Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 3 of 3
Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Engineering Calpastatin To Develop A Sensor To Detect Active Calpain, Lisa M. Vanhooser
Engineering Calpastatin To Develop A Sensor To Detect Active Calpain, Lisa M. Vanhooser
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Calpains, Ca2+-activated cysteine proteases are essential for early embryonic development and function in signal transduction, cell adhesion, and apoptosis. Calpains also contribute to cataractogenesis, myocardial infarctions, and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's. The various methods currently available to demonstrate these roles do not directly identify spatial or temporal activation of calpain in cells. Therefore, a tool to detect active calpain in situ will be useful. Calpastatin is the ubiquitous, endogenous inhibitor that specifically binds the active conformation of the conventional calpains. Calpastatin consists of four homologous domains each containing three subdomains A, B, and C. The crystal structure …
Semi-Global Analysis Of The Early Cold Stress Response Transcriptome Of Developing Seedlings Of Rice (Oryzasativa L.,Japonica), Chen Cheng
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Plants are either sensitive or insensitive to low temperatures. Cool-season species acclimate to chilling and develop tolerance to freezing. Warm-season species vary in the degree of sensitivity to chilling and are not capable of acclimation. Both freezing and chilling tolerance involve the activity of an intricately coordinated network of genes. The regulatory network that defines cold acclimation and freezing tolerance is well understood in Arabidopsis. The centerpiece of this network is a group of transcriptional activators that coordinate a battery of downstream defense-related genes. In contrast, little is known about the corresponding regulon in non-acclimating species. This study utilized …
Structure-Function Analysis Of Nrage: A Protein Involved In Developmental Neural Apoptosis, Rebecca Cowling
Structure-Function Analysis Of Nrage: A Protein Involved In Developmental Neural Apoptosis, Rebecca Cowling
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The Neurotrophins and Bone Morphogenic Proteins (BMP) have both been implicated in the maintenance of cellular proliferation and apoptosis in the developing nervous system. Downstream of both signaling pathways is NRAGE, a member of the Melanoma Antigen (MAGE) gene family and, under BMP stimulation, activates p38 leading to caspase 3 cleavage. NRAGE possesses a highly conserved MAGE Homology Domain (MHD) and a second, less well conserved MHD (denoted MHD2) as well as a unique 25 tandem WQXPXX hexapeptide repeat region. Binding partners for the MHD and hexapeptide repeat regions have been identified but their cellular consequences have not been defined. …