Cell Biology Commons^™

Ultrafine Carbon Nanoparticles Activate Inflammasome Signaling And Cell Death In Murine Macrophages, Alexander Soloniuk, Hadley Lamascus, Jay Brewster, John Mann

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

Carbon black (CB) is the primary nanoparticulate component of air pollution from fossil fuel combustion. This work examines the cellular impact of ultrafine carbon (carbon black, CB) nanoparticles, that range in size down to 30 nm, upon murine macrophages. The size analysis of the carbon black nanoparticles was performed using atomic force microscopy (AFM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) techniques. RAW246.7 macrophage cells were exposed to CB doses ranging from 50 – 200 ug/ml in complete media. Analysis of cell survival over time revealed elevated rates of significant nuclear degradation and cell lifting after 48 hours of exposure, and ...

Molecular Basis For Strain Variation In The S. Cerevisiae Adhesion Flo11p, Li Li Ph.D., Subit Barua, Peter N. Lipke, Anne M. Dranginis

Li Li

FLO11 encodes a yeast cell wall flocculin that mediates a variety of adhesive phenotypes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Flo11p is implicated in many developmental processes, including flocculation, formation of pseudohyphae, agar invasion, and formation of microbial mats and biofilms. However, Flo11p mediates different processes in different yeast strains. To investigate the mechanisms by which FLO11 determines these differences in colony morphology, flocculation, and invasion, we studied gene structure, function, and expression levels. Nonflocculent Saccharomyces cerevisiae Σ1278b cells exhibited significantly higher FLO11mRNA expression, especially in the stationary phase, than highly flocculent S. cerevisiae var. diastaticus. The two strains varied in cell ...

Expression And Characterization Of The Flocculin Flo11/Muc1, A Yeast Mannoprotein With Homotypic Properties Of Adhesion, Li Li Ph.D., Lois M. Douglas, Yang Yang, A M. Dranginis

Li Li

The Flo11/Muc1 flocculin has diverse phenotypic effects. Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells of strain background Σ1278b require Flo11p to form pseudohyphae, invade agar, adhere to plastic, and develop biofilms, but they do not flocculate. We show that S. cerevisiae var. diastaticusstrains, on the other hand, exhibit Flo11-dependent flocculation and biofilm formation but do not invade agar or form pseudohyphae. In order to study the nature of the Flo11p proteins produced by these two types of strains, we examined secreted Flo11p, encoded by a plasmid-borne gene, in which the glycosylphosphatidylinositol anchor sequences had been replaced by a histidine tag. A protein ...

Endosome To Golgi Retrieval Of The Vacuolar Protein Sorting Receptor, Vps10p, Requires The Function Of The Vps29, Vps30, And Vps35 Gene Products, Matthew N. J. Seaman, Eric G. Marcusson, Joan Lin-Cereghino, Scott D. Emr

Joan Lin-Cereghino

Mutations in the S. cerevisiae VPS29 and VPS30 genes lead to a selective protein sorting defect in which the vacuolar protein carboxypeptidase Y (CPY) is missorted and secreted from the cell, while other soluble vacuolar hydrolases like proteinase A (PrA) are delivered to the vacuole. This phenotype is similar to that seen in cells with mutations in the previously characterized VPS10 and VPS35 genes. Vps10p is a late Golgi transmembrane protein that acts as the sorting receptor for soluble vacuolar hydrolases like CPY and PrA, while Vps35p is a peripheral membrane protein which cofractionates with membranes enriched in Vps10p. The ...

