Small heat-shock proteins, including αB-crystallin (αB), play an important part in protein homeostasis, because their ATP-independent chaperone activity inhibits uncontrolled protein aggregation. Mechanistic details of human αB, particularly in its client-bound state, have been elusive so far, owing to the high molecular weight and the heterogeneity of these complexes. Here we provide structural insights into this highly dynamic assembly and show, by using state-of-the-art NMR spectroscopy, that the αB complex is assembled from asymmetric building blocks. Interaction studies demonstrated that the fibril-forming Alzheimer's disease Aβ1-40 peptide preferentially binds to a hydrophobic edge of the central β-sandwich of αB. In contrast, the amorphously aggregating client lysozyme is captured by the partially disordered N-terminal domain of αB. We suggest that αB uses its inherent structural plasticity to expose distinct binding interfaces and thus interact with a wide range of structurally variable clients.

Exosomes are nanometer-sized extracellular vesicles that are believed to function as intercellular communicators. Here, we report that exosomes are able to modify the radiation response of the head and neck cancer cell lines BHY and FaDu. Exosomes were isolated from the conditioned medium of irradiated as well as non-irradiated head and neck cancer cells by serial centrifugation. Quantification using NanoSight technology indicated an increased exosome release from irradiated compared to non-irradiated cells 24 hours after treatment. To test whether the released exosomes influence the radiation response of other cells the exosomes were transferred to non-irradiated and irradiated recipient cells. We found an enhanced uptake of exosomes isolated from both irradiated and non-irradiated cells by irradiated recipient cells compared to non-irradiated recipient cells. Functional analyses by exosome transfer indicated that all exosomes (from non-irradiated and irradiated donor cells) increase the proliferation of non-irradiated recipient cells and the survival of irradiated recipient cells. The survival-promoting effects are more pronounced when exosomes isolated from irradiated compared to non-irradiated donor cells are transferred. A possible mechanism for the increased survival after irradiation could be the increase in DNA double-strand break repair monitored at 6, 8 and 10 h after the transfer of exosomes isolated from irradiated cells. This is abrogated by the destabilization of the exosomes. Our results demonstrate that radiation influences both the abundance and action of exosomes on recipient cells. Exosomes transmit prosurvival effects by promoting the proliferation and radioresistance of head and neck cancer cells. Taken together, this study indicates a functional role of exosomes in the response of tumor cells to radiation exposure within a therapeutic dose range and encourages that exosomes are useful objects of study for a better understanding of tumor radiation response.

Members of the kinesin-8 motor class have the remarkable ability to both walk towards microtubule plus-ends and depolymerise these ends on arrival, thereby regulating microtubule length. To analyse how kinesin-8 multitasks, we studied the structure and function of the kinesin-8 motor domain. We determined the first crystal structure of a kinesin-8 and used cryo-electron microscopy to calculate the structure of the microtubule-bound motor. Microtubule-bound kinesin-8 reveals a new conformation compared with the crystal structure, including a bent conformation of the α4 relay helix and ordering of functionally important loops. The kinesin-8 motor domain does not depolymerise stabilised microtubules with ATP but does form tubulin rings in the presence of a non-hydrolysable ATP analogue. This shows that, by collaborating, kinesin-8 motor domain molecules can release tubulin from microtubules, and that they have a similar mechanical effect on microtubule ends as kinesin-13, which enables depolymerisation. Our data reveal aspects of the molecular mechanism of kinesin-8 motors that contribute to their unique dual motile and depolymerising functions, which are adapted to control microtubule length.

