Ramem (Spain)

SUMMARYEndoplasmic Reticulum-Plasma Membrane contact sites (ER-PM CS) play fundamental roles in all eukaryotic cells. Arabidopsis mutants lacking the ER-PM protein tether synaptotagmin1 (SYT1) exhibit decreased plasma membrane (PM) integrity under multiple abiotic stresses such as freezing, high salt, osmotic stress and mechanical damage. Here, we show that, together withSYT1, the stress-inducedSYT3is an ER-PM tether that also functions in maintaining PM integrity. The ER-PM CS localization of SYT1 and SYT3 is dependent on PM phosphatidylinositol-4-phosphate and is regulated by abiotic stress. Lipidomic analysis revealed that cold stress increased the accumulation of diacylglycerol at the PM in asyt1/3double mutant relative to WT while the levels of most glycerolipid species remain unchanged. Additionally, SYT1-GFP preferentially binds diacylglycerolin vivowith little affinity for polar glycerolipids. Our work uncovers a crucial SYT-dependent mechanism of stress adaptation counteracting the detrimental accumulation of diacylglycerol at the PM produced during episodes of abiotic stress.

The Human Proteome Project (HPP) aims deciphering the complete map of the human proteome. In the past few years, significant efforts of the HPP teams have been dedicated to the experimental detection of the missing proteins, which lack reliable mass spectrometry evidence of their existence. In this endeavor, an in depth analysis of shotgun experiments might represent a valuable resource to select a biological matrix in design validation experiments. In this work, we used all the proteomic experiments from the NCI60 cell lines and applied an integrative approach based on the results obtained from Comet, Mascot, OMSSA, and X!Tandem. This workflow benefits from the complementarity of these search engines to increase the proteome coverage. Five missing proteins C-HPP guidelines compliant were identified, although further validation is needed. Moreover, 165 missing proteins were detected with only one unique peptide, and their functional analysis supported their participation in cellular pathways as was also proposed in other studies. Finally, we performed a combined analysis of the gene expression levels and the proteomic identifications from the common cell lines between the NCI60 and the CCLE project to suggest alternatives for further validation of missing protein observations.

The potential of electrospray deposition, for the controlled preparation of particles for imaging in electron microscopes, is evaluated on various materials: from mono-modal suspensions of spherical particles to multimodal suspensions and to real-world industrial materials. It is shown that agglomeration is reduced substantially on the sample carrier, compared with conventional sample preparation techniques. For the first time, it is possible to assess the number concentration of a tri-modal polystyrene suspension by electron microscopy, due to the high deposition efficiency of the electrospray. We discovered that some suspension stabilizing surfactants form artifact particles during electrospraying. These can be avoided by optimizing the sprayed suspension.

The phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase-like kinases (PIKKs) are large serine-threonine protein kinases with a catalytic domain homologous to the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K). All PIKK family members share a general organization comprising a conserved C-terminus that contains the PI3K domain, which is preceded by a large N-terminal region made of helical HEAT repeats. In humans, the PIKK family includes six members, which play essential roles in various processes including DNA repair and DNA damage signalling (ATM, ATR, DNA-PKcs), control of cell growth (mTOR), nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (SMG1) and transcriptional regulation (TRRAP). High-resolution structural information is limited due to the large size (approx. 280-470 kDa) and structural complexity of these kinases. Adding further complexity, PIKKs work as part of larger assemblies with accessory subunits. These complexes are dynamic in composition and protein-protein and protein-DNA interactions regulate the kinase activity and functions of PIKKs. Moreover, recent findings have shown that the maturation and correct assembly of the PIKKs require a large chaperon machinery, containing RuvBL1 and RuvBL2 ATPases and the HSP90 chaperon. Single-particle electron microscopy (EM) is making key contributions to our understanding of the architecture of PIKKs and their complex regulation. This review summarizes the findings on the structure of these kinases, focusing mainly on medium-low resolution structures of several PIKKs obtained using EM, combined with X-ray crystallography of DNA-PKcs and mTOR. In addition, EM studies on higher-order complexes have revealed some of the mechanisms regulating the PIKKs, which will also be addressed. The model that emerges is that PIKKs, through their extensive interacting surfaces, integrate the information provided by multiple accessory subunits and nucleic acids to regulate their kinase activity in response to diverse stimuli.