Calmodulin

Salvia splendens is a popular ornamental plant in China with extensive potentials, including value in traditional Chinese medicine and in environmental restoration function (Li et al. 2008). In September 2019, leaf blight disease was observed on road side plants of S. splendens in Bayi park, Nanchang city, Jiangxi province, China. The typical symptoms appeared as irregular necrotic spots or leaf blight, accompanied by extensive scorch necrosis or ultimately defoliation. Small segments cut from diseased leaves were surface sterilized in a 2% sodium hypochlorite solution for 2 min and rinsed three times with sterile distilled water...

Ca 2+ signaling plays a key role in physiological processes such as memory formation and cardiac function. Ca 2+ /calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) is the primary kinase that responds to Ca 2+ inputs in these cells. There are four CaMKII paralogs in mammals which are alternatively spliced in the variable linker region to create upwards of 70 different variants. In this study, we systematically studied different linker regions and determined that the position of charged residues within the linker region modulates the Ca 2+ /CaM sensitivity of the holoenzyme...

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to assess the clinical characteristics of sporotrichosis in low-endemic areas of China, including the prevalence geography, genotypic traits of patients, clinical manifestations, and strain virulence and drug sensitivities. The objective is to improve the currently used clinical management strategies for sporotrichosis. METHODS: Retrospective data were collected from patients diagnosed with sporotrichosis through fungal culture identification...

Cassava is one of the most important tropical crops, but it is seriously affected by cassava bacteria blight (CBB) caused by the bacterial pathogen Xanthomonas phaseoli pv manihotis (Xam). So far, how pathogen Xam infects and how host cassava defends during pathogen-host interaction remains elusive, restricting the prevention and control of CBB. Here, the illustration of HEAT SHOCK PROTEIN 90 kDa (MeHSP90.9) interacting proteins in both cassava and bacterial pathogen revealed the dual roles of MeHSP90...

Calmodulin (CaM) binds to a linker between the oxygenase and reductase domains of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) to regulate the functional conformational dynamics. Specific residues on the interdomain interface guide the domain-domain docking to facilitate the electron transfer in NOS. Notably, the docking interface between CaM and the heme-containing oxygenase domain of NOS is isoform specific, which is only beginning to be investigated. Toward advancing understanding of the distinct CaM-NOS docking interactions by infrared spectroscopy, we introduced a cyano-group as frequency-resolved vibrational probe into CaM individually and when associated with full-length and a bi-domain oxygenase/FMN construct of the inducible NOS isoform (iNOS)...

Cancer cells are characterized by increased glycolysis, known as the Warburg effect, which leads to increased production of cytotoxic methylglyoxal (MGO) and apoptotic cell death. Cancer cells often activate the protective nuclear factor erythroid 2‑related factor2 (Nrf2)/glyoxalase1 (Glo1) system to detoxify MGO. The effects of sodium butyrate (NaB), a product of gut microbiota, on Nrf2/Glos/MGO pathway and the underlying mechanisms in prostate cancer (PCa) cells were investigated in the present study...

Sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors (SGLT2i) are rapidly gaining ground in the treatment of heart failure (HF) with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) and acute myocardial infarction (AMI) by an unknown mechanism. Upregulation of Na+ /H+ exchanger 1 (NHE1), SGLT1, and Ca2+ /calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) in the diseased hearts was found to be attenuated by prolonged SGLT2i treatment. Unfortunately, dapagliflozin is not well understood as to how Na+ /Ca2+ homeostasis is affected in cardiomyocytes...

Immune-mediated liver injury (ILI) is a condition where an aberrant immune response due to various triggers causes the destruction of hepatocytes. Fibroblast growth factor 4 (FGF4) was recently identified as a hepatoprotective cytokine; however, its role in ILI remains unclear. In patients with autoimmune hepatitis (type of ILI) and mouse models of concanavalin A (ConA)- or S-100-induced ILI, we observed a biphasic pattern in hepatic FGF4 expression, characterized by an initial increase followed by a return to basal levels...

Ca2+ /calmodulin-dependent protein kinase IIα (CaMKIIα) is widely expressed in the brain and is involved in various functions, including memory formation, mood and sleep. We previously reported that CaMKIIα is involved in the circadian molecular clock. Mice lacking functional CaMKIIα (K42R mice) exhibited a gradual increase in activity time (α decompression) of running-wheel (RW) activity due to a lengthened circadian period (τ) of activity offset under constant darkness (DD)...

The southwest maize planting area is the third largest maize-producing region in China, including the entire provinces of Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou, parts of Guangxi and Hunan provinces. In June 2022, yellow leaf spot symptoms were observed commonly on maize in southern Yunnan province, including Pu'er City, Xishuangbanna Dai autonomous prefecture and Honghe Hani & Yi autonomous prefecture. The disease incidence on maize in Pu'er ranged from 10% to 20% from June to August. The initial symptoms appeared as needle-like spots scattered on the leaf surface with obvious yellow haloes, with a diameter ranging from 0...

