Anticancer drugs exert their effects on cancer cells by deregulating many pathways linked to cell cycle, apoptosis, etc. but cancer cells gradually become resistive against anticancer drugs, thereby necessitating the development of newer generation…
Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (ARSs) are critical for protein translation. Pathogenic variants of ARSs have been previously associated with peripheral neuropathy and multisystem disease in heterozygotes and homozygotes, respectively. We report seven…
The regulation of Col2a1, which encodes type II collagen, likely results from a balance of both positive and negative proteins. Here we present evidence that the transcription factor delta EF1 participates in the negative regulation of Col2a1…
Recent comprehensive studies of DNA sequences support the monophyly of Afrotheria, comprising elephants, sirenians (dugongs and manatees), hyraxes, tenrecs, golden moles, aardvarks, and elephant shrews, as well as that of Paenungulata, comprising…
Cardiac fibroblasts regulate formation of extracellular matrix in the heart, playing key roles in cardiac remodeling and hypertrophy. In this study, we sought to characterize cross-talk between G(q) and G(s) signaling pathways and its impact on…
Bile acids activate a nuclear receptor, farnesoid X receptor (FXR), that induces bile salt export pump (BSEP) but inhibits cholesterol 7alpha-hydroxylase (CYP7A1) gene transcription in the liver. Guggulsterone, a plant sterol that lowers serum…
Mixed background SHP(-/-) mice are resistant to diet-induced obesity due to increased energy expenditure caused by enhanced PGC-1 alpha expression in brown adipocytes. However, congenic SHP(-/-) mice on the C57BL/6 background showed normal expression…
Stem cell therapy for the prevention and treatment of cardiac dysfunction holds significant promise for patients with ischemic heart disease. Excitingly early clinical studies have demonstrated safety and some clinical feasibility, while at the same…
The interaction of chloroform with bilayers of dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine (DMPC) has been studied by deuterium and phosphorus-31 nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). Orientational order has been measured as a function of temperature at many sites in…
Human placental protein 14 (PP14; also known as glycodelin and progesterone-associatcd endometrial protein) is an immuno-suppressive protein of the lipocalin structural superfamily. Mechanisms regulating serum PP14's inmunosuppressive activity remain…
Thyroid hormone (T3) mediates diverse physiological functions including growth, differentiation, and energy homeostasis through the thyroid hormone receptors (TR). The TR binds DNA at specific recognition sequences in the promoter regions of their…
Metabolic labeling with heavy water followed by LC-MS is a high throughput approach to study proteostasis in vivo. Advances in mass spectrometry and sample processing have allowed consistent detection of thousands of proteins at multiple time points.…
Fluorescent microspheres are commonly used to assess bone blood supply in large animals, but the technique is not widely used in smaller mammals, as traditional methods such as reference blood sampling, ventilation and catheterization are not easily…
To probe the binding of a peptide agonist to a G-protein coupled receptor in native membranes, the spin-labeled amino acid analogue 4-amino-4-carboxy-2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-piperidino-1-oxyl (TOAC) was substituted at either position 4 or 9 within the…
To probe the molecular nature of the binding pocket of a G protein-coupled receptor and the events immediately following the binding and activation, we have modified the substance P peptide, a potent agonist for the neurokinin-1 receptor, with a…
The transcription of the cholesterol 7 alpha-hydroxylase gene (CYP7A1) is greatly decreased in cholesterol-fed rabbits. To determine whether the molecular structure of the promoter is responsible for this downregulation, we cloned the rabbit CYP7A1…
7,12-Dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA), a potent carcinogen, requires metabolic activation by cytochrome P450s (P450s) to electrophilic metabolites that result in DNA modification, mutagenicity, and carcinogenicity. In this study, we used eight human…
Animals store elastic energy in leg and foot tendons during locomotion. In the turkey, much of the locomotive force generated by the gastrocnemius muscle is stored as elastic energy during tendon deformation. Little energy storage occurs within the…
Mammals elastically store energy in leg and foot tendons during locomotion. In the turkey, much of the force generated by the gastrocnemius muscle is stored as elastic energy during tendon deformation and not within the muscle. During growth, avian…
Mitochondria are critically important in providing cellular energy ATP as well as their involvement in anfi-oxiclant defense, fat oxidation, intermediary metabolism and cell death processes lt is well-established that mitochondrial functions are…
Vitamin D-binding protein (DBP) is a multi-functional serum protein that is converted to vitamin D-binding protein-macrophage activating factor (DBP-maf) by post-translational modification. DBP-maf is a new cytokine that mediates bone resorption by…
The current study examines regulation of CYP7B1, a DHEA 7 alpha-hydroxylase, by sex hormones. Transfection with estrogen receptor alpha and treatment with 17 P-estradiol in human embryonic kidney 293 cells significantly increased CYP7B1 catalytic…
The structure-function relationships of the 43-amino-acid membrane-binding domain of cytochrome b(5) have been examined in two mutant forms of the protein. In one mutant, two tryptophans in the membrane-binding domain, at positions 108 and 112, were…
AGS1/RASD1 is a Ras-related protein identified as a dexamethasone-inducible cDNA and as a signal regulator in various functional and protein-interaction screens. As an initial approach to define the role of AGS1/RASD1 as a Ras-family member, we…
The multiple disease etiologies that lead to neuropsychiatric disorders, such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Huntington disease, schizophrenia, depressive illness and stroke, offer significant challenges to…
