Biomedical subjects

Nadja M Meindl-Beinker

Publications and source records attributed to Nadja M Meindl-Beinker.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Loss of TGF-beta dependent growth control during HSC transdifferentiation.

Liver injury induces activation of hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) comprising expression of receptors, proliferation, and extracellular matrix synthesis triggered by a network of cytokines provided by damaged hepatocytes, activated Kupffer cells and HSCs. While 6 days after bile duct ligation in rats TGF-beta inhibited DNA synthesis in HSCs, it was enhanced after 14 days, indicating a switch from suppression to DNA synthesis stimulation during fibrogenesis. To delineate mechanisms modulating TGF-beta function, we analyzed crosstalk with signaling pathways initiated by cytokines in damaged liver. Lipopolysaccharide and tumor necrosis factor-alpha enhanced proliferation inhibition of TGF-beta, whereas interleukin-6, oncostatin M, interleukin-1alpha, and interleukin-1beta did not. Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) counteracted TGF-beta dependent inhibition of DNA synthesis in quiescent HSCs. Since expression of c-met is induced during activation of HSCs and HGF is overrepresented in damaged liver, crosstalk of HGF and TGF-beta contributes to loss of TGF-beta dependent inhibition of DNA synthesis in HSCs.

Animals↗

PubMed2006

Asn- and Asp-mediated interactions between transmembrane helices during translocon-mediated membrane protein assembly.

Inter-helix hydrogen bonding involving asparagine (Asn, N), glutamine (Gln, Q), aspartic acid (Asp, D) or glutamic acid (Glu, E) can drive efficient di- or trimerization of transmembrane helices in detergent micelles and lipid bilayers. Likewise, Asn-Asn and Asp-Asp pairs can promote the formation of helical hairpins during translocon-mediated membrane protein assembly in the endoplasmic reticulum. By in vitro translation of model integral membrane protein constructs in the presence of rough microsomes, we show that Asn- or Asp-mediated interactions with a neighbouring transmembrane helix can enhance the membrane insertion efficiency of a marginally hydrophobic transmembrane segment. Our observations suggest that inter-helix hydrogen bonds can form during Sec61 translocon-assisted insertion and thus could be important for membrane protein assembly.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

PubMed2005

Yeast Pex14p possesses two functionally distinct Pex5p and one Pex7p binding sites.

Current evidence favors a cycling receptor model for the import of peroxisomal matrix proteins. The yeast Pex14 protein together with Pex13p and Pex17p form the docking subcomplex at the peroxisomal membrane and interact in this cycle with both soluble import receptors Pex5p and Pex7p. In a first step of a structure-function analysis of Saccharomyces cerevisiae Pex14p, we mapped its binding sites with both receptors. Using the yeast two-hybrid system and pull-down assays, we showed that Pex5p directly interacts with two separate regions of ScPex14p, amino acid residues 1-58 and 235-308. The latter binding site at the C terminus of ScPex14p overlaps with a binding site of Pex7p at amino acid residues 235-325. The functional assessment of these two binding sites of ScPex14p with the peroxisomal targeting signal receptors indicates that they have distinct roles. Deletion of the N-terminal 58 amino acids caused a partial defect of matrix protein import in pex14delta cells expressing the Pex14-(59-341)-p fragment; however, it did not lead to a pex phenotype. In contrast, truncation of the C-terminal 106 amino acids of ScPex14p completely blocked this process. On the basis of these and other published data, we propose that the C terminus of Pex14p contains the actual docking site and discuss the possibility that the N terminus could be involved in a Pex5p-Pex14p association inside the peroxisomal membrane.

Binding Sites↗

PubMed2005

A scalable, GFP-based pipeline for membrane protein overexpression screening and purification.

We describe a generic, GFP-based pipeline for membrane protein overexpression and purification in Escherichia coli. We exemplify the use of the pipeline by the identification and characterization of E. coli YedZ, a new, membrane-integral flavocytochrome. The approach is scalable and suitable for high-throughput applications. The GFP-based pipeline will facilitate the characterization of the E. coli membrane proteome and serves as an important reference for the characterization of other membrane proteomes.

Escherichia coli↗