The rockefeller university

Targeting the androgen receptor (AR) pathway prolongs survival in patients with prostate cancer, but resistance rapidly develops. Understanding this resistance is confounded by a lack of noninvasive means to assess AR activity in vivo. We report intracellular accumulation of a secreted antigen-targeted antibody (SATA) that can be used to characterize disease, guide therapy, and monitor response. AR-regulated human kallikrein-related peptidase 2 (free hK2) is a prostate tissue-specific antigen produced in prostate cancer and androgen-stimulated breast cancer cells. Fluorescent and radio conjugates of 11B6, an antibody targeting free hK2, are internalized and noninvasively report AR pathway activity in metastatic and genetically engineered models of cancer development and treatment. Uptake is mediated by a mechanism involving the neonatal Fc receptor. Humanized 11B6, which has undergone toxicological tests in nonhuman primates, has the potential to improve patient management in these cancers. Furthermore, cell-specific SATA uptake may have a broader use for molecularly guided diagnosis and therapy in other cancers.

Properly condensed chromosomes are necessary for accurate segregation of the sisters after DNA replication. The Escherichia coli condesin is MukB, a structural maintenance of chromosomes (SMC)-like protein, which forms a complex with MukE and the kleisin MukF. MukB is known to be able to mediate knotting of a DNA ring, an intramolecular reaction. In our investigations of how MukB condenses DNA we discovered that it can also mediate catenation of two DNA rings, an intermolecular reaction. This activity of MukB requires DNA binding by the head domains of the protein but does not require either ATP or its partner proteins MukE or MukF. The ability of MukB to mediate DNA catenation underscores its potential for bringing distal regions of a chromosome together.

Zika virus (ZIKV)-related neuropathology is an important global health concern. Several studies have shown that ZIKV can infect neural stem cells in the developing brain, but infection in the adult brain has not been examined. Two areas in the adult mouse brain contain neural stem cells: the subventricular zone of the anterior forebrain and the subgranular zone of the hippocampus. Here, using 6-week-old mice triply deficient in interferon regulatory factor (IRF) as a model, we show that blood-borne ZIKV administration can lead to pronounced evidence of ZIKV infection in these adult neural stem cells, leading to cell death and reduced proliferation. Our data therefore suggest that adult as well as fetal neural stem cells are vulnerable to ZIKV neuropathology. Thus, although ZIKV is considered a transient infection in adult humans without marked long-term effects, there may in fact be consequences of exposure in the adult brain.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) species tropism is incompletely understood. We have previously shown that at the level of entry, human CD81 and occludin (OCLN) comprise the minimal set of human factors needed for viral uptake into murine cells. As an alternative approach to genetic humanization, species barriers can be overcome by adapting HCV to use the murine orthologues of these entry factors. We previously generated a murine tropic HCV (mtHCV or Jc1/mCD81) strain harboring three mutations within the viral envelope proteins that allowed productive entry into mouse cell lines. In this study, we aimed to characterize the ability of mtHCV to enter and infect mouse hepatocytes in vivo and in vitro. Using a highly sensitive, Cre-activatable reporter, we demonstrate that mtHCV can enter mouse hepatocytes in vivo in the absence of any human cofactors. Viral entry still relied on expression of mouse CD81 and SCARB1 and was more efficient when mouse CD81 and OCLN were overexpressed. HCV entry could be significantly reduced in the presence of anti-HCV E2 specific antibodies, suggesting that uptake of mtHCV is dependent on viral glycoproteins. Despite mtHCV's ability to enter murine hepatocytes in vivo, we did not observe persistent infection, even in animals with severely blunted type I and III interferon signaling and impaired adaptive immune responses. Altogether, these results establish proof of concept that the barriers limiting HCV species tropism can be overcome by viral adaptation. However, additional viral adaptations will likely be needed to increase the robustness of a murine model system for hepatitis C. IMPORTANCE At least 150 million individuals are chronically infected with HCV and are at risk of developing serious liver disease. Despite the advent of effective antiviral therapy, the frequency of chronic carriers has only marginally decreased. A major roadblock in developing a vaccine that would prevent transmission is the scarcity of animal models that are susceptible to HCV infection. It is poorly understood why HCV infects only humans and chimpanzees. To develop an animal model for hepatitis C, previous efforts focused on modifying the host environment of mice, for example, to render them more susceptible to HCV infection. Here, we attempted a complementary approach in which a laboratory-derived HCV variant was tested for its ability to infect mice. We demonstrate that this engineered HCV strain can enter mouse liver cells but does not replicate efficiently. Thus, additional adaptations are likely needed to construct a robust animal model for HCV.

Army ant colonies host a diverse community of arthropod symbionts. Among the best-studied symbiont communities are those of Neotropical army ants of the genus Eciton. It is clear, however, that even in these comparatively well studied systems, a large proportion of symbiont biodiversity remains unknown. Even more striking is our lack of knowledge regarding the nature and specificity of these host-symbiont interactions. Here we surveyed the diversity and host specificity of rove beetles of the genus Tetradonia Wasmann, 1894 (Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae). Systematic community sampling of 58 colonies of the six local Eciton species at La Selva Biological Station, Costa Rica, combined with an integrative taxonomic approach, allowed us to uncover species diversity, host specificity, and co-occurrence patterns of symbionts in unprecedented detail. We used an integrative taxonomic approach combining morphological and genetic analyses, to delineate species boundaries. Mitochondrial DNA barcodes were analyzed for 362 Tetradonia specimens, and additional nuclear markers for a subset of 88 specimens. All analyses supported the presence of five Tetradonia species, including two species new to science. Host specificity is highly variable across species, ranging from generalists such as T. laticeps, which parasitizes all six local Eciton species, to specialists such as T. lizonae, which primarily parasitizes a single species, E. hamatum. Here we provide a dichotomous key along with diagnostic molecular characters for identification of Tetradonia species at La Selva Biological Station. By reliably assessing biodiversity and providing tools for species identification, we hope to set the baseline for future studies of the ecological and evolutionary dynamics in these species-rich host-symbiont networks.

