Publications by authors named "Sarah E Wilkins"

Post-translational modifications (PTMs) to the tails of the core histone proteins are critically involved in epigenetic regulation. Hypoxia affects histone modifications by altering the activities of histone-modifying enzymes and the levels of hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) isoforms. Synthetic hypoxia mimetics promote a similar response, but how accurately the hypoxia mimetics replicate the effects of limited oxygen availability on the levels of histone PTMs is uncertain.

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Article Synopsis
  • * A study found that the iron chelator deferasirox effectively inhibits the JMJD2A enzyme by binding to its active site, which was confirmed through kinetic and spectroscopic methods.
  • * Modifying deferasirox to enhance its ability to enter cells increased histone trimethylation levels and significantly inhibited cancer cell growth, suggesting it could be a strong candidate for new cancer therapies targeting specific oxygenases.
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Replication stress is a common feature of cancer cells, and thus a potentially important therapeutic target. Here, we show that cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK)-induced replication stress, resulting from Wee1 inactivation, is synthetic lethal with mutations disrupting dNTP homeostasis in fission yeast. Wee1 inactivation leads to increased dNTP demand and replication stress through CDK-induced firing of dormant replication origins.

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Biochemical, structural and cellular studies reveal Jumonji-C (JmjC) domain-containing 7 (JMJD7) to be a 2-oxoglutarate (2OG)-dependent oxygenase that catalyzes (3S)-lysyl hydroxylation. Crystallographic analyses reveal JMJD7 to be more closely related to the JmjC hydroxylases than to the JmjC demethylases. Biophysical and mutation studies show that JMJD7 has a unique dimerization mode, with interactions between monomers involving both N- and C-terminal regions and disulfide bond formation.

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The originally published version of this Article contained an error in the spelling of the author Md. Saiful Islam, which was incorrectly given as Saiful Islam. This has now been corrected in both the PDF and HTML versions of the Article.

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Oxygenase-catalysed post-translational modifications of basic protein residues, including lysyl hydroxylations and N-methyl lysyl demethylations, have important cellular roles. Jumonji-C (JmjC) domain-containing protein 5 (JMJD5), which genetic studies reveal is essential in animal development, is reported as a histone N-methyl lysine demethylase (KDM). Here we report how extensive screening with peptides based on JMJD5 interacting proteins led to the finding that JMJD5 catalyses stereoselective C-3 hydroxylation of arginine residues in sequences from human regulator of chromosome condensation domain-containing protein 1 (RCCD1) and ribosomal protein S6 (RPS6).

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YcfD from Escherichia coli is a homologue of the human ribosomal oxygenases NO66 and MINA53, which catalyse histidyl-hydroxylation of the 60S subunit and affect cellular proliferation (Ge et al., Nat Chem Biol 12:960-962, 2012). Bioinformatic analysis identified a potential homologue of ycfD in the thermophilic bacterium Rhodothermus marinus (ycfD).

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Unlabelled: Hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) is a transcriptional activator with a central role in regulating cellular responses to hypoxia. It is also emerging as a major target for viral manipulation of the cellular environment. Under normoxic conditions, HIF is tightly suppressed by the activity of oxygen-dependent prolyl and asparaginyl hydroxylases.

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Objective: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in older individuals is associated with increased risk of progression to dementia. The factors predicting progression are not yet well established, yet cognitive performance, particularly for memory, is known to be important. Anosognosia, meaning lack of awareness of one's impaired function, is commonly reported in dementia and is often also a feature of MCI, but its association with risk of progression is not well understood.

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Tumours exist in a hypoxic microenvironment and must limit excessive oxygen consumption. Hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) controls mitochondrial oxygen consumption, but how/if tumours regulate non-mitochondrial oxygen consumption (NMOC) is unknown. Protein-tyrosine phosphatase-1B (PTP1B) is required for Her2/Neu-driven breast cancer (BC) in mice, although the underlying mechanism and human relevance remain unclear.

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The Jumonji-C (JmjC) subfamily of 2-oxoglutarate (2OG)-dependent oxygenases are of biomedical interest because of their roles in the regulation of gene expression and protein biosynthesis. Human JmjC 2OG oxygenases catalyze oxidative modifications to give either chemically stable alcohol products, or in the case of N-methyl lysine demethylation, relatively unstable hemiaminals that fragment to give formaldehyde and the demethylated product. Recent work has yielded conflicting reports as to whether some JmjC oxygenases catalyze N-methyl group demethylation or hydroxylation reactions.

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Animals respond to chronic hypoxia by increasing the levels of a transcription factor known as the hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF). HIF upregulates multiple genes, the products of which work to ameliorate the effects of limited oxygen at cellular and systemic levels. Hypoxia sensing by the HIF system involves hydroxylase-catalysed post-translational modifications of the HIF α-subunits, which 1) signal for degradation of HIF-α and 2) limit binding of HIF to transcriptional coactivator proteins.

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The post-translational hydroxylation of prolyl and lysyl residues, as catalyzed by 2-oxoglutarate (2OG)-dependent oxygenases, was first identified in collagen biosynthesis. 2OG oxygenases also catalyze prolyl and asparaginyl hydroxylation of the hypoxia-inducible factors that play important roles in the adaptive response to hypoxia. Subsequently, they have been shown to catalyze N-demethylation (via hydroxylation) of N(ϵ)-methylated histone lysyl residues, as well as hydroxylation of multiple other residues.

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Objectives: Metallo-β-lactamase (MBL)-based resistance is a threat to the use of most β-lactam antibiotics. Multiple variants of the New Delhi MBL (NDM) have recently been reported. Previous reports indicate that the substitutions affect NDM activity despite being located outside the active site.

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Efficient stop codon recognition and peptidyl-tRNA hydrolysis are essential in order to terminate translational elongation and maintain protein sequence fidelity. Eukaryotic translational termination is mediated by a release factor complex that includes eukaryotic release factor 1 (eRF1) and eRF3. The N terminus of eRF1 contains highly conserved sequence motifs that couple stop codon recognition at the ribosomal A site to peptidyl-tRNA hydrolysis.

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Factor Inhibiting HIF (FIH) catalyzes the β-hydroxylation of asparagine residues in HIF-α transcription factors as well as ankyrin repeat domain (ARD) proteins such as Notch and Gankyrin. Although FIH-mediated hydroxylation of HIF-α is well characterized, ARDs were only recently identified as substrates, and less is known about their recognition and hydroxylation by FIH. We investigated the molecular determinants of FIH substrate recognition, with a focus on differences between HIF and ARD substrates.

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FIH-1, factor inhibiting hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1), regulates oxygen sensing by hydroxylating an asparagine within HIF-alpha. It also hydroxylates asparagines in many proteins containing ankyrin repeats, including Notch1-3, p105 and I?B?. Relative binding affinity and hydroxylation rate are crucial determinants of substrate selection and modification.

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