Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 6 of 6
Full-Text Articles in Entire DC Network
B Cell Activation: The Regulation By T Cells And The Induction Of The Protein Tyrosine Kinase Syk, Mark S. Forman
B Cell Activation: The Regulation By T Cells And The Induction Of The Protein Tyrosine Kinase Syk, Mark S. Forman
Student Theses and Dissertations
During the activation and differentiation of B cells, there are critical stages of regulation which determine the fate of the B cell. Resting B cells are initially stimulated by either native antigen or T cells via antigen-specific cell surface receptors. The context and timing of this signal induces either activation, tolerance or apoptosis of the B cell. If the initial signal productively activates the B cell, it acquires enhanced responsiveness to antigen independent signals, i.e. cytokines. The array of cytokines with which the B lymphoblast interacts induces proliferation and/or differentiation. We have studied several aspects of each of these stages …
A Molecular Characterization Of Human General Transcription Factor Iid, Alexander Hoffmann
A Molecular Characterization Of Human General Transcription Factor Iid, Alexander Hoffmann
Student Theses and Dissertations
The general transcription initiation factor IID plays a central role in transcriptional control as a direct target for a diverse array of gene-specific regulatory factors and as the only template-bound class II initiation factor. The work described in this thesis concerns itself with the molecular characterization of this transcription initiation factor, starting with the cloning of cDNAs from a variety of organisms, including human, encoding a protein that may substitute native TFIID fractions in DNA binding and in vitro basal transcription assays. Sequence comparisons identify important structural motifs in the protein. Further functional analyses lead to the realization that this …
Nerd: A Neuron-Specific Gene In Drosophila Melanogaster Related To Vertebrate Gap-43, Victor Neel
Nerd: A Neuron-Specific Gene In Drosophila Melanogaster Related To Vertebrate Gap-43, Victor Neel
Student Theses and Dissertations
The neuronal protein GAP-43 has been implicated in a number of key processes in neural development and synaptic behavior. There have been no reports identifying an invertebrate molecule with homology to GAP-43. In this study we have begun to explore the biochemistry and genetics of the Drosophila gene nerd, which was isolated by vitrue of its DNA homology to mammalian GAP-43. Two proteins arise from the nerd locus and share a conserved motif, the GAP43 module. This twenty amino acid domain unites a small family of brainspecific mammalian proteins that are believed to function similarly. Based on protein sequence, biochemical …
Functional Dynamics Of Primate Retinal Ganglion Cells, Ethan A. Benardete
Functional Dynamics Of Primate Retinal Ganglion Cells, Ethan A. Benardete
Student Theses and Dissertations
Contrast forms the substrate for human pattern vision. The retina is the first stage in the processing of complex spatial and temporal contrast signals. The responses of retinal ganglion cells to such signals provide the means to explore such processing in the retina. Most primate retinal ganglion cells fall into two broad classes, M and P, which have many anatomical and physiological differences. The responses of M and P cells to luminance and chromatic signals were studied using nonlinear systems analysis to determine the dynamics and the functional organization of the cells' receptive fields. Previously tried methods as well as …
Staphylococcal Enterotoxin B Induced Clonal Anergy In Αβ T Cell Receptor Transgenic Mice, Joel Nee-Lartey Blankson
Staphylococcal Enterotoxin B Induced Clonal Anergy In Αβ T Cell Receptor Transgenic Mice, Joel Nee-Lartey Blankson
Student Theses and Dissertations
Superantigens such as staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB) have been widely used to study T cell tolerance. While both clonal deletion and apparent anergy have been described in response to superantigens, it has not been clear whether true anergy occurs, or whether the most reactive T cells are selectively deleted, leaving less reactive clones. To address this question, the response of an essentially monoclonal population of primary T cells to a superantigen was followed by priming ovalbumin (OVA) specific (X T cell receptor transgenic mice with SEB. Cells from these mice appeared to be anergic in that they were hyporesponsive to …
Eukaryotic Transcriptional Activation Mechanism: Protein-Protein Interactions, Tae Kook Kim
Eukaryotic Transcriptional Activation Mechanism: Protein-Protein Interactions, Tae Kook Kim
Student Theses and Dissertations
Various in vivo and in vitro assays have been employed to analyze how activators communicate with the general transcription machinery to stimulate transcription. As a first step, I analyzed the function of distinct kinds of activation domains in yeast and human. The results showed that the proline-rich activation domain of CTF1 can, like acidic activation domains, activate transcription in yeast and human. Based on this, I compared the activation pathways by acidic and proline-rich activation domains in yeast and human. These detailed comparative approaches yielded clues to the fundamental aspects of transcriptional activation mechanism in eukaryotes: activators target TFIID (TBP)-TFIIB …