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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Transposon-Mediated Stable Suppression Of Gene Expression In The Developing Chick Retina, Masaru Nakamoto, Chizu Nakamoto Jan 2017

Transposon-Mediated Stable Suppression Of Gene Expression In The Developing Chick Retina, Masaru Nakamoto, Chizu Nakamoto

Biology Faculty Publications

The embryonic chick has long been a favorite model system for in vivo studies of vertebrate development. However, a major technical limitation of the chick embryo has been the lack of efficient loss-of-function approaches for analyses of gene functions. Here, we describe a methodology in which a transgene encoding artificial microRNA sequences is introduced into embryonic chick retinal cells by in ovo electroporation and integrated into the genome using the Tol2 transposon system. We show that this methodology can induce potent and stable suppression of gene expression. This technique therefore provides a rapid and robust loss-of-function approach for studies of …


Biphasic Functions Of The Kinase-Defective Ephb6 Receptor In Cell Adhesion And Migration, Hiroshi Matsuoka, Hiroya Obama, Meghan Kelly, Toshimitsu Matsui, Masaru Nakamoto Jan 2005

Biphasic Functions Of The Kinase-Defective Ephb6 Receptor In Cell Adhesion And Migration, Hiroshi Matsuoka, Hiroya Obama, Meghan Kelly, Toshimitsu Matsui, Masaru Nakamoto

Biology Faculty Publications

EphB6 is a unique member in the Eph family of receptor tyrosine kinases in that its kinase domain contains several alterations in conserved amino acids and is catalytically inactive. Although EphB6 is expressed both in a variety of embryonic and adult tissues, biological functions of this receptor are largely unknown. In the present study, we examined the function of EphB6 in cell adhesion and migration. We demonstrated that EphB6 exerted biphasic effects in response to different concentrations of the ephrin-B2 ligand; EphB6 promoted cell adhesion and migration when stimulated with low concentrations of ephrin-B2, whereas it induced repulsion and inhibited …


Eph Receptors And Ephrins, Masaru Nakamoto Jan 2000

Eph Receptors And Ephrins, Masaru Nakamoto

Biology Faculty Publications

The Eph receptors are the largest known family of receptor tyrosine kinases. The Eph receptors and theirmembrane-attached ligands, ephrins, show diverse expression patterns during development. Recent studies havedemonstrated that Eph receptors and ephrins play important roles in many developmental processes, includingneuronal network formation, the patterning of the neural tube and the paraxial mesoderm, the guidance of cellmigration, and vascular formation. In the nervous system, Eph receptors and ephrins have been shown to act aspositional labels to establish topographic projections. They also play a key role in pathway ®nding by axons andneural crest cells. The crucial roles of Eph receptors and …


Complementary Gradients In Expression And Binding Of Elf-1 And Mek4 In Development Of The Topographic Retinotectal Projection Map, Masaru Nakamoto Jan 1995

Complementary Gradients In Expression And Binding Of Elf-1 And Mek4 In Development Of The Topographic Retinotectal Projection Map, Masaru Nakamoto

Biology Faculty Publications

Topographic maps with a defined spatial ordering of neuronal connections are a key feature of brain organization. Such maps are believed to develop in response to complementary position-specific labels in presynaptic and postsynaptic fields. However, the complementary labeling molecules are not known. In the well studied visual map of retinal axons projecting to the tectum, the labels are hypothesized to be in gradients, without needing large numbers of cell-specific molecules. We recently cloned ELF-1 as a ligand for Eph family receptors. Here, RNA hybridization shows matching expression gradients for ELF-1 in the tectum and its receptor Mek4 in the retina. …


Mouse Heparin Binding Protein-44 (Hbp-44) Associates With Brushin, A High-Molecular-Weight Glycoprotein Antigen Common To The Kidney And Teratocarcinomas, Masaru Nakamoto, Masayuki Ozawa, Sonia Jacinto, Tatsuhiko Furukawa, Yasuhiro Natori, Hiroshi Shirahama, Suguru Yonezawa, Tatsuo Nakayama, Takashi Muramatsu Jan 1993

Mouse Heparin Binding Protein-44 (Hbp-44) Associates With Brushin, A High-Molecular-Weight Glycoprotein Antigen Common To The Kidney And Teratocarcinomas, Masaru Nakamoto, Masayuki Ozawa, Sonia Jacinto, Tatsuhiko Furukawa, Yasuhiro Natori, Hiroshi Shirahama, Suguru Yonezawa, Tatsuo Nakayama, Takashi Muramatsu

Biology Faculty Publications

Heparin binding protein-44 (HBP-44) is a heparin binding protein of 44 kDa, found by cDNA cloning using antibodies against teratocarcinoma glycoproteins [Furukawa, T. et al. (1990) J. Biochem. 108, 297-302]. The N-terminal sequence analysis reported in this publication establishes the structure of its mature form. Immunohistochemical staining revealed that HBP-44 was located in the tubular brush border of the kidney. HBP-44 formed a complex with brushin, a high molecular weight (460 kDa) glycoprotein antigen common to the kidney and teratocarcinoma, but not with OR8 antigen, another antigen (350 kDa) of the same category. Brushin was shown to be the mouse …


A New Family Of Heparin Binding Growth/Differentiation Factors: Differential Expression Of The Midkine (Mk) And Hb-Gam Genes During Mouse Development, Masaru Nakamoto, Shyuichiro Matsubara, Teruo Miyauchi, Hiroya Obama, Takashi Muramatsu Jan 1992

A New Family Of Heparin Binding Growth/Differentiation Factors: Differential Expression Of The Midkine (Mk) And Hb-Gam Genes During Mouse Development, Masaru Nakamoto, Shyuichiro Matsubara, Teruo Miyauchi, Hiroya Obama, Takashi Muramatsu

Biology Faculty Publications

MK (midkine) and HB-GAM (heparin-binding growth-associated molecule) constitute a new family of heparin-binding growth differentiation factors. The modes of expression of MK and HB-GAM during mouse development were quantitatively examined by mRNA hybridization. The following three distinct patterns of expression were observed in the brain/head region. On the 11th-13th days of gestation, MK was intensely, but HB-GAM relatively weakly expressed; on the 15th-19th days, both MK and HB-GAM expression became weaker; and in the neonatal period, HB-GAM was intensely expressed and MK expression increased slightly. The level of HB-GAM expression was lower than that of MK in the whole embryo …


A Retinoic Acid Responsive Gene, Mk, Produces A Secreted Protein A With Heparin Binding Activity, Masaru Nakamoto Jan 1990

A Retinoic Acid Responsive Gene, Mk, Produces A Secreted Protein A With Heparin Binding Activity, Masaru Nakamoto

Biology Faculty Publications

MK is a gene whose expression increases transiently during retinoic acid-induced differentiation of embryonal carcinoma cells. MK polypeptide was secreted by differentiating HM-1 embryonal carcinoma cells and by L-cells transfected with an MK cDNA under the control of the S-actin promoter and Rous sarcoma virus enhancer. MK polypeptide was found to have heparin binding activity. Conditioned medium of the transfected L-cells promoted growth of PC-12 pheochromocytoma cells. These findings support the view that MK polypeptide is a secreted factor involved in regulation of growth and differentiation.