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Cyanobacteria belong to the most widely distributed microorganisms in the biosphere and contribute significantly to global primary production. Their metabolism is based on oxygenic photosynthesis and some cyanobacteria can fix elemental nitrogen. Obligate photosynthetic diazotrophs have a particularly high iron demand in comparison to heterotrophic bacteria. Nevertheless the understanding of iron acquisition in cyanobacteria is just beginning to emerge. Iron acquisition in bacteria comprises highly specific transport of siderophore-iron complexes over the outer membrane by TonB-dependent transporter (TBDT). The transport itself is active and energized by a multi-complex localized to the inner membrane termed the TonB-system (TonB-ExbB-ExbD). The siderophore-iron complexes are further transported into the cytosol by a binding protein dependent ABC-transporter. Cyanobacterial iron acquisition response has most extensively been studied in unicellular, non-siderophore synthesizing cyanobacteria in the genus Synechococcus and Synechocystis. Anabaena sp. PCC 7120, however, is a different model organism as it is a freshwater living, siderophore synthesizing and, truly multicellular microorganism. It can be assumed that siderophore synthesis and siderophore-dependent iron uptake are tightly coordinated processes, therefore Anabaena represents a different model organism as compared to non-siderophore producing cyanobacteria. Moreover the surprisingly abundant protein family of 22 putative TBDTs in Anabaena indicates a high complexity of TonB-dependent uptake systems. Sequence similarity analysis revealed 4 putative tonB encoding genes (alr0248, all3585, all5036, alr5329), 2 putative exbB-exbD encoding gene cluster (alr0643-alr0644, all5047-all5046), one single standing putative exbB encoding gene (alr4587) and several hypothetical binding-protein-dependent ATP binding cassette (ABC)-type transporter encoding genes (fhu-, fec- and fut-type transporter).
In this study the respond of the predeicted systems to iron-limiting conditions was analysed by qRT-PCR. The expression analysis revealed on the one hand an enhanced transcription of all5036 (tonB3), all5047-all5046 (exbB3-exbD3) and the fhu-like encoding genes (all0387-all0389) under iron-limitation and at the same time down-regulation of expression under enhanced iron concentrations. Summerizing the transcription profile of the tonB3- and the fhu-system showed an expression regulated by iron-availability. To further characterize the role of TonB3-, ExbB3- and the Fhu-system, mutants thereof were generated. None of the generated mutants, except for the exbB3 mutant, could be fully segregated, suggesting an essential character of the genes. Characterization of the mutants revealed enhanced expression of iron-starvatrion indicator genes (isiA, fhuA) and altered growth of the tonB3 mutant under iron-limiting conditions. The iron starvation phenotype was further strengthened by enhanced siderophore secretion in the tonB3, exbB3 and fhuC mutants. Taken as a whole the results strongly indicate involvement of the tonB3- and the fhu-system in siderophore-dependnet iron uptake in Anabaena.
Investigation of the tonB2 (all3585) mutant under iron and citric acid limitation resultated in altered growth of the mutant. However, growth could be restored by addition of iron chlorid. Therefore a connection of the TonB2 protein to iron uptake is implied and further supported by ressitance to toxic iron concentrations. Lastly, mutation of tonB1 (alr0248) reuslted in insensibility to toxic manganese and copper concentrations and macrolid antibiotics. The altered permeability of the outer membrane may be a result of decreased expression of seven putative porin encoding genes in the mutant. A possible role in transcriptional regulation of porin expression is discussed.
