Histone acetylation and deacetylation, mediated by histone acetyltransferase and the 11 isoforms of histone deacetylase, play an important role in gene expression. Histone deacetylase inhibitors have found utility in the treatment of cancer by promoting the reexpression of abe ...
The most widely used methods for measuring polyamine enzyme activities are radioisotope methods that measure the radioactivity of compounds produced from radiolabeled substrate by the enzyme reaction. Several fluorescent polyamines have been developed for the measurement ...
Earlier unknown racemic β-methylspermidine (β-MeSpd) and γ-methylspermidine (γ-MeSpd) were �synthesized starting from crotononitrile or methacrylonitrile and putrescine. Lithium aluminum hydride reduction of the intermediate di-Boc-nitriles resulted in corre ...
Polyamines, small positively charged molecules, are vital for cell proliferation and differentiation. They are found ubiquitously in eukaryotic cells. Additionally, they interact with a wide range of other molecules and some membrane associated receptors. Polyamines, sperm ...
Autophagic (or type 2) cell death is characterized by the massive accumulation of autophagic vacuoles (autophagosomes) in the cytoplasm of cells that lack signs of apoptosis (type 1 cell death). Here we detail and critically assess a series of methods to promote and inhibit autophagy via pharm ...
This chapter describes the electron microscopic fine structure of early and late autophagic vacuoles in mammalian cells. Detailed instructions are given for the preparation of cells for conventional electron microscopy and for the identification of autophagic vacuoles by morp ...
Tuberculosis is currently the most devastating human bacterial disease, causing millions of deaths annually and infecting an overwhelming percentage of the global population. Its success as a scourge lies in the ability of Mycobacterium tuberculosis to prevent normal phagolyso ...
Phagocytosis is a process by which invading organisms are taken up by macrophages and targeted to the lysosomes, where they are degraded. However, many pathogens modulate this central process of macrophage-mediated killing by inhibiting their transport to the lysosomes through a vari ...
Interferon-gamma IFN-γ)–induced remodeling of the bacterial phagosome for pathogen clearance elicits the aid of a new family of GTPases termed the p47 IRGs. Members of this group reside primarily on ER-Golgi membranes before translocating to the nascent phagosome within minutes of bac ...
Coxiella burnetii is a bacterial obligate intracellular pathogen that replicates within a spacious parasitophorous vacuole (PV) with lysosomal characteristics. The pathogen actively participates in the biogenesis of its PV by synthesizing proteins that mediate vesicular ...
A unique feature of the intracellular life cycle of Legionella pneumophila is the interaction between the vacuole in which L. pneumophila resides and the endoplasmic reticulum of the host cell. This interaction is crucial for L. pneumophila to establish a niche in which the bacteria can repli ...
Phagocytic antigen-presenting cells (APCs) are involved in innate and adaptive immune responses to bacteria. Adaptive responses to bacteria involve processing of bacterial antigens for presentation by class II major histocompatibility complex (MHC II) molecules and class I MHC ...
The amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum is an established model to study phagocytosis. The sequence of events leading to the internalization and degradation of a particle is conserved in D. discoideum compared to metazoan cells. As its small haploid genome has been sequenced, it is now amenable ...
The ultimate goal of phagosomal maturation is the delivery of internalized, particulate cargo to acidic, hydrolytically competent compartments capable of mediating its degradation. Here we outline in detail three fluorometric techniques that allow the study of phagosomal mat ...
Autophagy and phagocytosis are evolutionarily ancient processes functioning in capture and digestion of material found in the cellular interior and exterior, respectively. In their most primordial form, both processes are involved in cellular metabolism and feeding, supplyi ...
Phagolysosome biogenesis plays a pivotal role in elimination of foreign particles and pathogens by leukocytes. This process is achieved by multiple cycles of membrane fusion between the phagosome and the endosomal system. In vitro reconstitution of phagosome fusion with endosomes ...
Phosphoinositide signaling is essential for successful phagocytosis. Phosphoinositides regulate processes such as actin assembly and the recruitment of molecular motors required for ingestion, as well as fusion events required for the maturation of the phagosome. Phospho ...
Microtubule-associated protein 1A/1B-light chain 3 (LC3) is a soluble protein with a molecular mass of ∼17 kDa that is distributed ubiquitously in mammalian tissues and cultured cells. During autophagy, autophagosomes engulf cytoplasmic components, including cytosolic prot ...
Most proteins need to interact physically with other proteins to be able to perform their biological functions; the identification of new protein-binding partners for a protein of interest may therefore be a key strategy in defining the mechanism of action for a particular protein. Many dif ...
Surveillance mechanisms monitoring genomic integrity operate through signal transduction pathways called checkpoints. Checkpoints are essential to delay cell cycle progression in response to deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) damage (1,2). These pathways require the coordi ...