Research Area F - Publications 2017

Cell Death & Differentiation, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41418-018-0094-7
Cell Death & Differentiation, online article

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Reduced choroidal blood flow and tissue changes in the ageing human eye impair oxygen delivery to photoreceptors and the retinal pigment epithelium. As a consequence, mild but chronic hypoxia may develop and disturb cell metabolism, function and ultimately survival, potentially contributing to retinal pathologies such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD). ...

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PNAS, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1705739114
PNAS, online article

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Two-pore channels (TPCs) are endolysosomal cation channels. Two members exist in humans, TPC1 and TPC2. Functional roles associated with the ubiquitously expressed TPCs include VEGF-induced neoangiogenesis, LDL-cholesterol trafficking and degradation, physical endurance under fasting conditions, autophagy regulation, the acrosome reaction in sperm, cancer cell ...

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Scientific Reports, volume 7, Article number: 10038, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-10607-4
Scientific Reports, online article

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Two-pore channels (TPCs) are localized in endo-lysosomal compartments and assumed to play an important role for vesicular fusion and endosomal trafficking. Recently, it has been shown that both TPC1 and 2 were required for host cell entry and pathogenicity of Ebola viruses. Here, we investigate the cellular function of TPC1 using protein toxins as model ...

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Molecular Therapy, Vol. 25, No 12, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ymthe.2017.08.018
Molecular Therapy, online article

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Ocular gene therapy has evolved rapidly into the clinical realm due to promising pre-clinical proof-of-concept studies, recognition of the high unmet medical need of blinding disorders, and the excellent safety profile of the most commonly used vector system, the adeno-associated virus (AAV). With several trials exposing subjects to AAV, investigators ...

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Genetics, vol. 206, no. 4, 2069-2084, https://doi.org/10.1534/genetics.117.202754
Genetics, online article

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Snail-like transcription factors affect stem cell function through mechanisms that are incompletely understood. In the Caenorhabditis elegans neurosecretory motor neuron (NSM) neuroblast lineage, CES-1 Snail coordinates cell cycle progression and cell polarity to ensure the asymmetric division of the NSM neuroblast and the generation of two daughter cells of ...

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Nature Communications, 8, Article number: 116, doi:10.1038/s41467-017-00160-z
Nature Communications, online article

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Optical imaging approaches have revolutionized our ability to monitor neural network dynamics, but by themselves are unable to link a neuron’s activity to its functional connectivity. We present a versatile genetic toolbox, termed ‘Optobow’, for all-optical discovery of excitatory connections in vivo. By combining the Gal4-UAS system with Cre/lox recombination, ...

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Nature Protocols, volume 12, pages 1639–1658, https://doi.org/10.1038/nprot.2017.036
Nature Protocols, online article

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According to proteomics analyses, more than 70 different ion channels and transporters are harbored in membranes of intracellular compartments such as endosomes and lysosomes. Malfunctioning of these channels has been implicated in human diseases such as lysosomal storage disorders, neurodegenerative diseases and metabolic pathologies, as well as in the ...

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Cell Chemical Biology, Volume 24, Issue 7, Pages 907-916.e4, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chembiol.2017.05.025
Cell Chemical Biology, online article

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To resolve the subcellular distribution of endolysosomal ion channels, we have established a novel experimental approach to selectively patch clamp Rab5 positive early endosomes (EE) versus Rab7/LAMP1-positive late endosomes/lysosomes (LE/LY). To functionally characterize ion channels in endolysosomal membranes with the patch-clamp technique, it is important to ...

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Developmental Cell, Volume 41, Issue 6, p573–574, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.devcel.2017.06.002
Developmental Cell, online article

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Caspases have apoptotic and non-apoptotic functions, both of which depend on their abilities to cleave proteins at specific sites. What distinguishes apoptotic from non-apoptotic substrates has so far been unclear. In this issue of Developmental Cell, Weaver et al. (2017) now provide an answer to this crucial question.
 

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Clin Invest. 2017;127(7):2598–2611, https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI92156
Clin Invest., online article

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Photopharmacological control of neuronal activity using synthetic photochromic ligands, or photoswitches, is a promising approach for restoring visual function in patients suffering from degenerative retinal diseases. Azobenzene photoswitches, such as AAQ and DENAQ, have been shown to restore the responses of retinal ganglion cells to light in mouse models of ...

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J Mol Biol, Volume 429, Issue 11, Pages 1630-1637, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmb.2017.04.003
J Mol Biol., online article

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Parallel and antiparallel transmembrane helix–helix interactions support the folding and non-covalent assembly of many integral membrane proteins. While several genetic tools are currently in use to study parallel transmembrane helix–helix interactions, antiparallel associations have been difficult to determine. Here, we present a novel genetic approach, termed ...