Die vorliegende Arbeit, die im Rahmen des zwischen 2011 und 2013 durchgeführten Forschungsprojektes „Förderung von Modellbildungs- und Falsifikationsprozessen im Elementar- und Primarbereich“ entstanden ist, untersuchte auf Grundlage neuerer entwicklungspsychologischer Forschungsbefunde die Möglichkeiten der Förderung im naturwissenschaftlichen Denken bei Kindern im Elementarbereich. Nach der theoretischen Einordnung des Themas und der Darstellung der Forschungslage wurden im empirischen Teil in einem ersten Schritt die Kompetenzen beim Schlussfolgern im Themengebiet Elastizität und Plastizität und beim Wissenschaftsverständnis von Kindern im Alter von vier bis zehn Jahren, eingeteilt in vier Altersstufen, ermittelt; weiterhin wurden die Verknüpfungen beider Kompetenzbereiche untersucht. Als Instrumente dienten ein bereits erprobter Schlussfolgerungstest sowie ein neu entwickelter Test zur Kompetenzmessung von Wissenschaftsverständnis. In der Grundschule wurden die Tests jeweils als Gruppentests und im Kindergarten als Einzeltests durchgeführt. Die Stichprobe um-fasste 142 Kinder, 82 Kinder aus dem Primarbereich und 60 Kinder aus dem Elementarbereich. Beim Schlussfolgern zeigte sich, dass es für Kinder aller einbezogenen Altersgruppen deutlich leichter war, mit Ereignissen umzugehen, die eine Vermutung bestätigen, als mit solchen, die eine Vermutung widerlegen. Zudem stellte sich heraus, dass der Umgang mit Ereignissen, die im Hinblick auf eine Vermutung irrelevant sind, noch schwieriger war. Mit zunehmendem Alter war eine Kompetenzsteigerung erkennbar. Die Analyse der Tests ergab außerdem einen Zusammenhang zwischen Wissenschaftsverständnis und Schlussfolgern sowie einen deutlichen Einfluss exekutiver Funktionen. Im zweiten Schritt wurden zwei ausgewählte Trainingsmaß-nahmen zur Förderung der Koordination von Theorie und Evidenz bei Kindern im Alter von fünf bis sechs Jahren auf ihre Wirksamkeit hin geprüft, und zwar einerseits durch die Unter-stützung mit adaptivem Nachfragen bei fehlerhaften Antworten sowie andererseits durch eine intensive Förderung mit Modellierung. Die an einer Stichprobe von 63 Kindern durchgeführte Trainingsstudie war als Prä-Post-Studie angelegt und umfasste die Überprüfung des erworbenen Wissens. Die Studie ergab, dass die intensiv geförderten Kinder deutlich höhere Kompetenzen erworben hatten als die durch adaptive Unterstützung unterstützten Probanden. Außer-dem wurde ein Transfer-Test im Inhaltsgebiet Schwimmen und Sinken durchgeführt; hierbei wurden beide Trainingsgruppen in gleicher Weise mit adaptivem Nachfragen unterstützt. Dabei zeigten Kinder beider Trainingsgruppen deutlich höhere Kompetenzen beim Schlussfolgern als im Post-Test, dennoch zeigten Kinder mit vorheriger intensiver Förderung durch Modellierung wiederum höhere Kompetenzen im Transfer-Test als Kinder aus der Gruppe mit adaptiver Unterstützung. Abschließend wurde noch ein Argumentationstest durchgeführt, bei dem Kinder aller drei Experimentalgruppen (Trainingsgruppe 1, Trainingsgruppe 2, Kontrollgruppe) über-greifende Kompetenzen beim Schlussfolgern zeigen konnten. In diesem Test zeigte sich zwischen den drei Gruppen kein Unterschied im Hinblick auf angemessene Antworten beim Schlussfolgern.
In der Dissertation wird das Antwortverhalten von Kindern bei der Koordination von Theorie und Evidenz untersucht. Diese Fähigkeit ist besonders beim naturwissenschaftlichen Lernen relevant. Dazu werden zwei Studien vorgestellt. In der ersten Studie, der Querschnittsstudie wird das Antwortverhalten von Kindern im Alter von fünf bis neun Jahren am Beispiel der Leitfrage: „Warum springt ein Ball?“ untersucht. Verschiedene Vermutungen wie zum Beispiel „Dinge, die rund sind, springen“, werden geprüft. In der zweiten Studie, dem Kernstück der Arbeit werden zwei Fördermaßnahmen zum Training der Koordination von Theorie und Evidenz bei fünf- bis sechsjährigen Kindern vorgestellt.
Die Einstellung von onkologisch tätigen Ärzten zur psychoonkologischen Versorgung von Krebspatienten
(2015)
Eine Krebserkrankung stellt für die Betroffenen und deren Angehörige eine große körperliche und psychische Belastung dar. Obwohl die psychoonkologische Betreuung den Patienten nachweislich hilft und die Belastung vieler Patienten sehr hoch ist, erhält nur cirka jeder fünfte therapiebedürftig belastete Krebspatient eine psychoonkologische Behandlung. Für die Umsetzung einer flächendeckenden psychoonkologischen Betreuung der Patienten nehmen die onkologisch tätigen Ärzte eine Schlüsselrolle ein. Deshalb ist für die Implementierung und das Gelingen eines Screenings bzw. der psychoonkologischen Versorgung der Patienten das Engagement und die psychosoziale Kompetenz der behandelnden Ärzte eine entscheidende Größe.
