Stress-specific activation and repression of heat shock factors 1 and 2

Vertebrate cells express a family of heat shock transcription factors (HSF1 to HSF4) that coordinate the inducible regulation of heat shock genes in response to diverse signals. HSF1 is potent and activated rapidly though transiently by heat shock, whereas HSF2 is a less active transcriptional regulator but can retain its DNA binding properties for extended periods. Consequently, the differential activation of HSF1 and HSF2 by various stresses may be critical for cells to survive repeated and diverse stress challenges and to provide a mechanism for more precise regulation of heat shock gene expression. Here we show, using a novel DNA binding and detection assay, that HSF1 and HSF2 are coactivated to different levels in response to a range of conditions that cause cell stress. Above a low basal activity of both HSFs, heat shock preferentially activates HSF1, whereas the amino acid analogue azetidine or the proteasome inhibitor MG132 coactivates both HSFs to different levels and hemin preferentially induces HSF2. Unexpectedly, we also found that heat shock has dramatic adverse effects on HSF2 that lead to its reversible inactivation coincident with relocalization from the nucleus. The reversible inactivation of HSF2 is specific to heat shock and does not occur with other stressors or in cells expressing high levels of heat shock proteins. These results reveal that HSF2 activity is negatively regulated by heat and suggest a role for heat shock proteins in the positive regulation of HSF2.

Identification, cloning, and expression of a functional phenylalanyl-tRNA synthetase (pheRS) from Staphylococcus aureus

Phenylalanyl-tRNA synthetase (pheRS) is unique among aminoacyl tRNA synthetases in that it is a heterotetrameric enzyme composed of two alpha-subunits and two larger beta-subunits. In prokaryotes, the alpha- and beta-subunits of pheRS are encoded by the genes pheS and pheT, respectively. In this report we describe the isolation of a DNA fragment (3.52 kb) containing the pheS and pheT genes from a Staphylococcus aureus (WCUH29) genomic DNA library. Both genes, found as a part of transcriptional operon, were predicted to encode polypeptides which showed strong primary and structural similarity to prokaryotic phenylalanyl-tRNA synthetase alpha- and beta- subunits. We describe the high-level overexpression and purification of recombinant S. aureus pheRS using pheS and pheT genes as part of an artificial operon in Escherichia coli. For comparative analysis we also report a procedure for the purification of native pheRS from S. aureus (Oxford Strain) and demonstrate that Michaelis-Menten parameters for both recombinant and native enzyme, at least for phenylalanine tRNA aminoacylation are comparable.

Negative regulation of the heat shock transcriptional response by HSBP1

In response to stress, heat shock factor 1 (HSF1) acquires rapid DNA binding and transient transcriptional activity while undergoing conformational transition from an inert non-DNA-binding monomer to active functional trimers. Attenuation of the inducible transcriptional response occurs during heat shock or upon recovery at non-stress conditions and involves dissociation of the HSF1 trimer and loss of activity. We have used the hydrophobic repeats of the HSF1 trimerization domain in the yeast two-hybrid protein interaction assay to identify heat shock factor binding protein 1 (HSBP1), a novel, conserved, 76-amino-acid protein that contains two extended arrays of hydrophobic repeats that interact with the HSF1 heptad repeats. HSBP1 is nuclear-localized and interacts in vivo with the active trimeric state of HSF1 that appears during heat shock. During attenuation of HSF1 to the inert monomer, HSBP1 associates with Hsp70. HSBP1 negatively affects HSF1 DNA-binding activity, and overexpression of HSBP1 in mammalian cells represses the transactivation activity of HSF1. To establish a biological role for HSBP1, the homologous Caenorhabditis elegans protein was overexpressed in body wall muscle cells and was shown to block activation of the heat shock response from a heat shock promoter-reporter construct. Alteration in the level of HSBP1 expression in C. elegans has severe effects on survival of the animals after thermal and chemical stress, consistent with a role for HSBP1 as a negative regulator of the heat shock response.

Effect of treatment rationale and problem severity upon therapeutic preferences

Undergraduate men and women ( n = 172) initially indicated their preferences for behavioral or psychoanalytic therapy. Participants then read a case description of either test anxiety or paranoid schizophrenia followed by a behavioral or psychoanalytic treatment rationale tailored to the problem. They rated the credibility of the treatment rationale and then once again indicated their preference so that changes in preferences could be assessed. Behavioral treatment rationales received significantly higher credibility ratings than psychoanalytic rationales. Behavioral rationales were seen as significantly more credible than psychoanalytic rationales for test anxiety, and the two rationales received similar credibility ratings for paranoid schizophrenia. Rationales significantly affected therapeutic preferences. Women were more internally oriented, gave higher credibility ratings, and were more willing to consider seeking psychological help than men. The modifiability of therapeutic preferences is discussed.

Perceptions of therapist disclosure of previous experience as a client

Investigated Ss' (N = 175) perceptions of a therapist and of the therapeutic relationship after the therapist's disclosure that he was once a client in therapy. The effect of information that indicated the reason he sought therapy also was examined. Additionally, the relationship of Ss' attitudes toward seeking professional help to their perceptions of the therapist was assessed. Results indicated that Ss evaluated the therapist primarily on the basis of his interactions with the client--the disclosing therapist consistently was seen as having more favorable personal and therapeutic abilities and as more facilitative of the therapeutic relationship than was the nondisclosing therapist.

Behavioural-communications treatment of marital interaction: negative behaviours

The present investigation assessed the effectiveness of a behavioural-communications marital intervention package focused solely upon negative behaviours. Treatment effectiveness was evaluated via two independent, within-subject multiple base-line designs. Four target behaviours, selected on the basis of clinical and laboratory assessment, were sequentially and cumulatively introduced over the course of an eight-week treatment programme. Multimodal assessment techniques included self-report, spouse-report, and direct observations of laboratory-based interactions. While slight differences occurred between measurement systems, all results attested to the efficacy of the therapeutic package. One-year follow-up data continued to indicate maintenance of treatment gains over time. These findings were discussed with regard to decelerative targets of intervention, and recommendations were made for continued investigations in the area.