Publications by authors named "Stephen B Shears"

Phosphate (Pi) serves countless metabolic pathways and is involved in macromolecule synthesis, energy storage, cellular signaling, and bone maintenance. Herein, we describe the coordination of Pi uptake and efflux pathways to maintain mammalian cell Pi homeostasis. We discover that XPR1, the presumed Pi efflux transporter, separately supervises rates of Pi uptake.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Inositol polyphosphate multikinase (IPMK) is a ubiquitously expressed kinase that has been linked to several cancers. Here, we report 14 new co-crystal structures (1.7Å - 2.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Growth-blocking peptide (GBP), an insect cytokine, was first found in armyworm Mythimna separata. A functional analogue of GBP, stress-responsive peptide (SRP), was also identified in the same species. SRP gene expression has been demonstrated to be enhanced by GBP, indicating that both cytokines are organized within a hierarchical regulatory network.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Kinases that synthesize inositol phosphates (IPs) and pyrophosphates (PP-IPs) control numerous biological processes in eukaryotic cells. Herein, we extend this cellular signaling repertoire to viruses. We have biochemically and structurally characterized a minimalist inositol phosphate kinase (i.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The inositol pyrophosphates (PP-IPs) are specialized members of the wider inositol phosphate signaling family that possess functionally significant diphosphate groups. The PP-IPs exhibit remarkable functionally versatility throughout the eukaryotic kingdoms. However, a quantitatively minor PP-IP - 1,5 bisdiphosphoinositol tetrakisphosphate (1,5-IP) - has received considerably less attention from the cell signalling community.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Inositol pyrophosphates (PP-IPs) are densely phosphorylated messenger molecules involved in numerous biological processes. PP-IPs contain one or two pyrophosphate group(s) attached to a phosphorylated myo-inositol ring. 5PP-IP is the most abundant PP-IP in human cells.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Multiple inositol polyphosphate phosphatase (MINPP1) is an enigmatic enzyme that is responsible for the metabolism of inositol hexakisphosphate (Ins) and inositol 1,3,4,5,6 pentakisphosphate (Ins(1,3,4,5,6) in mammalian cells, despite being restricted to the confines of the ER. The reason for this compartmentalization is unclear. In our previous studies in the insulin-secreting HIT cell line, we expressed MINPP1 in the cytosol to artificially reduce the concentration of these higher inositol phosphates.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Technical challenges have to date prevented a complete profiling of the levels of -inositol phosphates (InsPs) and pyrophosphates (PP-InsPs) in mammalian tissues. Here, we have deployed capillary electrophoresis mass spectrometry to identify and record the levels of InsPs and PP-InsPs in several tissues obtained from wild type mice and a newly created PPIP5K2 knockout strain. We observe that the mouse colon harbours unusually high levels of InsPs and PP-InsPs.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Inositol pyrophosphates (PP-InsPs); are a functionally diverse family of eukaryotic molecules that deploy a highly-specialized array of phosphate groups as a combinatorial cell-signaling code. One reductive strategy to derive a molecular-level understanding of the many actions of PP-InsPs is to individually characterize the proteins that bind them. Here, we describe an alternate approach that seeks a single, collective rationalization for PP-InsP binding to an entire group of proteins, i.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Inositol phosphate signaling in plants is of substantial agricultural interest, with a considerable focus on the inositol tris/tetrakisphosphate kinase (ITPK) family of inositol phosphate kinases. Historically, the 4-6 isoforms of ITPKs that higher plants each express have been studied for their multiplexing a metabolic pathway to synthesize inositol hexakisphosphate (ie InsP or phytate), through the phosphorylation and dephosphorylation of multiple inositol phosphates, including Ins(1,3,4,5,6)P (inositol-1,3,4,5,6-pentakisphosphate). A more recent discovery is ITPK-catalyzed phosphorylation of InsP to inositol pyrophosphates, which regulate plant immunity and phosphate homeostasis.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Structural snapshots of protein/ligand complexes are a prerequisite for gaining atomic level insight into enzymatic reaction mechanisms. An important group of enzymes has been deprived of this analytical privilege: members of the protein tyrosine phosphatase (PTP) superfamily with catalytic WPD-loops lacking the indispensable general-acid/base within a tryptophan-proline-aspartate/glutamate context. Here, we provide the ligand/enzyme crystal complexes for one such PTP outlier: Arabidopsis thaliana Plant and Fungi Atypical Dual Specificity Phosphatase 1 (AtPFA-DSP1), herein unveiled as a regioselective and efficient phosphatase towards inositol pyrophosphate (PP-InsP) signaling molecules.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Obesity and obesity-induced metabolic dysfunctions are significant risk factors for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and cardiovascular diseases. Thus, obesity is an economic and social burden in developed countries. Blocking the synthesis of inositol pyrophosphates by inositol hexakisphosphate kinase (IP6K) has been identified as a potential therapeutic strategy for obesity and related diseases.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Inositol pyrophosphates (PP-InsPs), including diphospho--inositol pentakisphosphate (5-InsP) and bis-diphospho--inositol tetrakisphosphate (1,5-InsP), are highly polar, membrane-impermeant signaling molecules that control many homeostatic responses to metabolic and bioenergetic imbalance. To delineate their molecular activities, there is an increasing need for a toolbox of methodologies for real-time modulation of PP-InsP levels inside large populations of cultured cells. Here, we describe procedures to package PP-InsPs into thermosensitive phospholipid nanocapsules that are impregnated with a near infra-red photothermal dye; these liposomes are readily accumulated into cultured cells.