Um die Einstellung von onkologisch tätigen Ärzten zur psychoonkologischen Versorgung zu erfassen, wurde ein Fragebogen als Erhebungsinstrument konstruiert. Die Konstruktion des Fragebogens erfolgte auf Grundlage der Theorie des geplanten Handelns nach Ajzen (2002). Zusätzlich zu der Einstellung der behandelten Ärzte erfasst der Fragebogen die Selbstwirksamkeit der Ärzte in Bezug auf psychosoziale Kompetenzen, sowie die organisatorischen Rahmenbedingungen in der Klinik.
Zwischen September und Dezember 2013 wurden an der Universitätsklinik Frankfurt am Main insgesamt 120 Fragebögen an onkologisch tätige Ärzte ausgeteilt von denen 102 beantwortet wurden (Rücklaufquote von ca. 85%). Zur Validierung des Fragebogens wurde die Korrelation einzelner Skalen mit der Skala „Interaktion und Verhalten“ nach Spearman berechnet. Insgesamt korrelierten die Skalen in die zu erwartende Richtung, jedoch waren die Korrelationskoeffizienten geringer ausgeprägt als erhofft (zwischen 0,26 und 0,36). Die interne Konsistenz (nach Cronbachs Alpha) der Skalen erreichte bis auf eine Ausnahme ein akzeptables bis gutes Niveau.
Die Ergebnisse der vorliegenden Studie zeigen keinen Hinweis darauf, dass die Diskrepanz zwischen der hohen Anzahl an belasteten Krebspatienten und der seltenen Inanspruchnahme von psychoonkologischen Behandlungen durch die Einstellung der Ärzte zur Psychoonkologie erklärt werden kann. Im Gegenteil, in dieser Studie wird der psychoonkologischen Versorgung von Patienten eine hohe Wertigkeit zugeschrieben: 76 % der Ärzte sind der Meinung, sie würden, wenn sie selbst erkranken, davon profitieren mit einem Psychoonkologen zu sprechen. Auch empfehlen 79 % der Befragten ihren Freunden oder Angehörigen im Falle einer Krebserkrankung eine psychoonkologische Beratung. Trotz der über die Stichprobe insgesamt sehr positiven Einstellung gegenüber der psychoonkologischen Versorgung, divergieren die Aussagen hinsichtlich der Häufigkeit, in der Skala „Umsetzung und Interaktion“, die erfasst wie häufig psychoonkologische Aspekte in die Behandlung von onkologischen Patienten integriert werden, immens.
Die individuelle Handhabung der Weitergabe von Informationen von Seiten der Ärzte in dieser Studie kann teilweise durch mangelhafte organisatorische Rahmenbedingungen erklärt werden: So gibt fast die Hälfte der Befragten (45 %) an, in ihrer Abteilung gebe es kein standardisiertes Screeningverfahren, um psychisch belastete Patienten zu identifizieren. Ebenso sind bei ca. der Hälfte der Ärzte (45 %) keine klaren Richtlinien vorhanden, wann eine psychoonkologische Beratung indiziert ist.
Die Erkenntnisse dieser Studie geben Hinweise darauf, dass für die Verbesserung der psychoonkologischen Versorgung von Patienten die organisatorischen Rahmenbedingungen an den Kliniken optimiert werden müssen.
Die gediegene Qualität von Matthias Gelzers (* 1886, † 1974, Inhaber des Frankfurter Lehrstuhles für Alte Geschichte von 1919 bis 1955) Cicero-Biographie lässt sich bereits daraus ersehen, dass schon ihr Vorläufer, Gelzers RE-Artikel über Cicero aus dem Jahre 1939, ab den 1950er Jahren mehrfach, besonders für Studenten, nachgedruckt worden war. Dieser Artikel bildete dann den Grundstock für die 1969 veröffentlichte Biographie Ciceros, die Gelzer – erweitert vor allem um die philosophischenAspekte aus Ciceros Leben und Schaffen – seinen Biographien über Caesar (letzte Fassung 1960, erstmals 1921) und Pompeius (letzte Fassung 1959, erstmals 1944 bzw. 1949) an die Seite stellte...