Receptor Interacting Protein Kinase 3 (Rip3) Regulates Ipscs Generation Through Modulating Cell Cycle Progression Genes, Ahmad Al-Moujahed, Bo Tian, Nikolaos E. Efstathiou, Eleni K. Konstantinou, Mien Hoang, Haijiang Lin, Joan W. Miller, Demetrios G. Vavvas

Open Access Articles

The molecular mechanisms involved in induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) generation are poorly understood. The cell death machinery of apoptosis-inducing caspases have been shown to facilitate the process of iPSCs reprogramming. However, the effect of other cell death processes, such as programmed necrosis (necroptosis), on iPSCs induction has not been studied. In this study, we investigated the role of receptor-interacting protein kinase 3 (RIP3), an essential regulator of necroptosis, in reprogramming mouse embryonic fibroblast cells (MEFs) into iPSCs. RIP3 was found to be upregulated in iPSCs compared to MEFs. Deletion of RIP3 dramatically suppressed the reprogramming of iPSCs (~82%). RNA-seq ...

Huntingtin Associates With The Actin Cytoskeleton And Alpha-Actinin Isoforms To Influence Stimulus Dependent Morphology Changes, Adelaide Tousley, Maria Iuliano, Elizabeth Weisman, Ellen Sapp, Heather Richardson, Petr Vodicka, Jonathan Alexander, Neil Aronin, Marian Difiglia, Kimberly B. Kegel-Gleason

Open Access Articles

One response of cells to growth factor stimulus involves changes in morphology driven by the actin cytoskeleton and actin associated proteins which regulate functions such as cell adhesion, motility and in neurons, synaptic plasticity. Previous studies suggest that Huntingtin may be involved in regulating morphology however, there has been limited evidence linking endogenous Huntingtin localization or function with cytoplasmic actin in cells. We found that depletion of Huntingtin in human fibroblasts reduced adhesion and altered morphology and these phenotypes were made worse with growth factor stimulation, whereas the presence of the Huntington's Disease mutation inhibited growth factor induced changes ...

Alpha-Synuclein Toxicity Is Caused By Mitochondrial Dysfunction, Michael G. Tauro

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder, affecting roughly 1% of the population over the age of sixty years. Alpha-synuclein (aSyn) is a protein implicated in both familial and idiopathic forms of PD, yet despite the wealth of data implicating aSyn as a causative agent in PD, the mechanisms underlying its toxicity remain mostly unknown. Mitochondrial dysfunction is a major hallmark of PD, yet there is only limited evidence linking aSyn toxicity to mitochondrial dysfunction. My study establishes a novel aSyn model in respiring yeast cells, which allows me to explore how aSyn affects mitochondrial homeostasis ...

Exploring The Ipf Lung Through The Lens Of Single Cell Rna Sequencing, Taylor Adams, Jonas Schupp

Yale Day of Data

This poster illustrates the differences between the IPF disease-specific variety of lung macrophages and the two varieties of macrophages known to reside in the normal human lung.

The Role Of Serum Histones In Canine Heat Stroke, Jenna Acutt

Scripps Senior Theses

Rising temperatures all over the world has correlated with more frequent heat stroke related injuries and death. This statistic not only applies to humans, but to canines as well, who have similar body temperature thresholds. Recent studies have demonstrated that serum histones, released after cell death from heat stroke, play a role in heat stroke related injuries and death. This proposal aims to determine the severity of the effects caused by serum histone release after heat stroke by exposing selected canine cell lines to cell lysate and purified histones H2A, H2B, H3, and H4, which have been found to be ...

Vitamin D Receptor Gene Polymorphisms Knowledge And Breast Cancer In Texas, Ejike Roland Egwuekwe

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Breast cancer is a world health problem and is a leading cause of cancer-related death among women in the United States. However, breast cancer risks were reported to be reduced through exposure to Vitamin D through its Receptors identified as the p53 target gene. The purpose of this study was to assess the associations between VDR gene polymorphisms knowledge/awareness and decisions to reduce breast cancer risks and likelihood of mammogram screening among women in Texas. Data from survey were used. Roy adaptation model was the theoretical framework that guided this quasi- experimental, quantitative research. The dependent variables were decisions ...

