Biocompatible hydrogels composed of covalently crosslinked, chemically modified hyaluronan (HA), gelatin (Gtn), and heparin (Hp) were synthesized for controlled release of human vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) or basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF). We hypothesized that inclusion of small quantities of heparin in these gels would result in regulated growth...
Genomic instability underlies diseases of unregulated cell growth that result in
cancers and developmental abnormalities in humans. Similar genome destabilizing
mechanisms are used to create genetic variety in crops for use in breeding and trait
development. Errors that occur during DNA replication may cause mutations if
they are not corrected...
•Plant population genomics informs evolutionary biology, breeding, conservation and bioenergy feedstock development. For example, the detection of reliable phenotype–genotype associations and molecular signatures of selection requires a detailed knowledge about genome-wide patterns of allele frequency variation, linkage disequilibrium and recombination.
•We resequenced 16 genomes of the model tree Populus trichocarpa...
Mutation of repetitive DNA by repeat-induced point mutation (RIP) is a process that occurs in many filamentous fungi of the Ascomycota during the sexual cycle. Concurrently, direct DNA repeats are often deleted by homologous recombination at high frequency during the sexual cycle. Thus, the processes of RIP and deletion compete...
In eukaryotes, the defined loci on each chromosome, the centromeres, accomplish
the critical task of correct cell division. In some organisms, centromeres are
composed of a euchromatic central core region embedded in a stretch of
heterochromatin and the inheritance and maintenance of centromeres are controlled
by dynamic epigenetic phenomena. Although...
Background: DNA cytosine methylation is an epigenetic modification that has been implicated in many biological processes. However, large-scale epigenomic studies have been applied to very few plant species, and variability in methylation among specialized tissues and its relationship to gene expression is poorly understood.
Results: We surveyed DNA methylation from...
Peptide phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomers (PPMO) are synthetic DNA mimics that bind complementary RNA and inhibit bacterial gene expression. (RFF)₃RXB- AcpP PPMO (R, arginine; F, phenylalanine; X, 6-aminohexanoic acid; B, β-alanine) is complementary to 11 bases of the essential gene acpP (encodes acyl carrier protein). The MIC of (RFF)₃RXB-AcpP was 2.5...
Background: Cytosine DNA methylation (5mC) is an epigenetic modification that is important to genome stability and regulation of gene expression. Perturbations of 5mC have been implicated as a cause of phenotypic variation among plants regenerated through in vitro culture systems. However, the pattern of change in 5mC and its functional...
Cell-to-cell communication by chemical signals, termed quorum sensing (QS), is a common regulatory scheme in the microbial world. Pseudomonas aeruginosa¸ an opportunistic pathogen of burn wounds and cystic fibrosis lungs, uses QS to control the expression of hundreds of genes, particularly those necessary for population level benefits such as biofilm...
Excess fatty acids and sterols are stored as triacylglycerols and sterol esters in
specialized cellular organelles, called lipid droplets. Understanding what determines the cellular
amount of neutral lipids and their packaging into lipid droplets is of fundamental and
applied interest. Using two species of fission yeast, we show that cycling...