Description: TOPLESS are tetrameric plant corepressors of the conserved Tup1/Groucho/TLE (transducin-like enhancer of split) family. We show that they interact through their TOPLESS domains (TPDs) with two functionally important ethylene response factor–associated amphiphilic repression (EAR) motifs of the rice strigolactone signaling repressor D53: the universally conserved EAR-3 and the monocot-specific EAR-2. We present the crystal structure of the monocot-specific EAR-2 peptide in complex with the TOPLESS-related protein 2 (TPR2) TPD, in which the EAR-2 motif binds the same TPD groove as jasmonate and auxin signaling repressors but makes additional contacts with a second TPD site to mediate TPD tetramer-tetramer interaction. We validated the functional relevance of the two TPD binding sites in reporter gene assays and in transgenic rice and demonstrate that EAR-2 binding induces TPD oligomerization. Moreover, we demonstrate that the TPD directly binds nucleosomes and the tails of histones H3 and H4. Higher-order assembly of TPD complexes induced by EAR-2 binding markedly stabilizes the nucleosome-TPD interaction. These results establish a new TPD-repressor binding mode that promotes TPD oligomerization and TPD-nucleosome interaction, thus illustrating the initial assembly of a repressor-corepressor-nucleosome complex.

Description: Wnt/β-catenin signaling is activated when extracellular Wnt ligands bind Frizzled (FZD) receptors at the cell membrane. Wnts bind FZD cysteine-rich domains (CRDs) with high affinity through a palmitoylated N-terminal "thumb" and a disulfide-stabilized C-terminal "index finger," yet how these binding events trigger receptor activation and intracellular signaling remains unclear. Here we report the crystal structure of the Frizzled-4 (FZD 4 ) CRD in complex with palmitoleic acid, which reveals a CRD tetramer consisting of two cross-braced CRD dimers. Each dimer is stabilized by interactions of one hydrophobic palmitoleic acid tail with two CRD palmitoleoyl-binding grooves oriented end to end, suggesting that the Wnt palmitoleoyl group stimulates CRD–CRD interaction. Using bioluminescence resonance energy transfer (BRET) in live cells, we show that WNT5A stimulates dimerization of membrane-anchored FZD 4 CRDs and oligomerization of full-length FZD 4 , which requires the integrity of CRD palmitoleoyl-binding residues. These results suggest that FZD receptors may form signalosomes in response to Wnt binding through the CRDs and that the Wnt palmitoleoyl group is important in promoting these interactions. These results complement our understanding of lipoprotein receptor-related proteins 5 and 6 (LRP5/6), Dishevelled, and Axin signalosome assembly and provide a more complete model for Wnt signalosome assembly both intracellularly and at the membrane.

Description: Metformin promotes autophagy and apoptosis in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma by downregulating Stat3 signaling Cell Death and Disease 5, e1088 (February 2014). doi:10.1038/cddis.2014.59 Authors: Y Feng, C Ke, Q Tang, H Dong, X Zheng, W Lin, J Ke, J Huang, S-CJ Yeung & H Zhang

Description: Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have identified multiple susceptibility loci of colorectal cancer (CRC), however, causative polymorphisms have not been fully elucidated. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are a recently discovered class of non-protein coding RNAs that involved in a wide variety of biological processes. We hypothesized that single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in lncRNA may associate with the CRC risk by influencing lncRNA functions. To evaluate the effects of SNPs on CRC susceptibility in Chinese populations, we first screened out all potentially functional SNPs in exons of lncRNAs located in CRC susceptibility loci identified by GWAS. Eight SNPs were selected and genotyped in 875 CRC cases and 855 controls and replicated in an independent case–control study consisting of 768 CRC cases and 768 controls. Analyses showed that CG and GG genotypes of the rs2147578 were significantly associated with increased risk for CRC occurrence in both case–control studies [combined analysis OR = 1.29; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.11–1.51, P = 0.001] compared to the rs2147578 CC genotype. Bioinformatics analyses showed that rs2147578 is located in the transcript of lnc-LAMC2-1:1 and could influence the binding of lnc-LAMC2-1:1 /miR-128-3p. Further luciferase reporter assays demonstrated that the construct with the risk rs2147578G allele had relatively high expression activity compared with that of the rs2147578C allele. Expression quantitative trait loci analyses also showed that rs2147578 is correlated with the expression of a well established oncogene LAMC2 (laminin subunit gamma 2). These findings indicated that rs2147578 in lnc-LAMC2-1:1 might be a genetic modifier for the development of CRC.

