Faculty Bibliography

Cardiomyocytes are connected by mechanical and electrical junctions located at the intercalated discs (IDs). Although these structures have long been known, it is becoming increasingly clear that their components interact. This review describes the involvement of the ID in electrical disturbances of the heart and focuses on the role of the gap junctional protein connexin 43 (Cx43). Current evidence shows that Cx43 plays a crucial role in organizing microtubules at the intercalated disc and thereby regulating the trafficking of the cardiac sodium channel NaV1.5 to the membrane.

Tnnt2, encoding thin-filament sarcomeric protein cardiac troponin T, plays critical roles in heart development and function in mammals. To develop an inducible genetic deletion strategy in myocardial cells, we generated a new Tnnt2:MerCreMer (Tnnt2MerCreMer/+ ) knock-in mouse. Rosa26 reporter lines were used to examine the specificity and efficiency of the inducible Cre recombinase. We found that Cre was specifically and robustly expressed in the cardiomyocytes at embryonic and adult stages following tamoxifen induction. The knock-in allele on Tnnt2 locus does not impact cardiac function. These results suggest that this new Tnnt2MerCreMer/+ mouse could be applied towards the temporal genetic deletion of genes of interests in cardiomyocytes with Cre-LoxP technology. The Tnnt2MerCreMer/+ mouse model also provides a useful tool to trace myocardial lineage during development and repair after cardiac injury

Endoplasmic Reticulum (ER) is an organelle where most secretory and membrane proteins are synthesized, folded, and undergo further maturation. As numerous conditions can perturb such ER function, eukaryotic cells are equipped with responsive signaling pathways, widely referred to as the Unfolded Protein Response (UPR). Chronic conditions of ER stress that cannot be fully resolved by UPR, or conditions that impair UPR signaling itself, are associated with many metabolic and degenerative diseases. In recent years, Drosophila has been actively employed to study such connections between UPR and disease. Notably, the UPR pathways are largely conserved between Drosophila and humans, and the mediating genes are essential for development in both organisms, indicating their requirement to resolve inherent stress. By now, many Drosophila mutations are known to impose stress in the ER, and a number of these appear similar to those that underlie human diseases. In addition, studies have employed the strategy of overexpressing human mutations in Drosophila tissues to perform genetic modifier screens. The fact that the basic UPR pathways are conserved, together with the availability of many human disease models in this organism, makes Drosophila a powerful tool for studying human disease mechanisms.

Piezo ion channels are activated by various types of mechanical stimuli and function as biological pressure sensors in both vertebrates and invertebrates. To date mechanical stimuli are the only means to activate Piezo ion channels and whether other modes of activation exist is not known. Here, we screened ~3.25 million compounds using a cell-based fluorescence assay and identified a synthetic small molecule we termed Yoda1 that acts as an agonist for both human and mouse Piezo1. Functional studies in cells revealed that Yoda1 affects the sensitivity and the inactivation kinetics of mechanically induced responses. Characterization of Yoda1 in artificial droplet lipid bilayers showed that Yoda1 activates purified Piezo1 channels in the absence of other cellular components. Our studies demonstrate that Piezo1 is amenable to chemical activation, and raise the possibility that endogenous Piezo1 agonists might exist. Yoda1 will serve as a key tool compound to study Piezo1 regulation and function.

