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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Accelerated High Fidelity Prion Amplification Within And Across Prion Species Barriers, Kristi M. Green, Joaquín Castilla, Tanya S. Seward, Dana L. Napier, Jean E. Jewell, Claudio Soto, Glenn C. Telling Aug 2008

Accelerated High Fidelity Prion Amplification Within And Across Prion Species Barriers, Kristi M. Green, Joaquín Castilla, Tanya S. Seward, Dana L. Napier, Jean E. Jewell, Claudio Soto, Glenn C. Telling

Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics Faculty Publications

Experimental obstacles have impeded our ability to study prion transmission within and, more particularly, between species. Here, we used cervid prion protein expressed in brain extracts of transgenic mice, referred to as Tg(CerPrP), as a substrate for in vitro generation of chronic wasting disease (CWD) prions by protein misfolding cyclic amplification (PMCA). Characterization of this infectivity in Tg(CerPrP) mice demonstrated that serial PMCA resulted in the high fidelity amplification of CWD prions with apparently unaltered properties. Using similar methods to amplify mouse RML prions and characterize the resulting novel cervid prions, we show that serial PMCA abrogated a transmission barrier …


Cd5 Plays An Inhibitory Role In The Suppressive Function Of Murine Cd4+ Cd25+ TReg Cells, Trivikram Dasu, Joseph E. Qualls, Halide Tuna, Chander Raman, Donald A. Cohen, Subbarao Bondada Aug 2008

Cd5 Plays An Inhibitory Role In The Suppressive Function Of Murine Cd4+ Cd25+ TReg Cells, Trivikram Dasu, Joseph E. Qualls, Halide Tuna, Chander Raman, Donald A. Cohen, Subbarao Bondada

Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics Faculty Publications

A subset of CD4+ T cells, the CD4+ CD25+ regulatory T (Treg) cells in the lymphoid organs and peripheral blood are known to possess suppressive function. Previous in vitro and in vivo studies have indicated that T cell receptor (TCR) signal is required for development of such ‘natural regulatory (Treg) cells’ and for activation of the effector function of CD4+ CD25+ regulatory T cells. CD5 is a cell surface molecule present on all T cells and a subtype of B lymphocytes, the B-1 cells, primarily localized to coelomic cavities, Peyer's patches, …


Sumoylation Regulates Lamin A Function And Is Lost In Lamin A Mutants Associated With Familial Cardiomyopathies, Yu-Qian Zhang, Kevin D. Sarge Jul 2008

Sumoylation Regulates Lamin A Function And Is Lost In Lamin A Mutants Associated With Familial Cardiomyopathies, Yu-Qian Zhang, Kevin D. Sarge

Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Lamin A mutations cause many diseases, including cardiomyopathies and Progeria Syndrome. The covalent attachment of small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO) polypeptides regulates the function of many proteins. Until now, no examples of human disease-causing mutations that occur within a sumoylation consensus sequence and alter sumoylation were known. We show that lamin A is sumoylated at lysine 201 and that two lamin A mutants associated with familial dilated cardiomyopathy, E203G and E203K, exhibit decreased sumoylation. E203 occupies the conserved +2 position in the sumoylation consensus Psi KXE. Lamin A mutants E203G, E203K, and K201R all exhibit a similar aberrant subcellular localization and …


Assessment Of A Non-Invasive High-Throughput Classifier For Behaviours Associated With Sleep And Wake In Mice, Kevin D. Donohue, Dharshan C. Medonza, Eli R. Crane, Bruce F. O'Hara Apr 2008

Assessment Of A Non-Invasive High-Throughput Classifier For Behaviours Associated With Sleep And Wake In Mice, Kevin D. Donohue, Dharshan C. Medonza, Eli R. Crane, Bruce F. O'Hara

Biology Faculty Publications

This work presents a non-invasive high-throughput system for automatically detecting characteristic behaviours in mice over extended periods of time, useful for phenotyping experiments. The system classifies time intervals on the order of 2 to 4 seconds as corresponding to motions consistent with either active wake or inactivity associated with sleep. A single Polyvinylidine Difluoride (PVDF) sensor on the cage floor generates signals from motion resulting in pressure. This paper develops a linear classifier based on robust features extracted from normalized power spectra and autocorrelation functions, as well as novel features from the collapsed average (autocorrelation of complex spectrum), which characterize …