We discuss the effects of the final hadronic state, in ultra-relativistic nuclear collisions, on hadronic resonance properties and measurable production rates. In particular we will compare our results with recent ALICE data on resonance production. We show that the hadronic phase of the system evolution has a considerable impact on the measured resonance ratios and pT spectra. We also discuss some of the remaining uncertainties in the model and how they may be addressed in future studies.
Part V of our series on ISIS : "Blogforum 'Kalifat des Terrors: Interdisziplinäre Perspektiven auf den Islamischen Staat".
Since 2003, several organizations in the Arab world swore allegiance to Osama Bin Laden and al-Qaida and became part of what was been called “al-Qaeda’s affiliate network”. The emergence of al-Qaeda groups in Saudi Arabia 2003, Iraq 2004, Algeria 2007 and Yemen 2009 convinced many supporters and enemies that there was a truly global network of jihadist groups at work, commanded and controlled by the al-Qaeda leadership in Pakistan.
However, the reality was a lot more complicated. Far from being subordinate to Osama Bin Laden and Aiman al-Zawahiri, these organizations were not willing to submit to al-Qaeda command and control. Their relationship with “al-Qaeda central” was rather an alliance between independent partners of different strength. Although the al-Qaeda leadership sometimes influenced decisions taken by the regional groupings, there are numerous examples of “affiliates” ignoring its advice even regarding strategic issues.
Recent advances in the diagnostic of myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) discovered CALRETICULIN (CALR) mutations as a major driver in these disorders. In contrast to JAK2 mutations being mainly associated with polycythaemia vera, CALR mutations are only associated with primary myelofibrosis (PMF) and essential thrombocythaemia (ET). CALR mutations are present in the majority of PMF and ET patients lacking JAK2 and MPL mutations. As these CALR mutations are absent from reactive bone marrow (BM) lesions their presence indicates ET or PMF. So far these mutations are detectable only by molecular assays. Their molecular detection is cumbersome because of the great CALR mutation heterogeneity. Therefore, the availability of a simple assay would be of great help. All CALR mutations reported lead to a frameshift generating a new 36 amino-acid C-terminus. We generated a monoclonal antibody (CAL2) to this C-neoterminus by immunizing mice with a representative peptide and compared its performance with Sanger sequencing data in 173 MPNs and other BM diseases. There was a 100% correlation between the molecular and the CAL2 immunohistochemical (IHC) assays. Thus, the detection of CALR mutations by the CAL2 IHC is a specific, sensitive, rapid, simple and low-cost method.
Zwischen Aufbruch und Wanderlust : eine Reise durch die Romantikausstellung des Museums Giersch
(2015)
Reading is an essential ability to master everyday life in our society. The ability to read is based on specific connections between brain regions involved in the reading process – so-called cortical networks for reading. These cortical networks for reading allow us to learn the correct identification of visual words. The use of visual words is based on knowledge about the orthography (lexical) and the meaning of words (semantic). This knowledge must be acquired by beginning readers (first grader), i.e. beginning readers learn in a first step to link letters to a whole word and in a second step associate this whole word with meaning. To retrieve this knowledge during visual word recognition (VWR) a cortical network for lexical-semantic process must be activated. However, it is currently unclear whether beginning readers and reading experts activate the same neuronal network during VWR. Therefore, the aim of this thesis was to investigate the question whether beginning readers (first grader, children) and reading experts (adults) use different cortical networks for the lexical-semantic processing in VWR.
To address this question we recorded electroencephalographic (EEG) activity during VWR in children and adults. Children and adults were instructed to read a visualizable word to compare this word with a following picture stimulus. The first part of this thesis is concerned with the analysis of ERPs for visual word recognition in children and adults at sensor level. For both groups we observed the typical ERP components P100 and N170 for visual word recognition. These components differed in amplitude and time course between both groups. The second part of this thesis investigated the neuronal generators (brain areas) of ERPs during VWR and possible differences between children and adults at source level. We observed a high overlap in brain areas involved during VWR in children and adults. However, the brain areas differed in activation and time course between children and adults. Finally, the third and most important part of the thesis investigated the question whether children and adults use different cortical networks for the lexical-semantic processing in VWR over time. To address this question Dynamic Causal Modeling (DCM) and Bayesian model comparison were used. We compared nine biologically plausible cortical network models underlying the ventral lexical-semantic path in VWR. In addition, increasing time intervals were used to consider possible changes of network structure during VWR. The network models included eight brain regions (four bilateral pairs) involved in the lexical-semantic processing in VWR: occipital cortex (OC), temporo-occipital part of inferior temporal gyrus (ITG), temporal pole (TP), and inferior frontal gyrus (IFG). In almost all time intervals we found evidence that children and adults use the same cortical networks for the lexical-semantic processing in VWR. However, we found differences between adults and children in the connection strengths of the favoured model. Interestingly, we found a stronger direct connection from OC to IFG in adults compared to children.
