朊病毒增殖机制的研究现状

朊病毒为一不含核酸的蛋白感染因子，能引起哺乳动物中枢神经组织病变，它是由正常形式的蛋白（PrPC)错误折叠成致病蛋白（PrPSc)而组成的，两种结构异型蛋白来源于同一基因，朊病毒抚养殖是通过PrPC构象转变成为PrPSc而实现的。     

Cross-linking cellular prion protein triggers neuronal apoptosis in vivo

Neuronal death is a prominent, but poorly understood, pathological hallmark of prion disease. Notably, in the absence of the cellular prion protein (PrPC), the disease-associated isoform, PrPSc, appears not to be intrinsically neurotoxic, suggesting that PrPC itself may participate directly in the prion neurodegenerative cascade. Here, cross-linking PrPC in vivo with specific monoclonal antibodies was found to trigger rapid and extensive apoptosis in hippocampal and cerebellar neurons. These findings suggest that PrPC functions in the control of neuronal survival and provides a model to explore whether cross-linking of PrPC by oligomeric PrPSc can promote neuronal loss during prion infection.     

Games played by rogue proteins in prion disorders and Alzheimer's disease

The incidence of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and that of prion disorders (PrD) could not be more different. One-third of octogenarians succumb to AD, whereas Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease typically affects one individual in a million each year. However, these diseases have many common features impinging on the metabolism of neuronal membrane proteins: the amyloid precursor protein APP in the case of AD, and the cellular prion protein PrPC in PrD. APP begets the Abeta peptide, whereas PrPC begets the malignant prion protein PrPSc. Both Abeta and PrPSc are associated with disease, but we do not know what triggers their accumulation and neurotoxicity. A great deal has been learned, however, about protein folding, misfolding, and aggregation; an entirely new class of intramembrane proteases has been identified; and unsuspected roles for the immune system have been uncovered. There is reason to expect that prion research will profit from advances in the understanding of AD, and vice versa.     

Depleting neuronal PrP in prion infection prevents disease and reverses spongiosis

The mechanisms involved in prion neurotoxicity are unclear, and therapies preventing accumulation of PrPSc, the disease-associated form of prion protein (PrP), do not significantly prolong survival in mice with central nervous system prion infection. We found that depleting endogenous neuronal PrPc in mice with established neuroinvasive prion infection reversed early spongiform change and prevented neuronal loss and progression to clinical disease. This occurred despite the accumulation of extraneuronal PrPSc to levels seen in terminally ill wild-type animals. Thus, the propagation of nonneuronal PrPSc is not pathogenic, but arresting the continued conversion of PrPc to PrPSc within neurons during scrapie infection prevents prion neurotoxicity.     

利用PRNP-/-羊制备朊蛋白多克隆抗体及其特性分析

【目的】利用朊蛋白双基因敲除（PRNP-/-）羊制备朊蛋白多克隆抗体,并对其特性进行分析。【方法】构建山羊朊蛋白（PrP）原核表达载体,转入大肠杆菌并诱导表达,纯化获得羊PrP;将获得的PrP免疫PRNP-/-山羊,制备朊蛋白特异性的多克隆抗体;并对获得的朊蛋白多克隆抗体进行ELISA及Western-blot检测。【结果】获得了大量的朊蛋白特异性抗血清,间接ELASA检测抗血清中朊蛋白多克隆抗体的效价为25600;Western-blot检测显示所制备抗体不仅可以识别鼠、牛、羊脑组织内源性朊蛋白,而且能识别鼠脑组织内朊病毒。【结论】PRNP-/-转基因山羊可用于制备大量高亲和力朊蛋白多克隆抗体,获得的抗体可用于多种动物朊蛋白及朊病毒类疾病的检测。     

Chronic lymphocytic inflammation specifies the organ tropism of prions

Prions typically accumulate in nervous and lymphoid tissues. Because proinflammatory cytokines and immune cells are required for lymphoid prion replication, we tested whether inflammatory conditions affect prion pathogenesis. We administered prions to mice with five inflammatory diseases of the kidney, pancreas, or liver. In all cases, chronic lymphocytic inflammation enabled prion accumulation in otherwise prion-free organs. Inflammatory foci consistently correlated with lymphotoxin up-regulation and ectopic induction of FDC-M1+ cells expressing the normal cellular prion protein PrPC. By contrast, inflamed organs of mice lacking lymphotoxin-alpha or its receptor did not accumulate the abnormal isoform PrPSc, nor did they display infectivity upon prion inoculation. By expanding the tissue distribution of prions, chronic inflammatory conditions may act as modifiers of natural and iatrogenic prion transmission.     

