NRAS Mutant Dictates AHCYL1-Governed ER Calcium Homeostasis for Melanoma Tumor Growth.

Unlabelled: Calcium homeostasis is critical for cell proliferation, and emerging evidence shows that cancer cells exhibit altered calcium signals to fulfill their need for proliferation. However, it remains unclear whether there are oncogene-specific calcium homeostasis regulations that can expose novel therapeutic targets. Here, from RNAi screen, we report that adenosylhomocysteinase like protein 1 (AHCYL1), a suppressor of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) calcium channel protein inositol trisphosphate receptor (IP3R), is selectively upregulated and critical for cell proliferation and tumor growth potential of human NRAS-mutated melanoma, but not for melanoma expressing BRAF V600E.

Easily scalable multi-color DMD-based structured illumination microscopy.

Structured illumination microscopy (SIM) achieves super-resolution imaging using a series of phase-shifted sinusoidal illumination patterns to down-modulate high spatial-frequency information of samples. Digital micromirror devices (DMDs) have been increasingly used to generate SIM illumination patterns due to their high speed and moderate cost. However, a DMD micromirror array's blazed grating structure causes strong angular dispersion for different wavelengths of light, thus severely hampering its application in multicolor imaging.

Ornithinibacillus caprae sp. nov., a moderate halophile isolated from the hides of a white goat.

A novel Gram-stain-positive, motile, moderate halophile, strain L9, was isolated from hides of white goat in China. The isolate grew optimally at 30 °C, at pH 7 and with 5-10% (w/v) NaCl. The predominant menaquinone was MK-7, and the major cellular fatty acids were identified as iso-C and anteiso-C.

TCR-pMHC bond conformation controls TCR ligand discrimination.

A major unanswered question is how a TCR discriminates between foreign and self-peptides presented on the APC surface. Here, we used in situ fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) to measure the distances of single TCR-pMHC bonds and the conformations of individual TCR-CD3ζ receptors at the membranes of live primary T cells. We found that a TCR discriminates between closely related peptides by forming single TCR-pMHC bonds with different conformations, and the most potent pMHC forms the shortest bond.

Development and Characterization of an Endotoxemia Model in Zebra Fish.

Endotoxemia is a condition in which endotoxins enter the blood stream and cause systemic and sometimes lethal inflammation. Zebra fish provides a genetically tractable model organism for studying innate immunity, with additional advantages in live imaging and drug discovery. However, a endotoxemia model has not been established in zebra fish.