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Front. Neurosci., Volume 11,  Article 292, https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2017.00292
Front. Neurosci., online article

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Achromatopsia type 2 (ACHM2) is a severe, inherited eye disease caused by mutations in the CNGA3 gene encoding the α subunit of the cone photoreceptor cyclic nucleotide-gated (CNG) channel. Patients suffer from strongly impaired daylight vision, photophobia, nystagmus, and lack of color discrimination. We have previously shown in the Cnga3 knockout (KO) mouse ...

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Scientific Reports, 7, Article number: 2321, doi:10.1038/s41598-017-02514-5
Scientific Reports, online article

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Mutations in the photoreceptor outer segment (OS) specific peripherin-2 lead to autosomal dominant retinitis pigmentosa (adRP). By contrast, mutations in the peripherin-2 homolog Rom-1 cause digenic RP in combination with certain heterozygous mutations in peripherin-2. The mechanisms underlying the differential role of peripherin-2 and Rom-1 in RP pathophysiology ...

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Neuron, Volume 94, Issue 4, p774–789.e5, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2017.04.034
Neuron, online article

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We introduce a flexible method for high-resolution interrogation of circuit function, which combines simultaneous 3D two-photon stimulation of multiple targeted neurons, volumetric functional imaging, and quantitative behavioral tracking. This integrated approach was applied to dissect how an ensemble of premotor neurons in the larval zebrafish brain drives a ...

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J. Biol. Chem., 292(27) 11189–11205, DOI 10.1074/jbc.M117.782326
J. Biol. Chem., online article

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Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and mislocalization of improperly folded proteins have been shown to contribute to photoreceptor death in models of inherited retinal degenerative diseases. In particular, mice with cone cyclic nucleotide-gated (CNG) channel deficiency, a model for achromatopsia, display both early-onset ER stress and opsin mistrafficking. By 2 ...

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Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., International Edition: DOI: 10.1002/anie.201700424
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., online article

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Until recently, it was believed that the genomes of higher organisms contain, in addition to the four canonical DNA bases, only 5-methyl-dC (m5dC) as a modified base to control epigenetic processes. In recent years, this view has changed dramatically with the discovery of 5-hydroxymethyl-dC (hmdC), 5-formyl-dC (fdC), and 5-carboxy-dC (cadC) in DNA from stem cells ...

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J Gene Med. 2017, Volume 19, Issue 3, e2944 https://doi.org/10.1002/jgm.2944
J Gene Med., online article

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The present review summarizes the current status of achromatopsia (ACHM) gene therapy-related research activities and provides an outlook for their clinical application. ACHM is an inherited eye disease characterized by a congenital absence of cone photoreceptor function. As a consequence, ACHM is associated with strongly impaired daylight vision, photophobia, ...

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Scientific Reports, volume 7, Article number: 43476, doi:10.1038/srep43476
Scientific Reports, online article

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The assembly of integral membrane protein complexes is frequently supported by transmembrane domain (TMD) interactions. Here, we present the BLaTM assay that measures homotypic as well as heterotypic TMD-TMD interactions in a bacterial membrane. The system is based on complementation of β-lactamase fragments genetically fused to interacting TMDs, which confers ...

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Genes & Dev., 31: 209-222 , doi: 10.1101/gad.288555.116
Genes & Dev., online article

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Programmed cell death occurs in a highly reproducible manner during Caenorhabditis elegans development. We demonstrate that, during embryogenesis, miR-35 and miR-58 bantam family microRNAs (miRNAs) cooperate to prevent the precocious death of mothers of cells programmed to die by repressing the gene egl-1, which encodes a proapoptotic BH3-only protein. In ...

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The Journal of Physiology, DOI: 10.1113/JP272790
The Journal of Physiology, online article

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In vivo two-photon Ca2+ imaging has become an effective approach for the functional analysis of neuronal populations, individual neurons and subcellular neuronal compartments in the intact brain. When imaging individually labelled neurons, depth penetration can often reach up to 1 mm below the cortical surface. However, for densely labelled neuronal populations, ...

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Cancer Res; 77(6); 1–12, DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-16-0852
American Association for Cancer Research, online article

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Metastatic invasion is the major cause of cancer-related deaths. In this study, we introduce two-pore channels (TPC), a recently described class of NAADP- and PI(3,5)P2–sensitive Ca2+-permeable cation channels in the endolysosomal system of cells, as candidate targets for the treatment of invasive cancers. Inhibition of the channel abrogated migration of ...

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iovs, 58:4, 155–4160. DOI:10.1167/iovs.17-22402
iovs, online article

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Purpose: Despite ever-growing adoption of subretinal (SRi) and intravitreal injections (IVTi) in ocular gene therapy trials, concerns regarding possible deleterious effects of the SRi on the outer retina are yet to be addressed. SRi offers several advantages over IVTi, such as a better photoreceptor transduction efficiency and a limited off-target exposure. We ...

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