Conversion of PrP to a self-perpetuating PrPSc-like conformation in the cytosol

A rare conformation of the prion protein, PrPSc, is found only in mammals with transmissible prion diseases and represents either the infectious agent itself or a major component of it. The mechanism for initiating PrPSc formation is unknown. We report that PrP retrogradely transported out of the endoplasmic reticulum produced both amorphous aggregates and a PrPSc-like conformation in the cytosol. The distribution between these forms correlated with the rate of appearance in the cytosol. Once conversion to the PrPSc-like conformation occurred, it was sustained. Thus, PrP has an inherent capacity to promote its own conformational conversion in mammalian cells. These observations might explain the origin of PrPSc.     

A yeast prion, Mod5, promotes acquired drug resistance and cell survival under environmental stress

Prion conversion from a soluble protein to an aggregated state may be involved in the cellular adaptation of yeast to the environment. However, it remains unclear whether and how cells actively use prion conversion to acquire a fitness advantage in response to environmental stress. We identified Mod5, a yeast transfer RNA isopentenyltransferase lacking glutamine/asparagine-rich domains, as a yeast prion protein and found that its prion conversion in yeast regulated the sterol biosynthetic pathway for acquired cellular resistance against antifungal agents. Furthermore, selective pressure by antifungal drugs on yeast facilitated the de novo appearance of Mod5 prion states for cell survival. Thus, phenotypic changes caused by active prion conversion under environmental selection may contribute to cellular adaptation in living organisms.     

Impaired prion replication in spleens of mice lacking functional follicular dendritic cells

In scrapie-infected mice, prions are found associated with splenic but not circulating B and T lymphocytes and in the stroma, which contains follicular dendritic cells (FDCs). Formation and maintenance of mature FDCs require the presence of B cells expressing membrane-bound lymphotoxin-alpha/beta. Treatment of mice with soluble lymphotoxin-beta receptor results in the disappearance of mature FDCs from the spleen. We show that this treatment abolishes splenic prion accumulation and retards neuroinvasion after intraperitoneal scrapie inoculation. These data provide evidence that FDCs are the principal sites for prion replication in the spleen.     

Human prion protein with valine 129 prevents expression of variant CJD phenotype

Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) is a unique and highly distinctive clinicopathological and molecular phenotype of human prion disease associated with infection with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE)-like prions. Here, we found that generation of this phenotype in transgenic mice required expression of human prion protein (PrP) with methionine 129. Expression of human PrP with valine 129 resulted in a distinct phenotype and, remarkably, persistence of a barrier to transmission of BSE-derived prions on subpassage. Polymorphic residue 129 of human PrP dictated propagation of distinct prion strains after BSE prion infection. Thus, primary and secondary human infection with BSE-derived prions may result in sporadic CJD-like or novel phenotypes in addition to vCJD, depending on the genotype of the prion source and the recipient.     

A general model of prion strains and their pathogenicity

Prions are lethal mammalian pathogens composed of aggregated conformational isomers of a host-encoded glycoprotein and which appear to lack nucleic acids. Their unique biology, allied with the public-health risks posed by prion zoonoses such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, has focused much attention on the molecular basis of prion propagation and the "species barrier" that controls cross-species transmission. Both are intimately linked to understanding how multiple prion "strains" are encoded by a protein-only agent. The underlying mechanisms are clearly of much wider importance, and analogous protein-based inheritance mechanisms are recognized in yeast and fungi. Recent advances suggest that prions themselves are not directly neurotoxic, but rather their propagation involves production of toxic species, which may be uncoupled from infectivity.     

