Adenosine deaminases acting on RNA (ADARs) are enzymes that convert adenosine to inosine in duplex RNA, a modification that exhibits a multitude of effects on RNA structure and function. Recent studies have identified ADAR1 as a potential cancer therapeutic target. ADARs are also important in the development of directed RNA editing therapeutics. A comprehensive understanding of the molecular mechanism of the ADAR reaction will advance efforts to develop ADAR inhibitors and new tools for directed RNA editing. Here we report the X-ray crystal structure of a fragment of human ADAR2 comprising its deaminase domain and double stranded RNA binding domain 2 (dsRBD2) bound to an RNA duplex as an asymmetric homodimer. We identified a highly conserved ADAR dimerization interface and validated the importance of these sequence elements on dimer formation via gel mobility shift assays and size exclusion chromatography. We also show that mutation in the dimerization interface inhibits editing in an RNA substrate-dependent manner for both ADAR1 and ADAR2.

Disease prevention through vaccination is considered to be the greatest contribution to public health over the past century. Every year more than 100 million children are vaccinated with the standard World Health Organization (WHO)-recommended vaccines including hepatitis B (HepB). HepB is the most serious type of liver infection caused by the hepatitis B virus (HBV), however, it can be prevented by currently available recombinant vaccine, which has an excellent record of safety and effectiveness. To date, recombinant vaccines are produced in many systems of bacteria, yeast, insect, and mammalian and plant cells. Among these platforms, the use of plant cells has received considerable attention in terms of intrinsic safety, scalability, and appropriate modification of target proteins. Research groups worldwide have attempted to develop more efficacious plant-derived vaccines for over 30 diseases, most frequently HepB and influenza. More inspiring, approximately 12 plant-made antigens have already been tested in clinical trials, with successful outcomes. In this study, the latest information from the last 10 years on plant-derived antigens, especially hepatitis B surface antigen, approaches are reviewed and breakthroughs regarding the weak points are also discussed.

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BackgroundThere are many non-cereal monocots of agronomic, horticultural, and biofuel importance. Successful transformation of these species requires an understanding of factors controlling expression of their genes. Introns have been known to affect both the level and tissue-specific expression of genes in dicots and cereal monocots, but there have been no studies on an intron isolated from a non-cereal monocot. This study characterizes the levels of GUS expression and levels of uidA mRNA that code for β-glucuronidase (GUS) expression in leaves of Gladiolus and Arabidopsis using GUBQ1, a polyubiquitin promoter with a 1.234 kb intron, isolated from the non-cereal monocot Gladiolus, and an intronless version of this promoter.ResultsGladiolus and Arabidopsis were verified by Southern hybridization to be transformed with the uidA gene that was under control of either the GUBQ1 promoter (1.9 kb), a 5′ GUBQ1 promoter missing its 1.234 kb intron (0.68 kb), or the CaMV 35 S promoter. Histochemical staining showed that GUS was expressed throughout leaves and roots of Gladiolus and Arabidopsis with the 1.9 kb GUBQ1 promoter. GUS expression was significantly decreased in Gladiolus and abolished in Arabidopsis when the 5′UTR-intron was absent. In Arabidopsis and Gladiolus, the presence of uidA mRNA was independent of the presence of the 5′UTR-intron. The 5′-UTR intron enhanced translation efficiency for both Gladiolus and Arabidopsis.ConclusionsThe GUBQ1 promoter directs high levels of GUS expression in young leaves of both Gladiolus and Arabidopsis. The 5′UTR-intron from GUBQ1 resulted in a similar pattern of β-glucuronidase translation efficiency for both species even though the intron resulted in different patterns of uidA mRNA accumulation for each species.

Conducting polypyrrole (PPy) nanowires (NWs) were irradiated by a relatively high energy (300 keV–2 MeV) electron-beam (e-beam) generated from a linear electron accelerator in an atmospheric environment. From the current-voltage characteristics of pristine and 2 MeV e-beam irradiated PPy NWs, we observed a dramatic variation in resistance from 8.0×102 to 1.45×108 Ω, that is, we observed a transition from conducting states to nonconducting states through the e-beam irradiation. To discern conformational changes and the doping states of PPy NWs through the e-beam irradiation, we measured Raman and ultraviolet-visible absorption spectra for the PPy NWs. As the energy of the e-beam irradiation increased, we observed that the PPy NWs were changed from doping states to dedoping states with conformational modification including the variation in π-conjugation length.

The colorectal carcinoma-associated protein GA733-2 is one of the representative candidate protein for the development of plant-derived colorectal cancer vaccine. Despite of its significant importance for colorectal vaccine development, low efficiency of GA733-2 production limits its wide applications. To improve productivity of GA733-2 in plants, we here tested multiple factors that affect expression of recombinant GA733-2 (rGA733-2) and rGA733 fused to fragment crystallizable (Fc) domain (rGA733-Fc) protein. The rGA733-2 and rGA733-Fc proteins were highly expressed when the pBINPLUS vector system was used for transient expression in tobacco plants. In addition, the length of interval between rGA733-2 and left border of T-DNA affected the expression of rGA733 protein. Transient expression analysis using various combinations of Agrobacterium tumefaciens strains (C58C1, LBA4404, and GV3101) and tobacco species (Nicotiana tabacum cv. Xanthi nc and Nicotiana benthamiana) revealed that higher accumulation of rGA733-2 and rGA733-Fc proteins were obtained by combination of A. tumefaciens LBA4404 and Nicotiana benthamiana. Transgenic plants generated by introduction of the rGA733-2 and rGA733-Fc expression cassettes also significantly accumulated corresponding recombinant proteins. Bioactivity and stability of the plant-derived rGA733 and rGA733-Fc were evaluated by further in vitro assay, western blot and N-glycosylation analysis. Collectively, we here suggest the optimal condition for efficient production of functional rGA733-2 protein in tobacco system.

We report a method to precisely quantify dielectrophoretic (DEP) forces and cutoff frequencies (fc) of viable and nonviable yeast cells. The method consists of a two-step process in which generated DEP forces act upon a cell through a micro-electrode device, followed by direct measurement of DEP forces using optical tweezers. DEP behaviors of viable and nonviable yeast cells are monitored as a function of AC frequency. We believe that the proposed method can be used as a powerful platform for cell-based assays to characterize the DEP behavior of various cell types including cancer and normal cells.

GA733-2, an epithelial cell adhesion molecule highly expressed at the human colorectal carcinoma cell surface, is a candidate protein for the development of a colorectal cancer preventive vaccine. In this study, a signal peptide and c-terminal transmembrane domain truncated GA733-2 was fused to a His-tag, and the recombinant protein (rGA733-2) was expressed in Escherichia coli Rosetta (DE3) pLysS. rGA733-2 was expressed in the form of inclusion bodies, and the protein was purified using either a serial dialyzed urea refolding method or metal ion exchange column after 8 M urea solubilization. The efficiency of rGA733-2 purification was increased three times using the urea refolding method compared to the column purification. A polyclonal antibody against the rGA733-2 was generated in rabbit using the refolded rGA733-2 as an antigen. The polyclonal antibodies (pAb rGA733-2) sensitively detected rGA733-2, which was heterologously expressed in bacteria and plants, and also detected native GA733-2 proteins in mouse and human cancer cells. pAb rGA733-2 showed high specificity against tobacco-expressed rGA733-2 in an immunoprecipitation assay. rGA733-2 and pAb rGA733-2 could serve as useful tools toward the development of a plant-derived colorectal cancer vaccine.