Lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) known as a serum-derived growth factor, is involved in several cell physiological functions in the female reproductive system including: oocyte maturation, in vitro fertilization and embryo implantation by its transmembrane G protein-coupled receptors. The aim of the present study was to examine the effect of LPA on in vitro follicular development o...

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a disease characterized by a block of maturation. Genes coding for core binding factors are rearranged in a considerable subset of AML cases and result in an altered interaction of core binding factor (CBF) subunits with transcriptional coregulators (NCoR/SMRT). Recruitment of histone deacetylase is also altered in AML, and a subsequent transcriptional repression...

Expression of multiple heterologous genes in a dedicated host is a prerequisite for approaches in synthetic biology, spanning from the production of recombinant multiprotein complexes to the transfer of tailor-made metabolic pathways. Such attempts are often exacerbated, due in most cases to a lack of proper directional, robust and readily accessible genetic tools. Here, we introduce an innovat...

We identified a new role of phytochrome in mediating germination responses to seasonal cues and thereby identified for the first time a gene involved in maternal environmental effects on germination. We examined the germination responses of a mutant, hy2-1, which is deficient in the phytochrome chromophore. The background genotype, Landsberg erecta (Ler), lacked dormancy in most treatments, whi...

In maturing postnatal cerebellar granule cells, the Etv1/Er81 transcription factor is induced by sequential activity-dependent mechanisms through stimulation of AMPA and NMDA receptors, voltage-dependent Nav1.2 Na(+) channels, and voltage-dependent Ca(2+) channels. Etv1 then up-regulates a battery of maturation genes involved in the cerebellar circuitry. In this process, BDNF is also induced an...

The present study has evaluated the association of growth differentiation factor9 (GDF9) and bone morphogenetic protein15 (BMP15) mRNA expression in cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs) of buffalo ovary during in vitro maturation (IVM). GDF9 and BMP15 are expressed specifically in mammalian oocytes and also participate in cumulus-oocyte crosstalk. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qR...

We identified the Arabidopsis MALE STERILITY1 (MS1) gene by transposon-mediated mutagenesis. In the transposon-inserted allele ms1-8, normal immature microspores separated from tetrads, but their subsequent maturation was abnormal: the outer layer of the microspore was absent, and both the microspore and the tapetal layer gradually became vacuolated. Empty locules resulted. The MS1 gene was exp...

Re-engineered transcriptional regulation of hydrogenase • to achieve four-fold higher activity (from 0.5 to 2 nmol H2*mg protein *h). Examined the effect of transcriptional modifications on • hydrogenase maturation and found that proper regulation of accessory genes is essential for optimal hydrogenase maturation. Created mutants of the environmentally-derived • hydrogenase small subunit with f...

The seed is a key evolutionary adaptation of land plants that facilitates dispersal and allows for germination when the environmental conditions are adequate. Mature seeds are dormant and desiccated, with accumulated storage products that are to be used by the seedling after germination. These properties are imposed on the developing embryo by a maturation program, which operates during the lat...

The Notch signal transduction pathway is a highly conserved regulatory system that controls multiple developmental processes. We have established an erythroleukemia cell model to study how Notch regulates cell fate and erythroleukemic cell differentiation. K562 and HEL cells expressed the Notch-1 receptor and the Notch ligand Jagged-1. The stable expression of the constitutively active intracel...