热力学因素对绵羊重组朊蛋白体外构象转化的作用

构建了绵羊朊蛋白的原核表达载体,获得了高纯度的融合表达蛋白。并在热力学因素的作用下,研究了重组绵羊朊蛋白的构象转化。以基因型为ARQ/ARQ蒙古绵羊的血液DNA为模板,利用DNA重组技术,将绵羊朊蛋白正常成熟蛋白基因OvPrP插入表达载体pET30a,在大肠杆菌BL2l(DE3)中高效表达,获得的表达产物以包涵体形式存在,并对其进行纯化和复性。超滤浓缩后浓度约为0.5 mg/mL的OvPrP97-234,进行热力学处理,利用远紫外线圆二色谱(CD)分析热力学处理前、后蛋白的二级结构的变化,同时,对热力学处理前、后的蛋白进行了蛋白酶K抗性的检测,并对其高级结构进行了预测。结果表明:获得的表达产物经SDS-PAGE分析可见分子量为16kD的蛋白条带,Western-blotting的鉴定证实了所获得的蛋白是特异性的朊蛋白。经Jascow32软件分析,测得天然构象的OvPrP97-234的二级结构含量为:α螺旋为28.8%、β折叠为0%、转角和无规卷曲为71.1%,无蛋白酶K的抗性。经过热力学处理之后,OvPrP97-234的二级结构含量为:α螺旋为19.3%,β折叠为36.9%,转角和无规卷曲为43.8%,有一定...     

A size threshold limits prion transmission and establishes phenotypic diversity

According to the prion hypothesis, atypical phenotypes arise when a prion protein adopts an alternative conformation and persist when that form assembles into self-replicating aggregates. Amyloid formation in vitro provides a model for this protein-misfolding pathway, but the mechanism by which this process interacts with the cellular environment to produce transmissible phenotypes is poorly understood. Using the yeast prion Sup35/[PSI(+)], we found that protein conformation determined the size distribution of aggregates through its interactions with a molecular chaperone. Shifts in this range created variations in aggregate abundance among cells because of a size threshold for transmission, and this heterogeneity, along with aggregate growth and fragmentation, induced age-dependent fluctuations in phenotype. Thus, prion conformations may specify phenotypes as population averages in a dynamic system.     

Amyloid fibrils of the HET-s(218-289) prion form a beta solenoid with a triangular hydrophobic core

Prion and nonprion forms of proteins are believed to differ solely in their three-dimensional structure, which is therefore of paramount importance for the prion function. However, no atomic-resolution structure of the fibrillar state that is likely infectious has been reported to date. We present a structural model based on solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance restraints for amyloid fibrils from the prion-forming domain (residues 218 to 289) of the HET-s protein from the filamentous fungus Podospora anserina. On the basis of 134 intra- and intermolecular experimental distance restraints, we find that HET-s(218-289) forms a left-handed beta solenoid, with each molecule forming two helical windings, a compact hydrophobic core, at least 23 hydrogen bonds, three salt bridges, and two asparagine ladders. The structure is likely to have broad implications for understanding the infectious amyloid state.     

Structure of an HIF-1alpha -pVHL complex: hydroxyproline recognition in signaling

The ubiquitination of the hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) by the von Hippel-Lindau tumor suppressor (pVHL) plays a central role in the cellular response to changes in oxygen availability. pVHL binds to HIF only when a conserved proline in HIF is hydroxylated, a modification that is oxygen-dependent. The 1.85 angstrom structure of a 20-residue HIF-1alpha peptide-pVHL-ElonginB-ElonginC complex shows that HIF-1alpha binds to pVHL in an extended beta strand-like conformation. The hydroxyproline inserts into a gap in the pVHL hydrophobic core, at a site that is a hotspot for tumorigenic mutations, with its 4-hydroxyl group recognized by buried serine and histidine residues. Although the beta sheet-like interactions contribute to the stability of the complex, the hydroxyproline contacts are central to the strict specificity characteristic of signaling.     

