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Byerly CD, Mitra S, Patterson LL, Pittner NA, Velayutham TS, Paessler S, Veljkovic V, McBride JW. Ehrlichia SLiM ligand mimetic activates Hedgehog signaling to engage a BCL-2 anti-apoptotic cellular program. PLoS Pathog 2022; 18:e1010345. [PMID: 35576232 PMCID: PMC9135340 DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1010345] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/07/2022] [Revised: 05/26/2022] [Accepted: 04/21/2022] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Ehrlichia chaffeensis (E. chaffeensis) has evolved eukaryotic ligand mimicry to repurpose multiple cellular signaling pathways for immune evasion. In this investigation, we demonstrate that TRP120 has a novel repetitive short linear motif (SLiM) that activates the evolutionarily conserved Hedgehog (Hh) signaling pathway to inhibit apoptosis. In silico analysis revealed that TRP120 has sequence and functional similarity with Hh ligands and a candidate Hh ligand SLiM was identified. siRNA knockdown of Hh signaling and transcriptional components significantly reduced infection. Co-immunoprecipitation and surface plasmon resonance demonstrated that rTRP120-TR interacted directly with Hh receptor Patched-2 (PTCH2). E. chaffeensis infection resulted in early upregulation of Hh transcription factor GLI-1 and regulation of Hh target genes. Moreover, soluble recombinant TRP120 (rTRP120) activated Hh and induced gene expression consistent with the eukaryotic Hh ligand. The TRP120-Hh-SLiM (NPEVLIKD) induced nuclear translocation of GLI-1 in THP-1 cells and primary human monocytes and induced a rapid and expansive activation of Hh pathway target genes. Furthermore, Hh activation was blocked by an α-TRP120-Hh-SLiM antibody. TRP120-Hh-SLiM significantly increased levels of Hh target, anti-apoptotic protein B-cell lymphoma 2 (BCL-2), and siRNA knockdown of BCL-2 dramatically inhibited infection. Blocking Hh signaling with the inhibitor Vismodegib, induced a pro-apoptotic cellular program defined by decreased mitochondria membrane potential, significant reductions in BCL-2, activation of caspase 3 and 9, and increased apoptotic cells. This study reveals a novel E. chaffeensis SLiM ligand mimetic that activates Hh signaling to maintain E. chaffeensis infection by engaging a BCL-2 anti-apoptotic cellular program.
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Affiliation(s)
- Caitlan D. Byerly
- Department of Pathology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, United States of America
| | - Shubhajit Mitra
- Department of Pathology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, United States of America
| | - LaNisha L. Patterson
- Department of Pathology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, United States of America
| | - Nicholas A. Pittner
- Department of Pathology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, United States of America
| | - Thangam S. Velayutham
- Department of Pathology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, United States of America
| | - Slobodan Paessler
- Department of Pathology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, United States of America
- Biomed Protection, LLC, Galveston, Texas, United States of America
| | - Veljko Veljkovic
- Biomed Protection, LLC, Galveston, Texas, United States of America
| | - Jere W. McBride
- Department of Pathology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, United States of America
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, United States of America
- Center for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, United States of America
- Sealy Institute for Vaccine Sciences, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, United States of America
- Institute for Human Infections and Immunity, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, United States of America
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Li J, Xu Y, Li N, Zuo R, Zhai Y, Chen H. Thyroid Hormone Disruption by Organophosphate Esters Is Mediated by Nuclear/Membrane Thyroid Hormone Receptors: In Vitro, In Vivo, and In Silico Studies. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 2022; 56:4241-4250. [PMID: 35262344 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.1c05956] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/03/2023]
Abstract
