Canonical roles for macrophages in mediating the fibrotic response after a heart attack include extracellular matrix turnover and activation of cardiac fibroblasts to initiate collagen deposition. Here we reveal that macrophages directly contribute collagen to the forming post-injury scar. Unbiased transcriptomics shows an upregulation of collagens in both zebrafish and mouse macrophages following heart injury. Adoptive transfer of macrophages, from either collagen-tagged zebrafish or adult mouse GFPtpz-collagen donors, enhances scar formation via cell autonomous production of collagen. In zebrafish, the majority of tagged collagen localises proximal to the injury, within the overlying epicardial region, suggesting a possible distinction between macrophage-deposited collagen and that predominantly laiddown by myofibroblasts. Macrophage-specific targeting of col4a3bpa and cognate col4a1 in zebrafish significantly reduces scarring in cryoinjured hosts. Our findings contrast with the current model of scarring, whereby collagen deposition is exclusively attributed to myofibroblasts, and implicate macrophages as direct contributors to fibrosis during heart repair.

No abstract

cAMP/PKA signalling is compartmentalised with tight spatial and temporal control of signal propagation underpinning specificity of response. The cAMP-degrading enzymes, phosphodiesterases (PDEs), localise to specific subcellular domains within which they control local cAMP levels and are key regulators of signal compartmentalisation. Several components of the cAMP/PKA cascade are located to different mitochondrial sub-compartments, suggesting the presence of multiple cAMP/PKA signalling domains within the organelle. The function and regulation of these domains remain largely unknown. Here, we describe a novel cAMP/PKA signalling domain localised at mitochondrial membranes and regulated by PDE2A2. Using pharmacological and genetic approaches combined with real-time FRET imaging and high resolution microscopy, we demonstrate that in rat cardiac myocytes and other cell types mitochondrial PDE2A2 regulates local cAMP levels and PKA-dependent phosphorylation of Drp1. We further demonstrate that inhibition of PDE2A, by enhancing the hormone-dependent cAMP response locally, affects mitochondria dynamics and protects from apoptotic cell death.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.21374.001

Time-dependent Stokes shifts (TDSS) were measured for diverse polarity probes in water, heavy water, methanol, and benzonitrile, by broadband fluorescence up-conversion with 85 fs time resolution. In water the spectral dynamics is solute-independent and quantitatively described by simple dielectric continuum theory of solvation. In methanol the slower part of the TDSS is solute-dependent. A correlation with anisotropy decay suggests that methanol solvation dynamics is modulated by orientational solute diffusion. An empirical power law which links the solvation relaxation function of a mobile solute to that of an immobile solute is experimentally verified. Activation energies for the average relaxation rate are also given. Solvation dynamics in H(2)O and D(2)O are identical at and above 20 °C but diverge below.

Significance Antiretroviral therapy cannot eradicate HIV-1 because the virus can become transcriptionally inactive in resting memory CD4+ T cells (and other cell types), which are long-lived, thus generating a reservoir undetectable by the immune system. When therapy is stopped, the latent viral reservoir is activated and HIV-1 rebounds. Our understanding of HIV-1 latency and reactivation is incomplete. Here we report that the heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90) regulates HIV-1 reactivation from latency by controlling the NF-kB pathway. Therefore Hsp90 is a key molecule linking HIV-1 reactivation from latency to CD4+ T-cell activation. Selective Hsp90 inhibitors combined with PKC-ϑ inhibitors, all in phase II clinical trials, potently suppressed HIV-1 reactivation, thus Hsp90 may be a novel target to control HIV-1 latency.

Highlights d scRNA-seq uncovered 3 developmental epicardial subpopulations (Epi1-3) in the zebrafish d Epi1-specific gene, tgm2b, regulates the cell numbers in the main epicardial sheet d Epi2-specific gene, sema3fb, restricts the number of tbx18 + cells in the cardiac outflow tract d Epi3-specific gene, cxcl12a, guides ptprc/CD45 + myeloid cells to the developing heart

The 4-aminophthalimide C-nucleoside 1 was designed as an isosteric DNA base surrogate, and a synthetic route to nucleoside 1 together with the 2,4-diaminopyrimidine-C-nucleoside 2 as a potential counterbase was worked out. The key steps in both synthetic routes represent a stereoselective Heck-type palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling with 2'-deoxyribofuranoside glycal followed by stereoselective reduction with NaBH(OAc)3. The nucleoside 1 shows a solvatofluorochromic behavior and significantly red-shifted fluorescence in solvents of high polarity and with hydrogen bonding capabilities. Both nucleosides 1 and 2 can be further processed to the corresponding phosphoramidite as DNA building blocks that allow incorporation of these chromophores as artificial DNA bases by automated DNA synthesis. The combination of the poor stacking properties of 1 and the hydrogen bonding interface at the phthalimide functionality that does not fit to any of natural DNA bases in the counterstrand yields destabilization of the duplex by 4-11 °C. The fluorescence of 1 in a representative double stranded DNA is characterized by a large Stokes' shift and a quantum yield of approximately 12%. These are remarkable optical properties considering the very small size of the chromophore and indicate a high potential of these nucleoside analogues for fluorescent DNA analytics and imaging.

The DNase I accessibility and chromatin organization of genes within the nucleus do correlate to their transcriptional activity. Here, we show that both serum starvation and overexpression of Tip5, a key regulator of ribosomal RNA gene (rDNA) repression, dictate DNase I accessibility, facilitate the association of rDNA with the nuclear matrix and thus regulate large-scale rDNA chromatin organization. Tip5 contains four AT-hooks and a TAM (Tip5/ARBP/MBD) domain, which were proposed to bind matrix-attachment regions (MARs) of the genome. Remarkably, the TAM domain of Tip5 functions as nucleolar localization and nuclear matrix targeting module, whereas AT-hooks do not mediate association with the nuclear matrix, but they are required for nucleolar targeting. These findings suggest a dual role for Tip5’s AT-hooks and TAM domain, targeting the nucleolus and anchoring to the nuclear matrix, and suggest a function for Tip5 in the regulation of higher-order rDNA chromatin structure.