Evidence for the prion hypothesis: induction of the yeast [PSI+] factor by in vitro- converted Sup35 protein

Starting with purified, bacterially produced protein, we have created a [PSI(+)]-inducing agent based on an altered (prion) conformation of the yeast Sup35 protein. After converting Sup35p to its prion conformation in vitro, we introduced it into the cytoplasm of living yeast using a liposome transformation protocol. Introduction of substoichiometric quantities of converted Sup35p greatly increased the rate of appearance of the well-characterized epigenetic factor [PSI+], which results from self-propagating aggregates of cellular Sup35p. Thus, as predicted by the prion hypothesis, proteins can act as infectious agents by causing self-propagating conformational changes.     

细胞型朊蛋白PrP~C与浮舰蛋白flotillin功能的研究进展

朊蛋白和脂筏是当今研究的热点。细胞型朊蛋白(PrPC)能够通过构象转变生成致病型的朊病毒(PrPSc),导致海绵状脑病的发生,但是目前关于PrPC的转变机制还不清楚。PrPC也是重要的信号转导蛋白,引发众多的信号转导事件。Flotillin属于新被命名为SPFH(stomatin/prohibitin/flotillin/HflK/C)的蛋白家族,是重要的脂筏标识性蛋白,它们不仅被动地担当着非胞膜窖脂筏的脚架,为蛋白质的相互作用和蛋白质复合体的组装以及信号转导提供平台,而且本身还主动地扮演着信号蛋白的角色,在许多的细胞事件中发挥重要作用。PrPC与flotillin能够发生相互作用,flotillin蛋白为PrPC的跨膜信号转导和PrPC转变成PrPSc提供了环境。本文重点综述了近5年来关于PrPC和flotillin蛋白功能的研究进展,尤其是信号转导方面的研究。     

Role of Escherichia coli curli operons in directing amyloid fiber formation

Amyloid is associated with debilitating human ailments including Alzheimer's and prion diseases. Biochemical, biophysical, and imaging analyses revealed that fibers produced by Escherichia coli called curli were amyloid. The CsgA curlin subunit, purified in the absence of the CsgB nucleator, adopted a soluble, unstructured form that upon prolonged incubation assembled into fibers that were indistinguishable from curli. In vivo, curli biogenesis was dependent on the nucleation-precipitation machinery requiring the CsgE and CsgF chaperone-like and nucleator proteins, respectively. Unlike eukaryotic amyloid formation, curli biogenesis is a productive pathway requiring a specific assembly machinery.     

Prion domain initiation of amyloid formation in vitro from native Ure2p

The [URE3] non-Mendelian genetic element of Saccharomyces cerevisiae is an infectious protein (prion) form of Ure2p, a regulator of nitrogen catabolism. Here, synthetic Ure2p1-65 were shown to polymerize to form filaments 40 to 45 angstroms in diameter with more than 60 percent beta sheet. Ure2p1-65 specifically induced full-length native Ure2p to copolymerize under conditions where native Ure2p alone did not polymerize. Like Ure2p in extracts of [URE3] strains, these 180- to 220-angstrom-diameter filaments were protease resistant. The Ure2p1-65-Ure2p cofilaments could seed polymerization of native Ure2p to form thicker, less regular filaments. All filaments stained with Congo Red to produce the green birefringence typical of amyloid. This self-propagating amyloid formation can explain the properties of [URE3].     

Synthetic mammalian prions

Recombinant mouse prion protein (recMoPrP) produced in Escherichia coli was polymerized into amyloid fibrils that represent a subset of beta sheet-rich structures. Fibrils consisting of recMoPrP(89-230) were inoculated intracerebrally into transgenic (Tg) mice expressing MoPrP(89-231). The mice developed neurologic dysfunction between 380 and 660 days after inoculation. Brain extracts showed protease-resistant PrP by Western blotting; these extracts transmitted disease to wild-type FVB mice and Tg mice overexpressing PrP, with incubation times of 150 and 90 days, respectively. Neuropathological findings suggest that a novel prion strain was created. Our results provide compelling evidence that prions are infectious proteins.