Stomata are composed of a pair of guard cells and a pore between them, and their density and positions are regulated by developmental and environmental signals. In a screen in which we overexpressed many genes coding for putative secretory proteins one by one in Arabidopsis, we identified a gene named STOMAGEN, which increases stomatal density when overexpressed. The STOMAGEN gene encodes a small peptide with a putative secretory signal sequence at its N-terminus and is expressed preferentially in mesophyll cells. This peptide belongs to the EPIDERMAL PATTERNING FACTOR (EPF) family of the cysteine-rich peptides superfamily. The mature form was a 45-amino-acid peptide (stomagen) with three intramolecular disulfide bonds. Stomagen treatment at very low concentrations, as low as 10 nM, increased the stomatal density of wild-type Arabidopsis plants. We propose that stomagen is a mesophyll-to-epidermis signaling molecule that positively regulates stomatal density. We also suggest that stomagen increases stomatal density by competing with negative regulators EPF1 and EPF2 for the receptor-like protein TOO MANY MOUTHS.

Oxidative stress is closely linked to the pathogenesis of neurodegeneration. Soluble amyloid β (Aβ) oligomers cause cognitive impairment and synaptic dysfunction in Alzheimer disease (AD). However, the relationship between oligomers, oxidative stress, and their localization during disease progression is uncertain. Our previous study demonstrated that mice deficient in cytoplasmic copper/zinc superoxide dismutase (CuZn-SOD, SOD1) have features of drusen formation, a hallmark of age-related macular degeneration (Imamura, Y., Noda, S., Hashizume, K., Shinoda, K., Yamaguchi, M., Uchiyama, S., Shimizu, T., Mizushima, Y., Shirasawa, T., and Tsubota, K. (2006) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 103, 11282–11287). Amyloid assembly has been implicated as a common mechanism of plaque and drusen formation. Here, we show that Sod1 deficiency in an amyloid precursor protein-overexpressing mouse model (AD mouse, Tg2576) accelerated Aβ oligomerization and memory impairment as compared with control AD mouse and that these phenomena were basically mediated by oxidative damage. The increased plaque and neuronal inflammation were accompanied by the generation of N_ϵ-carboxymethyl lysine in advanced glycation end products, a rapid marker of oxidative damage, induced by Sod1 gene-dependent reduction. The Sod1 deletion also caused Tau phosphorylation and the lower levels of synaptophysin. Furthermore, the levels of SOD1 were significantly decreased in human AD patients rather than non-AD age-matched individuals, but mitochondrial SOD (Mn-SOD, SOD2) and extracellular SOD (CuZn-SOD, SOD3) were not. These findings suggest that cytoplasmic superoxide radical plays a critical role in the pathogenesis of AD. Activation of Sod1 may be a therapeutic strategy for the inhibition of AD progression.

The aggregation of the 42-residue amyloid β-protein (Aβ42) is involved in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer disease (AD). Numerous flavonoids exhibit inhibitory activity against Aβ42 aggregation, but their mechanism remains unclear in the molecular level. Here we propose the site-specific inhibitory mechanism of (+)-taxifolin, a catechol-type flavonoid, whose 3′,4′-dihydroxyl groups of the B-ring plays a critical role. Addition of sodium periodate, an oxidant, strengthened suppression of Aβ42 aggregation by (+)-taxifolin, whereas no inhibition was observed under anaerobic conditions, suggesting the inhibition to be associated with the oxidation to form o-quinone. Because formation of the Aβ42-taxifolin adduct was suggested by mass spectrometry, Aβ42 mutants substituted at Arg⁵, Lys¹⁶, and/or Lys²⁸ with norleucine (Nle) were prepared to identify the residues involved in the conjugate formation. (+)-Taxifolin did not suppress the aggregation of Aβ42 mutants at Lys¹⁶ and/or Lys²⁸ except for the mutant at Arg⁵. In addition, the aggregation of Aβ42 was inhibited by other catechol-type flavonoids, whereas that of K16Nle-Aβ42 was not. In contrast, some non-catechol-type flavonoids suppressed the aggregation of K16Nle-Aβ42 as well as Aβ42. Furthermore, interaction of (+)-taxifolin with the β-sheet region in Aβ42 was not observed using solid-state NMR unlike curcumin of the non-catechol-type. These results demonstrate that catechol-type flavonoids could specifically suppress Aβ42 aggregation by targeting Lys residues. Although the anti-AD activity of flavonoids has been ascribed to their antioxidative activity, the mechanism that the o-quinone reacts with Lys residues of Aβ42 might be more intrinsic. The Lys residues could be targets for Alzheimer disease therapy.

Cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) due to β-amyloid (Aβ) is one of the specific pathological features of familial Alzheimer's disease. Aβ mainly consisting of 40- and 42-mer peptides (Aβ40 and Aβ42) exhibits neurotoxicity and aggregative abilities. All of the variants of Aβ40 and Aβ42 found in CAA were synthesized in a highly pure form and examined for neurotoxicity in PC12 cells and aggregative ability. All of the Aβ40 mutants at positions 22 and 23 showed stronger neurotoxicity than wild-type Aβ40. Similar tendency was observed for Aβ42 mutants at positions 22 and 23 whose neurotoxicity was 50-200 times stronger than that of the corresponding Aβ40 mutants, suggesting that these Aβ42 mutants are mainly involved in the pathogenesis of CAA. Although the aggregation of E22G-Aβ42 and D23N-Aβ42 was similar to that of wild-type Aβ42, E22Q-Aβ42 and E22K-Aβ42 aggregated extensively, supporting the clinical evidence that Dutch and Italian patients are diagnosed as hereditary cerebral hemorrhage with amyloidosis. In contrast, A21G mutation needs alternative explanation with the exception of physicochemical properties of Aβ mutants. Attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy spectra suggested that β-sheet content of the Aβ mutants correlates with their aggregation. However, β-turn is also a critical secondary structure because residues at positions 22 and 23 that preferably form two-residue β-turn significantly enhanced the aggregative ability.

Amyloid fibrils in Alzheimer's disease mainly consist of 40- and 42-mer β-amyloid peptides (Aβ40 and Aβ42) that exhibit aggregative ability and neurotoxicity. Although the aggregates of Aβ peptides are rich in intermolecular β-sheet, the precise secondary structure of Aβ in the aggregates remains unclear. To identify the amino acid residues involved in the β-sheet formation, 34 proline-substituted mutants of Aβ42 were synthesized and their aggregative ability and neurotoxicity on PC12 cells were examined. Prolines are rarely present in β-sheet, whereas they are easily accommodated in β-turn as a Pro-X corner. Among the mutants at positions 15-32, only E22P-Aβ42 extensively aggregated with stronger neurotoxicity than wild-type Aβ42, suggesting that the residues at positions 15-21 and 24-32 are involved in the β-sheet and that the turn at positions 22 and 23 plays a crucial role in the aggregation and neurotoxicity of Aβ42. The C-terminal proline mutants (A42P-, I41P-, and V40P-Aβ42) hardly aggregated with extremely weak cytotoxicity, whereas the C-terminal threonine mutants (A42T- and I41T-Aβ42) aggregated potently with significant cytotoxicity. These results indicate that the hydrophobicity of the C-terminal two residues of Aβ42 is not related to its aggregative ability and neurotoxicity, rather the C-terminal three residues adopt the β-sheet. These results demonstrate well the large difference in aggregative ability and neurotoxicity between Aβ42 and Aβ40. In contrast, the proline mutants at the N-terminal 13 residues showed potent aggregative ability and neurotoxicity similar to those of wild-type Aβ42. The identification of the β-sheet region of Aβ42 is a basis for designing new aggregation inhibitors of Aβ peptides.