The pentose metabolism of Archaea is largely unknown. Here, we have employed an integrated genomics approach including DNA microarray and proteomics analyses to elucidate the catabolic pathway for D-arabinose in Sulfolobus solfataricus. During growth on this sugar, a small set of genes appeared to be differentially expressed compared with growth on D-glucose. These genes were heterologously overexpressed in Escherichia coli, and the recombinant proteins were purified and biochemically studied. This showed that D-arabinose is oxidized to 2-oxoglutarate by the consecutive action of a number of previously uncharacterized enzymes, including a D-arabinose dehydrogenase, a D-arabinonate dehydratase, a novel 2-keto-3-deoxy-D-arabinonate dehydratase, and a 2,5-dioxopentanoate dehydrogenase. Promoter analysis of these genes revealed a palindromic sequence upstream of the TATA box, which is likely to be involved in their concerted transcriptional control. Integration of the obtained biochemical data with genomic context analysis strongly suggests the occurrence of pentose oxidation pathways in both Archaea and Bacteria, and predicts the involvement of additional enzyme components. Moreover, it revealed striking genetic similarities between the catabolic pathways for pentoses, hexaric acids, and hydroxyproline degradation, which support the theory of metabolic pathway genesis by enzyme recruitment.Pentose sugars are a ubiquitous class of carbohydrates with diverse biological functions. Ribose and deoxyribose are major constituents of nucleic acids, whereas arabinose and xylose are building blocks of several plant cell wall polysaccharides. Many prokaryotes, as well as yeasts and fungi, are able to degrade these polysaccharides, and use the released five-carbon sugars as a sole carbon and energy source. At present, three main catabolic pathways have been described for pentoses. The first is present in Bacteria and uses isomerases, kinases, and epimerases to convert D-and L-arabinose (Ara) and D-xylose (Xyl) into D-xylulose 5-phosphate (Fig. 1A), which is further metabolized by the enzymes of the phosphoketolase or pentose phosphate pathway. The genes encoding the pentose-converting enzymes are often located in gene clusters in bacterial genomes, for example, the araBAD operon for L-Ara (1), the xylAB operon for D-Xyl (2), and the darK-fucPIK gene cluster for D-Ara (3). The second catabolic pathway for pentoses converts D-Xyl into D-xylulose 5-phosphate as well, but the conversions are catalyzed by reductases and dehydrogenases instead of isomerases and epimerases (Fig. 1B). This pathway is commonly found in yeasts, fungi, mammals, and plants, but also in some bacteria (4 -6). In a third pathway, pentoses such as L-Ara, D-Xyl, D-ribose, and D-Ara are metabolized non-phosphorylatively to either 2-oxoglutarate (2-OG) 4 or to pyruvate and glycolaldehyde (Fig. 1C). The conversion to 2-OG, which is a tricarboxylic acid cycle intermediate, proceeds via the subsequent action of a pentose dehydrogenase, a pentonolactonase, a pentoni...

Background and Purpose Brain injury caused by stroke is a frequent cause of perinatal morbidity and mortality with limited therapeutic options. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) have been shown to improve outcome after neonatal hypoxic-ischemic brain injury mainly by secretion of growth factors stimulating repair processes. We investigated whether MSC-treatment improves recovery after neonatal stroke and whether MSC overexpressing brain-derived neurotrophic factor (MSC-BDNF) further enhances recovery. Methods We performed 1.5-hour transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) in 10-day-old rats. Three days after reperfusion, pups with evidence of injury by diffusion-weighted MRI were treated intranasally with MSC, MSC-BDNF or vehicle. To determine the effect of MSC-treatment, brain damage, sensorimotor function and cerebral cell proliferation were analysed. Results Intranasal delivery of MSC- and MSC-BDNF significantly reduced infarct size and grey matter loss in comparison to vehicle-treated rats without any significant difference between MSC- and MSC-BDNF-treatment. Treatment with MSC-BDNF significantly reduced white matter loss with no significant difference between MSC- and MSC-BDNF-treatment. Motor deficits were also improved by MSC-treatment when compared to vehicle treated rats. MSC-BDNF-treatment resulted in an additional significant improvement of motor deficits 14 days post-MCAO, but there was no significant difference between MSC or MSC-BDNF 28 days post-MCAO. Furthermore, treatment with either MSC or MSC-BDNF induced long lasting cell proliferation in the ischemic hemisphere. Conclusions Intranasal administration of MSC after neonatal stroke is a promising therapy for treatment of neonatal stroke. In this experimental paradigm MSC and BNDF-hypersecreting-MSC are equally effective in reducing ischemic brain damage.

