Liu Z et al. (2017) J Parasitol Res "Identification, Characterization, and Structure of Tm16 from Trichuris muris."

Liu Z, Hotez PJ, Asojo OA, Wei J, Bottazzi ME, Pollet J, Tabb S, Zhan B, Kelleher A

[J Parasitol Res, 2017]

Trichuriasis is a disease of poverty for which excretory and secretory (ES) products that induce the protective immunity are being investigated as candidate vaccines antigens. In this study, ES products of T. muris and immune sera were produced. The immune sera recognized more than 20 proteins on a 2D-gel of ES products of T. muris adult worms. Tm16 was one of the proteins identified by mass spectrometry. Tm16 shares 57% sequence identity with Ov16, an immunodominant diagnostic antigen from Onchocerca volvulus. Recombinant Tm16 with a carboxyl terminal hexahistidine was produced using Pichia pastoris. Polyclonal antibodies against rTm16 were generated by one-prime and two-boost immunization of three female Balb/c mice with 25g of recombinant Tm16 emulsified with ISA720 adjuvant. These polyclonal antibodies confirmed that Tm16 is localized to the ES products and the soluble fraction of the adult worm. Additionally, the high-resolution crystal structure of Tm16 was solved by molecular replacement. Tm16 belongs to the phosphatidylethanolamine-binding-like protein (PEBP1) family and this is the first structure of a PEBP1 from a parasite.

Liu Z et al. (2018) Nat Commun "Predator-secreted sulfolipids induce defensive responses in C. elegans."

Pribadi AK, Tong A, Bose N, Srinivasan J, Kariya MJ, Schroeder FC, Curran KP, Chalasani SH, Leinwand SG, Liu Z, Chute CD

[Nat Commun, 2018]

Animals respond to predators by altering their behavior and physiological states, but the underlying signaling mechanisms are poorly understood. Using the interactions between Caenorhabditis elegans and its predator, Pristionchus pacificus, we show that neuronal perception by C. elegans of a predator-specific molecular signature induces instantaneous escape behavior and a prolonged reduction in oviposition. Chemical analysis revealed this predator-specific signature to consist of a class of sulfolipids, produced by a biochemical pathway required for developing predacious behavior and specifically induced by starvation. These sulfolipids are detected by four pairs of C. elegans amphid sensory neurons that act redundantly and recruit cyclic nucleotide-gated (CNG) or transient receptor potential (TRP) channels to drive both escape and reduced oviposition. Functional homology of the delineated signaling pathways and abolishment of predator-evoked C. elegans responses by the anti-anxiety drug sertraline suggests a likely conserved or convergent strategy for managing predator threats.

Liu Z et al. (2015) PLoS Genet "Promotion of bone morphogenetic protein signaling by tetraspanins and glycosphingolipids."

Sheth S, Amin NM, Tian C, He J, Kubba S, Aydin T, Liu Z, Zimmerman S, Constas K, Liu D, Ranjan S, Shwartz N, McMahon DE, Plavskin Y, Schwarz EM, Krause MW, Liu J, Schaeffer A, Alam E, Dad NA, Lindy A, Smith H, Shi H, Yun S, Szymczak LC

[PLoS Genet, 2015]

Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) belong to the transforming growth factor (TGF) superfamily of secreted molecules. BMPs play essential roles in multiple developmental and homeostatic processes in metazoans. Malfunction of the BMP pathway can cause a variety of diseases in humans, including cancer, skeletal disorders and cardiovascular diseases. Identification of factors that ensure proper spatiotemporal control of BMP signaling is critical for understanding how this pathway is regulated. We have used a unique and sensitive genetic screen to identify the plasma membrane-localized tetraspanin TSP-21 as a key new factor in the C. elegans BMP-like "Sma/Mab" signaling pathway that controls body size and postembryonic M lineage development. We showed that TSP-21 acts in the signal-receiving cells and genetically functions at the ligand-receptor level. We further showed that TSP-21 can associate with itself and with two additional tetraspanins, TSP-12 and TSP-14, which also promote Sma/Mab signaling. TSP-12 and TSP-14 can also associate with SMA-6, the type I receptor of the Sma/Mab pathway. Finally, we found that glycosphingolipids, major components of the tetraspanin-enriched microdomains, are required for Sma/Mab signaling. Our findings suggest that the tetraspanin-enriched membrane microdomains are important for proper BMP signaling. As tetraspanins have emerged as diagnostic and prognostic markers for tumor progression, and TSP-21, TSP-12 and TSP-14 are all conserved in humans, we speculate that abnormal BMP signaling due to altered expression or function of certain tetraspanins may be a contributing factor to cancer development.

Liu Z et al. (2013) Development "The micronutrient element zinc modulates sperm activation through the SPE-8 pathway in Caenorhabditis elegans."

