SummaryA single radish nuclear gene, Rfo, restores Ogura (ogu) cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) in Brassica napus. A map-based cloning approach relying on synteny between radish and Arabidopsis was used to clone Rfo. A radish gene encoding a 687-amino-acid protein with a predicted mitochondrial targeting pre-sequence was found to confer male fertility upon transformation into ogu CMS B. napus. This gene, like the recently described Petunia Rf gene, codes for a pentatricopeptide repeat (PPR)-containing protein with multiple, in this case 16, PPR domains. Two similar genes that do not appear to function as Rfo flank this gene.Comparison of the Rfo region with the syntenic Arabidopsis region indicates that a PPR gene is not present at the Rfo-equivalent site in Arabidopsis, although a smaller and related PPR gene is found about 40 kb from this site. The implications of these findings for the evolution of restorer genes and other PPR encoding genes are discussed.

SummaryThe Caulobacter crescentus replication initiator DnaA and essential response regulator CtrA compete to control chromosome replication. The C. crescentus replication origin (Cori ) contains five strong CtrA binding sites but only two apparent DnaA boxes, termed G-boxes (with a conserved second position G, TGATCCACA). Since clusters of DnaA boxes typify bacterial replication origins, this discrepancy suggested that C. crescentus DnaA recognizes different DNA sequences or compensates with novel DNAbinding proteins. We searched for novel DNA sites by scanning mutagenesis of the most conserved Cori DNA. Autonomous replication assays showed that G-boxes and novel W-boxes (TCCCCA) are essential for replication. Further analyses showed that C. crescentus DnaA binds G-boxes with moderate and W-boxes with very weak affinities significantly below DnaA's capacity for high-affinity Escherichia coli-boxes (TTATCCACA). Cori has five conserved W-boxes. Increasing W-box affinities increases or decreases autonomous replication depending on their strategic positions between the G-boxes. In vitro, CtrA binding displaces DnaA from proximal G-boxes and from distal W-boxes implying CtrA-DnaA competition and DnaA-DnaA cooperation between G-boxes and W-boxes. Similarly, during cell cycle progression, CtrA proteolysis coincides with DnaA binding to Cori. We also observe highly conserved W-boxes in other replication origins lacking E. coli-boxes. Therefore, strategically weak DnaA binding can be a general means of replication control.

It is not known how diverse bacteria regulate chromosome replication. Based on Escherichia coli studies, DnaA initiates replication and the homolog of DnaA (Hda) inactivates DnaA using the RIDA (regulatory inactivation of DnaA) mechanism that thereby prevents extra chromosome replication cycles. RIDA may be widespread, because the distantly related Caulobacter crescentus homolog HdaA also prevents extra chromosome replication (J. While most bacteria use the DnaA protein to initiate chromosome replication (1-3), bacteria responding to diverse environmental pressures probably evolved many different mechanisms to regulate DnaA and thereby adjust replication control to their specific needs (3-5). The model Gram-negative bacterium Caulobacter crescentus is found in nutrient-poor freshwater lakes and streams (6). C. crescentus evolved to divide asymmetrically, and it produces a motile "swarmer cell" and a nonmotile "stalked cell" after each cell division (6-8). Chromosome replication is coupled to this dimorphic cell division since only the stalked cells initiate chromosome replication, and the swarmer cells differentiate into stalked cells before they replicate their chromosomes (9-13). CtrA is a global response regulator protein that binds to and represses the C. crescentus origin of chromosome replication in the swarmer cells (10,(14)(15)(16). Competitive binding between CtrA and DnaA is a key mechanism of replication control that blocks replication in swarmer cells while allowing replication in the stalked cells (10,17). In addition to this dimorphic control, C. crescentus chromosome replication occurs once and only once per cell division cycle (18). However, CtrA activity does not block extra rounds of chromosome replication prior to cell division (16,19).Escherichia coli uses at least three mechanisms to block extra rounds of chromosome replication. As reviewed by Katayama and coworkers (20), E. coli possesses two mechanisms that restrict DnaA binding to the origin of replication (oriC) and one mechanism, termed RIDA (regulatory inactivation of DnaA), that inactivates DnaA. Of these three mechanisms, RIDA is the dominant mechanism in E. coli (20,21). E. coli DnaA binds ATP or ADP, but only the active DnaA-ATP form can initiate oriC replication. RIDA prevents overreplication by producing the inactive DnaA-ADP form. This is essentially a negative-feedback mechanism that Citation Wargachuk R, Marczynski GT. 2015. The Caulobacter crescentus homolog of DnaA (HdaA) also regulates the proteolysis of the replication initiator protein DnaA.

