Eukaryotic cells maintain proteostasis by quality control (QC) degradation. These pathways can specifically target a wide variety of distinct misfolded proteins, and so are important for management of cellular stress. Although a number of conserved QC pathways have been described in yeast, the E3 ligases responsible for cytoplasmic QC are unknown. We now show that Ubr1 and San1 mediate chaperone-dependent ubiquitination of numerous misfolded cytoplasmic proteins. This action of Ubr1 is distinct from its role in the "N-end rule." In this capacity, Ubr1 functions to protect cells from proteotoxic stresses. Our phenotypic and biochemical studies of Ubr1 and San1 indicate that two strategies are employed for cytoplasmic QC: chaperone-assisted ubiquitination by Ubr1 and chaperone-dependent delivery to nuclear San1. The broad conservation of Ubr ligases and the relevant chaperones indicates that these mechanisms will be important in understanding both basic and biomedical aspects of cellular proteostasis.chaperone | proteostasis | misfolding P rotein quality control (QC) functions to ensure that damaged and misfolded proteins are maintained at acceptable levels to limit their stress-causing, or proteotoxic, effects. One strategy of protein QC is the selective degradation of misfolded proteins. For degradative QC pathways to be effective, they must be specific for aberrant proteins; sufficiently general to recognize selectively common structural hallmarks shared by numerous unrelated proteins; and physiologically important, better allowing the cell to survive proteotoxic stress. Because protein QC underlies many pressing maladies, such as parkinsonism, cystic fibrosis, and aging, discovery of the rules of substrate selectivity and destruction is a key step in understanding these conditions and designing appropriate therapeutical interventions to combat them.In eukaryotes, the ubiquitin proteasome system is employed in the selective degradation of many proteins (1). A substrate protein is marked for degradation by assembly of a polyubiquitin chain, initiated by covalent addition of the small (7.6 kDa) protein ubiquitin to a lysine in an isopeptide bond, followed by iterative addition of the next ubiquitin to the previously added one to create a polyubiquitin chain that is uniquely recognized by the 26S proteasome. Protein ubiquitination is catalyzed by a three-enzyme cascade. The single E1 ubiquitin-activating enzyme hydrolyzes ATP to acquire ubiquitin in labile thioester linkage, which is then transferred in thioester linkage to one of a small group of E2s or ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes (UBCs). E2-bound ubiquitin is finally transferred to an isopeptide linkage on the target protein or the growing polyubiquitin chain by the action of the E3 ubiquitin ligase. It is the E3 ubiquitin ligase that determines the specificity of a given ubiquitination process; identifying and understanding the E3s involved in a degradative pathway are thus key parts of understanding the mechanisms of substrate selection and modification.E3s ...

Summary Gene expression signatures relating mammary stem cell populations to breast cancers have focused on adult tissue. Here, we identify, isolate and characterize the fetal mammary stem cell (fMaSC) state since the invasive and proliferative processes of mammogenesis resemble phases of cancer progression. fMaSC frequency peaks late in embryogenesis, enabling more extensive stem cell purification than achieved with adult tissue. fMaSCs are self-renewing, multipotent, and co-express multiple mammary lineage markers. Gene expression, transplantation, and in vitro analyses reveal putative autocrine and paracrine regulatory mechanisms including ErbB and FGF signaling pathways impinging on fMaSC growth. Expression profiles from fMaSCs and associated stroma exhibit significant similarities to basal-like and Her2+ intrinsic breast cancer subtypes. Our results reveal significant links between development and cancer and provide resources to identify new candidates for diagnosis, prognosis and therapy.

Summary Feeding is dynamically regulated by the palatability of the food source and the physiological needs of the animal. How consumption is controlled by external sensory cues and internal metabolic state remains under intense investigation. Here, we identify four GABAergic interneurons in the Drosophila brain that establish a central feeding threshold which is required to inhibit consumption. Inactivation of these cells results in indiscriminate and excessive intake of all compounds, independent of taste quality or nutritional state. Conversely, acute activation of these neurons suppresses consumption of water and nutrients. The output from these neurons is required to gate activity in motor neurons that control meal initiation and consumption. Thus, our study reveals a new layer of inhibitory control in feeding circuits that is required to suppress a latent state of unrestricted and non-selective consumption.

Feeding decisions are highly plastic and bidirectionally regulated by neurons that either promote or inhibit feeding. In Drosophila melanogaster, recent studies have identified four GABAergic interneurons that act as critical brakes to prevent incessant feeding. These GABAergic neurons may inhibit target neurons that drive consumption. Here, we tested this hypothesis by examining GABA receptors and neurons that promote consumption. We find that Resistance to dieldrin (RDL), a GABAA type receptor, is required for proper control of ingestion. Knockdown of Rdl in a subset of neurons causes overconsumption of tastants. Acute activation of these neurons is sufficient to drive consumption of appetitive substances and non-appetitive substances and acute silencing of these neurons decreases consumption. Taken together, these studies identify GABAA receptor-expressing neurons that promote Drosophila ingestive behavior and provide insight into feeding regulation.

Self-assembly of artificial opals has garnered significant interest as a facile nanofabrication technique capable of producing highly ordered structures for optical, electrochemical, biomolecular, and thermal applications. In these applications, the optimum opal particle diameter can vary by several orders of magnitude because the properties of the resultant structures depend strongly on the feature size. However, current opal fabrication techniques only produce high-quality structures over a limited range of sphere sizes or require complex processes and equipment. In this work, the rational and simple fabrication of polycrystalline opals with diameters between 500 nm and 10 μm was demonstrated using slope self-assembly of colloids suspended in ethanol–water. The role of the various process parameters was elucidated through a scaling-based model that accurately captures the variations of opal substrate coverage for spheres of size 2 μm or smaller. For spheres of 10 μm and larger, capillary forces were shown to play a key role in the process dynamics. Based on these insights, millimeter-scale monolayered opals were successfully fabricated, while centimeter-scale opals were possible with sparse sphere stacking or small uncovered areas. These insights provide a guide for the simple and fast fabrication of opals that can be used as optical coatings, templates for high power density electrodes, molecule templates, and high-performance thermo-fluidic devices.