Publications by authors named "Petra Van Damme"

Proteomics has become a powerful approach for the identification and characterization of type III effectors (T3Es). Members of the species complex (RSSC) deploy T3Es to manipulate host cells and to promote root infection of, among others, a wide range of solanaceous plants such as tomato, potato, and tobacco. Here, we used TurboID-mediated proximity labeling (PL) in tomato hairy root cultures to explore the proxeomes of the core RSSC T3Es RipU, RipD, and RipB.

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Unlabelled: In recent years, it has become evident that the true complexity of bacterial proteomes remains underestimated. Gene annotation tools are known to propagate biases and overlook certain classes of truly expressed proteins, particularly proteoforms-protein isoforms arising from a single gene. Recent (re-)annotation efforts heavily rely on ribosome profiling by providing a direct readout of translation to fully describe bacterial proteomes.

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In bacteria, cell poles function as subcellular compartments where proteins localize during specific lifecycle stages, orchestrated by polar "hub" proteins. Whereas most described bacteria inherit an "old" pole from the mother cell and a "new" pole from cell division, generating cell asymmetry at birth, non-binary division poses challenges for establishing cell polarity, particularly for daughter cells inheriting only new poles. We investigated polarity dynamics in the obligate predatory bacterium , proliferating through filamentous growth followed by non-binary division within prey bacteria.

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The ever-growing repertoire of genomic techniques continues to expand our understanding of the true diversity and richness of prokaryotic genomes. Riboproteogenomics laid the foundation for dynamic studies of previously overlooked genomic elements. Most strikingly, bacterial genomes were revealed to harbor robust repertoires of small open reading frames (sORFs) encoding a diverse and broadly expressed range of small proteins, or sORF-encoded polypeptides (SEPs).

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The discovery of protein-protein interactions can provide crucial information on protein function by linking proteins into known pathways or complexes within the cell. Mass spectrometry (MS)-based methods, such as affinity purification (AP)-MS and proximity-dependent biotin identification (BioID), allowed for a vast increase in the number of reported protein complexes. As a more recent addition to the arsenal of MS-based methods, Virotrap represents a unique technology that benefits from the specific properties of the human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1) Gag polyprotein.

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By applying dual proteome profiling to Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium (S. Typhimurium) encounters with its epithelial host (here, S. Typhimurium infected human HeLa cells), a detailed interdependent and holistic proteomic perspective on host-pathogen interactions over the time course of infection was obtained.

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Article Synopsis
  • Mapping protein-protein interactions is important for understanding how proteins function in biological systems.
  • Recent techniques like proximity-dependent biotinylation (BioID) combined with mass spectrometry (MS) have improved our ability to study protein complexes in various plant models.
  • This study focuses on using BioID in tomato hairy root cultures and offers guidance on analyzing the mass spectrometry data generated from this process.
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Genomic studies of bacteria have long pointed toward widespread prevalence of small open reading frames (sORFs) encoding for short proteins, <100 amino acids in length. Despite the mounting genomic evidence of their robust expression, relatively little progress has been made in their mass spectrometry-based detection and various blanket statements have been used to explain this observed discrepancy. In this study, we provide a large-scale riboproteogenomics investigation of the challenging nature of proteomic detection of such small proteins as informed by conditional translation data.

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Citrobacter rodentium is an enteropathogen that causes intestinal inflammatory responses in mice reminiscent of the pathology provoked by enteropathogenic and enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli infections in humans. C. rodentium expresses various virulence factors that target specific signaling proteins involved in executing apoptotic, necroptotic and pyroptotic cell death, suggesting that each of these distinct cell death modes performs essential host defense functions that the pathogen aims to disturb.

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Both pathogenic and symbiotic microorganisms modulate the immune response and physiology of their host to establish a suitable niche. Key players in mediating colonization outcome are microbial effector proteins that act either inside (cytoplasmic) or outside (apoplastic) the plant cells and modify the abundance or activity of host macromolecules. We compile novel insights into the much-disputed processes of effector secretion and translocation of filamentous organisms, namely fungi and oomycetes.

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Article Synopsis
  • * Various strategies for studying T3Es include analyzing where they localize in host cells, testing their ability to cause disease, performing biochemical assays, and utilizing large-scale omics techniques like transcriptomics and interactomics.
  • * The research examines the case of a plant disease-causing bacterial species complex (RSSC) to highlight the latest advancements in understanding how these effectors work, which could lead to better methods for controlling these phytopathogens.
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The cytosolic carboxypeptidase 6 (CCP6) catalyzes the deglutamylation of polyglutamate side chains, a post-translational modification that affects proteins such as tubulins or nucleosome assembly proteins. CCP6 is involved in several cell processes, such as spermatogenesis, antiviral activity, embryonic development, and pathologies like renal adenocarcinoma. In the present work, the cellular role of CCP6 has been assessed by BioID, a proximity labeling approach for mapping physiologically relevant protein-protein interactions (PPIs) and bait proximal proteins by mass spectrometry.

