The ability to recognize and predict non-sigma54 promoters in the alphaproteobacteria is not well developed. In this study, 25 experimentally verified Sinorhizobium meliloti promoter sequences were compiled and used to predict the location of other related promoters in the S. meliloti genome. Fourteen candidate predictions were targeted for verification and of these at least 12 proved to be gen...

Destruction of tumor cells is a key function of lymphocytes, but the molecular processes driving it are unclear. Analysis of signal molecules indicated that mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK)/extracellular regulated kinase 2 critically controlled lytic function in human NK cells. We now have evidence to indicate that target ligation triggers a Ras-independent MAPK pathway that is required ...

Submitted for the MAR11 Meeting of The American Physical Society Sorting Category: 19.1 (C) First-principles study of spin-state crossovers and hyperfine interactions of ferric iron in magnesium silicate perovskite1 HAN HSU, University of Minnesota, PETER BLAHA, TU Vienna, MATTEO COCOCCIONI, RENATA WENTZCOVITCH, University of Minnesota — The spin-state crossover in iron-bearing MgSiO3 perovskit...

Recently we have reported that the adaptor protein Crk transmits signals to c-Jun kinase (JNK) through C3G, a guanine-nucleotide exchange protein for the Ras family of small G proteins. Transient expression of C3G in 293T cells induced JNK1 activation without a significant effect on extracellular signal-related kinase 1 (ERK1), whereas mSos1 activated equally both JNK1 and ERK1. Coexpression of...

Cholinergic agents are known to affect the epithelial transport of H2O and electrolytes in the kidney. In proximal tubule cells, cholinergic agonists increase basolateral Na-HCO(3) cotransport activity via M(1) muscarinic receptor activation. The signaling intermediates that couple these G protein-coupled receptors to cotransporter activation, however, are not well defined. We therefore sought ...

Guarding a polygon with few guards is an old and well-studied problem in computational geometry. Here we consider the following variant: We assume that the polygon is orthogonal and thin in some sense, and we consider a point p to guard a point q if and only if the minimum axis-aligned rectangle spanned by p and q is inside the polygon. A simple proof shows that this problem is NP-hard on ortho...

Inhibition of eosinophil apoptosis by exposure to interleukin-5 (IL-5) is associated with the development of tissue eosinophilia and may contribute to the inflammation characteristic of asthma. Analysis of the signaling events associated with this process has been hampered by the inability to efficiently manipulate eosinophils by the introduction of active or inhibitory effector molecules. Evid...

The control of rRNA synthesis in the etiological agent of epidemic typhus, Rickettsia prowazekii, a slowly growing obligate intracytoplasmic bacterium, was investigated. Transcription of the rickettsial 16S rRNA gene (rrs), of which there is only a single copy, was controlled by a single promoter region, and the site for the initiation of transcription (base A) was found 117 bp upstream of the ...

Putative open reading frames of MD-endonucleases have been identified in Enterobacteria genomes as a result of the search for amino acid sequences homologous to MD-endonuclease BisI. A highly conserved DNA primary structure of these open reading frames in different genera of Enterobacteria (Escherichia, Klebsiella and Cronobacter) has allowed researchers to create primers for PCR screening, whi...