Ubiquitously expressed -and m-calpain proteases are implicated in development and apoptosis. They consist of 80-kDa catalytic subunits encoded by the capn1 and capn2 genes, respectively, and a common 28-kDa regulatory subunit encoded by the capn4 gene. The regulatory subunit is required to maintain the stability and activity of -and m-calpains. Accordingly, genetic disruption of capn4 in the mouse eliminated both ubiquitous calpain activities. In embryonic fibroblasts derived from these mice, calpain deficiency correlated with resistance to endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress-induced apoptosis, and this was directly related to a calpain requirement for activation of both caspase-12 and the ASK1-JNK cascade. This study provides compelling genetic evidence for calpain's role in caspase-12 activation at the ER, and reveals a novel role for the ubiquitous calpains in ER-stress induced apoptosis and JNK activation.Calpains are a family of Ca 2ϩ -dependent intracellular cysteine proteases. By cleaving their protein substrates, ubiquitously expressed -calpain and m-calpain are implicated in a wide variety of biological functions including cell migration, cell cycle regulation, differentiation, and apoptosis (reviewed in Ref. 1). Both -and m-calpains are heterodimers, consisting of a distinct large 80-kDa catalytic subunit, encoded by the genes capn1 and capn2, respectively, and a common small 28-kDa regulatory subunit encoded by the capn4 gene. The small subunit is essential to calpain activities, as shown by in vitro biochemical studies where a 25-amino acid truncation at the C terminus abolished all detectable calpain activity (2). This provided the rationale for the first reported capn4 knock-out mouse model, which interrupted the coding sequences in exon 9 (3, 4) and was predicted to truncate 38 C-terminal amino acids from the small subunit. The resulting hypothetical small subunit was not detectable, the steady-state levels of -80, m-80 catalytic subunits were reduced, and no calpain activity was observed (4). More recently, we have developed a conditionally targeted capn4 locus by inserting loxP sites into intron 8 and the noncoding region of exon 11.2 This allows conditional knock-out of capn4 by Cre-mediated recombination. Although a hypothetical small subunit protein with a 60-amino acid deletion at the C terminus might still be produced, no detectable small subunit was detected, probably because of destabilization of the hypothetical truncated protein. Expression of the large subunits was also greatly diminished, supporting the proposed role for the small subunit in stabilizing large subunits. As expected, mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) 3 from these knockouts also lacked any detectable ubiquitous calpain activity.2 Many reports on calpain function are based on using small molecule inhibitors, which lack specificity. In contrast, this genetic knock-out model is completely selective, and therefore provides a powerful tool to address the physiological functions of the ubiquitous calpains.

In situ reduction of selenite to elemental selenium (Se(0)), by microorganisms in sediments and soils is an important process and greatly affects the environmental distribution and the biological effects of selenium. However, the mechanism behind such a biological process remains unrevealed yet. Here we use Shewanella oneidensis MR-1, a widely-distributed dissimilatory metal-reducing bacterium with a powerful and diverse respiration capability, to evaluate the involvement of anaerobic respiration system in the microbial selenite reduction. With mutants analysis, we identify fumarate reductase FccA as the terminal reductase of selenite in periplasm. Moreover, we find that such a reduction is dependent on central respiration c-type cytochrome CymA. In contrast, nitrate reductase, nitrite reductase, and the Mtr electron transfer pathway do not work as selenite reductases. These findings reveal a previously unrecognized role of anaerobic respiration reductases of S. oneidensis MR-1 in selenite reduction and geochemical cycles of selenium in sediments and soils.

Tiller number is highly regulated by controlling the formation of tiller bud and its subsequent outgrowth in response to endogenous and environmental signals. Here, we identified a rice mutant htd2 from one of the 15,000 transgenic rice lines, which is characterized by a high tillering and dwarf phenotype. Phenotypic analysis of the mutant showed that the mutation did not affect formation of tiller bud, but promoted the subsequent outgrowth of tiller bud. To isolate the htd2 gene, a map-based cloning strategy was employed and 17 new insertions-deletions (InDels) markers were developed. A high-resolution physical map of the chromosomal region around the htd2 gene was made using the F(2) and F(3) population. Finally, the gene was mapped in 12.8 kb region between marker HT41 and marker HT52 within the BAC clone OSJNBa0009J13. Cloning and sequencing of the target region from the mutant showed that the T-DNA insertion caused a 463 bp deletion between the promoter and first exon of an esterase/lipase/thioesterase family gene in the 12.8 kb region. Furthermore, transgenic rice with reduced expression level of the gene exhibited an enhanced tillering and dwarf phenotype. Accordingly, the esterase/lipase/thioesterase family gene (TIGR locus Os03g10620) was identified as the HTD2 gene. HTD2 transcripts were expressed mainly in leaf. Loss of function of HTD2 resulted in a significantly increased expression of HTD1, D10 and D3, which were involved in the strigolactone biosynthetic pathway. The results suggest that the HTD2 gene could negatively regulate tiller bud outgrowth by the strigolactone pathway.

The -and m-calpain proteases have been implicated in both proor anti-apoptotic functions. Here we compared cell death responses and apoptotic or survival signaling pathways in primary mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) derived from wild type or capn4 knock-out mice which lack both -and m-calpain activities.