Protective antigen (PA) is the central receptor binding component of anthrax toxin, which translocates catalytic components of the toxin into the cytosol of mammalian cells. Ever since the crystal structure of PA was solved, there have been speculations regarding the possible role of calcium ions present in domain I of the protein. We have carried out a systematic study to elucidate the effect of calcium removal on the structural stability of PA using various optical spectroscopic techniques, limited proteolysis and mutational analysis. Urea denaturation studies clearly suggest that the unfolding pathway of the protein follows a non-two state transition with apo-PA being an intermediate species, whereas the folding pathway shows that calcium ions may be critical for the initial protein assembly.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s0014-5793(03)01226-2 | DOI Listing |
Cell Rep
January 2025
Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Biosystems Homeostasis & Protection, College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China; Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Pancreatic Disease, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China; Cancer Center, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China. Electronic address:
Arginine methylation is a common post-translational modification that plays critical roles in many biological processes. However, the existence of arginine demethylases that remove the modification has not been fully established. Here, we report that Myc-induced nuclear antigen 53 (Mina53), a member of the jumonji C (JmjC) protein family, is an arginine demethylase.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMicrob Pathog
January 2025
Department of Clinical Laboratory, The First People's Hospital of Lianyungang, The Affiliated Lianyungang Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University, The First Affiliated Hospital of Kangda College of Nanjing Medical University, Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province, China. Electronic address:
Background: Previous investigations into the causal relationship between infections and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) have yielded controversial results. This study delves into the bidirectional causal relationships between various infectious agents and SLE, employing two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) from an immunological perspective.
Methods: Utilizing genome-wide association study (GWAS) data for 46 antibody-mediated immune responses (AMIRs) to 13 pathogens and three distinct SLE datasets, we employed Bayesian Weighted MR (BWMR) and inverse variance weighted (IVW) methods to ascertain causal links, supplemented by meta-analysis to resolve inconsistencies.
Vet Microbiol
January 2025
College of Veterinary Medicine, Jilin Provincial Engineering Research Center of Animal Probiotics, Jilin Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Microecology and Healthy Breeding, Engineering Research Center of Microecological Vaccines (Drugs) for Major Animal Diseases, Ministry of Education, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun 130118, China. Electronic address:
Swine influenza virus invades the host through the respiratory mucosa, which severely restricts the development of the pig breeding industry. To construct monomeric and trimeric vaccines, we developed recombinant Escherichia coli Nissle 1917 (EcN) strains that express the receptor binding site (RBS) of the hemagglutinin (HA) antigen from H1N1 swine influenza virus. After the mucosal immunization of mice, we found that probiotics activated CD40 and CD86 in DCs and increased the levels of IL-4 and IFN-γ secretion by T cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLab Anim
January 2025
Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka.
The immunogenicity of rabies vaccines is commonly measured by serological testing, which includes measuring rabies virus-neutralising antibody titre levels in the serum. Apart from humoral immunity, cellular immunity measurements are also helpful in assessing the immunogenicity and efficacy of rabies vaccinations. Recently, there has been an increased emphasis on cellular immunity measurements against rabies in humans and animals.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFExp Lung Res
January 2025
Department of Anesthesiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China.
Acute lung injury (ALI) is a severe respiratory disease with high mortality, mainly due to overactivated oxidative stress and subsequent pyroptosis. Mesencephalic astrocyte-derived neurotrophic factor (MANF), an inducible secretory endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress protein, inhibits lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced acute lung injury (ALI). However, the exact molecular mechanism remains unclear.
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