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Abstract: Exosomal miRNA transfer is a mechanism for cell–cell communication that is important in the immune response, in the functioning of the nervous system and in cancer. Syncrip/hnRNPQ is a highly conserved RNA-binding protein that mediates the exosomal partition of a set of miRNAs. Here, we report that Syncrip’s amino-terminal domain, which was previously thought to mediate protein–protein interactions, is a cryptic, conserved and sequence-specific RNA-binding domain, designated NURR (N-terminal unit for RNA recognition). The NURR domain mediates the specific recognition of a short hEXO sequence defining Syncrip exosomal miRNA targets, and is coupled by a non-canonical structural element to Syncrip’s RRM domains to achieve high-affinity miRNA binding. As a consequence, Syncrip-mediated selection of the target miRNAs implies both recognition of the hEXO sequence by the NURR domain and binding of the RRM domains 5′ to this sequence. This structural arrangement enables Syncrip-mediated selection of miRNAs with different seed sequences.

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Abstract: Influenza A haemagglutinin is a surface glycoprotein of Influenza virus, responsible for the initial attachment of the virus to the target cell and, at a later stage, for viral membrane fusion. At the acidic pH of the endosome, the HA molecule undergoes an irreversible structural rearrangement. In consequence, the hydrophobic terminal segments of HA2 are moved to the same end of the refolded molecule, promoting membrane fusion. 16 haemagglutinin subtypes (H1-H16) identified to date can be divided into two groups based on characteristic structural features. The low pH-induced structures of proteolytically prepared and E.coli-expressed fragments of influenza A H3 HA2 (group 2 HA) were previously determined by X-ray crystallography. This study presents structures of proteolytically prepared and recombinantly- expressed fragments of H1 HA2 in a postfusion conformation. Refolded H1 HA2, belonging to group 1 HA, adopts a hairpin-like conformation, similar to that of a rearranged H3 HA2. Structures were compared to the known structures of low pH-activated HA2, to gain a better understanding of the structural differences between the two groups of HA. The data show the structures of the refolded HA2 to be conserved between the HA groups with minor differences. These structural data are supplemented with functional studies involving the cross-reactive FI6 antibody. FI6 antibody binds near the conserved fusion subdomain of the HA molecule and thus interferes with the low pH-triggered conformational change of HA. Additional methods employed in this study, such as limited proteolysis, electron microscopy, biolayer interferometry and MDCK1 cell infection, give insight into the mechanism of FI6 antibody-mediated neutralization, and highlight the differences in infectivity of H1N1 and H3N2 viruses neutralized by the FI6 antibody. Studies on low pH-activated HA2 from Influenza haemagglutinin | Request PDF. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/316095388_Studies_on_low_pH-activated_HA2_from_Influenza_haemagglutinin [accessed Jan 23 2018].

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Abstract: In 2004 an hemagglutinin 3 neuraminidase 8 (H3N8) equine influenza virus was transmitted from horses to dogs in Florida and subsequently spread throughout the United States and to Europe. To understand the molecular basis of changes in the antigenicity of H3 hemagglutinins (HAs) that have occurred during virus evolution in horses, and to investigate the role of HA in the equine to canine cross-species transfer, we used X-ray crystallography to determine the structures of the HAs from two antigenically distinct equine viruses and from a canine virus. Structurally all three are very similar with the majority of amino acid sequence differences between the two equine HAs located on the virus membrane-distal molecular surface. HAs of canine viruses are distinct in containing a Trp-222→Leu substitution in the receptor binding site that influences specificity for receptor analogs. In the fusion subdomain of canine and recent equine virus HAs a unique difference is observed by comparison with all other HAs examined to date. Analyses of site-specific mutant HAs indicate that a single amino acid substitution, Thr-30→Ser, influences interactions between N-terminal and C-terminal regions of the subdomain that are important in the structural changes required for membrane fusion activity. Both structural modifications may have facilitated the transmission of H3N8 influenza from horses to dogs.

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Abstract: The Spumaretrovirinae, or foamyviruses (FVs) are complex retroviruses that infect many species of monkey and ape. Although FV infection is apparently benign, trans-species zoonosis is commonplace and has resulted in the isolation of the Prototypic Foamy Virus (PFV) from human sources and the potential for germ-line transmission.

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Abstract: The SNF1 protein kinase complex plays an essential role in regulating gene expression in response to the level of extracellular glucose in budding yeast. SNF1 shares structural and functional similarities with mammalian AMP-activated protein kinase. Both kinases are activated by phosphorylation on a threonine residue within the activation loop segment of the catalytic subunit. Here we show that ADP is the long-sought metabolite that activates SNF1 in response to glucose limitation by protecting the enzyme against dephosphorylation by Glc7, its physiologically relevant protein phosphatase. We also show that the regulatory subunit of SNF1 has two ADP binding sites. The tighter site binds AMP, ADP, and ATP competitively with NADH, whereas the weaker site does not bind NADH, but is responsible for mediating the protective effect of ADP on dephosphorylation. Mutagenesis experiments suggest that the general mechanism by which ADP protects against dephosphorylation is strongly conserved between SNF1 and AMPK.