Miao L, Shang Y, Liu Z, Chen L, Huang P

[Development, 2013]

Immotile spermatids produced in the testis must undergo a series of poorly understood morphological, physiological and biochemical processes called sperm activation to become motile, fertilization-competent spermatozoa. In Caenorhabditis elegans, the spe-8 group contains sperm-specific genes active in both males and hermaphrodites, although their activity is required only for hermaphrodite self-sperm activation. The activating signal upstream of the SPE-8 signaling cascade remains unknown. Here, we show that the micronutrient zinc is sufficient to trigger sperm activation in vitro, and that extracellular zinc induces the intracellular redistribution of labile zinc. We demonstrate that other activating signals promote the similar redistribution of labile zinc, indicating that zinc might have first and/or second messenger roles during sperm activation. Moreover, zinc-induced sperm activation is SPE-8 pathway dependent. Labile zinc was enriched in the spermatheca, the normal site for self-sperm activation in hermaphrodites. High levels of zinc were also found in the secretory cells in the male gonad, suggesting that zinc might be secreted from these cells during copulation and become a component of seminal fluid, to modulate sperm activation post-copulation. These data indicate that zinc regulates sperm activation in both male and hermaphrodite C. elegans, a finding with important implications for understanding hermaphroditic evolution.

Liu Z et al. (2022) PLoS Genet "The C. elegans TspanC8 tetraspanin TSP-14 exhibits isoform-specific localization and function."

Shi H, Liu J, Liu Z

[PLoS Genet, 2022]

Tetraspanin proteins are a unique family of highly conserved four-pass transmembrane proteins in metazoans. While much is known about their biochemical properties, the in vivo functions and distribution patterns of different tetraspanin proteins are less understood. Previous studies have shown that two paralogous tetraspanins that belong to the TspanC8 subfamily, TSP-12 and TSP-14, function redundantly to promote both Notch signaling and bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signaling in C. elegans. TSP-14 has two isoforms, TSP-14A and TSP-14B, where TSP-14B has an additional 24 amino acids at its N-terminus compared to TSP-14A. By generating isoform specific knock-ins and knock-outs using CRISPR, we found that TSP-14A and TSP-14B share distinct as well as overlapping expression patterns and functions. While TSP-14A functions redundantly with TSP-12 to regulate body size and embryonic and vulva development, TSP-14B primarily functions redundantly with TSP-12 to regulate postembryonic mesoderm development. Importantly, TSP-14A and TSP-14B exhibit distinct subcellular localization patterns. TSP-14A is localized apically and on early and late endosomes. TSP-14B is localized to the basolateral cell membrane. We further identified a di-leucine motif within the N-terminal 24 amino acids of TSP-14B that serves as a basolateral membrane targeting sequence, and showed that the basolateral membrane localization of TSP-14B is important for its function. Our work highlights the diverse and intricate functions of TspanC8 tetraspanins in C. elegans, and demonstrates the importance of dissecting the functions of these important proteins in an intact living organism.

Liu Z et al. (2014) Biochim Biophys Acta "Calcium signaling and the MAPK cascade are required for sperm activation in Caenorhabditis elegans."

Liu Z, Miao L, Wang B, Zhao Y, He R

[Biochim Biophys Acta, 2014]

In nematode, sperm activation (or spermiogenesis), a process in which the symmetric and non-motile spermatids transform into polarized and crawling spermatozoa, is critical for sperm cells to acquire fertilizing competence. SPE-8 dependent and SPE-8 independent pathways function redundantly during sperm activation in both males and hermaphrodites of Caenorhabditis elegans. However, the downstream signaling for both pathways remains unclear. Here we show that calcium signaling and the MAPK cascade are required for both SPE-8 dependent and SPE-8 independent sperm activation, implying that both pathways share common downstream signaling components during sperm activation. We demonstrate that activation of the MAPK cascade is sufficient to activate spermatids derived from either wild-type or spe-8 group mutant males and that activation of the MAPK cascade bypasses the requirement of calcium signal to induce sperm activation, indicating that the MAPK cascade functions downstream of or parallel with the calcium signaling during sperm activation. Interestingly, the persistent activation of MAPK in activated spermatozoa inhibits Major Sperm Protein (MSP)-based cytoskeleton dynamics. We demonstrate that MAPK plays dual roles in promoting pseudopod extension during sperm activation but also blocking the MSP-based, amoeboid motility of the spermatozoa. Thus, though nematode sperm are crawling cells, morphologically distinct from flagellated sperm, and the molecular machinery for motility of amoeboid and flagellated sperm is different, both types of sperm might utilize conserved signaling pathways to modulate sperm maturation.

Liu Z et al. (2008) BMC Genomics "Sequence space coverage, entropy of genomes and the potential to detect non-human DNA in human samples."

