Growth suppression of human coronary vascular smooth muscle cells by gene transfer of the transcription factor E2F-1.

BACKGROUND: The transcription factor E2F-1 promotes S-phase entry and death in transformed cells and primary cardiomyocytes. We tested the hypothesis that overexpression of E2F-1 forces growth-arrested human coronary vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) to enter the S phase, undergo apoptosis, and thereby regulate VSMC growth. METHODS AND RESULTS: Early-passage (8 times. CONCLUSIONS: Overexpression of the transcription factor E2F-1 regulates growth of human coronary VSMCs by forcing the cells to enter the S phase and then to die. Cell death appears to involve caspase 3-like activity, which, in the VSMCs, is markedly increased by overexpression of E2F-1.

A cell-free assay allows reconstitution of Vps33p-dependent transport to the yeast vacuole/lysosome.

We report a cell-free system that measures transport-coupled maturation of carboxypeptidase Y (CPY). Yeast spheroplasts are lysed by extrusion through polycarbonate filters. After differential centrifugation, a 125,000-g pellet is enriched for radiolabeled proCPY and is used as "donor" membranes. A 15,000-g pellet, harvested from nonradiolabeled cells and enriched for vacuoles, is used as "acceptor" membranes. When these membranes are incubated together with ATP and cytosolic extracts, approximately 50% of the radiolabeled proCPY is processed to mature CPY. Maturation was inhibited by dilution of donor and acceptor membranes during incubation, showed a 15-min lag period, and was temperature sensitive. Efficient proCPY maturation was possible when donor membranes were from a yeast strain deleted for the PEP4 gene (which encodes the principal CPY processing enzyme, proteinase A) and acceptor membranes from a PEP4 yeast strain, indicating intercompartmental transfer. Cytosol made from a yeast strain deleted for the VPS33 gene was less efficient at driving transport. Moreover, antibodies against Vps33p (a Sec1 homologue) and Vam3p (a Q-SNARE) inhibited transport >90%. Cytosolic extracts from yeast cells overexpressing Vps33p restored transport to antibody-inhibited assays. This cell-free system has allowed the demonstration of reconstituted intercompartmental transport coupled to the function of a VPS gene product.

Isolation of yeast mutants defective for localization of vacuolar vital dyes.

An application of flow cytometric sorting is used for isolation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae mutants that mislocalize vacuolar vital dyes. This screen is based on the ability of a lipophilic styryl compound, N-(3-triethylammoniumpropyl)-4-(6-(4-(diethylamino)phenyl)hexatrie nyl )pyridinium dibromide (FM4-64), to label endocytic intermediates from the plasma membrane to the vacuole membrane at 15 degreesC. Cells stained at 15 degreesC for both FM4-64 and carboxydichlorofluorescein diacetate (a vacuolar luminal vital stain), had a pronounced shift in red/green fluorescence from cells stained at 30 degrees or 38 degreesC. Flow cytometric selection based on this characteristic shift allowed the isolation of 16 mutants. These comprised 12 complementation groups, which we have designated SVL for styryl dye vacuolar localization. These groups were put into three classes. Class I mutants contain very large vacuoles; class II mutants have very fragmented vacuoles; and class III mutants show the strongest svl phenotype with punctate/diffuse FM4-64 staining. Limited genetic overlap was observed with previously isolated mutants, namely svl2/vps41, svl6/vps16, and svl7/fab1. The remaining svl mutants appear to represent novel genes, two of which showed temperature-sensitive vacuole staining morphology. Another mutant, svl8, displayed defects in uptake and sorting of phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine. Our flow cytometric strategy may be useful for isolation of other mutants where mislocalization of fluorescent compounds can be detected.

The vesicle transport protein Vps33p is an ATP-binding protein that localizes to the cytosol in an energy-dependent manner.

