Exosomes are attractive nucleic-acid carriers because of their favourable pharmacokinetic and immunological properties and of their ability to penetrate physiological barriers that are impermissible to synthetic drug-delivery vehicles. However, inserting exogenous nucleic acids, especially large messenger RNAs (mRNAs), into cell-secreted exosomes leads to low yields. Here, we report a cellular-nanoporation method for the production of large quantities of exosomes containing therapeutic mRNAs and targeting peptides. We transfected various source cells with plasmid DNAs, and stimulated the cells with a focal and transient electrical stimulus that promotes the release of exosomes carrying transcribed mRNAs and targeting peptides. Compared to bulk electroporation and to other exosome-production strategies, cellular nanoporation produced up to 50-fold more exosomes and more than a 10 3 -fold increase in exosomal mRNA transcripts, even from cells with low basal levels of exosome secretion. In orthotopic PTEN-deficient glioma mouse models, mRNA-containing exosomes restored tumour-suppressor function, enhanced tumourgrowth inhibition, and increased animal survival. Cellular nanoporation may enable the use of exosomes as a universal nucleic-acid carrier for applications requiring transcriptional manipulation.

Hepatitis E virus (HEV), a small, non-enveloped RNA virus in the familyHepeviridae, is associated with endemic and epidemic acute viral hepatitis in developing countries. Our 3.5-Å structure of a HEV-like particle (VLP) shows that each capsid protein contains 3 linear domains that form distinct structural elements: S, the continuous capsid; P1, 3-fold protrusions; and P2, 2-fold spikes. The S domain adopts a jelly-roll fold commonly observed in small RNA viruses. The P1 and P2 domains both adopt ␤-barrel folds. Each domain possesses a potential polysaccharide-binding site that may function in cell-receptor binding. Sugar binding to P1 at the capsid protein interface may lead to capsid disassembly and cell entry. Structural modeling indicates that native T ‫؍‬ 3 capsid contains flat dimers, with less curvature than those of T ‫؍‬ 1 VLP. Our findings significantly advance the understanding of HEV molecular biology and have application to the development of vaccines and antiviral medications.capsid ͉ HEV V iral hepatitis is principally caused by 5 distinct viruses named hepatitis A-E. Despite their similar names, the 5 viruses are unrelated, and they have totally different genome structures with distinct replication mechanisms. Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is responsible for endemic hepatitis as well as sporadic epidemics of acute, enterically transmitted hepatitis in the developing world, including parts of Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Mexico (1, 2). HEV accounts for more than 50% of acute viral hepatitides in young adults in these regions, with a case fatality of 1-2% in regular patients and up to 20% in pregnant women.Given the lack of a robust cell culture system, and because HEV is not closely related to any other well-characterized virus, little is known about the molecular biology of HEV or its strategy for replication (1). HEV is a small, non-enveloped virus with a 7.2 kb, positive-sense RNA genome. Its genomic RNA is polyadenylated and contains 3 ORFs. Located near the 5Ј-end, ORF1 encodes a non-structural polyprotein with multiple functional domains, including those for methyltransferase, protease, helicase, and polymerase. The viral capsid protein (CP) is encoded by ORF2 near the 3Ј-end. ORF3, which partially overlaps with the other 2 ORFs, codes for an immunogenic protein of unknown function. HEV was originally classified in the Caliciviridae family because of its structural similarity to other caliciviruses; however, it is now the sole member of the Hepeviridae family. The genomic RNA of HEV exhibits several distinct features compared to the genomic RNA of caliciviruses, including a methylated cap at the 5Ј-end and an ORF1 with functional domains arranged in a different order (1, 3).Previous studies of HEV assembly have primarily focused on the overexpression of viral proteins. The ORF2 capsid protein, HEV-CP, contains a total of 660 amino acid residues. At the HEV-CP N terminus is a signal peptide followed by an arginine-rich domain that potentially play a role in viral RNA encapsidation during assem...

Recent theoretical analysis of a model lattice of interacting transmembrane receptor proteins has indicated that such clustering in the membrane could provide a novel mechanism for regulating receptor signalling in cells. It has been calculated that cooperative interactions between receptors organized into a cluster, or array, in the membrane would dramatically increase their sensitivity to activation by ligand. Sensitivity to ligand would increase with the extent of spread of activity within the receptor lattice. Hence, formation of extensive receptor lattices in the membrane would allow a large population of receptors to be simultaneously switched on, or off, by a very small change in ligand concentration. We show here that lattice formation is an intrinsic property of an integral membrane protein, the ryanodine-sensitive calcium-release channel (RyR) of endoplasmic reticulum. The purified protein spontaneously assembled into two-dimensional lattices in solution, enabling the construction of a 25 A projection map that identifies the mode of interaction between RyR oligomers. Our observations on the RyR provide a new perspective on various properties of cell signalling via this and other receptors.

Ryanodine receptors (RyRs) are a class of giant ion channels with molecular mass over 2.2 mega-Daltons. These channels mediate calcium signaling in a variety of cells. Since more than 80% of the RyR protein is folded into the cytoplasmic assembly and the remaining residues form the transmembrane domain, it has been hypothesized that the activation and regulation of RyR channels occur through an as yet uncharacterized long-range allosteric mechanism. Here we report the characterization of a Ca2+-activated open-state RyR1 structure by cryo-electron microscopy. The structure has an overall resolution of 4.9 Å and a resolution of 4.2 Å for the core region. In comparison with the previously determined apo/closed-state structure, we observed long-range allosteric gating of the channel upon Ca2+ activation. In-depth structural analyses elucidated a novel channel-gating mechanism and a novel ion selectivity mechanism of RyR1. Our work not only provides structural insights into the molecular mechanisms of channel gating and regulation of RyRs, but also sheds light on structural basis for channel-gating and ion selectivity mechanisms for the six-transmembrane-helix cation channel family.