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Full-Text Articles in Molecular Biology

Effects Of Synthetic Ligands On Heterodimer Pairs Regarding Full-Length Human Pparα, Rxrα And Lxrα, Emily Delman Jan 2016

Effects Of Synthetic Ligands On Heterodimer Pairs Regarding Full-Length Human Pparα, Rxrα And Lxrα, Emily Delman

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Nuclear receptor study is critically relevant in therapeutic medicine since the intricate details of disease states pertaining to atherosclerosis and diabetes are poorly understood. Three nuclear receptors of interest regulate target genes pertaining to cholesterol and fatty acid regulation, linking these receptors to therapeutic medicine. The first is the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha (PPARa), which resides in liver and muscle, coordinating lipoprotein and fatty acid homeostasis [1]. Cholesterol homeostasis is dictated by the liver X receptor alpha (LXRa), targeting genes pertaining to the kidney, intestine, liver and adipose tissues [2]. A common partner receptor to PPARa and LXRa is known …


Instability At Trinucleotide Repeat Dnas, Rujuta Yashodhan Gadgil Jan 2016

Instability At Trinucleotide Repeat Dnas, Rujuta Yashodhan Gadgil

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Trinucleotide repeats (TNRs) are sequences prone to formation of non-B DNA structures and mutations; undergo expansions in vivo to cause various inherited neurodegenerative diseases. Hairpin structures formed during DNA replication or repair can cause replication fork stalling and if left unrepaired could cause single or double strand DNA breaks. To test and study this hypothesis we have devised a novel two color marker gene assay to detect DNA breaks at TNRs. By inducing replication stress our results show that TNRs are prone to DNA strand breaks and it is dependent on the repeat tract length. Double strand breaks at structured …


Novel Insight Into The Role Of Lxrα In Metabolic Regulation Via Dna Binding As A Heterodimer With Pparα And As A Homodimer, Andrea M. Klingler Jan 2016

Novel Insight Into The Role Of Lxrα In Metabolic Regulation Via Dna Binding As A Heterodimer With Pparα And As A Homodimer, Andrea M. Klingler

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Liver X receptor a (LXRa) plays a critical role in the maintenance of energy homeostasis within a cell through tight transcriptional regulation of genes involved in metabolism of lipids, glucose, and cholesterol. Although LXRa has been established to function as a heterodimer with the retinoid X receptor a (RXRa), recent studies have determined that LXRa also interacts directly with peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor a (PPARa). However, little is known regarding the functionality of this heterodimer, if any exists at all. This study determined that a heterodimer of PPARa and LXRa is capable of binding to candidate response elements in vitro with …


Functional Characterization Of Cancer-Related Mutations Of Erk3, Hadel Mohammed Alsaran Jan 2016

Functional Characterization Of Cancer-Related Mutations Of Erk3, Hadel Mohammed Alsaran

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Extracellular signal-regulated kinase 3 (ERK3) is an atypical member of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) family. Recent studies have shown that ERK3 is highly upregulated in multiple cancers, such as lung cancer and colon cancer. Importantly, ERK3 promotes cancer cell migration and invasion by phosphorylating steroid receptor activator 3 (SRC-3), hence upregulating pro-invasive matrix metalloproteinase genes. While the link between ERK3 and cancers has been recognized, little is known about ERK3 mutations in cancer progression. In this study, we have investigated ERK3 mutations on arginine 64 (arginine 64 mutated to cysteine or histidine, R64C or R64H) and leucine 290 (leucine …


Biomimetic Production Techniques For Mechanical And Chemical Characterization Of Sucker Ring Teeth Isoform-12 From The Dosidicus Gigas Squid, Marcus T. Grant Jan 2016

Biomimetic Production Techniques For Mechanical And Chemical Characterization Of Sucker Ring Teeth Isoform-12 From The Dosidicus Gigas Squid, Marcus T. Grant

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The unique protein-based structure of Sucker Ring Teeth (SRT) of cephalopods have spurned research into the molecular design, physical characteristics, functionality and mechanical properties to explore biomimetic engineering and biochemical potential for eventual industrial production. Previous research has elucidated the potential for scientific and industrial exploitation. However, much of the previous research focused on the most abundant protein isoform of the sucker ring teeth, suckerin-19 (also known as suckerin-39) from the Jumbo or Humboldt Squid (Dosidicus Gigas). There is little known about the characteristics of the other 37 protein isoforms of Sucker Ring Teeth. Although the other isoforms have similar …