RNA silencing is an evolutionarily conserved system that
functions as an antiviral mechanism in higher plants and
insects. To counteract RNA silencing, viruses express
silencing suppressors that interfere with both siRNA- and
microRNA-guided silencing pathways. We used comparative
in vitro and in vivo approaches to analyse the molecular
mechanism of...
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...
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....
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...
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...
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...
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...
Mammalian cysteine dioxygenase (CDO) is a mononuclear non-heme iron protein that catalyzes 2 the conversion of cysteine (Cys) to cysteine sulfinic acid (CSA) by an unclarified mechanism. 3 One structural study revealed a Cys-persulfenate (or Cys-persulfenic acid) formed in the active 4 site, but quantum mechanical calculations have been used...
Full Text:
: Consistent Cys-Persulfenate Formation at Intermediate pH and a Cys-Bound Enzyme at Higher pH
1
Cysteine
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...