Liu Z, Maley CC, Venkatesh SS

[BMC Genomics, 2008]

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Genomes store information for building and maintaining organisms. Complete sequencing of many genomes provides the opportunity to study and compare global information properties of those genomes. RESULTS: We have analyzed aspects of the information content of Homo sapiens, Mus musculus, Drosophila melanogaster, Caenorhabditis elegans, Arabidopsis thaliana, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and Escherichia coli (K-12) genomes. Virtually all possible (>98%) 12bp oligomers appear in vertebrate genomes while <2% of 19bp oligomers are present. Other species showed different ranges of >98% to <2% of possible oligomers in D. melanogaster (12-17bp), C. elegans (11-17bp), A. thaliana (11-17bp), S. cerevisiae (10-16bp) and E. coli (9-15bp). Frequencies of unique oligomers in the genomes follow similar patterns. We identified a set of 2.6M 15-mers that are more than 1 nucleotide different from all 15-mers in the human genome and so could be used as probes to detect microbes in human samples. In a human sample, these probes would detect 100% of the 433 currently fully sequenced prokaryotes and 75% of the 3065 fully sequenced viruses. The human genome is significantly more compact in sequence space than a random genome. We identified the most frequent 5- to 20-mers in the human genome, which may prove useful as PCR primers. We also identified a bacterium, Anaeromyxobacter dehalogenans, which has an exceptionally low diversity of oligomers given the size of its genome and its GC content. The entropy of coding regions in the human genome is significantly higher than non-coding regions and chromosomes. However chromosomes 1, 2, 9, 12 and 14 have a relatively high proportion of coding DNA without high entropy, and chromosome 20 is the opposite with a low frequency of coding regions but relatively high entropy. CONCLUSIONS: Measures of the frequency of oligomers are useful for designing PCR assays and for identifying chromosomes and organisms with contain hidden structure that had not been previously recognized. This information may be used to detect novel microbes in human tissues.

Liu Z et al. (2014) J Biomed Opt "Real-time brightfield, darkfield, and phase contrast imaging in a light-emitting diode array microscope."

Liu Z, Waller L, Liu S, Tian L

[J Biomed Opt, 2014]

We demonstrate a single-camera imaging system that can simultaneously acquire brightfield, darkfield, and phase contrast images in real time. Our method uses computational illumination via a programmable light-emitting diode (LED) array at the source plane, providing flexible patterning of illumination angles. Brightfield, darkfield, and differential phase contrast images are obtained by changing the LED patterns, without any moving parts. Previous work with LED array illumination was only valid for static samples because the hardware speed was not fast enough to meet real-time acquisition and processing requirements. Here, we time multiplex patterns for each of the three contrast modes in order to image dynamic biological processes in all three contrast modes simultaneously. We demonstrate multicontrast operation at the maximum frame rate of our camera (50 Hz with 2160 x 2560 pixels).

Liu Z et al. (2024) J Hazard Mater "Exposure to 6-PPD quinone causes ferroptosis activation associated with induction of reproductive toxicity in Caenorhabditis elegans."

Bian Q, Wang D, Liu Z

[J Hazard Mater, 2024]

Exposure to N-(1,3-dimethylbutyl)-N'-phenyl-p-phenylenediamine quinone (6-PPDQ) caused toxicity on Caenorhabditis elegans, including reproductive toxicity. However, the underlying mechanisms for this induced reproductive toxicity by 6-PPDQ remain largely unclear. We examined possible association of ferroptosis activation with reproductive toxicity of 6-PPDQ. In 1-100 μg/L 6-PPDQ exposed nematodes, Fe²⁺ content was increased, which was accompanied with enhanced lipid peroxidation, increased malonydialdehyde (MDA) content, and decreased L-glutathione (GSH) content. Exposure to 1-100 μg/L 6-PPDQ decreased expressions of ftn-1 encoding ferritin, ads-1 encoding AGPS, and gpx-6 encoding GPX4 and increased expression of bli-3 encoding dual oxidase. After 6-PPDQ exposure, RNAi of ftn-1 decreased ads-1 and gpx-6 expressions and increased bli-3 expression. RNAi of ftn-1, ads-1, and gpx-6 strengthened alterations in ferroptosis related indicators, and RNAi of bli-3 suppressed changes of ferroptosis related indicators in 6-PPDQ exposed nematodes. Meanwhile, RNAi of ftn-1, ads-1, and gpx-6 induced susceptibility, and RNAi of bli-3 caused resistance to 6-PPDQ reproductive toxicity. Moreover, expressions of DNA damage checkpoint genes (clk-2, mrt-2, and hus-1) could be increased by RNAi of ftn-1, ads-1, and gpx-6 in 6-PPDQ exposed nematodes. Therefore, our results demonstrated activation of ferroptosis in nematodes exposed to 6-PPDQ at environmentally relevant concentrations, and this ferroptosis activation was related to reproductive toxicity of 6-PPDQ.

Liu Z et al. (2017) Conf Proc IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc "NucleiNet: A convolutional encoder-decoder network for bio-image denoising."

Hu Y, Coquet P, Boudier T, Nasser L, Yu, H, Liu Z, Xu H

[Conf Proc IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc, 2017]

Generic and scalable data analysis procedures are highly demanded by the increasing number of multi-dimensional biomedical data. However, especially for time-lapse biological data, the high level of noise prevents for automated high-throughput analysis methods. The rapid developing of machine-learning methods and particularly deep-learning methods provide new tools and methodologies that can help in the denoising of such data. Using a convolutional encoder-decoder network, one can provide a scalable bio-image platform, called NucleiNet, to automatically segment, classify and track cell nuclei. The proposed method can achieve 0.99 F-score and 0.99 pixel-wise accuracy on C. elegans dataset, which means that over 99% of nuclei can be successfully detected with no merging nuclei found.