A new approach towards the design of folic acid conjugated magnetic nanoparticles for enhancing their site specific intracellular uptake against a folate receptor overexpressing cancer cells is reported. Magnetite nanoparticles were prepared by coprecipitation from an Fe3+ and Fe2+ solution followed by surface modification with 2-carboxyethyl phosphonic acid to form carboxyl group terminated nanoparticles. Then folic acid and fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) were conjugated with carboxylic acid functionalized magnetite nanoparticles using 2,2′-(ethylenedioxy)-bis-ethylamine. These folate-conjugated nanoparticles were characterized in terms of their size by dynamic light scattering (DLS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Surface functional groups and surface composition were analyzed by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), respectively. Vibration sample magnetometry (VSM) measurements showed the superparamagnetic nature of the particles at room temperature. Folate-conjugated magnetic nanoparticles are noncytotoxic and receptor mediated internalization by HeLa and B16 melanoma F0 cancer cells was confirmed by flow cytometry and confocal microscopy.

The cyst wall of Entamoeba invadens (Ei), a model for the human pathogen Entamoeba histolytica, is composed of fibrils of chitin and three chitin-binding lectins called Jacob, Jessie3, and chitinase. Here we show chitin, which was detected with wheat germ agglutinin, is made in secretory vesicles prior to its deposition on the surface of encysting Ei. Jacob lectins, which have tandemly arrayed chitin-binding domains (CBDs), and chitinase, which has an N-terminal CBD, were each made early during encystation. These results are consistent with their hypothesized roles in cross-linking chitin fibrils (Jacob lectins) and remodeling the cyst wall (chitinase). Jessie3 lectins likely form the mortar or daub of the cyst wall, because 1) Jessie lectins were made late during encystation; 2) the addition to Jessie lectins to the cyst wall correlated with a marked decrease in the permeability of cysts to nucleic acid stains (DAPI) and actin-binding heptapeptide (phalloidin); and 3) recombinant Jessie lectins, expressed as a maltose-binding proteins in the periplasm of Escherichia coli, caused transformed bacteria to agglutinate in suspension and form a hard pellet that did not dissociate after centrifugation. Jessie3 appeared as linear forms and rosettes by negative staining of secreted recombinant proteins. These findings provide evidence for a “wattle and daub” model of the Entamoeba cyst wall, where the wattle or sticks (chitin fibrils likely cross-linked by Jacob lectins) is constructed prior to the addition of the mortar or daub (Jessie3 lectins).

Entamoeba histolytica is a microaerophilic protozoan parasite in which neither mitochondria nor mitochondrion-derived organelles have been previously observed. Recently, a segment of an E. histolytica gene was identified that encoded a protein similar to the mitochondrial 60-kDa heat shock protein (Hsp60 or chaperonin 60), which refolds nuclear-encoded proteins after passage through organellar membranes. The possible function and localization of the amebic Hsp60 were explored here. Like Hsp60 of mitochondria, amebic Hsp60 RNA and protein were both strongly induced by incubating parasites at 42°C. 5 and 3 rapid amplifications of cDNA ends were used to obtain the entire E. histolytica hsp60 coding region, which predicted a 536-aminoacid Hsp60. The E. histolytica hsp60 gene protected from heat shock Escherichia coli groEL mutants, demonstrating the chaperonin function of the amebic Hsp60. The E. histolytica Hsp60, which lacked characteristic carboxy-terminal Gly-Met repeats, had a 21-amino-acid amino-terminal, organelle-targeting presequence that was cleaved in vivo. This presequence was necessary to target Hsp60 to one (and occasionally two or three) short, cylindrical organelle(s). In contrast, amebic alcohol dehydrogenase 1 and ferredoxin, which are bacterialike enzymes, were diffusely distributed throughout the cytosol. We suggest that the Hsp60-associated, mitochondrion-derived organelle identified here be named "crypton," as its structure was previously hidden and its function is still cryptic.