Mechanisms And Immunogenicity Of Nspef-Induced Cell Death In B16f10 Melanoma Tumors, Alessandra Rossi, Olga N. Pakhomova, Andrei G. Pakhomov, Samantha Weygandt, Anna A. Bulysheva, Len E. Murray, Peter A. Mollica, Claudia Muratori

Bioelectrics Publications

Accumulating data indicates that some cancer treatments can restore anticancer immunosurveillance through the induction of tumor immunogenic cell death (ICD). Nanosecond pulsed electric fields (nsPEF) have been shown to efficiently ablate melanoma tumors. In this study we investigated the mechanisms and immunogenicity of nsPEF-induced cell death in B16F10 melanoma tumors. Our data show that in vitro nsPEF (20-200, 200-ns pulses, 7 kV/cm, 2 Hz) caused a rapid dose-dependent cell death which was not accompanied by caspase activation or PARP cleavage. The lack of nsPEF-induced apoptosis was confirmed in vivo in B16F10 tumors. NsPEF also failed to trigger ICD-linked responses ...

Hla-Do Modulates The Diversity Of The Mhc-Ii Self-Peptidome, Padma P. Nanaware, Mollie M. Jurewicz, John D. Leszyk, Scott A. Shaffer, Lawrence J. Stern

Open Access Articles

Presentation of antigenic peptides on MHC-II molecules is essential for tolerance to self and for initiation of immune responses against foreign antigens. DO (HLA-DO in humans, H2-O in mice) is a non-classical MHC-II protein that has been implicated in control of autoimmunity and regulation of neutralizing antibody responses to viruses. These effects likely are related to a role of DO in selecting MHC-II epitopes, but previous studies examining the effect of DO on presentation of selected CD4 T cell epitopes have been contradictory. To understand how DO modulates MHC-II antigen presentation, we characterized the full spectrum of peptides presented by ...

Manganese Influx And Expression Of Zip8 Is Essential In Primary Myoblasts And Contributes To Activation Of Sod2, Shellaina J. V. Gordon, Daniel E. Fenker, Katherine E. Vest, Teresita Padilla-Benavides

University of Massachusetts Medical School Faculty Publications

Trace elements such as copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), iron (Fe), and manganese (Mn) are enzyme cofactors and second messengers in cell signaling. Trace elements are emerging as key regulators of differentiation and development of mammalian tissues including blood, brain, and skeletal muscle. We previously reported an influx of Cu and dynamic expression of various metal transporters during differentiation of skeletal muscle cells. Here, we demonstrate that during differentiation of skeletal myoblasts an increase of additional trace elements such as Mn, Fe and Zn occurs. Interestingly the Mn increase is concomitant with increased Mn-dependent SOD2 levels. To better understand the Mn ...

The Effects Of Sugars On Lactobacillus Casei Growth, Alexis Felty, Sidney Gerkin, Taylor Kowalski, Parker Williams

Undergraduate Research Symposium (URS)

The Western culture tends to deem the Eastern culture as obese and unhealthy due to the large amounts of saturated fats and abundance of sugars that it consumes. Some studies argue that Lactobacillus casei can alter health and researchers are attempting to prove that different sugars, natural or artificial, have different effects on the growth of L. casei [1]. L. casei was chosen as the experimental model due to easily replicable growing conditions and the importance of the bacteria in the gut microbiome.

Sugar-bacteria solutions were created and their turbidities were taken to quantify the amount of bacteria growth after ...

Analyzing The Efficacy Of Natural Baby Soaps For The Elimination Of Bacterial Colonization On Bath Toys, Abigail Rost, Jacqueline Benitez, Mira Nicpon, Katelyn Mclaughlin

Undergraduate Research Symposium (URS)

Recent studies have discovered that water-retaining bath toys harbor a high amount of potential pathogens due to available nutrients in baby soaps. Unfortunately , these bath toys can be a source for infection or disease for the children playing with them. In order to investigate the efficacy of baby soaps on the elimination of bacteria on bath toys, rubber ducks were coated with E. coli and then were washed with an organic or non-organic baby soap. It was hypothesized that organic soap would be more efficient at eliminating bacteria due to its antibacterial properties. Through this experiment, it was found that ...

