Cryo-EM tomography of wild-type and mutant cilia and flagella from Tetrahymena and Chlamydomonas reveals new information on the substructure of radial spokes.

No abstract

Cryoelectron tomography and subtomogram averaging reveal a high degree of structural asymmetry and polarization in dynein localization in the Chlamydomonas flagella.

Bax and Bid are pro-apoptotic members of the Bcl-2 protein family. Upon cleavage by caspase-8, Bid activates Bax. Activated Bax inserts into the mitochondrial outer membrane forming oligomers which lead to membrane poration, release of cytochrome c, and apoptosis. The detailed mechanism of Bax activation and the topology and composition of the oligomers are still under debate. Here molecular details of Bax activation and oligomerization were obtained by application of several biophysical techniques, including atomic force microscopy, cryoelectron microscopy, and particularly electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy performed on spin-labeled Bax. Incubation with detergents, reconstitution, and Bid-triggered insertion into liposomes were found to be effective in inducing Bax oligomerization. Bid was shown to activate Bax independently of the stoichiometric ratio, suggesting that Bid has a catalytic function and that the interaction with Bax is transient. The formation of a stable dimerization interface involving two Bcl-2 homology 3 (BH3) domains was found to be the nucleation event for Bax homo-oligomerization. Based on intermolecular distance determined by EPR, a model of six adjacent Bax molecules in the oligomer is presented where the hydrophobic hairpins (helices ␣5 and ␣6) are equally spaced in the membrane and the two BH3 domains are in close vicinity in the dimer interface, separated by >5 nm from the next BH3 pairs.Members of the Bcl-2 protein family are essential players in the complex regulation of apoptosis (1, 2). They are divided into three subgroups: the anti-apoptotic Bcl-2-like proteins, the pro-apoptotic multidomain proteins (Bax and Bak), and the pro-apoptotic BH3 3 -only proteins. To keep programmed cell death under control, Bax activation needs to be strictly regulated, as abnormal cell death is disadvantageous for multicellular organisms.Following cleavage by caspase-8, the BH3-only protein, Bid, is known to activate Bax (3-6). Recently the events involved in BaxBid interaction were investigated by fluorescent techniques (7). Bax is activated through a cascade of conformational changes from being inactive and cytosolic to an oligomeric, membrane-inserted state. In the mitochondrial outer membrane (8, 9) activated Bax is responsible for cytochrome c release and apoptosis initiation (10). Bax oligomerization has been shown to occur also in vitro by incubation with detergents (10 -14).The structures of monomeric Bax and Bid were solved by NMR (14 -16). Bax has a globular fold composed of nine ␣-helices (␣1 to ␣9), with ␣2 representing the BH3 domain and ␣5/␣6 the hydrophobic hairpin (see Fig. 1A). Similarities in structure and function with the monomeric inactive form of the channel-forming domain of bacterial colicins or diphtheria toxins are evident (14, 17). The BH3-only protein, Bid, shows a similar globular fold but lacks ␣8 and ␣9 and has an additional short helix (␣1/2) between ␣1 and ␣2. The structure of active Bax is still unknown, but helices ␣5, ␣6, and ␣9 are reported to in...

The mechanism of the horseradish peroxidase (HRP)-H 2 O 2 -catalysed polymerisation of aniline in the presence of AOT vesicles was investigated. AOT (= bis-(2-ethylhexyl)sulfosuccinate) served as vesicleforming surfactant and dopant for obtaining at pH = 4.3 and room temperature within 24 h under optimal reaction conditions the green emeraldine salt form of polyaniline in 90-95% yield. Based on UV/VIS/NIR and EPR measurements carried out during the polymerisation reaction, and based on changes in aniline and H 2 O 2 concentrations and HRP activity, a mechanism is proposed. According to this ''radical cation mechanism'' chain growth occurs on the vesicle surface through addition of aniline radical cations to the growing polymer chain. H 2 O 2 plays two essential roles, to oxidise the heme group of HRP, and to oxidise the growing polymer chain for allowing the stepwise addition of new aniline radical cations. The entire reaction can be divided into three kinetically distinct phases. In the first rapid phase (5-10 min), the actual polymer formation takes place to yield the emeraldine salt form of polyaniline in its bipolaron state. In the second and third slower phases (1-2 days) the bipolarons transform into polarons with unpaired electrons. During the reaction, the HRP activity is decreasing until the enzyme becomes inactive after polymer formation. Reactions carried out with partially deuterated anilines were analysed by 2 H magic-angle spinning (MAS) NMR spectroscopy to demonstrate the regioselectivity of the chain growth: para-coupling of the aniline units clearly dominates. Association of the formed polyaniline with the vesicle membrane is evident from cryo-TEM and SANS measurements.