Recently, nanoscale metal organic frameworks (NMOFs) have been demonstrated as a promising carrier for drug delivery, as they possess many advantages like large surface area, high porosity, and tunable functionality. However, there are no reports about the functionalization of NMOFs, which combines cancer-targeted drug delivery/imaging, magnetic property, high drug loading content, and pH-sensitive drug release into one system. Existing formulations for integrating target molecules into NMOF are based on multistep synthetic processes. However, in this study, we report an approach that combines NMOF (IRMOF-3) synthesis and target molecule (Folic acid) encapsulation on the surface of chitosan modified magnetic nanoparticles in a single step. A noticeable feature of chitosan is control and pH responsive drug release for several days. More importantly, doxorubicin (DOX) was incorporated into magnetic NMOF formulation and showed high drug loading (1.63 g DOX g(-1) magnetic NMOFs). To demonstrate the optical imaging, carbon dots (CDs) are encapsulated into the synthesized magnetic NMOF, thereby endowing fluorescence features to the nanoparticles. These folate targeted magnetic NMOF possess more specific cellular internalization toward folate-overexpressed cancer (HeLa) cells in comparison to normal (L929) cells.

The infectious stage of amebae is the chitin-walled cyst, which is resistant to stomach acids. In this study an extraordinarily abundant, encystation-specific glycoprotein (Jacob) was identified on two-dimensional protein gels of cyst walls purified from Entamoeba invadens. Jacob, which was acidic and had an apparent molecular mass of ϳ100 kDa, contained sugars that bound to concanavalin A and ricin. The jacob gene encoded a 45-kDa protein with a ladder-like series of five Cys-rich domains. These Cys-rich domains were reminiscent of but not homologous to the Cys-rich chitin-binding domains of insect chitinases and peritrophic matrix proteins that surround the food bolus in the insect gut. Jacob bound purified chitin and chitin remaining in sodium dodecyl sulfate-treated cyst walls. Conversely, the E. histolytica plasma membrane Gal/GalNAc lectin bound sugars of intact cyst walls and purified Jacob. In the presence of galactose, E. invadens formed wall-less cysts, which were quadranucleate and contained Jacob and chitinase (another encystation-specific protein) in secretory vesicles. A galactose lectin was found to be present on the surface of wall-less cysts, which phagocytosed bacteria and mucin-coated beads. These results suggest that the E. invadens cyst wall forms when the plasma membrane galactose lectin binds sugars on Jacob, which in turn binds chitin via its five chitin-binding domains.

The silk protein sericin has been identified as a potent antioxidant and photoprotective agent against ultraviolet B (UVB) irradiation in mouse skin model. In this study, we have investigated the anti-apoptotic effect of sericin in UVB (30 mJ/cm2)-irradiated human keratinocytes. Flow cytometry analysis has shown that pre-treatment with sericin inhibits UVB-induced apoptosis. The pre-treatment with sericin suppresses bax expression, up-regulates the expression of bcl-2, prevents both the activation of caspase-3 and cleavage of Poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase. Generation of intracellular hydrogen peroxide in UVB-treated keratinocytes is inhibited through pre-treatment with sericin suggesting that sericin probably prevents mitochondrial damage.