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is characterised by asymmetric left ventricular hypertrophy, ventricular arrhythmias, and cardiomyocyte dysfunction that may cause sudden death. HCM is associated with mutations in sarcomeric proteins and is usually transmitted as an autosomal-dominant trait. The aim of this in silico study was to assess the mechanisms that underlie the altered electrophysiological activity, contractility, regulation of energy metabolism, and crossbridge cycling in HCM at the single-cell level...

Calcium plays a crucial role in plant growth and development, yet little is known about its function in endodormancy regulation. Tree peony ( Paeonia suffruticosa ), characterized by compound buds and large flowers, is well-known for its ornamental and medicinal value. To break bud dormancy release is a prerequisite of flowering and forcing culture, particularly during the Spring Festival. In this study, the Ca2+ chelator EGTA and Ca2+ channel blocker LaCl3 were applied, resulting in a significant delay in budburst during both chilling- and gibberellin (GA)- induced dormancy release in a dosage-dependent manner...

Excitotoxicity and the concurrent loss of inhibition are well-defined mechanisms driving acute elevation in excitatory/ inhibitory (E/I) balance and neuronal cell death following an ischemic insult to the brain. Despite the high prevalence of long-term disability in survivors of global cerebral ischemia (GCI) as a consequence of cardiac arrest, it remains unclear whether E/I imbalance persists beyond the acute phase and negatively affects functional recovery. We previously demonstrated sustained impairment of long-term potentiation (LTP) in hippocampal CA1 neurons correlating with deficits in learning and memory tasks in a murine model of cardiac arrest/ cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CA/CPR)...

UNLABELLED: The best-known mode of action of calmodulin (CaM) is binding of Ca 2+ to its N- and C-domains, followed by binding to target proteins. An underappreciated facet of this process is that CaM is typically bound to proteins at basal levels of free Ca 2+ , including the small, intrinsically disordered, neuronal IQ-motif proteins called PEP-19 and neurogranin (Ng). PEP-19 and Ng would not be effective competitive inhibitors of high-affinity Ca 2+ -dependent CaM targets at equilibrium since they bind to CaM with relatively low affinity, but they could influence the time course of CaM signaling by affecting the rate of association of CaM with high-affinity Ca 2+ -dependent targets...

The Extended Evolutionary Synthesis (EES) addresses the issues in evolutionary biology which cannot be explained by neo-Darwinian theory. The EES paradigm recognises teleology and agency in living systems, and identifies that organisms can directly affect their evolutionary trajectory in a goal-directed manner, yet the physiological pathways via which this occurs remain unidentified. Here, I propose a physiological pathway via which organisms can alter their genotype and phenotype by making behavioural decisions with respect their activity levels, partitioning of resources either toward growth, defence against disease, or their behavioural response to stressors...

As a native crop in central Asia, pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) has been cultivated in China for more than 2000 years (Yuan et al. 2007). In August 2022, typical symptoms of anthracnose were observed on pomegranate fruitlets in the main cultivation area (34°22'36″N, 109°15'58″E) in Shaanxi Province, China. The disease incidence was approximately 10 to 15% in the field. The initial symptoms were slightly small, light, dark, sunken lesions with irregular, circular shapes. As the disease progressed, the necrotic lesions gradually expanded and merged, eventually leading to the abscission of fruits (Figure 1, A)...

The study of phosphorylase kinase (PhK)-regulated glycogen metabolism has contributed to the fundamental understanding of protein phosphorylation; however, the molecular mechanism of PhK remains poorly understood. Here we present the high-resolution cryo-electron microscopy structures of human muscle PhK. The 1.3-megadalton PhK α4 β4 γ4 δ4 hexadecamer consists of a tetramer of tetramer, wherein four αβγδ modules are connected by the central β4 scaffold. The α- and β-subunits possess glucoamylase-like domains, but exhibit no detectable enzyme activities...

Neuroprotection after injury or in neurodegenerative disease remains a major goal for basic and translational neuroscience. Retinal ganglion cells (RGCs), the projection neurons of the eye, degenerate in optic neuropathies after axon injury, and there are no clinical therapies to prevent their loss or restore their connectivity to targets in the brain. Here we demonstrate a profound neuroprotective effect of the exogenous expression of various Ca2+ /calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) isoforms in mice...

Cutaneous sympathetic nerve is a crucial part of neuropsychiatric factors contributing to skin immune response, but its role in the psoriasis pathogenesis remains unclear. It is found that cutaneous calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II-γ (CAMK2γ), expressed mainly in sympathetic nerves, is activated by stress and imiquimod in mouse skin. Camk2g-deficient mice exhibits attenuated imiquimod-induced psoriasis-like manifestations and skin inflammation. CaMK2γ regulates dermal γδT-cell interleukin-17 production in imiquimod-treated mice, dependent on norepinephrine production following cutaneous sympathetic nerve activation...

PURPOSE: It is well known that inhibition of Ca2+ /calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) provides cardiac protection in cases of myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury. However, there are currently no cytoplasm-impermeable drugs that target CaMKII. The aim of this study was to develop curcumin albumin nanoparticles (HSA-CCM NPs) containing AC3-I and investigate their protective effects on hypoxia-reoxygenation (H/R)-induced injuries in adult rat cardiomyocytes and ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injuries in isolated rat hearts...