Despite extensive study, several of the major components involved in T cell receptor-mediated signaling remain unidentified. Here we report the cloning of the cDNA for a highly tyrosine-phosphorylated 36-38 kDa protein, previously characterized by its association with Grb2, phospholipase C-gamma1, and the p85 subunit of phosphoinositide 3-kinase. Deduced amino acid sequence identifies a novel integral membrane protein containing multiple potential tyrosine phosphorylation sites. We show that this protein is phosphorylated by ZAP-70/Syk protein tyrosine kinases leading to recruitment of multiple signaling molecules. Its function is demonstrated by inhibition of T cell activation following overexpression of a mutant form lacking critical tyrosine residues. Therefore, we propose to name the molecule LAT-linker for activation of T cells.

Object MR imaging of low-gamma nuclei at the ultrahigh magnetic field of 21.1 T provides a new opportunity for understanding a variety of biological processes. Among these, chlorine and sodium are attracting attention for their involvement in brain function and cancer development. Materials and methods MRI of 35Cl and 23Na were performed and relaxation times were measured in vivo in normal rat (n = 3) and in rat with glioma (n = 3) at 21.1 T. The concentrations of both nuclei were evaluated using the center-out back-projection method. Results T1 relaxation curve of chlorine in normal rat head was fitted by bi-exponential function (T1a = 4.8 ms (0.7) T1b = 24.4 ± 7 ms (0.3) and compared with sodium (T1 = 41.4 ms). Free induction decays (FID) of chlorine and sodium in vivo were bi-exponential with similar rapidly decaying components of T2normala∗=0.4 ms and T2normala∗=0.53 ms, respectively. Effects of small acquisition matrix and bi-exponential FIDs were assessed for quantification of chlorine (33.2 mM) and sodium (44.4 mM) in rat brain. Conclusion The study modeled a dramatic effect of the bi-exponential decay on MRI results. The revealed increased chlorine concentration in glioma (~1.5 times) relative to a normal brain correlates with the hypothesis asserting the importance of chlorine for tumor progression.

Oriented solid-state NMR is the most direct methodology to obtain the orientation of membrane proteins with respect to the lipid bilayer. The method consists of measuring (1)H-(15)N dipolar couplings (DC) and (15)N anisotropic chemical shifts (CSA) for membrane proteins that are uniformly aligned with respect to the membrane bilayer. A significant advantage of this approach is that tilt and azimuthal (rotational) angles of the protein domains can be directly derived from analytical expression of DC and CSA values, or, alternatively, obtained by refining protein structures using these values as harmonic restraints in simulated annealing calculations. The Achilles' heel of this approach is the lack of suitable experiments for sequential assignment of the amide resonances. In this Article, we present a new pulse sequence that integrates proton driven spin diffusion (PDSD) with sensitivity-enhanced PISEMA in a 3D experiment ([(1)H,(15)N]-SE-PISEMA-PDSD). The incorporation of 2D (15)N/(15)N spin diffusion experiments into this new 3D experiment leads to the complete and unambiguous assignment of the (15)N resonances. The feasibility of this approach is demonstrated for the membrane protein sarcolipin reconstituted in magnetically aligned lipid bicelles. Taken with low electric field probe technology, this approach will propel the determination of sequential assignment as well as structure and topology of larger integral membrane proteins in aligned lipid bilayers.

NH4H2AsO4 (ADA) is a model compound for understanding the mechanism of phase transitions in the KH2PO4 (KDP) family of ferroelectrics. ADA exhibits a paraelectric (PE) to antiferroelectric (AFE) phase transition at T N ∼ 216 K whose mechanism remains unclear. With the view of probing the role of the various protons in the transition mechanism, we have employed the high-resolution technique of magic angle spinning at the high Zeeman field of 21.1 T (1H resonance at 900 MHz). We measured the temperature dependence of the isotropic chemical shift and spin–lattice relaxation time, T 1, of the O–H···O and NH4 + protons through the T N. As T → T N, NMR peaks from the PE and AFE phases are seen to coexist over a temperature range of about 3 K, showing formation of nearly static (lifetime > milliseconds) pretransitional clusters in this lattice as it approaches its T N, consistent with the near first-order nature of the phase transition. The isotropic chemical shift of the O–H···O protons exhibited a steplike anomaly at T N, providing direct evidence of displacive character in this lattice commonly thought of as an order–disorder type. No such anomaly was noticeable for the NH4 + protons. Both sets of protons exhibited order–disorder characteristics in their T 1 data, as analyzed in terms of the standard Bloembergen, Purcell, and Pound (BPP) model. These data suggest that the traditionally employed classification of equilibrium phase transitions into order–disorder and displacive ones, should rather be “order–disorder cum displacive” type.