Project description:Given that transition metals are essential cofactors in central biological processes, misallocation of the wrong metal ion to a metalloprotein can have resounding and often detrimental effects on diverse aspects of cellular physiology. Therefore, in an attempt to characterize unique and shared responses to chemically similar metals we have reconstructed physiological behaviors of Halobacterium NRC-1, an archaeal halophile, in sub-lethal levels of Mn(II), Fe(II), Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II) and Zn(II). Over 20% of all genes responded transiently within minutes of exposure to Fe(II), perhaps reflecting immediate large scale physiological adjustments to maintain homeostasis. At steady state, each transition metal induced growth arrest, attempts to minimize oxidative stress, toxic ion scavenging, increased protein turnover and DNA repair, and modulation of active ion transport. While several of these constitute generalized stress responses, up regulation of active efflux of Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II), and Zn(II), down regulation of Mn(II) uptake and up regulation of Fe(II) chelation, confer resistance to the respective metals. We have synthesized all these discoveries into a unified systems level model to provide an integrated perspective of responses to six transition metals with emphasis on experimentally verified regulatory mechanisms. Finally, through comparisons across global transcriptional responses to different metals we provide insights into putative in vivo metal selectivity of metalloregulatory proteins and demonstrate that a systems approach can help rapidly unravel novel metabolic potential and regulatory programs of poorly studied organisms. Keywords: stress response, dose response
Project description:Our main objective was to study the changes in cDNA microarray gene expression profiles of A. thaliana plants exposed to different doses of a polymetallic solution containing Pb (II), Hg (II), Cu (II), Cd (II), Co (II), Ni (II), Zn (II) and Mn (II) over 3 hours. Control plants grown in the absence of metals were also included in the experiment.
Project description:To combat infections, the mammalian host limits availability of essential transition metals such as iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), and manganese (Mn) in a strategy termed “nutritional immunity”. The innate immune protein calprotectin (CP) contributes to nutritional immunity by sequestering these metals to exert antimicrobial activity against a broad range of microbial pathogens. One such pathogen is Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which causes opportunistic infections in vulnerable populations including individuals with cystic fibrosis. CP was previously shown to withhold Fe(II) and Zn(II) from P. aeruginosa and induce Fe- and Zn-starvation responses in this pathogen. In this work, we performed quantitative, label-free proteomics to further elucidate how CP impacts metal homeostasis pathways in P. aeruginosa. We report that CP induces an incomplete Fe-starvation response, as many Fe-containing proteins that are repressed by Fe limitation are not affected by CP treatment. The Zn-starvation response elicited by CP seems to be more complete than the Fe-starvation response and includes increases in Zn transporters and Zn-independent proteins. CP also induces the expression of membrane-modifying enzymes, and metal-depletion studies indicate this response results from the sequestration of multiple metals. Moreover, the increased expression of membrane-modifying enzymes upon CP treatment correlates with increased tolorance to polymyxin B. Thus, response of P. aeruginosa to CP treatment includes both single and multi-metal starvation responses and includes many factors related to virulence potential, broadening our understanding of this pathogen’s interaction with the host.
Project description:Iron and manganese are part of a small group of transition metals required for photosynthetic electron transport. Here, we present evidence for a functional link between iron and manganese homeostasis. In the unicellular cyanobacterium, Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 Fe and Mn deprivation resulted in distinct modifications of the function of the photosynthetic apparatus. For example, iron limitation modifies the rate of QA re-oxidation in photosystem II, a complex that contains more Mn than Fe. The intracellular elemental quotas of Fe and Mn are also linked. Fe limitation reduces the intracellular Mn quota. Mn limitation did not exert a reciprocal effect on Fe quotas. Microarray analysis comparing Mn and Fe limitation revealed a stark difference in the extent of the transcriptional response to the two limiting conditions, reflective of the physiological data. The effects of Fe limitation on the transcriptional network are widespread while the effects on Mn limitation are highly specific. Our analysis also revealed an overlap in the transcriptional response of specific Fe and Mn transporters. This overlap provides a framework for explaining Fe limitation induced changes in Mn quotas. Fe transporters can serve as a low affinity Mn transport system. Under iron limitation the specificity of the Fe transport system changes, making it a less efficient Mn transport system.
Project description:Three new complexes bearing the tridentate hydrazone-based ligand 2-(2-(1-(pyridin-2-yl)ethylidene)hydrazinyl)pyridine (L) were synthesized and structurally characterized. Biological tests indicate that the Zn(II) complex [ZnCl2(L)] • 0.5 H2O is of low cytotoxicity against the hepatocellular carcinoma cell line HepG2. In contrast, the Cu(II) and Mn(II) complexes [CuCl2(L)] and [MnCl2(L)(OH2)] • H2O are highly cytotoxic with EC50 values of 1.25 0.01 M and 20 1 M, respectively. A quantitative proteome analysis reveals that treatment of the cells with the Cu(II) complex leads to a significantly altered abundance of 102 apoptosis-related proteins, whereas 38 proteins were up- or down-regulated by the Mn(II) complex. A closer inspection of those proteins regulated only by the Cu(II) complex suggests that the superior cytotoxic activity of this complex is likely to be related to an initiation of caspase-independent cell death (CICD).