In myelinating Schwann cells, E-cadherin is a component of the adherens junctions that stabilize the architecture of the noncompact myelin region. In other cell types, E-cadherin has been considered as a signaling receptor that modulates intracellular signal transduction and cellular responses. To determine whether E-cadherin plays a regulatory role during Schwann cell myelination, we investigated the effects of E-cadherin deletion and over-expression in Schwann cells. In vivo, Schwann cell-specific E-cadherin ablation results in an early myelination delay. In Schwann cell-dorsal root ganglia neuron co-cultures, E-cadherin deletion attenuates myelin formation and shortens the myelin segment length. When over-expressed in Schwann cells, E-cadherin improves myelination on Nrg1 type III+/- neurons and induces myelination on normally non-myelinated axons of sympathetic neurons. The pro-myelinating effect of E-cadherin is associated with an enhanced Nrg1-erbB receptor signaling, including activation of the downstream Akt and Rac. Accordingly, in the absence of E-cadherin, Nrg1-signaling is diminished in Schwann cells. Our data also show that E-cadherin expression in Schwann cell is induced by axonal Nrg1 type III, indicating a reciprocal interaction between E-cadherin and the Nrg1 signaling. Altogether, our data suggest a regulatory function of E-cadherin that modulates Nrg1 signaling and promotes Schwann cell myelin formation. GLIA 2015.

Stem cells maintain tissues and organs over the lifespan of individuals. How aging influences this process is unclear. Here we investigate the effects of aging on C. elegans germline stem/progenitor cells and show that the progenitor pool is depleted over time in a manner dependent on inhibition of DAF-16/FOXO by insulin/IGF-1 signalling (IIS). Our data indicate that DAF-16/FOXO activity in certain somatic gonad cells is required for germline progenitor maintenance, and that this role is separable from the effect of DAF-16/FOXO on organismal aging. In addition, blocking germ cell flux, similar to reducing IIS, maintains germline progenitors. This effect is partially dependent on gonadal DAF-16/FOXO activity. Our results imply that (1) longevity pathways can regulate aging stem cells through anatomically separable mechanisms, (2) stem cell maintenance is not necessarily prioritized and (3) stem cell regulation can occur at the level of an entire organ system such as the reproductive system.

The Mauthner cell (M-cell) is a command-like neuron in teleost fish whose firing in response to aversive stimuli is correlated with short-latency escapes [1-3]. M-cells have been proposed as evolutionary ancestors of startle response neurons of the mammalian reticular formation [4], and studies of this circuit have uncovered important principles in neurobiology that generalize to more complex vertebrate models [3]. The main excitatory input was thought to originate from multisensory afferents synapsing directly onto the M-cell dendrites [3]. Here, we describe an additional, convergent pathway that is essential for the M-cell-mediated startle behavior in larval zebrafish. It is composed of excitatory interneurons called spiral fiber neurons, which project to the M-cell axon hillock. By in vivo calcium imaging, we found that spiral fiber neurons are active in response to aversive stimuli capable of eliciting escapes. Like M-cell ablations, bilateral ablations of spiral fiber neurons largely eliminate short-latency escapes. Unilateral spiral fiber neuron ablations shift the directionality of escapes and indicate that spiral fiber neurons excite the M-cell in a lateralized manner. Their optogenetic activation increases the probability of short-latency escapes, supporting the notion that spiral fiber neurons help activate M-cell-mediated startle behavior. These results reveal that spiral fiber neurons are essential for the function of the M-cell in response to sensory cues and suggest that convergent excitatory inputs that differ in their input location and timing ensure reliable activation of the M-cell, a feedforward excitatory motif that may extend to other neural circuits.

