Folate supplementation prevents up to 70% of human neural tube defects (NTDs), although the precise cellular and metabolic sites of action remain undefined. One possibility is that folate modulates the function of metabolic enzymes expressed in cellular populations involved in neural tube closure. Here we show that the folate metabolic enzyme ALDH1L1 is cell-specifically expressed in PAX3-negat...

BACKGROUND Chronic glomerulonephritis (CGN) is the most common form of the glomerular disease with unclear molecular mechanisms, which related to immune-mediated inflammatory diseases. The aim of this study was to characterize differentially expressed genes in the normal and adriamycin-induced CGN rats by microarray analysis, and to determine the potential molecular mechanisms of CGN pathogenes...

The interconversion of folates by the one-carbon metabolism pathway is essential for the synthesis of precursors used in DNA synthesis, repair, and methylation. Perturbations in this pathway can disrupt these processes and are hypothesized to facilitate carcinogenesis. We investigated associations of 25 candidate polymorphisms in nine one-carbon metabolism genes with risk of postmenopausal brea...

DNA methylation and nucleic acid biosynthesis are two crucial phenomena for normal chromosomes segregation. From our earlier studies, MTHFR 677T individually and in combination with other gene polymorphisms, micronutrient deficiency, hyperhomocysteinemia was shown to be associated with risk in Down syndrome (DS) mothers. Remethylation and nucleic acid biosynthesis pathways are dependent on the ...

Periconceptional folic acid use can often prevent neural tube defects (NTDs). Variants of genes involved in folate metabolism in mothers and children have been associated with occurrence of NTDs. We identified Irish families with individuals affected by neural tube defects. In these families, we observed that neural tube defects and birth defects overall occurred at a higher rate in the materna...

Polymorphisms within one-carbon metabolism genes have been largely studied in relation to cancer risk for the function of this pathway in nucleotide synthesis and DNA methylation. Aims of this study were to explore the possible link among several common functional gene polymorphisms within one-carbon metabolism and survival rate in primary liver cancers, i.e., hepatocellular carcinoma and chola...

BACKGROUND One-carbon metabolism plays a critical role in DNA methylation and DNA synthesis. Variants of genes involved in one-carbon metabolism may result in aberrant methylation and/or DNA synthesis inhibition, and ultimately modulate the initiation and progression of tumors. In this study, the authors hypothesized that polymorphisms in one-carbon metabolism-related genes may contribute to th...

Effective supplementation with folate, which prevents neural tube defect (NTD) occurrence, and high homocysteine levels in the blood of NTD children's mothers suggest that genes involved in folate and homocysteine metabolism can be involved in NTD aetiology. Genes encoding methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) or methylenetetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase (MTHFD) belong to the first group. G...

One-carbon metabolism facilitates the cross-talk between genetic and epigenetic processes, making it a good candidate for studying the risk of lung cancer. To investigate the role of common variants of one-carbon metabolizing genes on lung cancer risk, total 25 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 7 genes were genotyped among 500 incident lung cancer patients and 517 cancer-free controls. ...

Fertility traits measured early in life define the reproductive potential of heifers. Knowledge genetics and biology can help devise genomic selection methods to improve heifer fertility. In this study, we used ~2400 Brahman cattle perform GWAS multi-trait meta-analysis determine regions associated with Heifer were pregnancy at first mating opportunity (PREG1, a binary trait), conception score ...