Apoptosis is a form of cell death associated with DNA fragmentation and chromatin condensation. We recently established that intracellular acidification occurred during apoptosis following cytotoxic insult. The current studies were designed to determine whether intracellular acidification was more generally associated with apoptosis, specifically in a model of growth factor withdrawal. Upon withdrawal of interleukin-2, CTLL-2 cells accumulated in the G1 phase of the cell cycle and started to fragment their DNA around 12 h concurrent with both decreased pH and increased Ca2. Chelation of Ca2+ did not inhibit DNA digestion, whereas incubation with a calcium ionophore prevented both acidification and DNA digestion. Hence, acidification rather than increased Ca2+ was associated with apoptosis. The acidified cells represented a discrete population up to 0.7 pH units below normal. The extent of acidification depended upon the extracellular pH; above pH 6.3, intracellular pH was significantly below extracellular pH, whereas below pH 6.3, the cells still regulated their pH. Inhibition of the Na+/H(+)-antiport prevented the apoptotic cells from regulating their intracellular pH under these acidic conditions. These intracellular pH under these acidic conditions. These results demonstrate that apoptotic cells retain a functional antiport but that its set-point has changed. Many survival factors are known to phosphorylate and activate the antiport, hence apoptosis is likely to be associated with dephosphorylation. Although acidification always occurred during apoptosis, maintaining intracellular pH above 7.2 did not prevent apoptosis, suggesting that an acid pH is not essential for apoptosis. We hypothesize that other critical regulators of apoptosis must be subject to dephosphorylation.
SummaryTranslation regulation plays an important role during gametocytogenesis in the malaria parasite, a process that is obligatory for the transmission of the parasite through mosquito vectors. In this study we determined the function of PfPuf2, a member of the Puf family of translational repressors, in gametocytogenesis of Plasmodium falciparum. Tagging of the endogenous PfPuf2 protein with green fluorescent protein showed that PfPuf2 was expressed in both male and female gametocytes, and the protein was localized in the cytoplasm of the parasite. Targeted disruption of the PfPuf2 gene did not affect asexual growth of the parasite, but promoted the formation of gametocytes and differentiation of male gametocytes. Complementation studies were performed to confirm that the resultant phenotypic changes were due to disruption of the PfPuf2 gene. Episomal expression of PfPuf2 under its cognate promoter almost restored the gametocytogenesis rate in a PfPuf2 disruptant to the level of the wild-type parasite. It also partially restored the effect of PfPuf2 disruption on male-female sex ratio. In addition, episomal overexpression of PfPuf2 under its cognate promoter but with a higher concentration of the selection drug or under the constitutive hsp86 promoter in both the PfPuf2-disruptant and wild-type 3D7 lines, further dramatically reduced gametocytogenesis rates and sex ratios. These findings suggest that in this early branch of eukaryotes the function of PfPuf2 is consistent with the ancestral function of suppressing differentiation proposed for Puf-family proteins. one Pumilio protein, it plays multiple roles in embryonic morphogenesis (Murata and Wharton, 1995), germline development and maintenance (Asaoka-Taguchi et al., 1999;Forbes and Lehmann, 1998;Parisi and Lin, 1999), and dendrite morphogenesis, neuronal excitability and learning (Mee et al., 2004;Menon et al., 2004;Muraro et al., 2008;Schweers et al., 2002;Ye et al., 2004). Based on related functions of Pufs in controlling germline switch in C. elegans, regulating aging and mitochondrial function in yeast, and promoting vegetative growth in the slime mold Dictyostelium (Souza et al., 1999), it has been suggested that the ancestral function of Puf proteins is to promote proliferation and to suppress differentiation .Translational regulation of gene expression in protozoan parasites is not well understood. In malaria parasites of the genus Plasmodium, the life cycle takes place in two hosts. In the blood of a vertebrate host, in response to poorly defined cues, a small proportion of the parasites differentiates into gametocytes, a process termed gametocytogenesis. Transmission to the mosquito vector is accomplished by the sexually dimorphic male and female gametocytes. Molecular investigations into the sexual biology of malaria parasites have led to the identification of a number of gametocyte-and sex-specific molecules and elucidation of their functions during sexual development (reviewed by Alano, 2007;Dixon et al., 2008;Kooij and Matuschewski, 2007;Talm...
Many events in apoptosis have been identified but their temporal relationships remain obscure. Apoptosis in human ML-1 cells induced by etoposide is characterized by intracellular acidification, enhanced Hoechst 33342 fluorescence, DNA digestion, chromatin condensation, and proteolysis of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase. This proteolysis is a marker for the action of ICE/CED-3 proteases, which are critical activators of apoptosis. We observed that three serine/threonine protein phosphatase inhibitors, okadaic acid, calyculin A, and cantharidin, prevented all of these apoptotic characteristics. To determine which protein phosphatase was involved, we investigated the dephosphorylation of the retinoblastoma susceptibility protein Rb, a substrate for protein phosphatase 1 but not protein phosphatase 2A. Rb was dephosphorylated during apoptosis, and each inhibitor prevented this dephosphorylation at the same concentrations that prevented apoptosis. No increase in protein phosphatase 1 activity was observed in apoptotic cells suggesting that dephosphorylation of Rb may result from loss of Rb kinase activity in the presence of a constant level of protein phosphatase activity. Long term inhibition of protein phosphatase 1 (>8 h) also led to the appearance of dephosphorylated Rb, cleavage of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase and apoptosis, suggesting these events are not solely dependent upon protein phosphatase 1. Rb dephosphorylation was also observed in several other models of apoptosis. Hence, an imbalance between protein phosphatase 1 and Rb kinase may be a common means to activate ICE/CED-3 proteases resulting in the subsequent events of apoptosis.Maintaining tissue and organ homeostasis requires a delicate balance between the rate of cell division and the rate of cell death. Cells that are either metabolically compromised or no longer required are eliminated by a pathway commonly known as apoptosis. This process has been characterized by cell shrinkage, cytoplasmic blebbing, chromosome condensation, DNA digestion, and, finally, non-inflammatory removal of the cell from the tissue (1). Apoptosis occurs during development, immune regulation, and normal cell turnover, as well as being induced by many pharmacological insults. Decreased apoptosis can lead to cancer and autoimmune diseases, while increased apoptosis can result in neurodegenerative disorders and AIDS (2). Despite the importance of apoptosis, the signal transduction pathways responsible for the associated morphological and biochemical changes are poorly understood. Much recent emphasis has focused on the identification of proteases of the ICE/CED-3 family that appear essential to this pathway (3-5), but both the upstream and downstream events remain elusive.While investigating endonucleases that might be involved in apoptosis, we detected and purified deoxyribonuclease II (DNase II), an endonuclease that is active at slightly acidic pH but inactive at pH 7.0 (6). To determine whether DNase II might be responsible for the DNA digestion, we measured intracellular pH ...
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