No abstract

No abstract

Trophoblast cell surface antigen-2 (TROP2) is a membrane-bound protein expressed during development and at lower levels in normal adult tissues. TROP2 has pleiotropic functions including formation of cell-cell junctions by mediating interactions with extracellular and intracellular proteins. In situations of TROP2 deficiency its role in normal tissues appears to be compensated by expression of EpCAM, a highly related family member. In cancer, the levels of TROP2 are increased in many epithelial tumor types. Overexpression of TROP2 confer oncogenic behavior in several in vitro and in vivo models. Both its extracellular and intracellular domains play a role in modulating interactions with ligands and/or receptors and with intracellular signaling partners to result in an oncogenic phenotype. In many solid tumors TROP2 upregulation is associated with increased tumor aggressiveness, metastasis, and decreased survival in large groups of difficult-to-treat cancers, making it an attractive target for cancer therapy. TROP2-based ADCs have been developed and one has been approved for therapeutic use in triple negative breast cancer and advanced bladder cancer. The toxicity associated with the toxin payload limits their use including in combination with chemotherapy in the earlier lines of treatment, and by the development of resistance to the payload. We isolated several anti-TROP2 heavy chain-only antibodies (HCAb) by immunization of a proprietary transgenic HCAb mouse. In this abstract, we describe the properties and activity of several of these antibodies. These antibodies are characterized by potent in vivo antitumor activity in established tumor models in NCG mice in the absence of ADCC, and by the inhibition of tumor cell viability in vitro, directly and in the absence of any effector cells. In NCG mice, which are characterized by a short antibody half-life, anti-TROP2 HCAbs displayed a T1/2 of approximately 3.5 days. These antibodies displayed very potent anti-tumor activity in established tumor xenograft models, causing tumor regression at 2 mg/kg and 80% TGI at 0.5 mg/kg in NCG mice when administered once per week. They also caused tumor regression when dosed once every three weeks in NCG mice and in tumors of very large sizes. Therefore, these antibodies directly target one or more aspects of TROP2 tumor biology that have a profound and long-lasting effect on the cancer cells. Upon glycoengineering, the afucosylated version of the antibodies displayed a strongly enhanced ADCC activity. In vitro they are characterized by different internalization rates which define several non-overlapping epitopes on TROP2. They are characterized by picomolar binding affinity to recombinant human TROP2 as determined by SPR. These antibodies bind with greater affinity to human and cyno but bind poorly to mouse, rat and rabbit. These potent naked TROP2 antibodies represent new opportunities to address TROP2 expressing cancers. Citation Format: Israel Matos, Yahya Ashraf, Hiba Zahreddine, Liying Gong, Amanda Baumholtz, Alex Zhou, Claire Bonfils, Aniel Moya-Torres, Yun Cui, Xiaowei Wang, Richard Wargachuk, Tiffany Cheng, Elijus Undzys, Shugang Yao, Jacynthe Linda Tolouse, Dominic Hou, Gordon Ngan, Luis daCruz, David Young. Discovery of novel functional TROP2 antibodies for treatment of epithelial cancers [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2022; 2022 Apr 8-13. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(12_Suppl):Abstract nr 324.