The Hedgehog proteins are potent organizers of animal development. They carry a cholesterol ester at the C terminus of their signaling domain. The membrane anchoring mediated by this lipophilic modification was studied by means of an approach integrating cell biology, biochemistry, biophysics, and organic chemistry techniques. Sterol-modified and fluorescent-labeled Hedgehog-derived peptides and proteins were synthesized and investigated in biophysical and cell-biological assays. These experiments revealed that cholesterol alone anchors proteins to membranes with significant strength and half-times for spontaneous desorption of several hours. Its membrane anchoring ability is comparable to dual lipidation motifs such as double geranylgeranylation or S-palmitoylation plus S-farnesylation found in other lipidated proteins. The experiments also demonstrate that membrane binding changes dramatically if short lipidated peptides are equipped with a large protein. These data suggest that for Hedgehog release and subsequent signaling an interaction partner such as the Dispatched protein is necessary. In addition to these findings the described approach allows one to correlate biophysical data obtained with model peptides with data determined with fully functional proteins and to combine results from in vitro and in vivo experiments. It should be generally applicable to other membrane anchors and proteins.M any proteins involved in key processes of cell growth and differentiation embody lipid modifications that are essential for their biological activity. These modifications serve in most cases as anchoring groups for targeting the proteins to a certain membrane or submembrane compartment. In addition, they may mediate controlled release of proteins from membrane regions to form stable gradients. This is particularly true for the Hedgehog protein (Hh), which is among the key players in patterning numerous types of tissues. Mutations in Hh and its downstream signaling molecules are also associated with numerous oncogenic and disease states.The Hh family of molecules consists of secreted proteins that undergo several posttranslational modifications to gain full activity. In a maturation process they perform an autocatalytic cleavage, generating an N-terminal polypeptide (Hh-Np) containing all of the signaling functions (1-4). During this cleavage process, a cholesterol moiety is attached covalently by an ester function to the C-terminal glycine of the signaling domain (5). The hydrophobicity of the protein is further increased by the addition of a palmitic acid residue to the N terminus of the cleavage product (6, 7).In Drosophila, forms of Hh in which the C terminus has been deleted have much more potent and seemingly longer-ranging signaling activity than the cholesterol-modified forms. This observation led to the idea that the cholesterol moiety acts as an anchor to the cell membrane and limits the spread of Hh (1-3, 8). However, in vertebrate Sonic Hedgehog (Shh) the cholesterol may be required for correct biological ...

Chemoselective coupling: The Staudinger ligation between azide‐functionalized small molecules and a phosphane‐modified glass surface offers a new immobilization strategy for the preparation of drug arrays through the formation of a thermodynamically stable amide (see scheme).

The small heat shock protein (sHsp) αA-crystallin is a molecular chaperone important for the optical properties of the vertebrate eye lens. It forms heterogeneous oligomeric ensembles. We determined the structures of human αA-crystallin oligomers combining cryo-electron microscopy, cross-linking/mass spectrometry, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and molecular modeling. The different oligomers can be interconverted by the addition or subtraction of Users may view, print, copy, and download text and data-mine the content in such documents, for the purposes of academic research, subject always to the full Conditions of use:

Small heat shock proteins (sHsps) are ubiquitous molecular chaperones that prevent the aggregation of unfolding proteins during proteotoxic stress. In Caenorhabditis elegans, Sip1 is the only sHsp exclusively expressed in oocytes and embryos. Here, we demonstrate that Sip1 is essential for heat shock survival of reproducing adults and embryos. X-ray crystallography and electron microscopy revealed that Sip1 exists in a range of well-defined globular assemblies consisting of two half-spheres, each made of dimeric "spokes." Strikingly, the oligomeric distribution of Sip1 as well as its chaperone activity depend on pH, with a trend toward smaller species and higher activity at acidic conditions such as present in nematode eggs. The analysis of the interactome shows that Sip1 has a specific substrate spectrum including proteins that are essential for embryo development.

A new efficient and flexible synthesis of fluorescently labeled sphingosine derivatives from commercially available Garner aldehyde (8) is described. For this, appropriate alkenylated borondipyrromethene (BODIPY) dyes were synthesized and used for the first time in a cross-metathesis reaction, the key step of the approach. The labeled sphingosines with appropriate chain length were accepted as substrates by sphingosine kinases (SPHKs), yielding the corresponding phosphorylated products. One of these derivatives (11d) was identified as the first reported selective substrate for SPHK-1.