Aromatase inhibitors (AIs) are effective drugs that reduce or eliminate hormone sensitive breast cancer. However, despite their efficacy, resistance to these drugs can occur in some patients. The INrf2 (Keap1):Nrf2 complex serves as a sensor of drug/radiation-induced oxidative/electrophilic stress. INrf2 constitutively suppresses Nrf2 by functioning as an adapter protein for the Cul3/Rbx1-mediated ubiquitination/degradation of Nrf2. Upon stress, Nrf2 dissociates from INrf2, is stabilized, translocates to the nucleus, and coordinately induces a battery of cytoprotective gene expression. Current studies investigated the role of Nrf2 in AI resistance. RT-PCR and immunoblot assays showed that AI-resistant breast cancer LTLTCa and AnaR cells express lower INrf2 and higher Nrf2 protein levels, as compared to drug sensitive MCF-7Ca and AC1 cells, respectively. The increase in Nrf2 was due to lower ubiquitination/degradation of Nrf2 in AI-resistant cells. Higher Nrf2-mediated levels of biotransformation enzymes, drug-transporters and anti-apoptotic proteins contributed to reduced efficacy of drugs and aversion to apoptosis that led to drug resistance. shRNA inhibition of Nrf2 in LTLTCa (LTLTCa-Nrf2KD) cells reduced resistance and sensitized cells to AI exemestane. Interestingly, LTLTCa-Nrf2KD cells also showed reduced levels of aldehyde dehydrogenase, a marker of Tumor-Initiating Cells and significantly decreased mammosphere formation, as compared to LTLTCa-Vector control cells. The results together suggest that persistent AI treatment down-regulated INrf2 leading to higher expression of Nrf2 and Nrf2 regulated cytoprotective proteins that resulted in increased AI drug resistance. These findings provide a rationale for the development of Nrf2 inhibitors to overcome resistance and increase efficacy of AI.

Eukaryotic cells have evolved signaling pathways that help to restore cellular homeostasis in response to various physiological or pathological conditions. ATF4 is a transcription factor whose mRNA translation is stimulated in response to stress-activated eIF2alpha kinases. Established conditions that activate eIF2alpha phosphorylation and ATF4 translation include excessive stress in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and amino acid deprivation. ATF4 is activated through a unique translational activation mechanism that involves multiple upstream open reading frames (uORFs) in the 5'-untranslated region (UTR), which is conserved from yeast to mammals. Taking advantage of this, we developed a translational activation reporter of ATF4 in Drosophila, in which the dsRed reporter coding sequence was placed downstream of the Drosophila ATF4 5' UTR. This reporter remained inactive in most tissues under normal conditions, but showed dsRed expression when starved, or when challenged with conditions that imposed ER stress. In normally developing flies, a small number of cell types showed reporter expression even without exogenous stress, which included the salivary gland, gut, the male reproductive organ, and the photoreceptor cells, suggestive of inherent stress during the normal development of these cell types. These results establish a new tool to study ATF4-mediated stress response in Drosophila development and disease.

Reduced limb length discrepancy and more accurate cup positioning are purported benefits of using fluoroscopy for total hip arthroplasty (THA). The authors compared limb length discrepancy and cup position in 200 patients (group I, posterior approach without fluoroscopy; group II, anterior supine approach with fluoroscopy) who underwent primary THA. Mean limb length discrepancy was 2.7 mm (SD, 5.2 mm; range, -9.8 to 20.9 mm) and 0.7 mm (SD, 3.7 mm; range, -11.8 to 10.5 mm) for groups I and II, respectively (P=.002). In group I, 7% of hips had limb length discrepancy greater than 1 cm compared with 3% in group II. Mean cup inclination measured 40.8 degrees (SD, 5.0 degrees ; range, 26.1 degrees -53.7 degrees ) in group I and 43.4 degrees (SD, 5.6 degrees ; range, 31.3 degrees -55.9 degrees ) in group II (P=.008). In group I, 96% of cups had inclination within 10 degrees of the mean compared with 92% in group II (P=.24). Mean anteversion measured 35.3 degrees (SD, 7.1 degrees ; range, 17.8 degrees -60.7 degrees ) in group I and 25.9 degrees (SD, 8.2 degrees ; range, 1.5 degrees -44.8 degrees ) in group II (P=.0001). In group I, 87% of hips exhibited anteversion within 10 degrees of the mean compared with 76% in group II (P=.045). Although the anterior approach with intraoperative fluoroscopy reduced mean limb length discrepancy, the clinical significance of this reduction is unclear. Fluoroscopy reduced the incidence of limb length discrepancy greater than 1 cm. However, the use of fluoroscopy did not help to improve the precision of cup positioning. [Orthopedics. 2015; 38(5):e380-e386.].