Expanding efforts to develop preventive gonorrhea vaccines is critical because of the dire possibility of untreatable gonococcal infections. Reverse vaccinology, which includes genome and proteome mining, has proven very successful in the discovery of vaccine candidates against many pathogenic bacteria. However, progress with this approach for a gonorrhea vaccine remains...
DHA (22:6,ω3), but not EPA (20:5,ω3), attenuates Western diet (WD)-induced hepatic fibrosis in a Ldlr[superscript −/−] mouse model of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis. We examined the molecular basis for the differential effect of dietary EPA and DHA on WD-induced hepatic fibrosis. DHA was more effective than EPA at preventing WD-induced effects on...
The interaction of lecithin-cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT) with apolipoprotein A-I (apoA-I) plays a critical role in highdensity lipoprotein (HDL) maturation.Wepreviously identified a highly solvent-exposed apoA-I loop domain (Leu¹⁵⁹–Leu¹⁷⁰) in nascent HDL, the so-called “solar flare” (SF) region, and proposed that it serves as an LCAT docking site (Wu, Z., Wagner, M....
Intrinsically disordered protein (IDP) duplexes composed of two IDP chains cross-linked by bivalent partner proteins form scaffolds for assembly of multiprotein complexes. The N-terminal domain of dynein intermediate chain (N-IC) is one such IDP that forms a bivalent scaffold with multiple dynein light chains including LC8, a hub protein that...
Embryonic diapause is a reproductive strategy widespread in the animal kingdom. This phenomenon is defined by a temporary arrest in blastocyst growth and metabolic activity within a quiescent uterus without implantation until the environmental and maternal milieu become favorable for pregnancy to progress. We found that uterine Msx expression persists...
Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is a major public health concern in the obese and type 2 diabetic populations. The high-fat lard diet induces obesity and fatty liver in C57BL/6J mice and suppresses expression of the PPAR-target gene, FA elongase 5 (Elovl5). Elovl5 plays a key role in MUFA and PUFA...
Deoxyribonucleoside triphosphate pools in mammalian mitochondria are highly
asymmetric, and this asymmetry probably contributes toward the elevated
mutation rate for the mitochondrial genome as compared with the nuclear
genome. To understand this asymmetry, we must identify pathways for synthesis
and accumulation of dNTPs within mitochondria. We have identified
ribonucleotide reductase...
Epidemiological studies on Greenland Inuits in the 1970s and subsequent human studies have established an inverse relationship between the ingestion of omega-3 fatty acids [C₂₀₋₂₂ ω3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA)], blood levels of C₂₀₋₂₂ ω3 PUFA and mortality associated with cardiovascular disease [CVD]. C₂₀₋₂₂ ω3 PUFA have pleiotropic effects on...
Elevated hepatic expression of fatty acid elongase-5 (Elovl5) induces
FoxO1 phosphorylation, lowers FoxO1 nuclear content and suppresses expression of
genes involved in gluconeogenesis. In this report we define the molecular and metabolic
basis of Elovl5 control of FoxO1 phosphorylation. Adenoviral-mediated (Ad-Elovl5)
induction of hepatic Elovl5 in diet induced obese-glucose intolerant...
Saccharomyces cerevisiae contains three NAD⁺/NADH kinases, one of which is localized in
mitochondria and phosphorylates NADH in preference to NAD⁺. Strand et al (Euk. Cell
2:809 (2003)) reported that a yeast mutation in POS5, which encodes the mitochondrial
NADH kinase, is a mutator, specific for mitochondrial genes. Because of the...