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The transient receptor potential vanilloid 3 (TRPV3) cation channel is widely expressed in human tissues and has been shown to be activated by mild temperatures or chemical ligands. In spite of great progress in the TRP-channel characterization, very little is known about their structure and interactions with other proteins at the atomic level. This is mainly caused by difficulties in obtaining functionally active samples of high homogeneity. Here, we report on the high-level Escherichia coli expression of the human TRPV3 channel, for which no structural information has been reported to date. We selected a suitable detergent and buffer system using analytical size-exclusion chromatography and a thermal stability assay. We demonstrate that the recombinant purified protein contains high α-helical content and migrates as dimers and tetramers on native PAGE. Furthermore, the purified channel also retains its current inducing activity, as shown by electrophysiology experiments. The ability to produce the TRPV3 channel heterologously will aid future functional and structural studies.

The Na,K-ATPase is essential to all animals, since it maintains the electrochemical gradients that energize the plasma membrane. Naturally occurring inhibitors of the pump from plants have been used pharmaceutically in cardiac treatment for centuries. The inhibitors block the pump by binding on its extracellular side and thereby locking it. To explore the possibilities for designing an alternative way of targeting the pump function, we have examined the structural requirements for binding to a pocket that accommodates the two C-terminal residues, YY, in the crystal structures of the pump. To cover the sample space of two residues, we first performed docking studies with the 400 possible dipeptides. For validation of the in silico predictions, pumps with 13 dipeptide sequences replacing the C-terminal YY were expressed in Xenopus laevis oocytes and examined with electrophysiology. Our data show a significant correlation between the docking scores from two different methods and the experimentally determined sodium affinities, which strengthens the previous hypothesis that sodium binding is coupled to docking of the C-terminus. From the dipeptides that dock the best and better than wild-type YY, it may therefore be possible to develop specific drugs targeting a previously unexplored binding pocket in the sodium pump., QC 20220126

The Na+, K+-adenosine triphosphatase (ATPase) maintains the electrochemical gradients of Na+ and K+ across the plasma membrane-a prerequisite for electrical excitability and secondary transport. Hitherto, structural information has been limited to K+-bound or ouabain-blocked forms. We present the crystal structure of a Na+-bound Na+, K+-ATPase as determined at 4.3 angstrom resolution. Compared with the K+-bound form, large conformational changes are observed in the a subunit whereas the beta and gamma subunit structures are maintained. The locations of the three Na+ sites are indicated with the unique site III at the recently suggested IIIb, as further supported by electrophysiological studies on leak currents. Extracellular release of the third Na+ from IIIb through IIIa, followed by exchange of Na+ for K+ at sites I and II, is suggested., QC 20131107

Carbon and oxygen abundances in F and G main-sequence stars ranging in metallicity from [Fe/H] = -1.6 to +0.5 are determined from a non-LTE analysis of CI and OI atomic lines in high-resolution spectra. Both C and O are good tracers of stellar populations; distinct trends of [C/Fe] and [O/Fe] as a function of [Fe/H] are found for high- and low-alpha halo stars and for thick- and thin-disk stars. These trends and that of [C/O] provide new information on the nucleosynthesis sites of carbon and the time-scale for the chemical enrichment of the various Galactic components., Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures. To appear in Proceedings IAU Symposium No. 298, "Setting the scene for Gaia and LAMOST", eds. S. Feltzing, G. Zhao, N. A. Walton, and P. A. Whitelock

In some recent works, the C/O abundance ratio in high-metallicity stars with planets is found to vary from 0.4 to about 1.0. This has led to discussions about the existence of terrestrial planets with a carbon-dominated composition that is very different from the composition of the Earth. The C/O values were obtained by determining carbon abundances from high-excitation CI lines and oxygen abundances from the forbidden [OI] line at 6300 A. This weak line is, however, strongly affected by a nickel blend at high metallicities. Aiming for more precise C/O ratios, oxygen abundances in this paper are derived from the high-excitation OI triplet at 7774 A and carbon abundances from the CI lines at 5052 and 5380 A using MARCS model atmospheres and including non-LTE corrections. The results do not confirm the high C/O ratios previously found. C/O shows a tight, slightly increasing dependence on metallicity from C/O=0.58 at [Fe/H]=0.0 to C/O=0.70 at [Fe/H] =0.4 with an rms scatter of only 0.06. Assuming that the composition of a proto-planetary disk is the same as that of the host star, the C/O values found in this paper lend no support to the existence of carbon-rich planets. The small scatter of C/O among thin-disk stars suggests that the nucleosynthesis products of Type II supernovae and low- to intermediate-mass stars are well mixed in the interstellar medium., Comment: 10 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in A&A

A crystal structure suggests four water molecules are present in the binding cavity of thapsigargin in sarco/endoplasmic reticulum calcium ATPase (SERCA). Computational chemistry indicates that three of these water molecules mediate an extensive hydrogen-bonding network between thapsigargin and the backbone of SERCA. The orientation of the thapsigargin molecule in SERCA is crucially dependent on these interactions. The hypothesis has been verified by measuring the affinity of newly synthesized model compounds, which are prevented from participating in such water-mediated interactions as hydrogen-bond donors.

AlrumBurnt houses at an Early Iron Age tell site in Western JutlandThe Alrum settlement is renowned in particular for producing one of the largest prehistoric finds of charred grain and seeds ever discovered in Denmark.The site was excavated in 1939 under the direction of Gudmund Hatt, but it was Hans Helbæk who carried out a detailed analysis of the plant remains. The latter were subjected to re-examination in 1994, whereas the extensive finds assemblage, stored at Ringkøbing Museum, has only now been fully investigated and analysed. The reason for this is that the excavation records, thought for many years to have been lost, turned up by chance at the National Museum of Denmark in 2000.The Alrum site is located on a slight elevation, about 1 km from Stadil Fjord and 10 km north of the town of Ringkøbing (fig. 1).The settlementThe excavation trench exposed an area of about 300 m2, within which there were sequences of six to seven house sites lying one on top of the other, resulting in cultural deposits with a vertical stratigraphy of 1.5 m, in other words a tell site (fig. 2). Two of the houses (house I and house II) had been destroyed by fire and had been abandoned in such great haste that everything remained within the burnt-out remains of the buildings. House II was the better preserved of the two, containing building timbers, c. 50 pottery vessels, straw ropes, some stone tools, a ball of wool etc. The house was 14.5 m long and 4.5 m wide (c. 60 m2), with living quarters at the western end and a presumed byre to the east. Relative to contemporary houses in Eastern Jutland, those in Western Jutland were small. The roof was borne by five pairs of posts arranged along the length of the house and was probably comprised of heather turf. The post-built walls had an inner cladding of thick oak planks, whereas the outer surface is presumed to have been covered with a layer of straw or grass. The living quarters were fitted out with a clay bench or platform at the gable