In conclusion, our results suggest that children and adults activate largely the same lexical-semantic networks during VWR over time. This supports the notion that children and adults use the same biological fiber connections for VWR. However in contrast to children, adults showed increased use of the shortcut pathway from OC to IFG. The increased use of the shortcut pathway from OC to IFG in adults can be interpreted as consequence of learning. Learning causes in accordance with the Hebbian learning rule (“neurons that fire together, wire together” (Hebb, 1949)) synaptic change. Consequently the frequent coactivation of the input and output stage of OC and IFG during the lexical-semantic process facilitates the stronger direct connection between both brain areas. The stronger direct connection from OC to IFG most likely allows adult reading experts to speed up the lexical-semantic process during VWR. Accordingly, we conclude that the stronger direct connections from OC to IFG in adults compared to children underlay the different reading capabilities in both groups.
Membrane proteins are biological macromolecules that are located in a cell’s membrane and are responsible for essential functions within an organism, which makes them to prominent drug targets. The extraction of membrane proteins from the hydrophobic membrane bilayer to determine high-resolution crystal structures is a difficult task and only 2% of all solved proteins structures are membrane proteins. Computational methods may help to gain deeper insights into membrane protein structures and their functions. This study will give an overview of such computational methods on a representative set of membrane proteins and will provide ideas for future computational and experimental research on membrane proteins.
In a first step (chapter 2), I updated an earlier, manually-curated data set of homologous membrane proteins (HOMEP) to more recent versions in 2010 (HOMEP2) and 2013 (HOMEP3) using an automated clustering approach. High-resolution structures of membrane proteins listed in the PDB_TM database were structurally aligned and subsequently clustered using structural similarity scores. Both data sets were used as a standard gold reference set for subsequent work.
Subsequently, I have updated and applied the sequence alignment program AlignMe to determine protein descriptors that are suitable for detecting evolutionary relationship between homologous a-helical membrane proteins. Single input descriptors were tested alone and in combination with each other in different modes of AlignMe by optimizing gap penalties on the HOMEP2 data set. Most accurate alignments and homology models on the HOMEP2 data set were observed when using position-specific substitution information (P), secondary structure propensities (S) and transmembrane propensities (T) in the AlignMe PST mode. An evaluation on an independent reference set of membrane protein sequence alignments from the BAliBASE collection showed that different modes of AlignMe are suitable for different sequence similarity levels. The AlignMe PST mode improved the alignment accuracy significantly for distantly related proteins, whereas for closely-related proteins from the BAliBASE set the AlignMe PS mode was more suitable. This work was published in March 2013 in PLOS ONE. In order to allow also an easier usage of the AlignMe program, I have implemented a web server of AlignMe (chapter 4) that provides the optimized settings and gap penalties for the AlignMe P, PS and PST modes. A comparison to other recent alignment web server shows that the alignments of AlignMe are similar or even more accurate than those of other methods, especially for very distantly related proteins for which the inclusion of membrane protein information has been shown to be suitable. This work was published in the NAR web server issue in July 2014.
Although membrane-specific information has been shown to be suitable for aligning distantly related membrane proteins on a sequence level, such information was not incorporated into structural alignment programs making it unclear which method is the most suitable for aligning membrane proteins. Thus, I compared 13 widely-used pairwise structural alignment methods on an updated reference set of homologous membrane protein structures (HOMEP3) and evaluated their accuracy by building models based on the underlying sequence alignments and used scoring functions (e.g., AL4 or CAD-score) to rate the model accuracy (chapter 5). The analysis showed that fragment-based approaches such as FR-TM-align are the most useful for aligning structures of membrane proteins that have undergone large conformational changes whereas rigid approaches were more suitable for proteins that were solved in the same or a similar state. However, no method showed a significant higher accuracy than any other. Additionally, all methods lack a measure to rate the reliability of the accuracy for a specific position within a structure alignment. In order to solve these problems, I propose a consensus-type approach that combines alignments from four different methods, namely FR-TM-align, DaliLite, MATT and FATCAT and assigns a confidence value to each position of the alignment that describes the agreement between the methods. This work has been published 2015 in the journal “PROTEINS: structure, function and bioinformatics”.