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Rhizogenic strains comprise biotrophic pathogens that cause hairy root disease (HRD) on hydroponically grown and crops, besides being widely explored agents for the creation of hairy root cultures for the sustainable production of plant-specialized metabolites. Hairy root formation is mediated through the expression of genes encoded on the T-DNA of the root-inducing (Ri) plasmid, of which several, including (), play a major role in hairy root development. Despite decades of research, the exact molecular function of the proteins encoded by the genes remains enigmatic.

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Article Synopsis
  • - N-terminal acetylation is a key protein modification in eukaryotes, with the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae serving as a model to study this process, particularly through the actions of acetyltransferases NatA, NatB, and NatC.
  • - Researchers identified 57 substrates specific to NatC using a method called N-terminal combined fractional diagonal chromatography, highlighting the complexity of substrate recognition and the interplay between different acetyltransferases.
  • - The study demonstrates the evolutionary conservation of NatC functions from yeast to humans and suggests that understanding NatC's role could help explore disease mechanisms linked to NAA30 gene variants, paving the way for further biochemical investigations.
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The chaperone SecB has been implicated in de novo protein folding and translocation across the membrane, but it remains unclear which nascent polypeptides SecB binds, when during translation SecB acts, how SecB function is coordinated with other chaperones and targeting factors, and how polypeptide engagement contributes to protein biogenesis. Using selective ribosome profiling, we show that SecB binds many nascent cytoplasmic and translocated proteins generally late during translation and controlled by the chaperone trigger factor. Revealing an uncharted role in co-translational translocation, inner membrane proteins (IMPs) are the most prominent nascent SecB interactors.

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The interactions between metabolites and proteins constitute crucial events in cell signaling and metabolism. In recent years, large-scale proteomics techniques have emerged to identify and characterize protein-metabolite interactions. However, their implementation in plants is generally lagging behind, preventing a complete understanding of the regulatory mechanisms governing plant physiology.

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Article Synopsis
  • Bacteria deliver virulence factors called effectors into host cells to evade immunity and promote their own survival, primarily through a specialized secretion system known as the type 3 secretion system (T3SS).
  • Understanding how and when these effectors are transferred into host cells is crucial for revealing their function and impact on host responses.
  • Recent advancements in monitoring technologies are enhancing our ability to track effector translocation and dynamics, although challenges and limitations still exist in this area of research.
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Alternative translation initiation is a widespread event in biology that can shape multiple protein forms or proteoforms from a single gene. However, the respective contribution of alternative translation to protein complexity remains largely enigmatic. By complementary ribosome profiling and N-terminal proteomics (i.

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Article Synopsis
  • The rise in sequenced genomes has led to a heavy reliance on automated annotation methods, which often overlook the complexity of certain genomic elements, especially small open reading frames (sORFs) and their associated proteins (SEPs).
  • Advanced techniques like ribosome profiling have improved the identification of these sORFs, but validating their presence through proteomics remains difficult due to their small size and variable properties.
  • This study evaluates different protein extraction methods to effectively detect SEPs in a prokaryotic pathogen, culminating in a refined protocol using amphipol A8-35 that enhances the detection of these small proteins for further biological studies.
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N-terminal acetylation (Nt-acetylation) catalyzed by conserved N-terminal acetyltransferases or NATs embodies a modification with one of the highest stoichiometries reported for eukaryotic protein modifications to date. Comprising the catalytic N-alpha acetyltransferase (NAA) subunit NAA10 plus the ribosome anchoring regulatory subunit NAA15, NatA represents the major acetyltransferase complex with up to 50% of all mammalian proteins representing potential substrates. Largely in consequence of the essential nature of NatA and its high enzymatic activity, its experimentally confirmed mammalian substrate repertoire remained poorly charted.

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Article Synopsis
  • Gram-negative bacteria, like Salmonella serovar Typhimurium, use multi-component Type III protein secretion systems (T3SSs) to deliver over 40 virulent effectors into eukaryotic host cells, influencing cellular processes and facilitating infection.
  • Recent studies have aimed to better understand these effectors, particularly their roles and interactions with host proteins, but many details on their targets and functions remain unclear.
  • The Virotrap technology is introduced as an effective method to analyze effector-host protein complexes, revealing known and novel interactions, which aids in understanding the mechanisms of bacterial pathogenesis and host manipulation.
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The evolutionary conserved N-alpha acetyltransferase Naa40p is among the most selective N-terminal acetyltransferases (NATs) identified to date. Here we identified a conserved N-terminally truncated Naa40p proteoform named Naa40p25 or short Naa40p (Naa40). Intriguingly, although upon ectopic expression in yeast, both Naa40p proteoforms were capable of restoring N-terminal acetylation of the characterized yeast histone H2A Naa40p substrate, the Naa40p histone H4 substrate remained N-terminally free in human haploid cells specifically deleted for canonical Naa40p27 or 237 amino acid long Naa40p (Naa40), but expressing Naa40.

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We evaluated the effect of supplementation of different concentrations of bovine follicular fluid (FF) during in vitro maturation (IVM) on oocyte development and blastocyst quality in group and individual culture conditions. To do so, in vitro maturation medium (TCM-199 with 20 ng/mL epidermal growth factor and 50 μg/mL gentamycin) was supplemented with 0 (control), 1, 5, or 10% of FF. Follicular fluid was collected from slaughterhouse-derived ovaries, selecting follicles between 12 and 20 mm in diameter.

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