Eukaryotic genomes are mosaics of genes acquired from their prokaryotic ancestors, the eubacterial endosymbiont that gave rise to the mitochondrion and its archaebacterial host. Genomic footprints of the prokaryotic merger at the origin of eukaryotes are still discernable in eukaryotic genomes, where gene expression and function correlate with their prokaryotic ancestry. Molecular chaperones ar...

Unconventional prefoldin RPB5 interactor (URI), a RNA polymerase II Subunit 5-Interacting protein, is known to participate in the regulation of nutrient-sensitive mTOR-dependent transcription programs. Multiple studies have recently demonstrated that URI functions as an oncoprotein, possibly through the mTOR pathway, and regulates tumor cell motility, invasion, and metastasis. However, whether ...

Multiple studies have recently demonstrated the oncogenic property of URI (or RMP, a member of the prefoldin family of molecular chaperones) during progression of hepatocellular carcinoma, ovarian cancer, and possibly prostate cancer. Most recently, we have shown that URI/RMP is up-regulated in cervical cancer, another reproductive system tumor beside ovarian and prostate cancers. To investigat...

We previously identified a novel cellular protein, RPB5-mediating protein (RMP), that retains corepressor activity and functionally antagonizes transcriptional modulation via hepatitis B virus X protein. The subcellular localization of RMP was examined using green fluorescent protein-fused protein forms. We found that a nuclear localization signal (NLS) and a coiled-coil (CC) domain functioning...

Glucose is partly metabolized through the glucose sensing hexosamine biosynthetic pathway (HBP) leading to the formation of an end product called acetylated amino sugar nucleotide uridine 5'-diphospho-N-acetylglucosamine (UDP-GlcNAc). UDP-GlcNAC serves as a donor substrate during O-GlcNAcylation (O-linked β-N-acetylglucosamine or O-GlcNAc) [1]. Serine or threonine residues of nuclear and cytopl...

A proto-oncogene (hereafter simplified as oncogene) has the potential to initiate cancer. Oncogenes are often mutated and/or their products are expressed at high levels in various types of cancer. Several mechanisms and features of oncogenesis have been extensively discussed in the review of Hanahan and Weinberg “hallmarks of cancer: the next generation” [1]. Fundamentally, oncogenes give an un...

Prokaryotes constitute a single kingdom, Bacteria, here divided into two new subkingdoms: Negibacteria, with a cell envelope of two distinct genetic membranes, and Unibacteria, comprising the new phyla Archaebacteria and Posibacteria, with only one. Other new bacterial taxa are established in a revised higher-level classification that recognizes only eight phyla and 29 classes. Morphological, p...