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BackgroundChronic pain is often associated with microglia activation in the spinal cord. We recently showed that microglial levels of the kinase G protein–coupled receptor kinase (GRK)2 are reduced in models of chronic pain. We also found that mice with a cell-specific reduction of around 50% in GRK2 level in microglia/macrophages (LysM-GRK2+/− mice) develop prolonged inflammatory hyperalgesia concomitantly with ongoing spinal microglia/macrophage activation. The microRNA miR-124 is thought to keep microglia/macrophages in brain and spinal cord in a quiescent state. In the present study, we investigated the contribution of miR-124 to regulation of hyperalgesia and microglia/macrophage activation in GRK2-deficient mice. In addition, we investigated the effect of miR-124 on chronic inflammatory and neuropathic pain in wild-type (WT) mice.MethodsHyperalgesia was induced by intraplantar IL-1β in WT and LysM-GRK2+/− mice. We determined spinal cord microglia/macrophage miR-124 expression and levels of pro-inflammatory M1 and anti-inflammatory M2 activation markers. The effect of intrathecal miR-124 treatment on IL-1β-induced hyperalgesia and spinal M1/M2 phenotype, and on carrageenan-induced and spared nerve injury-induced chronic hyperalgesia in WT mice was analyzed.ResultsTransition from acute to persistent hyperalgesia in LysM-GRK2+/− mice is associated with reduced spinal cord microglia miR-124 levels. In our LysM-GRK2+/− mice, there was a switch towards a pro-inflammatory M1 phenotype together with increased pro-inflammatory cytokine production. Intrathecal administration of miR-124 completely prevented the transition to persistent pain in response to IL-1β in LysM-GRK2+/− mice. The miR-124 treatment also normalized expression of spinal M1/M2 markers of LysM-GRK2+/− mice. Moreover, intrathecal miR-124 treatment reversed the persistent hyperalgesia induced by carrageenan in WT mice and prevented development of mechanical allodynia in the spared nerve injury model of chronic neuropathic pain in WT mice.ConclusionsWe present the first evidence that intrathecal miR-124 treatment can be used to prevent and treat persistent inflammatory and neuropathic pain. In addition, we show for the first time that persistent hyperalgesia in GRK2-deficient mice is associated with an increased ratio of M1/M2 type markers in spinal cord microglia/macrophages, which is restored by miR-124 treatment. We propose that intrathecal miR-124 treatment might be a powerful novel treatment for pathological chronic pain with persistent microglia activation.

Hyperexcitability of peripheral nociceptive pathways is often associated with inflammation and is an important mechanism underlying inflammatory pain. Here we describe a completely novel mechanism via which nociceptor G-protein-coupled receptor kinase 2 (GRK2) contributes to regulation of inflammatory hyperalgesia. We show that nociceptor GRK2 is downregulated during inflammation. In addition, we show for the first time that prostaglandin E 2 (PGE 2 )-induced hyperalgesia is prolonged from Ͻ6 h in wild-type (WT) mice to 3 d in mice with low GRK2 in Na v 1.8 ϩ nociceptors (SNS-GRK2 ϩ/Ϫ mice). This prolongation of PGE 2 hyperalgesia in SNS-GRK2 ϩ/Ϫ mice does not depend on changes in the sensitivity of the prostaglandin receptors because prolonged hyperalgesia also developed in response to 8-Br-cAMP. PGE 2 or cAMP-induced hyperalgesia in WT mice is PKA dependent. However, PKA activity is not required for hyperalgesia in SNS-GRK2 ϩ/Ϫ mice. SNS-GRK2 ϩ/Ϫ mice developed prolonged hyperalgesia in response to the Exchange proteins directly activated by cAMP (Epac) activator 8-pCPT-2Ј-O-Me-cAMP (8-pCPT). Coimmunoprecipitation experiments showed that GRK2 binds to Epac1. In vitro, GRK2 deficiency increased 8-pCPT-induced activation of the downstream effector of Epac, Rap1, and extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK). In vivo, inhibition of MEK1 or PKC prevented prolonged PGE 2 , 8-Br-cAMP, and 8-pCPT hyperalgesia in SNS-GRK2 ϩ/Ϫ mice. In conclusion, we discovered GRK2 as a novel Epac1-interacting protein. A reduction in the cellular level of GRK2 enhances activation of the Epac-Rap1 pathway. In vivo, low nociceptor GRK2 leads to prolonged inflammatory hyperalgesia via biased cAMP signaling from PKA to Epac-Rap1, ERK/PKC pathways.

