Project description:The molecular mechanisms underlying sepsis pathogenesis and its regulation are incompletely understood. Here we demonstrated that human AlkB homologue, ALKBH8, plays a critical role in sepsis. we demonstrated that inhibition of Reactive oxygen species (ROS) production by using N-acetylcysteine (NAC) antagonized the effect of ALKBH8 knockdown on inflammation response and NFκB/NLRP3 signaling activation in THP-1 cells.
Project description:The Fe(II)- and 2-oxoglutarate (2OG)-dependent dioxygenase AlkB from E. coli is a demethylase which repairs alkyl lesions in DNA, as well as RNA, through a direct reversal mechanism. Humans possess nine AlkB homologues (ALKBH1-8 and FTO). ALKBH2 and ALKBH3 display demethylase activities corresponding to that of AlkB, and both ALKBH8 and FTO are RNA modification enzymes. The biochemical functions of the rest of the homologues are still unknown. To increase our knowledge on the functions of ALKBH4 and ALKBH7 we have here performed yeast two-hybrid screens to identify interaction partners of the two proteins. While no high-confidence hits were detected in the case of ALKBH7, several proteins associated with chromatin and/or involved in transcription were found to interact with ALKBH4. For all interaction partners, the regions mediating binding to ALKBH4 comprised domains previously reported to be involved in interaction with DNA or chromatin. Furthermore, some of these partners showed nuclear co-localization with ALKBH4. However, the global gene expression pattern was only marginally altered upon ALKBH4 over-expression, and larger effects were observed in the case of ALKBH7. Although the molecular function of both proteins remains to be revealed, our findings suggest a role for ALKBH4 in regulation of gene expression or chromatin state and support the previous association of ALKBH7 with spermatogenesis. Gene expression profiling of ALKBH4 and ALKBH7 over-expression
Project description:The Fe(II)- and 2-oxoglutarate (2OG)-dependent dioxygenase AlkB from E. coli is a demethylase which repairs alkyl lesions in DNA, as well as RNA, through a direct reversal mechanism. Humans possess nine AlkB homologues (ALKBH1-8 and FTO). ALKBH2 and ALKBH3 display demethylase activities corresponding to that of AlkB, and both ALKBH8 and FTO are RNA modification enzymes. The biochemical functions of the rest of the homologues are still unknown. To increase our knowledge on the functions of ALKBH4 and ALKBH7 we have here performed yeast two-hybrid screens to identify interaction partners of the two proteins. While no high-confidence hits were detected in the case of ALKBH7, several proteins associated with chromatin and/or involved in transcription were found to interact with ALKBH4. For all interaction partners, the regions mediating binding to ALKBH4 comprised domains previously reported to be involved in interaction with DNA or chromatin. Furthermore, some of these partners showed nuclear co-localization with ALKBH4. However, the global gene expression pattern was only marginally altered upon ALKBH4 over-expression, and larger effects were observed in the case of ALKBH7. Although the molecular function of both proteins remains to be revealed, our findings suggest a role for ALKBH4 in regulation of gene expression or chromatin state and support the previous association of ALKBH7 with spermatogenesis. Comparison of DNA methylation patterns in cells over expressing ALKBH4 and ALKBH7
Project description:Members of the mammalian AlkB family are known to mediate nucleic acid demethylation. ALKBH7, a mammalian AlkB homologue, localizes in mitochondria (mt) and affects metabolism, but its function and mechanism of action are unknown. Here, we report an approach to site-specifically detect m1A, m3C, m1G, and m22G modifications simultaneously within all cellular RNAs, and discovered that human ALKBH7 demethylates N2, N2-dimethylguanosine (m22G) and N1-methyladenosine (m1A) within mt-Ile and mt-Leu1 pre-tRNA regions, respectively, in nascent polycistronic mt-RNA. We further show that ALKBH7 regulates the processing and structural dynamics of polycistronic mt-RNAs. Depletion of ALKBH7 leads to increased polycistronic mt-RNA processing, reduced steady-state mitochondria-encoded tRNA levels and protein translation, as well as notably decreased mitochondrial activity. Thus, we identify ALKBH7 as an RNA demethylase that controls nascent mt-RNA processing and mitochondrial activity.
Project description:We compared several E. coli AlkB variants for their applications in facilitating sequencing of tRNA species in total RNA. These proteins are wild type AlkB, mutant D135S and mutant D135T.
Project description:The Fe(II)- and 2-oxoglutarate (2OG)-dependent dioxygenase AlkB from E. coli is a demethylase which repairs alkyl lesions in DNA, as well as RNA, through a direct reversal mechanism. Humans possess nine AlkB homologues (ALKBH1-8 and FTO). ALKBH2 and ALKBH3 display demethylase activities corresponding to that of AlkB, and both ALKBH8 and FTO are RNA modification enzymes. The biochemical functions of the rest of the homologues are still unknown. To increase our knowledge on the functions of ALKBH4 and ALKBH7 we have here performed yeast two-hybrid screens to identify interaction partners of the two proteins. While no high-confidence hits were detected in the case of ALKBH7, several proteins associated with chromatin and/or involved in transcription were found to interact with ALKBH4. For all interaction partners, the regions mediating binding to ALKBH4 comprised domains previously reported to be involved in interaction with DNA or chromatin. Furthermore, some of these partners showed nuclear co-localization with ALKBH4. However, the global gene expression pattern was only marginally altered upon ALKBH4 over-expression, and larger effects were observed in the case of ALKBH7. Although the molecular function of both proteins remains to be revealed, our findings suggest a role for ALKBH4 in regulation of gene expression or chromatin state and support the previous association of ALKBH7 with spermatogenesis.
Project description:The Fe(II)- and 2-oxoglutarate (2OG)-dependent dioxygenase AlkB from E. coli is a demethylase which repairs alkyl lesions in DNA, as well as RNA, through a direct reversal mechanism. Humans possess nine AlkB homologues (ALKBH1-8 and FTO). ALKBH2 and ALKBH3 display demethylase activities corresponding to that of AlkB, and both ALKBH8 and FTO are RNA modification enzymes. The biochemical functions of the rest of the homologues are still unknown. To increase our knowledge on the functions of ALKBH4 and ALKBH7 we have here performed yeast two-hybrid screens to identify interaction partners of the two proteins. While no high-confidence hits were detected in the case of ALKBH7, several proteins associated with chromatin and/or involved in transcription were found to interact with ALKBH4. For all interaction partners, the regions mediating binding to ALKBH4 comprised domains previously reported to be involved in interaction with DNA or chromatin. Furthermore, some of these partners showed nuclear co-localization with ALKBH4. However, the global gene expression pattern was only marginally altered upon ALKBH4 over-expression, and larger effects were observed in the case of ALKBH7. Although the molecular function of both proteins remains to be revealed, our findings suggest a role for ALKBH4 in regulation of gene expression or chromatin state and support the previous association of ALKBH7 with spermatogenesis.
Project description:Tomato MAPKKK interacts with the N. benthamiana homologue of TFT3. MAPKKK-HA was transiently expressed in N. benthamiana leaves and immunoprecipitated using -HA agarose beads. 12 unique peptides of N. benthamiana TFT3 homologue were identified by liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry.