Genome instability, primarily caused by faulty DNA repair mechanisms, drives tumorigenesis. Therapeutic interventions that exploit deregulated DNA repair in cancer have made considerable progress by targeting tumor-specific alterations of DNA repair factors, which either induces synthetic lethality or augments the efficacy of conventional chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The study of Fanconianemia (FA), a rare inherited blood disorder and cancer predisposition syndrome, has been instrumental in understanding the extent to which DNA repair defects contribute to tumorigenesis. The FA pathway functions to resolve blocked replication forks in response to DNA interstrand cross-links (ICLs), and accumulating knowledge of its activation by the ubiquitin-mediated signaling pathway has provided promising therapeutic opportunities for cancer treatment. Here, we discuss recent advances in our understanding of FA pathway regulation and its potential application for designing tailored therapeutics that take advantage of deregulated DNA ICL repair in cancer.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is one of the most prevalent forms of joint disorder, associated with a tremendous socioeconomic burden worldwide. Various non-genetic and lifestyle-related factors such as aging and obesity have been recognized as major risk factors for OA, underscoring the potential role for epigenetic regulation in the pathogenesis of the disease. OA-associated epigenetic aberrations have been noted at the level of DNA methylation and histone modification in chondrocytes. These epigenetic regulations are implicated in driving an imbalance between the expression of catabolic and anabolic factors, leading eventually to osteoarthritic cartilage destruction. Cellular senescence and metabolic abnormalities driven by OA-associated risk factors appear to accompany epigenetic drifts in chondrocytes. Notably, molecular events associated with metabolic disorders influence epigenetic regulation in chondrocytes, supporting the notion that OA is a metabolic disease. Here, we review accumulating evidence supporting a role for epigenetics in the regulation of cartilage homeostasis and OA pathogenesis.

Rice is a model plant widely used for basic and applied research programs. Plant cell wall proteins play key roles in a broad range of biological processes. However, presently, knowledge on the rice cell wall proteome is rudimentary in nature. In the present study, the tightly-bound cell wall proteome of rice callus cultured cells using sequential extraction protocols was developed using mass spectrometry and bioinformatics methods, leading to the identification of 1568 candidate proteins. Based on bioinformatics analyses, 389 classical rice cell wall proteins, possessing a signal peptide, and 334 putative non-classical cell wall proteins, lacking a signal peptide, were identified. By combining previously established rice cell wall protein databases with current data for the classical rice cell wall proteins, a comprehensive rice cell wall proteome, comprised of 496 proteins, was constructed. A comparative analysis of the rice and Arabidopsis cell wall proteomes revealed a high level of homology, suggesting a predominant conservation between monocot and eudicot cell wall proteins. This study importantly increased information on cell wall proteins, which serves for future functional analyses of these identified rice cell wall proteins.

Deleted in breast cancer-1 (DBC1) contributes to the regulation of cell survival and apoptosis. Recent studies demonstrated that DBC is phosphorylated at Thr454 by ATM/ATR kinases in response to DNA damage, which is a critical event for p53 activation and apoptosis. However, how DBC1 phosphorylation is regulated has not been studied. Here we show that protein phosphatase 4 (PP4) dephosphorylates DBC1, regulating its role in DNA damage response. PP4R2, a regulatory subunit of PP4, mediates the interaction between DBC1 and PP4C, a catalytic subunit. PP4C efficiently dephosphorylates pThr454 on DBC1 in vitro, and the depletion of PP4C/PP4R2 in cells alters the kinetics of DBC1 phosphorylation and p53 activation, and increases apoptosis in response to DNA damage, which are compatible with the expression of the phosphomimetic DBC-1 mutant (T454E). These suggest that the PP4-mediated dephosphorylation of DBC1 is necessary for efficient damage responses in cells.

We investigated the role of HDAC3 in anti-cancer drug-resistance. The expression of HDAC3 was decreased in cancer cell lines resistant to anti-cancer drugs such as celastrol and taxol. HDAC3 conferred sensitivity to these anti-cancer drugs. HDAC3 activity was necessary for conferring sensitivity to these anti-cancer drugs. The down-regulation of HDAC3 increased the expression of MDR1 and conferred resistance to anti-cancer drugs. The expression of tubulin ${\beta}3$ was increased in drug-resistant cancer cell lines. ChIP assays showed the binding of HDAC3 to the promoter sequences of tubulin ${\beta}3$ and HDAC6. HDAC6 showed an interaction with tubulin ${\beta}3$. HDAC3 had a negative regulatory role in the expression of tubulin ${\beta}3$ and HDAC6. The down-regulation of HDAC6 decreased the expression of MDR1 and tubulin ${\beta}3$, but did not affect HDAC3 expression. The down-regulation of HDAC6 conferred sensitivity to taxol. The down-regulation of tubulin ${\beta}3$ did not affect the expression of HDAC6 or MDR1. The down-regulation of tubulin ${\beta}3$ conferred sensitivity to anti-cancer drugs. Our results showed that tubulin ${\beta}3$ serves as a downstream target of HDAC3 and mediates resistance to microtubule-targeting drugs. Thus, the HDAC3-HDAC6-Tubulin ${\beta}$ axis can be employed for the development of anti-cancer drugs.

