The recently described junctional adhesion molecules (JAMs) in man and mice are involved in homotypic and heterotypic intercellular interactions. Here, a third member of this family, human JAM-3, was identified and described as a novel counterreceptor on platelets for the leukocyte β2-integrin Mac-1 (αMβ2, CD11b/CD18). With the help of two monoclonal antibodies, Gi11 and Gi13, against a 43-kD surface glycoprotein on human platelets, a full-length cDNA encoding JAM-3 was identified. JAM-3 is a type I transmembrane glycoprotein containing two Ig-like domains. Although JAM-3 did not undergo homophilic interactions, myelo-monocytic cells adhered to immobilized JAM-3 or to JAM-3–transfected cells. This heterophilic interaction was specifically attributed to a direct interaction of JAM-3 with the β2-integrin Mac-1 and to a lower extent with p150.95 (αXβ2, CD11c/CD18) but not with LFA-1 (αLβ2, CD11a/CD18) or with β1-integrins. These results were corroborated by analysis of K562 erythroleukemic cells transfected with different heterodimeric β2-integrins and by using purified proteins. Moreover, purified JAM-3 or antibodies against JAM-3 blocked the platelet-neutrophil interaction, indicating that platelet JAM-3 serves as a counterreceptor for Mac-1 mediating leukocyte–platelet interactions. JAM-3 thereby provides a novel molecular target for antagonizing interactions between vascular cells that promote inflammatory vascular pathologies such as in atherothrombosis.

Escherichia coli grew in a minimal medium on propionate as the sole carbon and energy source. Initially a lag phase of 4-7 days was observed. Cells adapted to propionate still required 1-2 days before growth commenced. Incorporation of (2-13C), (3-13C) or (2H3)propionate into alanine revealed by NMR that propionate was oxidized to pyruvate without randomisation of the carbon skeleton and excluded pathways in which the methyl group was transiently converted to a methylene group. Extracts of propionate-grown cells contained a specific enzyme that catalyses the condensation of propionyl-CoA with oxaloacetate, most probably to methylcitrate. The enzyme was purified and identified as the already-known citrate synthase II. By 2-D gel electrophoresis, the formation of a second propionate-specific enzyme with sequence similarities to isocitrate lyases was detected. The genes of both enzymes were located in a putative operon with high identities (at least 76% on the protein level) with the very recently discovered prp operon from Salmonella typhimurium. The results indicate that E. coli oxidises propionate to pyruvate via the methylcitrate cycle known from yeast. The 13C patterns of aspartate and glutamate are consistent with the further oxidation of pyruvate to acetyl-CoA. Oxaloacetate is predominantly generated via the glyoxylate cycle rather than by carboxylation of phosphoenolpyruvate.

Arginine methylation is a post-translational modification found mostly in RNA-binding proteins. Poly(A)-binding protein II from calf thymus was shown by mass spectrometry and sequencing to contain N G ,N G -dimethylarginine at 13 positions in its amino acid sequence. Two additional arginine residues were partially methylated. Almost all of the modified residues were found in Arg-Xaa-Arg clusters in the C terminus of the protein. These motifs are distinct from Arg-Gly-Gly motifs that have been previously described as sites and specificity determinants for asymmetric arginine dimethylation. Poly(A)-binding protein II and deletion mutants expressed in Escherichia coli were in vitro substrates for two mammalian protein arginine methyltransferases, PRMT1 and PRMT3, with S-adenosyl-L-methionine as the methyl group donor. Both PRMT1 and PRMT3 specifically methylated arginines in the C-terminal domain corresponding to the naturally modified sites.

Thermolysin-like metalloproteinases such as aureolysin, pseudolysin, and bacillolysin represent virulence factors of diverse bacterial pathogens. Recently, we discovered that injection of thermolysin into larvae of the greater wax moth, Galleria mellonella, mediated strong immune responses. Thermolysin-mediated proteolysis of hemolymph proteins yielded a variety of small-sized (<3 kDa) protein fragments (protfrags) that are potent elicitors of innate immune responses. In this study, we report the activation of a serine proteinase cascade by thermolysin, as described for bacterial lipopolysaccharides (LPS), that results in subsequent prophenoloxidase activation leading to melanization, an elementary immune defense reaction of insects. Quantitative real-time reverse transcription-PCR analyses of the expression of immune-related genes encoding the inducible metalloproteinase inhibitor, gallerimycin, and lysozyme demonstrated increased transcriptional rates after challenge with purified protfrags similar to rates after challenge with LPS. Additionally, we determined the induction of a similar spectrum of immune-responsive proteins that were secreted into the hemolymph by using comparative proteomic analyses of hemolymph proteins from untreated larvae and from larvae that were challenged with either protfrags or LPS. Since G. mellonella was recently established as a valuable pathogenicity model for Cryptococcus neoformans infection, the present results add to our understanding of the mechanisms of immune responses in G. mellonella. The obtained results support the proposed danger model, which suggests that the immune system senses endogenous alarm signals during infection besides recognition of microbial pattern molecules.

The cellular polypyrimidine tract-binding protein (PTB) is recruited by the genomic RNAs of picornaviruses to stimulate translation initiation at their internal ribosome entry site (IRES) elements. We investigated the contribution of the individual RNA recognition motif (RRM) domains of PTB to its interaction with the IRES of foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV). Using a native gel system, we found that PTB is a monomer, confirming recent reports that challenged the previous view that PTB is a dimer. Mapping the spatial orientation of PTB relative to the bound IRES RNA, we found that the two C-terminal RRM domains III and IV of PTB bind in an oriented way to the IRES. Domain III contacts the IRES stem-loop 2, while domain IV contacts the separate IRES 3¢ region. PTB domain I appears not to be involved directly in RNA binding, but domain II stabilizes the RNA binding conferred by domains III and IV. A PTB protein containing only these two C-terminal PTB domains is sufficient to enhance the entry of initiation factor eIF4G to the IRES and stimulate IRES activity, and the long-lived PTB-IRES interaction stabilized by domain II is not a prerequisite for this function. Thus, PTB most likely acts as an RNA chaperone to stabilize IRES structure and, in that way, augment IRES activity.