Description: The plant hormone jasmonate plays crucial roles in regulating plant responses to herbivorous insects and microbial pathogens and is an important regulator of plant growth and development. Key mediators of jasmonate signalling include MYC transcription factors, which are repressed by jasmonate ZIM-domain (JAZ) transcriptional repressors in the resting state. In the presence of active jasmonate, JAZ proteins function as jasmonate co-receptors by forming a hormone-dependent complex with COI1, the F-box subunit of an SCF-type ubiquitin E3 ligase. The hormone-dependent formation of the COI1-JAZ co-receptor complex leads to ubiquitination and proteasome-dependent degradation of JAZ repressors and release of MYC proteins from transcriptional repression. The mechanism by which JAZ proteins repress MYC transcription factors and how JAZ proteins switch between the repressor function in the absence of hormone and the co-receptor function in the presence of hormone remain enigmatic. Here we show that Arabidopsis MYC3 undergoes pronounced conformational changes when bound to the conserved Jas motif of the JAZ9 repressor. The Jas motif, previously shown to bind to hormone as a partly unwound helix, forms a complete alpha-helix that displaces the amino (N)-terminal helix of MYC3 and becomes an integral part of the MYC N-terminal fold. In this position, the Jas helix competitively inhibits MYC3 interaction with the MED25 subunit of the transcriptional Mediator complex. Our structural and functional studies elucidate a dynamic molecular switch mechanism that governs the repression and activation of a major plant hormone pathway.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4567411/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4567411/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Zhang, Feng -- Yao, Jian -- Ke, Jiyuan -- Zhang, Li -- Lam, Vinh Q -- Xin, Xiu-Fang -- Zhou, X Edward -- Chen, Jian -- Brunzelle, Joseph -- Griffin, Patrick R -- Zhou, Mingguo -- Xu, H Eric -- Melcher, Karsten -- He, Sheng Yang -- R01 AI068718/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- R01 GM102545/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- R01AI060761/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- Howard Hughes Medical Institute/ -- England -- Nature. 2015 Sep 10;525(7568):269-73. doi: 10.1038/nature14661. Epub 2015 Aug 10.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Laboratory of Structural Sciences and Laboratory of Structural Biology and Biochemistry, Van Andel Research Institute, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49503, USA. ; DOE Plant Research Laboratory, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, USA. ; College of Plant Protection, Nanjing Agricultural University, No. 1 Weigang, 210095, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China. ; Department of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan 49008, USA. ; Department of Plant Biology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, USA. ; Department of Molecular Therapeutics, Translational Research Institute, The Scripps Research Institute, Scripps Florida, Jupiter, Florida 33458, USA. ; College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou 310018, Zhejiang, China. ; Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Biological Chemistry, Life Sciences Collaborative Access Team, Synchrotron Research Center, Northwestern University, Argonne, Illinois 60439, USA. ; Key Laboratory of Receptor Research, VARI-SIMM Center, Center for Structure and Function of Drug Targets, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China. ; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26258305" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Folate receptors (FRalpha, FRbeta and FRgamma) are cysteine-rich cell-surface glycoproteins that bind folate with high affinity to mediate cellular uptake of folate. Although expressed at very low levels in most tissues, folate receptors, especially FRalpha, are expressed at high levels in numerous cancers to meet the folate demand of rapidly dividing cells under low folate conditions. The folate dependency of many tumours has been therapeutically and diagnostically exploited by administration of anti-FRalpha antibodies, high-affinity antifolates, folate-based imaging agents and folate-conjugated drugs and toxins. To understand how folate binds its receptors, we determined the crystal structure of human FRalpha in complex with folic acid at 2.8 A resolution. FRalpha has a globular structure stabilized by eight disulphide bonds and contains a deep open folate-binding pocket comprised of residues that are conserved in all receptor subtypes. The folate pteroate moiety is buried inside the receptor, whereas its glutamate moiety is solvent-exposed and sticks out of the pocket entrance, allowing it to be conjugated to drugs without adversely affecting FRalpha binding. The extensive interactions between the receptor and ligand readily explain the high folate-binding affinity of folate receptors and provide a template for designing more specific drugs targeting the folate receptor system.