Eukaryotes harbour a conserved signalling pathway, called General Amino Acid Control (GAAC) in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, for overcoming amino acid starvation. Upon starvation, the protein kinase Gcn2, which phosphorylates eukaryotic translation initiation factor eIF2α, becomes stimulated to trigger GAAC response. Genetic studies suggest that Yih1, is yeast homolog of mammalian IMPACT and binds ...

Connective tissue growth factor (CTGF/CCN2) is a 38-kDa secreted protein, a prototypic member of the CCN family, which is up-regulated in many diseases, including atherosclerosis, pulmonary fibrosis, and diabetic nephropathy. We previously showed that CTGF can cause actin disassembly with concurrent down-regulation of the small GTPase Rho A and proposed an integrated signaling network connectin...

Immunocytochemistry, the identification of cell- or tissue-bound antigens in situ, by means of a specific antibody-antigen reaction, tagged microscopically by a visible label, has a remarkably wide range of applications. The basic techniques are straightforward and can be adapted to explore the localisation of virtually any molecule of interest to the researcher in samples of normal and/or mali...

The mechanism that mediates the interaction between contractile ring and plasma membrane during cytokinesis remains elusive. We previously found ERM (Ezrin/Radixin/Moesin) proteins, which usually mediate cellular pole contraction, become over-accumulated at cell equator support furrow ingression upon loss of other actin-membrane associated anillin supervillin. In this study, we addressed molecu...