Molecular mechanisms of vesicle transport between the prevacuolar compartment and the vacuole in yeast or the lysosome in mammalian cells are poorly understood. To learn more about the specificity of this intercompartmental step, we have examined the subcellular localization of a SEC1 homologue, Vps33p, a protein implicated to function in transport between the prevacuolar compartment and the vacuole. Following short pulses, 80-90% of newly synthesized Vps33p cofractionated with a cytosolic enzyme marker after making permeabilized yeast cells. However, during a chase, 20-40% of Vps33p fractionated with permeabilized cell membranes in a time-dependent fashion with a half-time of approximately 40 min. Depletion of cellular ATP increased the association rate to a half-time of approximately 4 min and caused 80-90% of newly synthesized Vps33p to be associated with permeabilized cell membranes. The association of Vps33p with permeabilized cell membranes was reversible after restoring cells with glucose before permeabilization. The N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive fusion protein homologue, Sec18p, a protein with known ATP binding and hydrolysis activity, displayed the same reversible energy-dependent sedimentation characteristics as Vps33p. We determined that the photosensitive analog, 8-azido-[alpha-32P]ATP, could bind directly to Vps33p with low affinity. Interestingly, excess unlabeled ATP could enhance photoaffinity labeling of 8-azido-[alpha-32P]ATP to Vps33p, suggesting cooperative binding, which was not observed with excess GTP. Importantly, we did not detect significant photolabeling after deleting amino acid regions in Vps33p that show similarity to ATP interaction motifs. We visualized these events in living yeast cells after fusing the jellyfish green fluorescent protein (GFP) to the C terminus of full-length Vps33p. In metabolically active cells, the fully functional Vps33p-GFP fusion protein appeared to stain throughout the cytoplasm with one or two very bright fluorescent spots near the vacuole. After depleting cellular ATP, Vps33p-GFP appeared to localize with a punctate morphology, which was also reversible upon restoring cells with glucose. Overall, these data support a model where Vps33p cycles between soluble and particulate forms in an ATP-dependent manner, which may facilitate the specificity of transport vesicle docking or targeting to the yeast lysosome/vacuole.

A new vital stain for visualizing vacuolar membrane dynamics and endocytosis in yeast.

We have used a lipophilic styryl dye, N-(3-triethylammoniumpropyl)-4- (p-diethylaminophenyl-hexatrienyl) pyridinium dibromide (FM 4-64), as a vital stain to follow bulk membrane-internalization and transport to the vacuole in yeast. After treatment for 60 min at 30 degrees C, FM 4-64 stained the vacuole membrane (ring staining pattern). FM 4-64 did not appear to reach the vacuole by passive diffusion because at 0 degree C it exclusively stained the plasma membrane (PM). The PM staining decreased after warming cells to 25 degrees C and small punctate structures became apparent in the cytoplasm within 5-10 min. After an additional 20-40 min, the PM and cytoplasmic punctate staining disappeared concomitant with staining of the vacuolar membrane. Under steady state conditions, FM 4-64 staining was specific for vacuolar membranes; other membrane structures were not stained. The dye served as a sensitive reporter of vacuolar dynamics, detecting such events as segregation structure formation during mitosis, vacuole fission/fusion events, and vacuolar morphology in different classes of vacuolar protein sorting (vps) mutants. A particularly striking pattern was observed in class E mutants (e.g., vps27) where 500-700 nm organelles (presumptive prevacuolar compartments) were intensely stained with FM 4-64 while the vacuole membrane was weakly fluorescent. Internalization of FM 4-64 at 15 degrees C delayed vacuolar labeling and trapped FM 4-64 in cytoplasmic intermediates between the PM and the vacuole. The intermediate structures in the cytoplasm are likely to be endosomes as their staining was temperature, time, and energy dependent. Interestingly, unlike Lucifer yellow uptake, vacuolar labeling by FM 4-64 was not blocked in sec18, sec14, end3, and end4 mutants, but was blocked in sec1 mutant cells. Finally, using permeabilized yeast spheroplasts to reconstitute FM 4-64 transport, we found that delivery of FM 4-64 from the endosome-like intermediate compartment (labeled at 15 degrees C) to the vacuole was ATP and cytosol dependent. Thus, we show that FM 4-64 is a new vital stain for the vacuolar membrane, a marker for endocytic intermediates, and a fluor for detecting endosome to vacuole membrane transport in vitro.

