High blood glucose triggers the release of insulin from pancreatic beta cells, but if chronic, causes cellular stress, partly due to impaired Ca homeostasis. Ca influx is controlled by voltage-gated calcium channels (Ca) and high density of Ca in the plasma membrane could lead to Ca overload. Trafficking of the pore-forming Caα subunit to the plasma membrane is regulated by auxiliary subunits, such as the Caβ subunit. This study investigates, using Ca imaging and immunohistochemistry, the role of palmitoylation of Caβ in maintaining Ca homeostasis and beta cell function. RNA sequencing data showed that gene expression of human CACNB2, in particular CACNB2A (Caβ), is highest in islets when compared to other tissues. Since Caβ can be regulated through palmitoylation of its two cysteines, Caβ and its mutant form were overexpressed in pancreatic beta cells. Palmitoylated Caβ tethered to the plasma membrane and colocalized with Ca1.2 while the mutant form remained in the cytosol. Interestingly, Caβ overexpression raised basal intracellular Ca and increased beta cell apoptosis. Our study shows that palmitoylation of Caβ is necessary for Caα trafficking to the plasma membrane. However, excessive number of palmitoylated Caβ leads to Ca overload and beta cell death.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bbrc.2017.07.117 | DOI Listing |
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
January 2025
Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720.
Norepinephrine in vertebrates and its invertebrate analog, octopamine, regulate the activity of neural circuits. We find that, when hungry, larvae switch activity in type II octopaminergic motor neurons (MNs) to high-frequency bursts, which coincide with locomotion-driving bursts in type I glutamatergic MNs that converge on the same muscles. Optical quantal analysis across hundreds of synapses simultaneously reveals that octopamine potentiates glutamate release by tonic type Ib MNs, but not phasic type Is MNs, and occurs via the G-coupled octopamine receptor (OAMB).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProc Natl Acad Sci U S A
January 2025
Oncode Institute, Hubrecht Institute-Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Science, Utrecht 3584 CT, The Netherlands.
Matrigel/BME, a basement membrane-like preparation, supports long-term growth of epithelial 3D organoids from adult stem cells [T. Sato , , 262-265 (2009); T. Sato , , 1762-1772 (2011)].
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProc Natl Acad Sci U S A
January 2025
Department of Biophysics, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390.
Neurotransmitter release is triggered in microseconds by Ca-binding to the Synaptotagmin-1 C-domains and by SNARE complexes that form four-helix bundles between synaptic vesicles and plasma membranes, but the coupling mechanism between Ca-sensing and membrane fusion is unknown. Release requires extension of SNARE helices into juxtamembrane linkers that precede transmembrane regions (linker zippering) and binding of the Synaptotagmin-1 CB domain to SNARE complexes through a "primary interface" comprising two regions (I and II). The Synaptotagmin-1 Ca-binding loops were believed to accelerate membrane fusion by inducing membrane curvature, perturbing lipid bilayers, or helping bridge the membranes, but SNARE complex binding through the primary interface orients the Ca-binding loops away from the fusion site, hindering these putative activities.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProc Natl Acad Sci U S A
January 2025
Department of Neurophysiology, Medical Faculty, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum 44780, Germany.
The novelty, saliency, and valency of ongoing experiences potently influence the firing rate of the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and the locus coeruleus (LC). Associative experience, in turn, is recorded into memory by means of hippocampal synaptic plasticity that is regulated by noradrenaline sourced from the LC, and dopamine, sourced from both the VTA and LC. Two persistent forms of synaptic plasticity, long-term potentiation (LTP), and long-term depression (LTD) support the encoding of different kinds of spatial experience.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPLoS Negl Trop Dis
January 2025
Department of Pediatrics, National School of Tropical Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, United States of America.
Background: The antigen Na-GST-1, expressed by the hookworm Necator americanus, plays crucial biochemical roles in parasite survival. This study explores the development of mRNA vaccine candidates based on Na-GST-1, building on the success of recombinant Na-GST-1 (rNa-GST-1) protein, currently assessed as a subunit vaccine candidate, which has shown promise in preclinical and clinical studies.
Methodology/findings: By leveraging the flexible design of RNA vaccines and protein intracellular trafficking signal sequences, we developed three variants of Na-GST-1 as native (cytosolic), secretory, and plasma membrane-anchored (PM) antigens.
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