structure in the middle of the box. [4]  The influence of rotation on the iron droplets may lead to a scenario where part of the iron is kept in the mantle instead of transported to the core. This would have a strong influence on the later states of the differentiation process and the amountof siderophile elements in the mantel.

Description: Ants are some of the most abundant and familiar animals on Earth, and they play vital roles in most terrestrial ecosystems. Although all ants are eusocial, and display a variety of complex and fascinating behaviors, few genomic resources exist for them. Here, we report the draft genome sequence of a particularly widespread and well-studied species, the invasive Argentine ant (Linepithema humile), which was accomplished using a combination of 454 (Roche) and Illumina sequencing and community-based funding rather than federal grant support. Manual annotation of 〉1,000 genes from a variety of different gene families and functional classes reveals unique features of the Argentine ant's biology, as well as similarities to Apis mellifera and Nasonia vitripennis. Distinctive features of the Argentine ant genome include remarkable expansions of gustatory (116 genes) and odorant receptors (367 genes), an abundance of cytochrome P450 genes (〉110), lineage-specific expansions of yellow/major royal jelly proteins and desaturases, and complete CpG DNA methylation and RNAi toolkits. The Argentine ant genome contains fewer immune genes than Drosophila and Tribolium, which may reflect the prominent role played by behavioral and chemical suppression of pathogens. Analysis of the ratio of observed to expected CpG nucleotides for genes in the reproductive development and apoptosis pathways suggests higher levels of methylation than in the genome overall. The resources provided by this genome sequence will offer an abundance of tools for researchers seeking to illuminate the fascinating biology of this emerging model organism.

Description: Ecology, Volume 0, Issue 0, Ahead of Print.

Description: Influenza virus ribonucleoprotein complexes (RNPs) are central to the viral life cycle and in adaptation to new host species. RNPs are composed of the viral genome, viral polymerase, and many copies of the viral nucleoprotein. In vitro cell expression of all RNP protein components with four of the eight influenza virus gene segments enabled structural determination of native influenza virus RNPs by means of cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM). The cryo-EM structure reveals the architecture and organization of the native RNP, defining the attributes of its largely helical structure and how polymerase interacts with nucleoprotein and the viral genome. Observations of branched-RNP structures in negative-stain electron microscopy and their putative identification as replication intermediates suggest a mechanism for viral replication by a second polymerase on the RNP template.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3578580/" 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/PMC3578580/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Moeller, Arne -- Kirchdoerfer, Robert N -- Potter, Clinton S -- Carragher, Bridget -- Wilson, Ian A -- 2P41RR017573-11/RR/NCRR NIH HHS/ -- 9 P41 GM103310-11/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- AI058113/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- GM095573/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- P01 AI058113/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- P41 GM103310/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- P50GM073197/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- R01 GM095573/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2012 Dec 21;338(6114):1631-4. doi: 10.1126/science.1227270. Epub 2012 Nov 22.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉National Resource for Automated Molecular Microscopy, Department of Cell Biology, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23180774" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: NADPH/NADP(+) (the reduced form of NADP(+)/nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate) homeostasis is critical for countering oxidative stress in cells. Nicotinamide nucleotide transhydrogenase (TH), a membrane enzyme present in both bacteria and mitochondria, couples the proton motive force to the generation of NADPH. We present the 2.8 A crystal structure of the transmembrane proton channel domain of TH from Thermus thermophilus and the 6.9 A crystal structure of the entire enzyme (holo-TH). The membrane domain crystallized as a symmetric dimer, with each protomer containing a putative proton channel. The holo-TH is a highly asymmetric dimer with the NADP(H)-binding domain (dIII) in two different orientations. This unusual arrangement suggests a catalytic mechanism in which the two copies of dIII alternatively function in proton translocation and hydride transfer.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4479213/" 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/PMC4479213/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Leung, Josephine H -- Schurig-Briccio, Lici A -- Yamaguchi, Mutsuo -- Moeller, Arne -- Speir, Jeffrey A -- Gennis, Robert B -- Stout, Charles D -- 1R01GM103838-01A1/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- 5R01GM061545/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- GM073197/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- GM095600/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- P41 GM103310/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- P41GM103310/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- R01 GM061545/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- R01 GM095600/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- R01 GM103838/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Jan 9;347(6218):178-81. doi: 10.1126/science.1260451.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Integrative Structural and Computational Biology, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA. ; Department of Biochemistry, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801, USA. ; National Resource for Automated Molecular Microscopy, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA. ; Department of Integrative Structural and Computational Biology, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA. dave@scripps.edu.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25574024" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Author(s): J. Tapp, C. R. dela Cruz, M. Bratsch, N. E. Amuneke, L. Postulka, B. Wolf, M. Lang, H. O. Jeschke, R. Valentí, P. Lemmens, and A. Möller The series of compounds A Ag 2 Cr [ VO 4 ] 2 , with A = Ag , K, or Rb, is layered S = 3/2 triangular-lattice (TL) systems in which the magnetic exchange interactions between Cr 3 + ( 3 d 3 ) ions are mediated by nonmagnetic [ VO 4 ] 3 − entities. Here, the relative orientation of the vanadate is altered with respect to the... [Phys. Rev. B 96, 064404] Published Thu Aug 03, 2017