Yeast vacuolar proenzymes are sorted in the late Golgi complex and transported to the vacuole via a prevacuolar endosome-like compartment.

We are studying intercompartmental protein transport to the yeast lysosome-like vacuole with a reconstitution assay using permeabilized spheroplasts that measures, in an ATP and cytosol dependent reaction, vacuolar delivery and proteolytic maturation of the Golgi-modified precursor forms of vacuolar hydrolases like carboxypeptidase Y (CPY). To identify the potential donor compartment in this assay, we used subcellular fractionation procedures that have uncovered a novel membrane-enclosed prevacuolar transport intermediate. Differential centrifugation was used to separate permeabilized spheroplasts into 15K and 150K g membrane pellets. Centrifugation of these pellets to equilibrium on sucrose density gradients separated vacuolar and Golgi complex marker enzymes into light and dense fractions, respectively. When the Golgi-modified precursor form of CPY (p2CPY) was examined (after a 5-min pulse, 30-s chase), as much as 30-40% fractionated with an intermediate density between both the vacuole and the Golgi complex. Pulse-chase labeling and fractionation of membranes indicated that p2CPY in this gradient region had already passed through the Golgi complex, which kinetically ordered it between the Golgi and the vacuole. A mutant CPY protein that lacks a functional vacuolar sorting signal was detected in Golgi fractions but not in the intermediate compartment indicating that this corresponds to a post-sorting compartment. Based on the low transport efficiency of the mutant CPY protein in vitro (decreased by sevenfold), this intermediate organelle most likely represents the donor compartment in our reconstitution assay. This organelle is not likely to be a transport vesicle intermediate because EM analysis indicates enrichment of 250-400 nm compartments and internalization of surface-bound 35S-alpha-factor at 15 degrees C resulted in its apparent cofractionation with wild-type p2CPY, indicating an endosome-like compartment (Singer, B., and H. Reizman. 1990. J. Cell Biol. 110:1911-1922). Fractionation of p2CPY accumulated in the temperature sensitive vps15 mutant revealed that the vps15 transport block did not occur in the endosome-like compartment but rather in the late Golgi complex, presumably the site of CPY sorting. Therefore, as seen in mammalian cells, yeast CPY is sorted away from secretory proteins in the late Golgi and transits to the vacuole via a distinct endosome-like intermediate.

[Caspar Fraxinus's papers]. / Fraxinus Gáspár magyarországi muködésével kapcsolatos iratok.

These 21 unpublished letters written by, to or about Gaspar Fraxinus were collected by Istvan Botta, Tivadar Vida and Tamás Grynaeus. Most of the letters were actually health reports written by Fraxinus to Count Nadasdy, though the doctor mentions various other subjects as well. We have followed the Hungarian practice in the publication. The numbers that precede the letters refer to their original date and put them in concordance with all the known Fraxinus letters. Where you find question marks with the numbers the exact date of the letter is uncertain. After the numbers there are also short summaries, and then comes the letter itself in its original language and spelling. Letters either in Latin or German have been translated into Hungarian by Tivadar Vida, and those written in old Hungarian were provided with a transcription that gives the modern spelling. Each unit is closed with the archival data: i.e. the name of the institution that has been trusted with the preservation, and the shelfmarks are indicated.

In vitro reactions of vacuole inheritance in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Vacuole inheritance is temporally coordinated with the cell cycle and is restricted spatially to an axis between the maternal vacuole and the bud. The new bud vacuole is founded by a stream of vacuole-derived membranous vesicles and tubules which are transported from the mother cell into the bud to form the daughter organelle. We now report in vitro formation of vacuole-derived tubules and vesicles. In semi-intact cells, formation of tubulovesicular structures requires ATP and the proteins encoded by VAC1 and VAC2, two genes which are required for vacuole inheritance in vivo. Isolation of vacuoles from cell lysates before in vitro incubation reveals that formation of tubulovesicular structures requires cytosol as well as ATP. After forming tubulovesicular structures, isolated vacuoles subsequently increase in size. Biochemical assays reveal that this increase results from vacuole to vacuole fusion, leading to mixing of organellar contents. Intervacuolar fusion is sensitive to the phosphatase inhibitors microcystin-LR and okadaic acid, suggesting that protein phosphorylation/dephosphorylation reactions play a role in this event.

