Metacaspases, a class of cysteine-dependent proteases like caspases in animals, are important regulators of programmed cell death (PCD) during development and stress responses in plants. The present study was focused on comprehensive analyses of expression patterns of the rice metacaspase (OsMC) genes in response to abiotic and biotic stresses and stress-related hormones. Results indicate that ...

Leishmania (Leishmania) amazonensis is an important agent of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Brazil. This parasite faces cell death in some situations during transmission to the vertebrate host, and this process seems to be dependent on the activity of metacaspase (MCA), an enzyme bearing trypsin-like activity present in protozoans, plants and fungi. In fact, the association between MCA expression a...

Metacaspases are cysteine peptidases found only in yeast, plants and lower eukaryotes, including the protozoa. To investigate the extended substrate specificity and effects of Ca(2+) on the activation of these enzymes, detailed kinetic, biochemical and structural analyses were carried out on metacaspase 2 from Trypanosoma brucei (TbMCA2). These results reveal that TbMCA2 has an unambiguous pref...

The hypersensitive response (HR) is a localized programmed cell death phenomenon that occurs in response to pathogen recognition at the site of attempted invasion. Despite more than a century of research on HR, little is known about how it is so tightly regulated and how it can be contained spatially to a few cells. AtMC1 is an Arabidopsis thaliana plant metacaspase that positively regulates th...

OBJECTIVES This survey was designed to learn more about the physical health and quality of life of ovarian cancer survivors without known active disease and not on treatment. METHODS Women with ovarian cancer without evidence of active disease, and not on treatment for at least 2 years, were recruited in Canada and the United States from university cancer clinics, community ovarian support gr...

Metacaspases are cysteine peptidases that could play a role similar to caspases in the cell death programme of plants, fungi and protozoa. The human protozoan parasite Leishmania major expresses a single metacaspase (LmjMCA) harbouring a central domain with the catalytic dyad histidine and cysteine as found in caspases. In this study, we investigated the processing sites important for the matur...

Plants are photosynthetic organisms that depend on sunlight for energy. Plants respond to light through different photoreceptors and show photomorphogenic development. Apart from Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR; 400-700 nm), plants are exposed to UV light, which is comprised of UV-C (below 280 nm), UV-B (280-320 nm) and UV-A (320-390 nm). The atmospheric ozone layer protects UV-C radi...

We hypothesized that the cell wall inhibitor micafungin (MICA) induces apoptosis in both MICA-susceptible (MICA-S) and MICA-non-susceptible (MICA-NS) Candida parapsilosis. Antifungal activity and apoptosis were analyzed in MICA-S and MICA-NS C. parapsilosis strains following exposure to micafungin for 3 h at 37°C in RPMI 1640 medium. Apoptosis was characterized by detecting phosphatidylserine e...

The inositolphosphosphingolipid phospholipase C (Isc1p) of Saccharomyces cerevisiae belongs to the family of neutral sphingomyelinases that generates the bioactive sphingolipid ceramide. In this work the role of Isc1p in oxidative stress resistance and chronological lifespan was investigated. Loss of Isc1p resulted in a higher sensitivity to hydrogen peroxide that was associated with an increas...