Portal vein-enriched metabolites as intermediate regulators of the gut microbiome in insulin resistance.

Diet and obesity contribute to insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes, in part via the gut microbiome. To explore the role of gut-derived metabolites in this process, we assessed portal/peripheral blood metabolites in mice with different risks of obesity/diabetes, challenged with a high-fat diet (HFD) + antibiotics. In diabetes/obesity-prone C57BL/6J mice, 111 metabolites were portally enriched and 74 were peripherally enriched, many of which differed in metabolic-syndrome-resistant 129S1/129S6 mice.

Alterations in DNA Methylation, Proteomic, and Metabolomic Profiles in African Ancestry Populations with APOL1 Risk Alleles.

Key Points: We aimed to elucidate potential methylation, proteomic, and metabolomic mechanisms by which variants may be linked to kidney disease. We report distinct methylation profiling between risk allele carriers and noncarriers, many near gene family. We report higher APOL1 protein and lower C18:1 cholesteryl ester in two risk allele carriers.

Assessment of Sustainable Ethanolamine-Based Protic Ionic Liquids with Varied Carboxylic Acid Chains as Corrosion Inhibitors for Carbon Steel in Saline Environments.

The inhibitory performance of three distinct protic ionic liquids (PILs), namely, 2-hydroxyethyl ammonium formate (PIL 01), 2-hydroxyethyl ammonium propionate (PIL 02), and 2-hydroxyethyl ammonium pentanoate (PIL 03), was evaluated to determine their suitability as eco-friendly corrosion inhibitors for carbon steel (ASTM A36) in a 3.5 wt. % NaCl aerated neutral electrolyte solution.

Preventing inappropriate signals pre- and post-ligand perception by a toggle switch mechanism of ERECTA.

Dynamic control of signaling events requires swift regulation of receptors at an active state. By focusing on the Arabidopsis ERECTA (ER) receptor kinase, which perceives peptide ligands to control multiple developmental processes, we report a mechanism preventing inappropriate receptor activity. The ER C-terminal tail (ER_CT) functions as an autoinhibitory domain: Its removal confers higher kinase activity and hyperactivity during inflorescence and stomatal development.

An unexpected role for tomato threonine deaminase 2 in host defense against bacterial infection.

The hormones salicylic acid (SA) and jasmonic acid (JA) often act antagonistically in controlling plant defense pathways in response to hemibiotrophs/biotrophs (hemi/biotroph) and herbivores/necrotrophs, respectively. Threonine deaminase (TD) converts threonine to α-ketobutyrate and ammonia as the committed step in isoleucine (Ile) biosynthesis and contributes to JA responses by producing the Ile needed to make the bioactive JA-Ile conjugate. Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) plants have two TD genes: TD1 and TD2.

Pulsed FCAW of Martensitic Stainless Clads onto Mild Steel: Microstructure, Hardness, and Residual Stresses.

The low carbon martensitic stainless AWS 410NiMo steel has in its chemical composition 13% chromium, 4% nickel, and 0.4% molybdenum (wt.%) and is used in turbine recovery, rotors, and high-pressure steam pump housings due to its resistance to impact at low temperatures, as well as to corrosion and cavitation.

Sandflies (Diptera: Psychodidae: Phlebotominae), present in an endemic area of cutaneous leishmaniasis in western Boyacá, Colombia.

Introduction: Sandflies are known for having vector species of the tropical disease Leishmaniasis, a disease which is of an endemic nature in Western Boyacá, where the town of Otanche is one of the main source of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis.

Objective: To identify the species of sandfly present in an endemic area of cutaneous leishmaniasis in West Boyacá.

Methods: The search and collection of sandflies was carried out using CDC gravid traps, over a period of twelve hours (18:00- 06:00).

Author Correction: Phosphocode-dependent functional dichotomy of a common co-receptor in plant signalling.

In Extended Data Fig. 5d of this Letter, the blots for anti-pS612 and anti-BAK1 were inadvertently duplicated. This figure has been corrected online.

Phosphocode-dependent functional dichotomy of a common co-receptor in plant signalling.

Multicellular organisms use cell-surface receptor kinases to sense and process extracellular signals. Many plant receptor kinases are activated by the formation of ligand-induced complexes with shape-complementary co-receptors. The best-characterized co-receptor is BRASSINOSTEROID INSENSITIVE 1-ASSOCIATED KINASE 1 (BAK1), which associates with numerous leucine-rich repeat receptor kinases (LRR-RKs) to control immunity, growth and development.

Homeostatic control of metabolic and functional fitness of T cells by LKB1 signalling.

Regulatory T cells (T cells) have a pivotal role in the establishment and maintenance of immunological self-tolerance and homeostasis. Transcriptional programming of regulatory mechanisms facilitates the functional activation of T cells in the prevention of diverse types of inflammatory responses. It remains unclear how T cells orchestrate their homeostasis and interplay with environmental signals.