Glycosylation variants of endopeptidase-24.11 ('enkephalinase').

Anion exchange chromatography resolves two charge variants of rat kidney endopeptidase-24.11 (designated NEP 1 and NEP 2); each was purified to homogeneity using immunoaffinity chromatography. In addition to charge differences the subunit molecular weights of NEP 1 and NEP 2 differ and are 89 and 96 kDa, respectively. Isoelectric focusing resolved 8-10 pl species in the pH range of 5.95-6.20 for NEP 1 and 5.46-6.06 for NEP 2. Removal of sialic acid residues converted the multiple pl species to one form with a pl of 6.32 for NEP 2, and two forms with pls of 6.27 and 6.32 for NEP 1. Endoglycosidase H or F, capable of removing high-mannose and biantennary branched N-linked oligosaccharides, produced a 2-3 kDa decrease in the molecular weight of both NEP 1 and NEP 2. Peptide-N-glycosidase F, capable of removing all classes of N-linked oligosaccharides, produced 8 and 11 kDa decreases in NEP 1 and NEP 2, respectively. Removal of all N-linked and O-linked oligosaccharides with trifluoromethanesulfonic acid resulted in 10 and 15 kDa decreases in NEP 1 and NEP 2, respectively. Tryptic epitope maps demonstrated that NEP 2 was cleaved at a slower rate than NEP 1. These analyses demonstrate that rat kidney NEP exhibits sialic acid microheterogeneity resulting in two distinct change variants. The data also indicate that NEP 2 contains more N- and O-linked carbohydrate mass than NEP 1 and may contain a larger polypeptide backbone giving rise to molecular weight differences between these enzyme forms.

In vitro reconstitution of intercompartmental protein transport to the yeast vacuole.

Toward a detailed understanding of protein sorting in the late secretory pathway, we have reconstituted intercompartmental transfer and proteolytic maturation of a yeast vacuolar protease, carboxypeptidase Y (CPY). This in vitro reconstitution uses permeabilized yeast spheroplasts that are first radiolabeled in vivo under conditions that kinetically trap ER and Golgi apparatus-modified precursor forms of CPY (p1 and p2, respectively). After incubation at 25 degrees C, up to 45% of the p2CPY that is retained in the perforated cells can be proteolytically converted to mature CPY (mCPY). This maturation is specific for p2CPY, requires exogenously added ATP, an ATP regeneration system, and is stimulated by cytosolic protein extracts. The p2CPY processing shows a 5-min lag period and is then linear for 15-60 min, with a sharp temperature optimum of 25-30 degrees C. After hypotonic extraction, the compartments that contain p2 and mCPY show different osmotic stability characteristics as p2 and mCPY can be separated with centrifugation into a pellet and supernatant, respectively. Like CPY maturation in vivo, the observed in vitro reaction is dependent on the PEP4 gene product, proteinase A, which is the principle processing enzyme. After incubation with ATP and cytosol, mCPY was recovered in a vacuole-enriched fraction from perforated spheroplasts using Ficoll step-gradient centrifugation. The p2CPY precursor was not recovered in this fraction indicating that intercompartmental transport to the vacuole takes place. In addition, intracompartmental processing of p2CPY with autoactivated, prevacuolar zymogen pools of proteinase A cannot account for this reconstitution. Stimulation of in vitro processing with energy and cytosol took place efficiently when the expression of PEP4, under control of the GAL1 promoter, was induced then completely repressed before radiolabeling spheroplasts. Finally, reconstitution of p2CPY maturation was not possible with vps mutant perforated cells suggesting that VPS gene product function is necessary for intercompartmental transport to the vacuole in vitro.

