742 results match your criteria: "Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics[Affiliation]"

Although macrophages in the meningeal compartments of the central nervous system (CNS) have been comprehensively characterized under steady state, studying their contribution to physiological and pathological processes has been hindered by the lack of specific targeting tools in vivo. Recent findings have shown that the dural sinus and its adjacent lymphatic vessels act as a neuroimmune interface. However, the cellular and functional heterogeneity of extrasinusoidal dural macrophages outside this immune hub is not fully understood.

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Embryonic piRNAs target horizontally transferred vertebrate transposons in assassin bugs.

Front Cell Dev Biol

November 2024

Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Article Synopsis
  • - The study investigates the role of Piwi proteins and piRNAs in protecting the genome of
  • Rhodnius prolixus
  • , a hemipteran insect known to transmit Chagas disease, from DNA damage caused by horizontally transferred transposable elements (HTTs) acquired from its diet.
  • - By using SmallRNA-Seq and RNA-Seq techniques, researchers quantified piRNA features and gene expression levels, revealing that piRNA production peaks during embryogenesis, correlating with reduced expression of HTTs and resident transposable elements.
  • - The findings highlight that while resident transposable element piRNAs engage in a typical ping-pong amplification mechanism, the response to HTTs is different, suggesting unique biogenesis and functional pathways for pi
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Article Synopsis
  • * Increased levels of palmitate from the HFD activate microglia, promoting changes in their metabolism that enhance energy production through aerobic glycolysis, observable within 12 hours of HFD exposure.
  • * Microglia help process harmful fatty acids and provide protective metabolites to surrounding brain cells, showing that short-term high-fat intake can have unexpected positive effects on spatial learning and memory.
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The T-cell receptor sequences expressed on cells recognizing a specific peptide in the context of a given MHC molecule can be explored for common features that might explain their antigen specificity. However, despite the development of numerous experimental and bioinformatic strategies, the specificity problem remains unresolved. To address the need for additional experimental paradigms, we report here on an in vivo experimental strategy designed to artificially diversify a transgenic TCR by CRISPR/Cas9-mediated mutagenesis of Tcra and Tcrb chain genes.

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Acute suppression of mitochondrial ATP production prevents apoptosis and provides an essential signal for NLRP3 inflammasome activation.

Immunity

November 2024

Institute of Neuropathology, Faculty of Medicine, Medical Center, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany; Signalling Research Centres BIOSS and CIBSS, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany. Electronic address:

Article Synopsis
  • Mitochondria play complex roles in two different cell death pathways: apoptosis and pyroptosis, particularly regarding NLRP3 inflammasome activation, but their exact mechanisms are not well understood.
  • The study found that activating NLRP3 while inhibiting apoptosis occurs when cells are under stress from various stimuli like nigericin and viruses, as these activators affect mitochondrial function rather than just triggering inflammasome activation.
  • NLRP3 activation needs a combination of signals—one from disrupted mitochondrial processes and another from specific NLRP3 activators—suggesting that both oxidative phosphorylation inhibition and apoptosis suppression influence cell fate.
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Background: Despite great advances in proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) therapy over the last decades, one third of treated patients continue to lose vision. While resident vitreous macrophages called hyalocytes have been implicated in the pathophysiology of vitreoretinal proliferative disease previously, little is known about their exact role in PDR. In this study, we address molecular and cellular alterations in the vitreous of PDR patients as a means towards assessing the potential contribution of hyalocytes to disease pathogenesis.

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  • Hematopoiesis, essential for organism health, can be studied using Drosophila (fruit flies) due to similar regulatory processes found in vertebrates, primarily occurring in the larval lymph gland with various specialized zones.
  • The study focuses on the role of Rab1 in maintaining β-integrin trafficking in hemocytes and lymph gland cells, highlighting its importance in cell adhesion and the potential disruption caused by Rab1 dysfunction.
  • Findings reveal that Rab1 impairment results in mislocalized β-integrin, affecting lamellocyte differentiation and overall hematopoietic homeostasis, with evidence showing interactions with the adhesion protein DE-cadherin and the Q-SNARE protein Syntaxin
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Phosphorylation of disordered proteins tunes local and global intramolecular interactions.