Viral infection induces production of type I interferons (IFNs), which stimulate the expression of a variety of antiviral factors to inhibit viral replication. To establish effective infection, viruses need to develop strategies to evade the immune responses. A neurovirulent Sindbis virus strain with neuroinvasive properties (SVNI) causes lethal encephalitis in mice, and its replication in cultured cells is inhibited by the zinc finger antiviral protein (ZAP), a host factor that specifically inhibits the replication of certain viruses by binding to the viral mRNAs, repressing the translation of target mRNA, and promoting the degradation of target mRNA. We report here that murine embryonic fibroblast cells from ZAP knockout mice supported more efficient SVNI replication than wild-type cells. SVNI infection of 10-day-old suckling mice led to reduced survival in the knockout mice. Unexpectedly, however, SVNI infection of 23-day-old weanling mice, whose immune system is more developed than that of the suckling mice, resulted in significantly improved survival in ZAP knockout mice. Further analyses revealed that in the weanling knockout mice, SVNI replicated more efficiently in lymphoid tissues at early times postinfection and induced higher levels of IFN production, which restricted viral spread to the central nervous system. Blocking IFN activity through the use of receptor-neutralizing antibodies rendered knockout mice more sensitive to SVNI infection than wild-type mice. These results uncover a mechanism by which SVNI exploits a host antiviral factor to evade innate immune surveillance. IMPORTANCE Sindbis virus, a prototypic member of the Alphavirus genus, has been used to study the pathogenesis of acute viral encephalitis in mice for many years. How the virus evades immune surveillance to establish effective infection is largely unknown. ZAP is a host antiviral factor that potently inhibits Sindbis virus replication in cell culture. We show here that infection of ZAP knockout suckling mice with an SVNI led to faster disease progression. However, SVNI infection of weanling mice led to slower disease progression in knockout mice. Further analyses revealed that in weanling knockout mice, SVNI replicated more efficiently in lymphoid tissues at early times postinfection and induced higher levels of interferon production, which restricted viral spread to the central nervous system. These results uncover a mechanism by which SVNI exploits a host antiviral factor to evade innate immune surveillance and allow enhanced neuroinvasion.

Taylor's law, which originated in ecology, states that, in sets of measurements of population density, the sample variance is approximately proportional to a power of the sample mean. Taylor's law has been verified for many species ranging from bacterial to human. Here, we show that the variance V(x) and the mean M(x) of the primes not exceeding a real number x obey Taylor's law asymptotically for large x. Specifically, V(x) similar to (1/3)(M(x))(2) as x -> infinity. This apparently new fact about primes shows that Taylor's law may arise in the absence of biological processes, and that patterns discovered in biological data can suggest novel questions in numbertheory. If the Hardy-Littlewood twin primes conjecture is true, then the identical Taylor's law holds also for twin primes. Taylor's law holds in both instances because the primes (and the twin primes, given the conjecture) not exceeding x are asymptotically uniformly distributed on the integers in [2,x]. Hence, asymptotically M(x) similar to x/2, V(x) similar to x(2)/12. Higher-order moments of the primes (twin primes) not exceeding x satisfy a generalized Taylor's law. The 11,078,937 primes and 813,371 twin primes not exceeding 2 x 10(8) illustrate these results.

The last steps in mRNA export and remodeling are performed by the Nup82 complex, a large conserved assembly at the cytoplasmic face of the nuclear pore complex (NPC). By integrating diverse structural data, we have determined the molecular architecture of the native Nup82 complex at subnanometer precision. The complex consists of two compositionally identical multiprotein subunits that adopt different configurations. The Nup82 complex fits into the NPC through the outer ring Nup84 complex. Our map shows that this entire 14-MDa Nup82-Nup84 complex assembly positions the cytoplasmic mRNA export factor docking sites and messenger ribonucleoprotein (mRNP) remodeling machinery right over the NPC's central channel rather than on distal cytoplasmic filaments, as previously supposed. We suggest that this configuration efficiently captures and remodels exporting mRNP particles immediately upon reaching the cytoplasmic side of the NPC.

Pathogenic amino acid substitutions of the common E3 component (hE3) of the human alpha-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase and the pyruvate dehydrogenase complexes lead to severe metabolic diseases (E3 deficiency), which usually manifest themselves in cardiological and/or neurological symptoms and often cause premature death. To date, 14 disease-causing amino acid substitutions of the hE3 component have been reported in the clinical literature. None of the pathogenic protein variants has lent itself to high-resolution structure elucidation by X-ray or NMR. Hence, the structural alterations of the hE3 protein caused by the disease-causing mutations and leading to dysfunction, including the enhanced generation of reactive oxygen species by selected disease-causing variants, could only be speculated. Here we report results of an examination of the effects on the protein structure of ten pathogenic mutations of hE3 using hydrogen/deuterium-exchange mass spectrometry (HDX-MS), a new and state-of-the-art approach of solution structure elucidation. On the basis of the results, putative structural and mechanistic conclusions were drawn regarding the molecular pathogenesis of each disease-causing hE3 mutation addressed in this study. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.