Characterization of yeast Vps33p, a protein required for vacuolar protein sorting and vacuole biogenesis.

vps33 mutants missort and secrete multiple vacuolar hydrolases and exhibit extreme defects in vacuolar morphology. Toward a molecular understanding of the role of the VPS33 gene in vacuole biogenesis, we have cloned this gene from a yeast genomic library by complementation of a temperature-sensitive vps33 mutation. Gene disruption demonstrated that VPS33 was not essential but was required for growth at high temperatures. At the permissive temperature, vps33 null mutants exhibited defects in vacuolar protein localization and vacuole morphology similar to those seen in most of the original mutant alleles. Sequence analysis revealed a putative open reading frame sufficient to encode a protein of 691 amino acids. Hydropathy analysis indicated that the deduced product of the VPS33 gene is generally hydrophilic, contains no obvious signal sequence or transmembrane domains, and is therefore unlikely to enter the secretory pathway. Polyclonal antisera raised against TrpE-Vps33 fusion proteins recognized a protein in yeast cells of the expected molecular weight, approximately 75,000. In cell fractionation studies, Vps33p behaved as a cytosolic protein. The predicted VPS33 gene product possessed sequence similarity with a number of ATPases and ATP-binding proteins specifically in their ATP-binding domains. One vps33 temperature-sensitive mutant contained a missense mutation near this region of sequence similarity; the mutation resulted in a Leu-646----Pro substitution in Vps33p. This temperature-sensitive mutant strain contained normal vacuoles at the permissive temperature but lacked vacuoles specifically in the bud at the nonpermissive temperature. Our data suggest that Vps33p acts in the cytoplasm to facilitate Golgi-to-vacuole protein delivery. We propose that as a consequence of the vps33 protein-sorting defects, abnormalities in vacuolar morphology and vacuole assembly result.

Regulation of neutral amino acid transport in hepatocytes isolated from adrenalectomized rats.

The present report shows that System A-mediated 2-aminoisobutyric acid (AIB) uptake is elevated in hepatocytes isolated from adrenalectomized rats when they are compared to control cells. Although System ASC activity also shows this perturbation, Systems N, beta, L1, and L2 are unaffected. Transport of AIB in both cell types is stimulated by dexamethasone, insulin, and glucagon, yet the hepatocytes from the adrenalectomized rats are much less responsive to these hormones. This apparent decrease in competence is seen for adaptive regulation of System A as well. The in vitro addition of dexamethasone to the hepatocytes from the adrenalectomized animals does not restore fully their ability to respond to hormones or amino acid deprivation. These effects are observed even after the cells have been held in primary culture for 24 hr. The simultaneous addition of glucagon and dexamethasone to either cell type resulted in stimulation of transport to rates significantly greater than the sum of the increases produced by the two hormones when added separately. In contrast, insulin and dexamethasone were additive in their effects rather than synergistic. These results suggest that hepatocytes from adrenalectomized rats are less competent than control cells with respect to regulation of neutral amino acid transport, including stimulation by insulin or amino acid starvation, two processes which appear not to depend on glucocorticoid for maximal response.

Neutral amino acid transport in hepatocytes isolated from streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats.

In the present study, transport by Systems A, ASC, and N was shown to be elevated in hepatocytes isolated from diabetic rats. After the cells were placed in primary culture, the System ASC activity declined rapidly, while the decay of Systems A and N was slower and dependent on protein synthesis. The elevated 2-aminoisobutyric acid uptake was the result of an increase in the Vmax of a single, high affinity system, presumably System A. The stimulation of System A could not be accounted for by an increase in the affinity for Na+; in fact, the apparent Km for the ion was actually greater in the experimental cells. Release from trans-inhibition was also eliminated as a possible explanation. The data suggest that during the development of the diabetic state the liver is triggered to induce the activity of System A by synthesizing the necessary protein components. Treatment of the cultured hepatocytes with insulin could partially reverse the stimulation due to diabetes, indicating that the induction of System A may be the result of the hyperglucagonemia associated with the disease. In support of this hypothesis, the cells from the diabetic rats were resistant to further stimulation of System A by glucagon, yet they did respond to high levels of insulin or to amino acid starvation. Glucagon does not appear to be involved in the induction of System N in the diabetic animal because this system is not responsive to either glucagon or insulin when tested in vitro.