Entamoeba histolytica is an amitochondriate protozoan parasite with numerous bacterium-like fermentation enzymes including the pyruvate:ferredoxin oxidoreductase (POR), ferredoxin (FD), and alcohol dehydrogenase E (ADHE). The goal of this study was to determine whether the genes encoding these cytosolic E. histolytica fermentation enzymes might derive from a bacterium by horizontal transfer, as has previously been suggested for E. histolytica genes encoding heat shock protein 60, nicotinamide nucleotide transhydrogenase, and superoxide dismutase. In this study, the E. histolytica por gene and the adhE gene of a second amitochondriate protozoan parasite, Giardia lamblia, were sequenced, and their phylogenetic positions were estimated in relation to POR, ADHE, and FD cloned from eukaryotic and eubacterial organisms. The E. histolytica por gene encodes a 1,620-amino-acid peptide that contained conserved iron-sulfur-and thiamine pyrophosphate-binding sites. The predicted E. histolytica POR showed fewer positional identities to the POR of G. lamblia (34%) than to the POR of the enterobacterium Klebsiella pneumoniae (49%), the cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. (44%), and the protozoan Trichomonas vaginalis (46%), which targets its POR to anaerobic organelles called hydrogenosomes. Maximum-likelihood, neighbor-joining, and parsimony analyses also suggested as less likely E. histolytica POR sharing more recent common ancestry with G. lamblia POR than with POR of bacteria and the T. vaginalis hydrogenosome. The G. lamblia adhE encodes an 888-amino-acid fusion peptide with an aldehyde dehydrogenase at its amino half and an iron-dependent (class 3) ADH at its carboxy half. The predicted G. lamblia ADHE showed extensive positional identities to ADHE of Escherichia coli (49%), Clostridium acetobutylicum (44%), and E. histolytica (43%) and lesser identities to the class 3 ADH of eubacteria and yeast (19 to 36%). Phylogenetic analyses inferred a closer relationship of the E. histolytica ADHE to bacterial ADHE than to the G. lamblia ADHE. The 6-kDa FD of E. histolytica and G. lamblia were most similar to those of the archaebacterium Methanosarcina barkeri and the ␦-purple bacterium Desulfovibrio desulfuricans, respectively, while the 12-kDa FD of the T. vaginalis hydrogenosome was most similar to the 12-kDa FD of ␥-purple bacterium Pseudomonas putida. E. histolytica genes (and probably G. lamblia genes) encoding fermentation enzymes therefore likely derive from bacteria by horizontal transfer, although it is not clear from which bacteria these amebic genes derive. These are the first nonorganellar fermentation enzymes of eukaryotes implicated to have derived from bacteria.The endosymbiont hypothesis or serial endosymbiosis theory, one of the most exciting ideas in evolutionary biology, postulates that the mitochondria and chloroplasts of eukaryotic cells derive from an endocytosed ␣-purple bacterium and cyanobacterium, respectively ( Fig. 1) (18,19,35,63). Although bacterial rRNA genes as well as those encoding some structural protei...

Infections with Giardia lamblia, Entamoeba histolytica, and Trichomonas vaginalis, which cause diarrhea, dysentery, and vaginitis, respectively, are each treated with metronidazole. Here we show that Giardia, Entamoeba, and Trichomonas have oxygen-insensitive nitroreductase (ntr) genes which are homologous to those genes that have nonsense mutations in metronidazole-resistant Helicobacter pylori isolates. Entamoeba and Trichomonas also have nim genes which are homologous to those genes expressed in metronidazole-resistant Bacteroides fragilis isolates. Recombinant Giardia, Entamoeba, and Trichomonas nitroreductases used NADH rather than the NADPH used by Helicobacter, and two recombinant Entamoeba nitroreductases increased the metronidazole sensitivity of transformed Escherichia coli strains. Conversely, the recombinant nitroimidazole reductases (NIMs) of Entamoeba and Trichmonas conferred very strong metronidazole resistance to transformed bacteria. The Ehntr1 gene of the genome project HM-1:IMSS strain of Entamoeba histolytica had a nonsense mutation, and the same nonsense mutation was present in 3 of 22 clinical isolates of Entamoeba. While ntr and nim mRNAs were variably expressed by cultured Entamoeba and Trichomonas isolates, there was no relationship to metronidazole sensitivity. We conclude that microaerophilic protists have bacterium-like enzymes capable of activating metronidazole (nitroreductases) and inactivating metronidazole (NIMs). While Entamoeba and Trichomonas displayed some of the changes (nonsense mutations and gene overexpression) associated with metronidazole resistance in bacteria, these changes did not confer metronidazole resistance to the microaerophilic protists examined here.