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Identification of common patterns of cancer metabolic reprogramming could assist the development of new therapeutic strategies. Recent attention in this field has focused on identifying and targeting signal transduction pathways that interface directly with major metabolic control processes. In the current study we demonstrate the importance of signaling by the diphosphoinositol pentakisphosphate kinases (PPIP5Ks) to the metabolism and proliferation of the HCT116 colonic tumor cell line.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Nudix hydrolases attract considerable attention for their wide range of specialized activities in all domains of life. One particular group of Nudix phosphohydrolases (DIPPs), through their metabolism of diphosphoinositol polyphosphates (PP-InsPs), regulates the actions of these polyphosphates upon bioenergetic homeostasis. In the current study, we describe, at an atomic level, hitherto unknown properties of human DIPP1.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The analysis of myo-inositol phosphates (InsPs) and myo-inositol pyrophosphates (PP-InsPs) is a daunting challenge due to the large number of possible isomers, the absence of a chromophore, the high charge density, the low abundance, and the instability of the esters and anhydrides. Given their importance in biology, an analytical approach to follow and understand this complex signaling hub is desirable. Here, capillary electrophoresis (CE) coupled to electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) is implemented to analyze complex mixtures of InsPs and PP-InsPs with high sensitivity.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Inositol pyrophosphates (PP-InsPs) comprise an important group of intracellular, diffusible cellular signals that a wide range of biological processes throughout the yeast, plant, and animal kingdoms. It has been difficult to gain a molecular-level mechanistic understanding of the actions of these molecules, due to their highly phosphorylated nature, their low levels, and their rapid metabolic turnover. More recently, these obstacles to success are being surmounted by the chemical synthesis of a number of insightful PP-InsP analogs.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Regulation of enzymatic 5' decapping of messenger RNA (mRNA), which normally commits transcripts to their destruction, has the capacity to dynamically reshape the transcriptome. For example, protection from 5' decapping promotes accumulation of mRNAs into processing (P) bodies-membraneless, biomolecular condensates. Such compartmentalization of mRNAs temporarily removes them from the translatable pool; these repressed transcripts are stabilized and stored until P-body dissolution permits transcript reentry into the cytosol.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Homeostasis of cellular fluxes of inorganic phosphate (Pi) supervises its structural roles in bones and teeth, its pervasive regulation of cellular metabolism, and its functionalization of numerous organic compounds. Cellular Pi efflux is heavily reliant on Xenotropic and Polytropic Retrovirus Receptor 1 (XPR1), regulation of which is largely unknown. We demonstrate specificity of XPR1 regulation by a comparatively uncharacterized member of the inositol pyrophosphate (PP-InsP) signaling family: 1,5-bis-diphosphoinositol 2,3,4,6-tetrakisphosphate (InsP).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • - Keratoconus (KC) is a common corneal disorder affecting over 300,000 people in the US, usually beginning during adolescence and worsening into the 30s and 40s, leading to significant vision-related quality of life issues.
  • - Researchers identified potential genetic variants related to familial KC by analyzing a four-generation family through whole exome and genome sequencing, focusing on the PPIP5K2 and PCSK1 genes.
  • - They conducted studies using both in vitro models and a gene-trap mouse model, revealing that the PPIP5K2 gene plays a crucial role in corneal health and KC development, highlighting new methods for studying corneal characteristics that could inform future diagnosis and treatment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The inositol pyrophosphates (PP-InsPs) are a unique subgroup of intracellular signals with diverse functions, many of which can be viewed as reflecting an overarching role in metabolic homeostasis. Thus, considerable attention is paid to the enzymes that synthesize and metabolize the PP-InsPs. One of these enzyme families - the diphosphoinositol pentakisphosphate kinases (PPIP5Ks) - provides an extremely rare example of separate kinase and phosphatase activities being present within the same protein.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The multitudinous inositol phosphate family elicits a wide range of molecular effects that regulate countless biological responses. In this review, I provide a methodological viewpoint of the manner in which key advances in the field of inositol phosphate research were made. I also note some of the considerable challenges that still lie ahead.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

E-cigarettes are noncombustible, electronic nicotine-delivery devices that aerosolize an e-liquid, i.e., nicotine, in a propylene glycol-vegetable glycerin vehicle that also contains flavors.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Diphosphoinositol phosphates (PP-InsPs) are an evolutionarily ancient group of signalling molecules that are essential to cellular and organismal homeostasis. As the detailed mechanisms of PP-InsP signalling begin to emerge, synthetic analogues of PP-InsPs containing stabilised mimics of the labile diphosphate group can provide valuable investigational tools. We synthesised 5-PCFAm-InsP (), a novel fluorinated phosphonate analogue of 5-PP-InsP, and obtained an X-ray crystal structure of in complex with diphosphoinositol pentakisphosphate kinase 2 (PPIP5K2).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The widespread distribution of insects over many ecological niches owes much to evolution of multiple mechanisms to defend against environmental stress, especially because their ectothermic nature and small body size render them particularly susceptible to extremes in temperature and water availability. In this review, we will summarize the latest information describing a single, multifunctional cytokine family that is deployed by six orders of insect species to combat a diverse variety of environmental stresses. The originating member of this peptide family was identified in (formerly called ) armyworm; the cytokine was named growth-blocking peptide (GBP), reflecting its actions in combating parasitic invasion.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF