The ability to sense intracellular or intraorganellar reduction/oxidation conditions would provide a powerful tool for studying normal cell proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis. Genetically encoded biosensors enable monitoring of the intracellular redox environment. We report the development of chimeric polypeptides useful as redox-sensitive linkers in conjunction with Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET). Alpha-helical linkers differing in length were combined with motifs that are sensitive to the redox state of the environment. The first category of linkers included a redox motif found in the thioredoxin family of oxidoreductases. This motif was flanked by two alpha-helices of equal length. The second and third categories of redox linkers were composed of alpha-helices with embedded adjacent and dispersed vicinal cysteine residues, respectively. The linkers containing redox switches were placed between a FRET pair of enhanced cyan and yellow fluorescent proteins and these constructs were tested subsequently for their efficacy. A robust method of FRET analysis, the (ratio)(A) method, was used. This method uses two fluorescence spectra performed directly on the FRET construct without physical separation of the fluorophores. The cyan/yellow construct carrying one of the designed redox linkers, RL5, exhibited a 92% increase in FRET efficiency from its reduced to oxidized states. Responsiveness of the cyan-RL5-yellow construct to changes in the intracellular redox environment was confirmed in mammalian cells by flow cytometry.

The intracellular reduction-oxidation (redox) environment influences cell cycle progression; however, underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. To examine potential mechanisms, the intracellular redox environment was characterized per cell cycle phase in Chinese hamster ovary fibroblasts via flow cytometry by measuring reduced glutathione (GSH), reactive oxygen species (ROS), and DNA content with monochlorobimane, 2',7'-dichlorohydrofluorescein diacetate (H2DCFDA), and DRAQ5, respectively. GSH content was significantly greater in G2/M compared with G1 phase cells, whereas GSH was intermediate in S phase cells. ROS content was similar among phases. Together, these data demonstrate that G2/M cells are more reduced than G1 cells. Conventional approaches to define regulatory mechanisms are subjective in nature and focus on single proteins/pathways. Proteome databases provide a means to overcome these inherent limitations. Therefore, a novel bioinformatic approach was developed to exhaustively identify putative redox-regulated cell cycle proteins containing redox-sensitive protein motifs. Using the InterPro (http://www.ebi.ac.uk/interpro/) database, we categorized 536 redox-sensitive motifs as: 1) active/functional-site cysteines, 2) electron transport, 3) heme, 4) iron binding, 5) zinc binding, 6) metal binding (non-Fe/Zn), and 7) disulfides. Comparing this list with 1,634 cell cycle-associated proteins from Swiss-Prot and SpTrEMBL (http://us.expasy.org/sprot/) revealed 92 candidate proteins. Three-fourths (69 of 92) of the candidate proteins function in the central cell cycle processes of transcription, nucleotide metabolism, (de)phosphorylation, and (de)ubiquitinylation. The majority of oxidant-sensitive candidate proteins (68.9%) function during G2/M phase. As the G2/M phase is more reduced than the G1 phase, oxidant-sensitive proteins may be temporally regulated by oscillation of the intracellular redox environment. Combined with evidence of intracellular redox compartmentalization, we propose a spatiotemporal mechanism that functionally links an oscillating intracellular redox environment with cell cycle progression.

This work describes the use of microfluidic tools to generate covalently immobilized counter gradients of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins laminin and collagen I. Using these platforms, we demonstrate control of the expression levels of two proteins linked to cell cycle progression by virtue of the spatial location of cells on the gradients, and hence by the local ECM environments in these devices. In contrast to physisorbed gradients, covalently immobilized protein patterns preserved the gradient fidelity, making long term cell studies feasible. This method of precisely controlling local cell environments is simple and broadly portable to other cell types and to other ECM proteins or soluble factors. Our approach promises to enable new investigations in cell biology that will contribute to the establishment of biological design rules for controlling cell growth, differentiation, and function.

Total parenteral nutrition (TPN) impairs small intestine development and is associated with barrier failure, inflammation, and acidomucin goblet cell expansion in neonatal piglets. We examined the relationship between intestinal goblet cell expansion and molecular and cellular indices of inflammation in neonatal piglets receiving TPN, 80% parenteral + 20% enteral nutrition (PEN), or 100% enteral nutrition (control) for 3 or 7 days. Epithelial permeability, T cell numbers, TNF-alpha and IFN-gamma mRNA expression, and epithelial proliferation and apoptosis were compared with goblet cell numbers over time. Epithelial permeability was similar to control in the TPN and PEN jejunum at day 3 but increased in the TPN jejunum by day 7. By day 3, intestinal T cell numbers were increased in TPN but not in PEN piglets. However, goblet cell expansion was established by day 3 in both the TPN and PEN ileum. Neither TNF-alpha nor IFN-gamma mRNA expression in the TPN and PEN ileum correlated with goblet cell expansion. Thus goblet cell expansion occurred independently of overt inflammation but in association with parenteral feeding. These data support the hypothesis that goblet cell expansion represents an initial defense triggered by reduced epithelial renewal to prevent intestinal barrier failure.

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