Genetic Structures Commons^™

Expression And Function Of Cd9 In Melanoma Cells, Jun Fan, Guo-Zhang Zhu, Richard Niles

Jun Fan

CD9, a member of the tetraspanin family, functions as an organizer in “tetraspanin webs,” through interacting with other cell adhesion molecules. It plays a role in differentiation, fertilization, and cell migration. We investigated the expression and function of CD9 in melanoma. CD9 protein expression in B16 mouse melanoma and six human melanoma cell lines was decreased compared to normal melanocytes. B16F1 clones stably overexpressing CD9 had reduced ability to form colonies in soft agar; however, paradoxically these overexpressing clones had increased ability to invade Matrigel. Similarly, transient overexpression of CD9 in the human metastatic melanoma cell line WM9 dramatically decreased …

The Mycoplasma Genitalium Mg_454 Gene Product Resists Killing By Organic Hydroperoxides, Sankaralingam Saikolappan, Smitha Sasindran, Hongwei Yu, Joel Basema, Subramanian Dhandayuthapani

Hongwei Yu

Mycoplasma genitalium is the smallest self-replicating organism and a successful human pathogen associated with a range of genitourinary maladies. As a consequence of its restricted genome size, genes that are highly conserved in other bacteria are absent in M. genitalium. Significantly, genes that encode antioxidants like superoxide dismutase and catalase-peroxidase are lacking. Nevertheless, comparative genomics has revealed that MG_454 of M. genitalium encodes a protein with putative function as an organic hydroperoxide reductase (Ohr). In this study, we found that an M. genitalium transposon mutant that lacks expression of MG_454 was sensitive to killing by t-butyl hydroperoxide and cumene hydroperoxide. …

Persistent Infections And Immunity In Cystic Fibrosis, Hongwei Yu, Nathan Head

Hongwei Yu

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is the most common autosomal recessive lethal disease in the Caucasian population. Chronic respiratory infections with Pseudomonas aeruginosa, neutrophil-dominated airway inflammation and progressive lung damage are the major causes of morbidity and mortality in CF. Two persistent infection phenotypes expressed by this bacterium are biofilm and mucoidy. Biofilm, also called the microcolony mode of growth is the surface-associated adherent bacterial community, while mucoidy refers to a phenotype conducive to copious amounts of mucoid exopolysaccharide (MEP)/alginate that provides a matrix for mature biofilms conferring resistance to host defenses and antibiotics. Recent completion of the whole genomic sequence of …

Expression And Function Of Cd9 In Melanoma Cells, Jun Fan, Guo-Zhang Zhu, Richard Niles

Richard M Niles

CD9, a member of the tetraspanin family, functions as an organizer in “tetraspanin webs,” through interacting with other cell adhesion molecules. It plays a role in differentiation, fertilization, and cell migration. We investigated the expression and function of CD9 in melanoma. CD9 protein expression in B16 mouse melanoma and six human melanoma cell lines was decreased compared to normal melanocytes. B16F1 clones stably overexpressing CD9 had reduced ability to form colonies in soft agar; however, paradoxically these overexpressing clones had increased ability to invade Matrigel. Similarly, transient overexpression of CD9 in the human metastatic melanoma cell line WM9 dramatically decreased …

Identification Of Conserved Splicing Motifs In Mutually Exclusive Exons Of 15 Insect Species, Patricia Buendia, John Tyree, Robert Laredo, Shu-Ning Hsu

School of Computing and Information Sciences

Background: During alternative splicing, the inclusion of an exon in the final mRNA molecule is determined by nuclear proteins that bind cis-regulatory sequences in a target pre-mRNA molecule. A recent study suggested that the regulatory codes of individual RNA-binding proteins may be nearly immutable between very diverse species such as mammals and insects. The model system Drosophila melanogaster therefore presents an excellent opportunity for the study of alternative splicing due to the availability of quality EST annotations in FlyBase.

Methods: In this paper, we describe an in silico analysis pipeline to extract putative exonic splicing regulatory sequences from a multiple …

Gene Patents No More? Deciphering The Meaning Of Prometheus, Fazal Khan, Lindsay Kessler

Scholarly Works

When Congress enacted the United States Patent Act in 1952, it specified that patentable subject matter included anything “under the sun that is made by man.” Three decades ago the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued the first gene patent and ushered in a brave new gold rush. Some genes are associated with specific diseases, so being able to identify these sequences is an essential first step for developing genomic diagnostic tests and therapies. The problem with gene patents is that they allow modern-day prospectors to cordon off access to naturally occurring DNA sequences and exclude others from …

A Proposal To Test The Effects Of Factor Ecat1 On Pluripotency, From Reprogramming To Differentiation Of Human Somatic Cells, Vritti R. Goel

CMC Senior Theses

The field of stem cell research has been growing more because of the interest in using stem cells to cure diseases and heal injuries. Human embryonic stem cells, because of the controversy surrounding them—and subsequently the difficulties in acquiring samples of the existing aging cell lines—can only be used in limited capacities. While the development of induced pluripotent stem cells in the last decade has allowed the field to progress closer to medical treatments, the low efficiency of reprogramming a somatic cell to a pluripotent state, and the vast molecular and genomic differences between human embryonic stem cells and human …