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Mashup Score: 2
High sensitivity of scotopic vision (vision in dim light conditions) is achieved by the rods’ low background noise, which is attributed to a much lower thermal activation rate (kth) of rhodopsin compared with cone pigments. Frogs and nocturnal geckos uniquely possess atypical rods containing noncanonical cone pigments that exhibit low kth, mimicking rhodopsin. Here, we investigated the convergent mechanism underlying the low kth of rhodopsins and noncanonical cone pigments. Our biochemical analysis revealed that the kth of canonical cone pigments depends on their absorption maximum (λmax).
Source: www.jbc.orgCategories: General Medicine News, NeurologyTweet
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Mashup Score: 1
Sterile alpha and HEAT/Armadillo motif-containing protein (SARM1) was recently described as a NAD+-consuming enzyme, and has previously been shown to regulate immune responses in macrophages. Neuronal SARM1 is known to contribute to axon degeneration due to its NADase activity. However, how SARM1 affects macrophage metabolism has not been explored. Here, we show that macrophages from Sarm1-/- mice display elevated NAD+ concentrations and lower cyclic ADPR, a known product of SARM1-dependent NAD+ catabolism.
Source: www.jbc.orgCategories: General Medicine News, Allergy-ImmunologyTweet
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Mashup Score: 1Identification of PS1/gamma-secretase and glutamate transporter GLT-1 interaction sites - 15 day(s) ago
The recently discovered interaction between Presenilin 1 (PS1), a catalytic subunit of γ-secretase responsible for generating amyloid-β peptides, and GLT-1, a major glutamate transporter in the brain (EAAT2), provides a mechanistic link between these two key factors involved in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) pathology. Modulating this interaction can be crucial to understand the consequence of such crosstalk in AD context and beyond. However, the interaction sites between these two proteins are unknown.
Source: www.jbc.orgCategories: General Medicine News, NeurologyTweet
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Mashup Score: 1Truncation of the constant domain drives amyloid formation by immunoglobulin light chains - 15 day(s) ago
AL amyloidosis is a life-threatening disease caused by deposition of immunoglobulin light chains. While the mechanisms underlying light chains amyloidogenesis in vivo remain unclear, several studies have highlighted the role that tissue environment and structural amyloidogenicity of individual light chains have in the disease pathogenesis. AL natural deposits contain both full-length light chains and fragments encompassing the variable domain (VL) as well as different length segments of the constant region (CL), thus highlighting the relevance that proteolysis may have in the fibrillogenesis pathway.
Source: www.jbc.orgCategories: General Medicine News, Allergy-ImmunologyTweet
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Mashup Score: 0HDAC6/aggresome processing pathway importance for inflammasome formation is context-dependent - 17 day(s) ago
The inflammasome is a large multiprotein complex that assembles in the cell cytoplasm in response to stress or pathogenic infection. Its primary function is to defend the cell and promote the secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines, including IL-1β and IL-18. Previous research has shown that in immortalized bone marrow-derived macrophages (iBMDMs) inflammasome assembly is dependent on the deacetylase HDAC6 and the aggresome processing pathway (APP), a cellular pathway involved in the disposal of misfolded proteins.
Source: www.jbc.orgCategories: General Medicine News, Allergy-ImmunologyTweet
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Mashup Score: 3Alternative autophagy dampens UVB-induced NLRP3 inflammasome activation in human keratinocytes - 19 day(s) ago
Sunlight exposure results in an inflammatory reaction of the skin commonly known as sunburn, which increases skin cancer risk. In particular, the ultraviolet B (UVB) component of sunlight induces inflammasome activation in keratinocytes to instigate the cutaneous inflammatory responses. Here, we explore the intracellular machinery that maintains skin homeostasis by suppressing UVB-induced inflammasome activation in human keratinocytes. We found that pharmacological inhibition of autophagy promoted UVB-induced NLRP3 inflammasome activation.
Source: www.jbc.orgCategories: General Medicine News, Allergy-ImmunologyTweet
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Mashup Score: 2Biochemical and cellular characterization of the CISD3 protein: Molecular bases of cluster release and destabilizing effects of nitric oxide - 21 day(s) ago
The NEET proteins, an important family of iron-sulfur (Fe-S) proteins, have generated a strong interest due to their involvement in diverse diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and neurodegenerative disorders. Among the human NEET proteins, CISD3 has been the least studied, and its functional role is still largely unknown. We have investigated the biochemical features of CISD3 at the atomic and in cellulo levels upon challenge with different stress conditions i.e., iron deficiency, exposure to hydrogen peroxide, and nitric oxide.
Source: www.jbc.orgCategories: General Medicine News, NeurologyTweet
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Mashup Score: 2Activation of innate immune receptor TLR9 by mitochondrial DNA plays essential roles in the chemical long-term depression of hippocampal neurons - 23 day(s) ago
Synaptic plasticity is believed to be the cellular basis for experience-dependent learning and memory. Although long-term depression (LTD), a form of synaptic plasticity, is caused by the activity-dependent reduction of cell surface α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionic acid (AMPA)-type glutamate receptors (AMPA receptors) at postsynaptic sites, its regulation by neuronal activity is not completely understood. In this study, we showed that the inhibition of toll-like receptor-9 (TLR9), an innate immune receptor, suppresses N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA)-induced reduction of cell surface AMPA receptors in cultured hippocampal neurons.
Source: www.jbc.orgCategories: General Medicine News, NeurologyTweet
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Mashup Score: 0Short Peptides based on the conserved regions of MIEN1 protein exhibit anti-cancer activity by targeting the MIEN1 Signaling Pathway - 3 month(s) ago
Migration and invasion enhancer 1 (MIEN1) overexpression characterizes several cancers and facilitates cancer cell migration and invasion. Leveraging conserved ITAM and prenylation motifs within MIEN1, we identified potent anti-cancer peptides. Among them, bioactive peptides LA3IK and RP-7 induced pronounced transcriptomic and protein expression changes at sub-IC50 concentrations. The peptides effectively inhibited genes and proteins driving cancer cell migration, invasion, and EMT pathways, concurrently suppressing EGF-induced NF-κB nuclear translocation in metastatic breast cancer cells.
Source: www.jbc.orgCategories: General Medicine News, Allergy-ImmunologyTweet
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Mashup Score: 6
In voltage-gated Na+ and K+ channels, the hydrophobicity of non-charged residues in the S4 helix has been shown to regulate the S4 movement underlying the process of voltage-sensing domain (VSD) activation. In voltage-gated proton channel Hv1, there is a bulky non-charged tryptophan residue located at the S4 transmembrane segment. This tryptophan remains entirely conserved across all Hv1 members but is not seen in other voltage-gated ion channels, indicating that the tryptophan contributes different roles in VSD activation.
Source: www.jbc.orgCategories: General Medicine News, NeurologyTweet
Kojima et al.'s findings suggest that rhodopsin and noncanonical cone pigments have convergently acquired low frequency of spontaneous-activation attempts, including thermal fluctuations of the protein moiety. https://t.co/Uu6KJhxlHw