Membrane interface composition drives the structure and the tilt of the single transmembrane helix protein PMP1: MD studies.

PMP1, a regulatory subunit of the yeast plasma membrane H(+)-ATPase, is a single transmembrane helix protein. Its cytoplasmic C-terminus possesses several positively charged residues and interacts with phosphatidylserine lipids as shown through both (1)H- and (2)H-NMR experiments. We used all-atom molecular dynamics simulations to obtain atomic-scale data on the effects of membrane interface lipid composition on PMP1 structure and tilt.

In vivo protein markers of human peritoneal mesothelial cells: do they differ according to their anatomical sites?

Objective: To highlight the in vivo protein markers in human peritoneal mesothelial cells according to their anatomical distribution and their interest in theories of peritoneal repair.

Design: Clinical laboratory study.

Setting: University Hospital, France.

Glucocorticoid treatment induces expression of small heat shock proteins in human satellite cell populations: consequences for a desmin-related myopathy involving the R120G alpha B-crystallin mutation.

A missense mutation (R120G) of the molecular chaperone alpha B-crystallin has recently been linked to a familial form of desmin-related myopathy characterized by intrasarcoplasmic aggregates of desmin. It was previously demonstrated that the mutant R120G had a defective chaperone-like function. However, the cellular and physiopathological consequences of R120G mutant expression in human muscle cells are as yet unclear.

Structural and functional analysis of a new desmin variant causing desmin-related myopathy.

Desmin-related myopathy is a familial or sporadic disease characterized by skeletal muscle weakness and cardiomyopathy as well as the presence of intracytoplasmic aggregates of desmin-reactive material in the muscle cells. Previously, two kinds of deletions and eight missense mutations have been identified in the desmin gene and proven to be responsible for the disorder. The present study was conducted to determine structural and functional defects in a pathogenic desmin variant that caused a disabling disorder in an isolated case presenting with distal and proximal limb muscle weakness and cardiomyopathy.

Interaction of Theiler's virus with intermediate filaments of infected cells.

Theiler's murine encephalomyelitis virus is a neurotropic murine picornavirus which replicates permissively and causes a cytopathic effect in the BHK-21 cell line. We examined the interactions between the GDVII and DA strains of Theiler's virus and BHK-21 host cell proteins in a virus overlay assay. We observed binding of the virions to two proteins of approximately 60 kDa.