Project description:Iron and manganese are part of a small group of transition metals required for photosynthetic electron transport. Here, we present evidence for a functional link between iron and manganese homeostasis. In the unicellular cyanobacterium, Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 Fe and Mn deprivation resulted in distinct modifications of the function of the photosynthetic apparatus. For example, iron limitation modifies the rate of QA re-oxidation in photosystem II, a complex that contains more Mn than Fe. The intracellular elemental quotas of Fe and Mn are also linked. Fe limitation reduces the intracellular Mn quota. Mn limitation did not exert a reciprocal effect on Fe quotas. Microarray analysis comparing Mn and Fe limitation revealed a stark difference in the extent of the transcriptional response to the two limiting conditions, reflective of the physiological data. The effects of Fe limitation on the transcriptional network are widespread while the effects on Mn limitation are highly specific. Our analysis also revealed an overlap in the transcriptional response of specific Fe and Mn transporters. This overlap provides a framework for explaining Fe limitation induced changes in Mn quotas. Fe transporters can serve as a low affinity Mn transport system. Under iron limitation the specificity of the Fe transport system changes, making it a less efficient Mn transport system. We monitored the gene expression of Synechocystis PCC6083 at standard conditions and after 2 days of iron limitation (0Fe), manganese limitation (0Mn) and combined iron and manganese limitation (0Fe0Mn). Each timepoint and condition was sampled in triplicates. Due to strong deviations in one of the three repeats for the 0Mn and 0Fe0Mn conditions, the corresponding replicates were excluded from further analysis.
Project description:Given that transition metals are essential cofactors in central biological processes, misallocation of the wrong metal ion to a metalloprotein can have resounding and often detrimental effects on diverse aspects of cellular physiology. Therefore, in an attempt to characterize unique and shared responses to chemically similar metals we have reconstructed physiological behaviors of Halobacterium NRC-1, an archaeal halophile, in sub-lethal levels of Mn(II), Fe(II), Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II) and Zn(II). Over 20% of all genes responded transiently within minutes of exposure to Fe(II), perhaps reflecting immediate large scale physiological adjustments to maintain homeostasis. At steady state, each transition metal induced growth arrest, attempts to minimize oxidative stress, toxic ion scavenging, increased protein turnover and DNA repair, and modulation of active ion transport. While several of these constitute generalized stress responses, up regulation of active efflux of Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II), and Zn(II), down regulation of Mn(II) uptake and up regulation of Fe(II) chelation, confer resistance to the respective metals. We have synthesized all these discoveries into a unified systems level model to provide an integrated perspective of responses to six transition metals with emphasis on experimentally verified regulatory mechanisms. Finally, through comparisons across global transcriptional responses to different metals we provide insights into putative in vivo metal selectivity of metalloregulatory proteins and demonstrate that a systems approach can help rapidly unravel novel metabolic potential and regulatory programs of poorly studied organisms. Keywords: stress response, dose response 4 samples were analyzed. Each sample was dye-swapped (2 replicates per condition) and hybridized against a standard control.
Project description:Given that transition metals are essential cofactors in central biological processes, misallocation of the wrong metal ion to a metalloprotein can have resounding and often detrimental effects on diverse aspects of cellular physiology. Therefore, in an attempt to characterize unique and shared responses to chemically similar metals we have reconstructed physiological behaviors of Halobacterium NRC-1, an archaeal halophile, in sub-lethal levels of Mn(II), Fe(II), Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II) and Zn(II). Over 20% of all genes responded transiently within minutes of exposure to Fe(II), perhaps reflecting immediate large scale physiological adjustments to maintain homeostasis. At steady state, each transition metal induced growth arrest, attempts to minimize oxidative stress, toxic ion scavenging, increased protein turnover and DNA repair, and modulation of active ion transport. While several of these constitute generalized stress responses, up regulation of active efflux of Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II), and Zn(II), down regulation of Mn(II) uptake and up regulation of Fe(II) chelation, confer resistance to the respective metals. We have synthesized all these discoveries into a unified systems level model to provide an integrated perspective of responses to six transition metals with emphasis on experimentally verified regulatory mechanisms. Finally, through comparisons across global transcriptional responses to different metals we provide insights into putative in vivo metal selectivity of metalloregulatory proteins and demonstrate that a systems approach can help rapidly unravel novel metabolic potential and regulatory programs of poorly studied organisms. Keywords: stress response, dose responseH 4 samples were analyzed. Each sample was dye-swapped (2 replicates per condition) and hybridized against a standard control