Consensus alignments were then generated for each pair of proteins of the HOMEP3 data set and subsequently analyzed for single evolutionary events within membrane spanning segments and for irregular structures (e.g., 310- and p-helices) (chapter 6). Interestingly, single insertions and deletions could be observed with the help of consensus alignments in the conserved membrane-spanning segments of membrane proteins in four protein families. The detection of such single InDels might help to identify crucial residues for a proteins function.
Acinetobacter baumannii virulence is mediated by the concerted action of three phospholipases D
(2015)
Acinetobacter baumannii causes a broad range of opportunistic infections in humans. Its success as an emerging pathogen is due to a combination of increasing antibiotic resistance, environmental persistence and adaptation to the human host. To date very little is known about the molecular basis of the latter. Here we demonstrate that A. baumannii can use phosphatidylcholine, an integral part of human cell membranes, as sole carbon and energy source. We report on the identification of three phospholipases belonging to the PLD superfamily. PLD1 and PLD2 appear restricted to the bacteria and display the general features of bacterial phospholipases D. They possess two PLDc_2 PFAM domains each encompassing the HxKx4Dx6GS/GGxN (HKD) motif necessary for forming the catalytic core. The third candidate, PLD3, is found in bacteria as well as in eukaryotes and harbours only one PLDc_2 PFAM domain and one conserved HKD motif, which however do not overlap. Employing a markerless mutagenesis system for A. baumannii ATCC 19606T, we generated a full set of PLD knock-out mutants. Galleria mellonella infection studies as well as invasion experiments using A549 human lung epithelial cells revealed that the three PLDs act in a concerted manner as virulence factors and are playing an important role in host cell invasion.
Tectonin β-propeller containing protein 2 (TECPR2) was first identified in a mass- spectrometric approach as an interactor of GABARAP, an ATG8-family protein playing a role in autophagy. The mammalian ATG8 protein family consists of seven members, namely MAP1LC3A (LC3A), MAP1LC3B (LC3B), MAP1LC3C (LC3C), GABARAP, GABARAPL1 and GABARAPL2. All share an ubiquitin-like core and possess two additional N-terminal α-helices, which are important for the distinct functions of the proteins. First determined in various organelles the ATG8 proteins are shown to be involved in autophagy, supporting the formation and cargo recruitment of autophagosomes, the vesicles transporting cargo for autophagic degradation.
Autophagy is the process of recycling cytoplasmic contents by degradation of misfolded proteins or damaged organelles in order to supply nutrients. Also clearance of pathogens can be achieved via autophagy. Importantly, LC3B is incorporated into the autophagosomal membrane and is therefore used as the main marker for autophagosomes. Previous studies exhibited that depletion of TECPR2 leads to a loss of LC3B-positive structures in cells, which suggests TECPR2 to positively regulate autophagic processes.
A frame shift deletion in the gene encoding for TECPR2 causes the generation of a premature stop codon and subsequent an unstable version of the protein, which is then degraded. Mutation in the TECPR2 gene triggers a neurodegenerative disorder termed hereditary spastic paraparesis (HSP). HSPs are a diverse group of neurodegenerative diseases that are characterized by spasticity in prevalent lower extremities and were mediated by a loss of axonal integrity of the corticospinal motor neurons. In the context of HSP more than 50 gene loci were identified by now. While TECPR2 is a human ATG8 binding protein and positive regulator of autophagy causing a form of HSP, the exact function of TECPR2 is unknown.
This study primarily focused on the determination of TECPR2’s binding mode to ATG8 proteins in vitro and in cells. The association of TECPR2 to all ATG8-family proteins was confirmed in in vitro pulldown experiments. Following fragment-based binding and peptide array experiments, the LC3-interacting region (LIR) of TECPR2 could be verified with mutants of TECPR2 lacking the LIR motif. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) were conducted to gain deeper insights into the binding preference to the different ATG8-family members. Moreover, the crystal structure of TECPR2-LIR was solved. In cells colocalization studies with overexpressed ATG8 proteins unraveled a preferential binding to the LC3-subfamily.