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Chen, Chen -- Ke, Jiyuan -- Zhou, X Edward -- Yi, Wei -- Brunzelle, Joseph S -- Li, Jun -- Yong, Eu-Leong -- Xu, H Eric -- Melcher, Karsten -- R01 DK071662/DK/NIDDK NIH HHS/ -- R01 GM102545/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- England -- Nature. 2013 Aug 22;500(7463):486-9. doi: 10.1038/nature12327. Epub 2013 Jul 14.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Program for Structural Biology and Drug Discovery, Van Andel Research Institute, 333 Bostwick Avenue North East, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49503, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23851396" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) signal primarily through G proteins or arrestins. Arrestin binding to GPCRs blocks G protein interaction and redirects signalling to numerous G-protein-independent pathways. Here we report the crystal structure of a constitutively active form of human rhodopsin bound to a pre-activated form of the mouse visual arrestin, determined by serial femtosecond X-ray laser crystallography. Together with extensive biochemical and mutagenesis data, the structure reveals an overall architecture of the rhodopsin-arrestin assembly in which rhodopsin uses distinct structural elements, including transmembrane helix 7 and helix 8, to recruit arrestin. Correspondingly, arrestin adopts the pre-activated conformation, with a approximately 20 degrees rotation between the amino and carboxy domains, which opens up a cleft in arrestin to accommodate a short helix formed by the second intracellular loop of rhodopsin. This structure provides a basis for understanding GPCR-mediated arrestin-biased signalling and demonstrates the power of X-ray lasers for advancing the frontiers of structural biology.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4521999/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4521999/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Kang, Yanyong -- Zhou, X Edward -- Gao, Xiang -- He, Yuanzheng -- Liu, Wei -- Ishchenko, Andrii -- Barty, Anton -- White, Thomas A -- Yefanov, Oleksandr -- Han, Gye Won -- Xu, Qingping -- de Waal, Parker W -- Ke, Jiyuan -- Tan, M H Eileen -- Zhang, Chenghai -- Moeller, Arne -- West, Graham M -- Pascal, Bruce D -- Van Eps, Ned -- Caro, Lydia N -- Vishnivetskiy, Sergey A -- Lee, Regina J -- Suino-Powell, Kelly M -- Gu, Xin -- Pal, Kuntal -- Ma, Jinming -- Zhi, Xiaoyong -- Boutet, Sebastien -- Williams, Garth J -- Messerschmidt, Marc -- Gati, Cornelius -- Zatsepin, Nadia A -- Wang, Dingjie -- James, Daniel -- Basu, Shibom -- Roy-Chowdhury, Shatabdi -- Conrad, Chelsie E -- Coe, Jesse -- Liu, Haiguang -- Lisova, Stella -- Kupitz, Christopher -- Grotjohann, Ingo -- Fromme, Raimund -- Jiang, Yi -- Tan, Minjia -- Yang, Huaiyu -- Li, Jun -- Wang, Meitian -- Zheng, Zhong -- Li, Dianfan -- Howe, Nicole -- Zhao, Yingming -- Standfuss, Jorg -- Diederichs, Kay -- Dong, Yuhui -- Potter, Clinton S -- Carragher, Bridget -- Caffrey, Martin -- Jiang, Hualiang -- Chapman, Henry N -- Spence, John C H -- Fromme, Petra -- Weierstall, Uwe -- Ernst, Oliver P -- Katritch, Vsevolod -- Gurevich, Vsevolod V -- Griffin, Patrick R -- Hubbell, Wayne L -- Stevens, Raymond C -- Cherezov, Vadim -- Melcher, Karsten -- Xu, H Eric -- DK071662/DK/NIDDK NIH HHS/ -- EY005216/EY/NEI NIH HHS/ -- EY011500/EY/NEI NIH HHS/ -- GM073197/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- GM077561/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- GM095583/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- GM097463/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- GM102545/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- GM103310/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- GM104212/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- GM108635/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- P30EY000331/EY/NEI NIH HHS/ -- P41 GM103310/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- P41GM103393/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- P41RR001209/RR/NCRR NIH HHS/ -- P50 GM073197/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- P50 GM073210/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- R01 DK066202/DK/NIDDK NIH HHS/ -- R01 DK071662/DK/NIDDK NIH HHS/ -- R01 EY011500/EY/NEI NIH HHS/ -- R01 GM087413/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- R01 GM109955/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- S10 RR027270/RR/NCRR NIH HHS/ -- U54 GM094586/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- U54 GM094599/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- U54 GM094618/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- England -- Nature. 