Description: G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) signal primarily through G proteins or arrestins. Arrestin binding to GPCRs blocks G protein interaction and redirects signalling to numerous G-protein-independent pathways. Here we report the crystal structure of a constitutively active form of human rhodopsin bound to a pre-activated form of the mouse visual arrestin, determined by serial femtosecond X-ray laser crystallography. Together with extensive biochemical and mutagenesis data, the structure reveals an overall architecture of the rhodopsin-arrestin assembly in which rhodopsin uses distinct structural elements, including transmembrane helix 7 and helix 8, to recruit arrestin. Correspondingly, arrestin adopts the pre-activated conformation, with a approximately 20 degrees rotation between the amino and carboxy domains, which opens up a cleft in arrestin to accommodate a short helix formed by the second intracellular loop of rhodopsin. This structure provides a basis for understanding GPCR-mediated arrestin-biased signalling and demonstrates the power of X-ray lasers for advancing the frontiers of structural biology.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4521999/" 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/PMC4521999/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Kang, Yanyong -- Zhou, X Edward -- Gao, Xiang -- He, Yuanzheng -- Liu, Wei -- Ishchenko, Andrii -- Barty, Anton -- White, Thomas A -- Yefanov, Oleksandr -- Han, Gye Won -- Xu, Qingping -- de Waal, Parker W -- Ke, Jiyuan -- Tan, M H Eileen -- Zhang, Chenghai -- Moeller, Arne -- West, Graham M -- Pascal, Bruce D -- Van Eps, Ned -- Caro, Lydia N -- Vishnivetskiy, Sergey A -- Lee, Regina J -- Suino-Powell, Kelly M -- Gu, Xin -- Pal, Kuntal -- Ma, Jinming -- Zhi, Xiaoyong -- Boutet, Sebastien -- Williams, Garth J -- Messerschmidt, Marc -- Gati, Cornelius -- Zatsepin, Nadia A -- Wang, Dingjie -- James, Daniel -- Basu, Shibom -- Roy-Chowdhury, Shatabdi -- Conrad, Chelsie E -- Coe, Jesse -- Liu, Haiguang -- Lisova, Stella -- Kupitz, Christopher -- Grotjohann, Ingo -- Fromme, Raimund -- Jiang, Yi -- Tan, Minjia -- Yang, Huaiyu -- Li, Jun -- Wang, Meitian -- Zheng, Zhong -- Li, Dianfan -- Howe, Nicole -- Zhao, Yingming -- Standfuss, Jorg -- Diederichs, Kay -- Dong, Yuhui -- Potter, Clinton S -- Carragher, Bridget -- Caffrey, Martin -- Jiang, Hualiang -- Chapman, Henry N -- Spence, John C H -- Fromme, Petra -- Weierstall, Uwe -- Ernst, Oliver P -- Katritch, Vsevolod -- Gurevich, Vsevolod V -- Griffin, Patrick R -- Hubbell, Wayne L -- Stevens, Raymond C -- Cherezov, Vadim -- Melcher, Karsten -- Xu, H Eric -- DK071662/DK/NIDDK NIH HHS/ -- EY005216/EY/NEI NIH HHS/ -- EY011500/EY/NEI NIH HHS/ -- GM073197/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- GM077561/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- GM095583/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- GM097463/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- GM102545/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- GM103310/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- GM104212/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- GM108635/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- P30EY000331/EY/NEI NIH HHS/ -- P41 GM103310/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- P41GM103393/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- P41RR001209/RR/NCRR NIH HHS/ -- P50 GM073197/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- P50 GM073210/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- R01 DK066202/DK/NIDDK NIH HHS/ -- R01 DK071662/DK/NIDDK NIH HHS/ -- R01 EY011500/EY/NEI NIH HHS/ -- R01 GM087413/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- R01 GM109955/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- S10 RR027270/RR/NCRR NIH HHS/ -- U54 GM094586/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- U54 GM094599/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- U54 GM094618/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- England -- Nature. 2015 Jul 30;523(7562):561-7. doi: 10.1038/nature14656. Epub 2015 Jul 22.