A successful symbiotic relationship between soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] and Bradyrhizobium species requires expression of the bacterial structural nod genes that encode for the synthesis of lipochitooligosaccharide nodulation signal molecules, known as Nod factors (NFs). Bradyrhizobium diazoefficiens USDA 110 possesses a wide nodulation gene repertoire that allows NF assembly and modificat...

Phenotypically "immature" dendritic cells (DCs), defined by low cell surface CD40, CD80, and CD86 can elicit host immune suppression in allotransplantation and autoimmunity. Herein, we report the most direct means of achieving phenotypic immaturity in NOD bone marrow-derived DCs aiming at preventing diabetes in syngeneic recipients. CD40, CD80, and CD86 cell surface molecules were specifically ...

Peroxynitrite (ONOO-) is a highly reactive oxidant species produced by the reaction of the free radicals superoxide (O(2).-) and nitric oxide (NO.). Here we report a marked increase in nitrotyrosine (NT), a marker of peroxynitrite, in islet cells from NOD mice developing spontaneous autoimmune diabetes. By using specific antibodies and immunohistochemical methods, we found that NT-positive cell...

Rhizobia secrete nodulation (Nod) factors, which set in motion the formation of nitrogen-fixing root nodules on legume host plants. Nod factors induce several cellular responses in root hair cells within minutes, but also are essential for the formation of infection threads by which rhizobia enter the root. Based on studies using bacterial mutants, a two-receptor model was proposed, a signaling...

cDNA microarrays with >11,000 cDNA clones from an NOD spleen cDNA library were used to identify temporal gene expression changes in NOD mice (1-10 weeks), which spontaneously develop type 1 diabetes, and changes between NOD and NOD congenic mice (NOD.Idd3/Idd10 and NOD.B10Sn-H2(b)), which have near zero incidence of insulitis and diabetes. The expression profiles identified two distinct groups ...

The early steps of symbiotic nodule formation by Rhizobium on plants require coordinate expression of several nod gene operons, which is accomplished by the activating protein NodD. Three different NodD proteins are encoded by Sym plasmid genes in Rhizobium meliloti, the alfalfa symbiont. NodD1 and NodD2 activate nod operons when Rhizobium is exposed to host plant inducers. The third, NodD3, is...

The nonobese diabetic (NOD) mouse develops a high incidence of autoimmune diabetes and is believed to be a good model for insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) in humans. We isolated T-lymphocyte lines from islets of newly diabetic NOD mice, some of which are autoreactive to NOD spleen cells. Because autoreactive T-lymphocytes have been implicated in immune suppression, we injected NOD mic...

Rhizobial Nod factors induce in their legume hosts the expression of many genes and set in motion developmental processes leading to root nodule formation. Here we report the identification of the Medicago GRAS-type protein Nodulation signaling pathway 1 (NSP1), which is essential for all known Nod factor-induced changes in gene expression. NSP1 is constitutively expressed, and so it acts as a ...

Defects in NK and NKT cell activities have been implicated in the etiology of type 1 (autoimmune) diabetes in NOD mice on the basis of experiments performed using surrogate phenotypes for the identification of these lymphocyte subsets. Here, we have generated a congenic line of NOD mice (NOD.b-Nkrp1(b)) which express the allelic NK1.1 marker, enabling the direct study of NK and NKT cells in NOD...

We previously showed therapeutic efficacy of humanized anti-Tac (HAT), murine anti-Tac (MAT), and 7G7/B6 monoclonal antibodies, which recognize CD25, for human adult T-cell leukemia (ATL) in a murine model. In this study, we investigated the mechanism underlying the tumor-killing action mediated by these antibodies on an ATL model in nonobese diabetic/severe combined immunodeficient (SCID/NOD) ...