Chronic pain is a major clinical problem, yet the mechanisms underlying the transition from acute to chronic pain remain poorly understood. In mice, reduced expression of GPCR kinase 2 (GRK2) in nociceptors promotes cAMP signaling to the guanine nucleotide exchange factor EPAC1 and prolongs the PGE 2 -induced increase in pain sensitivity (hyperalgesia). Here we hypothesized that reduction of GRK2 or increased EPAC1 in dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons would promote the transition to chronic pain. We used 2 mouse models of hyperalgesic priming in which the transition from acute to chronic PGE 2 -induced hyperalgesia occurs. Hyperalgesic priming with carrageenan induced a sustained decrease in nociceptor GRK2, whereas priming with the PKCε agonist ΨεRACK increased DRG EPAC1. When either GRK2 was increased in vivo by viral-based gene transfer or EPAC1 was decreased in vivo, as was the case for mice heterozygous for Epac1 or mice treated with Epac1 antisense oligodeoxynucleotides, chronic PGE 2 -induced hyperalgesia development was prevented in the 2 priming models. Using the CFA model of chronic inflammatory pain, we found that increasing GRK2 or decreasing EPAC1 inhibited chronic hyperalgesia. Our data suggest that therapies targeted at balancing nociceptor GRK2 and EPAC1 levels have promise for the prevention and treatment of chronic pain.

Post-translational methylation plays a crucial role in regulating and optimizing protein function. Protein histidine methylation, occurring as the two isomers 1- and 3-methylhistidine (1MH and 3MH), was first reported five decades ago, but remains largely unexplored. Here we report that METTL9 is a broad-specificity methyltransferase that mediates the formation of the majority of 1MH present in mouse and human proteomes. METTL9-catalyzed methylation requires a His-x-His (HxH) motif, where “x” is preferably a small amino acid, allowing METTL9 to methylate a number of HxH-containing proteins, including the immunomodulatory protein S100A9 and the NDUFB3 subunit of mitochondrial respiratory Complex I. Notably, METTL9-mediated methylation enhances respiration via Complex I, and the presence of 1MH in an HxH-containing peptide reduced its zinc binding affinity. Our results establish METTL9-mediated 1MH as a pervasive protein modification, thus setting the stage for further functional studies on protein histidine methylation.

Chronic pain associated with inflammation is a common clinical problem and the underlying mechanisms have only begun to be unravelled. GRK2 regulates cellular signalling by promoting G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) desensitization and direct interaction with downstream kinases including p38. The aim of this study was to determine the contribution of GRK2 to regulation of inflammatory pain and to unravel the underlying mechanism. GRK2+/− mice with ~50% reduction in GRK2 developed increased and markedly prolonged thermal hyperalgesia and mechanical allodynia after carrageenan-induced paw inflammation or after intraplantar injection of the GPCR-binding chemokine CCL3. The effect of reduced GRK2 in specific cells was investigated using CRE-Lox technology. Carrageenan or CCL3-induced hyperalgesia was increased but not prolonged in mice with decreased GRK2 only in Nav1.8-nociceptors. In vitro, reduced neuronal GRK2 enhanced CCL3-induced TRPV1 sensitisation. In vivo, CCL3-induced acute hyperalgesia in GRK2+/− mice was mediated via TRPV1. Reduced GRK2 in microglia/monocytes only was required and sufficient to transform acute carrageenan- or CCL3-induced hyperalgesia into chronic hyperalgesia. Chronic hyperalgesia in GRK2+/− mice was associated with ongoing microglial activation and increased phospho-p38 and TNF-α in the spinal cord. Inhibition of spinal cord microglial, p38, or TNF-α activity by intrathecal administration of specific inhibitors reversed ongoing hyperalgesia in GRK2+/− mice. Microglia/macrophage GRK2 expression was reduced in the lumbar ipsilateral spinal cord during neuropathic pain, underlining the patho-physiological relevance of microglial GRK2. Thus, we identified completely novel cell-specific roles of GRK2 in regulating acute and chronic inflammatory hyperalgesia.