Cytoskeletal and extracellular matrix proteins resist the burning of bones.

Due the proteins from bone remains are highly resistant to pass of time and environmental conditions, they could tell us about the events that probably happened in the past. In the forensic and physical anthropology context, burnt bone remains are one of the most common pieces of recovered evidence and, generally, they are associated with funerary practices, criminal scenes or massive catastrophic events. In the present study, bone pieces of pigs were calcined at different calcination temperatures, and proteins were searched using biochemical, immunochemical and ultrastructure visualization under these experimentally conditions. For this purpose, it was successfully developed a non-demineralizing protein extraction method from burnt bone remains and the use of specific antibodies permitted the identification of different extracellular matrix and intracellular proteins. While collagen proteins type I and IV were identified and detected under middle and high calcination temperatures (300°C and 600°C); cytoskeletal proteins as actin, tubulin and, the microtubule associated protein Tau, were found under calcination process, even up high calcination temperatures. Under ultrastructural analysis, fibrous materials with a classical disposition of collagens were observed even at high calcination temperatures of the burnt bone remains. The protein identification and characterization in burnt bones as performed in present studies, is clearly demonstrating that using specific strategies for protein characterizations it is possible to found protein biomarkers in burnt bone remains and this strategy could be useful for forensic and anthropological purposes.

The dense granule protein 8 (GRA8) is a component of the sub-pellicular cytoskeleton in Toxoplasma gondii.

After host cell invasion, Toxoplasma secretes a variety of dense granule proteins (GRA proteins) from its secretory dense granules, which are involved in the biogenesis of the parasitophorous vacuole (PV). TgGRA8I is predicted to contain proline-rich domains, which are structural features of some cytoskeleton-related proteins. In agreement with this observation, previous proteomic analyses revealed the presence of TgGRA8I in the Toxoplasma sub-pellicular cytoskeleton. In the present study, we show (1) by docking analyses that TgGRA8I may interact with both Toxoplasma ß-tubulin and actin; (2) by immunoelectron microscopy, proteomic, biochemical, and cellular approaches that TgGRA8I associates with sub-pellicular microtubules and actin at the parasite sub-pellicular cytoskeleton; (3) that type I parasites (RH strain) lacking the GRA8 gene (RHΔku80Δgra8) exhibit loss of conoid extrusion, diminished cell infection, and egress capabilities, and that these motility impairments were likely due to important alterations in their sub-pellicular cytoskeleton, in particular their sub-pellicular microtubules and meshwork. Parasites lacking the GRA4 gene (RHΔku80Δgra4) did not show modifications in the organization of the sub-pellicular cytoskeleton. Collectively, these results demonstrated that TgGRA8I is a dense granule protein that, besides its role in the formation of the PV, contributes to the organization of the parasite sub-pellicular cytoskeleton and motility. This is the first proline-rich protein described in the Toxoplasma cytoskeleton, which is a key organelle for both the parasite motility and the invasion process. Knowledge about the function of cytoskeleton components in Toxoplasma is fundamental to understand the motility process and the host cell invasion mechanism. Refining this knowledge should lead to the design of novel pharmacological strategies for the treatment against toxoplasmosis.

A flow-cytometry method for analyzing the composition of membrane rafts.

Membrane rafts are involved in a broad variety of biological processes. Their protein composition under growth factor stimulation, anti-inflammatory or proinflammatory microenvironments, or in the course of pathogenic infections still remains to be determined. However, current techniques aimed at the identification of particular proteins on membrane rafts are not devoid of pitfalls. Membrane rafts were obtained by detergent-free based differential centrifugation from Jurkat T cells and J774 macrophages. Membrane rafts were labeled with fluorochrome-labeled antibodies directed against different cell membrane molecules, and with fluorochrome-labeled cholera toxin B that targets GM1 and analyzed by flow cytometry. CD3, CD11a, and GM1 were shown to be differentially expressed on Jurkat T cell-derived membrane rafts, indicating heterogeneity in membrane rafts composition. On the other hand, it was shown in J774 cell-derived membrane rafts that most but not all CD14 is present in the GM1-containing membrane fragments, thus confirming the heterogeneity of membrane rafts composition in other cell lines. The method described here allows the fluorometric assessment of the relative expression of more than one membrane raft component at a time, and at a single vesicle level in a fast and sensitive manner. This method seems to be a suitable approach to evaluate the molecular heterogeneity in membrane rafts composition.