BACKGROUND In adults and children with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection, a polymorphism in the interleukin 6 (IL-6) promoter at position -174 predicts illness magnitude. In addition, polymorphisms in the interleukin 10 (IL-10), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha), and interferon gamma (IFN-gamma) genes are associated with immune responsiveness and the frequency of complications. ...

The triacylated lipid A partial structure OM-174 was characterized in detail using a variety of physical and biological techniques. OM-174 aggregates adopt the micellar HI structure. The temperature (Tc) of the gel to liquid-crystalline phase transition of the hydrocarbon chains is 0 degrees C, from which high fluidity of the acyl chains at 37 degrees C can be deduced. The molecular area of a s...

The ability to respond properly to Toll-like receptor (TLR) ligands may be impaired by polymorphisms within the TLR family of genes, which results in an altered susceptibility to cancers. However, the results of epidemiological studies remained inconsistent. To assess the effect of four selected polymorphisms (rs5743708, -196 to -174 del polymorphism, rs3804099, and rs3804100) in TLR-2 on cance...

The tumor suppressor gene p53 controls cellular response to a variety of stress conditions, including DNA damage and hypoxia, leading to growth arrest and/or apoptosis. Inactivation of p53, found in 40-50% of human cancers, confers selective advantage under hypoxic microenvironment during tumor progression. The mole rat, Spalax, spends its entire life cycle underground at decidedly lower oxygen...

Experimental adaptation of the bacteriophage phiX174 to a Salmonella host depressed its ability to grow on the traditional Escherichia host, whereas adaptation to Escherichia did not appreciably affect growth on Salmonella. Continued host switching consistently exhibited this pattern. Growth inhibition on Escherichia resulted from two to three substitutions in the major capsid gene. When these ...

Morganocin 174 is coded by a plasmid, Mor174. The plasmid is not self-transmissible but may be mobilized by resistance factor R772. Morganocin synthesis in all Proteus and Providencia strains carrying Mor174 was characterized by a longer lag period after induction and higher titers than in Escherichia coli B(Mor174). The low titers obtained in E. coli B(Mor174) are due to a heatstable inhibitor...

1-Amino-cyclopropane-1-carboxylate synthase (ACS) catalyzes the rate-determining step in the biosynthesis of the plant hormone ethylene, and there is evidence for regulation of stability of the protein by reversible protein phosphorylation. The site of phosphorylation of the tomato enzyme, LeACS2, was recently reported to be Ser460, but the requisite protein kinase has not been identified. In t...

Experimental evolution in rapidly reproducing viruses offers a robust means to infer substitution trajectories during evolution. But with conventional approaches, this inference is limited by how many individual genotypes can be sampled from the population at a time. Low-frequency changes are difficult to detect, potentially rendering early stages of adaptation unobservable. Here we circumvent ...

The progeny replicative form II DNA isolated from E. coli cells infected with varphiX174 is resistant to the exonucleolytic activity associated with E. coli DNA polymerase. A limited endonucleolytic cleavage with micrococcal endonuclease renders the replicative form II molecule susceptible to the exonucleolytic activity associated with the E. coli DNA polymerase. These experiments suggest that ...

Introduction of apurinic sites into phi X174 am3 DNA leads to loss of biological activity when measured in a transfection assay. For single-stranded DNA, approximately one apurinic site constitutes a lethal hit; for double-stranded (RFI) DNA, approximately 3.5 hits per strand are lethal. When the reversion frequency of am3 DNA is measured, no increase due to depurination is observed above the b...