Biology

Many proteins contain a large number of NXS/T sequences (where X is any amino acid except proline) which are the potential sites of asparagine (N) linked glycosylation. However, the patterns of occurrence of these N-glycosylation sequons in related proteins or groups of proteins and their underlying causes have largely been...

A pseudo-testcross pedigree is widely used for mapping quantitative trait loci (QTL) in outcrossing species, but the model for analyzing pseudo-testcross data borrowed from the inbred backcross design can only detect those QTLs that are heterozygous only in one parent. In this study, an intercross model that incorporates the high...

Bacterial autotransporters represent a diverse family of proteins that autonomously translocate across the inner membrane of Gram-negative bacteria via the Sec complex and across the outer bacterial membrane. They often possess exceptionally long N-terminal signal sequences. We analyzed 90 long signal sequences of bacterial autotransporters and members of the two-partner...

Studies investigating possible associations between cytochrome P4501B1 (CYP1B1) polymorphisms and breast cancer risk have been inconsistent. We set out to ascertain whether there might be an association between polymorphisms in exon 2 (codon 119, G→T) and exon 3 (codon 432, G→C) of CYP1B1 and breast cancer in a Chinese Han...

The purpose of this analysis was to evaluate if serum levels of potential tumor markers for the diagnosis of malignant mesothelioma and lung cancer are affected by confounding factors in a surveillance cohort of workers formerly exposed to asbestos. SMRP, CA125, and CYFRA21-1 concentrations were determined in about 1,700 serum...

Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer and the second leading cause of cancer death in men. However, prostate cancer can be effectively treated and cured, if it is diagnosed in its early stages when the tumor is still confined to the prostate. Combined with the digital rectal examination,...

No abstract provided.

The Dahl salt-sensitive (S) rat is a model of genetically determined salt-sensitivity and insulin resistance. In fact, insulin resistance is an inherited genetic trait that precedes and eventually co-exists with salt-sensitive hypertension in Dahl S, but not salt-resistant (R) Dahl rats. Owing to the critical role of salt in accelerating...

Introductory Editorial by Dr Jianping Xu, Department of Biology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

In the post-genomic era the complex problem of evolutionary biology can be tackled from the top-down, the bottom-up, or from the middle-out. Given the emergent and contingent nature of this process, we have chosen to take the latter approach, both as a mechanistic link to developmental biology and as a...

Plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) has been found to affect a number of important cell processes and therefore abnormal expression of PAI-1 has been associated with a number of diseases and disorders. Understanding the transactivation of PAI-1 may result in identifying novel therapeutic targets.

Microarrays are becoming a widely used tool to study gene expression evolution. A recent paper by Wang and Rekaya describes a comprehensive study of gene expression evolution by microarray. The work provides a perspective to study gene expression evolution in terms of functional enrichment and promoter conservation. It was found...

Hereditary inclusion body myopathy type 2 (HIBM2) is a myopathy characterized by progressive muscle weakness with early adult onset. The disease is the result of a recessive mutation in the Glucosamine (UDP-N-acetyl)-2-epimerase/N-acetylmannosamine kinase gene (GNE), which results in reduced enzyme function and sialic acid levels. A majority of individuals with...

In order to investigate the possible mechanisms for eve stripe formation of Drosophila embryo, a spatio-temporal gene/ protein interaction network model is proposed to mimic dynamic behaviors of protein synthesis, protein decay, mRNA decay, protein diffusion, transcription regulations and autoregulation to analyze the interplay of genes and proteins at different...

Sialyltransferases are a subset of glycosyltransferases involved in the biosynthesis of sialylated glycolipids or/and glycoproteins. The aim of this review is to provide a comprehensive review and analysis of vertebrate sialyltransferase genes. Primary structure/ function relationships have been explored through the use of molecular phylogeny and phylogenomic approaches. Several animal...

Heterogeneous heparan sulfate and chondroitin sulfate glycosaminoglycan (GAG) polysaccharides are important compo- nents of blood circulation. Changes in GAG quantity and structure in blood have been indicated in cancers and other human diseases. However, GAG quantities and structures have not been fully characterized due to lack of robust and sensitive...

We previously described a caspase-independent death induced in macrophages by a high intracellular burden of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). This death, with features of apoptosis and necrosis, releases viable bacilli for spreading infection. Interferon (IFN)-γ promotes survival of macrophages with a low intracellular Mtb load by inhibiting bacterial replication. Macrophages in...

The study of death receptor family induced apoptosis has gained momentum in recent years with the knowledge that therapeutic antibodies targeting DR4 and DR5 (death receptor’s 4 and 5) have proved efficacious in multiple clinical trials. The therapeutic rationale is based on targeting and amplifying a tumour tissues normal cell...

The gene for Rhotekin 2 (RTKN2) was originally identified in a promyelocytic cell line resistant to oxysterol-induced apoptosis. It is differentially expressed in freshly isolated CD4+ T-cells compared with other hematopoietic cells and is down-regulated following activation of the T-cell receptor. However, very little is known about the function of...

Proteinase-K resistant prion protein (PrPres) has the property to aggregate in TSE-injured animal tissues. We have developed a test method to discriminate scrapie-infected and mock-infected hamsters by detecting the PrPres in plasma. It seemed that aggregation of the PrPres with some heterogeneous molecule(s) enabled successful detection by this method. In...

Over 240 food samples from six food groups (tree nuts, grains and grain products, dried fruits, fresh produce, fruit juice, and dairy products) were tested for levels of fungal contamination using the NEO-GRID hydrophobic grid membrane filter (HGMF) and the FDA official (BAM) method. Results showed that HGMF performed very...

No abstract available.

Obesity presents an increasing prevalence in developed countries and impairs human reproduction in both natural and assisted conception cycles. A healthy liveborn is less probable among obese women due to a combination of lower implantation and pregnancy rates, higher preclinical and clinical miscarriage rates and more frequent complications during pregnancy...

There has been an astounding explosion in the number of clinics offering ART techniques- 426 program in the US and 600 in Europe. Despite enormous advances regarding the technical aspects of the IVF procedure, the parents’ contribution has virtually been ignored. What is reassuring for patients is that lifestyle...

Edgar Grinstein Heinrich Heine University Medical Center, Düsseldorf, Germany.