Soluble factors from serum such as lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) are thought to activate the small GTP-binding protein Rho based on their ability to induce actin stress fibers and focal adhesions in a Rho-dependent manner. Cell adhesion to extracellular matrices (ECM) has also been proposed to activate Rho, but this point has been controversial due to the difficulty of distinguishing changes in R...

With molecular beam epitaxy and a topotactic chemical reaction, we prepared NdFeAs(O,H) epitaxial thin films with various hydrogen concentrations on 5\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{} vicinal-cut MgO substrates. By measuring the resistivities along longitudinal transversal directions, $ab$-plane $c$-axis (${\ensuremath{\rho}}_{ab}$ ${\ensuremath{\rho}}_{c}$) were obtained. The resistivity ani...

Rho family GTPases play an essential role in cell motility, transducing extracellular signal to the actin cytoskeleton. This thesis presents the formulation and analysis of several models concerning three members of the Rho family: Cdc42, Rac, and Rho. Experimental observations of the spatio-temporal dynamics of these proteins give evidence of spatial polarization and mutual exclusion between C...

Abstract We study the mass spectra of D -wave excited tetraquark states with J^{PC}=1^{++} and 1^{+-} in both symmetric \mathbf{6}_{cs}\otimes\bar{\mathbf{6}}_{\bar{c}\bar{s}} antisymmetric \bar{\mathbf{3}}_{cs}\otimes\mathbf{3}_{\bar{c}\bar{s}} color configurations using QCD sum rule method. construct diquark-antidiquark type interpolating currents various excita...

In late gestation, enhanced myometrial contractility is mediated in part through increased Rho/Rho kinase. Since leptin, which is elevated in pregnancy and obesity, can directly depress myometrial function, we hypothesized that in leptin receptor-deficient mice, myometrial contractility would be greater in late pregnancy due to increased Rho/Rho kinase activity. To test this, we correlated RhoA...

The effect of RNA secondary structure on rho-independent and rho-dependent termination of transcription of T3 DNA by Escherichia coli RNA polymerase has been studied by incorporating, into nascent transcripts, base analogs that lead to altered base-pairing properties. A guanine --> hypoxanthine substitution, with attendant weakening of secondary structure, abolished the rho-independent terminat...

cellular and molecular pathways link thrombosis and innate immune system during sepsis. extrinsic pathway activation of protease thrombin through fviia and tissue factor (tf) in sepsis help activate its endothelial cell (ec) membrane protease activated receptor 1 (par-1). thrombin adjusts the ec cycle through activation of g proteins (g12/13), and later through rho gefs (guanine nucleotide exch...

Psu, a 20-kD bacteriophage P4 capsid decorating protein moonlights as a transcription antiterminator of the Rho-dependent termination. Psu forms specific complex with E.coli Rho protein, and affects the latter's ATP-dependent translocase activity along the nascent RNA. It forms a unique knotted dimer to take a V-shaped structure. The C-terminal helix of Psu makes specific contacts with a disord...

The strict spatio-temporal control of Rho GTPases is critical for many cellular functions, including cell motility, contractility, and growth. In this regard, the prototypical Rho family GTPases, Rho, Rac, and Cdc42 regulate the activity of each other by a still poorly understood mechanism. Indeed, we found that constitutively active forms of Rac inhibit stress fiber formation and Rho stimulati...