In Gram-negative bacteria in the periplasmic space, the dimeric thioredoxin-fold protein DsbC isomerizes and reduces incorrect disulfide bonds of unfolded proteins, while the monomeric thioredoxin-fold protein DsbA introduces disulfide bonds in folding proteins. In the Gram-negative bacteria Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium, the reduced form of CueP scavenges the production of hydroxyl radicals in the copper-mediated Fenton reaction, and DsbC is responsible for keeping CueP in the reduced, active form. Some DsbA proteins fulfill the functions of DsbCs, which are not present in Gram-positive bacteria. In this study, we identified a DsbA homologous protein (CdDsbA) in the Corynebacterium diphtheriae genome and determined its crystal structure in the reduced condition at $1.5{\AA}$ resolution. CdDsbA consists of a monomeric thioredoxin-like fold with an inserted helical domain and unique N-terminal extended region. We confirmed that CdDsbA has disulfide bond somerase/reductase activity, and we present evidence that the N-terminal extended region is not required for this activity and folding of the core DsbA-like domain. Furthermore, we found that CdDsbA could reduce CueP from C. diphtheriae.

Smurf2, a member of the HECT domain E3 ligase family, is well known for its role as a negative regulator of TGF-${\beta}$ signaling by targeting Smads and TGF-${\beta}$ receptor. However, the regulatory mechanism of Smurf2 has not been elucidated. Arginine methylation is a type of post-translational modification that produces monomethylated or dimethylated arginine residues. In this report, we demonstrated methylation of Smurf2 by PRMT1. In vitro methylation assay showed that Smurf2, not Smurf1, was methylated by PRMT1. Among the type I PRMT family, only PRMT1 showed activity for Smurf2. Transiently expressed Smurf2 was methylated by PRMT1, indicating Smurf2 is a novel substrate of PRMT1. Using deletion constructs, methylation sites were shown to be located within amino acid region 224-298 of Smurf2. In vitro methylation assay following point mutation of putative methylation sites confirmed the presence of Arg232, Arg234, Arg237, and Arg239. Knockdown of PRMT1 resulted in increased Smurf2 expression as well as inhibition of TGF-${\beta}$-mediated reporter activity. Although it is unclear whether or not increased Smurf2 expression can be directly attributed to lack of methylation of arginine residues, our results suggest that methylation by PRMT1 may regulate Smurf2 stability and control TGF-${\beta}$ signaling.

C. elegans has two functional peroxidasins (PXN), PXN-1 and PXN-2. PXN-2 is essential to consolidate the extracellular matrix during development and is suggested to interact with PXN-1 antagonistically. pxn-1 is involved in neuronal development and possibly maintenance; therefore, we investigated the relationship between pxn-1 and pxn-2 in neuronal development and in aging. During neuronal development, defects caused by pxn-1 overexpression were suppressed by overexpression of both pxn-1 and pxn-2. In neuronal aging process, pxn-1 mutants showed less age-related neuronal defects, such as neuronal outgrowth, neuronal wavy processes, and enhanced short-term memory performance. In addition, pxn-2 overexpressing animals retained an intact neuronal morphology when compared with age-matched controls. Consistent with these results, overexpression of both pxn-1 and pxn-2 restored the severe neuronal defects present with pxn-1 overexpression. These results implied that there is a negative relationship between pxn-1 and pxn-2 via pxn-1 regulating pxn-2. Therefore, pxn-1 may function in neuronal development and age-related neuronal maintenance through pxn-2.

Recent studies report that a history of antidepressant use is strongly correlated with the occurrence of Parkinson' disease (PD). However, it remains unclear whether antidepressant use can be a causative factor for PD. In the present study, we examined whether tricyclic antidepressants amitriptyline and desipramine can induce dopaminergic cell damage, both in vitro and in vivo. We found that amitriptyline and desipramine induced mitochondria-mediated neurotoxicity and oxidative stress in SH-SY5Y cells. When injected into mice on a subchronic schedule, amitriptyline induced movement deficits in the pole test, which is known to detect nigrostriatal dysfunction. In addition, the number of tyrosine hydroxylase-positive neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta was reduced in amitriptyline-injected mice. Our results suggest that amitriptyline and desipramine may induce PD-associated neurotoxicity.