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Laboratory of Structural Sciences, Center for Structural Biology and Drug Discovery, Van Andel Research Institute, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49503, USA. ; Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and Center for Applied Structural Discovery, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287-1604, USA. ; Department of Chemistry, Bridge Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA. ; Center for Free Electron Laser Science, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, 22607 Hamburg, Germany. ; Joint Center for Structural Genomics, Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA. ; 1] Laboratory of Structural Sciences, Center for Structural Biology and Drug Discovery, Van Andel Research Institute, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49503, USA [2] Department of Obstetrics &Gynecology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore. ; The National Resource for Automated Molecular Microscopy, New York Structural Biology Center, New York, New York 10027, USA. ; Department of Molecular Therapeutics, The Scripps Research Institute, Scripps Florida, Jupiter, Florida 33458, USA. ; Jules Stein Eye Institute and Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA. ; Department of Biochemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A8, Canada. ; Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee 37232, USA. ; Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA. ; 1] Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA [2] BioXFEL, NSF Science and Technology Center, 700 Ellicott Street, Buffalo, New York 14203, USA. ; 1] Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and Center for Applied Structural Discovery, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287-1604, USA [2] Department of Physics, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287, USA. ; 1] Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and Center for Applied Structural Discovery, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287-1604, USA [2] Beijing Computational Science Research Center, Haidian District, Beijing 10084, China. ; 1] Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and Center for Applied Structural Discovery, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287-1604, USA [2] Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53211, USA. ; State Key Laboratory of Drug Research, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201203, China. ; Department of Obstetrics &Gynecology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore. ; Swiss Light Source at Paul Scherrer Institute, CH-5232 Villigen, Switzerland. ; Department of Biological Sciences, Bridge Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA. ; School of Medicine and School of Biochemistry and Immunology, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland. ; 1] BioXFEL, NSF Science and Technology Center, 700 Ellicott Street, Buffalo, New York 14203, USA [2] Ben May Department for Cancer Research, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA. ; Laboratory of Biomolecular Research at Paul Scherrer Institute, CH-5232 Villigen, Switzerland. ; Department of Biology, Universitat Konstanz, 78457 Konstanz, Germany. ; Beijing Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China. ; 1] Center for Free Electron Laser Science, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, 22607 Hamburg, Germany [2] Centre for Ultrafast Imaging, 22761 Hamburg, Germany. ; 1] Department of Biochemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A8, Canada [2] Department of Molecular Genetics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A8, Canada. ; 1] Department of Chemistry, Bridge Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA [2] Department of Biological Sciences, Bridge Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA [3] iHuman Institute, ShanghaiTech University, 2F Building 6, 99 Haike Road, Pudong New District, Shanghai 201210, China. ; 1] Laboratory of Structural Sciences, Center for Structural Biology and Drug Discovery, Van Andel Research Institute, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49503, USA [2] VARI-SIMM Center, Center for Structure and Function of Drug Targets, CAS-Key Laboratory of Receptor Research, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201203, China.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26200343" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Author(s): V. Gnezdilov, P. Lemmens, D. Wulferding, A. Möller, P. Recher, H. Berger, R. Sankar, and F. C. Chou In the giant Rashba semiconductor BiTeI, electronic surface scattering with Lorentzian linewidth is observed that shows a strong dependence on surface-termination and surface-potential shifts. A comparison with the topological insulator Bi2Se3 evidences that surface-confined quantum well states are ... [Phys. Rev. B 89, 195117] Published Mon May 12, 2014

Description: Cooling within gloveboxes is often restricted to expensive refrigerated bath circulators or small temperature differences. Here, we present a sturdy, inexpensive cooling system which matches various glovebox types and can be readily fabricated by a mechanical workshop in a few days. The system is suitable for cold plates of areas up to 150 cm 2 and temperatures as low as −100 °C.