Small organic molecules termed osmolytes are harnessed by a variety of cell types in a wide range of organisms to counter unfavorable physiological conditions that challenge protein stability and function. Using a well characterized reporter system that we developed to allow in vivo observations, we have explored how the osmolyte proline influences the stability and aggregation of a model aggre...

The endosymbiosis between Symbiodinium dinoflagellates and stony corals provides the foundation of coral reef ecosystems. The survival of these ecosystems is under threat at a global scale, and better knowledge is needed to conceive strategies for mitigating future reef loss. Environmental disturbance imposing temperature, salinity, and nutrient stress can lead to the loss of the Symbiodinium p...

Protecting osmolytes are widespread small organic molecules able to stabilize the folded state of most proteins against various denaturing stresses in vivo. The osmophobic model explains thermodynamically their action through a preferential exclusion of the osmolyte molecules from the protein surface, thus favoring the formation of intrapeptide hydrogen bonds. Few works addressed the influence ...

The goal of this study was to assess the effect of extracellular glucose and K+ ((K)o) on the intracellular osmolyte content and cell volume maintenance and regulation in a human embryonic kidney cell line (tsA201a). Cell volume maintenance was studied by isotonic (313 +/- 5 mOsm) replacement of culture media by a glucose-free Ringer solution containing (in mM) 0, 3, 6, or 10 K+. Cell volume re...

Amoebas and other protists commonly encyst when faced with environmental stress. Although little is known of the signaling pathways that mediate encystation, the analogous process of spore formation in dictyostelid social amoebas is better understood. In Dictyostelium discoideum, secreted cyclic AMP (cAMP) mediates the aggregation of starving amoebas and induces the differentiation of prespore ...

Understanding the molecular mechanisms of osmolyte protection in protein stability has proved to be challenging. In particular, little is known about the role of osmolytes in the structure of the unfolding transition state of a protein, the main determinant of its dynamics. We have developed an experimental protocol to directly probe the transition state of a protein in a range of osmolyte envi...

Using a clonal growth assay, we demonstrated that taurine, a nonperturbing osmolyte accumulated in kidney medulla, brain, and some other tissues of hypertonic experimental animals can function as a nonperturbing osmolyte in Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells. The taurine content of hypertonic MDCK cells is twice that of isotonic MDCK cells (isotonic 160 nmol/mg protein; hypertonic 320 nmol/...

The pathogenesis of morbidity associated with hyponatremia is postulated to be determined by the state of intracellular cerebral osmolytes. Previously inaccessible, these metabolites can now be quantitated by proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy. An in vivo quantitative assay of osmolytes was performed in 12 chronic hyponatremic patients (mean serum sodium 120 meq/liter) and 10 normal control...