Critical roles of mTORC1 signaling and metabolic reprogramming for M-CSF-mediated myelopoiesis.

Myelopoiesis is necessary for the generation of mature myeloid cells during homeostatic turnover and immunological insults; however, the metabolic requirements for this process remain poorly defined. Here, we demonstrate that myelopoiesis, including monocyte and macrophage differentiation, requires mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) signaling and anabolic metabolism. Loss of mTORC1 impaired myelopoiesis under steady state and dampened innate immune responses against infection.

The ubiquitin ligase SEVEN IN ABSENTIA (SINA) ubiquitinates a defense-related NAC transcription factor and is involved in defense signaling.

We recently identified a defense-related tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) NAC (NAM, ATAF1,2, CUC2) transcription factor, NAC1, that is subjected to ubiquitin-proteasome system-dependent degradation in plant cells. In this study, we identified a tomato ubiquitin ligase (termed SEVEN IN ABSENTIA3; SINA3) that ubiquitinates NAC1, promoting its degradation. We conducted coimmunoprecipitation and bimolecular fluorescence complementation to determine that SINA3 specifically interacts with the NAC1 transcription factor in the nucleus.

Co-Immunoprecipitation of Membrane-Bound Receptors.

The study of cell-surface receptor dynamics is critical for understanding how cells sense and respond to changing environments. Therefore, elucidating the mechanisms by which signals are perceived and communicated into the cell is necessary to understand immunity, development, and stress. Challenges in testing interactions of membrane-bound proteins include their dynamic nature, their abundance, and the complex dual environment (lipid/soluble) in which they reside.

Competitive binding of antagonistic peptides fine-tunes stomatal patterning.

During development, cells interpret complex and often conflicting signals to make optimal decisions. Plant stomata, the cellular interface between a plant and the atmosphere, develop according to positional cues, which include a family of secreted peptides called epidermal patterning factors (EPFs). How these signalling peptides orchestrate pattern formation at a molecular level remains unclear.

The tomato cell death suppressor Adi3 is restricted to the endosomal system in response to the Pseudomonas syringae effector protein AvrPto.

The tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) AGC protein kinase Adi3 functions as a suppressor of cell death and was first identified as an interactor with the tomato resistance protein Pto and the Pseudomonas syringae effector protein AvrPto. Models predict that loss of Adi3 cell death suppression (CDS) activity during Pto/AvrPto interaction leads to the cell death associated with the resistance response initiated from this interaction. Nuclear localization is required for Adi3 CDS.

Two Pdk1 phosphorylation sites on the plant cell death suppressor Adi3 contribute to substrate phosphorylation.

The tomato AGC kinase Adi3 is phosphorylated by Pdk1 for activation of its cell death suppression activity. The Pdk1 phosphorylation site for activation of Adi3 is at Ser539. However, there is at least one additional Pdk1 phosphorylation site on Adi3 that has an unknown function.

Ubiquitination of the tomato cell death suppressor Adi3 by the RING E3 ubiquitin ligase AdBiL.

Programmed cell death (PCD) is an organized process by which organisms selectively remove cells according to developmental needs or in response to biotic or abiotic stress. Despite recent efforts to understand mechanisms by which cell death takes place in plants, several gaps remain in our understanding of the molecular elements involved. The tomato PCD suppressor Adi3 is an AGC kinase that shares functional homology with the mammalian inhibitor of apoptosis PKB.

The β-subunit of the SnRK1 complex is phosphorylated by the plant cell death suppressor Adi3.

The protein kinase AvrPto-dependent Pto-interacting protein3 (Adi3) is a known suppressor of cell death, and loss of its function has been correlated with cell death induction during the tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) resistance response to its pathogen Pseudomonas syringae pv tomato. However, Adi3 downstream interactors that may play a role in cell death regulation have not been identified. We used a yeast two-hybrid screen to identify the plant SnRK1 (for Sucrose non-Fermenting-1-Related Protein Kinase1) protein as an Adi3-interacting protein.

Direct ubiquitination of pattern recognition receptor FLS2 attenuates plant innate immunity.

Innate immune responses are triggered by the activation of pattern-recognition receptors (PRRs). The Arabidopsis PRR FLAGELLIN-SENSING 2 (FLS2) senses bacterial flagellin and initiates immune signaling through association with BAK1. The molecular mechanisms underlying the attenuation of FLS2 activation are largely unknown.

The T-loop extension of the tomato protein kinase AvrPto-dependent Pto-interacting protein 3 (Adi3) directs nuclear localization for suppression of plant cell death.

In tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), resistance to Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato is elicited by the interaction of the host Pto kinase with the pathogen effector protein AvrPto, which leads to various immune responses including localized cell death termed the hypersensitive response. The AGC kinase Adi3 functions to suppress host cell death and interacts with Pto only in the presence of AvrPto.