When confronted with environmental stress, cells either activate defence mechanisms to survive, or initiate apoptosis, depending on the type of stress. Certain types of stress, such as hypoxia, heatshock and arsenite (type 1 stress), induce cells to assemble cytoplasmic stress granules (SGs), a major adaptive defence mechanism. SGs are multimolecular aggregates of stalled translation pre-initiation complexes that prevent the accumulation of mis-folded proteins. Type 2 stress, which includes X-rays and genotoxic drugs, induce apoptosis through the stress-activated p38 and JNK MAPK (SAPK) pathways. A functional relationship between the SG and SAPK responses is unknown. Here, we report that SG formation negatively regulates the SAPK apoptotic response, and that the signalling scaffold protein RACK1 functions as a mediator between the two responses. RACK1 binds to the stress-responsive MTK1 MAPKKK and facilitates its activation by type 2 stress; however, under conditions of type 1 stress, RACK1 is sequestered into SGs. Thus, type 1 conditions suppress activation of the MTK1-SAPK pathway and apoptosis induced by type 2 stress. These findings may be relevant to the problem of hypoxia-induced resistance to cancer chemotherapy.

Amyloid fibrils in Alzheimer's disease mainly consist of 40-and 42-mer ␤-amyloid peptides (A␤40 and A␤42) that exhibit aggregative ability and neurotoxicity. Although the aggregates of A␤ peptides are rich in intermolecular ␤-sheet, the precise secondary structure of A␤ in the aggregates remains unclear. To identify the amino acid residues involved in the ␤-sheet formation, 34 proline-substituted mutants of A␤42 were synthesized and their aggregative ability and neurotoxicity on PC12 cells were examined. Prolines are rarely present in ␤-sheet, whereas they are easily accommodated in ␤-turn as a Pro-X corner. Among the mutants at positions 15-32, only E22P-A␤42 extensively aggregated with stronger neurotoxicity than wild-type A␤42, suggesting that the residues at positions 15-21 and 24 -32 are involved in the ␤-sheet and that the turn at positions 22 and 23 plays a crucial role in the aggregation and neurotoxicity of A␤42. The C-terminal proline mutants (A42P-, I41P-, and V40P-A␤42) hardly aggregated with extremely weak cytotoxicity, whereas the C-terminal threonine mutants (A42T-and I41T-A␤42) aggregated potently with significant cytotoxicity. These results indicate that the hydrophobicity of the C-terminal two residues of A␤42 is not related to its aggregative ability and neurotoxicity, rather the C-terminal three residues adopt the ␤-sheet. These results demonstrate well the large difference in aggregative ability and neurotoxicity between A␤42 and A␤40. In contrast, the proline mutants at the N-terminal 13 residues showed potent aggregative ability and neurotoxicity similar to those of wild-type A␤42. The identification of the ␤-sheet region of A␤42 is a basis for designing new aggregation inhibitors of A␤ peptides. Alzheimer's disease (AD)1 is neuropathologically characterized by the progressive deposition of amyloid fibrils in the brain parenchyma and cortical blood vessels (1). This deposition mainly consists of 40-and 42-mer peptides (A␤40 and A␤42) generated from amyloid precursor protein by two proteases, ␤-and ␥-secretase (2, 3). A␤42 plays a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of AD, because the aggregative ability and neurotoxicity of A␤42 are considerably higher than those of A␤40 (4). Because the aggregative ability of A␤ peptides is closely related to the neurotoxicity, precise structural information for amyloid fibrils is indispensable for understanding the molecular mechanisms of AD and related folding diseases and for developing new medicinal leads using the inhibitory activity of amyloid fibril formation.Previous studies on A␤ fibrils showed that A␤ aggregates mainly consist of intermolecular parallel ␤-sheet (5-10

Although the correct folding of green fluorescent protein (GFP) is required for formation of the chromophore, it is known that wild-type GFP cannot mature efficiently in vivo in Escherichia coli at 37 degrees C or higher temperatures that the jellyfish in the Pacific Northwest have never experienced. Recently, by random mutagenesis by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method, a mutant called Cycle3 was constructed. This mutant had three mutations, F99S, M153T, and V163A, on or near the surface of the GFP molecule and was able to mature correctly even at 37 degrees C [Crameri et al. (1996) Nat. Biotechnol. 143, 315-319]. In the present study, we investigated the differences in their folding behavior in vitro. We observed the folding and unfolding reactions of both wild-type GFP and the Cycle3 mutant by using green fluorescence as an indicator of the formation of the native structure and examining hydrogen-exchange reactions by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Both proteins showed unusually slow refolding and unfolding rates, and their refolding rates were almost identical under the native state at 25 and at 35 degrees C. On the other hand, aggregation studies in vitro showed that wild-type GFP had a strong tendency to aggregate, while the Cycle3 mutant did not. These results indicated that the ability to mature efficiently in vivo at 37 degrees C was not due to the improved folding and that reduced hydrophobicity on the surface of the Cycle3 mutant was a more critical factor for efficient maturation in vivo.

The protein kinase C (PKC) family of enzymes plays a crucial role in cellular signal transduction and tumor promotion. Conventional and novel PKC isozymes consist of a catalytic domain for protein phosphorylation and a regulatory domain which binds the endogenous messenger diacyl glycerol or exogenous agents such as phorbol esters. The N-terminal regulatory region of these isozymes contains two cysteine-rich domains (C1A and C1B, also known as CRD1 and CRD2), both of which are candidates for the phorbol ester-binding site. To determine the phorbol ester-binding sites of these isozymes and to elucidate the structural requirements for isozyme selective PKC modulation, the C1 peptides, consisting of ca. 50 amino acids of all conventional and novel PKCs, along with those of atypical PKCs have been synthesized by a solid - phase Fmoc strategy. Exceptionally high overall yields (10−20%) were achieved in the syntheses of most of the C1 peptides on a Pioneer Peptide Synthesizer (PerSeptive Biosystems) through the use of HATU as a coupling reagent. These peptides were successfully folded by zinc treatment, as monitored by CD spectroscopy. Importantly, only the C1Bs of all conventional and novel PKCs, except for PKCγ, bound [ 3 H]phorbol-12,13-dibutyrate (PDBu) with high affinities, comparable to those of the native isozymes. Of special significance, both C1 peptides of PKCγ (i.e., γ-C1A and γ-C1B) exhibited high-affinity binding, providing the structural basis for a novel approach to PKCγ-selective modulators, compounds of potential significance for the treatment of neuropathic pain. The effects of metal cations other than zinc on the binding of these isozymes were also investigated. Only the PKCγ surrogates (γ-C1A and γ-C1B), when treated with cadmium, exhibited no binding, while other similarly treated conventional and novel PKC surrogates strongly bound PDBu, as did the zinc-folded peptides. These results suggest that cadmium ion could serve as a new and effective tool for controlling the activation of PKCγ.