2015 Jul 30;523(7562):561-7. doi: 10.1038/nature14656. Epub 2015 Jul 22.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Laboratory of Structural Sciences, Center for Structural Biology and Drug Discovery, Van Andel Research Institute, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49503, USA. ; Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and Center for Applied Structural Discovery, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287-1604, USA. ; Department of Chemistry, Bridge Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA. ; Center for Free Electron Laser Science, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, 22607 Hamburg, Germany. ; Joint Center for Structural Genomics, Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA. ; 1] Laboratory of Structural Sciences, Center for Structural Biology and Drug Discovery, Van Andel Research Institute, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49503, USA [2] Department of Obstetrics &Gynecology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore. ; The National Resource for Automated Molecular Microscopy, New York Structural Biology Center, New York, New York 10027, USA. ; Department of Molecular Therapeutics, The Scripps Research Institute, Scripps Florida, Jupiter, Florida 33458, USA. ; Jules Stein Eye Institute and Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA. ; Department of Biochemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A8, Canada. ; Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee 37232, USA. ; Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA. ; 1] Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA [2] BioXFEL, NSF Science and Technology Center, 700 Ellicott Street, Buffalo, New York 14203, USA. ; 1] Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and Center for Applied Structural Discovery, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287-1604, USA [2] Department of Physics, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287, USA. ; 1] Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and Center for Applied Structural Discovery, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287-1604, USA [2] Beijing Computational Science Research Center, Haidian District, Beijing 10084, China. ; 1] Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and Center for Applied Structural Discovery, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287-1604, USA [2] Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53211, USA. ; State Key Laboratory of Drug Research, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201203, China. ; Department of Obstetrics &Gynecology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore. ; Swiss Light Source at Paul Scherrer Institute, CH-5232 Villigen, Switzerland. ; Department of Biological Sciences, Bridge Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA. ; School of Medicine and School of Biochemistry and Immunology, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland. ; 1] BioXFEL, NSF Science and Technology Center, 700 Ellicott Street, Buffalo, New York 14203, USA [2] Ben May Department for Cancer Research, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA. ; Laboratory of Biomolecular Research at Paul Scherrer Institute, CH-5232 Villigen, Switzerland. ; Department of Biology, Universitat Konstanz, 78457 Konstanz, Germany. ; Beijing Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China. ; 1] Center for Free Electron Laser Science, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, 22607 Hamburg, Germany [2] Centre for Ultrafast Imaging, 22761 Hamburg, Germany. ; 1] Department of Biochemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A8, Canada [2] Department of Molecular Genetics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A8, Canada. ; 1] Department of Chemistry, Bridge Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA [2] Department of Biological Sciences, Bridge Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA [3] iHuman Institute, ShanghaiTech University, 2F Building 6, 99 Haike Road, Pudong New District, Shanghai 201210, China. ; 1] Laboratory of Structural Sciences, Center for Structural Biology and Drug Discovery, Van Andel Research Institute, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49503, USA [2] VARI-SIMM Center, Center for Structure and Function of Drug Targets, CAS-Key Laboratory of Receptor Research, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201203, China.