Earlier mechanistic studies of many prohibited flame retardants (FRs) highlighted their thyroid hormone-disrupting activity through nuclear thyroid hormone receptors (nTRs), whereas some alternative FRs such as organophosphate esters (OPEs) exerted weak nTR-disrupting effects. However, an increasing number of studies have revealed that OPEs also exert thyroid hormone-disrupting effects, and the underlying mechanism is unclear. Herein, the thyroid hormone-disrupting effects and mechanisms of 8 typical OPEs were investigated using integrated in vitro, in vivo, and in silico assays. All tested chemicals competitively bound to the membrane thyroid hormone receptor (mTR) [the 20% relative inhibitory concentration (RIC20): (3.5 ± 0.2) × 101 to (4.9 ± 1.0) × 107 nM], and Cl-OPEs and alkyl-OPEs had lower RIC20 values. In contrast, only 4 OPEs showed nTR antagonistic activities at higher concentrations [≥ (4.8 ± 0.8) × 103 nM]. Cl-OPEs and alkyl-OPEs preferentially interacted with mTR. Molecular docking illustrated that OPEs docked into mTRs, consistent with the competitive binding assay. In vivo analyses of zebrafish embryonic development confirmed that tris(1,3-dichloro-2-propyl) phosphate induced inappropriate expression of proteins, and these protein interactions might be associated with mTR according to the quantitative proteomic analysis. Based on the results, mTR might play a critical role in mediating the thyroid hormone-disrupting effects of OPEs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jian Li
- Engineering Research Center of Groundwater Pollution Control and Remediation, Ministry of Education, College of Water Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Ying Xu
- Engineering Research Center of Groundwater Pollution Control and Remediation, Ministry of Education, College of Water Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Na Li
- Key Laboratory of Drinking Water Science and Technology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
| | - Rui Zuo
- Engineering Research Center of Groundwater Pollution Control and Remediation, Ministry of Education, College of Water Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Yuanzheng Zhai
- Engineering Research Center of Groundwater Pollution Control and Remediation, Ministry of Education, College of Water Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Haiyang Chen
- Engineering Research Center of Groundwater Pollution Control and Remediation, Ministry of Education, College of Water Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
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Al-Saggaf UM, Usman M, Naseem I, Moinuddin M, Jiman AA, Alsaggaf MU, Alshoubaki HK, Khan S. ECM-LSE: Prediction of Extracellular Matrix Proteins Using Deep Latent Space Encoding of k-Spaced Amino Acid Pairs. Front Bioeng Biotechnol 2021; 9:752658. [PMID: 34722479 PMCID: PMC8552119 DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2021.752658] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2021] [Accepted: 09/13/2021] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Extracelluar matrix (ECM) proteins create complex networks of macromolecules which fill-in the extracellular spaces of living tissues. They provide structural support and play an important role in maintaining cellular functions. Identification of ECM proteins can play a vital role in studying various types of diseases. Conventional wet lab-based methods are reliable; however, they are expensive and time consuming and are, therefore, not scalable. In this research, we propose a sequence-based novel machine learning approach for the prediction of ECM proteins. In the proposed method, composition of k-spaced amino acid pair (CKSAAP) features are encoded into a classifiable latent space (LS) with the help of deep latent space encoding (LSE). A comprehensive ablation analysis is conducted for performance evaluation of the proposed method. Results are compared with other state-of-the-art methods on the benchmark dataset, and the proposed ECM-LSE approach has shown to comprehensively outperform the contemporary methods.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ubaid M. Al-Saggaf
- Center of Excellence in Intelligent Engineering Systems, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
- Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
| | - Muhammad Usman
- Department of Computer Engineering, Chosun University, Gwangju, South Korea
| | - Imran Naseem
- Research and Development, Love For Data, Karachi, Pakistan
- School of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia
- College of Engineering, Karachi Institute of Economics and Technology, Korangi Creek, Karachi, Pakistan
| | - Muhammad Moinuddin
- Center of Excellence in Intelligent Engineering Systems, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
- Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
| | - Ahmad A. Jiman
- Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
| | - Mohammed U. Alsaggaf
- Center of Excellence in Intelligent Engineering Systems, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
- Department of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
| | - Hitham K. Alshoubaki
- Center of Excellence in Intelligent Engineering Systems, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
- Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
| | - Shujaat Khan
- Department of Bio and Brain Engineering, Daejeon, South Korea
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