Further, mass spectrometric analysis revealed novel association partners of TECPR2: SEC24D, HOPS and BLOC-1, all of those participating in different endomembrane trafficking pathways. Interaction and colocalization of TECPR2 with these components was validated with several immunoprecipitation experiments and the N-terminal part of the protein comprising the WD40-domain could be defined as the binding site for all three of the association partners. In further approaches, the requirement of the LIR-motif and the necessity of the availability of LC3 protein for the particular interactions were determined. Interestingly, in the absence of LC3C the binding of TECPR2 to SEC24D was completely disrupted whereas a loss of LC3B only resulted in a decreased association. Notably, the binding proteins were not subjected to autophagosomal degradation, indicating that TECPR2 may operate as a multifunctional scaffold protein. While depletion of TECPR2 destabilized HOPS and BLOC-1, the autophagy defect observed in TECRP2-deficient cells could not be attributed to functional impairment of these two complexes.
Moreover, loss of TECPR2 led to a decline in protein levels of SEC24D and of its heterodimer partner SEC23A. Thus, TECPR2 is required to regulate the protein levels of SEC23A and SEC24D and subsequently the formation of the heterodimers. Together, SEC24D and SEC23A form the inner coat of COPII vesicles. These vesicles are responsible for the anterograde transport of cargo from the ER toward the Golgi compartment. COPII-coated vesicles are secreted form ER at distinct sites, termed ER exit sites (ERES). The small GTPase SAR1A maintains the vesicle budding, coating and secretion at the ERES. Together with SEC13, SEC31 forms the outer coat of the COPII vesicles and therefore serves as a general ERES marker.
Consistent with a defect in COPII coat assembly, the number of ERES diminished in the absence of TECPR2. These phenotypes could be rescued by the wildtype TECPR2 protein but not by the LIR-mutant. Intriguingly, these results were mimicked by depletion of LC3C, which localized to ERES. By monitoring the release of various cargos from ER in dependency of TECPR2 or LC3C, a role of both proteins in ER export was determined. These facts indicated that TECPR2 cooperates with LC3C to facilitate COPII assembly, ERES maintenance and ER export. Notably, fibroblast derived from a HSP patient carrying mutated TECPR2 showed diminished SEC24D protein levels and delayed ER export.
Concurrent with emerging evidence for a role of ERES in autophagosome formation, depletion of TECPR2 or LC3C or overexpression of a constitutive inactive SAR1 mutant reduced puncta formation of the early autophagosomal protein WIPI2.
In summary, this study uncovered a role for TECPR2 in ER export at ERES through interaction and stabilization of SEC24D, a COPII coat protein. This process also depended on ATG8-family protein LC3C, which is localized at ERES. Both proteins are required for correct COPII-mediated secretion. Moreover, the presence of TECPR2 and LC3C on ER allows development of omegasomes, membranous structures budding ER to form autophagosomes, by stabilization of WIPI2 and therefore contribute to autophagosome formation.
Part VI of our series on ISIS : "Blogforum 'Kalifat des Terrors: Interdisziplinäre Perspektiven auf den Islamischen Staat".
In 2014, two insurgency organisations stood out by their expansion, success and brutality: The Islamic State (IS) and Boko Haram (BH). The former emerged from the conflicts in Syria and Iraq and became a major actor in the Middle East, its influence reaching beyond the borders of its self-proclaimed “caliphate”, while the latter spread its violence throughout north-eastern Nigeria, spilling over into Cameroon, Chad and Niger. Because of their still growing success, many wonder about a possible partnership between IS and BH. To this I answer that there is a connection, but no partnership. Currently, any evidence suggesting a partnership is circumstantial at best...
Be it in the case of opening a website, sending an email, or high-frequency trading, bits and bytes of information have to cross numerous nodes at which micro-decisions are made. These decisions concern the most efficient path through the network, the processing speed, or the priority of incoming data packets.
Despite their multifaceted nature, micro-decisions are a dimension of control and surveillance in the twenty-first century that has received little critical attention. They represent the smallest unit and the technical precondition of a contemporary network politics – and of our potential opposition to it. The current debates regarding net neutrality and Edward Snowden’s revelation of NSA surveillance are only the tip of the iceberg. What is at stake is nothing less than the future of the Internet as we know it.