Biology subjects

Yoshida, N.

Publications and source records attributed to Yoshida, N..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2018

Molecular mechanism of depolarization-dependent inactivation in W366F mutant of Kv1.2

Voltage-gated potassium channels play crucial roles in regulating membrane potential. They are activated by membrane depolarization, allowing the selective permeation of potassium ions across the plasma membrane, and enter a nonconducting state after lasting depolarization of membrane potential, a process known as inactivation. Inactivation in voltage-activated potassium channels occurs through two distinct mechanisms, N-type inactivation and C-type inactivation. C-type inactivation is caused by conformational changes in the extracellular mouth of the channel, while N-type inactivation is elicited by changes in the cytoplasmic mouth of the protein. The W434F-mutated Shaker channel is known as a nonconducting mutant and is in a C-type inactivation state at a depolarizing membrane potential. To clarify the structural properties of C-type inactivated protein, we performed molecular dynamics simulations of the wild-type and W366F (corresponding to W434F in Shaker) mutant of the Kv1.2-2.1 chimera channel. The W366F mutant was in a nearly nonconducting state with a depolarizing voltage and recovered from inactivation with a reverse voltage. Our simulations and 3D-RISM analysis suggested that structural changes in the selective filter upon membrane depolarization trap potassium ions around the entrance of the selectivity filter and prevent ion permeation. This pore restriction is involved in the molecular mechanism of C-type inactivation.

physiology↗

bioRxiv2018

TCR-MHC Interaction Strength Defines Trafficking and Resident Memory Status of CD8 T cells in the Brain

T cell receptor-Major histocompatibility complex (TCR-MHC) affinities span a wide range in a polyclonal T cell response, yet it is undefined how affinity shapes long-term properties of CD8 T cells during chronic infection with persistent antigen. Here, we investigate how the affinity of the TCR-MHC interaction shapes the phenotype of memory CD8 T cells in the chronically Toxoplasma gondii-infected brain. We employed CD8 T cells from three lines of transnuclear (TN) mice that harbour in their endogenous loci different T cell receptors specific for the same Toxoplasma antigenic epitope ROP7. The three TN CD8 T cell clones span a wide range of affinities to MHCI-ROP7. These three CD8 T cell clones have a distinct and fixed hierarchy in terms of effector function in response to the antigen measured as proliferation capacity, trafficking, T cell maintenance and memory formation. In particular, the T cell clone of lowest affinity does not home to the brain. The two higher affinity T cell clones show differences in establishing resident memory populations (CD103+) in the brain with the higher affinity clone persisting longer in the host during chronic infection. Transcriptional profiling of naive and activated ROP7-specific CD8 T cells revealed that Klf2 encoding a transcription factor that is known to be a negative marker for T cell trafficking is upregulated in the activated lowest affinity ROP7 clone. Our data thus suggest that TCR-MHC affinity dictates memory CD8 T cell fate at the site of infection.

immunology↗

bioRxiv2017

Genome-Wide Association Study Reveals Genetic Link Between Diarrhea-Associated Entamoeba histolytica Infection And Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Diarrhea is the second leading cause of death for children globally, causing 760,000 deaths each year in children under the age of 5. Amoebic dysentery contributes significantly to this burden, especially in developing countries. We hypothesize that genetic variation contributes to susceptibility to diarrhea-associated Entamoeba histolytica infection in Bangladeshi infants; thus, we conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) in two independent birth cohorts of diarrhea-associated E. histolytica infection. Cases were defined as children with at least one diarrheal episode positive for E. histolytica through either PCR or ELISA within the first year of life. Controls were children without any episodes positive for E. histolytica in the same time frame. Meta-analyses under a fixed-effects inverse variance weighting model identified variants in two neighboring genes on chromosome 10: CUL2 (cullin 2) and CREM (cAMP responsive element modulator) associated with E. histolytica infection, with SNP rs58000832 achieving genome-wide significance (Pmeta=4.2x10-10). Each additional risk allele (an intergenic insertion between CREM and CCNY) of rs58000832 conferred 2.5 increased odds of a diarrhea-associated E. histolytica infection. The most associated SNP within a gene was in an intron of CREM (rs58468685, Pmeta=2.3x10-9), which with CUL2, has been implicated as a susceptibility locus for Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) and Crohns Disease. Gene expression resources suggest these loci are related to the higher expression of CREM, but not CUL2. Increased CREM expression is also observed in early E. histolytica infection. Further, CREM-/- mice were more susceptible to E. histolytica amebic colitis. These genetic associations reinforce the pathological similarities observed in gut inflammation between E. histolytica infection and IBD.

genetics↗