Biophys J

December 2024

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri; Center for Biomolecular Condensates (CBC), Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri. Electronic address:

Protein post-translational modifications, such as phosphorylation, are important regulatory signals for diverse cellular functions. In particular, intrinsically disordered protein regions (IDRs) are subject to phosphorylation as a means to modulate their interactions and functions. Toward understanding the relationship between phosphorylation in IDRs and specific functional outcomes, we must consider how phosphorylation affects the IDR conformational ensemble.

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Foxi1 is a master regulator of ionocytes (ISCs / INCs) across species and organs. Two subtypes of ISCs exist, and both α- and β-ISCs regulate pH- and ion-homeostasis in epithelia. Gain and loss of FOXI1 function are associated with human diseases, including Pendred syndrome, male infertility, renal acidosis and cancers.

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PD-L1 blockade immunotherapy rewires cancer-induced emergency myelopoiesis.

Front Immunol

October 2024

Laboratory of Immune Regulation and Tolerance, Division of Basic Sciences, Medical School, University of Crete, Heraklion, Greece.

Introduction: Immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) immunotherapy has revolutionized cancer treatment, demonstrating exceptional clinical responses in a wide range of cancers. Despite the success, a significant proportion of patients still fail to respond, highlighting the existence of unappreciated mechanisms of immunotherapy resistance. Delineating such mechanisms is paramount to minimize immunotherapy failures and optimize the clinical benefit.

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Obesity is a complex chronic disease characterized by excessive adiposity and associations with numerous co-morbidities, including cancer. Despite extensive research, we have limited understanding of the mechanisms coupling obesity to cancer risk, and, of the contexts in which obesity does or does not exacerbate disease. Here, we show that chronic high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obesity has no significant effect on the mouse, a model of human Li-Fraumeni multi-cancer syndrome.

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ADA2 is a lysosomal deoxyadenosine deaminase acting on DNA involved in regulating TLR9-mediated immune sensing of DNA.

Cell Rep

November 2024

Institute for Immunodeficiency, Center for Chronic Immunodeficiency, Medical Center, Faculty of Medicine, Albert-Ludwigs-University of Freiburg, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany; Department of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, Hannover Medical School, Carl-Neuberg-Str. 1, 30625 Hannover, Germany; RESIST - Cluster of Excellence 2155, Hannover Medical School, Carl-Neuberg-Str. 1, 30625 Hannover, Germany. Electronic address:

Although adenosine deaminase 2 (ADA2) is considered an extracellular ADA, evidence questions the physiological relevance of this activity. Our study reveals that ADA2 localizes within the lysosomes, where it is targeted through modifications of its glycan structures. We show that ADA2 interacts with DNA molecules, altering their sequences by converting deoxyadenosine (dA) to deoxyinosine (dI).

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Evolutionary immunology has entered a new era. Classical studies, using just a handful of model animal species, combined with clinical observations, provided an outline of how innate and adaptive immunity work together to ensure tissue homeostasis and to coordinate the fight against infections. However, revolutionary advances in cellular and molecular biology, genomics and methods of genetic modification now offer unprecedented opportunities.

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Precise spatiotemporal regulation of gene expression is of paramount importance for eukaryotic development. The maternal-to-zygotic transition (MZT) during early embryogenesis in Drosophila involves the gradual replacement of maternally contributed mRNAs and proteins by zygotic gene products. The zygotic genome is transcriptionally activated during the first 3 hours of development, in a process known as "zygotic genome activation" (ZGA), by the orchestrated activities of a few pioneer factors.

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The complete mitochondrial genome of the banana pathogen f. sp. M5.

Microbiol Resour Announc

October 2024

Red de Manejo Biotecnológico de Recursos, Instituto de Ecología A.C., Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico.

We report the complete mitochondrial genome of a causal agent of banana fusarium wilt isolated in Mexico. The whole set of genes encoding proteins related to respiration and ATP synthesis, rRNAs, tRNAs are enlisted. Two open reading frames of unknown function conserved in were also identified.

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Signaling-dependent changes in protein phosphorylation are critical to enable coordination of transcription and metabolism during macrophage activation. However, the role of acetylation in signal transduction during macrophage activation remains obscure. Here, we identify the redox signaling regulator peroxiredoxin 1 (PRDX1) as a substrate of the lysine acetyltransferase MOF.