Vitamin E: A Possible Preventative Measure For Cte, Dylan Roth, Cameron Dargis

Undergraduate Research Symposium (URS)

Introduction

This experiment is aimed to aide all future athletes.

•The brain injury known as CTE can only be diagnosed after death and upon autopsy.

•Upon research, what causes this is non-heme Iron deposits in the brain cause radical oxygen species that damage the nerve cells.

•Causes many different mental and physical problems

•Research on Vitamin E showed that it can accept radical oxygen species and increase neurological health.

•We will be testing these affects on yeast samples

Hypothesis

If yeast is treated with Vitamin E before being exposed to radical oxygen species via non-heme iron, then it will have ...

Investigating The Impact Of Oxidative Stress On Tetrahymena Thermophila Sirtuin,Thd 18, Emmanuel Dubuisson

Publications and Research

Sirtuins are a family of enzymes that fulfill various important biological functions. Investigators have looked for the implication of Sirtuin genes in cell signaling mechanisms, in the formation and silencing of heterochromatin, in the regulation of ion channels, and in the modulation of the cellular redox reactions[2]. Different model organisms have been previously used to conduct these studies; among them, there are yeasts, nematodes, and fruit flies. Each one has made some valuable contribution into the vast body of knowledge related to this field.

However, gaps in the understanding of Sirtuins functions still remain to be filled. In this ...

Trisomy Silencing By Xist Normalizes Down Syndrome Cell Pathogenesis Demonstrated For Hematopoietic Defects In Vitro, Jen-Chieh Chiang, Jun Jiang, Peter E. Newburger, Jeanne B. Lawrence

Open Access Articles

We previously demonstrated that an integrated XIST transgene can broadly repress one chromosome 21 in Down syndrome (DS) pluripotent cells. Here we address whether trisomy-silencing can normalize cell function and development sufficiently to correct cell pathogenesis, tested in an in vitro model of human fetal hematopoiesis, for which DS cellular phenotypes are best known. XIST induction in four transgenic clones reproducibly corrected over-production of megakaryocytes and erythrocytes, key to DS myeloproliferative disorder and leukemia. A contrasting increase in neural stem and iPS cells shows cell-type specificity, supporting this approach successfully rebalances the hematopoietic developmental program. Given this, we next used ...

Two Contrasting Classes Of Nucleolus-Associated Domains In Mouse Fibroblast Heterochromatin, Anastassiia Vertii, Jianhong Ou, Jun Yu, Aimin Yan, Hervé Pagès, Haibo Liu, Lihua Julie Zhu, Paul D. Kaufman

University of Massachusetts Medical School Faculty Publications

In interphase eukaryotic cells, almost all heterochromatin is located adjacent to the nucleolus or to the nuclear lamina, thus defining Nucleolus Associated Domains (NADs) and Lamina Associated Domains (LADs), respectively. Here, we determined the first genome-scale map of murine NADs in mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) via deep sequencing of chromatin associated with purified nucleoli. We developed a Bioconductor package called NADfinder and demonstrated that it identifies NADs more accurately than other peak-calling tools, due to its critical feature of chromosome-level local baseline correction. We detected two distinct classes of NADs. Type I NADs associate frequently with both the nucleolar periphery ...

Regulator Of G Protein Signaling 2 (Rgs2) In Preeclampsia: Association, Consequence, And Cause, Katherine Perschbacher

Theses and Dissertations

Increased signaling of various hormones through their cognate G Protein-Coupled Receptors (GPCRs), including the angiotensin, endothelin, and vasopressin systems, are implicated in human preeclampsia (PreE) and animal models of the disorder. Cascade-specific termination of GPCR signaling following receptor activation is catalyzed by the Regulator of G protein Signaling (RGS) family members. Within the RGS B/R4 family, RGS5 and RGS2 are implicated in human PreE and gestational hypertensive disorders. Mutations within the RGS2 gene, a B/R4 RGS member, are associated with human hypertensive populations and increased risk of developing PreE and its sequelae. Given the role for the placenta ...