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26200343" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: PKA signaling is important for the post-translational modification of proteins, especially those in cardiomyocytes involved in cardiac excitation-contraction coupling. PKA activity is spatially and temporally regulated through compartmentalization by protein kinase A anchoring proteins. Cypher/ZASP, a member of PDZ-LIM domain protein family, is a cytoskeletal protein that forms multiprotein complexes at sarcomeric Z-lines. It has been demonstrated that Cypher/ZASP plays a pivotal structural role in the structural integrity of sarcomeres, and several of its mutations are associated with myopathies including dilated cardiomyopathy. Here we show that Cypher/ZASP, interacting specifically with the type II regulatory subunit RIIα of PKA, acted as a typical protein kinase A anchoring protein in cardiomyocytes. In addition, we show that Cypher/ZASP itself was phosphorylated at Ser265 and Ser296 by PKA. Furthermore, the PDZ domain of Cypher/ZASP interacted with the L-type calcium channel through its C-terminal PDZ binding motif. Expression of Cypher/ZASP facilitated PKA-mediated phosphorylation of the L-type calcium channel in vitro. Additionally, the phosphorylation of the L-type calcium channel at Ser1928 induced by isoproterenol was impaired in neonatal Cypher/ZASP-null cardiomyocytes. Moreover, Cypher/ZASP interacted with the Ser/Thr phosphatase calcineurin, which is a phosphatase for the L-type calcium channel. Taken together, our data strongly suggest that Cypher/ZASP not only plays a structural role for the sarcomeric integrity, but is also an important sarcomeric signaling scaffold in regulating the phosphorylation of channels or contractile proteins.

Description: Whole-genome sequencing, particularly in fungi, has progressed at a tremendous rate. More difficult, however, is experimental testing of the inferences about gene function that can be drawn from comparative sequence analysis alone. We present a genome-wide functional characterization of a sequenced but experimentally understudied budding yeast, Saccharomyces bayanus var. uvarum (henceforth referred to as S. bayanus ), allowing us to map changes over the 20 million years that separate this organism from S. cerevisiae . We first created a suite of genetic tools to facilitate work in S. bayanus . Next, we measured the gene-expression response of S. bayanus to a diverse set of perturbations optimized using a computational approach to cover a diverse array of functionally relevant biological responses. The resulting data set reveals that gene-expression patterns are largely conserved, but significant changes may exist in regulatory networks such as carbohydrate utilization and meiosis. In addition to regulatory changes, our approach identified gene functions that have diverged. The functions of genes in core pathways are highly conserved, but we observed many changes in which genes are involved in osmotic stress, peroxisome biogenesis, and autophagy. A surprising number of genes specific to S. bayanus respond to oxidative stress, suggesting the organism may have evolved under different selection pressures than S. cerevisiae . This work expands the scope of genome-scale evolutionary studies from sequence-based analysis to rapid experimental characterization and could be adopted for functional mapping in any lineage of interest. Furthermore, our detailed characterization of S. bayanus provides a valuable resource for comparative functional genomics studies in yeast.

Description: T helper type 17 cells (Th17 cells) are major contributors to many autoimmune diseases. In this study, we demonstrate that the germinal center kinase family member MINK1 (misshapen/NIK-related kinase 1) negatively regulates Th17 cell differentiation. The suppressive effect of MINK1 on induction of Th17 cells is mediated by the inhibition of SMAD2 activation through direct phosphorylation of SMAD2 at the T324 residue. The importance of MINK1 to Th17 cell differentiation was strengthened in the animal model of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). Moreover, we show that the reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenger N -acetyl cysteine boosts Th17 cell differentiation in a MINK1-dependent manner and exacerbates the severity of EAE. Thus, we have not only established MINK1 as a critical regulator of Th17 cell differentiation, but also clarified that accumulation of ROS may limit the generation of Th17 cells. The contribution of MINK1 to ROS-regulated Th17 cell differentiation may suggest an important mechanism for the development of autoimmune diseases influenced by antioxidant dietary supplements.