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There is considerable evidence for mitochondrial-nuclear co-adaptation as a key evolutionary driver. Hypotheses regarding the roles of sex-linkage have emphasized Z-linked nuclear genes with mitochondrial function (N-mt genes), whereas it remains contentious whether the perfect co-inheritance of W genes with mitogenomes could hinder or facilitate co-adaptation. Young (neo-) sex chromosomes that possess relatively many N-mt genes compared to older chromosomes provide unprecedented hypothesis-testing opportunities.

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Rapid phagosome isolation enables unbiased multiomic analysis of human microglial phagosomes.

Immunity

September 2024

Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA; Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. Electronic address:

Microglia are the resident macrophages of the central nervous system (CNS). Their phagocytic activity is central during brain development and homeostasis-and in a plethora of brain pathologies. However, little is known about the composition, dynamics, and function of human microglial phagosomes under homeostatic and pathological conditions.

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In the nervous system, alternative RNA processing is particularly prevalent, which results in the expression of thousands of transcript variants found in no other tissue. Neuron-specific RNA-binding proteins co-transcriptionally regulate alternative splicing, alternative polyadenylation, and RNA editing, thereby shaping the RNA identity of nervous system cells. Recent evidence suggests that interactions between RNA-binding proteins and cis-regulatory elements such as promoters and enhancers play a role in the determination of neuron-specific expression profiles.

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Neutrophil trapping and nexocytosis, mast cell-mediated processes for inflammatory signal relay.

Cell

September 2024

Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics, Freiburg 79108, Germany; Institute of Medical Biochemistry, Center for Molecular Biology of Inflammation (ZMBE), University of Münster, Münster 48149, Germany. Electronic address:

Neutrophils are sentinel immune cells with essential roles for antimicrobial defense. Most of our knowledge on neutrophil tissue navigation derived from wounding and infection models, whereas allergic conditions remained largely neglected. Here, we analyzed allergen-challenged mouse tissues and discovered that degranulating mast cells (MCs) trap living neutrophils inside them.

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The thymus is a physiologically hypoxic organ and fulfills its role of generating T cells under low-oxygen conditions. We have therefore investigated how thymic epithelial cells (TECs) cope with physiological hypoxia by focusing on the role of the Hif1a-Vhl axis. In most cell types, the oxygen-labile transcriptional regulator Hif1a is a central player in co-ordinating responses to low oxygen: under normoxic conditions Hif1a is rapidly degraded in a Vhl-guided manner; however, under hypoxic conditions Hif1a is stabilized and can execute its transcriptional functions.

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The ability of an organism to overcome infectious diseases has traditionally been linked to killing invading pathogens. Accumulating evidence, however, indicates that, apart from restricting pathogen loads, organismal survival is coupled to an additional yet poorly understood mechanism called disease tolerance. Here we report that p16 immune cells play a key role in establishing disease tolerance.

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The rearrangement and expression of the immunoglobulin μ heavy chain (Igh) gene require communication of the intragenic Eμ and 3' regulatory region (RR) enhancers with the variable (V) gene promoter. Eμ binding of the transcription factor YY1 has been implicated in enhancer-promoter communication, but the YY1 protein network remains obscure. By analyzing the comprehensive proteome of the 1-kb Eμ wild-type enhancer and that of Eμ lacking the YY1 binding site, we identified the male-specific lethal (MSL)/MOF complex as a component of the YY1 protein network.

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Eukaryotic cells contain several membrane-separated organelles to compartmentalize distinct metabolic reactions. However, it has remained unclear how these organelle systems are coordinated when cells adapt metabolic pathways to support their development, survival or effector functions. Here we present OrgaPlexing, a multi-spectral organelle imaging approach for the comprehensive mapping of six key metabolic organelles and their interactions.

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Leukemia relapse is a major cause of death after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (allo-HCT). We tested the potential of targeting T cell (Tc) immunoglobulin and mucin-containing molecule 3 (TIM-3) for improving graft-versus-leukemia (GVL) effects. We observed differential expression of TIM-3 ligands when hematopoietic stem cells overexpressed certain oncogenic-driver mutations.

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