Purpose: Photoexcitation of vertebrate retinal rod photoreceptors stimulates GTP binding to the transducin alpha subunit. Like other GTP-binding proteins, transducin restores itself to an inactive form by hydrolyzing its bound GTP. The role of GTP hydrolysis in phototransduction was investigated.
Methods: A mutant form of cone transducin alpha deficient in its ability to hydrolyze bound GTP was expressed in mouse rod photoreceptors.
Results: Expression of the mutant cone transducin alpha at levels threefold to sixfold higher than endogenous rod transducin alpha led to a specific depletion of the transducin target, cGMP phosphodiesterase, and a decrease in the cGMP level. Suction electrode recordings revealed abnormally prolonged flash responses, decreased maximal response amplitudes, and a shift in the stimulus-response relation to higher flash strengths.
Conclusions: Rods expressing high levels of GTPase-deficient cone transduction alpha have reduced levels of phosphodiesterase catalytic subunits and cGMP. These changes are associated with prolonged flash responses, reduced dark current, and decreased sensitivity to light.
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Shock
February 2025
Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Xiangyang Central Hospital, Affiliated Hospital of Hubei University of Arts and Science, Xiangyang, Hubei, China.
Background: Ubiquitination and deubiquitination are involved in the progression of human diseases, including acute pneumonia. In this study, we aimed to explore the functions of ubiquitin-specific peptidase 9X-linked (USP9X) in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-treated WI-38 cells. Methods: WI-38 cells were treated with LPS to induce the cellular damage and inflammation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSci Rep
November 2024
Division of Biochemistry, Department of Neuroscience, Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, 26111, Oldenburg, Germany.
Vision and magnetoreception in navigating songbirds are strongly connected as recent findings link a light dependent radical-pair mechanism in cryptochrome proteins to signalling pathways in cone photoreceptor cells. A previous yeast-two-hybrid screening approach identified six putative candidate proteins showing binding to cryptochrome type 4a. So far, only the interaction of the cone specific G-protein transducin α-subunit was investigated in more detail.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFActa Pharm Sin B
October 2024
State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substance and Function of Natural Medicines, Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100050, China.
Protein kinase C (PKC) regulates diverse biological functions of cancer cells and is a promising therapeutic target. However, clinical trials of PKC-targeted therapies have not yielded satisfactory results. Recent studies have also indicated a tumor-suppressive role of PKCs unclear molecular mechanisms.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFmBio
August 2024
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, Pennsylvania, USA.
Unlabelled: Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCPyV) is a double-stranded tumor virus that is the main causative agent of Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC). The MCPyV large T antigen (LT), an essential viral DNA replication protein, maintains viral persistence by interacting with host Skp1-Cullin 1-F-box (SCF) E3 ubiquitin ligase complexes, which subsequently induces LT's proteasomal degradation, restricting MCPyV DNA replication. SCF E3 ubiquitin ligases require their substrates to be phosphorylated to bind them, utilizing phosphorylated serine residues as docking sites.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAdv Sci (Weinh)
August 2024
Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center & Institutes of Biomedical Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Cancer Institutes, Key Laboratory of Breast Cancer in Shanghai, The Shanghai Key Laboratory of Medical Epigenetics, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Radiation Oncology, The International Co-laboratory of Medical Epigenetics and Metabolism, Ministry of Science and Technology, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200032, China.
Breast tumor-initiating cells (BTICs) of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) tissues actively repair DNA and are resistant to treatments including chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and targeted therapy. Herein, it is found that a previously reported secreted protein, sclerostin domain containing 1 (SOSTDC1), is abundantly expressed in BTICs of TNBC cells and positively correlated with a poor patient prognosis. SOSTDC1 knockdown impairs homologous recombination (HR) repair, BTIC maintenance, and sensitized bulk cells and BTICs to Olaparib.
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